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November 2008
THE PRINTED WORLD
-In keeping with the theme, the awards for the International Horror Guild were announced on October 31st:Novel: The Terror by Dan
Simmons
Long Fiction: Softspoken by Lucius Shepard
Mid-Length Fiction: "Closet Dreams" by Lisa
Tuttle
Short Fiction: "Honey in the Wound" by Nancy Etchemendy
-The World Fantasy Awards were presented on November 2nd at the World Fantasy convention in Calgary, Canada:
Novel: Ysabel by Guy Gavriel Kay
Novella: Illyria by Elizabeth Hand
Short
Story: "Singing of Mount Abora" by Theodora Goss
-Michael Crichton author of The Andromeda Strain, Jurassic Park and Timeline, which WTS read in 2001, passed away at age 66 on November 4th. For some time Crichton was privately battling cancer according to family members.
-Mike Mignola, creator of Hellboy, is hard at work on a spin off series called Witchfinder. Based around a Victorian detective character called Sir Edward Grey, who briefly appeared in the Hellboy comic, the new comic takes place in London in 1872 and has a Holmesian feel with all of the typical occult elements. Mignola says the miniseries for the character will take place in the old west with another installment perhaps in Paris. Mignola says he would be happy to see the series make the transition to a movie because no one is making films like his premise.
-Apex Book Company is now open until November 30th for submissions of dark science fiction in the 50k to 100k range. The company also produces the Apex SF & Horror Digest.
-Neil Gaiman recently sold 3 nonfiction books to William Morrow. Two are as of yet untitled and will deal with material from his blog, but the third is Monkey and Me: China and the Journey to the West. The subtitle refers to a classical Chinese text by Wu Cheng’en which inspired Gaiman. China made and impression on Gaiman during his first trip in 2007 and his more recent one has spurred him on to write about his adventures following the footsteps of a seventh century monk.
October 2008
THE PRINTED WORLD
-Have we met the next Douglas Adams already? Adams’ widow, Jane Belson has approached Artemis Fowl author Eoin Colfer with a proposition to write a 6th book the to the Hitchhiker’s Guide series. Adams is know to be somewhat unhappy with the ending of the 5th book and considered a further volume before his unexpected demise in 2001 due to a heart attack. The next installment will be entitled And Another Thing… and is due out next October put out by Penguin Books. Colfer says of the opportunity that it is “like being given the super power of your choice.”
-Here are the winners of the British Fantasy Awards :
Novel (The August Derleth Award): The Grin of the Dark by Ramsey Campbell
Novella: The Scalding Rooms by Conrad
Williams
Short Fiction: "My Stone Desire" by Joel Lane
Collection: Old Devil Moon by Christopher
Fowler
Anthology: The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror 18 by Stephen Jones
-This year's Sunburst Award for Canadian Literature of the Fantastic goes to Nalo Hopkinson's fantasy novel The New Moon's Arms
-Anne McCaffrey has bowed out of her spot at Albacon, Albany, New York due to health concerns, but her son Todd will continue to attend as the Guest of Honor.
-Neil Gaiman is taking a slightly different approach to touring with his latest, Graveyard Book. At each signing, Gaiman is reading a different chapter and the experience is being video taped. The entirety will then be posted upon his blog.
-Robert Sawyer’s novel Flashforward’s rights have been purchased by ABC TV for development into a series. Writers David S. Goyer and Brannon Braga have already scripted the pilot. Sawyer will serve as a consultant on the pilot, currently in Preproduction, as well as additional episodes. Sawyer will also author one of the first season episodes.
September
THE PRINTED WORLD
-This years Mythopoeic awards are :
Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature:
The Orphan's Tales by Catherynne M. Valente
Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children's Literature:
The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
These awards are given to the writers who most follow the same literary footsteps as the legendary Ink Dots, a writers group that counted among its members J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis.
-Stephanie Myer’s 5th book in the Twilight series is currently on hold as the author protests the unauthorized release unedited material that was given in confidence to friends. Portions of Midnight Sun were posted despite Myer’s requests. Myers is rewriting and editing the materials and will post them in an attempt to be fair to the fans– but for now she’s stopped writing the main manuscript.
-Neal Stephenson’s new book Anathem has a preview video available on Myspacetv.com to tell you more about the story before you get started reading.
-Harper Collins is starting to create a new imprint entitled Angry Robot that will be producing new genre fiction in both mass market paperback form as well as electronic media and feature new and upcoming authors. Publication of 2-3 books per month is scheduled to begin in July, 2009.
-RDR books has been halted in its attempt to produce a Harry Potter Lexicon by a Manhattan Judge due to fair use infringement. The book was to be a collection of materials by Steven Vander Ark who runs the Harry Potter Lexicon website. Rowling approved of the fansite until Vander Ark sought to profit.
-SFWA is now publishing updated information about works nominated for Nebula Awards using their Nebula Awards Website. Currently the list only covers nominated works, but is intended to also denote works which will proceed to the preliminary ballot and have therefore received at least ten nominations.
August
THE PRINTED WORLD
The Golden Duck Awards for Excellence in Children’s Science
Fiction were recently awarded at Worldcon for the following:
Picture Book:
Winner: Mars Needs Moms by Berkeley Breathed
Eleanor Cameron Award for Middle Grades:
Winner (tie): Shanghaied to the Moon by Michael J. Daley
Winner
(tie): Gravity Buster: Journal #2 of a Cardboard Genius by Frank Asch
Hal Clement Award for Young Adult:
Winner: Sky Horizon by David Brin, illustrated by Scott
Hampton
Also at Worldcon the Hugo awards:
The winners are:
Best Novel: The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon
Best Novella: "All Seated on the Ground" by Connie Willis
Best Novelette: "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate" by Ted Chiang
Best Short Story: "Tideline" by Elizabeth Bear
Nominees for the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel are listed below:
Territory by Emma Bull (published by Tor)
Ysabel by Guy Gavriel Kay (Viking Canada/Penguin Roc)
Fangland
by John Marks (Penguin Press)
The Gospel of the Knife by Will Shetterly (Tor)
The Servants by Michael
Marshall Smith (Earthling Publications)
The Mythopoeic Awards were recently announced. These are given to works that inspire the same sense of wonder as those of the great writer’s group, the Ink Spots whose members included J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis
Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature: The Orphan's Tales by Catherynne M. Valente
Mythopoeic
Fantasy Award for Children's Literature: The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
July
THE PRINTED WORLD
The Campbell Award winning Novel, for best new Science Fiction book of 2007 is :
First Place: In War Times by Kathleen Ann Goonan.
Second place: The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon
Third Place: The Execution Channel by Ken MacLeod
The Sturgeon Award for best short story in 2007, has two unusual twists in that both the first place and second ended in ties:
First Place: "Tidelines" by Elizabeth Bear and
"Finistera" by David R. Moles.
Second Place: "The Master Miller's Tale" by Ian R. MacLeod and "Memorare" by Gene Wolfe.
-Author Thomas Disch committed suicide on July 4th, 2008. Disch was struck by several tragedies including property loss due to a flood while being depressed since the death of his partner of more than thirty years in 2004. He was found dead in his apartment by a friend. His first novel, The Genocides was published in 1965. Other well known works are Ubik, Camp Concentration, the Brave Little Toaster and the Brave Little Toaster Goes to Mars. Both of the Toaster books were made into animated movies. Tachyon publishing just recently released his latest novel The Word of God. He received his only Hugo award for The Dreams Our Stuff is Made Of: How Science Fiction Conquered the World in 1999.2008’s Locus Award winners are as follows:
SF Novel: The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael ChabonFantasy Novel: Making Money by Terry Pratchett
Novella: "After the Siege" by Cory Doctorow
Novelette: "The Witch's Headstone" by Neil Gaiman
Short Story: "A Small Room in Koboldtown" by Michael Swanwick
Changes in SFWA recently have opened opportunities as the Association seeks new columns and input to its Bulletin. Mark Kreighbaum, the editor is asking for suggestions and reminds authors that the Bulletin is a paying market at $.07/word. Mark also intends to include a business section.
June 2008
THE PRINTED WORLD
-The John W. Campbell award 2007 finalists for the best science fiction novel are :
HARM by Brian Aldiss (Del Rey)
The Yiddish Policeman's
Union by Michael Chabon (HarperCollins)
In War Times by Kathleen Ann Goonan (Tor)
The New Moon's Arms
by Nalo Hopkinson (Grand Central)
Mainspring by Jay Lake (Tor)
The Execution Channel by Ken MacLeod (Tor)
Brasyl
by Ian McDonald (Pyr)
Time's Child by Rebecca Ore (Eos)
Bad Monkeys by Matt Ruff (HarperCollins)
Rollback
by Robert J. Sawyer (Tor)
Zig Zag by Jose Carlos Somoza (Rayo)
The Margarets by Sheri S. Tepper (Eos)
Deadstock
by Jeffrey Thomas (Solaris)
Axis by Robert Charles Wilson (Tor)
-Algis Budrys, author and editor, passed away on June 8th. While a cause of death has not been released, Budrys was known to be suffering from diabetes as well as cancer. Budrys was the editor for Gnome press as well as Galaxy Science Fiction. He was a book reviewer for The Magazine of Science Fiction and Fantasy and was involved in the creation of the Writers of the Future Contest serving as both a judge and the editor for several volumes of the winning stories. Some of his better known novels in Michaelmas, Who? and Rogue Moon. Budrys also started his own magazine Tomorrow Speculative Fiction which was one of the first to make the step from traditional to epublishing.
Here is a list of nominees for this year’s Mythopoeic awards, given to works of series that best exemplify the spirit of the Inklings, the legendary writing group that counted J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis among its members:
In the Forest of Forgetting by Theodora GossThe New Moon's Arms by Nalo Hopkinson Orphan's Tales (consisting of In the Night Garden and In the Cities of Coin and Spice) by Catherynne M. Valente Chronicles of Chaos (consisting of Orphans of Chaos, Fugitives of Chaos, and Titans of Chaos) by John C. Wright Ysabel by Guy Gavriel Kay
May 2008
THE PRINTED WORLD
-The Finalists for the First Shirley Jackson awards were recently announced. For novels, the finalists are :
Sharp Teeth by Toby Barlow (William Heinemann)
Generation Loss by Elizabeth Hand (Small Beer Press)
Baltimore,
Or, The Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire by Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden (Bantam Spectra)
Tokyo Year Zero by David Peace (Knopf)
The Terror by Dan Simmons (Little, Brown)
The Shirley Jackson awards are given to authors of novels, Novellas, Novelettes, Short Stories, and Collections of the dark
fantastic, psychological terror and horror. Results will be announced at Readercon on July 20th.
-In February of 2009, a lost Roger Zelazny novel, The Dead Man’s Brother, will be published for the first time by Hard Case press. While not SF or F, the book follows a typical Zelazny convoluted plot with unique and interesting characters. Zelazny is best known for the Amber series and won six Hugos, three Nebulas and two Seiuns in his lifetime.
-Richard Morgan’s Blackman, also known as Thirteen, in its US pressing won the Arthur C. Clarke award for best new genre fiction published in Britain. The award was presented at Sci-fi-London 7, the seventh annual festival International Festival of Science Fiction and Fantastic film.
-The Penguin Group has won the rights to produce the books linked to the new 3D animated George Lucas television show, Star Wars: The Clone Wars. These books include a movie novel, a picture book, an activity book, a reader and a photobook. The first books are set to be released around July 26th to coincide with the San Diego Comicon.
-The same weekend that the Nebula Award was given to Michael Chabon for the Yiddish Policeman’s Union, the reader’s choice awards for Analog and Asimov’s Magazine of Science Fiction were also announced. The winners are :
The winners of Analog's Analytical Laboratory (AnLab) Awards
are: Best Novella:
"Murder in Parliament Street" by Barry B. Longyear (November)
Best Novelette: "Quaestions Super Caelo et Mundo" by Michael
F. Flynn (July-August)
Best Short Story:
"The Astronaut" by Brian Plante (May)
Best Fact Article: "The Ice Age That Wasn't" by Richard A. Lovett (April)
Best
Cover: April 2007 by David A. Hardy
The winners of Asimov's Readers' Awards are:
Best Novella: "Recovering Apollo 8" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (February)
Best
Novelette: "Dark Integers" by Greg Egan (October-November)
Best Short Story: "Tideline" by Elizabeth Bear (June)
Best
Poem: "The Dimensional Rush of Relative Primes" by Bruce Boston (April-May)
APRIL 2008
THE PRINTED WORLD
-The nominees for this year’s Compton Crook Award have been selected. The award is presented by the Baltimore Science Fiction Society at the Balticon Convention and is given to the best new novel as selected by the members of the Society. This year’s nominees are as follows:
The Blade Itself by Joe Abercombie
The Outback Stars by Sandra McDonald
The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
Magic Lost, Trouble Found by Lisa Shearin
One Jump Ahead by Mark L. Van Name
-The winner of Dell Magazine’s Award For Undergraduate Excellence in SF/F this year is Stephen Leech of the University of South Florida. Presented at the International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts's Conference on the Fantastic, the award is $500 and an all expense paid trip to the Conference. Stephen won for his story entitled, “Blank, White, and Blue”. The award is co-sponsored by Asimov’s Science Fiction magazine and is accepting entrants until January 12 of 2009 for next year.
-Tim Kring, the creator of the popular Heroes TV series has sold a trilogy of books entitled The Flag of Orpheus to Crown for 3 million dollars. Kring will co-write with author Dale Peck. The first installment of this alternate history series about “the abuses of power and the moral obligation to resist it”, Shift is due out in the fall of 2009. Kring is also the creator of Crossing Jordan. As an interesting marketing ploy each installment will be launched with a online alternate reality game.
-Finally in print, after numerous successes as the most downloaded book in podcast form, Scott Sigler’s Infection finally hits the book shelves. Sigler racked up over 3 million downloads of Infection in its podcast form. Infection deals with a nanovirus that causes violence in its victims that may have an ET
March 2008
The Printed World
Finalists have been announced for the Arthur C. Clark award that highlights exceptional science fiction
published in the UK. The awards will be presented at the
Sci-Fi London Film Festival on April 30th.
Nominees are :
The Red Men by Matthew de Abaitua
The H-Bomb Girl by Stephen Baxter
The Carhullan Army by Sarah Hall
The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall
The Execution Channel by Ken MacLeod
Black Man (U.S. title: Thirteen) by Richard K. Morgan.
IDW comics is going to answer the question of what happened in the remaining years of the starship Enterprise’s five year mission. With Star Trek : Year Four the company is calling on the talents of D.C. Fontana who served as an assistant to Gene Rodenberry and then went on to write several of the series better known episodes. Fontana’s contribution is a sequel to “The Enterprise Incident” where Kirk masquerades as a Romulan to steal a cloaking device. “The Enterprise Experiment” continues the story where the Federation attempts to adapt the cloaking technology to their own ships with disastrous results.
Author Jerry Pournelle continues to undergo x-ray treatment for a mass found in his brain near the Broca’s area. While he is able to continue to think in a normal fashion his ability to communicate has been affected, but not his typing. Due to the location of the growth Doctor’s cannot go in for a biopsy without possibly causing damage. They currently believe this is an isolated problem without cancer spreading. Despite the physical issues caused by the growth which also causes Bell’s Palsy, Jerry drives to his treatments, walks 2 miles daily and is blogging the whole experience.
THE PRINTED WORLD
-The Nominees for the Bram Stoker Award are in, for novels:
The Guardener's Tale by Bruce Boston
Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill
The Missing by Sarah Langan
The Terror by Dan Simmons
The Witch's Trinity by Erika Mailman
-Lost is still a hot TV property, but like many shows its suffering from exposure due to the fallout from the writer’s strike. So now you can find references to Lost in unusual spots—hidden inside Marvel comics. Uncanny X-men, Thunderbolts and Wolverine-Origins will contain things like a poster for Lost, the slogan “Find Yourself” and the number 6 will all be embedded in the comics. The new season of Lost starts Jan.31st.
-Speaking of the writer’s strike, ever effusive Harlan Ellison offered up his opinions in a rant that is posted on the front of Warren Ellis’ webpage. Suffice it to say that, one Harlan is not happy with the end result and two I couldn’t print some of what he uses. It’s a statement that is not only full of ten dollar words, literary and historical references as well as quite a bit of vitriol. Here’s the closing thrust of thought “You are their bitches. They outslugged you, outthought you, outmaneuvered you; and in the end you ripped off your pants, painted yer asses blue, and said yes sir, may I have another.”
-Daniel H. Wilson, roboticist follows up his book How to Survive a Robot Uprising with How to Build a Robot Army. This gives him an opportunity to educate the common man about how robots work, but still includes the element of danger which makes the books so appealing. Robot Army is a slightly different take on things because this time Wilson looks at the various threats brought up by science fiction writers and considers how allying with our metallic creations could allow us to triumph. Wilson hits all the tropes from zombies, werewolves, and pirates to super intelligent great white sharks.
-Here are the novels on the preliminary list for the Nebula Award:
Ragamuffin
by Tobias BuckellThe Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon
Species Imperative #3: Regeneration by Julie E. Czerneda
Vellum: The Book
of All Hours by Hal Duncan
The Accidental Time Machine by Joe Haldeman
The New Moon's Arms by Nalo
Hopkinson
Mainspring by Jay Lake
Odyssey by Jack McDevitt
The Outback Stars by Sandra McDonald
Strange Robby by Selina Rosen
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
Rollback by Robert J. Sawyer
Blindsight by Peter Watts
The Crawford Award for 2007, which recognizes the outstanding first works of fantasy, goes to Christopher Barzak for his novel One for Sorrow. The award is sponsored by the International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts (IAFA).
-Here are the Nominees for the Philip K. Dick Award :
Grey
by Jon ArmstrongUndertow by Elizabeth Bear
From the Notebooks of Dr. Brain by Minister Faust
Nova Swing by M. John Harrison
Gradisil by Adam Roberts
Ally by Karen Traviss
Saturn Returns by Sean Williams
The award will be given in March at Norwescon31 and is sponsored the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society
Eclipse one is a new anthology collected by Jonathan Strahan whose intent is to hark back to such classics as Damon Knight’s Orbit and Terry Carr’s Universe. Strahan strove for diversity and says that short fiction is an opportunity for writers to explore variations on themes in the genre. The anthology includes works by Peter S. Beagle and Bruce Sterling as well as one of the stories nominated for this year’s Nebula award.
NOVEMBER 2007
-The International Horror Guild awards were presented on November 1st at the World Fantasy Convention in Sarasota Springs, Florida and included the following :
Novel: The Unblemished by Conrad Williams
Long
Fiction: "Dark Harvest" by Norman Partridge
Mid-Length Fiction: "The Old North Road" by Paul Finch
Short Fiction:
"The Box" by Stephen Gallagher
Nonfiction: Icons of Horror and the Supernatural, S.T. Joshi, ed.
Art (tie):
Exhibits From the Imaginary Museum by Aeron Alfrey and Cover Story: The Art of John Picacio by John Picacio
Author Ramsey Campbell was presented with the International Horror Guild Living Legend Award.
-Also awarded were the World Fantasy Awards:
Novel: Soldier of Sidon by Gene Wolfe
Novella:
"Botch Town" by Jeffrey Ford
Short Fiction: "Journey Into the Kingdom" by M. Rickert
Artist: Shaun Tan
With Betty
Ballantine and Diane Wynn Jones receiving the World Fantasy Award for Lifetime Achievement.
-The next Rowling book is finished but there’s not going to be a huge release party because only seven were made. J.K. Rowling produced The Tales of Beedle the Bard an illustrated book of Fairy tales that is mentioned in HP7. One copy of the book, whose illustrations and hand written text were done by Rowling, will be auctioned off for charity and the others given as gifts. On October 15, Rowling read to a multitude of young fans in the Kodak Theater, Hollywood and took a dozen pre-selected questions. This was her first US appearance since 2000. In the meantime her imaginary sport of Quidditch is finding its own place in more earthbound versions in colleges. Middlebury College Muggle Quidditch League hosted the Intercollegiate Quidditch World Cup. Quidditch here is played with volley balls for quaffles, thrown soccer balls as bludgers and the snitch is a tennis ball in a sock attached to a gold clad human and everybody but the snitch runs about with a broom between their legs, which levels the playing field for both athletes and booklovers. After the 5 hour tournament, the trophy was presented to the Middlebury team who defeated Vassar College.
-The current issue of Science magazine is focused upon the field of Robotics and contains an editorial piece called “Robotic Ethics” by author Robert Sawyer. Sawyer has done radio interviews for CBC, the BBC and the Boston Globe in reference to the article.
-Finalists for the Prix Awards, which recognize literary
contributions to the genre by Canadian authors were announced recently. The novel finalists include: Regeneration by
Julie E. Czerneda, Children of Chaos by Dave Duncan, Smoke and Ashes by Tanya Huff, Sun of Suns by Karl
Schroeder, Blindsight by Peter Watts, Righteous Anger by Lynda Williams. The awards will be given out at VCON
32, October 19-21st held in Richmond, British Columbia. -The Clarion Writers workshop, which teaches a select
group of students in the elements of writing the science fiction and fantasy by using established authors as professors and
mentors welcomes Neil Gaiman as a teacher for the 2008 session. Gaiman joins the faculty which includes: Kelly Link, James
Patrick Kelly, Mary Anne Mohanra, Nalo Hopkinson and Geoff Ryman. The Clarion Foundation will begin accepting applications
on January 2, 2008. -Winners of the 2007 Hugo Awards are as follows:Best
Novel: Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge The awards were presented at the 65th WorldCon in
Yokohama, Japan. Also presented at WorldCon were the Prometheus award to Charles Stross for Glasshouse by the Libertarian
Futurist Society and the Chelsey Awards: Best Cover Illustration—Hardcover
Book: Stephan Martiniere (River of Gods by Ian McDonald) Best Cover Illustration—Paperback Book: Daniel
Dos Santos (Moon Called by Patricia Briggs) Best Cover Illustration—Magazine: Renee LeCompte
(Fantasy Magazine) given by the Association of Science Fiction
and Fantasy Artists.
Best Novella: "A Billion Eves" by Robert Reed
Best Novelette: "The Djinn's
Wife" by Ian McDonald
Best Short Story: "Impossible Dreams" by Tim Pratt
August 2007
Mythopoeic Awards Announced :
Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature: Solstice Wood by Patricia A. McKillip
Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children's Literature: Corbenic by Catherine Fisher
Mythopoeic Scholarship Award in Inklings Studies: The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide by Christina Scull and Wayne G. Hammond
Mythopoeic Scholarship Award in Myth and Fantasy Studies:Gemstone of Paradise: The Holy Grail in Wolfram's Parzival by G. Roland Murphy
The Mythopoeic awards are given to fiction which best exemplifies the best of the writings of C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien and Charles Williams.
Sidewise Award Winners Announced:
Best Long-Form Alternate History: The Merchant Princes series (The Family
Trade, The Hidden Family and The Clan Corporate) by Charles Stross
Best Short-Form Alternate History:
"Counterfactual" by Gardner Dozois (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, June 2006)
The Sidewise Awards are presented at the North America Science Fiction Convention, NASFiC and recognize excellence in fiction based upon the idea of Alternate Histories.
Nominees for the World Fantasy Awards are :
Novel: Lisey's Story by Stephen King, The Privilege of the Sword by
Ellen Kushner, The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch, The Orphan's Tales: In the Night Garden by Catherynne
M. Valente, Soldier of Sidon by Gene Wolfe
Novella: "Botch Town" by Jeffrey Ford, "The Man Who Got Off the Ghost
Train" by Kim Newman, "Dark Harvest" by Norman Partridge, "Map of Dreams" by M. Rickert, "The Lineaments of Gratified Desire"
by Ysabeau S. Wilce
Short Fiction: "The Way He Does It" by Jeffrey Ford, "Journey Into the Kingdom" by M. Rickert, "A
Siege of Cranes" by Benjamin Rosenbaum, "Another Word for Map Is Faith" by Christopher Rowe, "Pol Pot's Beautiful Daughter
(Fantasy)" by Geoff Ryman
Awards will be announced at the World Fantasy Convention, in Sarasota Springs, NY from November 1st through the 4th.
JULY 2007
-The 2006 John W. Campbell award was given to Ben Bova for his novel Titan at the Campbell Conference held in Kansas City, MO. Robert Charles Wilson received the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award for his short story “The Cartesian Theater”.
-Author Fred Saberhagen passed away on June 29th after a prolonged battle with cancer. Saberhagen is best known for his Beserker series and published more than fifty novels.
-
Planet Stories, an imprint of Paizo Publishing is hoping to bring back the sense of adventure from classic out of print titles by such authors as C.L. Moore, Harry Kuttner, Leigh Brackett, Michael Moorcock and Gary Gygax. These books focus on the epic exploits of characters whose backgrounds range from Setne Inhetep Philosopher Wizard to the Pharaoh to Jirel of Joiry, one of the first important female sword and sorcery heroines. The first release will be Gary Gygax’s The Anubis Murders followed by new releases each month. Also to be released are two of the Michael Kane books by Moorcock which are very similar to the classic Burroughs tales of swashbuckling John Carter of Mars.-In the same thought of rediscovery of forgotten or underappreciated writers, the 2006 Cordwainer Smith Award was given to Daniel F. Galouye (1920-1976) author of Dark Universe(1961), his first book which was a Hugo finalist and Simulacrum –3(1964) which provided the basis for the film The 13th Floor.
-How secure is Harry Potter? A hacker whose handle is “Gabriel” has posted plot details from the seventh book on line. He claims to have hacked Bloomsbury publishing to acquire a digital copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Bloomsbury has not responded to the claim, but Scholastic has warned not to believe items posted on the web as truth. Gabriel’s information which was part of a newsboard post, contains his commentary that the Bloomsbury security was easy to override, that there were multiple copies of the book through out their network. Gabriel also posted how he did the hack. We’ll know for certain Friday…
June 2007
-LOCUS AWARDS: announced June 16
SF Novel: Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge
Fantasy Novel:
The Privilege of the Sword by Ellen Kushner
First Novel: Temeraire: His Majesty's Dragon/Throne of Jade/Black
Powder War by Naomi Novik
Young Adult Book: Wintersmith by Terry Pratchett
Novella: "Missile Gap" by Charles
Stross
Novelette: "When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth" by Cory Doctorow
Short Story: "How to Talk to Girls at Parties"
by Neil Gaiman
-Novik’s Dragons Take the Compton Crook Award-Naomi Novik, author of His Majesty’s Dragon was presented with the Compton Crook award at this year’s Balticon 41. The book has been optioned by Peter Jackson for a possible movie. Last year’s Award winner was our recent guest, Maria Snyder.
-Brave New Words : The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction—by editor Jeff Prucher looks at the terms that fans, writers and critics use in the genre. The book also looks at words that originated in SciFi and have been adopted into the parlance of everyday life. The work is also a historical dictionary tracing the words origins and features citations from various sources to support the information given. The dictionary also contains data about alternate spellings and the dates of usage.
-The Next Rowling?-With the impending end of the Harry Potter series, London publisher Harry Cunningham is hot on the trail of the next big thing and he thinks he has it in the form of 14 year old Archeologist Will Burrows. Will is the main character in the book Tunnels written by Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams. Featuring a journey into the bowels of the earth, determined villains and a likeable young main character, Cunningham may not be far off his mark.
-Campbell Award Finalists Named:
Titan by Ben Bova
A Small and Remarkable Life by Nick DiChario
Infoquake by David Louis Edelman,
Nova Swing by M. John Harrison
Odyssey by Jack McDevitt
The Last Witchfinder by James Morrow
Living Next Door to the God of Love by Justina Robson
Dry by Barbara Sapergia
Sun of Suns by Karl Schroeder
Glasshouse by Charles Stross
Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge
Farthing by Jo Walton
Blindsight by Peter Watts
Shining Examples of Fine Art:
The winners of the 14th Annual Spectrum Awards were announced this weekend. Best known for his conceptual design work on Bladerunner and Aliens, Syd Mead was honored with a grandmaster award.Other awards were:Book:
Gold Award: Jon Foster for the cover of 9Tail Fox by Jon Courtenay Grimwood; Silver Award: Shaun Tan for "The Giants"
from The Arrival by Shaun Tan
Comics: Gold Award: Adam Hughes for "Wanda-Lost"; Silver Award: James Jean for the
cover of Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall
Concept Art: Gold Award: Daniel Dociu for "Crescent City"; Silver Award:
Jonny Duddle for "The Circus Freako"
Dimensional: Gold Award: Cam De Leon for "Not Tested on"; Silver Award: Rich Klink
for "Cinnamon"
Nominees for this Year’s Nebula Awards Have Been Released:
Novel: The Privilege of the Sword by Ellen Kushner, Seeker by Jack McDevitt, The Girl in the Glass by Jeffrey Ford, Farthing by Jo Walton, From the Files of the Time Rangers by Richard Bowes, To Crush the Moon by Wil McCarthy
Novella: "Burn"
by James Patrick Kelly, "Sanctuary" by Michael A. Burstein, "The Walls of the Universe" by Paul Melko, "Inclination" by William
Shunn
Novelette: "The
Language of Moths" by Chris Barzak, "Walpurgis Afternoon" by Delia Sherman, "Journey Into the Kingdom" by M. Rickert, "Two
Hearts" by Peter S. Beagle, "Little Faces" by Vonda N.
McIntyre
Short
Story: "Echo" by Elizabeth Hand, "Helen Remembers the Stork Club" by Esther M. Friesner, "The Woman in Schrodinger's Wave
Equations" by Eugene Mirabelli, "Henry James, This One's for You" by Jack McDevitt, "An End to All Things" by Karina Sumner-Smith,
"Pip and the Fairies" by
Theodora Goss
Script:
Batman Begins by Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer; Howl's Moving Castle by Hayao Miyazaki, Cindy Davis Hewitt
and Donald H. Hewitt; Battlestar Galactica, "Unfinished Business," by Michael Taylor; Doctor Who, "The Girl
in the Fireplace," by Steven Moffat
Alvin and Ender Make the Leap to Comics:
The Dabel brothers and Marvel are creating an Enderverse story called the Gold Bug which will be put out along with the hardcover collection of the comics making up the Alvin Maker: Red Prophet Series. The story will take place near the conclusion of the events in Ender’s Game when Ender Wiggins takes up the governorship of a new colony world. Additional stories from the Endverse are planned for comic adaptation.
Weird Tales welcomes its new fiction editor Ann VanderMeer:
Started in 1923 the venerable magazine began publishing
dark material in the Lovecraftian vein but has broaden its horizons over the year. Ann promises that she will seek to maintain
the tone of the magazine. She feels that Scifi stories provoke a “wow” reaction and horror stories a repulsed
reaction whereas the material she is seeking will leave the reader stunned and speechless because it is so new and unfamiliar.
Ann was the editor for The Silver Web and co-edited several collections with her husband Jeff VanderMeer. The Magazine of Science Fiction & Fantasy honors Gene
Wolfe: The March 29th edition of the magazine will focus on the
multiply honored author and contain a new novella entitled “Memorare”. Neil Gaiman, Michael Swanwick, and Michael
Andre-Driussi will all be writing about Gene and his works. Not even out and already a bestseller—HP7, 7-21-07: Despite its absence from the shelves B&N.com and Amazon.com
have already awarded Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Bestseller status due to its preorders. So far the previous books
have sold more than 325 million copies in 64 languages. While Rowling says that she is sad that the series is over, she also
states that she is very happy to have finally been able to write the ending to the series that she had envisioned long ago. How Chic is your Geekdom? If the thought of another Star Trek comic sends you scrabbling
for your wallet, how much more would you pay to have one in Klingon? Star Trek:Blood Will Tell will be available not
only as a 35 page English version but also a 40 page Klingon version with English translation scripts. This is the first of
5 comics set in the original Trek timeline, the second of which hints at explaining what happened to all of the tribbles beamed
to the Klingon ship from “The Trouble with Tribbles”. Be careful when you challenge Jim Butcher: Jim says that the idea behind his sword and sorcery series
the Codex Alera came from a bet that he couldn’t take two awful ideas and come up with a good story. He was given
“the lost roman legion” and “Pokemon”. Researching the basis for Pokemon he was able to tie them to
the spirits in the Shinto religion called kami that reside in natural objects and sites, these became the basis for the furies.
He took the organizational basis of a roman legion and its support structures as the basis for his society. Then taking these
two elements and allowing several thousand years of interaction, he began to write.
CLARION HAS A NEW HOME>>>
The Clarion Foundation has announced that the well known writing workshop has transferred to the University of California at San Diego. Donald Wesling Professor Emeritus of Literature will serve as the director of the program. Greg Frost, Jeff VanderMeer, Cory Doctorow, Delia Sherman, Karen Joy Fowler and Ellen Kushner are all confirmed as instructors and applications will be accepted until January 31st.
NOMINEES FOR THE PHILIP K. DICK AWARD LISTED>>> The following titles are under consideration for the award which will be presented at Norwescon 30 on April 6th in Seattle:
Mindscape by Andrea Hairston
Carnival by Elizabeth Bear
Spin Control by Chris Moriarty
Catalyst by Nina Kiriki Hoffman
Recursion by Tony Ballantyne
Idolon by Mark Budz
Living Next Door to the God of Love by Justina Robson.
PUTTING MONEY ON POTTER>>> Apparently you can bet on anything these days as a British Bookmaker is taking bets on A) Harry Potter’s demise B) Who finishes of Harry (candidates include Valdemort, Malfoy, Ron and even Harry himself) C) Ron does in Malfoy in a duel D) even if Ron and Hermione will get married and have a child named Harry . . . Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows has been set for a release of 7-7-07.
MAY’S NEBULAS WILL HONOR JAMES GUNN WITH THE DAMON KNIGHT GRANDMASTER MEMORIAL AWARD>>> Starting in 1948 selling his first story to Thrilling Wonder Stories James has not only been writing Science Fiction but also helping others teach about it. For 20 years Gunn has run the Center for the Study of Science Fiction at the University of Kansas. Gunn also developed a program called The Intensive English Institute on Teaching Science Fiction to help teachers in instructing their students on the writing and the history of Science Fiction. Gunn’s motto is often referred to as “Let’s save the world through Science Fiction”.
World Fantasy Awards
The World Fantasy Convention, this year held in Austin, TX on Nov. 2-5 honored native Texan Robert E. Howard creator of Conan. The programming for the convention was Howard centric and an anthology edited by Joe R. Lansdale titled Cross Plains Universe: A Texan Tribute to Robert E. Howard was published for the occasion. Awards given included:The Howie, due to the likeness of HP Lovecraft atop the award, the top fantasy prize went to Haruki Murakami’s Khafka on the Shore. Joe Hill’s “Voluntary Committal” won for best novella. George Sanders “CommComm” won for best short fiction and for the best Anthology The Fair Folk, Marvin Kaye, ed.; for the best Collection The Keyhole Opera by Bruce Holland Rogers and for best artist James Jean.
Also on hand in
Austin on Nov. 2 the International Horror Guild recognized authors in its genre. Winners of the awards were as follows:
Novel:
Lunar Park by Bret Easton Ellis
Short Fiction: "There's a Hole in the City" by Rick Bowes
Mid-Length
Fiction: "La Peau Verte" by Caitlin Kiernan
Long Fiction: Kiss of the Mudman by Gary Braunbeck
Collection:
20th Century Ghosts by Joe Hill
Chelsea Quinn Yarboro received this year’s Living Legend Award.
