The title of this post quickly became my catchphrase on Sunday because that was the reply I gave every time someone asked me how I felt about winning the British Fantasy Award for Best Novella.
That's right -- I won!
No, I don't know how it happened either. Presumably a whole bunch of people forgot to vote for the other nominees and are now kicking themselves.
The whole thing was a total shock. Leading up to the awards people kept asking me if I was getting nervous and I kept saying, "There's no point me getting nervous, I know I don't stand a chance of winning."
Even as the envelope containing the winner's name was torn open I was thinking, "Thank God, I haven't won because now I don't have to give a speech and make a twat of myself."
And then I won. And had to ad-lib a speech. In front of a couple of hundred people. Whilst being filmed.
Which pretty much explains why the speech started like this:
"Um...
"Um...
"Um...
"Well, that's the skilful way with words that allowed me to write this novella..."
The speech kind of went downhill from there.
Anyway, I was planning to write about FantasyCon in more detail but I have pretty much bugger all free time this week so I'll take the lazy option and point you towards Chris Teague's FantasyCon report instead.
Well, it looks like I get to be the first, on your blog anyway, to say very well done.
ReplyDeleteCheers, Steve.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations again, mate!
ReplyDeleteWell, Stu, I have a way with words myself; but all I could say at the time was 'Fucking brilliant, mate, fucking brilliant!' And it was, and the Fcon voting panel have never got it so right. I'm just glad I was there to share that moment with you.
ReplyDeleteStu, even Jeffrey Ford passes on his praise: http://14theditch.livejournal.com/68337.html
ReplyDeleteJust imagine how much your copy will be now Dai? :)
Fantastic news, Stuart! I bought my copy about a year ago, and I was surprised - but highly delighted - to find a bonus of two nasty pieces of work inside. The award is well-deserved. Congratulations!
ReplyDeleteDavid A. Green
By the way Stu, the BFS did a re-count and you've still got the Best Novella award - it's actually on the homepage: http://www.britishfantasysociety.org.uk/
ReplyDeleteGary, cheers mate. Btw, did you get the email about the Alan Moore interview in London next month? If not go to www.thealienonline.net immediately! Also, did you get the one about the Dore book?
ReplyDeleteDave, yeah, we both simultaneously came down with Tourrette's :-)
Chris, strictly speaking Jeffrey Ford passed on his congratulations not his praise. Curses!
David, glad you dropped by. I wanted to thank you for publishing the nasty pieces of work in the first place but wasn't sure how to get in touch with you.
I'm pretty proud of you, Stuart Young. I think it's great that you won and I really like your personality.
ReplyDeleteYour heart must have been beating like mad; and being filmed as well.xossqje
Barry Wood,
Canada
http://www.myspace.com/barrydeanwood
Excellent news, Stu, many congratulations!
ReplyDeleteI'm sure Neil *meant* to give you a nod in his blog. He just forgot ;-)
ReplyDeleteBarry and Mark, thanks muchly kind sirs.
ReplyDeleteElizabeth, Gaiman's scared of the competition. Scared, I tell you!