The Last Emperox Wins the Dragon Award for Best Science Fiction Novel
Posted on September 6, 2020 Posted by John Scalzi 31 Comments
And I’m more than a little surprised about it, because the finalist list in the Best Science Fiction Novel category was so absurdly strong. I mean, Margaret Atwood? Martha Wells? Tamsyn Muir? Chuck Wendig? Just as examples? Come on. Embarrassment of riches, there. But, you know. I like trophies. I will take it.
Thank you to everyone who voted for me. And also everyone who voted in general. I’m glad you made the effort. And thank you to Dragon Con! This is clearly the best virtual convention I’ve been to yet.
I’m dedicating this win to everyone who works on and sells my books: I don’t put them out myself, they go through quite a lot of hands to get made. And then more hands come on board to tell you about them, and get them out in the world to you, the readers. I wouldn’t be in the extremely fortunate position I am today — in general, not just winning an award today — without every single person who had a hand producing and selling my work. If you are one of these fabulous people, thank you so very much. This is your award, too. I’m gonna keep the trophy at my house, though.
Here’s the entire list of winners, on Tor.com. Congratulations to each of them as well (including some friends of mine)! It’s a good year for these awards, and I am proud to be in your company.
— JS
I think it’s more Kiva’s win then yours to be honest.
But seriously congratulations
Congratulations! Well deserved!
Congratulations, John! It was a fine read, lots of fun and a nice set of twists and turns as usual. What’s coming up next? :-)
I have something coming out THIS VERY WEEK, in fact!
Congrats, Scalzi.
Oh, congratulations! Yesss!
Congratulations, John! Ya done good. :)
Congratulations, well deserved! I raise my (virtual) glass for this and the next awards.
Well done sir.
Congratulations! What a great start to the week!
Congratulations, well deserved!
If I had voted, I would have voted for it twice, once in person and once via mail… actually, I just wanted to let you know that I pandemicked my way through 11 of your books in the last month. A friend suggested I check out Whatever, and that got me interested in reading the books — all 6 of The Old Man’s War, Redshirts, the Emperox series, and Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded. Now I have to wait a few years for you to create another series. Thanks a lot. (Seriously, thanks a lot. And congratulations.)
Woo hoo!
Congratulations and yes, that is some list. Interesting to see that military SF is now a category of its own; it does show, as you have said quite a few times before, that SF has moved on since the days military SF was the alpha dog of the genre. (I’m 58, so I was raised on it too, though even then I enjoyed Lafferty more than I did most of Heinlein et al*.)
It’s also fun to see s Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Miniatures (etc) category. I’m not a collector myself** but I have known people who are and these things give so much joy (and sometimes frustration) to so many that they do deserve a mention.
* I hugely enjoyed the OMW books but that was a case of ‘Follow the author wherever they go’.
**I do have one very small figurine of TP’s Death (playing guitar) and NG’s Death (much bigger and standing on a heap of skulls.) Morbid, moi?
Congratulations. A well deserved win. The Last Emperox was a great conclusion to a great trilogy.
Good for you…just started reading the book the other day and am really liking it…a good rebound from the first book in the trilogy which personally seemed kinda weak.
This also reflects well on the awards, which originated out of Sad Puppy whining.
Congratulations from a long time fan.
Congratulations!
Congratulations Mr S! Your shelves are becoming very well-stocked with heavy shiny stuff! Looking forward to the “Kiva’s Guide To Etiquette And Grace” follow-up novella…
※\(^o^)/※
Congratulations!! And, yes, that WAS an absurdly strong list of contenders—which would make the win so sweet (I imagine).
gwangung:
Indeed, it’s really cool when everything on the list is eminently worthy, as was the case in this category.
Congratulations!!!!!
(I hope the dragon will not scare the cats ;-) )
Well congratulations. I just finished “The Android’s Dream”, and it took me right back to my pre-teen years when I read every SciFi book on my local library’s shelves 6 at a time!
A romping good read.
You little bee-YOO-tay! Well done!
Congrats, John, on the win!
Hey, congrats. Extremely happy for you.
I opened up Whatever last last night — and saw the well deserved yet modest announcement of success. But then fur babbies needed feeding, and bed needed gotten into, for a cool evening of snuggly snoozing.
So belated congratulations and most sincere admiration for this accomplishment.
Congrata
I would have voted for Atwood myself.
On the other hand, I purchased Last Emperox but borrowed Testaments from the library.
Which speaks louder?
I mean, neither I nor Ms. Atwood is scraping for a meal.