Again, Dangerous Awards. Charles Platt can't resist musing on Harlan Ellison's SFWA Grand Mastery: `I love the way the Nebula folks have taken to preannouncing the grandmaster awards well in advance, just in case the recipient dies before the trophy can be placed in his trembling hands. In fact the naming of any grandmaster recipient suggests to me that the unfortunate person must be considered a high risk for keeling over at any moment. The award can be seen as much of a curse as a blessing. "Oh my god, a grandmaster award! Tell me doctor, does this mean ... it's all over?" / But the biggest question is whether Mr. Ellison will accept such an "honor," bearing in mind his frequent statements that he is not a science-fiction writer and indeed feels ambivalent at best toward the SF writing community ...'
Поскольку звание грандмастера присуждают, как правило, по старшинству (вернее, в прямой зависимости от года дебюта), а Эллисон дебютировал в 1956-м, бьюсь об заклад, что следующим будет Муркок (1957). Менее вероятен Баллард (1957). Воннегуту (1950) и Гаррисону (1951), видимо, суждено оставаться неохваченными.
Какие они забавные, эти литературные премии.
