Sasquan Hits 9000 Members
Sasquan reached the 9,000 membership mark going into Memorial Day Weekend. As of May 22 the 2015 Worldcon had 3,688 attending and 4,952 supporting members. A $40 supporting membership is the minimum requirement to become eligible as a voter in 2017 site selection or to … Continue reading →
Today In History 5/23
May 23, 1980: The Shining was released. The “Heeere’s Johnny!” scene took three days to film and 60 doors. That scene also appears on a drive-in theatre screen in the movie Twister just before a tornado rips the screen down… … Continue reading →
We Are Sad Puppies If You Please; We Are Sad Puppies If You Don’t Please 5/23
aka One Hundred Days of Being Stuck in a Crate Just Because You Ate the Goddamn Plum Pudding Again, if you Didn’t Want Me To Eat It You Shouldn’t Have Put it on the Table, Signed, Maggie, Your DOG There … Continue reading →
2015 Aurora Award Shortlist
The nominees for the 2015 Aurora Awards have been revealed. The Auroras are given to the best works and activities done by Canadians. Voting begins June 1 and continues until October 17 at midnight EDT. CSFFA (Canadian Science Fiction and … Continue reading →
Evil Signs
Craig Miller was invited to speak at the Animayo Animation & VFX Festival on the island of Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands earlier this month on the subject of Star Wars. Craig worked for Lucasfilm in the 1970s as … Continue reading →
Parody Trailer “Mario Kart: Fury Road”
This mashup of Mario Kart and the Mad Max: Fury Road trailer honestly doesn’t work very hard to inject game elements into the parody. The concept itself made me laugh, though, and I didn’t mind wasting two minutes scanning for the crossover effects.… Continue reading →
Burns at the Beach
Regular File 770 contributor James H. Burns invites people to read his new op-ed in the East Rockaway Herald, which looks back on some Long Island lore and urges local government to restore a pretty nifty lost element from his summers … Continue reading →
Canine Princes in Amber 5/22
aka Her Majesty’s Secret Puppy On today’s docket: Vox Day, John C. Wright, Amanda S. Green, Jeff Duntemann, Lela E. Buis, Ken Liu, John Snead, Lis Carey, Spacefaring Kitten, Rebekah Golden, David Langford, and cryptic others. (Title credit belongs to File … Continue reading →
Comment Preview Feedback
I have installed a plug-in to allow live previewing of comments here. Is it working with your browser and hardware?… Continue reading →
Niven Aboo
By John Hertz: Larry Niven’s birthday was at the end of April. He threw a party in mid-May, which alas I couldn’t attend. The invitation said “No gifts”. I cheated by sending this 5-7-5-7-7-syllable acrostic. Laughter, poetry Appear together in … Continue reading →
Borderlands Books Looks To the Future
Alan Beatts of Borderlands Books has more good news. He told customers on May 11: I’m delighted to announce that as of this week we’ve hit 800 sponsors for 2015, a full 500 over the number that we needed to … Continue reading →
Horrifying Bradbury References in Archie Comics
Archie comic spinoff Afterlife with Archie, clicking along since 2013, has been pursuing a story arc in which Jughead’s dog Hot Dog is transformed into a zombie, bites a few people, and Riverdale rapidly begins to fill with the living dead. … Continue reading →
Sasquan Online Store Opens
Get a head start on your 2015 Worldcon shopping in OffWorld Designs’ Sasquan store. There are numerous designs, multiple styles of shirts, a hoodie, jacket and a cap. (The shirts go up to 5X. Good thinking there.) Shirt options include the … Continue reading →
Love in the Time of Collars 5/21
aka “Nobody puts Puppy in a corner.” Today’s roundup features Rebecca Ann Smith, Nick Mamatas, Vox Day, Kate Paulk, John C. Wright, Ridley Kemp, Martin Wisse, Damien G. Walter, Lis Carey, Brian Niemeier, Joe Sherry, Tom Kratman, Joe Sherry, Lisa … Continue reading →
Voting Expert Asks Help To Attend Sasquan
Jameson Quinn has been participating in the Hugo voting reform thread at Making Light and is now seeking $1,400 in donations to a GoFundMe campaign in order to attend the Worldcon business meeting and support a proposed voting system. I’ve … Continue reading →
Roswell Award Ceremony 5/24
The finalists for the Roswell Award short story writing contest for adults will have their stories read aloud at Sci-Fest during an awards ceremony on Sunday, May 24, 2015. The readers will be Claudia Black (“Stargate”), David Blue (“Star Gate”), … Continue reading →
That Hell-Hound Train 5/20
aka I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by puppies Today’s roundup represents the collective wisdom of Larry Correia, Christopher M. Chupik, John Scalzi, MattK, Nathan, Vox Day, Jeremiah Tolbert, Kevin Callum, William Reichard, Phil Sandifer, Nicholas Whyte, … Continue reading →
A Fannish Reference on Bin Ladin’s Shelf
A selection of documents recovered during the raid on Usama bin Ladin’s compound was released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence on May 20. I decided to peruse it for fannish interest because you never know. Did anybody … Continue reading →
SFWA Election Result
Science Fiction Writers of America, having tallied and certified the ballots, has announced its officers for the next term starting July 1. President: Cat Rambo Vice President: M.C.A. Hogarth Secretary: Susan Forest Chief Financial Officer: Bud Sparhawk Directors-at-Large: Jennifer Brozek, … Continue reading →
Bone Music Available Again
Alan Rodgers’ Bone Music, out of print for almost 15 years, has returned as an ebook from Chameleon Publishers. Chameleon will be releasing Rodgers’ work monthly now. Coming next is a new edition of Fire, his apocalyptic novel that has … Continue reading →
Nino Cipri Receives 2014 Working Class Grant from SLF
Nino Cipri of Chicago has received the 2014 Working Class Grant from the Speculative Literature Foundation (SLF). The $750 award can be applied by the writer for any purpose that benefits their work. A 2014 graduate of the Clarion Science … Continue reading →
2015 Scribe Award Nominees
The International Association of Media Tie-In Writers has released the shortlist for the 2015 Scribe Awards, presented for excellence in media tie-in writing. The winners will be announced in July at the San Diego Comic-Con. BEST ORIGINAL NOVEL – GENERAL 24: Deadline by … Continue reading →
To Sail Beyond the Doghouse 5/19
aka Chronicle of a Slate Foretold Hitched to the sled today are Spacefaring Kitten, David Gerrold, Vox Day, Jim Henley, John C. Wright, Jim C. Hines, Lis Carey, Martin Wisse, Chris Gerrib, Joe Sherry, Rebekah Golden, Bob Snyder, and the … Continue reading →
Baen Free Library Grows
Baen Books has made three additions to the Baen Free Library — Monster Hunter International by Larry Correia, Fire with Fire by Charles E. Gannon and Cobra by Timothy Zahn. The full press release follows the jump. THE BAEN FREE … Continue reading →
Eric Caidin Dies
Eric Caidin of Hollywood Book & Poster Co. died May 18 reports Los Angeles Magazine. He died after attending a film noir at the Palm Springs International Film Festival. Caidin opened his Hollywood Boulevard store in 1977 where he reputedly … Continue reading →
The Dogs My Destination 5/18
aka Recent studies have shown that approximately 40% of authors are sad puppies. The rest of us just drink. Today’s roundup delivers alisfranklin, John C. Wright, Alexandra Erin, Kevin J. Maroney, Betsy Wollheim, Dave Freer, Lela E. Buis, David French, … Continue reading →
Chris Garcia Helps The Stork
Today is the day Vanessa Applegate and Chris Garcia became parents! This is the hand of Benjamin Kyle Garcia. Not shown JohnPaul Merlin Garcia pic.twitter.com/JeDm060Z2D — Christopher J Garcia (@johnnyeponymous) May 18, 2015 And Chris did not forget to take … Continue reading →
World SF Travel Fund Goes To Markov
The World SF Travel Fund has chosen a Bulgarian writer as the 2015 recipient: Haralambi Markov is a Bulgarian critic, editor, and writer of things weird and fantastic. A Clarion 2014 graduate, Markov enjoys fairy tales, obscure folkloric monsters, and … Continue reading →
Two Roads Diverged in a Scarlet Wood
Developments in HBO’s latest episode of Game of Thrones (see “Game of Thrones Recap: Poor Sansa” – spoiler warning) resulted in fan site The Mary Sue announcing it will restrict coverage of the show going forward. We Will No Longer Be … Continue reading →
Sasquan Releases Hugo Nominee Packet
The 2015 Hugo Voter Packet can now be downloaded by members of Sasquan here. The packet contains the full text of three Hugo-nominated novels, The Dark Between the Stars by Kevin J. Anderson, The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison, and The Three Body … Continue reading →
Jannick Storm (1939-2015)
Danish author, critic and translator Jannick Storm who, according to the dedication in Brian Aldiss’ Billion Year Spree, “colonised Denmark”, died May 9. By the end of the 1950s attempts to introduce translated foreign sf into Denmark had failed, says John-Henri Holmberg … Continue reading →
Bradbury on the Menu
A Portlandia restaurant called The Rocking Frog Cafe pays tribute to Ursula Le Guin, Ray Bradbury and other writers with food items named for them. One reviewer praised Ray’s entree: My favorite coffeeshop so far has been the Rocking Frog, with … Continue reading →
New Muppets Series Trailer
The first trailer for ABC’s new Muppets has the characters all discussing their comeback and what it should look like.… Continue reading →
The Canine Billion Names of Dog 5/17
aka There are few things in this world that can simultaneously delight and dismay in the same manner as a Puppy dinner party. The lead dog returns in today’s roundup which starts with Brad R. Torgersen, followed by the rest … Continue reading →
This Sounds Like A Job For — The Laundry
“In my neighborhood…” says James H. Burns. “Should I be worried?” James — just make sure you know the address of the nearest Laundry.… Continue reading →
Ellison Joins Archon 39 Lineup
Archon 39 has added to a slate already loaded with talent the nonpareil storyteller Harlan Ellison as a special guest. Guest of Honor Jacqueline Carey, TM Esther Friesner, Artist GoH Brent Chumley, Filk GoH Tricky Pixie. Masquerade MC Victor Milán, … Continue reading →
