Bestselling author Kevin J. Anderson was honored as this year’s Grandmaster at the International Association of Media Tie-In Writer’s annual Scribe Awards ceremony, held Friday night at Comic-Con in San Diego.
Anderson was honored for remarkable achievements in the tie-in field, which include more than one hundred novels, adding up to over 20 million books in print in thirty languages. His work includes the Star Wars “Jedi Academy” books, three internationally bestselling X-Files novels, the Superman novels The Last Days of Krypton and Enemies & Allies, many novelizations (Sky Captain & The World of Tomorrow, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, etc.) and, of course, the ten globally bestselling DUNE novels he has co-authored with Brian Herbert.
Receiving the honor was, for Anderson, “like receiving a standing ovation for something that was already fun in the first place, and I am very honored to be recognized by my colleagues in this particularly challenging line of writing.”
He wasn’t alone accepting honors on Friday. The Scribe Awards, recognizing excellence in the field of media tie-in writing, for Best Original Novel in Speculative and General Fiction genres, Best Adaptation, Best Young Adult novels and Best Audio performance, were also awarded at the event, which included a lively panel discussion with the winners and nominees.
“The Scribe Awards honor a very popular but under-celebrated branch of popular fiction,” said Lee Goldberg, IAMTW’s co-founder, “and this year’s awards show the breadth and depth of the field.”
Cowboys & Aliens by Joan D. Vinge was the winner for Best Adaptation, Dungeons & Dragons – Forgotten Realms: Brimstone Angels by Erin M. Evans took the prize for Best Speculative Original Novel, Mike Hammer: Kiss Her Goodbye by Max Allan Collins & Mickey Spillane won for Best Original Novel, and Thunderbirds: Extreme Hazard by Joan Marie Yerba was honored for Best Young Adult Novel. Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer: Encore for Murder by Max Allan Collins won the Best Audio award.
Collins was “blown away” by his double win this year, but was particularly pleased that “the work I’ve been doing to bring Mickey Spillane’s unpublished, unfinished material to fruition has earned this kind of recognition.”
The IAMTW (I Am a Tie-In Writer) is dedicated to enhancing the professional and public image of tie-in writers…to working with the media to review tie-in novels and publicize their authors…to educating people about who we are and what we do….and to providing a forum for tie-in writers to share information, support one another, and discuss issues relating to their field.
For more information, visit www.iamtw.org.
