It occurs to me that I have been so busy lately that I have not yet gotten around to announcing that (1) A DANCE WITH DRAGONS has been nominated for the World Fantasy Award in the "Best Novel" category, and (2) the World Fantasy Award jury has also selected me as one of the winners of their Lifetime Achievement Award this year.
The World Fantasy Award is one of the more complicated honors in our field. Here's how it works. A five-person jury is selected. The members of the previous World Fantasy Con and the upcoming World Fantasy Con receive a nominating ballot, and nominate two finalists in each award category. The jury adds three additional nominees. Then the jury selects the winner from among the five finalists.
This year's finalists for Best Novel are:
• THOSE ACROSS THE RIVER, Christopher Buehlman (Ace)
• 11/22/63, Stephen King (Scribner; Hodder & Stoughton as 11.22.63)
• A DANCE WITH DRAGONS, George R.R. Martin (Bantam; Harper Voyager UK)
• OSAMA, Lavie Tidhar (PS Publishing)
• AMONG OTHERS, Jo Walton (Tor)
A very distinguished list. My congratulations to all the other finalists.
The rest of the ballot can be found here:
http://www.wfc2012.org/pr-wfawards01.ht
The Lifetime Achievement Award is a different deal. That one is announced ahead of time. I was rather startled to learn that the jury had announced ME. After all, my lifetime is not nearly over, and I have lots more achieving ahead of me, I hope... (unless the World Fantasy Award knows something that I do not). I am such a young lad, and devilishly handsome as well.
However, it is a HUGE honor, and I am very thrilled to receive it... especially as the jury also named Alan Garner as the other Lifetime Achievement receipient. If you don't know Garner's work, well... you should, damn you. He's the author of THE OWL SERVICE and THE WEIRDSTONES OF BRISINGAMEN and ELIDOR and all sorts of other great stuff, and was writing terrific fantasies long before fantasy was either popular or fashionable. It's great to see Garner get some long overdue recognition for his contributions to our genre. Now I'd love to see someone put all his books back into print again.
Past receipients of the Life Achievement award include Ray Bradbury, Ursula K. Le Guin, Theodore Sturgeon, Richard Matheson, Jack Vance, Jack Williamson, Stephen King, Fritz Leiber, Gene Wolfe, and many of my other heroes and role models, so I am going to be in very good company indeed with this one.
The awards will be presented at this year's World Fantasy Convention in Toronto over Halloween weekend. Alas, I do not think I will be able to attend. My schedule is already pretty full for the rest of 2012, and this one came on me unexpectedly. (Also, I just appeared in Toronto early in the year). But I am sure it will be a great con.
(I do have one of Howard's heads already, for my werewolf novella "The Skin Trade" from way back when. He proudly wears a Jets cap).
- Current Location:santa fe
- Current Mood:
pleased
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Comments
Personally, I hope you stick around for at least another decade or more. Though these days you just never know.
I picked up Bantam's previous editions of the first four paperbacks back in '07, and got around to reading them about 3 1/2 years later, sadly. A friend and myself were discussing fantasy books and series and she named yours. Anyway, I enjoyed the first book so much, I 'upgraded' them to hardcovers, the current editions that are out now.
Once my reading pile shrinks, I'll crack open both Dreamsongs volumes. I'm especially looking forward to reading 'The Ice Dragon'.
- Amanda in Vegas
Awesome news. Jar hoisted in your general direction ;)
I also wanted to ask if you had any plans to revisit The Skin Trade Universe. I really enjoyed that novella, and would love to see more of those characters and the world they live in.
However, there will be a graphic novel version soon from Avatar, and a "Skin Trade" movie is in development.
wrt getting Garner's books back in print, I heard that he's writing another novel in the 'Brisingamen' sequence: 'Boneland' due out anytime now
It was living on the Mississippi during that period that inspired me to write FEVRE DREAM.
However, it is 11/22/63. Jeez. How can you guys get THAT date wrong? That's like talking about 9/12.
When I was nominated for one the first time, I happened to be staying with my aunt. My aunt is one of the nicest people in the world. She always finds something positive and hopeful to say even in the worst of circumstances. She always keeps a half bottle of champagne in the fridge in case of unexpected good news. We drank it. As we were drinking it, she asked what the World Fantasy Award looked like anyway. I googled and found a picture. She looked at it. Her face fell. She visibly struggled to say something nice about it, and eventually came out with "Maybe they change it every year?"
I think it's Lavie's turn to have one inflicted on him.
Persephone
(Though I do agree that the idea of calling it a "Lifetime" Achievement award doesn't seem quite right, unless there's something fishy going on... If you DO end up attending the award ceremony, if anyone starts playing The Rains of Castamere, RUN!)
"The best laid plans of mice and men...and Henry Bemis...the small man in the glasses who wanted nothing but time. Henry Bemis, now just a part of a smashed landscape, just a piece of the rubble, just a fragment of what man has deeded to himself."
Curse you, Mr. Martin, I had time!!!
Edited at 2012-08-17 05:25 pm (UTC)
Edited at 2012-08-18 12:57 pm (UTC)
One I do not want to break.
That's not wishful thinking, that's me being...observant with updates you've provided.
But then again, SF and fantasy and horror are all sisters under the skin anyway. The weirder side of the broad stream that is the romantic tradition in literature.
I have a few questions about the novels and how they've translated into the show if you have a moment to answer...
While I personally think that the Game of Thrones (HBO Series) is a really interesting and well done projection of the novels, I am curious about some of the changes knowing that you're a part of the production of the show. For instance, when Arya prays in the TV series she does so after after hearing Yorens story. However, in the novel he isn't what influenced her to start doing this. I think both takes are really interesting but out of curiosity, are there are reasons that situations like these are changed? Are there certain things that came up when writing the novels that weren't included that you've influenced to be done in the show now? If so, I find it a really interesting opportunity to explore other things that you may have considered including in the original storyline but for some reason didn't initially fit. Also, since you are involved with the show (and I'm assuming you have some sort of say), are there avenues that the show has explored (like what I previously mentioned with Arya) that you prefer to the original storyline that you created? Or visa versa? I'm so interested in what this process is like for an author and would love to have your take on the changes and how they are influenced!
Thanks for all you do! I look forward to seeing and reading more!
Perhaps they awarded you the lifetime achievement award because you achieved so much more than most people do in their lifetime? Well deserved, regardless. Along with whatever other awards they give you. :) (may they multiply like Frey's..LOL)