Michael Swanwick Online: News and Appearances

Slow Life, Michael's novellete published in Analog, won the Hugo at Torcon. This is Michael's story about the winning:

By now, most of you have already heard that my story "Slow Life," won the Hugo for best novelette over Labor Day Weekend. I was in The Castle in Tarrytown, New York when I got the call from...

But wait a minute. What was I doing in Tarrytown? Why wasn't I in Toronto? I love Canada, I love Toronto, and Canadian fans have in the past been exceptionally kind to me. So ordinarily I would've been at Torcon, having a great time. However, my nephew Richard chose to schedule his wedding for that very day. And because Richard's father is Chinese and his mother (my sister Pat) is Irish and Lucy's family is Italian, there was no way I could not attend. We're talking three of the great wedding cultures of the world, here. Death itself would not have gotten me out of that one.

Skipping lightly over the ceremony in St. Patrick's Cathedral in NYC, the happy couple, the wedding dress with a skirt like a cloud, and the lavish reception at The Castle, I come to my mother's room upstairs in the hotel. Mom is a little frail these days, so as soon as the meal was over she slipped away to get some rest. Not long after, Marianne and I went up to see how she was doing, and discovered my sisters Mary and Barbie, Barbie's daughter Emily, my son Sean, and my niece Alicia (Richard's sister) there ahead of us. So it was a lot like a room party at a science fiction con, except without the drunk guy who wants to tell you what's wrong with Larry Niven's last novel.

And then Marianne's cell phone rang.

The thing is, this was something like eleven-thirty at night, so I'd though I hadn't won anything. I'd given the number to all of my designated acceptors (when you've got four nominations, you don't waste them all on a single person), and I figured if I'd won I would have heard before then. So it really did come as a surprise.

The call was from Martha Millard, my agent. She gave me the glad news and my sister Mary snapped a picture of me, and everybody cheered. All the room was filled with joy, everybody was happy for me, and I couldn't help feeling that that in itself was an accomplishment. Having a family that loves you is an important part of life. I felt truly grateful. So, really, missing out on the awards ceremony wasn't such a big deal.

And I'd made my Mom proud of me. That means a lot.
(September 2003)

Periodic Table of Science Fiction, the series of short-short stories Michael writes for Sci Fiction, will be published in hardcover in 2004 by PS Publishing, a British publishing house. The editor of the collection will be our own Nick Gevers.
(June 2003)

Four of Michael's works are nominated for this years Hugo Awards:

Bones of the Earth (Eos) for Best Novel
"Slow Life" (Analog, Dec 2002) for Best Novelette
"'Hello,' Said the Stick" (Analog, Mar 2002) and "The Little Cat Laughed to See Such Sport" (Asimov's, Oct/Nov 2002) for Best Short Story

The winners will be announced at Torcon, the 61^st Worldcon, held August 28-September 1, 2003.
http://www.torcon3.on.ca/
(April 2003)

"Five British Dinosaurs", Michael's short story published in the infinity plus issue of Interzone in March of 2002 is shortlisted for the British Science Fiction Award. The winners will be announced at Seacon, this year's Eastercon.
http://www.seacon03.org.uk/
(April 2003)

Forthcoming. «My cryptoautobiographical "The Last Geek" is still scheduled to appear in Crossroads, an anthology of Southern fantasy edited by Andy Duncan and Brett Cox. I lived for five years or so in Virginia and then left forever, so this was my only chance ever to be a Southern writer.

«"King Dragon," which is set in the same realm of discourse and possibly the same world as The Iron Dragon's Daughter, will appear in The Dragon Quintet, an original anthology edited by Marvin Kaye for the Science Fiction Book Club. I haven't yet decided whether to extend it into a novel or not.

«A set of four related Darger and Surplus short-shorts, "Smoke and Mirrors: Four Scenes from the Postutopian Future" is forthcoming from Lou Anders's original anthology Live Without A Net. It's a mass market paperback original due out any minute now, and the stories tell the tale of a digressive adventure the Lads have while en route to Paris between "The Dog Said Bow-Wow" and "The Little Cat Laughed to See Such Sport."

«I wrote and sold "Deep in the Woods of Grammarie..." (which I subtitled, "Seven Tales from the Enchanted Forest," but we'll see if that survives the editorial process) to Realms Of Fantasy about a week ago. It's another set of - yes - short-shorts, these set in the realm of the Brothers Grimm. And yesterday I finished off and mailed out "Coyote at the End of History," another exercise in linked short-shorts. It's worth mentioning that I'm wrapping up the entire short-short fiction thing now. I've done pretty much all I've wanted to do with the form, and I'd like to stop before people start taking it for granted.

«Which brings to mind the fact that my long-promised and often-delayed (I think it was originally supposed to come out in the year 2000) short-short story collection, Cigar-Box Faust And Other Miniatures will be published at last by Tachyon Publications this year, 2003. No, really. Honest. I've seen the catalog copy.

«Oh, and "Hope-in-the-Mist," my biographical essay on the fantasist Hope Mirrlees will appear in this spring's issue of Foundation and also in translation as an afterword to the first German edition of Lud-In-The-Mist. Mirrlees was good buddies with T.S. Eliot, longtime roommate of Classics superstar Jane Ellen Harrison, and a lady who really knew how to get up Virginia Woolf's nose. An interesting woman all around.»
(March 2003)

Public Appearances

Nothing scheduled for the moment.

News and Appearances - 2003
home author truth unca mike's advice news News of 2003 News of 2002 News of 2001 fiction non-fiction bibliography reviews & analysis gallery links who & how contact	Slow Life, Michael's novellete published in Analog, won the Hugo at Torcon. This is Michael's story about the winning: By now, most of you have already heard that my story "Slow Life," won the Hugo for best novelette over Labor Day Weekend. I was in The Castle in Tarrytown, New York when I got the call from... But wait a minute. What was I doing in Tarrytown? Why wasn't I in Toronto? I love Canada, I love Toronto, and Canadian fans have in the past been exceptionally kind to me. So ordinarily I would've been at Torcon, having a great time. However, my nephew Richard chose to schedule his wedding for that very day. And because Richard's father is Chinese and his mother (my sister Pat) is Irish and Lucy's family is Italian, there was no way I could not attend. We're talking three of the great wedding cultures of the world, here. Death itself would not have gotten me out of that one. Skipping lightly over the ceremony in St. Patrick's Cathedral in NYC, the happy couple, the wedding dress with a skirt like a cloud, and the lavish reception at The Castle, I come to my mother's room upstairs in the hotel. Mom is a little frail these days, so as soon as the meal was over she slipped away to get some rest. Not long after, Marianne and I went up to see how she was doing, and discovered my sisters Mary and Barbie, Barbie's daughter Emily, my son Sean, and my niece Alicia (Richard's sister) there ahead of us. So it was a lot like a room party at a science fiction con, except without the drunk guy who wants to tell you what's wrong with Larry Niven's last novel. And then Marianne's cell phone rang. The thing is, this was something like eleven-thirty at night, so I'd though I hadn't won anything. I'd given the number to all of my designated acceptors (when you've got four nominations, you don't waste them all on a single person), and I figured if I'd won I would have heard before then. So it really did come as a surprise. The call was from Martha Millard, my agent. She gave me the glad news and my sister Mary snapped a picture of me, and everybody cheered. All the room was filled with joy, everybody was happy for me, and I couldn't help feeling that that in itself was an accomplishment. Having a family that loves you is an important part of life. I felt truly grateful. So, really, missing out on the awards ceremony wasn't such a big deal. And I'd made my Mom proud of me. That means a lot. (September 2003) Periodic Table of Science Fiction, the series of short-short stories Michael writes for Sci Fiction, will be published in hardcover in 2004 by PS Publishing, a British publishing house. The editor of the collection will be our own Nick Gevers. (June 2003) Four of Michael's works are nominated for this years Hugo Awards: Bones of the Earth (Eos) for Best Novel "Slow Life" (Analog, Dec 2002) for Best Novelette "'Hello,' Said the Stick" (Analog, Mar 2002) and "The Little Cat Laughed to See Such Sport" (Asimov's, Oct/Nov 2002) for Best Short Story The winners will be announced at Torcon, the 61^st Worldcon, held August 28-September 1, 2003. http://www.torcon3.on.ca/ (April 2003) "Five British Dinosaurs", Michael's short story published in the infinity plus issue of Interzone in March of 2002 is shortlisted for the British Science Fiction Award. The winners will be announced at Seacon, this year's Eastercon. http://www.seacon03.org.uk/ (April 2003) Forthcoming. «My cryptoautobiographical "The Last Geek" is still scheduled to appear in Crossroads, an anthology of Southern fantasy edited by Andy Duncan and Brett Cox. I lived for five years or so in Virginia and then left forever, so this was my only chance ever to be a Southern writer. «"King Dragon," which is set in the same realm of discourse and possibly the same world as The Iron Dragon's Daughter, will appear in The Dragon Quintet, an original anthology edited by Marvin Kaye for the Science Fiction Book Club. I haven't yet decided whether to extend it into a novel or not. «A set of four related Darger and Surplus short-shorts, "Smoke and Mirrors: Four Scenes from the Postutopian Future" is forthcoming from Lou Anders's original anthology Live Without A Net. It's a mass market paperback original due out any minute now, and the stories tell the tale of a digressive adventure the Lads have while en route to Paris between "The Dog Said Bow-Wow" and "The Little Cat Laughed to See Such Sport." «I wrote and sold "Deep in the Woods of Grammarie..." (which I subtitled, "Seven Tales from the Enchanted Forest," but we'll see if that survives the editorial process) to Realms Of Fantasy about a week ago. It's another set of - yes - short-shorts, these set in the realm of the Brothers Grimm. And yesterday I finished off and mailed out "Coyote at the End of History," another exercise in linked short-shorts. It's worth mentioning that I'm wrapping up the entire short-short fiction thing now. I've done pretty much all I've wanted to do with the form, and I'd like to stop before people start taking it for granted. «Which brings to mind the fact that my long-promised and often-delayed (I think it was originally supposed to come out in the year 2000) short-short story collection, Cigar-Box Faust And Other Miniatures will be published at last by Tachyon Publications this year, 2003. No, really. Honest. I've seen the catalog copy. «Oh, and "Hope-in-the-Mist," my biographical essay on the fantasist Hope Mirrlees will appear in this spring's issue of Foundation and also in translation as an afterword to the first German edition of Lud-In-The-Mist. Mirrlees was good buddies with T.S. Eliot, longtime roommate of Classics superstar Jane Ellen Harrison, and a lady who really knew how to get up Virginia Woolf's nose. An interesting woman all around.» (March 2003) Public Appearances Nothing scheduled for the moment.
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