Wednesday 23 October 2002

People and Books

• Numerous SF authors have signed an online petition, Artists and Writers Oppose Expanding War On Terrorism, that calls for the US to abandon preparations for war against Iraq. Signers include Karen Joy Fowler, Michael Moorcock, John Kessel, Lisa Goldstein, Kelly Link, Ellen Datlow, Suzy McKee Charnas, and Charles N. Brown. In response to numerous abusive spammers, petition co-author Douglas Lain has relocated the petition to http://www.douglaslain.com/aawii.html.
  
  
• Avenue Victor Hugo Bookshop will close its present location by year's end, after selling most of its stock at half price beginning Thursday, October 24.
  — Press release
  — Boston Herald story
  
  
  
• Ellen Datlow has posted photos from the September 18th reading by Richard A. Lupoff and Michael Swanwick.
  
  
• Entertainment Weekly's Power List 2002, ranking the 50.5 most powerful people in entertainment (with a separate list for executives), puts Tom Hanks at #1, with Steven Spielberg #2, Tom Cruise #4, M. Night Shyamalan #9, Ridley Scott #14, George Lucas #15, Peter Jackson #24, Andy & Larry Wachowski #28, J.K. Rowling #30, and Tim LaHaye & Jerry B. Jenkins #42. Didn't make this year's cut: Stephen King.

Deaths

• Raymond T. McNally, Dracula scholar, author of In Search of Dracula: A True History of Dracula and Vampire Legends with Radu Florescu (1972, revised 1994), died October 2 at the age of 71.
  — New York Times
  
  
  
• Michael A. Banks has contributed an Appreciation of Lloyd Biggle, Jr., who died last month.

Awards

• Winners of the German Phantastik Awards, announced October 12, 2002, at the Buchmesse Con near Frankfurt, included Eoin Colfer's Artemis Fowl in the foreign novel category, J.R.R. Tolkien as author of the year, and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring in four media categories. The full list of nominees and winners is at www.phantastik.de/x_dpp02.htm.
  
  
• Two of this year's MacArthur Fellows, recipients of the so-called 'genius grants' of $500,000 over a period of five years, are writers whose works have included SF or fantasy: Karen Hesse, author of SF novel Phoenix Rising (1994) and fantasies A Time of Angels (1995) and The Music of Dolphins (1996); and Colson Whitehead, author of literary fantasy The Intuitionist (1998). Past winners include Octavia E. Butler and Virginia Hamilton.
  
  
• National Book Award finalists include two SF titles in the Young People's Literature category, Nancy Farmer's The House of the Scorpion (Atheneum) and M.T. Anderson's Feed (Candlewick Press). Winners will be announced November 20, 2002, in New York City.
  — New York Times

Announcements

• The 27th annual Williamson Lectureship will take place March 6, 2003 at Eastern New Mexico University in Portales NM. The theme is "Celebrating 75" in honor of the 75th anniversary of Jack Williamson’s first published story, "The Metal Man" (1928). Special guests joining Dr. Jack Williamson will be Joe Haldeman and Connie Willis. There will be a noon luncheon honoring the guests, followed by the Lectureship panel discussion at 7:00 in the evening which is open to the public. Details are at www.enmu.edu/academics/excellence/williamson/colloquium.shtml.
  
  
• Clarion South has been established in Australia, its inaugural session to be held January-February 2004 in Queensland.
  
  
• Robert J. Sawyer will lead a week-long Clarion-style SF writing workshop at the Banff Centre for the Arts in Banff, Alberta, April 6 - 13, 2003. Details are at http://www.banffcentre.ca/programs/wp_writing_style_Spring_2003/.
  
  
• "Barsoom to Blade Runner" is a featured exhibit at the Fullerton Museum Center in Fullerton CA (south of Los Angeles) from October 12, 2002 to January 26, 2003, with a focus on SF writing and film created in Southern California. Details are at http://www.ci.fullerton.ca.us/museum/featured.html.

Wednesday 9 October 2002

Lawsuit

Neil Gaiman has won a lawsuit in Federal Court against Todd McFarlane concerning the creation in 1993 of several characters, including Angela, introduced by Gaiman in Issue 9 of comic book Spawn...

— Comic Book Resources
— ICv2 News

Award

Scifidimensions has extended its deadline for participation in the first Southeastern Science Fiction Achievement Awards, designed to honor achievement in SF/F/H works by authors born or living in the US South, to November 1. There is a $7 nomination fee to support the award. An incomplete list of eligible authors and works is posted here.

Monday 7 October 2002

Death

Wynne Whiteford, Australian author and fan, born 1915, died September 30, 2002. His first sale was in 1934, and his first novel, Breathing Space, appeared in 1980, followed by several more from Ace, from Thor's Hammer in 1985 to The Specialist in 1990.

Awards

Results of the Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire 2003 include Jamil Nasir's Tower of Dreams in the Translated Novel category, Graham Joyce's "Leningrad Nights" in the Translated Short Story category, and Michel Pagel's Le Roi d'Aout ("The King of August") in the French-language Novel category. The award ceremony will take place at Utopiales 2002 at the end of October. Previous results of this award are listed here.

Publishing and People

• Darren Nash has been appointed Senior Editor for Earthlight, the science fiction arm of Simon & Schuster UK; he fills the position left vacant by the departure of John Jarrold.
  
  
• A survey indicates that more schoolchildren know the meaning of 'homepage' and 'hard drive' than understand 'preface' and 'hardback'.
  
  
• Ralph Vicinanza's new agency, Created By, designed to funnel SF properties to Hollywood studios, gets a writeup from Variety via Yahoo. Properties in play include works by Asimov, Pournelle, Hobb, and Sawyer.
  
  
• Paul Levinson's "The Chronology Protection Case", adapted as a radio play by Mark Shanahan with Paul Levinson and Jay Kensinger, was taped in front of a live audience, complete with music and sound effects, at New York City's Museum of Television and Radio on September 27, to a standing-room only crowd; it will be subsequently broadcast on WFUV-FM radio. Levinson participated in a History Channel documentary film, "Fantastic Voyage: The Evolution of Science Fiction", broadcast on September 28. For details see Levinson's webpage.
  
  
• Ellen Datlow has posted photos from August's KGB reading with Katherine Vaz and Judith Berman.

September News