Shadow War of the Night Dragons Wins Tor.com’s 2011 Readers’ Choice Award
Posted on February 22, 2012 Posted by John Scalzi 18 Comments
I’m delighted to say that my overt and tasteless vote-mongering campaign involving kittens worked the people have spoken, and they have graced my short story “Shadow War of the Night Dragons: Book One: The Dead City: Prologue” with the laurel of the Tor.com 2011 Readers’ Choice Award, in the category of short fiction. It joins Pat Rothfuss’ The Wise Man’s Fear, which strolled away with the Novel category win (Fuzzy Nation, I’ll note, finished in the top ten, which is nice) and other winners as well. Congratulations to all.
And before you ask, no, I will not be employing the Kitten Strategy™ elsewhere. There’s a fine line between silly and obnoxious. The Kitten Strategy™ in this case? Silly and fun. Elsewhere? Obnoxious. If “Shadow War” pops up on any other slates, it will have to do so entirely kitten-free. And you know, I’ll be okay with that.
That Hugo is so close, you can almost taste it. It’d taste like…Victory.
I have two Hugos. I know what they taste like.
I hope you choose not to take that last bit literally.
Can I turn SWotND:B1:TDC:P into a graphic novel?
I still think SWotND:B1:TDC:P needs to become an audiobook read by Wil Wheaton.
What’s Tor planning for the first anniversary of the Prologue being published, John? ;)
I think The Kitten Strategy could make you President!
@ John: If I had a Hugo, I totally *would* taste it. Just because, you know, I *could*.
(Don’t worry, though – I have zero interest in tasting anyone else’s Hugo. That’d be tacky.)
Also, congratulations!
Fortunately there are many other neotinous mammallian young available for such marketing…. puppies, ferrets, heck, even baby badgers. The Baby Badger Stragtegy® Yeah, it might not be as effective as kittens, but certainly memorable.
Hugos aren’t chocolate?
Huh. See if I ever write Science Fiction now. (Little known fact: Pulitzers are actually chocolate coins wrapped in gold foil.)
Interesting idea DGL… now if I could only get my hands on a Hugo to make a mould out of….
@ Acalzi saud
“I have two Hugos. I know what they taste like.
I hope you choose not to take that last bit literally.”
Why not? You licked your *book*.
That would be “Scalzi said” with real fingers. I miss preview.
I pre-ordered that book last year, based on the killer prologue… when is it coming out? I expect an answer no later than the first day of the month whose showers bring flowers in the subsequent month, otherwise I shall cancel!
I found myself wondering; just what is the tasting surface of a Hugo rocket made of?
The answer seems to be chromium for 2008 & 2009.
http://www.thehugoawards.org/hugo-trophies/making-hugos/
How one tastes victory as a comparison remains to be determined.
I’m a leg/breast man myself, but victory wings taste like marble:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winged_Victory_of_Samothrace
Well marble is probably tastier than napalm in the morning.
My favorite part is the THREE colons in the title.
Can’t even guess what a Hugo would taste like, but I know how Victory tastes!
http://victorybeer.com/
Next (first?) time you’re in town, John, the Festbier (or, well, Rootbier anyway) is on me.
I thought you were old enough to remember this.