SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT #1

Amazing Stories (me) will be appearing on several panels at next week’s Arisia convention;  we will also be present at the Boston Sci Fi Meetup table (intermittently).  If you have questions regarding Amazing Stories, the products we are offering or just want to say hi, hang out at one of our panels, we’ll be happy to talk afterwards!

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT #2

Our back-end is undergoing some improvements, updates and adjustments to security measures; when completed, the site will load faster, there will be fewer (if any) “page not found”s and, instead of returning to the front page upon logging in, members will be taken to their personal page – from which they will be able to access the blog, the magazine and the forums.  We will announce the completion of these adjustments…when they are completed.

SOCIAL

Writers are the first to feel pressured by surveillance (NYT;  might be paywalled)

Selfie-Sticks and What They Mean About Us (NYT;  might be paywalled)

2014 Year in Review – The Good, The Bad and the Ugly

Forest Ackerman Interview Outtakes:  Scientology, Early SF Industry

Should Terrible People Self Promote? (via SF Signal)

ENTERTAINMENT

A Page of Mike Hinge’s Fantastic Art – He did numerous covers for Amazing Stories (From Andrew Porter, via Fictionmags Group)

Fanthology 2013

An Analysis of Drax & Groot 

Collector Melt-Down:  Over 100 Variant Covers for Star Wars Comic Created

Plan 9 Director’s Lost Smut Film

Ethan Hawke On Acting in SF Films

How Predictive Is Black MIrror?

Top SF Comics Of 2014

Meet Jeff

NY Review of SF Latest

Vintage Visions Collection

Ant Man Trailer

INDUSTRY

Sasquan – 2015 Hugo Award Base Competition

Baen Fantasy Award 

Ursa Major Awards

Indies Have Reaped Amazon Benefits Till Now;  Are They Starting To Feel the Squeeze?

More Indie Upset With Amazon

Istrocon Video Con Report

The Disrupted

SCIENCE

New Hi Def Hubble Image of the Pillars of Creation

The Super Bowl of Astronomy

8 Goldilocks Planets Identified (How come no one mentions the Bears that show up…?)

Microbial Mat Fossils On Mars?

Galactic Gas Bubbles

Revolutionary 3D Printing

NEWSLETTERS & PRS

2014 Philip K. Dick Award Nominees Announced

The judges of the 2014 Philip K. Dick Award and the Philadelphia SF Society, along with the Philip K. Dick Trust, are pleased to announce six nominated works that comprise the final ballot for the award:

ELYSIUM by Jennifer Marie Brissett (Aqueduct Press)

THE BULLET-CATCHER’S DAUGHTER by Rod Duncan (Angry Robot)
THE BOOK OF THE UNNAMED MIDWIFE by Meg Elison (Sybaritic Press)
MEMORY OF WATER by Emmi Itäranta (Harper Voyager)
MAPLECROFT: THE BORDEN DISPATCHES by Cherie Priest (Roc)

REACH FOR INFINITY edited by Jonathan Strahan (Solaris)

First prize and any special citations will be announced on Friday, April 3, 2015 at Norwescon 38 at the DoubleTree by Hilton Seattle Airport, SeaTac, Washington.

The Philip K. Dick Award is presented annually with the support of the Philip K. Dick Trust for distinguished science fiction published in paperback original form in the United States.  The award is sponsored by the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society and the Philip K. Dick Trust and the award ceremony is sponsored by the Northwest Science Fiction Society.  Last year’s winner was COUNTDOWN CITY by Ben H. Winters (Quirk Books) with a special citation to SELF-REFERENCE ENGINE by Toh EnJoe (Haikasoru). The 2014 judges are Jon Armstrong, Ritchie Calvin, Ellen Klages, Laura J. Mixon (chair), and Michaela Roessner.

For more information, contact the award administration:

Pat Lo Brutto (301) 460-3164

John Silbersack (212) 333-1513

Gordon Van Gelder (201) 876-2551

For more information about the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society, https://www.psfs.org/ :

Contact Gary Feldbaum (215) 665-5752

For more information about Norwescon:  https://www.norwescon.org/ : (425) 243-4692

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ATTENTION ALL SCI-FI CREATORS! SUBMISSION FOR GENESIS MAGAZINE #7 NOW OPEN!

Hello everyone!
The submission deadline for the Genesis Science Fiction Magazine Issue #7 is Tuesday, January 13, 2015. Please email us your stories, photos and graphics, etc… to be showcased in this and upcoming publications. Get your submissions in before then if possible. Stories should be between 1,500 to 2,000 words. Graphics should be at least 300 dpi saved as .png, .jpg, .psd or .pdf.

Send submissions to: info@blacksciencefictionsociety.com.

Thanks
Jarvis Sheffield, M.Ed.
Administrator/Publisher
Black Science Fiction Society
www.BlackScienceFictionSociety.com

Genesis Science Fiction Magazine

www.GenesisScienceFictionMagazine.com

5th of January 2015 BREAKING NEWS: AGATHA H AND THE VOICE OF THE CASTLE (GIRL GENIUS BOOK 3) BY KAJA FOGLIO & PHIL FOGLIO IS NOW AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE ON AMAZON AND BARNES & NOBLE! In the third installment of the Girl Genius novels, Agatha H. and the Voice of the Castle begins as Agatha Heterodyne returns to her ancestral home, the warped little town of Mechanicsburg. There she must claim her inheritance by convincing the artificial intelligence that animates her family’s castle that she is, in fact, the new Heterodyne. But this apparently simple task is made complicated in several ways: An imposter claiming to be the legitimate heir appears. The Empire is convinced that Agatha is the person responsible for the Long War (and to be fair, they are not entirely incorrect). And, worst of all… read more     ALSO IN THE THE AGATHA H SERIES

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6th of January 2015 BREAKING NEWS: EVENSONG BY JOHN LOVE IS NOW AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE ON AMAZON AND BARNES & NOBLE! A near-future thriller where those who protect humanity are not always completely human. The future is a dangerous place. Keeping the world stable and peaceful when competing corporate interests and nation-states battle for power, wealth, and prestige has only gotten harder over the years. But that’s the United Nations’ job. So the UN has changed along with the rest of the world. When the UN’s “soft” diplomacy fails, it has harder options. Quiet, scalpel-like options: The Dead—biologically enhanced secret operatives created by the UN to solve the problems no one else can… read more     ALSO BY JOHN LOVE

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AN IMPRINT OF