An Evening with the Kraken: Kitschies Awards 2013
The Kitschies “reward the year’s most progressive, intelligent and entertaining works that contain elements of the speculative or fantastic.”
Awards have different personalities. The Kitschies are like the most entertaining kind of friend – smart, adventurous, broad-minded, unabashed and fun. One of the perks of getting shortlisted for the prized Red Tentacle award was the invitation to a Kitschies party.
I must admit, I was privately delighted that the dress code was ‘Tentacular Flair’.
My small, green companion takes care of both tentacles and flair.
(Photo taken by Bella Pagan)
I was accompanied by my agent Nancy Miles, Sally Oliphant and my editor Rachel Petty (who valiantly turned up despite being ill).
Rachel Petty and Sally Oliphant
(Picture taken by Nancy Miles)
There was much happy milling, chatting and discovering that various Twitternames had real people attached to them. (There are good accounts of the award ceremony here and here, and there will soon be more photos of the event in the Paint Factory section of my website.)
Me with Anne Perry and Jared Shurin, masterminds of the Kitschies
(Photo taken by Bella Pagan)
The winners of the coveted, hand-made and besequinned tentacles were as follows:
The Red Tentacle (novel): Nick Harkaway for Angelmaker
The Golden Tentacle (debut): Karen Lord for Redemption in Indigo
The Inky Tentacle (cover art): Dave Shelton for A Boy and a Bear in a Boat
The Black Tentacle (excellent thing that doesn’t really fit in a category) : The World SF Blog
So I didn’t win, but I can’t be sorry to be bested by Nick Harkaway. Not only has he written a remarkable book, but he claimed his prize wearing a bravura display of tartan, enthused gleefully about freezing his own head and then made like an elephant. I think the Tentacle found its rightful home.
Many thanks to the Kitschies for a wonderful event, and for my free bottle of Kraken Rum!
