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PRESS RELEASES & NEWSLETTERS (See below for full text)
Tiptree Award Winners; Scott Robinson Theremin performance; Geeks Out; Harper Collins; Radio Archives News
SOCIAL
Girl Takes on the Gaming Industry
ENTERTAINMENT
Starship Sofa: 5 Worst SF Books Evah!
Christopher Nuttal’s Latest Release
Science Fiction Romance Quarterly
INDUSTRY
Puppy Stuff: AV Club; Mountain Was Here; Brad Ideas; The Federalist; Throw Another Bear in the Canoe; Mad Genius Club; Guardian; Jim C Hines; Obsidian Wings; Teleread; GRRM (Multiple posts); (and/or just go to File 770 for multiple daily updates)
James Tiptree Jr. Awards Announced (see newsletters for full text)
Fantasy Writing Contest Honors Sir Terry Pratchett
Chinese SF & the Cultural Revolution
Publishers Try New Distribution Methods (via Rabid Fan Boy)
SCIENCE
VASIMR Offers Fast Track To Mars
Bill Nye, the Mars Science Guy
Alien Life, Ten Year Countdown
Building Blocks In Spaaaaace!!!
PRESS RELEASES & NEWSLETTERS
Tiptree Winners
WINNERS OF THE 2014 JAMES Tiptree, Jr. AWARD ANNOUNCED
The James Tiptree, Jr. Literary Award Council (www.tiptree.org) is pleased to announce that the 2014 Tiptree Award has two winners: Monica Byrne for her novel The Girl in the Road (Crown 2014) and Jo Walton for her novel My Real Children (Tor 2014).
The James Tiptree, Jr. Award is presented annually to works of science fiction or fantasy that explore and expand gender roles. The award seeks out work that is thought-provoking, imaginative, and perhaps even infuriating. It is intended to reward those writers who are bold enough to contemplate shifts and changes in gender roles, a fundamental aspect of any society.
Monica Byrne’s The Girl in the Road is a painful, challenging, glorious novel about murder, quests, self-delusion, and a stunning science-fictional big idea: What would it be like to walk the length of a few-meter-wide wave generator stretching across the open sea from India to Africa, with only what you can carry on your back? With profound compassion and insight, the novel tackles relationships between gender and culture and between gender and violence. It provides a nuanced portrait of violence against women, in a variety of forms, and violence perpetrated by women. Through the eyes of two narrators linked by a single act of violence, the reader is brought to confront shifting ideas of gender, class, and human agency and dignity.
Jo Walton’s My Real Children is a richly textured examination of two lives lived by the same woman. This moving, thought-provoking novel deals with how differing global and personal circumstances change our view of sexuality and gender. The person herself changes, along with her society. Those changes influence and are influenced by her opportunities in life and how she is treated by intimate partners, family members, and society at large. The alternate universe trope allows Walton to demonstrate that changes in perceptions regarding gender and sexuality aren’t inevitable or determined by a gradual enlightenment of the species, but must be struggled for. My Real Children is important for the way it demonstrates how things could have been otherwise — and might still be.
Honor List
In addition to selecting the winner, the jury chooses a Tiptree Award Honor List. The Honor List is a strong part of the award’s identity and is used by many readers as a recommended reading list. This year’s Honor List (listed in alphabetical order by the author’s last name) is:
Jennifer Marie Brissett. Elysium (Aqueduct Press 2014) — A masterfully layered tale of star-crossed lovers, ambiguously situated before, during, and after a devastating alien invasion. Adrian/Adrianne and Antoine/Antoinette move through a liminal, re-creative space that tells spooling variations of an original story we might never see, but can reconstruct. Variously lovers, siblings, and parent and child, these relationships change in subtle and overt ways that are tied to the gender of the characters in each looping iteration.
Seth Chambers, “In Her Eyes” (Fantasy & Science Fiction, January/February 2014) — This excellently written and evocative story is about a woman who is a polymorph, capable of drastically altering her body. It’s told from the point of view of the man who loves her. Each week she becomes a different woman for him, until she changes her gender, then her very self.
Kim Curran, “A Woman Out of Time” (Irregularity, edited by Jared Shurin, Jurassic London 2014)
— A fictionalized version of Joanna Russ’s classic How to Suppress Women’s Writing, based on a true history (with very mild adjustments). Time travel paradoxes, complexity theory, and alien intervention are beautifully interwoven in this lyrical exploration of the gendering of scientific discovery. The story’s epigraph will tempt readers to explore what is known of the life and work of Emile Du Chatelet, a contemporary of Voltaire and the translator and commentator of Newton’s work, and to undo the disservice she has been done by history.
Emmi Itäranta, Memory of Water (Harper Voyager 2014) (published in Finnish as Teemestarin kirja, Teos 2012) — This beautifully crafted novel, written simultaneously in English and Finnish, uses a delicately-told coming-of-age tale to examine a future replete with water crises, a totalitarian police state, and suffocating gender roles.
Jacqueline Koyanagi, Ascension (Masque Books 2013) — A fun, fast-paced space opera with surprising heft. Its beautifully diverse cast of characters explores intersections of gender and race, class, disability, and polyamory, all while racing to save the universe from certain destruction.
Alisa Krasnostein and Julia Rios, editors, Kaleidoscope (Twelfth Planet Press 2014) — An anthology of young-adult stories about diversity, many featuring queer or trans characters or gender issues. This is a book that should be in every middle and high-school library!
Pat MacEwen, “The Lightness of the Movement” (Fantasy & Science Fiction, April/May 2014) — A solid, well-told alien-contact story about a xeno-anthropologist studying an alien species. The alien’s gender roles are well described and very alien. Though the story never enters the aliens’ minds, MacEwen does a fabulous job of making it clear how the aliens think.
Nnedi Okorafor, Lagoon (Hodder & Stoughton, 2014) — This gloriously chaotic look at the day after aliens land in the lagoon off of Lagos, Nigeria’s coast approaches gender with a diversity that intersects with many aspects of modern Nigerian life: age, religion, social class and politics, among others. The character Ayodele, an alien who takes the form of a human woman to make first contact, is particularly noteworthy in how her chosen gender exposes fault lines across the panoply of characters that drive the narrative.
Nghi Vo, “Neither Witch nor Fairy” (Long Hidden: Speculative Fiction from the Margins of History, edited by Rose Fox and Daniel José Older, Crossed Genres, 2014) — Two orphaned brothers try to get by in 1895 Belfast. The story focuses on the younger brother, who thinks he’s a changeling. He asks the fairies to tell him what he truly is. (Saying anything more would be telling.)
Aliya Whiteley, The Beauty (Unsung Stories 2014) — A piece of disturbing, thought-provoking horror that explores what happens to a small community of men when sentient mushrooms spring from the graves of women who died years before from a deadly fungus infection. These mushrooms, called “Beauties” by the storytelling narrator, gradually and inexorably shift their roles over the course of the narrative, starting as supposedly mindless providers of comfort and ending with roles more traditionally masculine: inseminating, caring for the male mothers, and engaging in violent battles to protect their progeny. Allegorically explores a variety of aspects of the human experience, including gender and sexuality.
It was a particularly good year for gender-exploration in science fiction and fantasy. In addition to the honor list, this year’s jury also compiled the following long list of other works they found worthy of attention:
Corinne Duyvis, Otherbound (Amulet 2014)Meg Elison, The Book of the Unnamed Midwife (Sybaritic Press 2014)L.S. Johnson, “Marigolds” (Long Hidden: Speculative Fiction from the Margins of History, edited by Rose Fox and Daniel José Older, Crossed Genres 2014)Laura Lam, Shadowplay (Angry Robot/Strange Chemistry 2014)Ken Liu, “Knotting Grass, Holding Ring” (Long Hidden: Speculative Fiction from the Margins of History, edited by Rose Fox and Daniel José Older, Crossed Genres 2014)Sarah Pinsker, “No Lonely Seafarer” (Lightspeed Magazine, September 2014)Michael J. Sullivan, Hollow World (Tachyon 2014)Deborah Wheeler,Collaborators (Dragon Moon Press 2013)Cat Winters, The Cure for Dreaming (Amulet 2014)
The Tiptree Award winners, along with authors and works on the Honor List and the long list will be celebrated during Memorial Day weekend at WisCon (www.wiscon.info) in Madison, Wisconsin. Monica Bryne will attend the ceremony at WisCon, May 23-26, 2015 (www.wiscon.info); Jo Walton is unable to attend WisCon, but will be feted at an alternate celebration in San Francisco in August. (The Tiptree Award Motherboard firmly believes that you cannot have too many celebrations.) Each winner will receive $1000 in prize money, a specially commissioned piece of original artwork, and (as always) chocolate.
Each year, a panel of five jurors selects the Tiptree Award winner. The 2014 jurors were Darrah Chavey (chair), Elizabeth Bear, Joan Haran, Alaya Dawn Johnson, and Amy Thomson.
Reading for 2015 will soon begin. The jury panel consists of Heather Whipple (chair), Jacqueline Gross, Alessa Hinlo, Keffy Kehrli, and N.A. Sulway.
The Tiptree Award invites everyone to recommend works for the award. Please submit recommendations via the Tiptree Award website at www.tiptree.org, where you can also read more about the award, about works it has honored, and about past winners.
More background on the Tiptree Award
The James Tiptree, Jr. Award was created in 1991 to honor Alice Sheldon, who wrote under the pseudonym James Tiptree, Jr. By her choice of a masculine pen name, Sheldon helped break down the imaginary barrier between “women’s writing” and “men’s writing.” Her insightful short stories were notable for their thoughtful examination of the roles of men and women in our society.
Since its inception, the Tiptree Award has been an award with an attitude. As a political statement, as a means of involving people at the grassroots level, as an excuse to eat cookies, and as an attempt to strike the proper ironic note, the award has been financed through bake sales held at science fiction conventions across the United States, as well as in England and Australia. Fundraising efforts have included auctions conducted by stand-up comic and award-winning writer Ellen Klages, the sale of t-shirts and aprons created by collage artist and silk screener Freddie Baer, and the publication of four anthologies of award winners and honor-listed stories. Three of the anthologies are in print and available from Tachyon Publications and one is in print and available fromwww.lulu.com and directly from the Tiptree Award website. The award has also published two cookbooks featuring recipes and anecdotes by science fiction writers and fans, available through www.tiptree.org.
In addition to presenting the Tiptree Award annually, the James Tiptree, Jr. Literary Award Council occasionally presents the Fairy Godmother Award, a special award in honor of Angela Carter. Described as a “mini, mini, mini, mini MacArthur award,” the Fairy Godmother Award strikes without warning, providing a financial boost to a deserving writer in need of assistance to continue creating material that matches the goals of the Tiptree Award.
For more information on the Tiptree Award or this press release, contact Pat Murphy at zapmurphy@gmail.com or write to the James Tiptree, Jr. Literary Award Council at 680 66th St., Oakland, CA 94609.
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I will be appearing in the next New York Theremin Society show along with
theremin greats Rob Schwimmer and Dorit Chrysler this Friday, April 17, at
Joe’s Pub. Hope you can make it out! Here is the official info:
The NY
Theremin Society presents:
“Thereminage à trois”
Performances on
Theremin by:
Dorit Chrysler
Scott Robinson
Rob Schwimmer
Friday
April 17th – 9pm
Joe’s Pub
at the Public Theater
425 Lafayette
St.
NYC, NY 10003-7021
212-539-8770
Tickets & Info:
https://joespub.publictheater.org/en/tickets/calendar/playdetailscollection/joes-pub/2015/n/ny-theremin-society/?SiteTheme=JoesPub
Price:
$15
Tele-Charge: 212 239 6200 or www.telecharge.com
Dinner
reservations:212-539-8778
“The Theremin is cool and now”
The NY
Theremin Society in The Wall Street Journal
https://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324669104578203943527912734.html
An evening of three accomplished Thereminists is rare enough, but to
hear a rendition of Bernard Herrmann’s “The Day the Earth Stood Still”
performed by a trio of thereminists does not happen every day. Dorit
Chrysler, Rob Schwimmer and Scott Robinson attempt the impossible and
present their latest solo works (including a number of premieres) and
collaborations on Theremin – The NY Theremin Society presents this evening
and continues its famed series of showcasing the sonic spectrum of the
most underestimated instrument of the 21st century…
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WIN THE BOOKS THAT INSPIRED THE TV SERIESIMMERSE YOURSELF IN THE GAME OF THRONES BOOKS AND DISCOVER THE UNTOLD HISTORY OF WESTEROS AND THE LANDS BEYOND
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Radio Archives has a large selection of transcription discs for sale. Browse through hundreds of unique and interesting 16″ transcription discs that are not part of the auctions. Add them to the shopping cart and they will be mailed today. Sold by Radio Archives.
Death! — companion of the skyways and champion of the War — has descended upon the Master Spy with all the grim fury of a monster’s hate! What are three men against the forces of hell itself! What price will brave men pay for their honor? The action is fierce, fast and frightening as we hearken to the Wings of Invisible Doom! G-8 and his Battle Aces rode the nostalgia boom ten years after World War I ended. These high-flying exploits were tall tales of a World War that might have been, featuring monster bats, German zombies, wolf-men, harpies, Martians, and even tentacled floating monsters. Most of these monstrosities were the work of Germany’s seemingly endless supply of mad scientists, chief of whom was G-8’s recurring Nemesis, Herr Doktor Krueger. G-8 battled Germany’s Halloween shock troops for over a decade, not ceasing until the magazine folded in the middle of World War II. G-8 and his Battle Aces return in vintage pulp tales, reissued for today’s readers in electronic format. $2.99.
Headline Hartley had a job to do before he filled a traitor’s grave, a job that meant a flight through Hell on the wailing wings of Fury! Dare-Devil Aces was another of the many pulps that rode the wave of popularity of World War I aviation tales in the decade after the conflict. It made its debut in February 1932 and lasted for an astounding 135 issues. It finally closed after World War II ended, with the November 1946 issue. During its run, it presented a wide assortment of high-flying aerial series, including The Red Falcon, The Vanished Legion, The Three Mosquitoes, Molloy and McNamara, The Black Sheep of Belogue, The Mongol Ace, Chinese Brady, Captain Babyface, Smoke Wade and others. Strap on your flying helmet, toss that scarf about your neck and get ready for some soaring action in the skies over France and Germany during the Great War. Dare-Devil Aces return in vintage pulp tales, reissued for today’s readers in electronic format. $2.99.
The Shadow, Volume 12
The Knight of Darkness hunts hidden crimelords in two thrilling mysteries by Walter B. Gibson writing as “Maxwell Grant.” First, the only clue to the deadly crime wave engulfing Manhattan is a single wireless message typed out in Morse Code: “Q.”Then, a brilliant mathematician invents a system to chart future crimes. Can The Shadow use the “Formula for Crime” to solve the mysterious “X” and unmask a criminal mastermind? BONUS: an ultra-rare classic from the Golden Age of Comics! This instant collector’s item features both classic color pulp covers by George Rozen and Graves Gladney and the original interior illustrations by Earl Mayan and Paul Orban, with original commentary by popular culture historians Will Murray and Anthony Tollin. Double Novel Reprint $14.95
The greatest superhero of the pulp era returns in two-fisted thrillers by Lawrence Donovan and Lester Dent writing as “Kenneth Robeson.” First, Doc Savage is framed by a bronze lookalike as nightmarish reptilian creatures fill the air and Earth is threatened with environmental disaster in “Mad Eyes.” Then, Patricia Savage blunders into a death trap after she intercepts a message for Doc, and the only clue to her disappearance suggests “Death is a Round Black Spot.”This deluxe pulp reprint leads off with a knockout cover painting by legendary illustrator James Bama and also features both color pulp covers, original interior illustrations by Paul Orban and historical commentary by Will Murray, author of fifteen Doc Savage novels. Double Novel Reprint $14.95
I wanted to take a moment and THANK YOU for your HONESTY! That is a very rare commodity in today’s marketplace. Knowing of your integrity is a strong foundation stone in promoting customer loyalty! Anyway, I deeply appreciate your honest business ethics in a corrupt world! I told a friend of mine in Michigan about your honesty to me, and he is now going to check out your website! They say that word of mouth is the best advertisement!
Aloha from relatively peaceful and somewhat innocent Honolulu. Having spent most of my life in the islands, I was attracted to your CD which had a San Francisco setting, the area of my college education. Moreover, your selection of Michael Gwynne as the sole narrator in particular peaked my interest as I had thoroughly enjoyed his work on your Captain Zero release. The Dr. Sin story presents an enormous challenge to the narrator. Not only are there continuous settings which require timing and emotion, but the sheer volume of characterizations, many of which are presented in violent conflict come to vibrant life when read by Mr. Gwynne. How he is able to play multiple voices and dialects with such ease is most impressive. Singing Mummies is a must listen for anyone who can relate to the colorful setting of San Francisco of 1930-1940. I heartily recommend it.
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