Cherryh Named Grand Master

[J-Sun]

C.J. Cherryh Named SFWA Damon Knight Grand Master

I actually thought to myself, "All right!" and got a happy charge when I came across the notice at Locus. This, SFWA or not, is the last remaining award that still has meaning to me and, while there are still more senior authors yet to get it who should, I'm delighted that she has. Congrats, C.J.! Well-deserved.

Here's the SFADB's full list of the mostly illustrious previous winners: SFWA Grand Master Award.

 

[pambaddeley]

Well deserved indeed. Have enjoyed a lot of her books over the years.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

This is very good news!

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Happiness.

 

[Vince W]

Very well deserved. Congratulations to her!

 

[vanye]

I have spent many an hour totally immersed in her books and I hope there's still many to follow. Thank you for that and Congratulations!

 

[2DaveWixon]

C.J. Cherryh Named SFWA Damon Knight Grand Master

I actually thought to myself, "All right!" and got a happy charge when I came across the notice at Locus. This, SFWA or not, is the last remaining award that still has meaning to me and, while there are still more senior authors yet to get it who should, I'm delighted that she has. Congrats, C.J.! Well-deserved.

Here's the SFADB's full list of the mostly illustrious previous winners: SFWA Grand Master Award.

I second the motion. C.J. has for decades been one of the tops in the field. I hope I manage to bump into her in person sometime soon, I'd like to tell her so...
Dave Wixon

 

[Connavar]

CJ should have become a GM years ago, she is a true great in the field. Great news!

 

[2DaveWixon]

You know, I don't think I've ever seen such unanimity of sentiment in any Chronicles conversation...of course, that probably means this thread will peter out soon...

Dave

 

[Ray McCarthy]

peter out soon...

Or we could get pedantic and argue about something irrelevant.
Yes, I'd say it's a very popular decision.

 

[2DaveWixon]

Or we could get pedantic and argue about something irrelevant.

Who,us?

 

[vanye]

Who,us?

Are you arguing?

 

[2DaveWixon]

Are you arguing?

Perhaps...but not with you...so far...

 

[ThomasG]

Cool. Really was riveted by the Foreigner series. Have a couple of books of hers that have been on my bedside table for ages. I suppose I should get to them!

 

[Parson]

I missed this earlier, but I would agree that Cherryh has few peers, and nobody I know of is substantially better including all of the past grand masters.

 

[Bick]

...while there are still more senior authors yet to get it who should...

Who would you include here, J-Sun?

 

[J-Sun]

Who would you include here, J-Sun?

I was specifically thinking of Norman Spinrad, who is a bit older (she's 73; he's 75), started publishing much earlier and, as I understand it, has had patches of bad health lately. With several stories and Bug Jack Barron, The Iron Dream, and The Void Captain's Tale, a lot of excellent critical articles/books, an anthology or two, and tours of duty as SFWA president and so on, he just seems like someone who must get it and is overdue. But he has a contentious relationship with the rest of the publishing world these days and there may even be other factors I'm unaware of that may have something to do with his not having gotten it yet.

While I'm not personally a big fan, I'm kind of surprised Kate Wilhelm hasn't gotten it. Other older candidates include Greg Benford, Ben Bova, Jack McDevitt, and Mike Resnick. McDevitt actually started quite a bit later than Cherryh (as did Resnick if you count just the main part of his SF career) and doesn't have as diverse a portfolio as Bova or even Benford but he's older than Cherryh. Bova's much older (83!) and has published a vast number of successful short and long works over decades, filled Campbell's shoes at Analog and edited Omni for awhile, also been president of the SFWA, and also seems like a sure-fire recipient.

Like I say, I'm thrilled Cherryh got it but I think Spinrad and Bova would be the most likely older candidates to me (if you or others have other candidates, post 'em up) and, due to the weird "living" requirement of the Grandmaster award, time can be of the essence.

 

[Caliban]

Yeah Wilhelm and Tepper are two older female contenders that imo should have got it before Willis and Cherryh. Also D.G. Compton who is a bit older than them I think.

 

[2DaveWixon]

Yeah Wilhelm and Tepper are two older female contenders that imo should have got it before Willis and Cherryh. Also D.G. Compton who is a bit older than them I think.

Matter of taste, isn't it? And of what you think it takes to be a Grandmaster of SF. I have perhaps some disagreements with those members of SFWA who voted for certain candidates in the past -- but then, I also have disagreed with other people's choices for the office of President...there just is no objective criterion.
Perhaps in the end it must come down to a judgment as to which writers had the greatest influence in extending the reach, and the acceptance, of SF. Being the senior of several authors does not come into it.

 

[Bick]

Yeah Wilhelm and Tepper are two older female contenders that imo should have got it before Willis and Cherryh. Also D.G. Compton who is a bit older than them I think.

In terms of "cultural footprint", sales, number of well-loved books, influence on the genre, respect from the writing community and any other metric I care to think of, Cherryh is ten times the author of any of the names you mention and far and away the most deserving to receive the gong. IMHO.