Hi everyone –

It’s 150am in California and I just got back from the WOTF prize night–I’m actually still in my tux.

I wanted to let you all know that this evening I won the Grand Prize at the Writers of the Future award ceremony. I’ll be posting WAY more about WOTF once I get back to Toronto, but I wanted to let you know now because…well, because this is possibly the most excited I’ve ever been in my whole life.

Being convinced that I was not going to win, I hadn’t prepared an acceptance speech and was UTTERLY stunned by the announcement. I’m told that there were words coming out of my mouth, that they were in English and that they made some sense. I don’t exactly recall them, however, as I was focusing on breathing and not passing out. It was one of the most intense moments of my life and there’s really no way to describe it.

I didn’t expect to win because two hours earlier Jerry Pournelle and Prof. Yoji Kondo (two judges) had told me that I hadn’t won. I said to him afterward: “You tricked me!” He looked at me with a mischievous glint in his eye and said in a Louisiana accent: “I did do that, didn’t I?”

It was an amazing moment.

I’ve spent the last four hours signing books, doing interviews, and taking more pictures than I think I’ve ever had taken of me in my entire life combined. I’m on such a rush right now I may never sleep again.

Tomorrow is a giant book signing with all the authors and hopefully some downtime for the first time all week. I’ll be back in Toronto Sunday for two days before I leave for Chicago for a week on business, so I’ll talk to you as soon as I can.

TTFN

Stephen – Master of the Universe (for tonight anyway…)