Month: August 2012

Reviews Short Fiction 

Lois Tilton reviews Short Fiction, mid-August

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Featuring a really fine issue of F&SF, with the Good Story Award to Andy Duncan. The current issue of Shimmer is also particularly worth reading.

 

Publications Reviewed
  • F&SF, Sept/Oct 2012
  • Solaris Rising 1.5 , edited by Ian Whates
  • Intergalactic Medicine Show, July 2012
  • Apex Magazine, August 2012
  • Shimmer #15, 2012

 

F&SF, Sept/Oct 2012

A lot of shorter stories this time, eleven in all, no novellas. But that’s OK,

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Obituaries 

Harry Harrison (1925-2012)

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SFWA Grand Master Harry Harrison, 87, died August 15, 2012 in Crowborough, Uckfield, East Sussex.

Harrison is best known for his SF crime series the Stainless Steel Rat, featuring con man and thief Slippery Jim diGriz. Other important works include his novel of overpopulation Make Room! Make Room! (1966), the basis of famous SF film Soylent Green (1973); the Deathworld series; the Eden series; and A Transatlantic Tunnel, Hurrah! (1972). ...Read More

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New Books New Titles & Bestsellers 

New Books, 14 August

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* Bedford, K. A. : Paradox Resolution (Canada: Hades/Edge Science Fiction And Fantasy 978-1-894063-88-3, $15.95, 288pp, trade paperback, August 2012) • Nominal Publication Date: Wed 1 Aug 2012 • Spider Webb #2

SF novel, sequel to Time Machines Repaired While-U-Wait (2008), about an Australian time machine repairman whose boss’s hotrod machine has been stolen. • The publisher’s site has this description. • The Amazon page has an interview with the

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Obituaries 

Adam Niswander (1946-2012)

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Author and bookseller Adam Niswander, 66, died August 12, 2012 after several months in the hospice unit of a VA hospital in Phoenix AZ.

Niswander’s books include the Shaman Cycle — The Charm (1993), The Serpent Slayers (1994), The Hound Hunters (1995), and The War of the Whisperers (2009) — and standalones The Sand Dwellers (1998) and The Repository (1999). Some of his short fiction was collected in Blurring the ...Read More

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Bestsellers New Titles & Bestsellers 

Weekly Bestsellers, 13 August

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Debuting strongly this week is Dean Koontz’ Odd Apocalypse (Bantam), fifth novel in a series, ranking on four print lists, as high as #2 at New York Times and Publishers Weekly.

Two mass market paperback originals also debut this week: Ilona Andrews’ Gunmetal Magic (Ace), an urban fantasy novel set in the world of her Kate Daniels series, ranking as high as #10 on the NYT list; and Carrie Vaughn’s ...Read More

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Awards 

2012 Aurora Award Winners

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Winners for the 2012 Aurora Awards, honoring the best SF/fantasy works by Canadians and landed immigrants, have been announced.

Best Novel

  • WWW: Wonder, Robert J. Sawyer (Penguin Canada)
  • Enter Night, Michael Rowe (ChiZine)
  • Eutopia: A Novel of Terrible Optimism, David Nickle (ChiZine)
  • Napier’s Bones, Derryl Murphy (ChiZine)
  • The Pattern Scars, Caitlin Sweet (ChiZine)
  • Technicolor Ultra Mall, Ryan Oakley (EDGE)

Best Short Story

  • “The Needle’s
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Books Reviews 

Paul Di Filippo reviews Neal Stephenson

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Neal Stephenson opens the introduction to his stimulating and highly readable new collection by saying that publishers always reassure him that “I have reached the stage in my life and career where it is not only possible, but advisable, to release a compilation of what are drolly referred to as my ‘shorter’ works.” I will borrow that observation and flip it around from the reviewer’s perspective.

Neal Stephenson has reached

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Books Reviews 

Faren Miller reviews Gwenda Bond

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Early American history (or is it legend?), alchemy, and a long-standing family curse reach a crisis point around a pair of modern teens in Blackwood, the excellent debut of Locus contributing editor Gwenda Bond. Though the publisher is British, Bond is thoroughly American; as the bio notes, she lives in a century-old house in Lexington KY, with her husband (author Christopher Rowe) and several pets. She’s well-equipped to speculate

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Milestones 

Top-Earning Authors

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Forbes released its list of top-earning authors of 2011 today, and science fiction and fantasy authors dominate the list, taking nine of the 15 slots. The genre authors are:

1.   James Patterson: $94 million

2.   Stephen King: $39 million

7.   Nora Roberts/J.D. Robb: $23 million

9.    Suzanne Collins: $20 million

10. Dean Koontz: $19 million

11. J.K. Rowling: $17 million

12. George R.R. Martin: $15 million

13. Stephenie Meyer: $14 ...Read More

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Reviews Short Fiction 

Lois Tilton reviews Short Fiction, early August

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Starting out with several printzines that arrived too late in July to review, plus the usual first of the month ezines. Overall, if it were a contest, I’d give the award to the printzines this time.

 

Publications Reviewed
  • Asimov’s, September 2012
  • Analog, October 2012
  • Interzone, July-August 2012
  • Clarkesworld, August 2012
  • GigaNotoSaurus, August 2012
  • Redstone Science Fiction, August 2012
  • Jabberwocky #12, July 2012

 

Asimov’s, September 2012

Some good stories

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Awards 

2010 Carl Brandon Award Winners

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The Carl Brandon Society has announced that Redemption in Indigo by Karen Lord and Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor are the 2010 Carl Brandon Awards winners. Redemption in Indigo won the Carl Brandon Parallax Award, given to works of speculative fiction created by a self-identified person of color, and Who Fears Death was awarded the Carl Brandon Kindred Award, given to any work of speculative fiction dealing with issues ...Read More

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Awards 

World Fantasy Awards Ballot

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The World Fantasy Awards ballot for works in 2011 has been announced. The awards will be presented in Toronto, Canada during the World Fantasy Convention, November 1-4, 2012. The Lifetime Achievement Awards, presented annually to individuals who have demonstrated outstanding service to the fantasy field, will go this year to Alan Garner and George R.R. Martin, and were announced earlier this month.

The World Fantasy Awards finalists are:

Novel: ...Read More

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Blinks 

Blinks: Interview with Norman Spinrad, Lois Tilton; Rucker, Di Filippo on Cabell, Asher

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» LA Review of Books: No Political Naïf: An Interview with Norman Spinrad

» Diabolical Plots interviews Lois Tilton

» Rudy Rucker has posted his Complete Stories online

» B&N: Paul Di Filippo looks back at James Branch Cabell’s Jurgen

» SFX is sponsoring a Neal Asher Ultimate Reading Initiative to influence his next book, and win prizes ...Read More

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New Books New Titles & Bestsellers 

New Books, 7 August

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* Berman, Steve : Wilde Stories 2012 (Lethe Press 978-1590213988, $15, 236pp, trade paperback, August 2012) • Nominal Publication Date: Wed 11 Jul 2012

Anthology of 12 stories first published in 2011, subtitled “The Year’s Best Gay Speculative Fiction”. • Authors include Alex Jeffers, Richard Bowes, Tom Cardamone, Lee Thomas, Christopher Barzak, and Ellen Kushner • The publisher’s site has a brief description. • Amazon’s “Look Inside” function provides the

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Obituaries 

Roland C. Wagner (1960-2012)

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Prolific French SF author Roland C. Wagner, 51, died August 5, 2012, in a car accident in Laruscade, France.

Wagner wrote more than 50 novels and 100 stories. His series Les Futurs Mystères de Paris (The Future Mysteries of Paris) combined elements of noir, near-future SF, and fantastique. Other notable works include near-future political thriller La Saison de la sorcière (The Season of Magic, 2003), space opera Le Temps du ...Read More

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Roundtable 

Roundtable on Jorge Luis Borges and Others

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As part of the current series on SF In (and Out) of Translation, I asked the Roundtable to talk about some of their favorite international sf authors.

As always, this discussion is broken up into multiple pages for ease of reading. If you’d like to read it all on a single page, select ‘View All’ from the drop down menu above. If you don’t see the drop down menu, please ...Read More

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Bestsellers New Titles & Bestsellers 

Weekly Bestsellers, 6 August

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Kelley Armstrong’s Thirteen (Dutton), final volume in her “Women of the Otherworld” series, debuts this week at #15 on the New York Times fiction hardcover list, #19 on the same list at Publishers Weekly.

In trade paperback, the reprint of Stephen King’s 11/22/63 is in the top 10, as high as #5, on the lists at NY Times, Washington Post, and PW.

 

Title Debut / #wks on any list ...Read More Read more
Conventions 

Readercon Board Resigns

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All five members of the Readercon board have resigned, following the controversy over their failure to uphold their sexual harassment policy.

In a public statement, the convention committee apologized to Genevieve Valentine, the victim of the harassment; to Kate Kligman, who also came forward with reports of being harassed; and to the Readercon community. A pro tem board will be selected until a new board is chosen in January elections. ...Read More

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Awards 

Mythopoeic Awards Winners

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The Mythopoeic Society has announced the winners of the 2011 Mythopoeic Awards, presented at Mythcon 43, August 3-6, 2012, in Berkeley, California.

Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature:

  • The Uncertain Places, Lisa Goldstein (Tachyon)
  • The Night Circus, Erin Morgenstern (Doubleday)
  • The Heavenly Fox, Richard Parks (PS)
  • Deathless, Catherynne M. Valente (Tor)
  • Among Others, Jo Walton (Tor)

Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children’s Literature:

  • The Freedom Maze
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Blinks 

Blinks: Top films, Ansible, Shared Worlds, book covers, Sawyer, McCarthy, reviews

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» Sight & Sound’s latest once-a-decade poll of top films — which for the first time moves Vertigo ahead of Citizen Kane — includes four SF films in the top 50: 2001 (#6), Stalker (#29), Metropolis (#35), and Le Jetée (#50); the Directors’ Top Ten puts 2001 #2

» Dave Langford’s Ansible 301

» Jenny Colvin’s Reading Envy blog reports on Shared Worlds, the camp for high school age students ...Read More

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New Titles & Bestsellers Periodicals 

Print Periodicals, early August

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Analog Science Fiction and Fact • Science fiction and nonfiction; published since 1930 (originally Astounding); edited by Stanley Schmidt • Format: Print • Frequency: Near-monthly (10 issues/year) • http://www.analogsf.com/

October 2012— Vol. 132 No. 9, $4.99, 112pp, cover art by Michael Whelan • This issue has novelettes by Juliette Wade, Linda Nagata, and Michael F. Flynn, and short stories by Jay Werkheiser, Michael Alexander, Carl Frederick, Edward McDermott, and

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Films 

Memories of Philip… and Arnold: A Review of Total Recall

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by Gary Westfahl

Hearing that a new version of the 1990 film Total Recall was being produced, one naturally hoped for a film that would be closer to the text and spirit of Philip K. Dick’s 1966 story “We Can Remember It for You Wholesale” than the first adaptation, largely a violent rollercoaster ride tailored to match the proclivities of its star Arnold Schwarzenegger; and a reviewer would certainly like

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New & Notable New Titles & Bestsellers 

New and Notable Books, August

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John Joseph Adams, ed., Other Worlds Than These (Night Shade Books Jul 2012)

Adams has collected 30 new and classic parallel universe stories and portal fantasies, with work by Stephen Baxter, Pat Cadigan, Orson Scott Card, Stephen King, Ursula K. Le Guin, Kelly Link, George R.R. Martin, Tim Pratt, Jeff VanderMeer, and others. Lev Grossman provides a foreword, Adams an introduction, and Ross E. Lockhart a list of suggestions for

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Awards 

New Visions Award

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Tu Books, the fantasy, science fiction, and mystery imprint of Lee & Low Books, has announced the first annual New Visions Award, which will be given to a middle grade or young adult fantasy, science fiction, or mystery novel by a writer of color. The winner will receive a cash grant of $1,000 and a standard publication contract with the publisher.

For more information, including eligibility requirements, see the Lee ...Read More

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Features Interviews 

Jack Vance: Go for Broke

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John Holbrook Vance was born August 28, 1916 in San Francisco CA. He worked as a bellhop, in a cannery, and on a gold dredge before attending the University of California, Berkeley, where he studied engineering, physics, and journalism, though he never graduated. A lifelong musician and music lover, Vance’s first published works were jazz reviews for The Daily Californian.

Vance worked as an electrician at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii,

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Awards 

Million Writers Award Voting Now Open

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The storySouth Million Writers Award has released their top ten list of stories for 2011. They are:

  • “The Oracle”, Diana Abu-Jaber (Guernica Magazine)
  • “Home for the Holidays”, Kevin Carey (Apple Valley Review)
  • “On Familiar Terms”, Kelly Cherry (Blackbird)
  • “Awesome Like Us”, Elizabeth Ellen (Barrelhouse)
  • “Comedy Central”, Alicia Gifford (Frigg Magazine)
  • “The Butcher’s Chimes”, Micah Dean Hicks (Menda City Review)
  • “Remainders”, Jess Lacher (Kenyon Review Online)
  • “Mix Tape”, Jeff Landon (Barrelhouse)
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Obituaries 

Gore Vidal (1925-2012)

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Author Gore Vidal, 86, died July 31, 2012 in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles of complications from pneumonia.

Vidal was known for his biting satire and fearless willingness to engage with controversial subjects, and he often used elements of the fantastic in his fiction. Books of particular genre interest include A Search for the King: A Twelfth Century Legend (1950); Visit To a Small Planet and Other Television Plays ...Read More

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Issues 

August 2012 Table of Contents

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Locus Magazine • August 2012 • Issue 619 • Vol. 69 No. 2

The August issue features interviews with Jack Vance and with Ann VanderMeer and Jeff VanderMeer, results of this year’s Locus Survey, more appreciations of the late Ray Bradbury, reports and photos from Locus Awards Weekend and Readercon, and reviews of short fiction and new books by Kij Johnson, Paula Brandon, Gregory

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