John R. Little, Brett Alexander Savory nominated for Black Quill Awards

Two SF Canada members were nominated for Black Quill Awards, a new award created by Dark Scribe Magazine to honor the best in dark genre fiction.

John R. Little's novelette Placeholders was nominated in the Best Small Press Chill category, which includes all novels and novellas published by small press pubblishers. Placeholders was published by Necessary Evil Press in a limited edition in September.

Chiaroscuro, edited by Brett Alexander Savory, was nominated in the Best Dark Genre Short Fiction Magazine category; the award goes to the editor.

Other nominees in the Best Small Press Chill category were Dark Harvest by Norman Partridge (Cemetery Dance), Midlisters by Kealan Patrick Burke (Biting Dog Press) (winner of the Editor's Choice award), The Cage by Jason Brannon (KHP Publishers), The Haunted Forest Tour by Jeff Strand and James A. Moore (Earthling Publications) (winner of the Reader's Choice award), and Vintage: A Ghost Story by Steve Berman (Haworth Positronic Press).

Other nominees in the Best Dark Genre Short Fiction Magazine were Cemetery Dance, edited by Richard Chizmar (print) (winner of the Editor's Choice award); Dark Discoveries, edited by Editor James Beach (print), Dark Recesses Press, edited by Boyd Harris, CJ Hurtt and Vincent VanAllen (virtual) (winner of the Reader's Choice award), Estronomicon, edited by Steve Upham (virtual), and Postscripts, edited by Peter Crowther and Nick Gevers (print).

Nominees were selected by the editors and active contributing writers of Dark Scribe Magazine. Readers of the magazine then voted.

Linda DeMeulemeester YA fantasy named one of 2008's "Great Books for Children"

Linda DeMeulemeester's novel The Secret of Grim Hill (Lobster Press) has been named one of the Canadian Toy Testing Council's "Great Books for Children" for 2008. The Council states, "Readers will enjoy the book's blend of suspense, sports and magical mystery... from the first page to the last."

Four SF Canada members win Aurora Awards

Four members of SF Canada won Aurora Awards at Canvention 27, hosted by VCON 32,. Dave Duncan won the award for Best Long-Form Work in English for Children of Chaos (Tor Books); Best Long-Form Work in French went to Reine de Mémoire 4, La Princesse de Vengeance, by Elisabeth Vonarburg (Alire); Karl Johanson took home the award for Best Work in English (Other) for editing Neo-opsis Science Fiction Magazine, and Best Work in French (Other) went to «Aux origines des petits hommes verts» by Jean-Louis Trudel (Solaris 160).

Complete results can be found here.

Next year's Canvention will be hosted by KeyCon 25 in Winnipeg, a four-day convention over the Victoria Day weekend.

Linda DeMeulemeester YA fantasy up for Silver Birch Award

Linda DeMeulemeester's young adult fantasy The Secret of Grim Hill (Lobster Press) is a nominee for the Ontario Library Association's Silver Birch award.

The Silver Birch Award is awarded in fiction, non-fiction and Express categories each May, based on ballots cast by Grade 3, 4, 5 and 6 students earlier in the same month. It's administered by the Ontario Library Association and run by teacher-librarians and teachers in schools and by children's librarians in public libraries.

Other nominees in the fiction category are Baboon by David Jones (Annick Press), Directed by Kaspar Snit by Cary Fagan (Tundra Books), Jakeman by Deborah Ellis (Fitzhenry & Whiteside), Never to be Told by Becky Citra (Orca Book Publishers), Odd Man Out by Sarah Ellis (Groundwood Books), Pigboy by Vicki Grant (Orca Book Publishers), Shadows on the Train by Melanie Jackson (Orca Book Publishers), Torrie and the Snake-Prince by K.V. Johansen (Annick Press) and The Vampire's Visit by David A. Poulsen (Key Porter Books).

Leslie Carmichael, Nicole Luiken up for Golden Eagle Book Award

Leslie Carmichael's young adult fantasy Lyranel's Song and Nicole Luiken's Frost are among the nominees for the 2008 Golden Eagle Book Award. Other nominees are Adventures in Istanbul by Cora Taylor, Kicker by Michele Martin Bossley, Mickie McGill & the Ring of the Red Dragon by Morag Haysom, No Time Like the Past by David A Poulsen, Skinnybones and the Wrinkle Queen by Glen Huser, Tiger Threat by Sigmund Brouwer, The Uncle Dunkle Chronicles - Escape From Treasure Island by Darren Krill, and Wild Ride by Jacqueline Guest.

The Golden Eagle Book Award is a literary award that is given annually to an Alberta writer whose book is selected by children in Grades 4 through 8 from schools in the southern Alberta communities of Claresholm, Nanton, Stavely, Granum, Fort Macleod, Pincher Creek and Lundbreck. The winning book will be announced in the spring.

Maggie L. Wood's The Princess Mage wins Moonbeam Children's Book Award Bronze Medal

Maggie L. Wood's book The Princess Mage (Sumach Press) was one of the bronze medalists in the young adult fiction category of the new independent publishers' Moonbeam Children's Book Award.

The gold medal went to The Smell of Paint by Sheryl McFarlane (Fitzhenry & Whiteside) and silver to The Alchemist’s Dream by John Wilson (Key Porter Books); Race to Eagle Mountain by S. M. Schofield (Wine Press Group) and Kristin’s Wilderness: A Braided Trail by Garrett Conover (Raven Productions) were the other bronze medalists.

The awards were presented on Saturday, November 3, in conjunction with the 2007 Children's Humanities Festival in Chicago.

Sandra Kasturi poem shortlisted for Arc Poetry Magazine's International Poem of the Year

Sandra Kasturi's poem "Miraculous Bears" was a finalist for Arc Poetry Magazine's International Poem of the Year contest. The short list of 50 poems was blindly selected (without knowledge of the author’s identity), by an editorial panel from 912 poems by 376 poets. The first-prize winner, announced September 17, was Susan Elmslie, who received $1,500 for her poem "Box.

Dave Duncan's Children of Chaos short-listed for Endeavour Award

Dave Duncan's Aurora Award-nominated novel Children of Chaos has now been short-listed for the Endeavour Award, awarded for the best fantasy/science fiction book in the Pacific Northwest (which includes B.C. and Alaska).

The other short-listed books are Forest Mage by Robin Hobb, Fortress of Ice by C.J. Cherryh, Horizon by Mary Rosenblum and Spirits that Walk in Shadow by Nina Kiriki Hoffman. This year's judges are Adam-Troy Castro, Claude Lalumière and John G. Hemry.

The award, which includes a grant of $1,000, will be presented at OryCon in Portland, Oregon in November.

Tony Pi, Stephen Kotowych among winners in this year's Writers of the Future contest

Tony Pi and Stephen Kotowych are amongst 12 winning writers and 12 illustrators from around the world who will be honored during the 23rd Annual L. Ron Hubbard Achievement Awards at the Athenaeum Club on the grounds of California Institute of Technology on Friday, August 24.

At the ceremony, two Grand Prize winners will be announced, each of whom will receive $5,000. Quarterly winners also receive cash prizes from $1,000 to $500. The winning stories and illustrations will appear in the annual anthology L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers and Illustrators of the Future, volume 23 (Galaxy Press).

Participating in the ceremony will be authors Kevin J. Anderson, Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, Tim Powers and Sean Williams, who will serve as presenters along with celebrities Marisol Nichols (from Fox TV's 24), two-time Emmy award nominated actress Lee Purcell, and Latin vocalist Carina Rico.

The Writers of the Future Contest was initiated by L. Ron Hubbard in 1983. Its winners have gone on to publish over 550 novels and 1,400 short stories. The format was expanded to include a companion Illustrators of the Future Contest in 1988

Karl Schroeder and Barbara Sapergia among finalists for John W. Campbell Memorial Award

Karl Schroeder's novel Sun of Suns (Tor) and Barbara Sapergia's novel Dry (Coteau Books)  were among the finalists for this year's John W. Campbell Memorial Award for the best science-fiction novel of 2006.

The award was presented during the Campbell Conference Awards Banquet at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas, on July 7. The winner was Titan by Ben Bova (Tor). Second place went to The Last Witchfinder by James Morrow (William Morrow), and third place was a tie between Farthing by Jo Walton (Tor) and Blindsight by Peter Watts (Tor).

Other finalists were A Small and Remarkable Life by Nick DiChario (Robert J. Sawyer Books), Infoquake by David Louis Edelman (Pyr), Nova Swing by M. John Harrison (Gollancz), Odyssey by Jack McDevitt (Ace), Living Next Door to the God of Love by Justina Robson (Tor), Glasshouse by Charles Stross (Ace) and Rainbow's End by Vernor Vinge (Tor).
 

Cory Doctorow wins Locus Award for Best Novelette

Cory Doctorow has won this year's Locus Award for Best Novelette for "When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth" (Baen's Universe, August 2006). The winners of this year's Locus Awards, voted by readers of Locus Magazine in the annual Locus Poll, were announced June 16 at the Courtyard Marriott Hotel in Seattle. Complete results are online here.

In honor of its winning the Locus Award as best novelette, Jim Baen's Universe has made Cory Doctorow's "When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth" freely available online.

Holly Phillips on British Fantasy Award long list

Holly Phillips's novel The Burning Girl (Prime Books) is on the long list of nominees for the 2007 British Fantasy Award for best novel. The British Fantasy Awards, which are voted on by members of the British Fantasy Society, will be presented at Fantasycon September 21 to 23 in Nottingham.

Nina Munteanu's The Cypol nominated for Ecata Reviewers Choice Award

Nina Munteanu's second novel, The Cypol (eXtasy Books), a SF romantic thriller, has been nominated for the Ecata Reviewers Choice Award.

Ahmed A. Khan wins Anotherealm's Higney Award

Ahmed A. Khan's 2006 story "Seventh Sense" has won the Higney Award at Anotherealm.

Jean-Louis Trudel/Yves Meynard novel finalist for Prix jeunesse 2007 de science-fiction et de fantastique québécois

Jean-Louis Trudel's young adult novel Le maître des bourrasques (Master of Squalls) authored by "Laurent McAllister" (a pen name for Jean-Louis and Yves Meynard) was one of three finalists for the Prix jeunesse 2007 de science-fiction et de fantastique québécois, announced at Quebec City's international Salon du livre (book fair) on April 11.