The 2010 Stoker Final Ballot has been released:
Superior Achievement in a Novel
Superior Achievement in a First Novel
Writer Lisa Wolfson, 47, who wrote young-adult novels as L.K. Madigan, died February 23, 2011 of cancer in Portland OR. Her first novel Flash Burnout (2009) is non-speculative, but second book The Mermaid’s Mirror (2010) is fantasy.
Lisa Kay Madigan was born April 26, 1963 in Portland OR, and moved with her family to Los Angeles at age ten. She attended California State University, Northridge and the University of Bradford ...Read More
Read moreShaun Tan’s film The Lost Thing, based on the eponymous picture book, won an Oscar in the Best Animated Short Film category. The award was presented at the 83rd Academy Awards, February 27, 2011 at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center in Hollywood. Tan and his co-director Andrew Ruhemann were present to accept.
Photo at the Sydney Morning Herald. The film can be viewed in its entirety at ...Read More
Read moreA couple of weeks ago, I went with a group of friends to see the (London) National Theatre’s production of Frankenstein. The play has attracted a lot of attention for several reasons: it’s a return to theatre direction for Danny Boyle after film success with Slumdog Millionaire; it stars two high-profile actors in Jonny Lee Miller and Benedict Cumberbatch; and Cumberbatch and Miller alternate the roles of Victor Frankenstein and ...Read More
Read moreMostly fantasy this time. I give the good story award to Fantasy Magazine‘s An Owomoyela, with Strange Horizons a strong contender.
I usually expect at least a superior novella or something from this venerable zine, but
A wrap-up, then, of the movies I’ve seen, or had to see, in not my favorite decade so far, in not my favorite century.
While we were off seeing stuff, I hope better movies were playing elsewhere. I hope you saw them; we didn’t.
How Lawrence and I work: early each year we look at the IMDb (and other sources) and try to sign up for stuff that should be
Locus has asked Howard and me to offer up our respective Top Movies lists for science fiction, fantasy and horror films of 2000-2010 (i.e., The Noughties).
But before I get into the meat of my list, I want to make clear what I am (and am not) covering. First off, I’m going to limit my recommended list to feature films that had an actual theatrical release, which rules out Direct-to-DVD
In this Locus podcast, we have Elizabeth Hand calling in from Maine, and Gary K. Wolfe in a not-freezing Chicago. Within the hour they discuss topics such as MFA programs, YA literature and its community, Rimbaud, and places which have a bit more magic to them than others.
[powerpress] ...Read More
Read moreRomanian science fiction writer Ion Hobana, 80, died of cancer on Tuesday, February 22, 2011 in Bucharest. Hobana was Romania’s best internationally known SF writer.
Hobana was born January 25, 1931 in Sannicolau Mare, near Timisoara, and studied science fiction literature at the University of Bucharest. He started publishing science fiction stories in 1955, and his stories have been translated into over 20 languages. He was an editor, translator, and ...Read More
Read moreThe 2010 Nebula Award nominee list is out! This gives us our first chance to examine some lists and look for overlap. I’ve marked all the stories that appear both on the Nebula ballot and the Locus Recommended Reading list with asterisks [**]. Of course, it’s pretty easy to overlap with the Recommended Reading List, since it is large and meant to be comprehensive. It’s also much easier to compare ...Read More
Read moreAccording to PW, Random House informed its employees in a memo this morning of a voluntary early retirement package with enhanced benefits for employees over the age of 50 who have worked at the company for at least five years. The offer is time-limited, available for 45 days only. The company described the option as “an attractive opportunity for our colleagues who may be interested in making a professional change.” ...Read More
Read moreThe Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America have released the final ballot for the 2010 Nebula Awards:
Novel
Novella
Doris Lessing, of course, is much more than a writer of science fiction. Her body of work, stretching from the late 1940s to the present, covers a huge range of themes, both drawn from her life and from the times she’s lived in. (She was born in Persia and brought up in Rhodesia, as they then were,
Joe Haldeman is recovering from his ileostomy take-down surgery of February 17, 2011. The surgery was a laparoscopic procedure, designed to reconnect his intestines after a September 19, 2009 surgery for severe pancreatitis and twisted bowel. Gay Haldeman reports that “the surgery went well,” and that Joe is cracking jokes. As of February 21, Gay further reports, “They let Joe out of the ICU last night, into a regular room. ...Read More
Read moreLast December, there was a particularly impressive art show in San Francisco. You can see a sample below, and you can go to The Undivided Mind for more pictures. [Via Nukees]
Read moreEditor Stanley Schmidt of Analog has announced the magazine will begin accepting electronic submissions next week:
“Effective at 11 a.m. Eastern Standard Time on Tuesday, February 22, Analog Science Fiction and Fact will begin accepting — and preferring — submissions in electronic form. Electronic submissions will be accepted through http://analog.magazinesubmissions.com/, where full instructions can be found.
Please note that while we will be welcoming electronic submissions, they must be made ...Read More
Read moreGeorge R.R. Martin & Parris McBride, his partner of 30 years, were married on February 15, 2010 at their home in Santa Fe NM, among a small group of friends and loved ones.
There are pictures from the wedding and the celebration afterward at Martin’s website. ...Read More
Read more
Alastair Reynolds was born in Barry, South Wales, and spent his childhood in Cornwall, England and Wales. He earned degrees in astronomy from the University of Newcastle in England (1988) and a PhD from the University of St. Andrew’s in Scotland (1991). In 1991 he moved to The Netherlands to work for the European Space Agency, where he remained until becoming a full-time writer in 2004 (except for a break
Canadian author Peter Watts is recovering from surgery for necrotizing fasciitis, or flesh-eating bacteria, in Toronto’s East General hospital. Part of his right calf was removed. According to Watts’s blog, “The good news is, I’m not dead, and the necrotising bugs have been scraped out of me as far as anyone can tell. The bad news is I’m stuck here in the e-boons for at least another week, and even ...Read More
Read moreHeroic or high fantasy, whether it appears under the guise of multi-volume “epics” or the shorter-length Sword and Sorcery fantasies, is often overlooked when it comes to judging a year’s best. Due to the outsized conflicts and emphasis in most such stories on plot over theme or minute characterization, such stories cannot be judged in the same fashion as a realist or surreal fiction. Heroic fantasies depend much more upon
Australia’s dominant bookselling organization REDgroup Retail has been placed into voluntary administration by its owner, private equity group PEP, just a day after Borders Group filed for bankruptcy. The group includes Angus & Robertson, Borders in Australia, and New Zealand’s Whitcoulls, with a combined staff of about 2,500. Angus & Robertson’s history in Australia dates back to 1886, and Whitcoulls dates back to 1882.
Ferrier Hodgson partners were appointed as ...Read More
Read moreBorders has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, listing a debt of $1.29 billion and assets of $1.275 billion, in U.S. Bankruptcy Court. They expect to “finalize and implement a store closure, store liquidation and lease modification plan” as approved by their board, closing about 30 percent of their 642 stores, or approximately 200 locations, over the next few weeks. Creditors, including book publishers and distributors, are owed about $230 ...Read More
Read moreThe impressive critical reception that met Nnedi Okorafor’s first adult novel Who Fears Death last year, with its unflinching portrayals of weaponized rape and clitorectomy, shouldn’t have come as that much of a surprise to readers who had followed her first two YA novels Zahrah the Windseeker and The Shadow Speaker or her occasional short fiction like ‘‘On the Road’’; there’s always been an undercurrent of horror in her fiction
Nalo Hopkinson has been appointed associate professor specializing in science fiction and fantasy at the Creative Writing Department of the University of California Riverside starting in Fall 2011. Dean Stephen Cullenberg announced the appointment during the 2011 Eaton Science Fiction Conference, where Eaton Awards for Lifetime Achievement were presented to Samuel R. Delany and Harlan Ellison. The professorship was originally offered to Hopkinson in Fall 2009 and was placed on ...Read More
Read moreChildren’s editor and publisher Margaret K. McElderry, 98, died February 14, 2011. She is best known as founder of her eponymous children’s imprint, Margaret K. McElderry Books.
McElderry was born in 1912 in Pittsburgh PA, and went to college at Mt. Holyoke, graduating in 1933. She attended the Carnegie Library School in Pittsburgh and worked at the New York Public Library under children’s librarian Anne Carroll Moore from 1934-43, and ...Read More
Read moreOnce again I turned to our Roundtable panelists with a question:
A couple of weeks ago, our own Jonathan Strahan was so bold as to voice his dislike of the term ‘speculative fiction’ on his Coode St. podcast. Reactions came fast and furious, from Galactic Suburbia, Cheryl Morgan and Cat Valente–and probably others. It seems that this is a topic everyone has an opinion about. How do you like your ...Read More
Read moreThe good story prize this time goes to Electric Velocipede, and the Bradley story in particular. I take a look at Daily Science Fiction and wonder if I will continue to review it on a regular basis.
Sharyn November was born in New York City, and earned a BA at Sarah Lawrence College, where she studied poetry. Her work has appeared in Poetry, The North American Review, Shenandoah, and many other publications, and she received a working scholarship to the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference when she was 21 years old. After some time working as a secretary, she became an editor, and has been at Penguin for
UK-based Bloomsbury is reorganizing operations, configuring divisions along categories rather than geography, a big globalization move. Emma Hopkin has been appointed to oversee the children’s and educational division, Bloomsbury USA publishing director George Gibson will still report to adult trade managing director Richard Charkin, and editor-in-chief Alexandra Pringle will fill the new role of coordinating acquisitions between the US, UK, German, and Australian branches. “We want world rights wherever possible,” ...Read More
Read moreH.B. Fenn & Company, Canada’s largest book distributor, has initiated bankruptcy proceedings without warning. The National Post quoted former publicist Lisa Winstanley as saying, “We’re ceasing operations effective immediately.”
According to an official statement, Fenn recently “encountered significant financial challenges due to the loss of distribution lines, shrinking margins and the significant shift to e-books, all of which have significantly reduced the company’s revenues.” Canadian bankruptcy law allows 30 days ...Read More
Read moreIn this Locus podcast, we have Andy Duncan calling in from Frostburg State University in Maryland, and Ellen Klages in San Francisco. Their conversation is wide-ranging and eclectic, including: Moby Dick, doing background research, pleasure reading, genre labels, awards juries, reading to learn how to write, and more. I hope you’ll enjoy listening as much as we enjoyed recording.
[powerpress] ...Read More
Read moreAny year’s best list should be about passion and depth: the love of a book in the context of a lot of reading. In 2010, my reading was at the very least comprehensive, and I discovered several novels that lived on in my imagination long after I finished them. What I found, most of all, wasn’t about trends or patterns—it was about the joyful fragmentation of a genre and the
