The Fantasy Times

Ok, so I’m a bit behind.  The editor is coaching his son’s tournament baseball team and the days are full and busy, but fun.

From LocusMag:

Locus Awards Winners

Winners of this year’s Locus Awards, voted by readers of Locus Magazine in the annual Locus Poll, were were announced this afternoon at the Courtyard Marriott Hotel in Seattle, at an event led by Master of Ceremonies Connie Willis.

SF NOVEL

The Yiddish Policemen’s Union, Michael Chabon (HarperCollins)

FANTASY NOVEL

Making Money, Terry Pratchett (Doubleday UK; HarperCollins)

YOUNG ADULT BOOK

Un Lun Dun, China Miéville (Ballantine Del Rey; Macmillan UK)

FIRST NOVEL

Heart-Shaped Box, Joe Hill (Morrow; Gollancz)

NOVELLA

“After the Siege”, Cory Doctorow (The Infinite Matrix Jan 2007)

NOVELETTE

“The Witch’s Headstone”, Neil Gaiman (Wizards)

SHORT STORY

“A Small Room in Koboldtown”, Michael Swanwick (Asimov’s Apr/May 2007)

COLLECTION

The Winds of Marble Arch and Other Stories, Connie Willis (Subterranean)

ANTHOLOGY

The New Space Opera, Gardner Dozois & Jonathan Strahan, eds. (Eos)

NON-FICTION

Breakfast in the Ruins, Barry N. Malzberg (Baen)

ART BOOK

The Arrival, Shaun Tan (Lothian 2006; Scholastic)

EDITOR

Ellen Datlow

MAGAZINE

F&SF

PUBLISHER

Tor

ARTIST

Charles Vess

Complete results of the Locus Poll will be published in the July issue of Locus Magazine, and will be incorporated into the Locus Index to Science Fiction Awards by the end of the year. Finalists for this year’s awards — the top five ranking items in each category — were announced in April.

JK Rowling gave the commencement address at Harvard University for the class of 2008 much to the chagrin of some of the graduating seniors.  NPR has posted the article and the audio of her commencement address for your pleasure.  Ms. Rowling spoke about the power of imagination to learn things that you don’t or can’t experience.  Responding to some of the criticism about her selection as this year’s commencement speaker  Allister Beeson responds:

“That was a terrible thing to say! They’re just a bunch of Muggles!” exclaimed 10-year-old Allister Beeson, borrowing a Hogwart term for ordinary folks who don’t benefit from the gift of magic.

Beeson was one of many young people in the audience who skipped school to hear Rowling. He came in a Harry Potter Halloween costume, all the way from New York. He says Harvard seniors who have a problem with Rowling are actually the ones with the problem. He says they simply lack common sense.

BAHAHAHA!  Who is lacking common sense?  Perhaps the parents of young Mr. Beeson?

Here we go again.  The age old question about awards has been brought up again… Science Fiction Awards Watch has a great piece in response to this article.  Although they may be a bit biased (their name kind of tells where their hearts lie), they have listed a very funny template for award haters.

• SF awards are useless because they are voted on by too few people
• You can only be sure that awards will go to the “best” books if lots of people vote
• But awards selected by juries produce better results because the people on juries are experts
• Besides, most awards are voted on by fans, and as we all know fans don’t bother to read the books before voting
• Also fans are deeply patriotic and will only vote for authors who live locally to them

Now, I would add that awards don’t sell books anyway argument.  I agree to a large extent that there are too many awards, but leave the oft repeated power point bulletins with the compost.  Nice work, SFA Watch.

“They spoke of revolution this weekend at BookExpo America, of changing how we read and how we shop.”

Revolution.  I actually started laughing when I read this line.  This is an excerpt from the AP story about BookExpo America,  known as the convention of the American Booksellers Association.  Think CES for books.  No really innovative news coming out of this conference other than the extensive talk about making the publishing business more ‘green’ by using more recycled paper and such.  One initiative that I am interested in is Net Galley, apparently a way for publishers to get ARC’s out without wasting the paper.

It was interesting watching the debate about independent booksellers and Amazon’s big push toward Kindle.  It really boiled down to how people read books today, by paper or by pixel.  Myself, there is nothing like carrying a book around to open for a few pages at a pop while at the doctor or waiting in the drive thru.  I would guess most people are in this same mindset.  It’s difficult to get an e-book reader and take it to the John with you for fear you might drop it.  Books are just nice to have around.

The American Booksellers Association is pushing an initiative to try to get independent books stores a little more help.  It is basically a corny marketing ploy that will have little to no impact.  People buy books where it’s convenient…whether it’s Barnes and Noble or the corner book store.  In the end, the price is usually the determining factor.

Nice try, though….Revolution **shakes head**

As posted on Mythadventures, Robert Aspirin has passed away.   His unique blend of humor and storytelling will be greatly missed.

A MUST read.  Read the review.

Shirley Jackson Nominees
The nominees for the first Shirley Jackson Award, established to recognize outstanding achievement in the literature of psychological suspense, horror, and the dark fantastic, have been announced. The winners will be announced on July 20 at Readercon in Burlington, MA.

Novel
Baltimore, by Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden
Generation Loss, by Elizabeth Hand
Sharp Teeth, by Toby Barlow
The Terror, by Dan Simmons
Tokyo Year Zero, by David Peace

Novella
12 Collections, by Zoran Zivkovic
Illyria, by Elizabeth Hand
The Mermaids, by Robert Edric
“Procession of the Black Sloth,” by Laird Barron
The Scalding Rooms, by Conrad Williams
“Vacancy,” by Lucius Shepard

Novelette
“The Forest,” by Laird Barron
“The Janus Tree,” by Glen Hirshberg
“The Swing,” by Don Tumasonis
“The Tenth Muse,” by William Browning Spencer
“Thumbprint,” by Joe Hill

Short Story
“Holiday,” by M. Rickert
“The Monsters of Heaven,” by Nathan Ballingrud
“A Murder of Crows,” by Elizabeth Ziemska
“Something in the Mermaid Way,” by Carrie Laben
“The Third Bear,” by Jeff VanderMeer
“Unique Chicken Goes in Reverse,” by Andy Duncan

Collection
The Bone Key, by Sarah Monette
The Entire Predicament, by Lucy Corin
The Imago Sequence and Other Stories, by Laird Barron
Like You’d Understand, Anyway, by Jim Shepard
Old Devil Moon, by Christopher Fowler

Anthology
At Ease with the Dead, edited by Barbara and Christopher Roden
Dark Delicacies 2, edited by Del Howison and Jeff Gelb
Inferno, edited by Ellen Datlow
Logorrhea, edited by John Klima
Wizards, edited by Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois

Audible has a large selection of fantasy and science fiction works available in their new section, Audible Frontiers. I noted James Patrick Kelly, Orson Scott Card and Mike Resnick on the list.

Ok…not Zoe’s Big Brother.  John Scalzi and Cory Doctorow interview each other about their new books, Zoey’s Tale and Little Brother respectively.  Nice video…

According to Science Fiction Awards Watch: winners of the 2008 Nebulas

• Novel: The Yiddish Policemen’s Union - Michael Chabon (HarperCollins, May07)
• Novella: “Fountain of Age” - Nancy Kress (Asimov’s, Jul07)
• Novelette: “The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate” - Ted Chiang (F&SF, Sep07)
• Short Story: “Always” - Karen Joy Fowler (Asimov’s, Apr/May07)
• Script: Pan’s Labyrinth - Guillermo del Toro (Time/Warner, Jan07)
• Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - J. K. Rowling (Scholastic Press, Jul07)