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

Saturday 27 December 2008

NEWS : Obituaries: December Obits

Notices of the recent deaths of Edd Cartier, Leo A. Frankowski, Majel Barrett Roddenberry, and James Cawthorn

Friday 5 December 2008

BREAKING NEWS : Death : Forrest J Ackerman

SF editor and über-fan Forrest J Ackerman died yesterday, December 4, 2008, at the age of 92. He coined the abbreviation "sci-fi" in the 1950s.
» Los Angeles Times; Geoff Boucher's Hero Complex blog
» Wikipedia
» SFWA News obit
» Classic Horror News
» Associated Press
» Forrest J Ackerman's Wide Webbed World

Saturday 22 November 2008

NEWS : Awards: Endeavour Award Winner

Brenda Cooper's The Silver Ship and the Sea is winner of this year's Endeavour Award.

NEWS : Awards: Chesley Awards Winners

Winners of this year's Chesley Awards for science fiction and fantasy art include five awards to Donato Giancola -- for hardcover illustration, paperback illustration, unpublished monochrome and color works, and gaming-related illustration -- plus awards to Cory & Catska Ench, James Gurney, Michael Wm. Kaluta, Irene Gallo, Todd Lockwood, and Vincent Villafranca.

Thursday 20 November 2008

BREAKING NEWS : Awards: Chesley Awards Winners

Friday 14 November 2008

BREAKING NEWS : Update: Forrest J Ackerman

Forrest J Ackerman's close friend and caregiver, Joe Moe, reports that Ackerman has rallied in the past week; "let everyone know that their tributes, stories and prayers have had a miraculous effect on Forry".
» SF Crowsnest has Moe's complete update

Friday 7 November 2008

BREAKING NEWS : Correction: Forrest J Ackerman

News last night of the death of Forrest J Ackerman was apparently premature, and Locus Online apologizes for the erroneous post.
» British Fantasy Society
» Wikipedia

Wednesday 5 November 2008

NEWS : Obituary: Michael Crichton

Best-selling writer, film director, and TV producer Michael Crichton died yesterday, November 4, 2008, at the age of 66.

Sunday 2 November 2008

NEWS : Awards : World Fantasy Awards Winners

This year's winners include Guy Gavriel Kay's novel Ysabel, Elizabeth Hand's novella Illyria, and Theodora Goss' short story "Singing of Mount Abora", with other categories won by Ellen Datlow, Robert Shearman, Edward Miller, Peter Crowther, and Midori Snyder & Terri Windling. Lifetime Achievement Awards were presented to Leo & Diane Dillon and Patricia A. McKillip.

Friday 31 October 2008

NEWS : Awards : International Horror Guild Awards Winners

This year's winners, announced today, include Dan Simmons' novel The Terror, Lucius Shepard's collection Dagger Key and long fiction Softspoken, Ellen Datlow's anthology Inferno, and other works by Lisa Tuttle, Nancy Etchemendy, Thomas Ligotti, Tim Lucas, and Elizabeth McGrath -- plus Postscripts for Periodical and Peter Straub as this year's Living Legend.

Tuesday 21 October 2008

NEWS : Awards : WSFA Small Press Award Winner

Tom Doyle's "The Wizard of Macatawa", published in Paradox Magazine #11, is winner of this year's Washington Science Fiction Association's Small Press Award, for short fiction published by small press publishers.

Wednesday 15 October 2008

NEWS : Obituaries: Barrington J. Bayley

UK science fiction author Barrington J. Bayley died yesterday, October 14, 2008, at the age of 71.

Monday 22 September 2008

NEWS : Obituaries: Brian Thomsen

Sunday 21 September 2008

NEWS : Breaking News --

NEWS : Awards : British Fantasy Awards Winners

Winners of the British Fantasy Awards, presented this weekend at Fantasycon, include Ramsey Campbell, Conrad Williams, Joel Lane, Stephen Jones, Christopher Fowler, Peter Tennant, Peter Crowther, and Vincent Chong, plus special awards to Scott Lynch and Ray Harryhausen.

Wednesday 17 September 2008

NEWS : Awards : Sunburst Awards Winners

Winners of the Sunburst Awards, for Canadian Literature of the Fantastic, are novels by Nalo Hopkinson and Joanne Proulx.

Thursday 21 August 2008

NEWS : Awards : Endeavour Award Finalists

Finalists for the Endeavour Award, for works by Pacific Northwest writers, have been announced.

Monday 18 August 2008

NEWS : Awards : Mythopoeic Awards Winners

J.K. Rowling and Catherynne M. Valente are among winners of this year's Mythopoeic Awards, for fiction and nonfiction fantasy literature.

Friday 15 August 2008

NEWS : Awards : Hugo and Campbell Awards Winners Updated

A photo of the winners has been added.

Tuesday 12 August 2008

NEWS : Awards : Robert A. Heinlein Award winners

NEWS : Awards : Other Awards Presented at Worldcon

Isaac Asimov, Michael Chabon, David Brin, and others are winners of this year's First Fandom, Big Heart, Special Committee, Sidewise, and Golden Duck Awards, all announced at last week's World Science Fiction Convention in Denver.

Saturday 9 August 2008

NEWS : Awards : Hugo and Campbell Awards Winners

Winners, announced at this year's World Science Fiction Convention in Denver, Colorado, include Michael Chabon, Connie Willis, Ted Chiang, Elizabeth Bear, John Scalzi, Locus Magazine, and others; Mary Robinette Kowal wins the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer.
Update 11 August: the link to detailed results is corrected.

Wednesday 6 August 2008

NEWS : Awards : World Fantasy Awards Nominations

Nominations for this year's World Fantasy Awards have been announced, along with recipients of this year's Lifetime Achievement Awards: Leo & Diane Dillon, and Patricia A. McKillip.

Saturday 2 August 2008

NEWS : Awards : WSFA Small Press and Chesley Award nominees

Wednesday 23 July 2008

•   Awards News:

Prometheus Awards Winners

•   Awards News Update:

Awards Announced at Readercon

The Cordwainer Smith Award was announced at last weekend's Readercon in Burlington, Massachusetts, in addition to the first annual Shirley Jackson Awards and this year's Rhysling Awards for SF poetry.

Sunday 20 July 2008

•   Awards News: Shirley Jackson, Rhysling Awards Winners

Awards announced this weekend at Readercon in Burlington, Massachusetts, include the first annual Shirley Jackson Awards and this year's Rhysling Awards for SF poetry.

Thursday 17 July 2008

»   Awards News: SFWA's Next Grand Master

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) has announced that Harry Harrison will be named the next Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master. Presentation of the award will be made during the Nebula Awards Weekend in Los Angeles in 2009.

Sunday 13 July 2008

»   Awards News: Campbell and Sturgeon Runners-Up

Runners-up to the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for best SF novel of the year and the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award for best short fiction of the year -- whose winners were revealed in a press release earlier in the week -- have been posted on the awards' websites. Campbell Award runners-up are Michael Chabon's The Yiddish Policeman's Union in second place, Ken MacLeod's The Execution Channel in third place. Sturgeon Award runners-up are Gene Wolfe's "Memorare" and Ian R. MacLeod's "The Master Miller's Tale", tied for second place.
» Winners, previously announced, are Kathleen Ann Goonan's In War Times for the Campbell, and David R. Moles' "Finisterra" and Elizabeth Bear's "Tideline" tied for the Sturgeon.
» The awards were presented at this weekend's Campbell Conference in Kansas City, Missouri.

Friday 11 July 2008

»   Awards News: International Horror Guild nominees

Nominees for this year's International Horror Guild Awards for achievements in horror and dark fantasy include novels by Ramsey Campbell, Elizabeth Hand, Sarah Langan, Natasha Mostert, and Dan Simmons, plus nominees in categories for long fiction, mid-length fiction, short fiction, collection, anthology, non-fiction, periodical, illustrated narrative, and art.
• Also announced is Peter Straub as this year's Living Legend.
• Winners will be announced October 31, 2008, in an online presentation via its Web site, www.horroraward.org.

Thursday 10 July 2008

»   Update: Thomas M. Disch

» Salon: Remembering Thomas M. Disch, by Elizabeth Hand

Wednesday 9 July 2008

»   Update: Thomas M. Disch Obituaries and Links

» Independent obituary by John Clute
» io9: The Last Interview of Thomas M. Disch links to Bat Segundo Show's podcast interview with Disch, conducted June 25, 2008
» NPR re-posts a 1988 interview, along with a text excerpt of new novel The Word of God
» Washington Post obituary
» Telegraph obituary
» PopMatters: In Memoriam, by Chris Barsanti
» Guardian: letter from Michael Carlson
» January Magazine: Goodbye Mr. Disch and Mr. Budrys
» Tachyon Publications remembers Tom Disch, with lots of links to obits and appreciations

Tuesday 8 July 2008

»   Awards News: Campbell and Sturgeon Winners

Kathleen Ann Goonan's In War Times is winner of this year's John W. Campbell Memorial Award for best SF novel published in 2007, according to today's Kansas City infoZine News story, with David R. Moles' "Finisterra" and Elizabeth Bear's "Tideline" tying (for the first time) for the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award for best short fiction of the year. The awards will be presented at this weekend's Campbell Conference in Kansas City, Missouri.
» Campbell Finalists; Sturgeon Finalists

»   Update: Thomas M. Disch Obituaries

» New York Times
» Los Angeles Times
» Entertainment Weekly

Sunday 6 July 2008

•   Death: Thomas M. Disch

SF author, critic, and poet Thomas M. Disch, born 1940, died July 4, 2008, of suicide in his New York City apartment. Ellen Datlow reports that Disch had been depressed for several years, especially by the death of long-time partner Charles Naylor, and worries of eviction from his rent-controlled apartment. Biographical details shortly.

Disch was born in Des Moines, Iowa, and published first story "The Double-Time" in 1962. Notable early stories included "Descending" (1964), ... << more >>

» Wikipedia
» Disch's LiveJournal Endzone
• Excerpts from Locus Magazine's June 2001 interview
» Making Light; Boing Boing; Jim Henley; Daily Kos

Saturday 21 June 2008

•   Awards News: Locus Awards Winners

Michael Chabon, Terry Pratchett, China Miéville, Joe Hill, Cory Doctorow, Neil Gaiman, Michael Swanwick, Barry N. Malzberg, Shaun Tan, and others win Locus Awards.

Saturday 14 June 2008

»   Algis Budrys update

» The Independent has published an obituary by John Clute.

Wednesday 11 June 2008

»   Algis Budrys updates

Budrys wrote a monthly column, "On Writing", for Locus Magazine for several years beginning in 1977. Locus Magazine will publish a comprehensive obituary, and tributes, in its July issue.
» Chicago Tribune obituary
» SFWA News obituary, with memorial details
» SF Signal has links to remembrances by Elizabeth Bear, Gordon Van Gelder, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, and others.

Tuesday 10 June 2008

»   Awards News: Campbell and Sturgeon Finalists

Finalists for this year's John W. Campbell Memorial Award for best SF novel of the year, and this year's Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award for best short SF of the year, have been released.
» Campbell finalists are novels by Brian Aldiss, Michael Chabon, Kathleen Ann Goonan, Nalo Hopkinson, Jay Lake, Ken MacLeod, Ian McDonald, Rebecca Ore, Matt Ruff, Robert J. Sawyer, Jose Carlos Somoza, Sheri S. Tepper, Jeffrey Thomas, and Robert Charles Wilson.
» Sturgeon finalists are stories by Laird Barron, Elizabeth Bear, Ted Chiang, Jeffrey Ford, Karen Joy Fowler, Kij Johnson, Gwyneth Jones, John Kessel, Ian R. MacLeod, David Moles, Johanna Sinisalo, and Gene Wolfe.
» Winners of both awards will be announced at the Campbell Conference Awards Ceremony, July 10-13, in Lawrence, Kansas.
» Locus Index to SF Awards: Past Campbell and Sturgeon Winners by Year
(Award trophies photo by Keith Stokes)

Monday 9 June 2008

»   Death: Algis Budrys

SF author, critic, and editor Algis Budrys, born 1931, died this morning, June 9, 2008, at the age of 77. He began publishing in 1952 with short fiction in Astounding, Galaxy, and other magazines; notable stories include "The End of Summer" (1954), "Nobody Bothers Gus" (1955), "The Edge of the Sea" (1958, a Hugo nominee), "Wall of Crystal, Eye of Night" (1961), and "The Silent Eyes of Time" (1975, a Hugo nominee). His first novel was False Night (1954), revised in 1961 as Some Will Not Die; later novels included Who? (1958, a Hugo nominee), The Falling Torch (1959), classic Rogue Moon -- about matter transmission and an alien labyrinth on the moon, an expansion of novella "Rogue Moon" included in The Science Fiction Hall of Fame (1960, a Hugo nominee as a novel), The Amsirs and the Iron Thorn (1967), Michaelmas (1977), and Hard Landing (1993, a Nebula nominee). He wrote critical reviews for Galaxy and The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in the 1960s and '70s, many collected in Benchmarks: Galaxy Bookshelf (1985, a Hugo nominee and winner of a Locus Award). Since the mid 1980s he was associated with the Writers of the Future program for new writers, and he edited many of the annual L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future anthologies from 1985 to present. He was also editor of magazine Tomorrow Speculative Fiction, which lasted 24 issues from 1993 to 1997, and was twice nominated for a Hugo Award in the semi-professional magazine category. In 2007 Budrys won a Pilgrim Award from the Science Fiction Research Association (SFRA) for lifetime contribution to SF and fantasy scholarship.
» Wikipedia
• Excerpts from Locus Magazine's November 1997 interview
• permalink

Sunday 8 June 2008

»   Awards News: Mythopoeic Finalists

Finalists for this year's Mythopoeic Awards for fantasy fiction and nonfiction include books by Theodora Goss, Nalo Hopkinson, Guy Gavriel Kay, Catherynne M. Valente, and John C. Wright in the Adult Literature category, Holly Black, Derek Landy, J.K. Rowling, Nancy Springer, and Kate Thompson for Children's Literature, plus nominees in categories for Inklings Studies and General Myth and Fantasy Studies.
» Winners will be announced at Mythcon 39 to be held August 15-18, 2008, in New Britain, Connecticut.
» Locus Index to SF Awards: Past Mythopoeic Winners by Year

Monday 2 June 2008

»   Death: Robert H. Justman

TV producer Robert H. Justman, born 1926, died May 28, 2008, in Los Angeles, California, at the age of 81. He was associate producer and co-producer on the original Star Trek series, and later supervising producer for Star Trek: The Next Generation, to which he contributed character and script development and championed the casting of Patrick Stewart as Captain Picard.
» Los Angeles Times obituary

Saturday 31 May 2008

»   Awards News: Lambda Literary Awards Winners

Winners of this year's Lambda Literary Awards, for Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender literature, include Lee Thomas' The Dust of Wonderland (Alyson Books) in the Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror category, plus Richard Labonte & Lawrence Schimel's First Person Queer (Arsenal Pulp Press) in the Anthology category, and Nicola Griffith's And Now We Are Going to Have a Party (Payseur & Schmidt) in the Women's Memoir/Biography category.

»   Awards News: Sunburst Award Shortlists

Shortlists for the 2008 Sunburst Awards, for Canadian writers of novels or short fiction collections in adult and young adult categories, include adult books by Michelle Butler Hallett, Amber Hayward, Nalo Hopkinson, William Neil Scott, and Robert Charles Wilson, and young adult titles by Deborah Lynn Jacobs, Carrie Mac, Kenneth oppel, Joanne Proulx, and Drew Hayden Taylor. Winners will be announced this Fall.

Friday 30 May 2008

»   Death: Joseph Pevney

TV and film director Joseph Pevney, born 1911, died May 18, 2008, in Palm Desert, California. He frequently worked on the original Star Trek series, directing 14 episodes including Harlan Ellison's "The City on the Edge of Forever" and David Gerrold's "The Trouble with Tribbles".
» New York Times obituary
» Los Angeles Times obituary

Wednesday 28 May 2008

»   Death: Alexander Courage

TV and film composer Alexander Courage, born 1919, died May 15, 2008, in Pacific Palisades, California. He was best known as the composer of the original Star Trek theme music, including the eight-note brass signature for the starship Enterprise, which the Film Music Society obituary says "may be the single best-known fanfare in the world".
» Wikipedia entry
» Los Angeles Times obituary

Sunday 25 May 2008

»   News: SF Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony

Ticket are now on sale for this year's Science Fiction Hall of Fame induction ceremony, which will honor publisher/editors Betty and Ian Ballantine, writer William Gibson, artist Richard Powers, and film/TV writer Rod Serling. Presenters include Charles N. Brown, Jack Womack, David G. Hartwell, and Marc Scott Zicree. The event is Saturday, June 21, 2008, 8:00 - 10:00 p.m. at the Science Fiction Museum in Seattle, Washington. See 2008 Science Fiction Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony for details.

Friday 23 May 2008

»   Death: Robert Asprin

SF and fantasy writer Robert Asprin, born 1946, died yesterday, May 22, 2008, at his home in New Orleans. Asprin's first novel was SF The Cold Cash War (1977) but he was best known as creator and editor of the Thieves' World series of braided anthology/novels, and as author of numerous comic fantasy novels including series beginning with Another Fine Myth... (1978) and Phule's Company (1990). His latest book is Dragons Wild (2008), first book in another new series. Asprin won a Locus Award in 1982 for anthology Shadows of Sanctuary and he won two Balrog Awards, for that book and for anthology Storm Season the following year.
» Wikipedia entry

»   Awards News: Compton Crook Award Winner

the winner of this year's Compton Crook/Stephen Tall Award , for best first SF, fantasy, or horror novel written by a single author, is Mark L. Van Name's One Jump Ahead (Baen). The award, voted by the Baltimore Science Fiction Society, includes a cash prize of $1000, and will be presented in a ceremony tonight, May 23, 2008, at Balticon in Baltimore, Maryland.
» Compton Crook Award Winners official site

Tuesday 20 May 2008

»   Awards News: Aurora Awards Winners

Winners of this year's Prix Aurora Awards, for Canadian science fiction and fantasy in English and in French, include Nalo Hopkinson's The New Moon's Arms, Diane Boudreau's Cimetière du musée, and anthology Under Cover of Darkness edited by Julie E. Czerneda & Jana Paniccia. The awards were presented last Sunday at Keycon 25 in Winnipeg.
» Robert J. Sawyer has posted the complete list of winners.
» Edward Willett's SF Canada Members' News has photos and the complete list of finalists.

»   European Science Fiction Society Awards

Winners of this year's European Science Fiction Society Awards, presented at Roscon last weekend in Moscow, include Best Author Alexander Gromov and Best Artist Roman Papsuev, both Russian; UK promoter Russell T Davies; American translator Michael Kandel; and a special awards for contribution to SF fandom to UK's Ken Slater and Hungary's Judit Trethon.
» SF Awards Watch has the Complete list of winners

»   Ursa Major Awards Winners

» Winners of this year's Ursa Major Awards, for best anthropomorphic/"funny animal" literature and art of 2007, include film Ratatouille and novel Life's Dream by Bernard Doove.
» Complete list of winners

Friday 2 May 2008

»   Awards News: Shirley Jackson Awards finalists

Wednesday 30 April 2008

»   Death: John Berkey

Science fiction artist John Berkey, born 1932, died yesterday, April 29, 2008. Known for science fictional images of vast space ships, Berkey also painted ships and aircraft, pastoral scenes and portraiture. Collections of his SF art are Painted Space (1991) and Jane Frank's The Art of John Berkey (2003). He was named the Spectrum Grand Master in 1999.
» News items at Spectrum Fantastic Art
» Posts by Bob Eggleton and Irene Gallo
» John Berkey ArtOrg

»   Awards News: Clarke Award Winner

Sunday 27 April 2008

»   Awards News: Sidewise Awards Finalists

Finalists for this year's Sidewise Awards for works of alternate history, include novels by Michael Chabon, Robert Conroy, Mary Gentle, Jay Lake, Sophia McDougall, and Jo Walton, but short fiction by Elizabeth Bear, Michael Flynn, Matthew Johnson, Jess Nevins, Chris Roberson, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, and John Scalzi. Winners will be announced in August at Denvention, the 66th World SF Convention in Denver, Colorado.

Saturday 26 April 2008

•   Awards News: Nebula Awards Winners

Winners of this year's Nebula Awards, and other SFWA awards, include Michael Chabon, J.K. Rowling, Guillermo del Toro, Nancy Kress, Ted Chiang, and Karen Joy Fowler.

Wednesday 23 April 2008

•   Awards News: Locus Awards Finalists

Voting in this year's Locus Poll has closed; winners will be announced at the Science Fiction Awards Weekend in Seattle, June 20-21, 2008. Here are this year's finalists -- the top five ranking items in each category.

Monday 14 April 2008

»   Awards News: James Tiptree Jr. Award Winner

The winner of this year's James Tiptree, Jr. Award, given to works of SF and fantasy that explore gender roles, is Sarah Hall's The Carhullan Army, published last year in the UK by Faber and Faber, and just published this year in the US by HarperPerennial as Daughters of the North. Jurors this year were Charlie Anders, Gwenda Bond (chair), Meghan McCarron, Geoff Ryman, and Sheree Renee Thomas. The award, which comes with $1000 prize money, will be celebrated May 25, 2008, at WisCon 32 in Madison, Wisconsin.

»   Awards News: Compton Crook Finalists

Finalists for this year's Compton Crook Award for best first novel, presented by the Baltimore Science Fiction Society, are The Blade Itself by Joe Abercombie (Pyr), The Outback Stars by Sandra McDonald (Tor), The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss (DAW), Magic Lost, Trouble Found by Lisa Shearin (Ace), and One Jump Ahead by Mark Van Name (Baen). The winner will be announced at Balticon 42 in May.

Monday 7 April 2008

»   Awards News: Pulitzer Prizes

Junot Díaz's The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, last month Fiction winner of a National Book Critics Circle Award, has now won this year's Pulitzer Prize for "distinguished fiction by an American author, preferably dealing with American life".

Sunday 30 March 2008

•   Awards News: Bram Stoker Awards Winners

Winners of year's Bram Stoker Awards for superior achievement in horror, announced last night at the World Horror Convention in Salt Lake City, are Sarah Langan's The Missing for novel, Joe Hill's Heart-Shaped Box for first novel, Gary Braunbeck's "Afterward, There Will Be a Hallway" for long fiction, David Niall Wilson's "The Gentle Brush of Wings" for short fiction, Gary Braunbeck & Hank Schwaeble's Five Strokes to Midnight for anthology, Michael A. Arnzen's Proverbs for Monsters and Peter Straub's 5 Stories tied for collection, Jonathan Maberry & David F. Kramer's The Cryptopedia: A Dictionary of the Weird, Strange & Downright Bizarre for nonfiction, and Linda Addison's Being Full of Light, Insubstantial and Charlee Jacob & Marge B. Simon's Vectors: A Week in the Death of a Planet tied for poetry.
» This year's Finalists
• Previous Stoker Awards winners

Tuesday 25 March 2008

•   Awards News: Ditmar Awards Winners

Winners of year's Ditmar Awards for Australian science fiction, announced this past weekend at Swancon, the 2008 Australian National SF Convention, include Sean Williams' novel Saturn Returns, short fiction by Cat Sparks and Rick Kennett, anthologies edited by Jonathan Strahan & Gardner Dozois and by Russell B. Farr, and artwork by Nick Stathopolous.
• Australia's Dark Fiction Web Log HorrorScope has the complete list of Ditmar (and Tin Duck) winners
• Previous Ditmar Awards winners

Saturday 22 March 2008

•   Awards News: British SF Awards Winners

Winners of year's British Science Fiction Association Awards, announced today at Orbital/Eastercon in London, are novel Brasyl by Ian McDonald, short fiction "Lighting Out" by Ken MacLeod, artwork "Cracked World" (the cover of disLocations, ed. by Ian Whates) by Andy Bigwood, and Brian Aldiss' Non-Stop as Best Novel of 1958, a special category celebrating the BSFA's 50th anniversary.
• Previous BSFA Awards winners

•   Awards News: Philip K. Dick Award Winner

The winner of this year's Philip K. Dick Award, for best original paperback published in the US in 2007, is M. John Harrison's Nova Swing (Bantam Spectra), with a special citation given to Minister Faust for From the Notebooks of Dr. Brain (Del Rey). • Results were announced Friday evening at Norwescon in SeaTac, Washington.
» Philip K. Dick Award official site
• This year's finalists
• Previous Philip K. Dick Award winners

»   Awards News: Prometheus Finalists

Finalists for this year's Prometheus Awards for best Libertarian SF of 2007 are Ragamuffin by Tobias S. Buckell, The Execution Channel by Ken MacLeod, Fleet of Worlds by Larry Niven & Edward M. Lerner, The Gladiator by Harry S. Turtledove, and Ha'Penny by Jo Walton (all published by Tor); finalists for classic fiction (which can be and are nominated year after year until they win) are by Anthony Burgess, Rudyard Kipling, C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and T.H. White.
• Winners will be announced at Denvention 3, the 66th World Science Fiction Convention.
» Past Prometheus Awards Winners by Year

Friday 21 March 2008

»   Awards News: Hugo and Campbell Awards Nominations

2008 Hugo Awards nominations include Ian McDonald, Charles Stross, John Scalzi, Robert J. Sawyer, and Michael Chabon for best novel, plus nominees for novella, novelette, short story, related book, dramatic presentation, and other categories, including best editor short form and long form • Campbell nominees are Joe Abercrombie, Jon Armstrong, David Anthony Durham, David Louis Edelman, Mary Robinette Kowal, and Scott Lynch.

Locus Online's listing includes statistics on past nominations and wins.

Thursday 20 March 2008

»   Breaking News: Hugo Awards Nominations

Denvention 3, the 66th World Science Fiction Convention to be held August 6-10, 2008, in Denver, has released this year's Hugo Awards nominations.

Locus Online's version of the list, with statistics on nominations and previous wins, will be posted later on Friday.

»   Update: Arthur C. Clarke Tributes

The many online notices of the death of Arthur C. Clarke include:

 » Independent: Obituary by John Clute
 » New York Times: Appraisal by Edward Rothstein: For Clarke, Issues of Faith, but Tackled Scientifically
 » Amazon.com: Appreciation by Jeff VanderMeer, with comments from Del Rey editor Chris Schluep and Arthur C. Clarke Award administrator Tom Hunter
 » [London] Times Online: Farewell by Orbit editor Darren Nash
 » L.A. Times: Appreciation by SF reviewer Ed Park
 » Telegraph: Appreciation by Andrew McKie
 » Wired: Remembrance by Jeff Greenwald

» Links to other tributes and to online fiction and interviews have been compiled by SF Signal (one, two, three) and, of course, by Google.

» Associated Press reports that Clarke will be buried Saturday in Sri Lanka, "in a secular funeral according to his wishes".

Tuesday 18 March 2008

»   Death: Arthur C. Clarke

Renowned science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke, born 1917, died today (Wednesday local time) in Colombo, Sri Lanka, at the age of 90. Best-known as co-creator of 2001: A Space Odyssey with Stanley Kubrick, Clarke's novels included classics Childhood's End (1953), The City and the Stars (1956), and Rendezvous with Rama (1973). He was a science popularizer as well, noted for predicting the development of telecommunications satellites in 1945, and published nonfiction books including Interplanetary Flight (1950), Profiles of the Future (1962), The Promise of Space (1968), and 1984: Spring, A Choice of Futures (1984), as well as autobiographical Astounding Days (1990). He joined Walter Cronkite on TV as a commentator on the Apollo moon missions.

Clarke's first published story, aside from several amateur works, was "Loophole" in 1946, and his first novel was "Against the Fall of Night", published as a magazine serial in 1948 and in book form in 1953; it was later expanded as The City and the Stars. Other early novels, which exhibit Clarke's rigorously scientific interest in space flight and planetary exploration, included The Sands of Mars (1951), Prelude to Space (1951), Earthlight (1955), and A Fall of Moondust (1961); The Deep Range (1957) and YA Dolphin Island (1963) reflected Clarke's love of the sea and of scuba-diving, which he cited as a principle reason for relocating to Sri Lanka, then Ceylon, in 1956.

After a period in the 1960s working on 2001, Clarke returned to writing novels with Rendezvous with Rama in 1973, winner of the Hugo, Nebula, Campbell, Locus, and several other awards, followed shortly by Imperial Earth in 1975 and The Fountains of Paradise in 1979; the latter also won the Hugo and Nebula awards. Clarke subsequently wrote three sequels to 2001: 2010: Odyssey Two in 1982, 2061: Odyssey Three in 1988, 3001: The Final Odyssey in 1997. Many of Clarke's later novels are collaborations, written by others from ideas developed with Clarke, including three Rama sequels by Gentry Lee, books by Mike McQuay and Michael P. Kube-McDowell, and four novels written with Stephen Baxter, most recently Firstborn (2008). In addition to the 2001 sequels, solo novels by Clarke over the past 20 years include The Songs of Distant Earth (1986), cited by Clarke as one of his favorites, The Ghost from the Grand Banks (1990), and The Hammer of God (1993). His final novel, completed by Frederik Pohl, is The Last Theorem, due to be published in December 2008.

Among Clarke's many short stories are classics "The Nine Billion Names of God" (1953) and "The Star" (1955). Those stories and 1971 novella "A Meeting with Medusa", which won a Nebula Award, are among the most frequently reprinted SF stories of all time. Other famous short works include early work "Rescue Party" (1946) and "The Sentinel" (1951), the inspiration for 2001.

Clarke's legacy includes his famous "Three Laws", of which the most famous is the third: "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

Clarke's last interview with Locus Magazine was in September 1999; excerpts are posted here.

» CNN
» New York Times obituary by Gerald Jonas
• Locus Index to SF Awards: Arthur C. Clarke

Sunday 9 March 2008

»   Awards News: Arthur C. Clarke Shortlist

The 2008 Arthur C. Clarke Award shortlist, for best SF novel with its first British publication in 2007, consists of Matthew de Abaitua's The Red Men, Stephen Baxter's The H-Bomb Girl, Sarah Hall's The Carhullan Army, Steven Hall's The Raw Shark Texts, Ken MacLeod's The Execution Channel, and Richard Morgan's Black Man [published in the US as Thirteen]. The winner will be announced 30 April 2008 on the opening night of the Sci-Fi-London film festival.
» Arthur C. Clarke Award

»   Awards News: Philip K. Dick and World Fantasy Awards Judges

Judges have been announced for this year's Philip K. Dick Award for best original paperback published in the US in 2008, and for this year's World Fantasy Awards, for works of fantasy published in 2007. Publishers are encouraged to send eligible works to the judges and awards officials.

Saturday 8 March 2008

»   Death Revealed: Jody Scott

Jody Scott, born 1923, died in Seattle on December 24, 2007. She was the author of two SF novels, Passing for Human (1977) and I, Vampire (1984). Her website includes a review of the former book by Barry N. Malzberg, from F&SF, in which he called her "the best unknown sf writer".

Friday 7 March 2008

»   Awards News: National Book Critics Circle Awards

Junot Díaz's The Brief Wonderful Life of Oscar Wao -- about a ghetto nerd obsessed with science fiction and fantasy -- is the Fiction winner in this year's National Book Critics Circle Awards. (Publishers Weekly)

Tuesday 4 March 2008

»   Death: Gary Gygax

Gary Gygax, co-creator of Dungeons and Dragons and occasional novelist, died this morning in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, at the age of 69. Regarded as the father of role-playing games, his several novels began with Saga of Old City (1985); two later novels have been re-issued by Paizo Publishing's Planet Stories imprint, The Anubis Murders (reprinted last October) and The Samarkand Solution (due this month).
» CNN (AP)
» Wikipedia

Saturday 1 March 2008

»   Death: Janet Kagan

SF writer Janet Kagan, born 1946, died Friday, 29 February 2008, of C.O.P.D. (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease), at the age of 63. She was author of popular "Mama Jason" stories published in Asimov's and collected in Mirabile (1991), and of two novels, Star Trek tie Uhura's Song (1985), and Hellspark (1988). Her 1992 novelette "The Nutcracker Coup" won a Hugo Award in 1993.

»   Awards News: Science Fiction Hall of Fame Inductees

The March issue of Locus Magazine announces this year's inductees into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame: William Gibson, Ian & Betty Ballantine, Rod Serling, and Richard Powers. The induction ceremony, MC'd by Connie Willis, will take place at the Experience Music Project/Science Fiction Museum on June 21st, 2008, in Seattle, in conjunction with this year's Locus Awards Weekend.

»   Awards News: L.A. Times Book Prize Nominees

Nominees for the 28th annual Los Angeles Times Book Prizes include fantasy titles by Kenneth Oppel and Philip Reeve in the YA Fiction category, and titles by Junot Díaz, Stewart O'Nan, and Marianne Wiggins in the Fiction category. Winners will be announced April 25th at UCLA.

Friday 29 February 2008

»   Awards News: SFWA Grand Master

Michael Moorcock has been named Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master for 2008 by the Science Fictoin and Fantasy Writers of America. Presentation of the award will take place at this year's Nebula Awards banquet in Austin, Texas, April 26, 2008

Tuesday 26 February 2008

»   Awards News: Spectrum Grand Master

The directors and advisory board of the Spectrum Art Competition have announced that John Jude Palencar is recipient of this year's Grand Master Award.

»   Deaths: Stephen Marlowe; Ken Slater; Robert Legault

• Crime novelist Stephen Marlowe died Friday, 22 February 2008, in Williamsburg, Virginia, at the age of 79. He was born Milton Lesser, and began his career writing SF novels under that name, including Slaves to the Metal Horde (1954) and Recruit for Andromeda (1959, an Ace Double with Robert Silverberg's The Plot Against Earth [as by Calvin M. Knox])
» New York Times obituary
» SFWA obituary

• SF fan and bookseller Ken Slater, who operated UK mail-order "Fantast (Medway)" later "Operation Fantast", died Saturday, 16 February 2008, at the age of 90.
» SFWA obituary
» Ken Slater's Something to Read

• SF reader and copy editor Robert Legault died last week of a coronary; memorials have been posted by Ellen Datlow (with a photo and a Flickr set) and Teresa Nielsen Hayden.

Friday 22 February 2008

•   Awards News: Nebula Awards Finalists

SFWA has announced this year's Nebula Awards final ballot, with novel finalists Tobias S. Buckell, Michael Chabon, Joe Haldeman, Nalo Hopkinson, and Jack McDevitt, plus nominees in categories for best novella, novelette, short story, script, and for the Andre Norton Award for YA SF/Fantasy.

Saturday 16 February 2008

»   Awards News: Bram Stoker Finalists

The Horror Writers Association has released finalists for this year's Bram Stoker Awards for superior achievement in horror, including Best Novel nominations by Bruce Boston, Joe Hill, Sarah Langan, and Dan Simmons, plus nominees in categories for first novel, long and short fiction, anthology, collection, nonfiction, and poetry.
» The HWA has also announced that John Carpenter and Robert Weinberg are recipients of Life Achievement Awards this year
• SF Signal has the complete list of finalists.

Wednesday 13 February 2008

•   2007 In Review: 2007 SF/F/H Books on Year's Best Lists

Tuesday 12 February 2008

•   2007 In Review: 2007 Cumulative Bestsellers

Sunday 10 February 2008

»   Awards News: Gaylactic Spectrum Award Winners

Winners in Short Fiction and Other Work categories of the 2007 Gaylactic Spectrum Awards include two three-way ties: David Gerrold's "In the Quake Zone", Christopher Barzak's "The Language of Moths", and Joy Parks' "Instinct" in short fiction, Richard Labonte & Lawrence Schimel's The Future Is Queer, TV series Torchwood Season 1, and the film V for Vendetta for Other Work.
• The winner for Best Novel, Hal Duncan's Vellum, was announced last October.
» Gaylactic Spectrum Awards

Saturday 26 January 2008

»   Awards News: Aurealis Winners

Winners of this year's Aurealis Awards for Australian speculative fiction include works by David Kowalski, Cat Sparks, Lian Hearn, Garth Nix, Anna Tambour, Kate Forsyth, and Terry Dowling.
» Aurealis Awards

Wednesday 23 January 2008

»   Awards News: BSFA Awards Shortlists

Finalists for this year's British Science Fiction Association Awards include novels by Bryan Talbot, Richard Morgan, Ian McDonald, Ken MacLeod, Alastair Reynolds, and Michael Chabon, nominees for best short fiction and artwork, and a special "BSFA Fiftieth Anniversary Award" for Best Novel of 1958, with nominees by Blish (twice), Heinlein, Aldiss, Leiber, and Budrys.

Saturday 12 January 2008

»   Awards News: Preliminary Nebula Awards Ballot

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) has released the 2007 Nebula Awards Preliminary Ballot.

Thursday 10 January 2008

»   Awards News: Crawford Fantasy Award Winner

Tuesday 8 January 2008

•   Awards News: Philip K. Dick Award Finalists