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August 28th, 2006
 | 10:28 pm - SQUEEEEE!
We are home, home from the wars, home from the Worldcon and another brief fling at Disney, home with a bright shiny rocketship for the mantlepiece! Yes indeedy, David won the 2006 Hugo Award for Best Short Story. Yes, this is huge.
We so did not expect to win. The way to bet was either frequent winner Mike Resnick, or Margo Lanagan's story "Singing My Sister Down", a strong critical favorite. Lanagan, in fact, came in ahead of David on the first pass through the ballots, but the Hugos use a tiered voting system, and as the least-popular stories dropped off one at a time, their votes transferred to David's story rather than hers. (See here for an explanation of Instant Runoff Voting using Muppets.)
Looking for this information online can be frustrating. www.worldcon.org has pulled LA Con IV from "Upcoming Worldcons" while not yet adding it to "Past Worldcons". Even if the link were there, www.laconiv.org declared itself officially frozen as of the start of the con. A Google Image search on "Levine Hugo" calls up David, shirtless, whaling on Jay Lake with a pool noodle at the '04 Wiscon.
But Locus Online has the results, and a cool group photo with David between fellow fiction winners Connie Willis and Peter S. Beagle. The Mid-American Fan Photo Archive has a good shot of David at the podium. And "slushgod" over on flickr.com has the whole sequence of David's encounter with presenter Harlan Ellison. (Click on the upper right-hand photo to move through them.)
I wish I had seen that... I was gobstruck, and/or sobbing. I have no memory of David somehow clambering/levitating past Sarah Monette, Elizabeth Bear, and the poor bastard in the aisle seat, nor of him charging up the stage stairs hard enough to knock them out of kilter. I saw Harlan with his arms outstretched and David slam into him.... I did not see him swarm up Harlan's leg like a spider monkey on the Tonight Show. David assures me that he really does still have one leg on the ground in this shot.
The Short Story award was the first of four fiction awards presented, after a long string of Fan Artist, Fanzine (hope to get one of those for Bento someday), Professional Editor, Dramatic Presentation, etc. Harlan gave a brief, intense speech to the effect that the short story is the most important thing in SF. He read off the nominees, then said "LEVINE! You out there?!" A strangled "YeS?" from the seat beside me. "Get your ass up here!" bellowed Harlan. I swear to god, after that lead-in I thought he was calling up all five nominees to demand we pay them homage en masse. (Mind you, David and Resnick were the only two there.) I think David had already broken the stairs by the time I realized what was actually happening.
We spent much of the rest of the night in a happy daze. I hope someone posts pictures soon of David attempting the ceremonial breaching of the sake keg at the post-party. It didn't want to be breached. You know how David Banner turns into the Hulk when thwarted? My David releases his inner toon. ("He's using the mallet as a lever," commented one partygoer. "Must be an Analog writer.")
Many people mentioned that they appreciated David's obvious enthusiasm at winning. He carried the award with him to his reading Sunday morning (and then was stuck with it for a chunk of the day), leading to a lot of wisecracks but also a lot of people saying "Oh cool, can I touch it? I've never seen one close up before."
I know just how they feel.
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Comments:
Wonderful! Congratulations are in order, and maybe a hug or five!
WOW!! Go David! That's fantastic.
OMG! Squeeeee! is so the right word!
![[User Picture]](http://l-userpic.livejournal.com/77195680/5429061) | | From: | ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) bearfuz |
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| Date: | August 29th, 2006 06:25 am (UTC) |
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Thanks for the flickr links. What a funny thing to have observed! Of course, a scene like that would have barely raised an eyebrow at an IAGSDC convention, except maybe for the wearing of the tux.
David's hair certainly is long in those photos. Guess it's been a while since I've seen him!
Congratulations to you both!
![[User Picture]](http://l-userpic.livejournal.com/89176787/4382461) | | From: | allanh |
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| Date: | August 29th, 2006 07:59 am (UTC) |
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Do the Fials have a Hugo dangle? They should, now!
Congratulations!
![[User Picture]](http://l-userpic.livejournal.com/90752767/3601814) | | From: | jaylake |
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| Date: | August 29th, 2006 12:54 pm (UTC) |
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Squee, indeed. You both looked ethereal at the afterparty. I'm so damned happy for him.
What Jay said.
I could not be happier at the outcome, and you were both glowing.
HURRRRAHHHHHHH!!!!! Much, much rejoicing in our household for The David!
![[User Picture]](http://l-userpic.livejournal.com/45511023/271124) | | From: | cjsmith |
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| Date: | August 29th, 2006 04:55 pm (UTC) |
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Oh how EXCELLENT! Congratulations!
When Dave Brin won (in 85) he was running around the the Lanai. He called my name, in childlike glee, "look, I got a Hugo!" and then he stopped, and said, "did you know they were filled with clay?
Well, in point of fact, I did. The bases, in '84, were ceramic rats, and we'd found they fell over, because the rocket was too heavy. So we packed them with adluterated clay.
I said, "yeah, and they have buckshot too."
"Really" and he started to dig into it trying to find one.
TK
Congratulations! Sounds like it's time to give up your day job. *grin* It's always wonderful to see such a talented (and genuinely nice person :-)) get the recognition they so deserve.
![[User Picture]](http://l-userpic.livejournal.com/34148457/7246267) | | From: | vj_pdx |
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| Date: | August 30th, 2006 04:14 am (UTC) |
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Yay!!! Go! Go! GO! I'm so happy for you both!
oooh yayayayayayayayayayayayay!
| From: | (Anonymous) |
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| Date: | August 30th, 2006 11:51 pm (UTC) |
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| | Lots of Huzzahs from Sue Renhard & Dave Moreland | (Link) |
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Oh Kate,
We were so excited--Dave left a message on my cell for me to listen to when I took lunch at work, and then cast frantically about in his mind for someone to call (someone who would appreciate the significance, but was not actually _at_ the worldcon). We're both so tickled we can hardly contain ourselves!
Still doing the Happy Dance in our house on your house's behalf,
Sue |
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