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Author Archives: Stacie Hanes

Call for Papers
The 2013 Joint Eaton/SFRA Conference
Science Fiction Media
April 10-14, 2013

Riverside Marriott Hotel
Riverside, California

This conference—cosponsored by the Eaton Collection of Science Fiction and Fantasy (UC Riverside) and the Science Fiction Research Association—will examine science fiction in multiple media. The past several decades have witnessed an explosion in SF texts across the media landscape, from film and TV to comics and digital games. We are interested in papers that explore SF as a multimedia phenomenon, whether focusing on popular mass media, such as Hollywood blockbusters, or on niche and subcultural forms of expression, such as MUDs and vidding. We invite paper and panel proposals that focus on all forms of SF, including prose fiction, and that address (but are not limited to) the following topics:

  • Mainstream Hollywood vs. Global SF Cinema
  • SF Comics and Manga
  • SF Anime and Animation
  • SF on the Internet and the World Wide Web
  • Multimedia “dispersed” SF narratives
  • Fandom, Cosplay, Mashups, and Remixing
  • Broadcast and Cable SF Television
  • SF Videogames
  • World’s Fairs, Theme Parks, and other “Material” SF Media
  • Short-form SF film
  • Afrofuturism
  • SF and/in Music
  • SF Idiom and Imagery in Advertising
  • Webisodes and TV Games
  • SF Art and Illustration

The conference will also feature the fourth Science Fiction Studies Symposium on the topic of “SF Media(tions),” with speakers Mark Bould, Istvan Csicsery-Ronay, Jr., and Vivian Sobchack. Keynote speakers and special guests will be announced as they are confirmed; see the conference website at http://eatonconference.ucr.edu/ for periodic updates.

Conference sessions will be held at the newly remodeled and centrally located Riverside Marriott Hotel, with rooms at a reduced conference rate ($109). For more about the hotel, see their website at: http://www.marriott.com/hotels/ hotel-information/travel/ralmc-riverside-marriott.

A block of rooms will also be available at a discount ($139) at the historic Mission Inn Hotel and Spa two blocks from the Marriott: http://missioninn.com.

Rooms in both hotels are limited and will be available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Abstracts of 500 words (for papers of 20-minutes in length) should be submitted by September 14, 2012. We also welcome panel proposals gathering three papers on a cohesive topic. Send electronic submissions to conference co-chair Melissa Conway at Melissa.Conway@ucr.edu with the subject heading: EATON/SFRA CONFERENCE PROPOSAL. Please include a brief bio with your abstract and indicate whether your presentation would require A/V. Participants will be informed by December 1 if their proposals have been accepted.

The Libertarian Futurist Society has announced finalists for this year’s Prometheus Awards, which will be presented during the 70th World Science Fiction Convention over Labor Day weekend in Chicago.

The Prometheus finalists for Best Novel recognize pro-freedom novels published last year:

  • The Children of the Sky (TOR Books) – A sequel to Vernor Vinge’s A Fire Upon the Deep and in the same universe as Prometheus-winning A Deepness in the Sky, this novel focuses on advanced humans, stranded and struggling to survive on a low-tech planet populated by Tines, dog-like creatures who are only intelligent when organized in packs. The most libertarian of the three human factions and their local allies must cope with the world’s authoritarian factions to advance peaceful trade over war and coercion.
  • The Freedom Maze (Small Beer Press) – Delia Sherman’s young-adult fantasy novel focuses on an adolescent girl in 1960 who is magically sent back to 1860 when her family owned slaves on a Louisiana plantation. With her summer tan, she’s mistaken for a slave herself, learning the hard way about her ancestors’ attitudes and about courage, respect, individual rights and personal responsibility.
  • In the Shadow of Ares (Amazon Kindle edition) – This young-adult first novel by Thomas L. James and Carl C. Carlsson focuses on a Mars-born female teenager in a near-future, small civilization on Mars, where hardworking citizens are constantly and unjustly constrained by a growing, centralized authority whose excessive power has led to corruption and conflict.
  • Ready Player One (Random House) – Ernest Cline’s genre-busting blend of science fiction, romance, suspense, and adventure describes a virtual world that has managed to evolve an order without a state and where entrepreneurial gamers must solve virtual puzzles and battle real-life enemies to save their virtual world from domination and corruption. The novel also stresses the importance of allowing open access to the Internet for everyone.
  • The Restoration Game (Pyr Books) – Set in a world whose true nature is a deeper mystery, this philosophical and political thriller by Ken MacLeod (winner of Prometheus awards for Learning the World, The Star Fraction, and The Stone Canal) explores the dark legacy of communism and the primacy of information in shaping what is “reality” amid Eastern European intrigue, online gaming, romance and mystery.
  • Snuff (Harper Collins) – A Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett (winner of a Prometheus Award for Night Watch, also set in Discworld), Snuff blends comedy, drama, satire, suspense and mystery as a police chief investigates the murder of a goblin and finds himself battling discrimination. The mystery broadens into a powerful drama to extend the world’s recognition of rights to include these long-oppressed and disdained people with a sophisticated culture of their own.

Thirteen novels were nominated this past year and read and voted on by 10 judges, selected from LFS members. The other nominees: Cowboy Angels, by Paul McAuley (Pyr Books); The Hot Gate: Troy Rising III, by John Ringo (Baen Books); REAMDE, by Neal Stephenson (William Morrow); Revolution World, by Katy Stauber (Night Shade Books); Sweeter Than Wine, by L. Neil Smith (Arc Manor/Phoenix Pick); Temporary Duty, by Ric Locke (Amazon; Kindle edition, Ric’s Rulez blog); and The Unincorporated Woman,, by Dani and Eytan Kollin (TOR Books).

For more than three decades, the Prometheus Awards have recognized outstanding works of science fiction and fantasy that stress the importance of liberty as the foundation for civilization, peace, prosperity, progress and justice.

For more information, contact LFS Publicity Chair Chris Hibbert (hibbert@mydruthers.com).

To submit 2012 novels for consideration and possible nomination by LFS members, contact Michael Grossberg, Best Novel finalist judging committee chair (mikegrossb@aol.com or 614-236-5040).

To propose works published more than five years ago for the Hall of Fame, contact William H. Stoddard, Hall of Fame finalist judging committee chair (whswhs@mindspring.com).

For more information, visit www.lfs.org.

Reposted from the HWA blog:

At long last, the anticipation is over. The Horror Writers Association announced the winners of the 2011 Bram Stoker Awards™ at its annual awards banquet. This year’s presentation was held in Salt Lake City, Utah, at the World Horror Convention, and marks the 25th Anniversary of the awards.

Twelve new bronze haunted-house statuettes were handed over to the writers responsible for creating superior works of horror last year. This year’s winners are:

Superior Achievement in a NOVEL
Flesh Eaters by Joe McKinney (Pinnacle Books)

Superior Achievement in a FIRST NOVEL
Isis Unbound by Allyson Bird (Dark Regions Press)

Superior Achievement in a YOUNG ADULT NOVEL (tie)
The Screaming Season by Nancy Holder (Razorbill)
Dust and Decay by Jonathan Maberry (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)

Superior Achievement in a GRAPHIC NOVEL
Neonomicon by Alan Moore (Avatar Press)

Superior Achievement in LONG FICTION
“The Ballad of Ballard and Sandrine” by Peter Straub (Conjunctions: 56)

Superior Achievement in SHORT FICTION
“Herman Wouk Is Still Alive” by Stephen King (The Atlantic Magazine, May 2011)

Superior Achievement in a SCREENPLAY
American Horror Story, episode #12: “Afterbirth” by Jessica Sharzer (20th Century Fox Television)

Superior Achievement in a FICTION COLLECTION
The Corn Maiden and Other Nightmares by Joyce Carol Oates (Mysterious Press)

Superior Achievement in an ANTHOLOGY
Demons: Encounters with the Devil and his Minions, Fallen Angels and the Possessed edited by John Skipp (Black Dog and Leventhal)

Superior Achievement in NON-FICTION
Stephen King: A Literary Companion by Rocky Wood (McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers)

Superior Achievement in a POETRY COLLECTION
How to Recognize a Demon Has Become Your Friend by Linda Addison (Necon Ebooks)

Works can be recommended by any member of the HWA. Juries in each category also compile their top picks, and members with Active status then vote works from both the member recommendations and the jury selections onto a preliminary ballot. From there the field is narrowed to the final ballot and Active members choose the winners from that. The award is named for Bram Stoker, best known as the author of Dracula. The trophy, which resembles a miniature haunted house, was designed by author Harlan Ellison and sculptor Steven Kirk.

Vampire Novel of the Century Award

HWA, in conjunction with the Bram Stoker Family Estate and the Rosenbach Museum & Library, also presented the special one-time only Vampire Novel of the Century Award to: Richard Matheson for his modern classic I Am Legend.

This award was voted on by a jury chaired by Dracula expert Leslie S. Klinger and was sponsored by Jeremy Wagner.

Lifetime Achievement and Specialty Press Awards

In addition, HWA presented its annual Lifetime Achievement Awards and its Specialty Press Awards. Rick Hautala and Joe R. Lansdale were both on hand to accept their Lifetime Achievement Awards.

The Specialty Press Awards went to Derrick Hussey of Hippocampus Press and Roy Robbins of Bad Moon Books.

Silver Hammer and President’s Richard Laymon Service Awards

The Silver Hammer Award, for outstanding service to HWA, was voted by the organization’s board of trustees to Guy Anthony DeMarco.

The President’s Richard Laymon Service Award was given to HWA co-founder Karen Lansdale.

Samhain Publishing served as the Platinum Sponsor for the event.

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America awarded Clarence Howard ‘Bud’ Webster the 2012 Service to SFWA Award for his outstanding work on behalf of the organization.

Bud has had a long history in the science fiction and fantasy community. He is a contributing editor and columnist for the SFWA Bulletin, the poetry editor of Black Gate Magazine, and well-known for the Bubba Pritchert series, published by Analog Science Fiction and Fact magazine. However, it is his work with the Estate Project that SFWA particularly wishes to acknowledge with this award.

The Estate Project is designed to track and distribute information pertaining to deceased members of the community. Bud has worked extensively with agents, executors and heirs to track this valuable information. Due to his patience and perseverance, this information is now available to the industry at large.

Greg Bear, Drew Magary, China Miéville, Jane Rogers, Charles Stross and Sheri S. Tepper are the six authors shortlisted for this year’s Arthur C. Clarke Award, the UK’s premier prize for science fiction literature.

The six shortlisted books are:

  • Greg Bear, Hull Zero Three (Gollancz)
  • Drew Magary, The End Specialist (Harper Voyager)
  • China Miéville, Embassytown (Macmillan)
  • Jane Rogers, The Testament of Jessie Lamb (Sandstone Press)
  • Charles Stross, Rule 34 (Orbit)
  • Sheri S.Tepper, The Waters Rising (Gollancz)

This year’s six shortlisted titles were selected from a long list of 60 eligible submissions put forward by twenty-five different publishing houses and imprints.

The winner will be announced on Wednesday May 2nd at an award ceremony held in partnership SCI-FI-LONDON Film Festival. More information is available at the award web site.

Thanks go out to Weird Fiction for doing a special monster theme coordinated with our ICFA theme of the monsterous with contributions from Dora Goss, China Mieville, Nancy Hightower, Johanna Sinisalo, Julio Cortazar, Amos Tutuola, Jeffrey Ford.

You can download a pdf of Jeff Vandermeer’s Monstrous Creatures collection free for this week only, to help celebrate their 12 Days of Monsters. If you like the collection, think about thanking Guide Dog Press by buying a copy! Also available, is the ebook version of our The Kosher Guide to Imaginary Animals in either epub or mobi formats. If you enjoy the download, consider buying the gorgeous little hardcover edition and/or making a donation to Weirdfictionreview.com (via the Donate button on the main page).

China Miéville           Jeffrey J Cohen

I hope everyone at the conference has had a chance to catch up with our fabulous guests of honor! Two luncheons down and our two guest speakers rival each other for humor and excellence… and let’s face it, brilliance. Various forms of canniness and a deeper appreciation for zombies and why perhaps we should reconsider our desire to shoot them in the head were enlightening and stemming conversations throughout the halls and by the pool.

Finalists have been announced for the 2011 Aurealis Awards, honoring SF, fantasy, and horror by Australians. Winners will be announced on May 12, 2012 at the 17th Annual Aurealis Awards ceremony at the Independent Theatre in North Sydney, Australia. Details at the Aurealis Awards website. For further information about the awards please contact the convenors at convenors@aurealisawards.com.

Best Science Fiction Novel

  • Machine Man, Max Barry (Scribe)
  • Children of Scarabaeus, Sara Creasy (Harper Voyager)
  • The Waterboys, Peter Docker (Fremantle)
  • Black Glass, Meg Mundell (Scribe)
  • The Courier’s New Bicycle, Kim Westwood (Harper Voyager)

Best Science Fiction Short Story

  • “Flowers in the Shadow of the Garden”, Joanne Anderton (Hope)
  • “Desert Madonna”, Robert Hood (Anywhere but Earth)
  • “SIBO”, Penelope Love (Anywhere but Earth)
  • “Dead Low”, Cat Sparks (Midnight Echo)
  • “Rains of la Strange”, Robert N. Stephenson (Anywhere but Earth)

Best Fantasy Novel

  • The Undivided, Jennifer Fallon (Harper Voyager)
  • Ember and Ash, Pamela Freeman (Hachette)
  • Stormlord’s Exile, Glenda Larke (Harper Voyager)
  • Debris, Jo Anderton (Angry Robot)
  • The Shattered City, Tansy Rayner Roberts (Harper Voyager)

Best Fantasy Short Story

  • “Fruit of the Pipal Tree”, Thoraiya Dyer (After the Rain)
  • “The Proving of Smollett Standforth”, Margo Lanagan (Ghosts by Gaslight)
  • “Into the Clouds on High”, Margo Lanagan (Yellowcake)
  • “Reading Coffee”, Anthony Panegyris (Overland)
  • “The Dark Night of Anton Weiss”, D.C. White (More Scary Kisses)

Best Horror Novel

No Shortlist or Winning Novel – Two Honorable Mentions Awarded to:

  • The Broken Ones, Stephen M. Irwin (Hachette)
  • The Business of Death, Trent Jamieson (Hachette)

Best Horror Short Story

  • “And the Dead Shall Outnumber the Living”, Deborah Biancotti (Ishtar)
  • “The Past is a Bridge Best Left Burnt”, Paul Haines (The Last Days of Kali Yuga)
  • “The Short Go: a Future in Eight Seconds”, Lisa L. Hannett (Bluegrass Symphony)
  • “Mulberry Boys”, Margo Lanagan (Blood and Other Cravings)
  • “The Coffin Maker’s Daughter”, Angela Slatter (A Book of Horrors)

Best Young Adult Novel

  • Shift, Em Bailey (Hardie Grant Egmont)
  • Secrets of Carrick: Tantony, Ananda Braxton-Smith (black dog)
  • The Shattering, Karen Healey (Allen & Unwin)
  • Black Glass, Meg Mundell (Scribe)
  • Only Ever Always, Penni Russon (Allen & Unwin)

Young Adult Short Story

  • “Nation of the Night”, Sue Isle (Nightsiders)
  • “Finishing School”, Kathleen Jennings (Steampunk)
  • “Seventy-Two Derwents”, Cate Kennedy (The Wicked Wood: Tales from the Tower Volume 2)
  • “One Window”, Martine Murray (The Wilful Eye: Tales from the Tower Volume 1)
  • “The Patrician”, Tansy Rayner Roberts (Love and Romanpunk)

Best Children’s Fiction (told primarily through words)

  • The Outcasts, John Flanagan (Random House Australia)
  • The Paradise Trap, Catherine Jinks (Allen & Unwin)
  • “It Began with a Tingle”, Thalia Kalkapsakis (Headspinners, Allen & Unwin)
  • The Coming of the Whirlpool, Andrew McGahan (Allen & Unwin)
  • City of Lies, Lian Tanner (Allen & Unwin)

Best Children’s Fiction (told primarily through pictures)

  • The Ghost of Annabel Spoon, Aaron Blabey (author and illustrator) (Viking)
  • Sounds Spooky, Christopher Cheng (author) & Sarah Davis (illustrator (Random House Australia)
  • The Last Viking, Norman Jorgensen (author) & James Foley (illustrator) (Fremantle)
  • The Deep: Here be Dragons, Tom Taylor (author) & James Brouwer (illustrator) (Gestault)
  • Vampyre, Margaret Wild (author) & Andrew Yeo (illustrator) (Walker)

Best Collection

  • Bad Power, Deborah Biancotti (Twelfth Planet)
  • Last Days of Kali Yuga, Paul Haines (Brimstone)
  • Bluegrass Symphony, Lisa Hanett (Ticonderoga)
  • Nightsiders, Sue Isle (Twelfth Planet)
  • Love and Romanpunk, Tansy Rayner Roberts (Twelfth Planet)

Best Anthology

  • Ghosts by Gaslight, Jack Dann & Nick Gevers, eds. (HarperVoyager)
  • Year’s Best Australian Fantasy and Horror 2010, Liz Grzyb & Talie Helene, eds. (Ticonderoga)
  • Ishtar, Amanda Pillar & K.V. Taylor, eds. (Gilgamesh)
  • The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume 5, Jonathan Strahan, ed. (Night Shade)
  • Life on Mars, Jonathan Strahan, ed. (Viking)

Best Illustrated Book/Graphic Novel

  • Hidden, Mirranda Burton (author and illustrator) (Black Pepper)
  • Torn, Andrew Constant (author) & Joh James (illustrator) additional illustrators Nicola Scott, Emily Smith (Gestalt)
  • Salsa Invertebraxa, Mozchops (author and illustrator) (Pecksniff)
  • The Eldritch Kid: Whiskey and Hate, Christian Read (author) & Michael Maier (illustrator) (Gestalt)
  • The Deep: Here be Dragons, Tom Taylor (author) & James Brouwer (illustrator) (Gestalt)

The Science Fiction Division of the Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association invites paper proposals for the 110th annual PAMLA conference, held this year at Seattle University, in Seattle, Washington from October 19th – 21st, 2012.

All abstracts proposing original science fiction scholarship will receive full consideration.

To propose a paper, please follow this link and use the Online Proposal Submission Form, which will help guide your paper title, abstract, and proposal (of no more than 500 words) to the Science Fiction Division by the April 22nd deadline: http://www.pamla.org/2012/proposals

A few official stipulations:

  • Members may only deliver one paper at the conference. You may submit more than one proposal, but as soon as you accept an invitation, you must inform the organizers of the other sessions that you are no longer eligible to present in their sessions.
  • Papers may not be read in absentia.
  • Participation in the conference requires payment of PAMLA 2012 membership dues by June 1st, 2012 and the separate conference registration fee by September 15th, 2012.

About the conference venue:

Seattle University, founded in 1891, is a Jesuit Catholic university located on 50 acres in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood. More than 7,900 students are enrolled in undergraduate and graduate programs within eight schools and colleges. U.S. News and World Report’s “Best Colleges 2011” ranks Seattle University among the top ten universities in the West that offer a full range of masters and undergraduate programs.

Learn more at Seattle University’s website.

The five Philip K. Dick Award judges for distinguished science fiction published in paperback original format in the United States in the 2012 award year are:

  • Bruce Bethke
  • Sydney Duncan
  • Daryl Gregory
  • Bridget McKenna
  • Paul Witcover

Publishers who issue eligible titles during the calendar year 2012 are encouraged to provide copies to each of the judges as the books are published during the year.  (All works of science fiction published originally in the United States as paperbacks during the year 2012 are eligible.) The nominees will be announced in January 2013.

The Philip K. Dick Award is presented annually with the support of the Philip K. Dick Trust for distinguished science fiction published in paperback original form in the United States.  The award is sponsored by the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society and the award ceremony is sponsored by the NorthWest Science Fiction Society.  The 2010 award was given to THE STRANGE AFFAIR OF SPRING HEELED JACK by Mark Hodder (Pyr) with a special citation to HARMONY by Project Itoh (Haikasoru).  The 2011 awards will be announced at Norwescon 35 on April 6, 2012.

For more information, contact the award administration:

Gordon Van Gelder (201) 876-2551
John Silbersack (212) 333-1513
Pat Lo Brutto (845) 516-4412

For more information about the Philip K. Dick Trust: http://www.philipkdick.com

For more information about the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society, http://www.psfs.org/:

Contact Gary Feldbaum (215) 665-5752

For more information about Norwescon,  http://www.norwescon.org/:

Contact NorthWest SF Society: (425) 686-9737