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A STORM OF SWORDS TAKES IGNOTUSDecember 6, 2006
My short story “The Pear-Shaped Man” was also nominated for an Ignotus this year, as best Foreign Short Story, but lost out to “Down Memory Lane” by Mike Resnick. The other competitors were “For I Have Touched the Sky”, also by Mike Resnick, “Duel”, by Richard Matheson, and “We Don’t Think the Same”, by Bruce Sterling. All five nominees were published in Gigamesh, the leading Spanish magazine for fans of fantasy and science fiction. Once again, I would like to thank all the Spanish fans for this honor, and give a special tip of the hat to the gang at Gigamesh, who have done such a superb job of bringing my work to a new readership: Alex Vidal, Juanma Santiago, Alejo Cuevo, my cover artists Corominas and Juan Miguel Aguilera, and my translators Cristina Macía and Nuria Gres. If not for them and their hard work, I doubt that these Ignotii would be coming my way. I am grateful to them all… and I am looking forward to my next visit to Spain in 2008, when I will once again be attending Semana Negra in Gijon. |
Maybe I should move to Spain. The weather’s nice, there are lots of great castles, the senoritas are enchanting, the food is good (especially that ham they have), they have sangria and absinthe to wash it down with, and the Spanish fans have really terrific taste in fantasy. Once again the voters of the Spanish Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Association (AEFCFT) have honored me with the Ignotus Award (the “Spanish Hugo”), selecting A STORM OF SWORDS as the Best Foreign Novel of the year. 
A GAME OF THRONES and A CLASH OF KINGS also won the Ignotus in their years of publication, so this marks my third award for A Song of Ice and Fire. This year’s other nominees were Jonathan Strange and Mister Norrell, by Susanna Clarke, The Plot Against America, by Philip Roth, and Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro, certainly a distinguished list of books. Since I was not able to attend HispaCon, my wonderful translator Cristina Macía accepted the award on my behalf. By rights, she should keep half the trophy for herself; her hard work and painstaking eloquence have a lot to do with the popularity of my books in Spain.