AMAZING NEWS: 9/28/14

photo credit: Eater of Books Blog
photo credit: Eater of Books Blog

Shout Out to Jack Clemons and SFWA at the Baltimore Book Festival – Jack and a host of other SFWA member authors are appearing and presenting at this year’s Baltimore Book Festival.

PRESS RELEASES & NEWSLETTERS

YOU can vote for the FANED Awards!!!  Yes, that’s right.  Administrator R. Graeme Cameron informs us that THE RULES HAVE BEEN CHANGED and now anyone who knows the name of the country that lies along the United States’ northern border is eligible to vote!  (Hints:  What does Campbell Soup come in?  + Sharon Stone’s job title  on Law & Order, SVU…) (It does help if you read, LOC or use Canadian fanzines to line your birdcages…)  Find the Ballot and details below!!!

JJ Adams Brave New Worlds Anthology on Sale

Imago Sequence on Sale

Pandoran Age Update – New Short Film – The Derelict

Weak Nuclear Force Creates Biological Asymmetry

November Is Sci-Fi November

Black Swan, White Raven from Open Road Media to be Released September 30th

Palgrave MacMillan to release special edition review series to coincide with BFI Sci-Fi: Days of Fear and Wonder

NEWS HEADER FOR FILE 770

 

(Headlines from Mike Glyer’s Fanzine – File 770:  click the image to go to the online version; click here to see archived issues on eFanzines.com)

How Fanzines Came To Be

Curator Johan Kugelberg, responsible for the exhibit of Lenny Kaye’s fanzines at the NY Art Book Fair this weekend, has written a provocative and insightful brief post that explains fmz to the world in “Science Fiction Fanzines Before The Future

Bradbury Display Opens at Pomona Library

A Bradbury exhibit is now available for viewing in the Pomona Public Library’s display cases, assembled from the collection of John King Tarpinian in advance of “A Tribute to Ray Bradbury”, the October 12 fundraiser for the Pomona Public Library Foundation. The event

Final Tally From Bradbury Auction

The winning bids from the Ray Bradbury estate auction have been posted. About 250 of the 460 lots sold, yielding $493,408 (including bidders fees). That’s almost twice the money generated by the auction of Forry Ackerman’s estate in 2009. The highest

Tip of the Day: 86 Space Station 76

The trailer for Space Station 76 sold me…on the idea that I never need to see this movie. Its slogan might have been “Yes, this is your grandfather’s space station!” because the film’s a send-up of 1970s sf. That could be a funny

Lunacon Looks To The Future

Will there be another Lunacon? New York’s Lunarians have held the con every year since 1957. Now the group has to decide if it has the financial resources to continue. Club secretary Joshua Goldberg announced on the 2014 Lunacon webpage

Batman Goes Postal

Whether Batman’s 75th anniversary as a comic book crime fighter will be celebrated with a postage stamp is not completely clear, although it has been reported by Linn’s Stamp News that one will be issued October 9 in New York City

Greg Bear Has Heart Surgery

Greg Bear underwent emergency open heart surgery on September 23. A public announcement was made by organizers of the San Diego Comic Fest. Bear was to have been its Science-Fiction Guest of Honor in October: Greg is one of the finest people

Free Comics 10/25

A month from today – on Saturday, October 25 – many local comic shops will be celebrating the Halloween Comic Fest by giving customers a free Halloween ComicFest comic. Click the link for information and to search for your nearest

Hot Bidding on Bradbury Hugo

Just a few hours remain in the Bradbury estate auction and there is intense interest in his Retro Hugo Award. The top bid at this hour is $22,987 – a jump of more than $10,000 since the day began. UPDATE 09/25/2014:

Interested in Running for TAFF?

Nominations for the next East/West Trans-Atlantic Fan Fund race will be accepted beginning November 14, the first day of Novacon. Co-administrator Jim Mowatt advises everyone interested in being the TAFF delegate to Sasquan, the 2015 Worldcon in Spokane, to begin lining up people to nominate them. For more information …

Ellison Coming To Aero on 10/18

Two classic episodes of The Outer Limits scripted by Harlan Ellison will be shown at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica on October 18, followed by a discussion with the master himself. “Demon With a Glass Hand” (1964, 51 min.

WSFA Press Publishes Valentine Novella

Genevieve Valentine’s “first-ever novella,” Dream Houses, is being published by the Washington Science Fiction Association Press – and will be available first to members of Capclave, October 10-12, in Gaithersburg MD where Valentine is one of guests of honor. She

A Narnia Original

Attractive Films is pointing Tolkien & Lewis for an Easter 2015 release. Would you like to guess the only character who has been cast to date, and who that performer will be? This is not another File 770 trivia quiz, so

Today’s Birthday Boy 9/24

Born September 24, 1936: Jim Henson Jim Henson was the beloved creator of the Muppets. However, an entirely different universe and collection of characters led him to attend his first World Science Fiction Convention. The Dark Crystal, which Henson co-directed with Frank

Arthur C. Clarke, Salesman

By Bill Higgins: I know perfectly well that he doesn’t belong to fandom — he belongs to the entire world. Still, it was a bit startling to hear my favorite author’s voice come out of my TV tonight. In tiny letters

Two Days Left in Bradbury Auction

A little over two days remain on the Nate D. Sanders auction of the Bradbury estate. Everyone seems to find something appealing in the catalog, and not what one might expect. There have been three bids on a brick from the

Classic FMZ at NY Art Book Fair 9/26

“The Tattooed Dragon Meets The Wolfman: Lenny Kaye’s Science Fiction Fanzines 1941-1970” curated by Johan Kugelberg will be exhibited by Boo-Hooray at the NY Art Book Fair from September 26-28. Lenny Kaye, who gained fame as a guitarist for The Patti

2014 Karel Capek Prize

The Cena Karla Capka 2014 was given at Parcon-Istrocon in Bratislava this past weekend. My software will not reproduce all of the special characters. The link above will take you to the award page in the original language. Or you can make do

Two More Volumes of Ellison Soon To Be Published

A pair of Harlan Ellison collections, one fiction and one nonfiction, are approaching the launching pad. Subterranean Press is readying The Top of the Volcano: the Award-Winning Stories of Harlan Ellison, with the 23 stories that have won Harlan the most

Bringing “u” To The U.S.

“u” the Klingon opera has been performed in Europe since 2010. Now the creative team is drumming up interest in a 2015 U.S. tour via its website and Facebook. The libretto of “u” is taken from the story of Kahless

2014 Utopiales Shortlist

Finalists for 2014 European Utopiales Prize have been announced. Given by the Nantes International Science Fiction Festival, the prize rewards a novel, or a collection, published in French during the eligibility period whose author is a citizen of a country

770 Pound Colossal Squid

If it had been a 769-pound squid I’d never have heard about it. But fishermen have turned over to scientists a 770-pound colossal squid they caught in Antarctic waters, believed to be only the second intact specimen ever found. It is

Persistence of Lovecraft

What is your take on Lovecraft? As World Fantasy Con approaches some authors are suffering paroxysms of disgust at the prospect of winning an award in the likeness of notorious racist H.P. Lovecraft. Meanwhile, others are planning to spend the September

Bonus Birthday Boy 9/21

Born September 21, 1912: Animation legend Chuck Jones, known for his work with Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, Wile E. Coyote, and one very talented musical frog. I recently took my daughter, Sierra, to the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity in Costa

Two SMOFcon Scholarships Offered

CanSMOF Inc. is taking applications for two scholarships of up to 500 CAD each to help conrunners defray the cost of attending SMOFCon 32, being held in Manhattan Beach, CA December 5-7. One scholarship is open to Canadian citizens or

Gleeson Exhibit Opens in Pasadena

By John King Tarpinian: This evening I went to the opening of a friend’s sci-fi art exhibit — Tony Gleeson, in Century Books’ upstairs gallery in Pasadena, CA. I took some very bad photos of some very nice artwork, some

efanzines header

News ‘zines added and updated:

jim youngRemembering Jim Young, a memorial fanzine for Loncon3 by Karen Schaffer (page added)

opuntia

 

 

 

 

Opuntia by Dale Speirs:  added archive issues from 1991, issues 3.5 & 4

spartacus

 

 

 

 

Spartacus #4 by Guy Lillian

 
drink tankThe Drink Tank #386 by Christopher Garcia

NEWS

Banned Books by the Numbers

Banned Book Quotes

Lou Anders Steps Down

How Many Times Do We Need To Debate Pluto’s Status?

India Probe Reaches Mars

Sealab Celebrates 50 Years

Comic Con Economics:  Not So Good For Creators

Which is more popular in your State?  Star Wars or Star Trek?  (BOOOO!  They didn’t even put Amazing Stories on the ballot!)

Pop Culture Origins:  Things you didn’t know about pop culture things that turn out not to be accurate after all….

Gateway Drug:  A Wrinkle In Time

Destined to be a classic:  Bad Lip Reading of The Walking Dead

PRESS RELEASES & NEWSLETTERS

FANED AWARDS BALLOT & INSTRUCTIONS

2014 FANED AWARDS:  NEW RULES: Anyone in the world who contributes to Canadian zines is eligible, anyone in the world who reads Canadian zines may vote.

DEADLINE FOR VOTING:  OCTOBER 1ST 2014.  THIS COMING WEDNESDAY!!!

Feel free to forward this email ballot to others…(but make sure they know what a Canadian Fanzine is before you do)

You have up to six votes per category. Type ‘1’ beside your first choice, ‘2’ beside your second choice, & so on. Then copy-paste into an email and send it along to:

rgraeme(at)shaw.ca

BEST FANZINE (Space Cadet not eligible because won last year):
Auroran Lights –  
BCSFAzine –  
Broken Toys –  
Ecdysis –  
Fanactical Fanactivist –  
Impulse –  
One Swell Foop –
Opuntia –  
OSFS Statement –
Swill –  
Warp –  

BEST WRITER (R. Graeme Cameron not eligible cause won last year):
Michael Bertrand –  
Keith Braithwaite –
Jonathan Crowe –  
Lester Rainsford –
Dale Speirs –
Garth Spencer –  
Sylvain St-Pierre –  
Tamara Vardomskaya –
Taral Wayne –
Neil Williams –  

BEST LOC WRITER (Lloyd Penney not eligible cause won last year)
Michael Bertrand –
Jason Burnett –  
Sheryl Birkhead –
Ned Brooks –
Brad Foster –
Brent Francis –  
Dave Haren –
Eric Mayer –
Bill Patterson –  
Steve Stiles –

BEST ARTIST (Taral Wayne not eligible cause won last year):
Brad Foster (BCSFAzine, One Swell Foop, Space Cadet) –  
Teddy Harvia (Space Cadet) –
Marquise (Warp) –
Jennifer Seely (Ecdysis) –  
Bernard Reischl (Warp) –  
Steve Stiles (Space Cadet) –  

Thank you for voting!

Deadline is midnight PST Wednesday October first.

~~~

Title

27th of September 2014

BREAKING NEWS! BRAVE NEW WORLDS EDITED BY JOHN JOSEPH ADAMS IS ON SALE FOR $1.99 ON AMAZON!

From Huxley’s Brave New World, to Orwell’s 1984, to Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, dystopian books have always been an integral part of both science fiction and literature, and have influenced the broader culture discussion in unique and permanent ways. Brave New Worlds brings together the best dystopian fiction of the last 30 years, demonstrating the diversity that flourishes in this compelling subgenre… read more


STAY CONNECTED

AN IMPRINT OF

~~~

Title

26th of September 2014

THE IMAGO SEQUENCE BY LAIRD BARRON IS NOW ON SALE FOR $1.99 ON AMAZON AND BARNES & NOBLE

The title story of this collection — a devilishly ironic riff on H. P. Lovecraft’s “Pickman’s model” — was nominated for a World Fantasy Award, while “Probiscus” was nominated for an International Horror Guild award and reprinted in The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror 19. In addition to his previously published work, this collection contains an original story… read more

    


READ MORE FROM LAIRD BARRON

THE BEAUTIFUL THING
THAT AWAITS US ALL
THE CRONING OCCULTATION
              

STAY CONNECTED

AN IMPRINT OF

 ~~~
Working on updating and revising a complete short/demo reel for the American Film Market, The Taloned Sire escapes the Imperials at Chrysler City and flees to the edge of the Galaxy to hide out at Phlegra station, Echo, Hercules Cluster-a pirate kingdom. There he meets a Derelict Pilot at Bongo Joe’s Down the Hatch Tavern….
From the Book “The Taloned Sire”, the complete chapter titled: THE DERELICT

 

801 Brickell Avenue
Miami, Florida, 33131 
386-315-1479
144 Rhode Island Street 
Buffalo, New York, 14213
~~~
From Derhexer/Science Fiction Classics Group
URL to an interesting article from Scientific American
Comments?

ChrisDid you ever stop to think, and forget to start again?mirror fishLife is made largely of molecules that are different than their mirror images.
Credit: Brett Weinstein via Flickr

Physicists have found hints that the asymmetry of life — the fact that most biochemical molecules are ‘left-handed’ or ‘right-handed’ — could have been caused by electrons from nuclear decay in the early days of evolution. In an experiment that took 13 years to perfect, the researchers have found that these electrons tend to destroy certain organic molecules slightly more often than they destroy their mirror images.Many organic molecules, including glucose and most biological amino acids, are ‘chiral’. This means that they are different than their mirror-image molecules, just like a left and a right glove are. Moreover, in such cases life tends to consistently use one of the possible versions — for example, the DNA double helix in its standard form always twists like a right-handed screw. But the reason for this preference has long remained a mystery.

Many scientists think that the choice was simply down to chance. Perhaps, in one of the warm little ponds filled with organic chemicals where life arose, a statistical fluke generated a small imbalance in the relative amounts of the two versions of one chemical. This small imbalance could have then amplified over time.

But an asymmetry in the laws of nature has led others to wonder whether some physical phenomenon could have tipped the balance during the early stages of life. The weak nuclear force, which is involved in nuclear decay, is the only force of nature known to have a handedness preference: electrons created in the subatomic process known as β decay are always ‘left-handed’. This means that their spin — a quantum property analogous to the magnetization of a bar magnet — is always opposite in direction to the electron’s motion.”

~~~

Welcome to Sci-Fi Nov 2014!

Hello fellow sci-fi lovers! Thanks so much for signing up to be part of Sci-Fi Month 2014. We’re sending out this email to give you some updates, information and also to inform you who your ‘contact person’ will be for the event.

Your Contact Person

Everyone who has signed up for the month has been assigned a contact person (either Asti, Kelley, Leanne or Rinn) using a super mathematical method. Your contact person is:

Leanne! Leanne participated in Rinn’s Sci-Fi November last year on her previous blog, Literary Excursion, with a variety of posts. She highlighted different Sci-Fi Concept Art, talked about Awesome Tech, looked at the various sub-genres of sci-fi, and even created a Sci-Fi November Bingo Challenge. She’s back this year as one of the co-hosts of Sci-Fi Month!You can email her at leanne@ohthebooks.com or reach out to her on Twitter (@chaoscookie) if you have any questions. If you don’t hear back from her within three days, feel free to get in touch with another one of the Sci-Fi November co-hosts.

Important Reminders!

Make sure you’re on the participant list

As you know, Sci-Fi Month will be taking place during the entire month of November. However, things have changed a little this year – we’ve worked hard together to make sure that the event will run more smoothly. If you haven’t already, please add your name to the participant list (it will appear on both blogs), as this is an easy reference for us and anyone else browsing the event. Don’t forget that Kelley also created some wonderful graphics for everyone to use, so please make use of them – although we would appreciate it if you uploaded them to your own server.

Use #RRSciFiMonth on Social Media

Unlike last year, there is no Goodreads group for Sci-Fi November. Instead, we’ll be using Twitter to promote and discuss sci-fi throughout the event. You can follow us at @SciFiMonth (which is managed by Asti) to hear any announcements and to keep up-to-date on all the amazing posts going live during the event. We’ve also created a hashtag for this event, #RRSciFiMonth, which we encourage you to use when talking about the event and sharing posts online.

Looking for Content?

Feature Ideas

Are you stuck on what to write about for Sci-Fi November? Check out the update post on Oh, the Books for some of our current plans for the month, along with some possible ideas for you to use. Everyone is welcome to join Rinn’s new feature for the month, called ‘Science Flixtion’, which she’s currently in the process of making graphics for. You can also take a look at last year’s posts for some ideas and inspiration (though it’s recommended you leave a link to any post you take recommendation from when writing yours)!

Author Interviews

While we had stated in our initial Sci-Fi November post that we would not be doing intermediary work between bloggers and publishers/authors for the event, we did have a volunteer step up who has agreed to help out those she can. The wonderful Andrea @ Little Red Reviewer has over fifteen authors lined up that are happy to be interviewed for Sci-Fi Month! You should have already received an email from her, but if you haven’t just shoot her a message on Twitter (@redhead5318) and she’ll be happy to help.

Final Notes

Scheduling Guidelines

One of the most important things to remember – and a big change for us co-hosts – is that you will be responsible for updating the schedule. If you look at the Sci-Fi November Information Hubs on our blogs, you will see the schedule is already embedded there (along with information about some of the posts we are have planned already). The guidelines on adding your posts to this schedule will be shared in our next Sci-Fi November update on Wednesday, October 8th.

Don’t Stress

Before signing off, we just want to stress that you shouldn’t stress out about Sci-Fi Month! If you’ve signed up and suddenly realized you’re going to be super busy, or you were planning to post several times a week and can now only post once or twice, that’s no problem! There is no post quota or limit for this event – post as little or as much as you want. We understand life gets in the way sometimes. We appreciate the fact that you signed up for our event in the first place and won’t punish you if you don’t actually get to contribute anything!

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Edited by two World Fantasy Award-winning editors, Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling, these five anthologies will be on sale in ebook on September 30, 2014.

  • Silver Birch, Blood Moonfeatures Neil Gaiman, Anne Bishop, Robin McKinley, Patricia Briggs, and more reinventing The Little Mermaid, Thumbelina, and Snow White.
  • Black Heart, Ivory Bonesfeatures Charles de Lint, Tanith Lee, and others retelling Goldilocks, Sleeping Beauty, and Rapunzel
  • Ruby Slippers, Golden Tearsfeatures Gene Wolfe, Lisa Goldstein, and more retelling Hansel and Gretel, Beauty and Beast, and Puss in Boots
  • Black Thorn, White Rosefeatures Jane Yolen, Patricia C. Wrede, and others reinventing Sleeping Beauty and the Gingerbread Man
  • Finally, Black Swan, White Ravencontains stories by Joyce Carol Oates, Pat Murphy, Nancy Cress, and others, about Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and Rapunzel

Rich, provocative, and unabashedly adult, each of these tales is a modern treasure.

~~~

Here at Palgrave Macmillan we’re very excited to remind you that our special edition BFI Film Classics will be publishing on the 31st October to coincide with the high-profile BFI season Sci-Fi: Days of Fear and Wonder

The books offer fascinating explorations of nine key films of the genre. Written by high-profile film critics and academics, including Mark Kermode, Roger Luckhurst and Kim Newman the books are richly illustrated and feature specially commissioned cover designs.

Akira  | Michelle Le Blanc and Colin Odell

Alien |Roger Luckhurst

Brazil | Paul McAuley

Dr Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb | Peter Krämer

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind | Andrew M. Butler

Quatermass and the Pit | Kim Newman

Silent Running  | Mark Kermode

Solaris | Mark Bould

The War of the Worlds | Barry Forshaw

Visit our website to find out more information about the books and read exclusive Q&As with our cover artists discussing the stories behind their designs.

Please take a moment to support Amazing Stories with a one-time or recurring donation via Patreon. We rely on donations to keep the site going, and we need your financial support to continue quality coverage of the science fiction, fantasy, and horror genres as well as supply free stories weekly for your reading pleasure. https://www.patreon.com/amazingstoriesmag

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