David Walton's Terminal Mind Wins Philip K. Dick Award

Friends,

I'm writing this from Seattle, where I just WON the Philip K. Dick Award! The award is given every year at Norwescon (the Northwest Science Fiction Convention) for the best science fiction novel of the year originally printed in paperback. The competition is tough. For Terminal Mind to win was a tremendous upset.

It was an Academy Award-like event: six nominated books and none of the nominees knowing which of us would win until the award was announced. Just being nominated was a huge thrill, so I was trying not to hope. I sat in the ballroom, barely eating, while the award administrators intentionally dragged things out to add to the suspense. My publisher was there as well for moral support. And then the announcement... !

Traditionally, there is both a Winner and a Special Citation awarded, but this year the judges couldn't decide which was which, so both my book and Adam-Troy Castro's book, Emissaries for the Dead, were jointly given the award. This is an amazing honor (especially for a first novel!), and means my work can forever be emblazoned with "Philip K. Dick Award Winning Author". In fact, a new edition of the book will likely do just that.

Thanks to all of you who have read and supported my work!

David