HAPPY FATHER’S DAY!

PRESS RELEASES & NEWSLETTERS (See full text below)

BTS Book Reviews eMag Announces First Annual Red Carpet Awards
Loncon3 Rates Increase in July
Clarion West News
Plentary Resources:  Fuel in Space
Night Shade Books June
Spark Contest 6 Opens Today
TOR Newsletter
Unearth Art Exhibition

SOCIAL

We Need To Talk About This (Powerful essay on harassment)
Encouraging Diversity
Supporting Diverse Voices
What Its Like To Talk About Racism, Over and Over and Over
My Kids Can Be Heroes Too (Black Science Fiction Society)
Anti-Harassment Pocket Card (Note:  comments include suggestions for changes/additions)
Teenage Girl Science Fiction Adventures (Exploring YA For Teenagers)
The Political Debate In Science Fiction & Voices Seldom Heard

ENTERTAINMENT

A Unique Recording of C.S. Lewis (via SF Signal)
Coming In July:  Delany’s The American Shore
Prelude To Axanar to Premiere At SDCC (video)
StarshipSofa #341:  Sean McMullen (Podcast)
SPACE COMMAND!
James Gunn’s Ad Astra Third Issue
DRAX Poster (Guardian of the Galaxy)
Star Lord Poster Completes the Set
 Wonder Woman, Shazam, Green Lantern and Flash Team Up
What Happened Before Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (Don’t we know this already?)
Twilight Zone Comic
Dalek Nitelight
Alien Isolation Game
TOR: British SF Focus
The Fermi Irritation    XKCD: Fermi Paradox
Rocketman Retro Commercial (video)
Age of Ultron Set Photo Set

FANDOM

June 8th Was John W. Campbell’s Posthumous Birthday
FANtastic Detroit Fund:  Get Some Dollars For Detcon1
Phoenix Comiccon Report
Toner 2 To Be Held At Galaxycon
Shamrokon/Eurocon August
What Happens When Nicholas Cage’s Collectible Comics Are Stolen?
Cosplay Photos From Phoenix Comic Com

AWARDS

Is It Time For A Women’s Speculative Fiction Award? (via SF Signal)
Bisexual Book Award Winners
Gillian Pollack Wins GUFF
Danny Danger Oz Wins A. Bertram Chandler Lifetime Achievement Award
Australian Chronos Awards
2014 Seiun Award Nominees Announced
Exit Log Awarded Imagination Honors At Tribeca Film Festival (video)
Rosny-Aine Award Nominees
David Gemmell Award Winners

INDUSTRY

Bait-and-Switch For Authors
Finnish Author Launches In US, UK & Australia  Sells Rights To 14 Other Countries (Who is her agent!?)
SBPRA To Pay Author Restitution
ReAnimus Acquires Advent Publishers
Hollywood SciFi Museum Crowdfunding
Interfictions Crowdfunding
Pro Se Productions Publishes Rat-A-Tat
Who Do You Want To Distribute Your Digital Comics
Replacements For Google Alerts
The Weird:  Vandermeer, Gaiman, Le Guin Lockwood Goldstein Krauss (Podcast)
Digital Renaissance For Short Fiction?

SCIENCE

Exoskeleton Used For World Cup First Kick (video)
When an Engineer Owns A Dog (video)  Smart Dog!
WARP Drive Spaceship Design (NASA)
Flying Saucer Can’t Fly – Winds Are Too Strong
New Satellite To Monitor Carbon Dioxide
TESLA Motors Goes Open Source
Soccer In Space (video)

PRESS RELEASES & NEWSLETTERS

Red Carpet Review Awards

BTS Book Reviews eMag is proud to announce our first annual Red Carpet Review Awards for 2014.

The awards will honor the best in literary and genre fiction. The presentation of awards will be conducted at an upcoming convention in 2015.  Convention details will be released soon.

AWARDS:
Trophy ? The Grand Prize is a beautiful crystal Shooting Star trophy as pictured below.

Two Page Feature in BTSemag ? The overall winners for Readers Choice and Reviewers Choice awards will receive this prize. https://btsemag.com/advertising/emag-feature/

One Page Sneak Peak Feature in the BTSemag ? All first place finalists in each genre will receive this award. See example.

Award Certificate ? Any finalists who attend the Awards Presentation at the convention will receive a certificate.

Nominated Authors ? Nominated authors will receive an award graphic for use on their website.

AWARD CATEGORIES:

Readers Choice ? Readers to vote on their favorite (one only) in each of the genres. Voting on all 4 & 5 star reviews in each genre.

Reviewers Choice ? Reviewers choose their favorite book. Staff and BTS family will vote for top winner. Cover, blurb, review and overall presentation to be considered.

AWARD GENRES:

All genres covered in the BTSemag will be considered: Contemporary & Romance, Historical & Western, Erotic, Mystery & Suspense, S/F, Fantasy & Paranormal, Young and New Adult. Sub-genres such as Urban Fantasy or Horror will go under the appropriate genres.

AWARD TIMELINE:

Awards for 2014 will end with the November/December 2014 issue of BTS Book Reviews magazine. Please note, we have a 2 month lead-time for our reviewers, this means your book must be submitted by September 1st, 2014 in order to fit the timeline requirements. Any qualified books reviewed after the November/December 2014 will be considered for the 2015 Red Carpet Review Awards.

VOTING:

Voting will start in October. The top 3 Finalists in each genre will be announced on the website by December. We hope the Finalists will consider attending the Presentation of Awards. Every Finalists at the ceremony will be presented with an Award Certificate.

BOOK SUBMISSION:

Please submit your books for review consideration via our website. When your book is chosen for review, it will be published in the BTS Book Reviews eMagazine. Your book will automatically be nominated for a review if it receives a 4 or 5 star review.

Note: Please note that reviews and awards are open to all. BTS does ask our reviewers give first consideration to authors who have bought an ad or feature. This is a courtesy we offer authors who work with us. There is no purchase necessary to have your book reviewed or to be considered for the Red Carpet Review Awards.

Myra Nour

BTS CEO

BTSeMag: www.btsemag.com   

Myra’s website: www.myranour.net
myra@btsemag.com 

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MEDIA RELEASE #26

Loncon 3, the 72nd World Science Fiction Convention

14-18 August 2014 at ExCeL London

https://www.loncon3.org

media@loncon3.org

Loncon 3 rates to rise on 14 July

 LONDON, UK. 10 June 2014: On 14 July 2014, membership rates to join Loncon 3, the 2014 World Science Fiction Convention, will rise as follows:

• Full Adult Attending membership rates increase from £125 (US$205 / €160) to £135 (US$225 / €175).
• Young Adult Attending membership rates (for members aged between 16 and 25 as of 14 August) increase from £65 (US$110 / €85) to £75 (US$125 / €100).
• Child Attending rates (for children aged between 6 and 15 as of 14 August) increase from £30 (US$50 / €40) to £35 (US$60 / €50).
• Infant rates (for children aged 5 and under as of 14 August) increase from £2 (US$3 / €3) to £5 (US$10 / €10).
• Family membership rates (for two adults and two or more children) increase from £280 (US$470, €360) to £300 (US$500, €400).

The rate for a Supporting membership is unchanged at £25 (US$40 / €35). This is the first increase in Young Adult, Child, and Infant membership rates in 22 months. 

 Only a little time is left to buy a membership, or to upgrade from a Supporting to an Adult Attending or Young Adult membership, at the current prices.

Loncon 3 is expected to attract more than 7,000 fans to London ExCeL, including hundreds of writers, editors, artists, and other professionals from across the science fiction and fantasy genre. The convention celebrates the genre in all its forms and, in particular, the work of Guests of Honour Iain M Banks, John Clute, Chris Foss, Malcolm Edwards, Jeanne Gomoll, Robin Hobb, and Bryan Talbot.

 Full details of how to become a member of Loncon 3 are available at

https://www.loncon3.org/memberships/

ENDS

For more information please contact media@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 the 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: 176 Portland Road, Jesmond, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE2 1DJ, UK.

“World Science Fiction Society”, “WSFS”, “World Science Fiction Convention”, “Worldcon”, “NASFiC”, “Hugo Award”, the Hugo Award Logo, and the distinctive design of the Hugo Award Trophy Rocket are service marks of the World Science Fiction Society, an unincorporated literary society.

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This email is stuffed full to the brim with good things. Read on for five reasons to join the Clarion West Write-a-thon, the June Alumni News, and an invitation to our party at the Locus Awards.

Clarion West Write-a-thon

Registration is now open for the Clarion West Write-a-thon at https://www.clarionwest.org/writeathon/begin/. Registration closes on June 22.

If you’ve already registered, thank you! But just in case you’re on the fence about participating, here are yet more reasons to sign up and help support Clarion West:

1. Set your own writing goals — and achieve them. Have you been meaning to get to writing that story in the back of your head? Do you have a screenplay that you want to finish? Having sponsors counting on you is a fantastic way to motivate yourself.
2. Work in a community of writers and feel the love. We’re setting up online social events that you can attend from wherever you are.
3. We’ll give you a kitten! No, actually, we won’t. But we will give you tips and tricks for setting your goals, asking for donations, and promoting the work you’re doing to friends and family. All right, and we’ll also give you a picture of a kitten.
4. You can be a part of the Write-a-thon wherever you are  — the local coffee shop or library, your home, or on a plane during your summer travels. The Write-a-thon is all about you and writers like you.
5. You’ll be joining a group of smart, dedicated writers, united for a common cause — to make the Write-a-thon, and Clarion West, better than ever. Come with us on the adventure!

Alumni News

This month’s edition of the Clarion West Alumni News contains:

• Nebula Award winners
• Lots of publication news, including a special edition of Lightspeed that includes work from twelve alumni
• A wedding announcement

Go to the Clarion West site to read all the news.
Clarion West party at the Locus Awards

You are invited as a special guest of Clarion West to kick off the Locus Awards Weekend!

Please join us for this evening with Clarion West students, alumni, supporters, and instructor Paul Park. Hors d’oeuvres and a no-host bar included.

Friday, June 27 from 8 to 11 pm
Best Western Executive Inn
200 Taylor Avenue North, Seattle

We hope to see you there!

Sincerely,
Kris Millering
Communications Specialist, Clarion West

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11th of June 2014 WELCOME TO YOUR JUNE ENEWSLETTER Summer is here and we’re excited for all of our upcoming releases. Stay tuned for everything we have in store for you! Enjoy your summer as you read in the park, at the beach, or just staying cool at home. We’ll keep you updated on all of our exciting new deals and releases! Night Shade Books NEW RELEASES The Cerani Empire reaches a tipping point in the thrilling conclusion to the Tower and Knife trilogy. The world is at its breaking point. The nothing, a terrible darkness caused by the festering wounds of a god, bleeds out the very essence of all, of stone, silk—and souls. Emperor Sarmin thought he had stopped it, but it is spreading toward his city…. read more           With each passing year, science, technology, and the march of time shine light into the craggy corners of the universe, making the fears of an earlier generation seem quaint. But this “light” creates its own shadows. The Best Horror of the Year, edited by Ellen Datlow, chronicles these shifting shadows… read more           AVAILABLE FOR PRESALE Agatha H and The Voice of the Castle Stories of the Raksura: Volume One Field of Fantasies NIGHT SHADE REVIEW OF THE MONTH Veil of the Deserters (Bloodsounders Arc #2) by Jeff Salyards   This was an absolutely addicting journey, and some of the most fun reading I have had this year. This book surpasses the first Bloodsounder’s Arc book, which was excellent and I gave 4.5 stars to, in terms of writing, depth, plot, and character and world building. Everything Jeff Salyard’s did great in Scourge of the Betrayer, he does even better here… read the full review

STAY CONNECTED

AN IMPRINT OF

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Enter our quarterly poetry & prose writing contest to win $500 and publication of your work!
For details and contest entry instructions, see the full contest listing.

Contest Six: “You Are Here”
Opens: June 15 — Deadline: July 1, 2014

The theme for this contest has several lofty terms: self-reflection, introspection, epiphany. We’ve chosen a simpler way to describe it: “You Are Here.”

Good stories give us characters we can connect to and make us care what happens to them–maybe not like them, but at least make us care what happens. The best stories go further and show some progression, development, or change in the main character. Sometimes the reader sees the change but the character does not. Other times, the character is actually aware of their personal development and understands that they have a new perspective.

For this contest, present a story where the main character or characters not only go through growth and development, as is appropriate for a good story arc, but are aware by the end of the piece that they’ve changed.

Two pieces from Spark which can be used as examples are “Perspective” by Michelle Soudier, a winning entry in a past contest and later published in Spark, Volume II, and “The Clock has Ceased its Ticking” by Alexis Hunter, published in Volume V.

For details and contest entry instructions, see the full contest listing.

Awards
Grand Prize (Poetry & Prose)
US$500
Publication in Spark, Volume VI
Membership at Scribophile
See full prize list
Second Place (Poetry & Prose)
US$100
Membership at Scribophile
Resources for writers
See full prize list
Guest Judges
Dwight Gray, published poet, contributor to Spark, and past Spark contest winner

Danielle Lazarin, MFA, author, and fiction workshop instructor

Artwork
The artwork for this contest, and subsequently for the cover of Volume VII, will be created by Tatiana Marlee and is based on the painting “You Are Here” from her recent (successful) application to the California State Summer School for the Arts as the “self-reflection” assignment. The painting this artwork will be based on can be seen to the right.

Deadline
The contest entry period opens June 15, 2014. Entries must be received by the end of the day July 1, 2014.

Watch the contest detail page at sparkanthology.org/contests/six/ for links to the entry form on June 15.

Guidelines
Contest entries will be accepted from June 15, 2014 until the stroke of midnight, U.S. Pacific Time, on July 2, 2014. (In other words, make sure your entries are in before 11:59 pm on July 1).
There are no genre restrictions for this contest, and content guidelines are similar to our standard submission guidelines, including what we are not accepting.
Contest Six awards prizes for poetry and prose according to our contest judging criteria.
Prose includes both fiction and creative nonfiction, but we have not divided the category further because we believe that well-written creative nonfiction should tell a story so well that the result is indistinguishable from fiction. Prose must be less than 12,000 words.
Poetry includes all styles, meters, and rhyme schemes, or may be free-form. Poetry must be less than 150 lines.

For full contest guidelines, rules, and restrictions, see the contest listing at sparkanthology.org/contests/six/.

Empire & Great Jones Creative Arts Foundation
13024 S 3100 W
Riverton, UT 84065
USA
https://sparkanthology.org
editor@sparkanthology.org

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BLOG ORIGINAL FICTION EXCERPTS     Introducing the Words of RadianceReread, and Brandon Sanderson Answers Your Questions About The Way of Kings! The Words of Radiance Reread has begun ! Long-time Tor.com commenter and Sanderson beta-reader Alice Arneson joins our own Carl Engle-Laird in a partnership that promises to be as potent as that between spren and Radiants. They’ll be digging deeply into the world of Roshar each week with the Stormlight community, evaluating, discussing, questioning, and generally kibitzing their way through this wonderful fantasy behemoth. In other Stormlight Archive news, you asked questions and Brandon Sanderson has provided some fascinating answers! Check out our Q&A from The Way of Kings here. SHARE THIS:          Casting Indiana Jones, Celebrating Californian SciFi, and Wishing Happy Birthday to the Ghostbusters!As is the way of all things, rumor has it that Indiana Jones may soon be facing a reboot, so we have somecasting suggestions for Professor Jones and his supporting cast-who would you like to see taking up the whip and fedora? And speaking of nostalgia,Ghostbusters, the greatest film produced by the 1980s, has just turned thirty. In celebration, we revisit a fantastic list of things you might not know about our favorite paranormal investigators! Elsewhere, Leah Schnelbach takes a look at some science fiction and fantasy yarns that play out on the sunny beaches and redwood forests of California, from various Philip K. Dick novels and Octavia Butler’s Parable books to Star Trek and Buffy!SHARE THIS:          Dead Gods and a Trial By Fire: An Exclusive First Look at The Godless…This week, we’re featuring an exclusive sneak peek at the opening chapters of The Godless, the first book in Ben Peek’s amazing new epic fantasy series ! Fifteen thousand years after the end of their war, the bodies of dead Gods can still be found across the world. They kneel in forests, lie beneath mountains, and rest at the bottom of the world’s oceans. For thousands of years, men and women have awoken with strange powers that are derived from these bodies. Ayae, a young cartographer’s apprentice, is attacked and discovers she cannot be harmed by fire. But is she prepared to take on the enemies she’ll make, now that she is can wield the power of a God? We’re posting new chapters each day from Monday, June 9 to Friday, June 13–be sure to check them out! SHARE THIS:          Young Adult Literature Strikes a Lot of Nerves!Protesters in Thailand have adopted The Hunger Games‘ three-finger salute as a way of expressing dissent, which really annoyed some cranky people halfway around the world–Emily Asher-Perrin critiques the critics who say that fictional symbols can’t hold real political power. In other news, apparently adults aren’t even supposed to read YA in the first place? The YA Roundup tackles that unpleasant kerfuffle, as well as the allegations that Richard Dawkins hates fairy tales. Didn’t we settle all this during the Great Harry Potter Wars of the early 2000s?SHARE THIS:          Movies and TV: On StarFoxes, Clones, Sisterly Devotion, and Summer Series!In movie news, Ryan Britt was entertained by the video game logic of The Edge of Tomorrow–Tom Cruise may have figured out the time-loop a lot sooner if he’d played more StarFox as a kid! Ryan also got the soundtrack from White Christmas lodged in his head thanks to this week’s Penny Dreadful episode, “Closer than Sisters”…he’ll just have to explain that one himself. Liz Bourke catches us up on the first season of Orphan Black, and, not to spoil anything, but she titled her article “Orphan Black is FREAKING AWESOME” so we’re guessing she liked it? Lastly, Alex Brown surveys the summer season of new and returning shows (like, say, Under the Dome…it’s coming back. You have been warned.) Check out the list and tell us which summer series you’re excited about!SHARE THIS:          Game of Thrones Prepares To Go Out With A Bang, The Mountain Hulks Out, and GRRM is Plotting To Kill You…Can it be? It seems like only yesterday that we were breathlessly counting down the days until Game of Thrones returned, and now, here we are, discussing Episode 9, “The Watchers On The Wall.” In related news, George R.R. Martin is putting together a very special charity offer . In exchange for helping out the Wild Spirit Wolf Sanctuary and the Santa Fe Food Depot, he’s going to write a lucky fan into A Song of Ice and Fire, and then kill them off! He promises a gruesome death, of course. Plus, Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson, better known as scary murderer Gregor “The Mountain” Clegane, dressed up as the Hulk for a child’s birthday party, and cuteness ensued, because how could it not?!SHARE THIS:          The Harry Potter Reread Returns: Harry Meets Dobby! And Uncle Vernon Exceeds Expectations!Our ongoing Harry Potter Reread has fired up the flying car and crashed into the second book! Emily Asher-Perrin recaps chapters one and two of The Chamber of Secrets, in which Uncle Vernon is worse than we remembered…SHARE THIS:          Return to the World of Ancillary Justice! This week we are proud to reprint “Night’s Slow Poison,” a short story by Ann Leckie, set in the same universe as her Nebula Award-winning debut, Ancillary Justice. Originally published by Electric Velocipede in 2012, “Night’s Slow Poison” weaves a rich, claustrophobic tale of a galactic voyage in which a guardsmen is forced to confront his uneasy family history through the lens of a passenger with his lost lover’s eyes… SHARE THIS:        NEW ORIGINAL FICTION   Original FictionWe have two exciting pieces of original fiction this week! “Chapter Six,” by Stephen Graham Jones, is an anthropological zombie story! And “Charcoal,” a comic written by Ian Daffern and drawn by Ho Che Anderson, takes us back to high school for a dark story of art and vengeance.Stephen Graham Jones introduces us to Crain in “Chapter Six.” Crain is a grad student, and like all grad students, his head rattles with abstract theory and zombie lore. This time, he has a theory of mankind’s evolution. As he and his former professor scavenge on bone marrow left behind by the local zombie horde, he makes his well-reasoned argument. “Charcoal” is an original comic written by Ian Daffern, with art by Ho Che Anderson and layouts by Kalman Adrasofszky. Paul compliments Stella on her painting, but doesn’t understand why she keeps running away from him. He knows that she’s scared of the school bullies–everyone is, right? But he can’t know that Stella’s painting is more powerful than it looks, or that Stella has a past with the bullies that must be reckoned with…  SHARE THIS:          Tweets From Tor.com Follow us on Twitter! Tor.com @tordotcom 4h  Queering SFF continues exploring new fiction as part of Pride Month. Today, a ghost story that becomes a 2nd chance: https://t.co/BIzSLz…   Tor.com @tordotcom 3h  The new Trek films could make INTO DARKNESS better if they retconned Khan to Not-Khan: https://t.co/YYgXcE…   Tor.com @tordotcom 3h  Read chapter 4 of @nosubstance‘s THE GODLESS, in which Ayae has a fateful encounter within Orlan’s Cartography shop: https://t.co/tB7ar9…   Tor.com @tordotcom 2h  The action heads outside of Republic City in the trailer for THE LEGEND OF KORRA: Book 3 https://t.co/xTIaYw…

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Un earth Art Exhibition