News, Reviews, Resources, and Perspectives of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror

Tuesday 26 December 2006

»   Deaths

» Margery Krueger, who wrote SF as Jayge Carr, died December 20, 2006, at the age of 66. Beginning in 1976 she published over 40 short stories in Analog, Omni, F&SF, and other magazines, and was best known for novels Leviathan's Deep (1979) and the "Rabelais" sequence including Navigator's Sindrome (1983), The Treasure in the Heart of the Maze (1985), and Rabelaisian Reprise (1988). • SFWA Obit

» Fan Dick Eney, whose Fancyclopedia II was first published in 1959, died December 22, 2006, at the age of 69. • Trufen.net report

Thursday 21 December 2006

»   Awards News: Aurealis Shortlist

The Aurealis Awards Shortlist, for Australian SF, fantasy, horror, young adult, and children's works, includes titles by Damien Broderick, Sean Williams & Shane Dix, Stephen Dedman, Sean McMullen, Margo Lanagan, Justine Larbalestier, Scott Westerfeld, and many others.

Monday 18 December 2006

»   Awards News: SFWA's Next Author Emeritus

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) has announced that D.G. Compton will be named the next Author Emeritus. Presentation of the award will be made during the Nebula Awards Weekend in New York, NY on May 11-13, 2007.

Friday 15 December 2006

»   Deaths

» Writer Patricia Matthews, born 1927, died December 7, 2006, at the age of 79. Best known as a romance writer, she published stories in F&SF and Weird Tales and wrote romantic occult thriller The Unquiet (1991). • SFWA Obit
Correction/Clarification: Patricia Shaw Mathews, author of stories in various Darkover and Witch World anthologies, and of Witch World novel "We, the Women" in On Wings of Magic (1994, with Andre Norton & Sasha Miller), is still very much alive.

» Writer Pierce Askegren, born 1955, died in late November, 2006, at the age of 51. He wrote numerous tie-in novels (Buffy, Spider-Man, etc.) as well as the recent SF trilogy Human Resource (2005), Fall Girl (2005), and Exit Strategy (2006). • SFWA obit

» UK agent Maggie Noach ('no-ack'), born 1949, died November 17, 2006, at the age of 57. Known for representing children's authors, she also represented UK SF authors Colin Greenland, Michael Scott Rohan, Geoff Ryman, Garry Kilworth, and Brian Aldiss • The Independent obituary • Stephen Hunt has a tribute

»   Announcements

» On Saturday 16 December at 3 p.m. ET Chris Meadows will host Diane Duane, Sharon Lee, and Steve Miller via TalkShoe to discuss Storyteller's Bowl, a model of Internet serialization of stories supported by donations direct from readers. (For background see article Bring the E-books Home.)

» The Odyssey Writing Workshop's Summer 2007 session will take place June 11 - July 20 at Saint Anselm College in Manchester NH, with guest lecturers Michael A. Burstein, Rodman Philbrick, Michael A. Arnzen, Elizabeth Hand, John Clute, and George Scithers. Deadline for applications: April 13th. See the workshop's website for additional details.

» The Infinity Projects' next chat, with Mike Allen, takes place December 28th at 7 p.m. ET.

Friday 8 December 2006

»   Announcement: Hubert Rogers Art Exhibit

Wednesday 29 November 2006

»   Publishing News: Library of America to Publish Philip K. Dick

The Library of America, publisher of canonical editions of works by Twain, Hawthorne, Melville, and other American literary masters, including recently H.P. Lovecraft, will issue a volume of four novels by Philip K. Dick, selected by Jonathan Lethem.
» USA Today (AP) indicates one of the novels will be Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, and that the project was instigated in part to coincide with the 25th-anniversary re-release next year of Blade Runner, Ridley Scott's film based on that novel. Also, LoA publisher Max Rudin indicates that other SF/fantasy projects might include Ray Bradbury and Ursula K. Le Guin.
» Jonathan Lethem interview at The Elegant Variation
» Library of America's page for Philip K. Dick: Four Novels of the 1960s lists the contents as The Man in the High Castle, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, and Ubik, to be published June 2007.

Monday 27 November 2006

»   Death: Leon E. Stover, 1929 - 2006

Academic writer and editor Leon E. Stover, born 1929, died at his home in Chicago on Saturday, 25 November 2006, at the age of 77. Stover, a professor emeritus of anthropology at the Illinois Institute of Technology, collaborated with Harry Harrison on anthology Apeman, Spaceman (1968) and novel Stonehenge: Where Atlantis Died (1983), co-edited with Willis E. McNelly Above the Human Landscape: An Anthology of Social Science Fiction (1972), and wrote nonfiction works on Harry Harrison, Robert A. Heinlein, and H.G. Wells.
» Chicago Tribune obituary

Friday 24 November 2006

»   Awards News: SFWA's Next Grand Master

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) has announced that James Gunn will be named the next Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master. Presentation of the award will be made during the Nebula Awards Weekend in New York, NY on May 11-13, 2007.

Wednesday 22 November 2006

»   News: New York Times' Best of 2006

The New York Times 100 Notable Books of the Year includes fiction by Thomas Pynchon, David Mitchell, Richard Powers, Jennifer Egan, Stephen King, Mark Z. Danielewski, Michel Houellebecq, and Cormac McCarthy, and Nonfiction by Julie Phillips. (There does not seem to be a separate SF/Fantasy list, as there has been for many years previously.)

Monday 20 November 2006

»   Awards News: Endeavour Award

Jerry Oltion has won this year's Endeavour Award for his novel Anywhere But Here (Tor). The award is presented annually to a distinguished SF or fantasy book written by a Pacific Northwest author or authors. The award was presented last weekend at Orycon in Portland, Oregon.

»   Awards News: Ignotus Awards

Winners of this year's Ignotus Awards, presented by members of the Spanish society of science fiction and fantasy, include George R.R. Martin's A Storm of Swords and Mike Resnick's "Down Memory Lane" in foreign categories, plus works by Eduardo Vaquerizo, Joaquín Revuelta, Santiago Eximeno, Pablo Capanna (a book about Philip K. Dick), the Spanish edition of Asimov's SF, and an anthology of Fredric Brown short stories in other categories

Saturday 18 November 2006

»   Jack Williamson Updates

» Patricia Rogers has posted photos from Thursday's memorial service for Jack Williamson.
» The Portales News-Tribune has this article about Williamson's influence and works, with comments from Rick Hauptmann and Connie Willis, and this article about Thursday's memorial service.

»   Publishing News: Baen Books Free to Disabled Readers

Baen Books has made its books free of charge in electronic form to fans who are blind, paralysed, or dyslexic, or who are amputees. These readers must apply via ReadAssist Home. Further details in this press release.

Wednesday 15 November 2006

»   Awards News: National Book Awards

National Book Award winners include two of associational interest: Richard Powers' The Echo Maker in the Fiction category, and M.T. Anderson's The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume One: The Pox Party in the Young People's Literature category.
» 2006 winners and finalists

»   Jack Williamson Update

NPR broadcast this brief remembrance of Jack Williamson, with comments from Ray Bradbury, Jim Frenkel, and Dr. Patrice Caldwell from Eastern New Mexico University.

Tuesday 14 November 2006

»   Jack Williamson Update

Obituaries have been published in the New York Times and in the Los Angeles Times.

Monday 13 November 2006

»   Best of 2006

Amazon.com's Best of 2006: Books has SF & Fantasy selections by Charles de Lint, Chris Adrian, Terry Brooks, Jeff VanderMeer, Martin Millar, Avram Davidson, Charles Stross, Tim Powers, Bill Willingham, and Neil Gaiman, while the Editors' Top 50 list includes Cormac McCarthy, Max Brooks, Stephen King (twice), Chris Adrian, Kevin Brockmeier, and Maurice Sendak.

»   Jack Williamson Update

The Independent has posted John Clute's obituary of Jack Williamson.

Friday 10 November 2006

»   Death: Jack Williamson, 1908 - 2006

SF Grand Master Jack Williamson, born 1908, died this afternoon at his home in Portales, New Mexico, at the age of 98. His first published story was "The Metal Man" in Amazing Stories in 1928, the beginning of a writing career that spanned nine decades. His work ranged from early space opera series The Legion of Space (beginning 1934), werewolf SF/fantasy Darker Than You Think (1940), thoughtful SF classic The Humanoids (1948), Golden Age antimatter tale Seetee Ship (1951 as by Will Stewart), and time travel series Legion of Time (1952). Later works included Hugo and Nebula Award winning novella "The Ultimate Earth" (2000) and its novel expansion Terraforming Earth (2001), winner of the John W. Campbell Memorial Award. He won a Hugo Award in 1985 for autobiography Wonder's Child, and his career honors include a Pilgrim Award for his nonfiction work including H.G. Wells: Critic of Progress (1973), SFWA's 2nd Grand Master Award in 1976, Life Achievement World Fantasy and Bram Stoker awards, induction in the SF Hall of Fame in 1996, and Grandmaster of the World Horror Convention in 2004. The Jack Williamson Science Fiction Library was established in 1982 at Eastern New Mexico University (ENMU), which for 30 years has hosted an annual Lectureship in honor of the writer. Williamson's last novel was The Stonehenge Gate (2005).
» Wikipedia
Updates 11 Nov:
» ENMU News Release
» Portales News-Tribune
» Albuquerque Tribune
• Memorial services will be 16 Nov at 2 p.m. in the Campus Union Building ballroom of ENMU in Portales; in lieu of flowers, the family has asked that contributions be made to the The Jack and Blanche Williamson Scholarship Fund, ENMU Foundation, Eastern New Mexico University, Station #8, Portales NM 88130

Thursday 9 November 2006

»   Death

Artist Stanley Meltzoff, born 1917, died this morning at the age of 89. Meltzoff was known as an illustrator specializing in scientific and historical subjects for magazines such as National Geographic and Scientific American, and he did numerous cover paintings for 1950s Signet editions of books by Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, A.E. van Vogt, and others.
» The artist's website includes galleries of SF illustration and Fantasies
» Google Image Search: Stanley Meltzoff Signet
» Fanac.org: Tomorrow, the Stars

Tuesday 7 November 2006

»   Best of 2006

Publishers Weekly is first out with lists of best books of 2006, with titles on its SF/Fantasy/Horror list by John Barnes, C.J. Cherryh, Jeffrey Ford, Norman Partridge, and Steph Swainston, plus Cormac McCarthy on its Fiction list, Alan Moore & Melinda Gebbie and Scott McCloud on its Comics list, Julie Phillips on its Nonfiction list, and Frances Hardinge, Alice Hoffman, and David Klass on its Children's Fiction list.

»   Awards News

» This year's Le Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire, announced at last weekend's Utopiales International SF Festival in Nantes, France, include Graham Joyce's novel The Facts of Life and Lucius Shepard's collection Aztechs in translated categories, works by Catherine Dufour, Sylvie Laine, and Jonathan Stroud in other categories, plus a "European Prize" to Brian Aldiss for his body of work.
» Complete nominees and winners

» The International IMPAC DUBLIN Literary Award has released its 2007 Long List, which includes SF-associated titles by Margaret Atwood, John Crowley, Bret Easton Ellis, Jasper Fforde, Neil Gaiman, Michel Houellebecq, Kazuo Ishiguro, Elizabeth Kostova, Haruki Murakami, and Zoran Zivkovic.

» Jonathan Littell is the first American to win France's prestigious Prix Goncourt literary award for his novel Les Bienveillantes, to be published in the US as The Kindly Ones. Littell's first novel was cyberpunk SF Bad Voltage (NAL Signet) in 1989.
» New York Times article

»   Nelson S. Bond Update

The Roanoke Times has published this obituary by Mike Allen

Saturday 4 November 2006

•   Awards News: World Fantasy Awards Winners

Winners of the World Fantasy Awards, announced this evening at the World Fantasy Convention in Austin, Texas, are Haruki Murakami's novel Kafka on the Shore, stories by Joe Hill and George Saunders, Marvin Kaye's anthology The Fair Folk and Bruce Holland Rogers' collection The Keyhole Opera, artist James Jean, Lifetime Achievement winners Stephen Fabian and John Crowley, and Sean Wallace and David Howe & Stephen Walker in special categories.

»   Death

SF/fantasy writer Nelson S. Bond, born 1908, died today at the age of 97 following complications from heart valve problems. He sold stories beginning in 1935, writing extensively for Amazing Stories, Fantastic Adventures, Weird Tales, and other magazines. His books include collections The Remarkable Exploits of Lancelot Biggs, Spaceman (1950), Mr. Mergenthwirker's Lobblies and Other Fantastic Tales (1946), Nightmares and Daydreams (1968), and Other Worlds Than Ours (2005), and he published one novel, Exiles of Time (1949). He was a rare book dealer for several decades, and was named Author Emeritus by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 1998.
» Wikipedia entry
» Locus Magazine's 1998 interview with Bond is excerpted online
» Roanoke Times obituary by Mike Allen

Thursday 2 November 2006

»   Awards News

Winners of this year's International Horror Guild Awards, announced this evening at the World Fantasy Convention in Austin TX, are Bret Easton Ellis' novel Lunar Park, stories by Rick Bowes, Caitlín Kiernan, and Gary Braunbeck, Joe Hill's collection 20th Century Ghosts, periodicial Postscripts, other works by Enki Bilal, S.T. Joshi & Stefan Dziemianowicz, and Clive Barker, plus a Living Legend Award to Chelsea Quinn Yarbro.
» Complete list of winners and nominees

»   Nigel Kneale Update

Obituaries of author/screenwriter Nigel Kneale, who died last Sunday, have appeared in various UK papers:
» The Independent, by Jack Adrian
» The Times
» Guardian, by John Ezard (plus a tribute by comedian Mark Gatiss)
Also, Talking Squid's Robert Hood has posted this tribute.

Wednesday 1 November 2006

»   Death

SF/horror author and screenwriter Nigel Kneale, born 1922, died Sunday, 29 October, at the age of 84. Kneale was best known for writing the 1953 British TV serial The Quatermass Experiment, which was followed by two more serials, three film versions, a 1979 TV serial and separate book version Quatermass also in 1979. Kneale wrote short stories early in his career, collected in Tomato Cain (1949), and wrote scripts for a 1954 TV version of 1984 and for films First Men in the Moon (1964), The Witches (1966), and Halloween III (1982), with changes to his script for the last causing him to remove his name from the final credits.
» HammerWeb tribute by Robert Simpson
» Video Watchdog tribute by Tim Lucas
» Wikipedia entry

Friday 13 October 2006

»   Wilson Tucker Update

The Independent has posted an obituary by John Clute of Wilson Tucker, who died last week at the age of 91.

Thursday 12 October 2006

»   Awards News

» Finalists for this year's National Book Awards in the Fiction category include two genre-associated novels, Mark Z. Danielewski's Only Revolutions and Richard Powers' The Echo Maker, along with books by Ken Kalfus, Dana Spiotta, and Jess Walter. Winners will be announced November 15, 2006, in New York City.

» Winners of this year's coveted Quill Awards include Diana Gabaldon's A Breath of Snow and Ashes in the SF/Fantasy/Horror category, Christopher Paolini's Eldest in the Young Adult/Teen category, and Christopher Moore's A Dirty Job in the General Fiction category. Nominations are made by librarians and booksellers; final voting was open to the public. The awards banquet will be broadcast on NBC on October 28th.

Saturday 7 October 2006

»   Death

SF fan and writer Wilson 'Bob' Tucker, born 1914, died yesterday in St. Petersburg, Florida, at the age of 91. He was a popular convention guest and fanzine publisher, and he wrote both mystery and SF novels, the latter including The Long Loud Silence (1952), The Lincoln Hunters (1958), Ice and Iron (1974), and The Year of the Quiet Sun (1970), which won a retrospective John W. Campbell Memorial Award in 1976. He won both a Hugo Award and a Retro-Hugo Award for fan writing, in 1970 and 2004 (for 1953) respectively. He was named Author Emeritus by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 1996, and was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2003. Tucker is credited with coining the term 'space opera' in 1941, and his frequent use of the names of fans and writers as characters in his books has led to such appearances being known as 'tuckerisms'.
» SFWA obituary, with appreciations
» Wikipedia entry

Saturday 30 September 2006

»   John M. Ford Update

The Independent has posted an obituary by John Clute of SF and fantasy writer John M. ('Mike') Ford, who died last week at the age of 49.

Wednesday 27 September 2006

»   Awards News

This year's Sunburst Award winner, for an SF novel or book-length collection by a Canadian writer, is Holly Phillips' In the Palace of Repose, published last year by Prime Books. • The award consists of $1000 in cash and a medallion incorporating a 'Sunburst' logo. • 2006 Sunburst Award winner and shortlist

Monday 25 September 2006

»   Death

SF and fantasy writer John M. ('Mike') Ford, born 1957, has died at the age of 49. Ford was the author of several diverse and distinctive novels, including World Fantasy Award winning historical fantasy The Dragon Waiting (1983), Star Trek novels The Final Reflection (1984) and How Much for Just the Planet? 1987, SF Growing Up Weightless (1993), co-winner of the Philip K. Dick Award, and urban fantasy The Last Hot Time (2000). Ford won both the World Fantasy and Rhysling awards for long poem "Winter Solstice, Camelot Station" (1988). His last book was short story collection Heat of Fusion and Other Stories (2004).
» Wikipedia entry
» Teresa Nielsen Hayden report and comments
» Update 30 Sept: Independent obituary by John Clute

»   Awards News

British Fantasy Awards winners, announced at Fantasycon 30 in Nottingham on Sunday, 24 September, include Neil Gaiman for best novel Anansi Boys, Joe Hill for best collection 20th Century Ghosts and for best short fiction "Best New Horror", best artist Les Edwards, a special Karl Edward Wagner Award to Stephen Jones, plus in other categories Stuart Young (novella), Allan Ashley (anthology), Peter Crowther (small press), and Keith Walker, Rosemary Pardoe, Phil Spencer, and David Sutton (BFS Committe Founders Award). Finalists were posted earlier on the convention's blog.

Wednesday 20 September 2006

»   Awards News

This year's MacArthur Foundation Fellows, recipients of the famed 'Genius Grants' who will receive $500,000 over the next five years, include writer George Saunders, whose "CommComm" is currently a World Fantasy Award finalist, and author/illustrator David Macaulay, whose many graphic works include Motel of the Mysteries.

Saturday 16 September 2006

»   Death

Writer and editor Charles L. Grant, born 1942, died yesterday, Sept. 15, 2006, shortly after returning home from a long hospital stay. Grant wrote over 100 books, mostly horror and fantasy, under his own name and a variety of pseudonyms, notably the "Oxrun Station" novels set in an imaginary Connecticut town. He won Nebula Awards for short story "A Crowd of Shadows" and novelette "A Glow of Candles, a Unicorn's Eye", World Fantasy Awards for anthology Shadows (first in an 11-volume series), collection Nightmare Seasons, and novella "Confess the Seasons", a special British Fantasy Award in 1987, a Life Achievement Stoker Award in 2000, the World Horror Grandmaster Award in 2002, and the International Horror Guild Living Legend Award in 2003.
» Profile and bibliography at International Horror Guild

Thursday 31 August 2006

»   Death

Film and TV writer and producer Joseph Stefano died August 25, 2006, in Thousand Oaks CA at the age of 84. Stefano wrote the screenplay for Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho, based on the novel by Robert Bloch, and produced and/or wrote 21 episodes of 1963-64 TV series The Outer Limits.
» Internet Movie Database
» CNN obituary

Saturday 26 August 2006

•   Awards News: Hugo and Campbell Awards Winners

Robert Charles Wilson, Connie Willis, Peter S. Beagle, David D. Levine, David G. Hartwell, Doctor Who, Serenity, Locus and others win Hugo Awards; the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer goes to John Scalzi.
» Update 28 Aug: Complete voting breakdown and nominees and honorable mentions

Friday 25 August 2006

»   Awards News

»   Awards News

Thursday 24 August 2006

»   Awards News

Wednesday 23 August 2006

»   Awards News

Finalists for the year's Quill Awards include novels by Diana Gabaldon, Stephen King, George R.R. Martin, Kate Mosse, and Keith Donohue in the Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror category, and books by Christopher Moore, Cornelia Funke, Jonathan Stroud, Christopher Paolini, David Mitchell, and MaryJanice Davidson in various of the 18 other categories. • This is the second year of the Quill Awards, which are sponsored by Reed Business (publisher of Publishers Weekly) and NBC. Nominations are made by librarians and booksellers; final voting is open to the public. • Winners will be announced October 10 in New York City.

Tuesday 22 August 2006

»   Awards News

Finalists for the year's British Fantasy Awards include Best Novel nominees Ramsey Campbell, Mark Chadbourn, Hal Duncan, Neil Gaiman, George R.R. Martin, and Mark Morris, plus Jeffrey Ford, Joe Hill, Stephen Jones, Leigh Brackett, Sean Wright, Clive Barker, Peter Crowther, and others in categories for novella, anthology, collection, short fiction, artist, and small press. • Winners will be announced at Fantasycon, 22-24 September 2006 in Nottingham, UK.

Saturday 19 August 2006

»   Update

John Clute's obituary of Philip E. High, who died August 9th, appears in The Independent.

Thursday 10 August 2006

»   Deaths

• UK writer Philip E. High died yesterday, August 9th, at the age of 92. He wrote 14 novels from The Prodigal Sun (1964) to Blindfold from the Stars (1979), and published short story collections in 2002 and 2004.

• SF writer Bob Leman died August 8th at the age of 84. He published 15 stories, all but one in F&SF, from 1967 to 2002, including "Feesters in the Lake" and Nebula-nominated "Window"; all were collected in 2002 Feesters in the Lake & Other Stories.

• Bookseller and author Martin Last died July 6, 2006, at the age of 76. With partner Baird Searles he ran New York City's Science Fiction Bookshop from 1973 to 1986, when they moved to Montreal. Last also wrote short fiction, and co-authored 1979 A Reader's Guide to Science Fiction with Searles, Beth Meacham, and Michael Franklin.

Tuesday 8 August 2006

»   Awards News

Mythopoeic Awards winners, announced last weekend at Mythcon in Norman, Oklahoma, are Neil Gaiman's Anansi Boys, Jonathan Stroud's The Bartimaeus Trilogy, Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull's The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion, and Jennifer Schacker's National Dreams: The Remaking of Fairy Tales in Nineteenth-Century England.

Saturday 5 August 2006

•   Awards News: World Fantasy Awards Nominations

Finalists for this year's World Fantasy Awards include Haruki Murakami, Graham Joyce, Bret Easton Ellis, Patricia A. McKillip, Paul Park, and Hal Duncan for best novel, plus Kelly Link, Joe Hill, Michael Cunningham, Peter S. Beagle, and others in categories for novella, short fiction, anthology, collection, artist, and special awards professional and non-professional.

Friday 4 August 2006

»   Awards News

The Short List for this year's Parsec Awards for SF and fantasy podcasting, with categories for short and long fiction, audio production, writing podcast, short and long audio drama, non-speculative fiction, fan podcast, and news podcast, include Holly Lisle, Tee Morris, Patrick McLean, Michael A. Stackpole, Sci Fi News, The Future and You, and many others. • Winners will be announced at Dragon*con, held September 1-4, 2006, in Atlanta.

»   Publishing News

HarperCollins Publishers will expand its internet content with a new "Browse Inside" feature, providing multiple chapter excerpts from books by selected authors, including Michael Crichton, Isabel Allende, and C.S. Lewis.
» Press release
» New York Times article

Thursday 3 August 2006

»   David Gemmell Update

Online obituaries include John Clute's in the Independent, Christopher Priest's in the Guardian, and Stan Nicholls' in the Times. (Nicholls' unedited piece is available at his MySpace site.)

Tuesday 1 August 2006

»   Awards News

Nominees for this year's Sapphire Awards for speculative romantic fiction include novels and novellas by Sherrilyn Kenyon, Robin D. Owens, Catherine Asaro, and others.
» Previous Sapphire winners

Friday 28 July 2006

»   Death

UK fantasy writer David Gemmell, born 1948, died this morning at his home, a week following quadruple heart bypass surgery. Gemmel was the author of over 30 novels, including Legend (1984), first in the long-running Drenai series, and numerous other books in the Slipstrassi, Hawk Queen, and Rigante sequences.
» David Gemmell unofficial site
» Update 31 July: BBC appreciation by John Jarrold

Wednesday 26 July 2006

»   Awards News

Winners of this year's Southeastern Science Fiction Achievement Awards, announced by website SciFiDimensions, are Jack McDevitt for Lifetime Achievement and for best novel Seeker, and Michael Bishop for best short fiction "Bears Discover Smut".
» Previous SESFA winners

Thursday 13 July 2006

»   Awards News

Nominations for this year's Chesley Awards, presented by the Association of Science Fiction & Fantasy Artists, include Real Musgrave, John Jude Palencar, Keith Parkinson, John Picacio, and David Hardy in the artistic achievement category, plus nominees in categories for hardcover illustration, paperback illustration, magazine illustration, 3-D, art direction, and others.
» Complete list of nominations

Wednesday 12 July 2006

»   Awards News

• Winners of this year's Prix Aurora Awards, announced last weekend at TT20 in Toronto, include Karin Lowachee's Cagebird and Dominic Bellavance's Alégracia et le Serpent d'Argent.
» List of winners at SFWA News

• Winners of this year's Seiun Awards, announced at last weekend's Japan Science Fiction Convention, include Greg Egan's Diaspora and Ken MacLeod's "The Human Front" in the foreign stories categories.
» Complete list of winners at SFWA News

• Winners of this year's Rhysling Awards for SF poetry, announced last weekend at Readercon, are Mike Allen's "The Strip Search" in the short poem category, and Kendall Evans & David C. Kopaska-Merkel's "The Tin Men" in the long poem category.
» Past winners at SFPA Rhysling Awards

Friday 7 July 2006

»   Awards News

Robert J. Sawyer's Mindscan is winner of this year's John W. Campbell Memorial Award for best SF novel published in 2005; Paolo Bacigalupi's "The Calorie Man" is winner of the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award for best short fiction of the year. The awards were announced this evening at the Campbell Conference in Lawrence, Kansas.
» Robert J. Sawyer Press Release
» Campbell Finalists; Sturgeon Finalists

»   Awards News

Greg Bear and Jack Williamson have been named recipients of this year's Robert A. Heinlein Award for outstanding published work in hard science fiction or technical writings inspiring the human exploration of space. • This year's award will be presented in Los Angeles during this year's World Science Fiction Convention in August
» SFWA News

Wednesday 5 July 2006

»   Jim Baen Update

» Los Angeles Times obituary

Thursday 29 June 2006

»   Death

Editor and publisher Jim Baen, founder of Baen Books, died yesterday at the age of 62. He suffered a stroke on June 12, and never recovered from his coma.
» Baen Books announcement
» SFWA News obituary
» Obituary by David Drake
» Boing Boing post by Cory Doctorow
» 30 June: Keith Ferrell on The Publisher Who "Got" The Web: Jim Baen RIP
» 4 July: Los Angeles Times obituary

Monday 19 June 2005

•   Awards News: Bram Stoker Awards Winners

David Morrell, Charlee Jacob, Joe Hill, Stephen Jones & Kim Newman, Peter Straub and others win Bram Stoker Awards

Saturday 17 June 2005

•   Awards News: Locus Awards Winners

Charles Stross, Neil Gaiman, Kelly Link, Cory Doctorow, Kate Wilhelm and others win Locus Awards (article amended, 18 June)

Friday 16 June 2006

»   Ailing

Publisher and editor Jim Baen suffered a stroke this past Monday and remains in a hospital in North Carolina in serious condition. Official news is at Baen's Bar (requires log-in), with the news first reported online by Steven Barnes.

Tuesday 13 June 2006

»   Awards News

Finalists for this year's Sunburst Award, for a novel or book-length collection by a Canadian writer, include works by Cory Doctorow, James Alan Gardner, Alison MacLeod, Holly Phillips, and Robert Charles Wilson.
• The winner will be announced in the Fall of 2006.

»   Death

Composer Gyorgy Ligeti, whose works "Lux Aeterna" and "Atmospheres" were featured prominently in Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey, died yesterday in Vienna at the age of 83.
» New York Times obituary

Monday 12 June 2006

»   Death

Fantasy artist Tim Hildebrandt died yesterday, June 11, 2006, at the age of 67, of complications due to diabetes. He was best known as part of the Brothers Hildebrandt team along with his twin brother Greg; their works included the original Star Wars poster and popular 1970s Tolkien calendars.
» This notice on Greg Hildebrandt's site includes family photos.
» The Official Brothers Hildebrandt Website has galleries of art on various themes.

»   Awards News

Finalists for this year's Sidewise Awards for works of alternate history include novels by Ian R. MacLeod, Sophia McDougall, and Paul Park, and short form works by William Barton, A.M. Dellamonica, Kim Newman & Paul McAuley, Jason Stoddard, and Lois Tilton. • Winners will be announced at this year's World Science Fiction Convention, L.A.con IV, August 23-27 in Anaheim, California.

Saturday 10 June 2006

»   Awards News

Irish SF/F/H magazine Albedo One has launched the 2006-2007 Aeon Award contest for short fiction by new writers, with a grand prize of €1000, the winner to be judged by Ian Watson. Full details are on the Albedo One News page (in the right sidebar). The winner and finalists of the first Aeon Award have just been published in Issue 31 of the magazine.

Friday 9 June 2006

»   Awards News

Nominees for the 12th annual International Horror Guild Awards include works by Bret Easton Ellis, China Miéville, Jeffrey Ford, Joe Hill, Michael Cunningham, Kelly Link, Clive Barker, and many others, with Chelsea Quinn Yarbro named recipient of this year's Living Legend Award. Winners will be announced during World Fantasy Con, November 2-5, 2006, in Austin, Texas.

Monday 5 June 2006

»   Awards News

Finalists for this year's Mythopoeic Awards for fantasy fiction and nonfiction include books by Margaret Atwood, Lois McMaster Bujold, Neil Gaiman, Tanith Lee, and Tim Pratt in the Adult Literature category, plus nominees in categories for Children's Literature, Inklings Studies, and General Myth and Fantasy Studies.
• Winners will be announced at Mythcon 37 at the University of Oklahoma, 4-7 August 2006.
» Past Winners by Year

Wednesday 31 May 2006

»   Awards News

Maria V. Snyder's Poison Study (Luna Books) won this year's Compton Crook / Stephen Tall Award for best first novel of 2005, presented at Balticon 40 on May 27, 2006.
» Past Winners by Year

Tuesday 30 May 2006

»   Publishing News

UK publisher Little, Brown is extending its SF/fantasy imprint Orbit to both the US and Australia, to be led from the US by publishing director Tim Holman, who will be relocating to New York. Orbit USA expects to grow to 40 titles a year within three years.
» Press release at The Alien Online

•   Announcement

China is hosting the 2007 International SF/Fantasy Conference in Chengdu, to be held August 25-27, 2007, just before the World SF Convention in Yokohama, Japan. SF writers and fans from around the world are invited to attend.

»   Awards News

Finalists have been announced for this year's Aurora Awards for Canadian SF and fantasy.
» Winners will be announced at TT20 in Toronto, July 7-9, 2006.

Tuesday 23 May 2006

»   Awards News

Finalists have been announced for this year's John W. Campbell Memorial Award for best SF novel of the year and for the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award for best SF short fiction.
» Winners will be announced at the annual Campbell Conference and Awards Banquet in Lawrence, Kansas, July 6-9, 2006.

Wednesday 17 May 2006

»   Awards News

Winners of the first Carl Brandon Society Awards are Walter Mosley and Susan Vaught. Mosley's novel 47 receives the society's "Parallax Award" for works of speculative fiction created by people of color; Vaught's YA novel Stormwitch receives the society's "Kindred Award" for works of speculative fiction dealing with issues of race and ethnicity.
» The society's blog announcement includes shortlists for each award with comments by the jurors.

Tuesday 16 May 2006

»   Deaths

• SF/fantasy writer Arthur Porges, born 1915, died Friday, May 12th, 2006. He wrote dozens of stories in fantasy and mystery magazines from the early 1950s through 2005, including five stories in F&SF since 2003, with Ash-Tree Press publishing collection The Mirror and Other Strange Reflections in 2002. His most-often reprinted stories were "The Fly" (1952) and "The Ruum" (1953).

• Film producer, director, and writer Val Guest died May 10th, 2006, in Palm Springs, California, at the age of 94. He directed SF films The Quatermass Xperiment (1955), Quatermass 2 (1957), and The Day the Earth Caught Fire (1961), among many others.
» Guardian obituary
» IMDb entry

»   Awards News

Jonathan Carroll's story "Home on the Rain" from Conjunctions:44, An Anatomy of Roads is a winner in this year's Pushcart Prizes.
» Announcement at Conjunctions
» Pushcart Prize site

Saturday 6 May 2006

•   Awards News: Nebula Awards Winners

Joe Haldeman, Kelly Link (twice!), Carol Emshwiller, and Joss Whedon win SFWA Nebula Awards
• Holly Black wins the first Andre Norton Award
• Harlan Ellison receives Grand Master Award
• William F. Nolan named Author Emeritus

»   Awards News

• Nominations have been announced for this year's Rhysling Awards for SF, fantasy, and horror poetry. Winners will be announced at ReaderCon in July.
• Nominations have been announced for this year's Southeastern Science Fiction Achievement Awards (the SESFAs). Voting is open until June 30, 2006. (Press Release [Word])

•   Awards News: Analog & Asimov's Readers' Awards Winners

Winners of this year's Analog and Asimov's Readers' Awards, announced this morning in Tempe, Arizona, during Nebula Awards Weekend, include Michael A. Burstein, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Stephen Baxter, Michael Whelan, and George Krauter

Tuesday 2 May 2006

»   Death

• Fantasy writer Lisa A. Barnett, born 1958, died this morning at her home in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, from brain tumor. She and her partner Melissa Scott published three fantasy novels together, The Armor of Light (1988), Point of Hopes (1995), and Point of Dreams (2001), the last of which won a Lambda Literary Award in 2002.

»   Awards News

Richard Bowes' Sci Fiction story "There's a Hole in the City" has won the storySouth 2006 Million Writers Award for Fiction.

Friday 28 April 2006

»   Awards News

Wednesday 26 April 2006

»   Awards News

Geoff Ryman's Air has won this year's Arthur C. Clarke Award, announced tonight at the Apollo Cinema in London. It's Ryman's second Clarke Award; he won in 1990 for The Child Garden. This year's award consists of an engraved bookend and a cheque for £2,006. Air has also won the British Science Fiction Association, James Tiptree, Jr. Memorial, and Sunburst Awards.
» Shortlist
» A special honorary Clarke Award was presented to judge chairman Paul Kincaid, who is retiring after this year's award.
» Photos from the ceremony, by Tony Cullen

Monday 24 April 2006

•   Awards News: Locus Awards Finalists

Voting in this year's Locus Poll is closed, and winners will be announced at the Locus Awards/SF Hall of Fame weekend in Seattle, June 16-18. Here are the top five ranking items in each category.

Sunday 16 April 2006

»   Awards News

Winners of this year's British Science Fiction Association Awards, presented this weekend at Concussion, the 2006 Eastercon in Glasgow, include Geoff Ryman's Air for best novel, Kelly Link's "Magic for Beginners" for best short fiction, and a judged nonfiction award to Gary K. Wolfe's Soundings.
• Report by Cheryl Morgan

Winners of this year's Ditmar Awards for Australian SF, presented this weekend at Conjure 2006 in Brisbane, include Sean Williams & Shane Dix's Geodesica: Ascent for best novel, stories by Kaaron Warren in both the best novella/novelette and best short story categories, and TiconderogaOnline as best fanzine.
• Complete list of winners and nominees

Friday 14 April 2006

»   Awards News

The winner of this year's Philip K. Dick Award, for best original paperback published in the US in 2005, is M.M. Buckner's War Surf (Ace Books), with a special citation given to Justina Robson for Natural History (Bantam Spectra). • Results were announced this evening at Norwescon in SeaTac, Washington.
• Philip K. Dick Award official site
• Previous Philip K. Dick Award winners

»   Death

Locus has confirmed reports of the death of Angus Wells, UK fantasy writer, apparently in a house fire earlier this week. Born 1943, Wells' first novels were SF Star Maidens (1977, as by Ian Evans) and fantasy Raven, Swordmistress of Chaos (1978, written with Robert Holdstock). He wrote numerous further sword & sorcery fantasy novels in several series, the latest being stand-alone Yesterday's Kings for Bantam Spectra in 2001.

Monday 10 April 2006

»   Awards News

Jeffrey Ford and Robert J. Sawyer are among finalists for this year's Seiun Awards in the translated fiction categories. (Click on either name for the complete lists.) Winners will be announced at the 45th Japan Science Fiction Convention, 8-9 July 2006, with a presentation also taking place at L.A.Con IV, the World Science Fiction Convention in Los Angeles, 23-28 August 2006.

The Writers Guild of America, west's list of the 101 Greatest Screenplays puts Dr. Strangelove (by Stanley Kubrick, Peter George, and Terry Southern) at #12, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (by Charlie Kaufman, Michel Gondry, and Pierre Bismuth) at #24, The Wizard of Oz (by Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson, and Edgar Allan Woolf) at #25, and further down includes Groundhog Day, Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Sixth Sense, Back to the Future, The Silence of the Lambs, E.T. The Extra-terrestrial, Star Wars, Being John Malkovich, Being There, The Princess Bride, Field of Dreams, and Psycho.

Sunday 9 April 2006

»   Awards News

The final ballot for this year's Bram Stoker Awards, presented by the Horror Writers Association, includes novels by David Morrell, Charlee Jacob, Gary Braunbeck, and Tom Piccirilli, plus nominees in categories for first novel, long fiction, short story, anthology, fiction collection, nonfiction, and poetry. • Joe Hill and Kelly Link are both nominated in the long fiction and fiction collection categories. • Winners will be announced at the HWA Annual Conference in Newark, New Jersey, 16-18 June 2006.

»   John Morressy Update

The Independent has posted an obituary by John Clute of the fantasy writer who died March 20th.

Thursday 30 March 2006

»   Stanislaw Lem Update

» Independent obituary by John Clute
» London Times obituary

Tuesday 28 March 2006

»   Stanislaw Lem Update

Obituaries posted online:
» New York Times
» Los Angeles Times
» Washington Post

Monday 27 March 2006

»   Death

Polish SF writer Stanislaw Lem died today in Krakow at the age of 84. He was author of twice-filmed Solaris (1961, English translation 1970), and his many other works, ranging over themes from aliens to cybernetics to utopian technology, at times blackly humorous and sometimes cast as futuristic parables, included (dates those of English translations) The Cyberiad (1974), The Futurological Congress (1974), The Star Diaries (1976), Tales of Pirx the Pilot (1979), One Human Minute (1986), Fiasco (1987, runner-up for the 1988 Arthur C. Clarke Award), and Hospital of the Transfiguration (1988), as well as nonfiction Microworlds (1985) and memoir Highcastle (1995). Lem was notorious for having a low regard for most American SF writers (except for Philip K. Dick), and had a controversial on-again, off-again membership in SFWA in the 1970s.
» Reuters; CNN (AP)
» Official Lem website
» Wikipedia
» SFWA obituary

»   Death

Film director Richard Fleischer died Saturday, March 25th, in Woodland Hills, California, at the age of 89. He directed almost 50 films, including genre titles 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954), Fantastic Voyage (1966), Doctor Dolittle (1967), Soylent Green (1973), Amityville 3-D (1983), Conan The Destroyer (1984), and Red Sonja (1985).
» New York Times obituary
» LA Times obituary

Thursday 23 March 2006

»   Death

David Stemple, husband of fantasy writer Jane Yolen, died Wednesday, March 22, 2006, of cancer at the age of 68.
» Jane Yolen's journal

»   Magazine News

Paizo Publications announces the official cancellation of Amazing Stories, 15 months after announcing its hiatus (see 25 December entry).

Wednesday 22 March 2006

»   Announcements

• Resource center AboutSF.com has established a new Speakers' Bureau for futurists and science fiction authors, including a database of speakers and fee ranges by state, a Curriculum Wiki, and a blog.

• The Octavia E. Butler Memorial Scholarship Fund has been established by the Carl Brandon Society, Warner Books, the SF Museum and Hall of Fame, and others, to enable writers of color to attend one of the Clarion writing workshops where Ms. Butler got her start. The first scholarship will be awarded in 2007. Tax deductible donations are welcome; see webpage for details. More at SFWA Pressbook.

»   Death

SF and fantasy writer John Morressy died Monday, March 20, 2006, of a heart attack at his home in Sullivan, New Hampshire, at the age of 75. Morressy wrote more than 20 books, from space opera to humorous fantasy, and was best known for his novels and stories (mostly in F&SF) about Kedrigern the wizard.
» The SFWA obituary includes funeral details

•   Awards News: Hugo and Campbell Awards Nominations

2006 Hugo Awards Nominations include Charles Stross, George R.R. Martin, Ken MacLeod, John Scalzi, and Robert Charles Wilson for best novel, plus nominees for novella, novelette, short story, related book, dramatic presentation, and in other categories (but not interactive video game) • Campbell nominees are K.J. Bishop, Sarah Monette, Chris Roberson, Brandon Sanderson, John Scalzi, and Steph Swainston • Locus Online's listing includes statistics on past nominations and wins by each nominee

Monday 20 March 2006

»   David Feintuch Update

SF writer David Feintuch died Thursday March 16th, not Friday the 17th, according to the Lansing State Journal and this SFWA obituary.

»   Publishing News

New imprint Mythic Delirium Books will published anthology Mythic in April, first of a series, launched by Mythic Delirium editor Mike Allen in conjunction with Sean Wallace of Prime Books/Wildside Press.

Sunday 19 March 2006

»   Awards News

Awards presented last night at the International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, include the Crawford Award, for best fantasy writer whose first book has appeared in the last 18 months, to Joe Hill; the Lord Ruthven Award for best vampire novel to Elizabeth Kostova's The Historian, with Octavia E. Butler's Fledgling runner-up; and the Dell Magazines Award for unpublished fiction by an undergrad student to Meghan Sinoff. (Reported by Cheryl Morgan)

Saturday 18 March 2006

»   Death

SF writer David Feintuch died last night, Friday March 17th, of a heart attack, according to a report received by Locus. Feintuch was author of the long-running Nicholas Seafort series of space navy adventure novels beginning with Midshipman’s Hope in 1994.
• Wikipedia entry
» Tribute by Michael A. Burstein
» Update 20 March: Feintuch died Thursday March 16th, not Friday the 17th, according to the Lansing State Journal and this SFWA obituary.

Thursday 16 March 2006

»   Publishing News Update

News posted late last month about a partnership between Baen's WebScriptions program and Tor Books was premature; no arrangement has been finalized. Further details will be posted as they become available.

»   More Octavia Butler Links

» Salon 17 March: Karen Joy Fowler remembers Octavia Butler
» Seattle PI: Family, friends and fellow writers gather to honor Octavia Butler
» NY Amsterdam News: obituary by Herb Boyd
(All links at 26 Feb entry below)

»   Awards News

BookSense Book of the Year Award Winners include Elizabeth Kostova's The Historian in adult fiction and Cornelia Funke's Inkspell in children's literature, with honor books by Haruki Murakami and Christopher Paolini

Tuesday 14 March 2006

»   Awards News

This year's inductees into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame, part of Seattle's Science Fiction Museum, are George Lucas, Anne McCaffrey, Frank Herbert, and Frank Kelly Freas. • Induction ceremonies will be held on June 17th, 2006, hosted by Master of Ceremonies Neil Gaiman, on a weekend including presentation of this year's Locus Awards.
• Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
• Previous SF Hall of Fame inductees.

Monday 13 March 2006

»   Death

SF writer Ronald Anthony Cross, born 1937, died last week apparently of a stroke, in Sherman Oaks, California. Cross published dozens of stories and several novels beginning in the early 1970s; novels included Prisoners of Paradise (1988) and the "Eternal Guardians" series with fourth volume The First Guardian forthcoming from Tor.

Saturday 11 March 2006

»   Awards News

• Finalists for the Los Angeles Times Book Prizes include Margo Lanagan's Black Juice in the YA Fiction category and Haruki Murakami's Kafka on the Shore in the Fiction category.

• Finalists for the Lambda Literary Awards include, in the SF/fantasy/horror category, Octavia Butler's Fledgling and David B. Coe's Shapers of Darkness.

Friday 10 March 2006

•   Awards News

This year's Spectrum Awards winners for science fiction and fantasy art include Donato Giancola, Jon Foster, Grand Master Jeffrey Jones, and others

•   Poll News

Japanese SF magazine Hayakawa's poll of all-time best SF novels, stories, and writers include winners Stanislaw Lem, Greg Egan, and Philip K. Dick

Tuesday 7 March 2006

»   More Octavia Butler Links

» Dragon Page podcasts this recent Octavia Butler interview
» Village Voice tribute by Dream Hampton
(All links at 26 Feb entry below)

Monday 6 March 2006

»   Awards News

Geoff Ryman's Air (St. Martins, Gollancz) is the winner of this year's James Tiptree Jr. Award, given to "science fiction or fantasy that expands or explores our understanding of gender". • The award ceremony will be held at WisCon in Madison, Wisconsin, May 26-29, 2006. The award includes a cash prize of $1000. The 2005 short list of other worthy works cited by the judges -- Liz Henry, Nike Bourke, Matt Ruff, Georgie Schnobrich, and Hiromi Goto (who resigned mid-year due to family obligations) will be posted on the Tiptree site shortly. • Previous Tiptree winners

Thursday 2 March 2005

»   More Octavia Butler Links

» John Clute's Independent obituary
» Slate: Tyler Cowen's obit/tribute Octavia Butler: The outsider who changed science fiction
» Cleveland.com tribute by Afi-Odelia E. Scruggs
» LA Weekly's Sister from Another Planet by Jervey Tervalon
» 3 March: LA Times's appreciation by Susan Salter Reynolds
» NPR's 1993 interview with Butler
(Also added to main 26 Feb entry below)

Tuesday 28 February 2006

»   Octavia Butler Update

Additional links (also added to main 26 Feb entry below):
» Tribute by Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu
» The SF Museum in Seattle will host a Octavia Butler Memorial Gathering on Thursday, March 2nd at 7:30 p.m., with Greg Bear, Eileen Gunn, Vonda N. McIntyre, and others.
» KGB Bar in New York City is hosting an informal gathering this Friday, March 3rd, in memory of Octavia Butler (details).
» Long Los Angeles Times obit
» Washington Post profile
» 1 March: New York Times obituary

Monday 27 February 2006

»   Publishing News

Tor Books is joining Baen WebScription Ebooks in offering online e-books, beginning in March with titles by Vernor Vinge, Charles Stross, Mercedes Lackey, Sara Douglass, and others
» Press release

»   Awards News

Nominees for this year's Ditmar Awards for Australian SF have been released by Conjure 2006, the 45th Australian National Convention in Brisbane,which will announced winners on Saturday, 16 April 2006. Nominees include 3 novels by Scott Westerfeld, other novels by Justine Larbalestier, Garth Nix, and Sean Williams & Shane Dix, and works in other categories by Chris Lawson, Lucy Sussex, Bruce Gillespie, Jonathan Strahan, and many others.

Sunday 26 February 2006

»   Death

Octavia E. Butler died Friday evening, February 24th, after falling and striking her head on a walkway outside her home. She was 58 years old. One of the few prominent African-American SF writers, she won 2 Hugos and 2 Nebulas during her career, including a Nebula for her 1998 novel Parable of the Talents. She was awarded a MacArthur Foundation 'genius grant' in 1995.
» Initial report from Steven Barnes
» SFWA News
» Wikipedia entry
» Obituaries: Seattle Post-Intelligencer; Seattle Times; Chicago Tribune; USA Today
• Correction 27 Feb: Butler died on the 24th, not the 25th
» Boing Boing post by Cory Doctorow
» Tribute by Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu
» The SF Museum in Seattle will host a Octavia Butler Memorial Gathering on Thursday, March 2nd at 7:30 p.m., with Greg Bear, Eileen Gunn, Vonda N. McIntyre, and others.
» KGB Bar in New York City is hosting an informal gathering this Friday, March 3rd, in memory of Octavia Butler (details).
» Long Los Angeles Times obit
» Washington Post profile
» 1 March: New York Times obituary
» 2 March: John Clute's Independent obituary
» Slate: Tyler Cowen's obit/tribute Octavia Butler: The outsider who changed science fiction
» Cleveland.com tribute by Afi-Odelia E. Scruggs
» LA Weekly's Sister from Another Planet by Jervey Tervalon » 3 March: LA Times's appreciation by Susan Salter Reynolds
» NPR's 1993 interview with Butler
» 7 March: Dragon Page podcasts this recent Octavia Butler interview
» Village Voice tribute by Dream Hampton
» Salon 17 March: Karen Joy Fowler remembers Octavia Butler
» Seattle PI: Family, friends and fellow writers gather to honor Octavia Butler
» NY Amsterdam News: obituary by Herb Boyd

»   Awards News

Aurealis Awards winners, for best SF, fantasy, horror, young adult, and children's book published last year in Australia, include Isobelle Carmody, K.A. Bedford, Juliet Marillier, and Garth Nix

Friday 24 February 2006

»   Awards News

SFWA has announced this year's Final Nebula Awards ballot.
• Update 26 Feb: Locus Online's ballot listing includes statistics on this year's nominees' previous nominations and wins.

Wednesday 22 February 2006

»   Publishing News

ibooks and Byron Preiss Visual Publications have filed for bankruptcy effective today, February 22. Both companies are shut down completely as of today. The companies' founder, Byron Preiss, died suddenly last July.

Wednesday 1 February 2006

»   Awards News

Finalists for this year's Crawford Award, for best fantasy writer whose first book has appeared in the last 18 months, include Judith Berman, Hal Duncan, Frances Hardinge, Joe Hill, Sarah Monette, Holly Phillips, and Anna Tambour. The winner will be announced at the International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts in Ft. Lauderdale in March (if not before).
• List of nominees at Emerald City
• Previous Crawford Award winners

Sunday 29 January 2006

»   Awards News

• The 2006 Arthur C. Clarke Award shortlist, for best SF novel with its first British publication in 2005, consists of Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go, Ken MacLeod's Learning the World, Alastair Reynolds' Pushing Ice, Geoff Ryman's Air, Charles Stross' Accelerando, and Liz Williams' Banner of Souls. The winner will be announced 26 April 2006 at the Apollo Cinema in London.
• Official Arthur C. Clarke Award website

• The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America have announced that William F. Nolan will be honored as Author Emeritus at the Nebula Awards banquet in Tempe, Arizona, this May, along with previously announced Grand Master Harlan Ellison

• Judges for this year's World Fantasy Awards, for works published in 2006, are Steve Lockley, Barbara Roden, Victoria Strauss, Jeff VanderMeer, and Andrew Wheeler. Submission details and addresses are at World Fantasy Award Judges; deadline is June 1.

»   Publishing News

• Solaris Books is a new SF and fantasy imprint from BL Publishing (parent company of The Black Library, publisher of gaming-related book), set to debut in Spring 2007 with distribution both in the UK and US. Publisher is Marc Gascoigne, consultant editor is George Mann, editors are Christian Dunn and Mark Newton. For more, see the press release.

• The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America and Dell Magazines have reached an agreement concerning electronic rights of material published in Analog and Asimov's magazines. The agreement allows e-zine versions of the magazines to remain on sale for nine months, with exclusive rights in effect only for the first month, after which electronic rights will be non-exclusive. For details, see SFWA news story.

»   Announcements

• The Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame in Seattle is hosting the first annual Science Fiction Short Film Festival on February 4th from 4 - 9 p.m. See the Museum's event listing for details.

• Ellen Datlow invites submissions for the 20th volume of Year's Best Fantasy and Horror, to cover material published in 2006. See the complete Call for submissions for details.

Sunday 22 January 2006

»   Awards News

British Science Fiction Association Awards finalists include novels by Jon Courtenay Grimwood, Charles Stross, Geoff Ryman, Ken MacLeod, and Justina Robson, plus nominees for short fiction and artwork. Winners will be announced April 15th at Concussion, the 2006 Eastercon, in Glasgow.

Saturday 21 January 2006

•   Locus Index to SF Awards

The Locus Index to Science Fiction Awards is now updated with all awards results through the end of 2005, including sections for two additional awards, the first online listing of the complete 2005 Locus Poll results, and more (see What's New for details)

Monday 9 January 2006

•   Awards News: Philip K. Dick Award Finalists

Friday 6 January 2006

»   Awards News

• The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) has released the 2005 Nebula Awards Preliminary Ballot.

• Winners of this year's UPC Science Fiction Award (Premio UPC de Ciencia Ficción), open to unpublished works written in Catalan, Spanish, English, or French, include Kristine Kathryn Rusch's novel Diving into the Wreck for First Prize.
• Previous UPC Awards winners

Thursday 5 January 2006

»   Awards News

The Carl Brandon Society has established two juried awards "designed to recognize excellence in speculative fiction by or about people of color", each award to come with a $1000 prize. The Carl Brandon Kindred Award will go to any work of speculative fiction dealing with issues of race and ethnicity; the Carl Brandon Parallax Award will go to works of fiction created by a person of color. See the organization's awards page for details, submission deadlines, and a page where anyone may submit nominations. The awards will be presented at WisCon 30, to be held May 26-29, 2006 in Madison, Wisconsin.

Sunday 1 January 2006

»   Death

SF fan Howard DeVore died yesterday, 31 December 2005, after a long illness. With Donald Franson he compiled A History of the Hugo, Nebula, and International Fantasy Awards in 1978; a later revision was a Related Book Hugo Award nominee in 1999. He was scheduled to have been Guest of Honor at L.A.con IV, the 2006 World SF Convention, to be held in August 2006 in Anaheim, California.

»   Awards News

Winners of the Third Annual Wooden Rocket Awards, for best science fiction and fantasy websites, sponsored by SF Crowsnest, include Sci Fiction as Best Online Magazine, Locus Online as Best Print-to-Web Magazine, sites by Stephen Baxter and Michael Whelan as best Author and Artist sites, plus winners in 14 other categories.

2005 News Archive