Monday, September 27, 2004
Book launch for Matt Hughes's new novel November 13
The Dave McKean cover art for
Cory Doctorow has delivered the final manuscript of his next novel, Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town, to his editor at Tor. The book comes out in February. Says Cory (on his blog Boing-Boing), "Someone Comes to Town is longest thing I've ever written -- longer than Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom and Eastern Standard Tribe put together. It's a kind of Little, Big-meets-Crypotonomicon story, a contemporary fantasy about free, unlicensed wireless networking, set in Toronto's bohemian Kensington Market." Cory will eventually be posting the full text of the new novel under a Creative Commons license, along with some supplementary artwork to go with the Dave McKean cover. "McKean provided five digital paintings to Irene Gallo, Tor's brilliant, award-winning art director, and he's kindly granted me permission to use them all on the book's website when I ship it," Cory says. In the meantime, there's an excerpt or two online already.
Thursday, September 23, 2004
Eileen Kernaghan reading and book launch October 2
Dave Duncan book launch and reading October 7
You can read the publisher's announcement and reader reviews of The Jaguar Knights here.Wednesday, September 22, 2004
Film based on Joël Champetier novel wins award at TIFF
Friday, September 17, 2004
First review of Matt Hughes's new novel online
Review of Simon Rose's latest online
Tuesday, September 14, 2004
Cory Doctorow's new novel out in February
Cory Doctorow's upcoming
novel Someone Comes to Town,
Someone Leaves Town. Sunday, September 12, 2004
Sherry D. Ramsey story reprinted in Simulacrum
Ahmed A. Khan story online at Story Station
Hugh Spencer stories upcoming in Interzone, On Spec, and on NPR
Saturday, September 11, 2004
Deborah Jackson novel Ice Tomb launches October 23
Deborah Jackson's novel Ice Tomb, published by Invisible College Press, is out now; a book launch will be held October 23 at Canada Science and Technology Museum in Ottawa.
Ice Tomb is described as "techno-thriller wrapped up in a mystery that can only be unraveled in the very depths of the planet and the outer reaches of the moon." The book's launch will be held in the middle of the museum's space exhibit--an appropriate setting since half of the story takes place on the moon.
Ice Tomb is distributed by Ingram and is available on Amazon.com, as well as Barnes & Noble, Borders, Chapters, and other chain bookstores. The ISBN is 1-931468-19-2.
Thursday, September 09, 2004
Several SF Canada members among Aurora finalists
Best Long-Form Work in English
Meilleur livre en anglais
* Hidden in Sight, Julie E. Czerneda
* Burndive, Karin Lowachee
* Humans, Robert J. Sawyer
* A Telling of Stars, Caitlin Sweet
* Scream Queen, Edo van Belkom
* Blind Lake, Robert Charles Wilson
Meilleur livre en français
Best Long-Form Work in French
* Phaos, Alain Bergeron
* La Cage de Londres, Jean-Pierre Guillet
* Le Stratège de Léda, Michèle Laframboise
* La Chevauchée des hippocampes, Robert Tessier
Best Short-Form Work in English
Meilleure nouvelle en anglais
* "Stars," Carolyn Clink
* "The Siren Stone," Derwin Mak
* "Come All Ye Faithful," Robert J. Sawyer
* "Scream Angel,"Doug Smith
* "Porter's Progress," Isaac Szpindel
Meilleure nouvelle en français
Best Short-Form Work in French
* "La Nuit," Sylvie Bérard
* "Volvox," Marie-Josée L'Hérault
* "Du clonage considéré comme un des beaux-arts," Mario Tessier
* "La Course de Kathryn," Élisabeth Vonarburg
Best Work in English (Other)
Meilleur ouvrage en anglais (Autre)
* Julie E. Czerneda for editing Space, Inc.
* From the Files of Matthews Gentech, Bruce Ballon
* May Queen, Heather Dale (Amphisbaena Music, 2003)
* Neo-Opsis Science Fiction Magazine
* Robert J. Sawyer, Writer-in-Residence (Merril Collection)
* The Stars As Seen from this Particular Angle of Night, Sandra Kasturi, ed.
Meilleur ouvrage en français (Autre)
Best Work in French (Other)
* Solaris, Joël Champetier, réd.
* Sur le Seuil, Réalisation: Éric Tessier; Scénario: Patrick Senécal et Éric Tessier (Go Films)
Artistic Achievement
Accomplissement artistique
* James Beveridge
* Lar deSouza
* Stephanie Ann Johanson
* Michèle Laframboise
* Jean-Pierre Normand
* Martin Springett
* Ronn Sutton
* Mel Vavaroustos
Fan Achievement (Publication)
Accomplissement fanique (Publication)
* Made in Canada Newsletter, Don Bassie, ed.
* Zine-Zag, Direction: Salvador Dallaire
Fan Achievement (Organizational)
Accomplissement fanique (Organisation)
* Roy Miles
* Martin Miller
* Marah Searle-Kovacevic
* Joan Sherman
* Brian Upward
Fan Achievement (Other)
Accomplissement fanique (autre)
* Peter de Jager
* Eric Layman
* Gord Rose
* Larry Stewart
* Urban TapestryTuesday, September 07, 2004
Nalo Hopkinson wins Gaylactic Spectrum Award
The Salt Roads beat out a long list of finalists: Elf Child by David M Pierce (Southern Tier), Faked to Death by Dean James (Kensington), From the Ashes by Meghan Brunner (1stbooks), Hidden Warrior by Lynn Flewelling (Bantam), Humans and Hybrids by Robert J. Sawyer (Tor), Icehole by Kiera Dellacroix (Fortitude Press), Lords of Rainbow by Vera Nazarian (Wildside), Lust by Geoff Ryman (St. Martin's), The Magister by Sally Miller Gearhart (Spinsters Ink), Manners and Means by Julia Talbot (Torquere Press), Moonsword by Diana Hignutt (AmErica House), The Other Side Of Love by Carole Lenzy Daniel (1stbooks), Perfect Hope by S Hardy Brondos (Wayward), Perfect Trust by S Hardy Brondos (Wayward), The Red Line of Yarmald by Diana Rivers (Bella), The Sorcerer's Web by T P Macer (Wayward), Spin State by Chris Moriarty (Bantam Dell), Storyteller by Amy Thomson (Ace), The Substance of God by Perry Brass (Belhue), Trickster by Steven Harper (Roc), Tritcheon Hash by Sue Lange (Metropolis Ink), Troll: A Love Story by Johanna Sinisalo (Grove), Turning The Storm by Naomi Kritzer (Bantam), Vampire Thrall by Michael Schiefelbein (Alyson) and The Wrong Trail Knife by Jane Fletcher (Fortitude Press).Thursday, September 02, 2004
Jean-Louis Trudel sells time-travel tale to Solaris
Rave review for Island Dreams in Asimov's
With Island Dreams: Montreal Writers of the Fantastic...editor Claude Lalumiere has assembled one of the best original anthologies of the year. Pleasingly heavy on cyberpunk visions of the future, yet with a fair smattering of slipstream and fantasy, this book strikes a beautiful balance among fabulist modes. Yves Menard hits notes of Ballardian excellence in 'In Yerusalom,' his tale of an alien city plonked down in the middle of North America, while Glenn Grant roars on overdrive through his future police procedural, 'Burning Day.' Melissa Yuan-Innes delivers a Bradburyian shocker in 'Mrs. Marigold's House' and Mark Shainblum does military SF intelligently and gracefully in 'Endogamy Blues.' The other eight countributors are no dull mooseheads either. Highly recommended.Wednesday, September 01, 2004
Cory Doctorow wins 2004 Sunburst Award
The Sunburst Award for Canadian Literature of the Fantastic is a prized and juried award that is presented annually. It is based on excellence of writing, and awarded to a Canadian writer who has published a speculative fiction novel or book-length collection any time during the previous calendar year. Named after the novel by Phyllis Gotlieb, one of the first published authors of contemporary Canadian speculative fiction, the award consists of a cash award of $1,000 and a hand-crafted medallion, which incorporates a "Sunburst" logo, designed by Marcel Gagné.
The Sunburst jury said, "A Place So Foreign and 8 More opens with Cory Doctorow's signature piece, "Craphound," which perfectly showcases the qualities that so impressed us: an energetic narrative drive; an infectious love of storytelling; intriguingly imagined outcast characters; unusual ideas explored with verve and intelligence; a charming wit; a desire to take chances rather than to retread safe ground; and a generous amount of chutzpah. This collection of nine stories is an excellent example of science fiction pushing forward and evolving, while casting a critically pertinent eye towards the past, the present, and the future."
Cory currently lives in London, England, where he works for the civil liberties group Electronic Frontier Foundation. He is the author of two novels, Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom and Eastern Standard Tribe.
The other short-listed works for the 2004 Sunburst Award were The Bone House by Luanne Armstrong (New Star Books), Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood (McClelland & Stewart), Initiation by Virginia Frances Schwartz (Fitzhenry & Whiteside), and Blind Lake by Robert Charles Wilson (Tor Books).
There will be an award ceremony on September 23, 2004, at 7 p.m. in the Merrill Collection of Science Fiction, Speculation and Fantasy, at the Lillian H Smith Branch of the Toronto Public Library, 239 College Street. The event is open to the public and free of charge. All five nominees will be honoured.
Jurors for the 2004 Sunburst Award were Caterina Edwards, Claude Lalumière, Yves Meynard, Lyle Weis, and Michelle Sagara West. They selected five short-listed works as representing the finest of Canadian fantastic literature published during the 2003 calendar year. However, this year's jury requested that the following additional books be listed because they felt very strongly that they merit special attention:
Struck by Geoffrey Bromhead (Anvil), The Mermaid of Paris by Cary Fagan (Key Porter), The Salt Roads by Nalo Hopkinson (Warner), A Telling of Stars by Caitlin Sweet (Viking), and The Assassins of Tamurin by S. D. Tower (HarperCollins).
The 2005 Award jurors will be Deirdre Baker, Nancy Baker, Aritha van Herk, Nicholas Ruddick, and Rodger Turner. For additional information about the Sunburst Award, the nominees and jurors, as well as previous awards, eligibility and the selection process, please visit the Web site.
Steven Mills stories in Dreams & Visions, sub-Terrain
Ahmed A. Khan's first book, Ghelenden, launches
Mark Shainblum sells "Twain" story to Would That It Were
The story (under a different title) was originally written for the 2001 International Mark Twain Writing Competition, where it was a finalist. That contest was sponsored by the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library and the Mark Twain Foundation in honour of the discovery of a previously unpublished Twain manuscript, "A Murder, a Mystery and a Marriage." Several months prior to the story's publication in The Atlantic Monthly, the first two chapters were published on the Internet and writers were challenged to write their own, 5000-word conclusions. "I believe they had over 700 entries in the end," Mark says.
Mark points out that Would That It Were is ideal (and indeed, perhaps the only) market for this story, because specializes in science fiction set in the 19th century, and it's an online magazine. The latter is extremely important in this case, since Mark does not have the rights to Twain's original first two chapters, still protected by copyright because the story was unpublished between 1876 and 2001. "An online magazine can easily link to the existing story still posted on the Buffalo and Erie County Library's website," Mark notes. "A print publication would be liable for fairly hefty reprint fees."
Sandra Kasturi reading this Friday
On Sunday, October 3, at 7:30 p.m. at the Victory Cafe, 581 Markham St. in Toronto, four poetry chapbooks are being launched, including Clara Blackwood's Visitations, which Sandra edited. The other chapbooks to be launched are Brick and Bone by Alex Boyd, Shapeshifter by David Clink, and Midnight Grocery by Dani Couture. The launch will feature short readings by Blackwood, Boyd, Clink, Couture and Myna Wallin, and live music.
Matt Hughes novel SF Book Club featured alternate
Michèle Laframboise story to appear in Italian mag
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