"Congratulations, Michael! You won a Hugo Last Night . . ."

.

. . . Tom Purdom said.

"No, I didn't," I replied.

This happened last Saturday.  A bunch of us were in Tom's apartment for our monthly gathering of local writers, and Tom dropped the above line on me.  Immediately, my powerful mind leaped into action.  I was certain that it was June and I was pretty sure that the Worldcon was in . . . July or August or something this year.  Anyway, I have plane tickets and a hotel reservation, and I was sure I'd remember it if somehow I hadn't gone.  So I was secure in my denial.

But Tom was, as always, right.

He was talking about the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society's yearly Hugo Panel, which was held last Friday.  The panelists (one of whom, Josh Varrone, is a friend of my son) read everything that was up beforehand, and then presented their thoughts on which work should win in each category.

And, as seems in retrospect inevitable, "A Small Room in Koboldtown" won handily.

"Of course," Tom said, "PSFS's choices never win the actual Hugo."

Incidentally . . . 

We don't have a name for the group that gathers monthly.  We're all genre writers (except for Marianne, who gets to attend because she's good company) and Tom Purdom is definitely the center and linchpin of the organization.  One of Tom's interests is military history, so Purdom's Rangers would be perfect, except that it lacks alliteration.

Anybody have any suggestions?

Bookshelves of the Gods!

The inimitable Henry Wessells dropped by my house the other day and took a snapshot of my bookshelves, which he posted in his blog The Endless Bookshelf.  Identified simply as "bookshelves on an upper floor in the house on the hill," the photo shows a fraction of the shelves covering one wall of my bedroom.  I had shown him the bookshelves in my office first, but he had no interest in photographing them.  They were too flashy, I suspect, and contained too many tchotchkas.  He was looking for something more sincere.

Sort of like Linus's pumpkin patch, I think.

And As Always . . .

The poem du jour is up.  This time, it's by -- brace yourself! -- John Milton.

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