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Author Archives: Stacie Hanes

George R. R. Martin named USA Today Author of the Year

Read about how HBO helped make George R. R. Martin Author of the Year with USA Today. Congratulations!

Rusty Hevelin (1922-2011)

We are very sad about long time attendee of the conference, James “Rusty” Hevelin passing away yesterday. Rusty could always be found in the company of Joe and Gay Haldeman.

He had been an active member of the science fiction community since the 1930s, publishing his own fanzines such as H-1661, as well as contributing to many others. He had been Fan Guest of Honor and Toastmaster more science fiction conventions than anyone can count. He was the Fan Guest of Honor at the 1981 Worldcon, Denvention Two (he had attended Denvention One in 1941). Hevelin was the 1986 recipient of the Big Heart Award for service to the science fiction community. He was well known as a collector of science fiction materials, and was the recipient of First Fandom‘s 2003 Sam Moskowitz Archive Award for excellence in science fiction collecting. He was one of the founders of PulpCon (now PulpFest), an annual convention dedicated to pulp magazines. In addition to all of his contributions to the industry, he was also a veteran of World War II who served as a Marine in the South Pacific.

We will miss him at the conference.

Ad Astra Call for Papers

James Gunn’s Ad Astra is a new online publication dedicated to the study, advancement, and celebration of speculative fiction in the twenty-first century. Ad Astra will be edited by volunteers at the Center for the Study of Science fiction at the University of Kansas. Each issue will feature an assortment of stories, reviews, scholarly articles, and poems about science fiction, fantasy, horror and other genres of speculative art and literature.

The first issue of Ad Astra is scheduled for release on June 22nd, 2012.

The theme for Issue #1 will be Communication and Information.

We are looking for work from a wide variety of disciplines about how we speak with others, share information, and overcome obstacles to understanding. All submissions should have one eye cast toward the future, or one foot planted firmly in the world of the imagination. What would be the effect on human culture of ubiquitous mobile data streams? How might sapient colony organisms share information in the dark oceans beneath the ice of Europa? What conversation topics might be verboten on one’s first date with an artificial intelligence? Are orcs and goblins really as malevolent as they seem, or have they just been tragically misunderstood?

Papers up to 7,500 words in length should be e-mailed in .rtf or .doc format to

Dr. Kathy Kitts at kittsscicoor@gmail.com or Dr. Mark Silcox at msilcox@uco.edu.

All submissions should be in APA format and prepared for blind review. Submit a separate cover page with name, word count and institutional affiliation. The tentative deadline for submissions to Issue #1 of Ad Astra is March 31, 2012.

For more information, visit http://adastra.ku.edu/.

Call For Papers

James Gunn's Ad Astra is a new online publication dedicated to the
study, advancement, and celebration of speculative fiction in the
twenty-first century. Ad Astra will be edited by volunteers at the
Center for the Study of Science fiction at the University of Kansas.
Each issue will feature an assortment of stories, reviews, scholarly
articles, and poems about science fiction, fantasy, horror and other
genres of speculative art and literature.

The first issue of Ad Astra is scheduled for release on June 22nd,
2012.

The theme for Issue #1 will be Communication and Information.

We are looking for work from a wide variety of disciplines about how
we speak with others, share information, and overcome obstacles to
understanding. All submissions should have one eye cast toward the
future, or one foot planted firmly in the world of the imagination.
What would be the effect on human culture of ubiquitous mobile data
streams? How might sapient colony organisms share information in the
dark oceans beneath the ice of Europa? What conversation topics might
be verboten on one’s first date with an artificial intelligence? Are
orcs and goblins really as malevolent as they seem, or have they just
been tragically misunderstood?

Papers up to 7,500 words in length should be e-mailed in .rtf or .doc
format to 

Dr. Kathy Kitts at kittsscicoor@gmail.com 
or 
Dr. Mark Silcox at msilcox@uco.edu. 

All submissions should be in APA format and prepared for blind review.
Submit a separate cover page with name, word count and institutional
affiliation. The tentative deadline for submissions to Issue #1 of Ad
Astra is March 31, 2012.

For more information, visit http://adastra.ku.edu/.

Call for Papers – special issue of the Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts

“Performing the Fantastic” — special issue of the Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts
Jen Gunnels, Drama Critic/ New York Review of Science Fiction Isabella van Elferen, Musicologist/ Utrecht University

The Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts (JFA) is inviting contributions for a special issue on “Performing the Fantastic.” Performance in this context encompasses any of the performing arts, broadly defined, such as theatre, music, dance, magic, and/or ritual. Articles between 5,000–9,000 words might address, but are by no means limited to, the following:

  • Critical analyses of fantastic influenced production designs of traditional forms of performance (theatre, dance, opera)
  • Critical analyses of adaptations of fantastic narratives for the stage (from eighteenth-century Gothic melodrama to Wagnerian opera to musical fantasy)
  • Performance analyses of staged productions (theatre, music, dance) utilizing fantastic subjects or motifs
  • Fantastic use of performative conventions in non-staged (e.g., literary or interactive) narratives
  • Utilization of the fantastic in musical subcultures and their aesthetics (including Goth, metal, neofolk)
  • Fantastic influences on avant-garde and postmodern performance
  • Fantastic performance as social and/or cultural commentary
  • Evocations of the fantastic in magic, ritual, and liturgical performance

In accordance with the journal’s policy, all contributions will be peer-reviewed by JFA and subject to their acceptance. JFA uses MLA style as defined in the latest edition of MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (New York: The Modern Language Association). For more details, please see the journal’s “Submission Guidelines” section online at http://wiz.cath.vt.edu/iafa/jfa/submission.html, or e-mail jfaeditor@gmail.com to request a copy of JFA’s style sheet. Please e-mail your contributions and/or any queries to the guest editors Jen Gunnels (jengunnels@gmail.com) and Isabella van Elferen (i.a.m.vanelferen@uu.nl) by 1 August 2012.

Did you know you can pay your fees through PayPal?

You may send payment to the Membership Coordinator with your application or you may pay online through PayPal using any major credit card or a PayPal account. You should still send in your registration via mail, though. Some benefits include:

  • Add items to cart individually.
  • Review your order anytime.
  • Save the conference money: indicate whether you will use the ticket for the Friday lunch that is included with your registration.
  • After you have completed the transaction through PayPal, you will receive an itemized receipt via e-mail.

Need to find a way to offset some of your costs? Sign up to volunteer!

Sad news: Anne McCaffrey (1926 – 2011)

I’m sure we are all saddened by the news of Anne McCaffey’s passing. She was best known as the author of the popular Pern series but in all, she wrote or co-authored over 100 books and was the first woman to win both a Hugo and a Nebula awards. She will be sorely missed.

Steve Jobs (1955 – 2011)

You all may think I’m a little crazy to add the death of Steve Jobs to our blog as an industry news. But you have to understand… this is to me a real life science fiction hero. Many of us here read science fiction, but I’ve gotten to live in a science fiction dream. He’s my mother’s age. He started one of my favorite companies the year I was born. Some of my first memories are learning to program on an Apple IIe. My first major crush was on a boy who could outprogram me and had the new Apple IIgs and I might have had a bigger crush on the computer but it’s hard to say. Living in Silicon Valley with other real life science fiction giants, I would continue to get goosebumps driving by Apple headquarters. And I’m not one of the insane uber-Apple geeks. I don’t know a lot about writers or fancy literary stuff, but I know that Steve Jobs is a part of my real life science fiction dream.

Donald’s ICFA Banquet Update!

Curious about what fine banquet dining Donald has worked out with the caterers at the hotel? Get a preview of the menu of succulent concoctions that await you in March! In fact, there are even lactose and gluten free options! Make sure you add your selection when you register for the conference!

Plan ahead – conference dates in the future

Ever sit and just look at your Outlook or Google calendar years ahead and get excited at the possibilities? Well here’s one more thing you can add to that calendar! Make sure you have these blocked off for ICFA!

ICFA 34: 2013 20 March to 24 March
ICFA 35: 2014 19 March to 23 March
ICFA 36: 2015 18 March to 22 March

Hugo Award winners and the Campbell Award have been announced!

Renovation, the 2011 World Science Fiction Convention, has announced the 2011 Hugo Award winners and the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. We’re so excited to see so many familiar faces including the ICFA 2011 Guest of Honor, Connie Willis, who won Best Novel! If you’d like to see the coverage streaming, it can still be found on the Hugo Awards channel.

  • BEST NOVEL: Blackout/All Clear by Connie Willis (Ballantine Spectra)
  • BEST NOVELLA: The Lifecycle of Software Objects by Ted Chiang (Subterranean)
  • BEST NOVELETTE: “The Emperor of Mars” by Allen M. Steele (Asimov’s, June 2010)
  • BEST SHORT STORY: “For Want of a Nail” by Mary Robinette Kowal (Asimov’s, September 2010)
  • BEST RELATED WORK: Chicks Dig Time Lords: A Celebration of Doctor Who by the Women Who Love It, edited by Lynne M. Thomas and Tara O’Shea (Mad Norwegian)
  • BEST GRAPHIC STORY: Girl Genius, Volume 10: Agatha Heterodyne and the Guardian Muse, written by Phil and Kaja Foglio; art by Phil Foglio; colors by Cheyenne Wright (Airship Entertainment)
  • BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION, LONG FORM: Inception, written and directed by Christopher Nolan (Warner)
  • BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION, SHORT FORM: Doctor Who: “The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang,” written by Steven Moffat; directed by Toby Haynes (BBC Wales)
  • BEST EDITOR, SHORT FORM: Sheila Williams
  • BEST EDITOR, LONG FORM: Lou Anders
  • BEST PROFESSIONAL ARTIST: Shaun Tan
  • BEST SEMIPROZINE: Clarkesworld, edited by Neil Clarke, Cheryl Morgan, Sean Wallace; podcast directed by Kate Baker
  • BEST FANZINE: The Drink Tank, edited by Christopher J Garcia and James Bacon
  • BEST FAN WRITER: Claire Brialey
  • BEST FAN ARTIST: Brad W. Foster
  • JOHN W. CAMPBELL AWARD FOR BEST NEW WRITER: Lev Grossman