Date: Wed, 03 Sep 2003 13:58:03 -0000
From: "robertjsawyer" <
sawyer@sfwriter.com>
Subject: Rob's Hugo Award acceptance speech
My Hugo Award acceptance speech:
====
First off, I'd like to thank J. K. Rowling for being late delivering
the manuscript of The Order of the Phoenix, so that it didn't come out
until 2003.
I guess since there was no Harry Potter on the ballot, a hairy Ponter
was the next-best thing ...
I'd also like to thank the Hugo administrators for deciding that Neil
Gaiman's book Coraline was really a novella rather than a novel. I've
never been so thrilled by a word-count statistic in my life.
Seriously, though, I'd very much like to express to my fellow nominees
-- Dave, Stan, Michael, and China. What an honour it's been for the
last few months to share a ballot with you guys.
My thanks go, of course, to Stanley Schmidt, Sheila Williams, and
everyone at Analog, where Hominids was first published, in the form of
a serial.
My thanks also go to Tor Books, particularly my publisher Tom Doherty,
editors David G. Hartwell and Moshe Feder -- plus art director
Jennifer Gallo and artist Donato, who were responsible for the
wonderful covers for my Neanderthal books.
And of course, thanks to my agent, Ralph Vicinanza, who does
everything in his power to put the screws on my behalf to those kind
people at Tor.
Here in Canada, my books do better than I would have ever thought
possible, thanks to Tor's Canadian distributor, H. B. Fenn and Company.
My thanks to Harold and Sylvia Fenn, Rob Howard, Heidi Winter, Melissa
Cameron, David Leonard, Steve St. Amant, David Cuthbertson, Leo
McDonald, and everyone else who works there.
Most of all, though, I want to thank science-fiction fandom.
Everything good in my life I owe to fandom.
All the best friends I've had came from fandom, including the members
of my high-school science fiction club, NASFA, some of whom are here
tonight -- hi, Ted and Gillian!
It was also at a fannish events that I first got to know my mentors
and colleagues, John Robert Colombo, Terence M. Green, Andrew Weiner,
and Edo van Belkom.
And many thanks for the wonderful support to the members of the fan
group I'm currently a proud member of, the USS Hudson Bay.
It was also through fandom that I met Sally Tomasevic and Marcel
Gagné, the two dudes to whom Hominids is dedicated.
Most important of all, though, I also met my wife Carolyn Clink
through fandom.
Without her, I'd be just a fat, bald, geek who knows way too much Star
Trek trivia. Okay -- even with her, I'm just a fat, bald, geek who
knows way too much Star Trek trivia, but it's a lot more fun having
her along for the ride. Carolyn, I love you totally and completely.
Along with Carolyn came her family -- David, Pat, Melissa, and Megan
are here tonight.
And .. and ... I -- I only wish my mother could have seen this ... but
... but ... but it's over a hundred bucks for a day pass to the con!
Seriously, though, fandom also lets me have the best job in the
universe: writing science fiction. And now it's given me the single
greatest honour of my life. Thank you all, very, very much!
