I’m thrilled to report that on Sunday, August 11, 2024, I won the Aurora Award for Best Related Work with Year’s Best Canadian Fantasy and Science Fiction: Volume One.

The book was a lot of fun, a ton of work, and winning an Aurora caps off what has been a universally positive response to the anthology. Thank you to everyone who backed the Kickstarter, bought the book, nominated the book, and/or voted for it in the Auroras. This wouldn’t have been possible without you.

Thank you, too, to everyone at CSFFA who helps administer the awards and to Mark Leslie Lefebvre and Liz Anderson, who once again hosted a fantastic ceremony on YouTube.

Congratulations to all the other Aurora winners and nominees. It was a fantastic ballot from top to bottom this year. You can see the whole ceremony here (the Best Related Work category starts at 51:15):

 

 

Now, when I won, we were actually at a barbecue with friends a couple of hours’ drive from our house. So, as we’re on our way home in the car, I happen to check my email and find…Year’s Best Canadian Fantasy and Science Fiction: Volume One is a finalist for the World Fantasy Award?!?!

Often, when you’re up for an award, they’ll reach out in advance to ensure you want to accept the award. But I guess World Fantasy likes to surprise everyone with the list because I had no inkling this was coming. My wife (who was driving, thankfully) counted me saying “Wow!” sixty-three times in the course of a two-hour drive.

I kept reading and rereading the email, thinking I’d somehow misunderstood.

I’m blown away by all this. This kind of thing happens to other people. I’m looking at the other editors nominated and then remember I’m amongst them, and that old song from Sesame Street starts playing in my head: “One of these things is not like the others / One of these things just doesn’t belong…”

I mean, I’m going to lose to Jordan Peele. (Yeah—that Jordan Peele). But, at the same time…I get to lose to JORDAN PEELE.

Can I just say: WOW.