SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT(S):
Amazing Stories publisher, Steve Davidson, will be participating on several panels at Boskone 51, taking place 2/14 – 2/16 at the Boston Westin Waterfront Hotel. (All pertinent information here.) In addition to participating on panels with subjects devoted to Fandom and Fanzines, Steve will also be hosting a ‘special interest group’ meeting for Amazing Stories – Saturday, 2/15, 9:00 am in the Carlton room, all are invited. The subject and scope of that meeting will be largely dependent upon the attendees. Those wishing to become involved with Amazing Stories are urged to attend.
David Decker, Amazing Stories’ in-house photographer will also be on hand at the convention; in addition to covering the event for a future con report, David will also be taking author, artist, editor and fan pictures for Amazing Stories’ files. If you would like to make arrangements to have your file photo picture taken, please contact us here at the site – or look us up at the convention.
Steve will be giving away promotional postcards for the upcoming David Gerrold limited edition comic – A Doctor For the Enterprise – featuring Troy Boyle’s cover art, inked by Jeff Austin. (This promotional item is, of course, destined to attain its own legendary status as a collectible.) (David Gerrold will be giving away postcards at Gallifrey One if you’re a left-coaster staying in town.)
and also –
One of Amazing Stories’ longtime contributors is conducting a Kickstarter to help out with her debut novel:
Lesley Smith’s Press Release Here
and a sample of the novel in progress here
NEWSLETTERS & PRESS RELEASES (See Full Text Below)
Ford Street Publishing Says Keeping Books Alive Is On Again
LonCon 3 Is Very Pleased With Current Sign-Ups
Revista Digital miNatura” (Digital Magazine miNatura) is a free online magazine which have published 132 issues.
WFA Announces Award Judges & Submission Criteria
TOR/Forge’s Latest
CAUSES
(Items included here are meant to raise awareness about various important issues that affect the genre community. Some may advocate, some may criticize, some may simply inform. The views expressed by the authors are not necessarily those of Amazing Stories or its contributors. Amazing Stories supports diversity, equality and fairness within the genre community.)
The Genesis of Uhura
An APP Designed To Encourage Infringement?
Naomi Novik ‘splains Copyright To Congress
Five Women Discuss the Genre In Spanish
Goldiblocks Space Launch! (video)
AT&T Patent Bad For Net Neutrality
Female Scientists Are Entitled, To Their Titles
Women Writing Dark Fiction: It’s Complicated
Why Can’t Wonder Woman Get Her Own Film? (via SF Signal)
Self-Publishing Shitcano Is Unstoppable…and Chuck Wendig Started It
Lightspeed’s Women Destroying SF
An Index To Female Protagonists (via SF Signal)
ENTERTAINMENT
Honeymoon In Hell: TangentOnline OTR
Before Star Trek, there was almost Star Trek
Locus Recommended Reading List
Alphanthology: Young Writers Flash
New Cosmos (new) Trailer (video)
Nnedi Okorafor’s Book Optioned For Film
Parallel Lines Reverses Trek Character Genders
Scalzi’s Redshirts Heading For Small Screen
Star Wars Rebels Coming To TV
FANDOM
2014 Locus Poll Ballot Posted
Another Top 100 SF/F Novels Of All Time
A List Of Underrated SF
Announcing The Last Drink Tank
Want To Get ComicCon Tickets? Ha-ha-ha-ha…
Liptak On Vandermeer’s Annihilation
INDUSTRY
Le Guin Reviews On Such A Full Sea – Takes Literary Author To Task (via File 770)
Watch Out For Sock Puppet “Publishers”
A Closer Look At Fair Use and Copyrights
American Gods TV Series?
The Breach To Be Filmed
Transformers Toy Line
Stellarium: The Night Sky For Authors (Free)
Cat Rambo Is Going On Shelfari
Bookstores’ Fate Is Key To Publishing’s Future
The Future Of Books
World Fantasy Award Judges Announced (See press releases for full details)
New Simon & Schuster SF Imprint
Adobe Is Killing E-readers
Amazon Publishing
SCIENCE
Let’s Talk About Mars Missions
Captain Kirk Wants To Know What’s Up With That Mysterious Rock On Mars?
A Solar Power Project Around The Moon (video)
The Secret Ingredients Of “Energy” Drinks
Blogs For Indy Authors
New Shuttle: Dream Catcher
Curiosity Looks Back At Earth
PRESS RELEASES & NEWSLETTERS
Ford Street Publishing Says Keeping Books Alive Is On Again
###
MEDIA RELEASE #11
Loncon 3, the 72nd World Science Fiction Convention
14-18 August 2014 at ExCeL, London Docklands
media@loncon3.org
LONDON, UK. 29 January 2014: More than 5,000 people have signed up as members of Loncon 3, the 72nd World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon), which is being held in London this August.
With seven months to go before the annual celebration of science fiction and fantasy gets underway at the ExCeL Exhibition Centre in Docklands, the latest membership figures show that Loncon 3 will be the largest Worldcon to be held outside the United States.
Of these members, more than 4,000 have bought Adult or Young Adult Attending memberships, with the latter being available to fans aged between 16 and 25 (as of 14 August 2014).
Loncon 3 co-chair Steve Cooper said: “We are very excited to have passed the 5,000-member milestone already, and hope to welcome many more people to Loncon 3 in August to experience the rich diversity of science fiction and fantasy in all its forms.”
Co-chair Alice Lawson said: “The Loncon 3 team is particularly pleased that so many Young Adult members have signed up, as we want to make this Worldcon as accessible, dynamic and inclusive as we can.”
The Worldcon’s attractions include the Hugo Awards, the world’s leading awards for excellence in the field of science fiction and fantasy, and the Masquerade, spectacular live presentations showcasing costumes. The programme has nearly a thousand individual items spread over five days, with panels, talks, workshops, quizzes, films, videos, autograph sessions, and more.
Full details of how to become a member of Loncon 3 are available athttps://www.loncon3.org/memberships/
ENDS
For more information, please contactmedia@loncon3.org.
ABOUT THE WORLD SCIENCE FICTION CONVENTION
Founded in 1939, the World Science Fiction Convention is one of the largest international gatherings of authors, artists, editors, publishers, and fans of science fiction and fantasy. The annual Hugo Awards, the leading award for excellence in the fields of science fiction and fantasy, are voted on by Worldcon membership and presented during the convention.
Loncon 3 is the trading name of London 2014 Ltd, a company limited by guarantee, registered in England, company number: 7989510. Registered Office: First Floor, 5 Walker Terrace, Gateshead, NE8 1EB
“World Science Fiction Society,” “WSFS,” “World Science Fiction Convention,” “Worldcon,” “NASFiC,” “Hugo Award,” and the distinctive design of the Hugo Award Rocket are service marks of the World Science Fiction Society, an unincorporated literary society.
###
Revista Digital miNatura” (Digital Magazine miNatura) is a free online magazine which have published 132 issues. It usually presents more than thirty short stories related to a topic. The present issue is about famous and controversial “area 51”. Also you can read some interviews and articles. Last issues present an english version. You can read it at:https://www.servercronos.net/bloglgc/media/blogs/minatura/pdf/RevistaDigitalmiNatura132_en
This is the summary of the issue:
01/ Main cover: Área 51/ Andrzej Siejeński (Poland)
02/ FrikiFrases
03/ Editorial
05/ Convocatoria para el Nº3 de la Revista Tiempos Oscuros
07/ Interview: Five women related to fantasy talk about the state of the genre in Spanish/ Cristina Jurado (Spain)
19/ Comic: La Estación/ Víctor Emmanuel Vélez Becerra (México)
20/ Summary
21/ Fear, Lies & China Ink: More simple impossible/ Rubert (Brazil)
23/ The X File Area 51/ Odilius Vlak (Dominican Republic)
24/ Indiana Jones Returns to Home/ Salomé Guadalupe Ingelmo (Spain)
25/ Majestic 12/ Federico Miguel Aldunate (Argentina)
26/ Secrets/ Mª del Socorro Candelaria Zárate (Mexico)
27/ Christ / Peter Domínguez (Puerto Rico)
28/ Silicon/ María L Castejon (Spain)
29/ Stories of Vortexes: The Traveler/ Graciela Marta Alfonso (Argentina)
30/ The correct place/ Omar Martínez (Cuba)
30/ I am a Reptilian / Tomas Pacheco Estrada (Mexico)
31/ Routine/ Jaime Magnan Alabarce (Chile)
32/ Top Secret/ Francisco Manuel Marcos Roldan (Spain)
33/ Kairós/ Pablo Martínez Burkett (Argentina)
34/ Behind the line/ Patricia K. Olivera (Uruguay)
35/ The body/ Diego Galán Ruiz (Spain)
35/ Angels of Death/ Peter Domínguez (Puerto Rico)
36/ The 51 square of the alien hopscotch/ Odilius Vlak (República Dominicana)
37/ Infiltrates/ Francisco J. Segovia Ramos (Spain)
38/ Green Thumb/ Salomé Guadalupe Ingelmo (Spain)
39/ Exorcism 51/ Sebastián Ariel Fontanarrosa (Argentina)
40/ Infiltrator/ Francisco Manuel Marcos Roldan (Spain)
40/ Hollywood/ Ernesto Parrilla (Argentina)
41/ That/ Francisco J. Segovia Ramos (Spain)
41/ In the zone/ Jorge Zarco Rodríguez (Spain)
43/ Silver ship/ Claudio Leonel Siadore Gut (Argentina)
43/ Atomic projector/ Francisco Manuel Marcos Roldan (Spain)
44/ The man of the future/ Francisco J. Segovia Ramos (Spain)
45/ Invasion/ Dolores Espinosa Márquez (Spain)
45/ Catalogue/ Francisco Manuel Marcos Roldan (Spain)
46/ Under sandlot of nevada/ Francisco J. Segovia Ramos (Spain)
47/ Lost in abduction / Carmen Rosa Signes Urrea (Spain)
48/ Raid in Area 51/ Ricardo Manzanaro (Spain)
49/ Autopsy/ Francisco J. Segovia Ramos (Spain)
49/ UFO/ Dolores Espinosa Márquez (Spain)
49/ Owners/ Raúl Alejandro López Nevado (Spain)
50/ The Unsuspected Heir/ Carlos Díez (Spain)
51/ Kamikaze/ Candela Robles Abalos (Argentina)
53/ Article: Lights and Shadows/ Mari Carmen Caballero Álvarez (Spain)
87/ Back cover: Planeta invierno/ Miguel Gámez Cuevas (Spain)
###
Note: Several corrections regarding addresses, requirements and other details have been made to the originally distributed email announcement. The version below represents the final text version, incorporating those corrections.
2014 World Fantasy Awards Judges
Andy Duncan 38 Teaberry Lane; Frostburg MD 21532-2301; USA
*Kij Johnson University of Kansas; Department of English; 1445 Jayhawk Blvd., Room 3001; Lawrence,
KS 66045; USA; kijjo@ku.edu (accepts PDF, DOC – not DOCX – for SHORT
WORKS ONLY. Longer works must be submitted in hard copy.)
Oliver Johnson Hodder; 338 Euston Road; London NW1 3BH; United Kingdom
*John Klima 205 S. Greenfield Avenue; Waukesha, WI 53186; USA; editor@electricvelocipede.com (for SHORT FICTION ONLY prefers epub format; MOBI and PDF acceptable.
Longer works must be submitted in hard copy)
Liz Williams 40 Westhay Road; Meare; Glastonbury BA6 9TL; United Kingdom
Convention Chairs
Peggy Rae Sapienza and Michael J. Walsh, Co-Chairs; 2014 World Fantasy Convention; P.O. Box 314; Annapolis Junction, MD 20701; USA. info@worldfantasy2014.org
February 7, 2014
Dear Colleague:
The judges for the 2014 World Fantasy Awards, for work published in 2013, have now been empanelled. The judges read and consider eligible materials between the date of this letter and June 1, 2014, so it is desirable for them to receive materials between now and June 1, the earlier the better. If, for instance, something is received on May 31 the judges may well have only one day to read it before their deliberations conclude. Anything received after June 1 will receive little or no consideration.
The Gahan Wilson‑designed trophies will be presented to the winners at the convention, to be held Thursday, November 6 through Sunday, November 9, 2014 at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City near Reagan National Airport, 2799 Jefferson Davis Highway, Arlington, VA 22202, USA.
Through March 31, an attending membership costs $200, which does not include the Awards Banquet, tickets for which must be purchased separately. The attending membership rate will be $250 from April 1 through September 30, 2014. Banquet tickets will be available in July. Information and forms can be found on the convention web site at www.worldfantasy2014.org.
If you have any materials that you wish to be considered by the panel, please send them directly to the addresses above, and very importantly, please mark all packages as PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS – NOT FOR SALE OR RESALE – NO COMMERCIAL VALUE — WORLD FANTASY AWARDS MATERIALS. Also, please make sure to send a file copy of all materials to my office at the address above so a comprehensive submission list may be kept. This is the only way the judges can consider all eligible items, and you can be sure that your work has been given fair attention. N.B. Judges marked with an asterisk (*) above prefer some submissions to be in electronic form to the provided email addresses.
Qualifications: All books must have been published in 2013; magazines must have a 2013 cover date; only living authors and editors are eligible.
Fantasy Types: All forms of fantasy are eligible.
Categories: Life Achievement; Best Novel; Best Novella (10,001 to 40,000 words); Best Short Story; Best Anthology; Best Collection; Best Artist; Special Award‑‑Professional; Special Award‑‑Non‑Professional.
Please note that the nominees in the Life Achievement category will not be released, though the winners will be announced well before the awards banquet.
All questions pertaining to the convention should be directed to the Convention Chair.
Questions concerning eligibility, the judges, and the awards administration may be sent to my attention.
Once again, the World Fantasy Awards Administration and the convention are most pleased to be working with you. With your continued good will and support, we shall successfully uphold the already prestigious reputation of the World Fantasy Awards.
As always, thank you very much for your time, and for your assistance.
Respectfully,
Pete Pautz
Peter Dennis Pautz
###
So…Who’s Going to Tell Ron?
J.K. Rowling doesn’t think Ron and Hermione were right for each other after all. As you’d imagine, Potter fandom didn’t take the news lying down. Ellen Cheeseman-Meyer explains why Harry isn’t right for Hermione either, and of course, Emily Asher-Perrin has been on Ron’s side all along! We also look at the expansion of the Harry Potter Experience in Orlando, which is bringing us closer to living inside one of Rowling’s novels. Which we’re fine with-bring it on!
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Words of Radiance
Announcing Glimpses of Radiance!
The release of Words of Radiance, the long-awaited continuation of Brandon Sanderson’s epic Stormlight Archive saga, is now less than one month away! To prepare you for the oncoming storm, we will be releasing daily previews of the second volume: sentences, quotations, paragraphs, epigraphs, and other glimpses of what is to come! Sign up here to receive daily email-only previews that will begin February 11th and continue all the way to the release of Words of Radiance on March 4th! And because dinosaurs are the greatest unit of measurement, we want to show you how Sanderson’s biggest tome yet stacks up to a T-Rex! Come gaze upon its majesty…
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Tacinocephalus When Proto-Beasties Roamed the Earth!
Long before the T-Rex and other dinosaurs appeared to fuel our imaginations and chase down smarmy chaos theorists, landscapes across the planet were dominated by synapsids-protomammals that were almost totally eliminated by a catastrophe which dramatically changed the course of life on Earth. Dinosaur expert and National Geographic blogger Brian Switek gives us this list of nine of our synapsid ancestors, and they are a fascinating, funky-looking bunch-go take a look!
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Black Widow
Thor’s Gag Reel Is a Light in a World of Darkness, Jesse Eisenberg Is the Villain the Modern World Deserves, and Scar is the Butler Ben Affleck Deserves.
Thor: The Dark World’s gag reel is even more fun than we expected! Elsewhere, a photo of Black Widow from the upcoming Captain America sequel gives us some ideas about Natasha’s romantic entanglements. Jesse Eisenberg has been cast to play Lex Luthor in the Man of Steel sequel Huh. OK, we’ll roll with this… Oh, and Jeremy Irons will be Alfred to Ben Affleck’s Batman. We also have brand-new trailers for Divergent (featuring puppies!) and Winter’s Tale (featuring Pegasus!).
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Marty McFly Groundhogs and DeLoreans Are Not Bound By Your Puny Physics!
We declare that February should be Time Travel Month! And then, in March, we’ll go back to February and live Time Travel Month all over again! In celebration of Punxsutawney Phil’s finest hour, Leah Schnelbach presents a theory about why Groundhog Day works over and over again by breaking all the rules of genre, and we all break into jazz hands in honor of Back to the Future: The Musical , which is really happening in 2015!
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Benedict Cumberbatch on Sesame Street
Spock on a unicorn The Gift of Cumberbatch, Muppets, a New Daario, and Patrick Stewart Memorializing a Rover!
Benedict Cumberbatch continues to be the World’s Perfect Boyfriend, this time with an adorable appearance on Sesame Street! Some of the muppet actors keep confusing him with Sherlock, so beware of a few spoilers for the end of Series 3! Speaking of which, now that Series 3 has wrapped up on PBS, you can check out our recap of “His Last Vow,” then join us in quiet Holmesian mourning until Series 4 arrives. We also have some new photos from the fourth season Game of Thrones, including a look at the new Daario Naharis! Since the 12th Doctor’s outfit was unveiled last week, a few enterprising fans have contributed their own redesigns, and here’s a whole set that we especially liked. In other news, the Chinese Lunar Rover died this week, and Patrick Stewart went on The Daily Show to commemorate its passing, while dressed as the Rover, because Patrick Stewart is the best. And finally, here is the greatest painting you will ever see of Spock riding a flying unicorn, courtesy of illustrator Tim O’Brien. Treat yourself and take a good long look…
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Neil Gaiman Your Television Will Overflow with Gaiman!
HBO may have dropped the project, but a new production company has picked up the adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s American Gods, so hopefully Shadow Moon and his crafty band of deities will be coming to your TV soon. Meanwhile, British-based Red Productions will be adapting Anansi Boys for UK television. Now that these projects are finally (hopefully) getting off the ground, we can revisit our casting ideas for American Gods! We’re still rereading our way through Gaiman’s work, too, so be sure to check out our Magic & Good Madness series!
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Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer Fabulous Authors Writing Letters, Plotting Annihilation, Sleeping With Monsters, and Falling In Love With Footnotes…
Author and puppeteer Mary Robinette Kowal wants you to celebrate National Letter Writing Month! Really, there’s no better way to spend a February. Brian Slattery interviews Jeff VanderMeer about his upcoming Southern Reach trilogy, and Liz Bourke talks with Elizabeth Bear in her (BSFA-nominated!) Sleeps With Monsters column. And for our ongoing “That Was Awesome” series, Ann Leckie talks about Susanna Clarke’s wonderful way with footnotes in Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell.
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Stewart and McKellen Super Bowl Sunday Has Been Colonized By Nerds and Theater Majors!
So remember a few paragraphs ago, when we said that Patrick Stewart was the best? HE IS THE BEST. Rivaled only for Best-dom by his bestie, Ian McKellen. This picture of Stewart and McKellen getting ready for the Super Bowl just proves our point. Speaking of football, so many trailers premiered during the big game! We have a new clip from Captain America: The Winter Soldier , some dino-bots in Transformers: Age of Extinction, plus two new videos from Amazing Spider-Man 2: a new teaser and a longer clip that shows us more of Electro’s origins! And here’s a roundup of all the best commercials that includes your weekly recommended dosage of Hiddleston.
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NEW ORIGINAL FICTION
Mad Maudlin
The Anderson Project
New Original Fiction!
We have two wonderful pieces of fiction this week! “Mad Maudlin” finds Marie Brennan visiting Bedlam, and Judith Moffat finds inspiration in art for “Space Ballet”
Is Maud mad? Or is she just so ancient that her rhymes belong to a different time?
Peter is a good psychiatrist, but even he can’t quite crack Maud. She’s been admitted to his hospital, blood on her clothes, fury in her eyes, and she keeps ranting about killing the moon…and who is this mysterious “Tom” she’s lost? When Peter offers to help her search for Tom, he finds himself on an adventure he never could have imagined.
We are excited to continue editor David Hartwell’s miniseries, The Anderson Project. Three authors have contributed stories inspired by a single painting from artist Richard Anderson: Ken Liu, with “Reborn”; Judith Moffett with “Space Ballet”; and, coming on February 12th, “Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?” by Kathleen Ann Goonan. All three stories are also available as an ebook.
In Judith Moffett’s “Space Ballet” a young artist named Josh Russell has painted his dream: he and his brother float in space-or is it underwater? They wear “skin-tight pressure suits,” and they are tethered to a large ship. The image is calmly beautiful. So why did Josh wake up “scared out of his mind” and driven to paint? And, more importantly, why is that ship appearing in his classmates’ dreams?
