I’m writing this from my friend Dermot Power’s house in London, where I am recovering from a wonderful, if exhausting, weekend at the World Fantasy Convention in Brighton. The details of the WFC are a bit fuzzy now, what with jet lag, rivers of beer and wine, a bit of a sniffle, and many hundreds of extraordinary conversations with extraordinary people. But apparently, at some point I won the World Fantasy Award for best short story for my story “The Telling”. I’d assume that I had dreamed the whole thing, but I’ve been presented with proof, and the award itself seems real enough. Frighteningly so!
I’ll write more about the WFC weekend and the amazing folks I met soon. For now, many thanks to Scott Andrews and Beneath Ceaseless Skies for taking a risk on the story, and to Jenn Hsyu, Karin Tidbeck, Ann & Jeff VanderMeer, Olivia Do, Kai Ashante Wilson, Leah Thomas, Kali Wallace, Tom Underberg, Dallas Taylor, John Chu, and everyone else who read and commented on early drafts of the story!
Congratulations again, Greg–vindication! Is there anything sweeter? (And speaking of vindication, looks like I placed that troublesome novelette I was telling you about…)
Thanks, Kai, and thanks for your incredibly helpful comments on this and pretty much every story I’ve sold! And that’s news on the story!!!