More on being 37

[nwhyte]

37 is the most common age for people to write award-winning sf. 21 Hugo and Nebula awards have been made to authors for work published when they were 37-ish:

Greg Egan, Oceanic (Hugo '99)
Allen Steele, "The Death of Captain Future" (Hugo '96)
Alan Brennert, "Ma Qui" (Nebula '91)
David Brin, The Uplift War (Hugo '88

Comments

[pnh]

Good grief. I won my World Fantasy Award for an anthology published when I was...37.

All downhill from there, I guess!

[mkhobson]

I take it you are 37 years of age or younger? ;-)

M

[nwhyte]

Indeed. I don't hide it!

[mkhobson]

Your stats made me feel really good, BTW. My 36th birthday is coming up, and while it's kind of a pain to think I'll have to wait a whole year beyond that to achieve fame and fortune, I am patient as the grave.

;-)

M

[cygny]

Then get writing! ^_^

Testing the hypothesis -- hopeful predictions?

[autopope]

Let's see .... I turned 40 last month. So I was 37 in late 2001.

By no coincidence at all, LOBSTERS (my breakthrough story) was published in June 2001, i.e. four months early, although written when I was a mere stripling of 35-36. It didn't win a Hugo, but it got shortlisted for the Hugo, Nebula, and Sturgeon awards. And the novel-length version (ACCELERANDO) is due out this May, so if ACCELERANDO cops a Hugo in 2006 it'll be more support for your theory, as most of it was written while I was 37 (it took about five years in total).

Alternatively ... yup, handed in IRON SUNRISE in December '02 after writing it in late '01 to '02. So if it cops a Hugo that, too, will be additional substantiation.

[lostcarpark]

Eek! Better get working on something if I don't want to miss my best chance...