This last weekend at the Nebula Awards, Michael Moorcock was officially named the 25th Grandmaster of the Science Fiction Writers of America. My pal John Picacio was asked to give a tribute speech before Moorcock was introduced, the full text of which John's now put online at his blog.

John solicited testimonials about Moorcock from a heavy hitting group of writers--Neil Gaiman, Jeff Vandermeer, Jeffrey Ford, China Mieville, and Alan Moore, to be precise--and for some reason deigned to have me be the "and puppet show..." in that lineup. I am only glad he didn't put my little tribute after the pyrotechnics of China's quote.

In any event, here is my contribution to John's speech, read aloud before the attendees of the Nebula Awards banquet, God, and all his angels while I fidgeted self-consciously in a borrowed chair...

"I was never quite the same after discovering the novels of Michael Moorcock in my suburban high school library. Elric, Cornelius, Bastable, and the rest of the multiversal gang expanded my brain into dimensions that I didn't even know existed. I wasn't the first to fall under his spell, and I won't be the last. As writer and editor Moorcock has changed the nature of fantasy itself, expanding the definition of what fantastic literature is, and the uses to which it can be put. He is the brightest light in my own personal constellation of influences and inspirations, and I continue to labor in his shadow."

And here's a photo ganked from John's blog, taken a short while before the ceremony.