Best Nebula Awards Ever--Or at Least a Tie

I'm exhausted, but I got through the Nebula Awards(R) Weekend with little more than the hitch of a Final Cut Pro file which took a Hollywood editor friend a few hours to translate into something we could actually show at the awards ceremony. Janis Ian (photo below) was a fantastic Toastmistress/Mistress of Ceremonies and Chuck Lorre gave the best testimonial ever to the Nebula Award brand during his keynote speech (punctuated by a guitar-tuning pitch pipd--hysterical.)

Len and I left for the hotel a little later than we had planned because our fire-damaged house had been broken into overnight. This followed by one day our discovery that vandals had ripped the side door off our locked garage and pawed through our stuff (after we spent a day putting the garage in order and putting new locks on it.) We checked into the hotel, checked on registration for our event, and went off to find ourselves some lunch. Then I remembered that I was supposed to get a package from Joss Whedon's assistant--a disk with Joss' speech accepting the Bradbury Award, since he's in Canada shooting a film.

"There's no package for you," says the girl behind the desk. O.K. I went to finish my lunch. After lunch, I decided I'd better check my e-mail. Sure enough, e-mail from Joss' assistant. "I called the hotel and they said the package came and you picked it up." Oh, good. A problem. A big problem.

Several hours later, after the front desk lied again at least twice and I had to call my hotel contact for our events, I got the package. I did not immediately try to play the disk because it was time for me to run off and start the cocktail party. We went on to what turned into a very late dinner because the kitchen took an hour to get food to the table after my husband and a friend of ours had appetizers.

Following that, I took the secretary of SFWA, techno-goddess and puppeteer Mary Robinette Kowal, back to the room to check out the video. Good thing. We couldn't open it. Our efforts included a late-night e-mail to Joss' assistant, who immediately called us back with suggestions. Mary took the file with her and put out an APB for someone who might be able to convert the file. I saw that early on Saturday morning and woke my friend Becky Lillienfeld, who is a film editor and whom I knew owned Final Cut Pro. Becky spent the day working on it and managed to get the file to us in working HD form (despite slow upload and download times.) Crisis averted. You can see Joss Whedon's acceptance speech here.

Janis Ian wrote a new set of lyrics to "At Seventeen" to honor as many writers and stories as she could. It was funny and touching, leaving many people with tears in their eyes. Janis might record the number and make it available on her website, which would be wonderful.

Chuck Lorre was my keynote speaker and he did not disappoint. He used a guitar tuning pipe to punctuate his story about "Cross-eyed Larry" who gave him a dog-eared copy of the Martian Chronicles when Chuck was 12. It was just perfect. I hope the editor of this year's volume of the Nebula Awards anthology decides to publish the speech.
My niece Stephanie Valada-Viars (in the photograph above with my son Michael) made a lovely awards girl. One table passed a motion that she do these duties at all further Nebula Awards Ceremonies.

Bruin TV covered the event and here's the video report




It's been seven years since I chaired my first Nebula Awards Ceremony. I'd like to do it again, but I hope I don't have to wait 7 years to do it again.

Oh, I got a thank you gift from SFWA for doing it this time: five sterling silver horses--three pendants and two pins--a nice start on rebuilding my collection.

Not Quite Good-bye to Awards Season

The Oscars(R) are over for another year, the folks in my house had a great time watching (even if Hugh Jackman didn't take off his shirt), and I have my own awards ceremony to put on in April.

Things have generally been going well, but yesterday was one of those nightmare days where I got an e-mail saying one of our special awardees could no longer attend. We're working on a technological solution, but it doesn't replace having someone in the room that a lot of people wanted to meet.

This year, our Grand Master honoree is Harry Harrison. Janis Ian is our toastmistress and Chuck Lorre of the Big Bang Theory is our keynote speaker. It will be a fine evening.

For anyone who might have an interest in science fiction and fantasy, the Nebula Awards(R) Ceremony is open to the public. The banquet will be held on the campus of U.C.L.A. on the night of April 25, 2009, which is the Saturday of the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books weekend, also at U.C.L.A. Members of the Science Fiction Writers of America will be signing books at the Mysterious Galaxy booth both days of the weekend. For more information about the event, go to the Nebula Awards Weekend page located here.

I'm in the market for a hot red gown to wear to the Nebulas. I saw one on the red carpet Sunday, but I'm not tall enough or skinny enough to borrow it. I guess I have to keep looking.

Party Planning

It's official: Janis Ian will be my Toastmistress for the 2009 Nebula Awards Ceremony in Los Angeles on April 25. SFWA sent out a press release this week. She was the first person I contacted when I was put in charge of next year's awards, and she agreed to it immediately. She loves science fiction and it is as big a thrill for her to do it as it is for us to have her.

Janis is in L.A. for a few days, appearing at the Studio City branch of the L.A. Public Library tonight at 7 p.m. as part of their Distinguished Speakers series. It's free, but space is limited. She's signing her autobiography at Book Soup in West Hollywood at 2 on Saturday and is doing a concert at McCabe's in West Los Angeles on Sunday evening (which is sold out.) Her tour schedule can be seen here. She'll be on the road for a while longer this year promoting the book and singing.

Be Careful for What You Wish

Back in the days when I was the lawyer for the Science Fiction Writers of America, I volunteered to chair the Nebula Awards(R) Weekend in Los Angeles in 2001. I thought I could turn it into an classy event, and everybody says that's exactly what I did.

The banquet was at the Beverly Hilton,also the home of the Golden Globes and WGA awards. Sir Arthur C. Clark was my "guest of honor in abstentia," with, like Elijah, a place set for him on the dias, with a glass of Champagne. We read the letter he sent to his friends and colleagues in the year that resonates in science fiction because of the Hal 9000.

My Rollodex went into over-drive. Neil Gaiman let me twist his arm into being Master of Cermonies (and was even nominated for his script for the English version of Princess Mononoke that year) and Paul Guay, who co-wrote Liar, Liar, Heartbreakers, and the Little Rascals movie, was my keynote speaker. Nobody walked out (traditionally, the room empties when the keynote speaker speaks.) Robert Gordon was there to pick up his Nebula(R) Award for Galaxy Quest, the only time we've actually had the screenwriters present. Robert Burnett, who co-wrote and directed Free Enterprise handed out the screenplay award. My table gave me the wave when dessert arrived with the SFWA logo on white chocolate on every plate. It was quite a night, and a very successful weekend.

I had three years to plan and execute it. I offered to do it again, but nobody took me up on it. The closest I got was "well, you can bid for it." Not bloody likely, thank you.

Well, on Friday, I did get a call. The kind of call you get when you need Joan of Arc and some miracles. So now I'm chairing the Nebula Awards(R) Weekend again. In April 2009. I've got...10 months.

The first thing is to lock down a hotel for the weekend of the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, April 25-26. The last time I did this, tying the weekend to the Festival of Books was a big hit with everyone. There was lots of autographing done.

Much to my surprise, two hotels are already back in touch, including the one where we booked our folks stayed in 2001. Since I don't have the flexibility to gallivant off during the day, checking out hotels will be a little more difficult this time out. Guess I know what I'll be doing in the evening this week.