In an astonishing turn of events, THE GENIUS PLAGUE was just named the winner of the John W. Campbell Award for Best Novel of the Year!  I am now in Lawrence, Kansas (a hub of SF appreciation and scholarship) to accept the award, which has been given over the last 45 years to some of my favorite books and authors.  The large award next to me in the picture is the permanent award, which has the names of every winner engraved on it… including now, me.  I can’t express what an incredible honor this is.  I can vividly remember as a young man staying up late to finish Rendezvous with Rama, by Arthur C. Clarke, and sitting straight up in bed with a rush of goosebumps at its astonishing last line.  That book won the 2nd Campbell Award in 1974.  Other winners stand out in my memory: The Postman, by David Brin and Beggars in Spain, by Nancy Kress, both books that showed me how powerful science fiction can be to speak to the human condition, both in our tendency to choose to hate or harm as well as our capability for heroism and self-sacrifice.  The list of authors and books is long and awe-inspiring, and for my name to be permanently etched among them is an honor beyond words.

(Picture taken by Charlie Jane Anders, who received the Sturgeon Award for best short fiction at the same ceremony.)