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Shiny!

So I just won a Hugo award!

(For "Palimpsest", in Best Novella.)

I am gobsmacked. But happy.

161 Comments

1:

Congratulations - well deserved.

2:

Congratulations, Charlie. It was well deserved.

3:

At long last, being good beats being lucky. ;)

Congrats.

4:

Congrats! May there be many more uptime!

5:

Congratulations, may your non-winning streak be interrupted like this many more times (-:

6:

That's awesome. I first learned of you through "Palimpsest."

7:

Congratulations! Very well deserved, Palimpsest is a great Novella! Easily one of my favourites (if only for the wish to have unlimited time unlimited pleasure holidays whenever i want! Bravo

8:

Congratulations. They obviously have good taste :p

9:

Way to go, Charlie!

10:

Congratulations!

Why gobsmacked ?

Also, where is the Hugo, and when did you find out? The picture looks suspiciously like it was taken in a hotel room: did they ship it to Australia, and did you find out when it arrived in the post?

11:

Oh yay! Congratulations! Well deserved!

12:

Congratulations, well deserved recognition.

13:

Saw it mentioned on Twitter, and went straight here to offer congratulations! Cool!

Written somewhere between Munich and Stuttgart thanks to mobile net in the ICE train working.

14:

Congratulations Charlie!!!

15:

Well, good for you. Congratulations.

16:

Well-deserved, as others said. Hope it helps you actually feel you are good (brilliant) at your job, because it is true.

17:

Well done! You deserve one for blogging as well.

18:

I can't tell if you're trying to be funny- the awards presentation was in Australia this year, that's why he was in the country in the first place.

19:

Excellent!

Does this increase the chances of a novel length expansion by any chance?

and how old is this picture?: http://www.antipope.org/charlie/images/ I couldn't help being nosy.

20:

Congrats! You are part of a great crop of winners this year!

21:

One of my favourites - congratulations are definitely in order.

22:

Congratulations. (Hearty virtual back slap or handshake, as you prefer.)

23:

So where can I purchase this novella? A quick google turns up nothing, not even a wikipedia entry which causes me to suspect the story existence in this version of reality has not yet been secure by enough people observing it.

24:

Congratulations! Well deserved.

25:

Fantastic and well deserved! That was easily some of my favorite science fiction of any length in the last couple years.

26:

No need to buy, though if you feel the need (and you should) you will find it in Charlie's collection "Wireless". Meanwhile go to: http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/palimpsest-intro.html

27:

Yay! That was a great story.

And PNH won, too! Another much-deserved one.

This is your second Hugo, isn't it? Bastard.

28:

Gongrats on teh Shiny.

29:

Write more novellas! Some of your best stories--like this one---are in that format.

30:

Echoing JamesPadraicR, will this persuade you that the novel version would be worth doing?

BTW, did a Palimpset novelization get near the top of the requests in your survey on future projects a while back?

31:

Congratulations, Herr Stross! Deserved.

PS Write us moar ur stuff, pls.

32:

Congratulations. Hopefully this will provide enough impetus for you to follow up on your comment in the afterward:

Palimpsest really wanted to be a novel. It really, really wanted to be a novel. Maybe it will be, someday.

33:

long overdue-congrats

34:

Woo hoo! Congratulations on a well-deserved award.

35:

Just read the news. Congratulations.

36:

Oops.

I completely forgot why Charlie was in Australia - it just passed me by as "Don't bother trying to meet for book-signing".

Anyway, it was well deserved (and overdue). Shouldn't be so surprised at getting it then, no?

37:

Congratulations! No surprise to me! (smirk)

38:

Congrats Charles-I shall read this tonight!! (It will be my first piece of Stross that I've read!)

39:

And jolly well deserved too. Congratulations!

40:

Congrats! It's well-earned.

41:

It was bloody good, I suppose:-)

Congratulations!

42:

Congrats indeed. Commence with the groupies and the orgies...

43:

Of course I add my Congratulations to all of those others herein.

Text feed on the Hugos Award event, Here ...

http://www.thehugoawards.org/2010/09/hugo-award-ceremony-live-coverage/

The Awards ceremony was also LIVE in Exiting Technicolor As It Happened at 11am UK time onward .. it was - what I'd call - a beta test video stream and so did place a strain on the wi fi net at the hotel when much more than 50 people logged on, but it did do Cheryl Morgan and Kevin Standlee great credit in showing what will be possible some day soon.

Maybe they'll replay a recording of the event here ...

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/worldcon

44:

Gratz Charlie, well deserved!

45:

Palimpsest was fantastic. Well deserved. I echo the desire above for a full-length novel based on it.

46:

Woo hoo! Does Happy Dance--you deserved it!

47:

Well done, and about time

48:

Congrats! When you make it back to Sydney, I owe you another beer!

49:

Congratulations! Well deserved!

Almost done with this year's Dozois "Year's Best". No story from Charlie there, but the intro to the Paul Cornell says "reads like a Ruritanian romance written by Charles Stross". No story, but still gets props!

Chris

50:

Good. Appropriate. Congratulations.

51:

About time that you got the recognition you so thoroughly deserve. May it be followed by many more.

52:

Ace! Stufeckinpendous. Well Done Sir! Hoisting one in applause.

53:

Wunnerful!! Congrats!

54:

Congratulations!

55:

Yes, congratulations and indeed well deserved.

56:

Well, finally! Yay!

57:

Well done, and richly deserved.

58:

Well done. It was getting overdue, 'n all.

59:

Congratulations. And it was well deserved, Palimpsest was a fantastic story and by far the most interesting time travel story I've seen in a very long time.

60:

Further congratulations.

And my copy of "Wireless", complete with Hugo-winning novella, arrived just last week.

J Homes.

61:

Oh frabjous day! About bloody time! Congratulations!! Re-reading it now...

62:

So happy for you, well deserved.

63:

I suspect that few people in contests like this actually expect to win - certainly a rational unbiased observer would not have been gobsmacked.

'Imposter effect' indeed - although surely as the pile of Hugos and similar awards grows, that may fade.

{Congrats, O GH}

64:

Excellent, and in by far the strongest category as well. Very nice.

65:

Very Well Done Sir! Congratulations!!!!

66:

Congratulations Charlie, and to all the other winners as well! A well deserved acknowledgement of your excellence.

67:

Congratulations Charlie! Well deserved.

68:

Congratulations, Charlie!

69:

Awesome! That's a great novella, and I'd love to see it expanded.

70:

I have to say I consider it an undeserved win, as there were better novellas on the ballot (Morrow and McDonald's in particular) and the piece failed to invest enough attention to its characters to be more than flashy silliness. Nothing wrong with a light-hearted and inconsequential time travel piece, but the dominant themes have been done better elsewhere and it's neither polished nor interesting enough to merit one of genre's top awards. Opinions may differ on that, obviously, and congratulations regardless to Stross for his good fortune, and I hope you find your experience rewarding.

Well, it was a good set of victors overall, particularly for Bridesicle and a rare tie for Windup Girl and The City. Those are both excellent novels that are likely to be remembered favorably twenty years from now, congratulations Hugo voters for recognizing the power of these works. And Moon made it! I was sure we were in for a high-action brainless blockbuster like Avatar or Star Trek, or at best an ambitious failure in the lights of District 9. Let's hear it for the low-budget character-centered piece of cinema. Hopefully this can inspire more people to work in the genre.

This whole Hugo process is certainly a significant improvement over last year. I look forward to future high quality award winners in the future.

71:

Congratulations. A well deserved award i think.

My wife says, however, "doesnt it look a bit phalic?"

I have no idea what she could possibly mean.

72:

Splendid work, sir. Congratulations.

73:

Great news, Charlie! I wonder what the border patrol will think of the rocket.

75:

applause

76:

I'm not going to comment on the other novellas on offer; the Hugos are a beauty show and depend strongly on the collective taste of the voters.

But going by your complaints, I presume you also hold Olaf Stapledon in low esteem -- after all, he too neglected to invest attention in his characters because he was more interested in "flashy stuff" like Deep Time, cosmology, and the future of humanity.

(I'm mildly curious as to why you might have felt the need to post that particular tirade on my blog, rather than, say, your own. Passive-aggressive display of insecurity, or trolling for traffic?)

77:

And how did you feel about his previous Hugo and Locus wins?

78:

Congratulations, Charlie. A well deserved award for what I personally think is one of your best stories.

79:

Congratulations!

80:

Congratulations Charlie! Very happy for you.

81:

Just looked at the picture (didn't the first time through). A simple question... Batteries or do you have to plug it in?

Congrats again and don't sweat the hater.

82:

Felicitations and commendations!

http://thesaurus.com/browse/congratulations

83:

Just another voice to add to the chorus. Congratulations!

84:

Just wanted to add my congratulations too, and say I'm sure it won't be the last award you win either.

85:

Congratulations, Charlie.

86:

Congratulations. I feel slightly less embarrassed for gushing so enthusiastically to you about the story at your book signing last week.

87:

It's quite cool watching a panel called 'The Grandfather Paradox' including a Hugo winner for a time travel novella - which got rescheduled.

88:

Congratulations, and well-deserved! I shall have a beer in your honour.

89:

Congratulations, and well deserved. The "initiation ceremony" part really made me think. (I'd vote that it NOT be turned into a novel, though. All the examples I can think of where short stories were rewritten as novels turned out not much better than the original, just longer.)

90:

Well done, sir.

91:

For future reference, here is a transcript of the relevant part of the live text feed:

Sunday September 5, 2010 The 2010 Hugo Award Ceremony Melbourne, Australia Live Text Coverage [Transcript edited to posts related to the Best Novella Award]

9:28 Cheryl Morgan: Sean McMullen to present Best Novella.

9:28 Mary Robinette Kowal: The nominees are: “Act One” by Nancy Kress (Asimov’s 3/09) The God Engines by John Scalzi (Subterranean) “Palimpsest” by Charles Stross (Wireless) Shambling Towards Hiroshima by James Morrow (Tachyon) “Vishnu at the Cat Circus” by Ian McDonald (Cyberabad Days) The Women of Nell Gwynne’s by Kage Baker (Subterranean)

9:28 Mia I am so rooting for Kage. Such a loss and she is so missed.

9:29 Mur Lafferty Mia, I had a similar convo tonight. Kage is very missed.

9:31 Cheryl Morgan The winner is: “Palimpsest” by Charles Stross Sunday September 5, 2010

9:31 Ed D. Woo hoo!

9:31 Geri Sullivan Congrats, Charlie!

9:31 Mary Robinette Kowal: Applause from Atlanta.

9:31 Mia Oh, he's lovely

9:31 Mur Lafferty Heee. talked to Charles Stross earlier tonight, said he was totally not expecting to win. Very cute.

9:32 Cheryl Morgan Charlie tries for the record of shortest acceptance speech ever

9:32 David Langford Wow. Too many deserving folk on that list, but Charlie is a good pick.

9:32 Mary Robinette Kowal: Farah says "Charlie is going to be insufferable now, bless him."

9:32 Mur Lafferty Mary, he's grinning like a madman.

9:32 Cheryl Morgan Now let's see is we can have two works of the same name win separate Hugos

*[Palimpsest by Catherynne M. Valente was nominated for Best Novel, but didn't win - ed.]

9:32 Neil Gaiman So Charlie gets a Hugo at last! Brilliant!

9:32 Vixy oh god oh god oh god

9:32 Pete Young Congrats Charlie!

9:33 [Comment From Maurizio Manzieri: ] Applause from Italy

92:

[oops - last one got cut off]

9:33 [Comment From Robert Sneddon:] I'll be down at Charlie's flat later today watering the plants -- I'll clear a space for the rocket next to the other one.

93:

Oh hey... this is your first Hugo, isn't it? Double the congrats then! And If I'm wrong about it being your first.... keep the extra congrats. No, really, it's yours.

94:

His second, I believe. (The Concrete Jungle won before, according to Wikipedia. Many more nominations.)

I rather liked it, and I'm glad it won.

95:

<smug>Nope, it's my second Hugo.</smug>

96:

Go Charlie! Well-deserved!

97:

Very cool. Congrats!

98:

grats!

99:

Congrats!

Now how can you possibly rewrite it to pass the Bechdel test, with praise like that? (BSEG)

100:

Congratulations.

101:

Congratulations from me too.

2 down; how many more to go to beat Dave Langford? ;-)

102:

Congratulations!

103:

Congratulations! I thought it was a strong field this year & would not have been unhappy had it gone to any three of the other nominees. Am delighted for you!

104:

I'll pitch in my congratulations, even though I don't have much to add in the way of deeply informational content.

105:

"Woomera, you have an operational satellite..."

107:

Fantastic! Well done Charlie!

108:

Congratulations!

109:
A simple question... Batteries or do you have to plug it in?

Ha ha, I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought it was a little phallic looking.

110:

A well deserved honor sir! Congrats!

111:

Excellent!

Keep up the good work, Charlie.

112:

Congratulations! "Palimpsest" was one of two novellas I read last year that showed me that space-opera can still boggle. (The other was Alastair Reynolds' "Thousandth Night", which doesn't go so far into Deep Time, but does have some amazingly hubristic astroengineering.)

Yes, Hugo rockets are a bit phallic. The design is from the early fifties, and is very much based on Von Braun-style rockets. That naive age is worth remembering.

113:

Congratulations! I only got to breeze through Wireless once before my friends kidnapped it, so I'm afraid I missed a lot of things in Palimpsest. I'll have to go through it again with a big whiteboard once I get it back.

114:

Congratulations!

115:

Congratulations! Well deserved.

116:

Congratulations Charlie; "Palimpsest" is an excellent piece--and Wireless as a whole is a superlative collection. I wonder, though, if you'd ever be interested in writing a post on what awards like these mean to a working writer. Protocol dictates that you offer a modest smile, say "Aw shucks" and pretend that someone else deserved it more.

What's it really like though, and how does it affect your outlook? Probably shouldn't ask, but the psychology of something like this seems pretty interesting.

117:

Well you still get the double congrats. Totally free, on me.

Re-read Palimpsest last night - still excellent. Amusing and ironic in places given the space colonization discussion here recently. :)

118:

Congratulations Charlie. Very well deserved.

119:

Congratulations Charlie!

120:

Congratulations too!

121:

Congratulations - well deserved, and many more to follow, I'd wager!

122:

Congratulations - it couldn't be more richly deserved! Here's to many more in the future.

123:

Congratulations Mr. Stross. A beauty contest the Hugo's may be, but your contestant had some lovely outfits and the speeches were very convincing. (...And thanks for the Sir Ralph Takahashi stories - I just came across Message In A Time Capsule on FLURB and haven't stopped laughing yet!)

124:

congratulations!!!!!!!!!

125:

Awesome!!! You should be proud; it's well deserved. Congratulations!

126:

Mr. Stross: VERY WELL DESERVED AWARD.

127:

"...the dominant themes have been done better elsewhere...."

Oddly enough, that is how I feel about some of the winners you admire.

This is probably not true of The City and The City. I haven't yet read it; but if the reviews are anywhere near accurate, odds are that it's better than previous novels using the same major idea. Delusion World wasn't one of Gordon R. Dickson's better books; and Herbert D. Kastle's The Reassembled Man was at best a competent Gary Scrue novel (and only used it as a throwaway bit.)

128:

Congratulations. Time for me to read it (yet) again.

129:

Well done Charlie, I'm sure it won't be the last.

... and I was very pleased to find 'Toast' waiting for me on the doorstep when I got home last night. Tentacles on Toast anyone???

130:

Charlie,

Many many congratulations!

Dave.

131:

Time for me to buy another copy of Wireless... I ended up giving away the one I bought when it came out.

132:

Congratulations !!!!!

133:

Charlie,

Congratulations on the second of what I'm sure will be many more Hugos. You seem to have caught the zeitgeist with the Laundry books, and I for one would be very glad to see more. All you need to add is some sparkly vampires and you will have captured the entire market!

Seriously though, very well done - I've enjoyed just about everything you've produced since I first got hold of "Toast" many years ago. And if you get bored of producing more Laundry stories, then I'm sure the Muse will provide some suitable inspiration. Now dance monkey dance!

All the best

134:

Congrats Charlie!

I'll buy you a pint next time I'm at the pub :)

135:

Good for you mate. Enjoy.

136:

Congratulations!

137:

"(I'm mildly curious as to why you might have felt the need to post that particular tirade on my blog, rather than, say, your own..."

Charlie, you're in good company. She dismisses Pinter and Dante as well.

138:

Kudos and congrats!! The only surprise to me is that it took this long...

139:

Congarts.

140:

Awesome! This news got me to finally get off my tuchas and buy "Wireless" via the iBooks store. Though, I had to do a few searches to figure out that's the collection it was in -- you should have mentioned that!

141:

Incidentally, for other folks hunting for it, I think this is a properly-formed URL for the collection in the US iBook store: http://ax.itunes.apple.com/us/book/wireless/id357996119#ls=1

142:

Molto congrats, Charlie!

143:

Woot! Congratulations on your second Hugo. And China Mieville won one at last, too.

144:

Whilst I didn't actually like the work in question, I'm mostly a big fan.

Congratulations on your achievement!

145:

Wot they all said (except #70). Congratulations, and here's hoping you get the Best Novel Hugo one year soon!

146:

Congratulations. I have read one of your books, singularity sky, and it was quite good, now I need to find time to read your Hugo WINNER. :)

147:

This will be a little off target from the Recent Hugo History I will admit ... but still, and since I can't figure out how to add a response to the " All that is old is new again " thread ... title is there if you scholl down .. my copy of Charlie's limited ,and, I gather, long delayed in publication Special Edition of " Toast " has arrived and is every bit as well produced as the illos of the book do illustrate.

Terrific cover and very good paper and binding - Very Well packed too ..it took me far more time to unwrap the package within package with strengthening bits and bubble wrap than its taking me to write this brief commentary.If you have the Money then Buy It Now .. it wont take long to arrive if my experience is anything to go by ... some of the protective plastic wrappings are a bit hard on the teeth though.

Must look in the " Common Misconceptions About Publishing " for remarks upon the Remarkable World of the Small Press and Limited Editions

148:

I'll simply note that the two titles you endorsed came last and last but one in the ballot, so you're a great bellwhether of public taste.

Wireless was a great collection and Palimpest the best single time-travel story I've ever read...

-- Andrew

149:

Charles Stross:

"I'm not going to comment on the other novellas on offer; the Hugos are a beauty show and depend strongly on the collective taste of the voters.

But going by your complaints, I presume you also hold Olaf Stapledon in low esteem -- after all, he too neglected to invest attention in his characters because he was more interested in "flashy stuff" like Deep Time, cosmology, and the future of humanity."

As it happens I find a great deal of value in Stapledon, at least his core works. I see the main difference between 'Palimpsest' and Last and First Men as the former story is very much focused on a character arc. It involves critical occurrences in the life of Pierce, invests considerable time in his background and characteristics, and puts dramatic tension in what decisions he makes. The structure is significantly different than in a Stapledon story, or in the average Baxter one---we're invited and expected to care about the characterization. Which makes it problematic, for me, in the limitations of what's actually provided, the fact that Pierce didn't come across as a complex three dimensional character.

"(I'm mildly curious as to why you might have felt the need to post that particular tirade on my blog, rather than, say, your own. Passive-aggressive display of insecurity, or trolling for traffic?)"

I came across your blog, saw you'd provided a space for people to comment on the victory of your novella, so I took a moment to register my issues with it, seeing it as a locale for more than listing praise. Apologies if I've crossed too severe a line of etiquette in this, of course you have the provisions for deleting it if it disrupts the tone of this site beyond your liking.

As to your specific focus if I were obsessed with increasing my site traffic I think I'd probably find the time to not go months between updates. I certainly don't expect a community largely supportive of this particular piece to seek me out based on my showing opposite tastes. My reason for linking to it was to provide some basis of reference to my own minor online presence. Entering the comment purely anonymously seems like the more evasive approach, under the circumstances--I do have a small online presence under this name and connected with this site, that serves as a form of identification. I suppose under your binary that leaves "passive-aggressive display of insecurity" as the only possible

In any case, interesting conversation and I certainly expect you have more pressing things to do with your time than follow through with the one non-enthusiast. Indications that you saw your writing for the story in the same vein as Stapledon does provide some insight into it as a piece.

150:

Alexander

If you have "issues" the proper place to air them is with the Hugo Awards organisers. On their website you can ask them why your opinion doesn't count for a dingo's leavings. http://www.thehugoawards.org/ask-a-question/

Here are the votes that counted, cast by people who are quite capable of recognising the powers of all writers:

http://www.aussiecon4.org/hugoawards/files/2010HugoVotingReport.pdf

151:

Congrats Charlie! Best speech of the night (props to Peter Watts for setting the mise en scene to allow you to get away with it!)

BTW was the guy on a mission at the "Cyberpunk and the City" panel... Apologies if it came across strange (as I realised in hindsight it almost certainly did...) As a gamer, I set myself some objectives before the Con, and shaking your hand was the last of them I needed to accomplish FTW.

152:

It would have been much cooler if I'd known it was bloody rebloodyscheduled. Sigh.

Still got to see the BEST PANEL EVAR with Stross, Reynolds and Benford together at last.

153:

First, Charlie, congrats. Very glad to see you and Peter Watts get the nod this time.

Second, don't roll in the mud with the pig. You both get soiled, but he enjoys it.

My opinions almost always differ from the Hugo's, but you know what, that's how I like it. And this year they managed to do a halfway decent job even in my eyes. I mean avoiding Avatar was almost de rigeur, but passing on District 9 for Moon, that's fine selectivity. Now you Nebula voters have to get off your butts and issue Gene Wolfe his Grand Master hat before he's an ex-lupine.

154:

Congratulations. "Palimpsest" was a tour de force.

155:

Congratulations. I loved this novella and I hope you turn it into a nice long novel as I want to visit the world of Stasis and its enemies again.

156:

Holy frijoles, this anthology is good.

And that "Trunk and Disorderly" story? For some reason I can't quite put my finger on, it's almost like I'm in some alternate universe where a Jerry Cornelius story could be good.

157:

Congrats!

Loved the story when I read it, very well deserved indeed.

158:

Congratulations on the second Hugo win!

I wonder if carrying the big metal club that is the award through airport security is a problem. Hmmm...

159:

Tragically, Cheryl Morgan is currently having precisely this discussion with Thai Airlines security in Sydney Airport (I think at the gate).

160:

Congratulations!

161:

Very Nice, it's always a thrill for me to discover a writer that instantly presses 'that' button, then I have to go and read everything I can by that writer. I may be coming in late here, but better now than never. You are deffo up there Mr C Stross, so keep on giving it plenty.

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