What TOR Boycott?
By James Bacon: I went to Comic Con for a couple of days and had a fabulous time. The volunteers and staff run a great con, there were 120,000 people there and it surely felt busy, and I really enjoyed … Continue reading →
Where No George Has Gone Before
By John King Tarpinian: Today was the 86th birthday party for George Clayton Johnson. My head count was 52 souls. Some old friends, some fans. The surprise guest, who came up from that little convention down in San Diego, to wish George well … Continue reading →
L.J. Dopp Wishes George Clayton Johnson a Happy Birthday
L.J. Dopp painted “The Fictioneer” for George Clayton Johnson’s birthday, incorporating visual references to George’s most famous TV and movie work. The only reward Dopp wanted was the thrill of seeing the expression on George’s face when he saw it for the first … Continue reading →
SLF Asks Help Refreshing Syllabi Resource
The Speculative Literature Foundation is updating its web resources and Mary Anne Mohanraj says they are looking to add more publicly available syllabi for college / university courses. If you’d be willing to have your SF/F/H syllabi archived on our … Continue reading →
Thomas Piccirilli (1965-2015)
Horror and mystery author Thomas Piccirilli died July 11 of cancer. Piccirilli had over 150 published stories. As a top writer in the horror field he was the winner of five Bram Stoker Awards, two for Best Poetry Collection (A … Continue reading →
Is The Tor Boycott Working?
Jason Sanford says “Pups all bark, no bite as Tor boycott fails” — My proof? Turns out the boycott has had no noticeable impact on the sales of Tor’s books, as determined by a sampling of Tor sales reported through Nielsen … Continue reading →
2015 Scribe Awards
The International Association of Media Tie-In Writers announced the winners of the 2015 Scribe Awards at Comic-Con International on July 10. BEST ORIGINAL NOVEL – GENERAL Homeland: Saul’s Game by Andrew Kaplan BEST ORIGINAL NOVEL – SPECULATIVE (tie) Pathfinder: The … Continue reading →
Today Is George Clayton Johnson’s Birthday Party
Fans will celebrate George Clayton Johnson’s 86th birthday today at 2 p.m. at Mystery & Imagination Bookshop in Glendale. Johnson wrote the first aired Star Trek episode, had multiple Twilight Zone credits, co-authored the novel Logan’s Run, and the script … Continue reading →
Jurassic World, Now With Added Logic
The crew at How It Should Have Ended thinks Jurassic World would have been a much shorter film if people behaved as if they really wanted to survive … Continue reading →
Pixel Scroll 7/11
Six news items and a video: (1) Brandon Kempner has updated his SF/F awards meta-list on Chaos Horizons. Three Hugo-nominated novels have been among the most successful works during the current awards season – and two have not. You can … Continue reading →
2015 Eisner Award Winners
Comic-Con International announced the winners of the 2015 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards on July 10. Named for comics creator the Will Eisner, the awards, now in their 27th year, highlight the best publications and creators in comics and graphic novels. … Continue reading →
All Roads Lead To San Diego This Week
Comic-Con International begins in San Diego, stirring a tornado of publicity. (1) But we interrupt that tornado for a nostalgic look back at the first convention in the series, published in the LA Times, with an inspirational quote from Ray Bradbury’s speech: The … Continue reading →
Castling
By John Hertz: This evidence of the Man in the High Castle movie was the back of my rail-ticket-to-Westercon envelope and, a picture being worth a thousand words, might be of general interest. … Continue reading →
2015 Endeavour Award Shortlist
Four novels and a single-author collection of stories are finalists for the Endeavour Award. Last Plane to Heaven by Jay Lake (Tor Books) Metatropolis by Ken Scholes and Jay Lake (WordFire Press) Night Broken by Patricia Briggs (Ace Books) Our … Continue reading →
Disguising the World Fantasy Award
Meredith may have just been teasing about having Stephen King replace HPL on the World Fantasy Award but that gave me an idea. I read someone speculate they are sticking with HPL because they have an inventory of statuettes already made and paid for. So I wondered … Continue reading →
Sasquan Dealers Room Promo Video
Sasquan publicizes the Dealers Room in a new 6-minute video: … Continue reading →
Things To Spend Your Money on Besides Books
Use money for something other than books? That’s crazy talk! Or will this merchandise change your mind? (1) The maker of the ”real Star Trek Communicator”, The Wand Company, assures buyers it was made with “structured-light 3D scanning to ensure that … Continue reading →
Westercon 68 Masquerade Results
By John Hertz: The Westercon LXVIII Masquerade was held on Saturday, July 4, 2015, at the Town & Country Hotel, San Diego, California. Masquerade Director Sandy Manning Master of Ceremonies Tadao Tomomatsu Judges Joni Brill Dashoff Lisa Deutsch Harrigan John … Continue reading →
2015 World Fantasy Awards Ballot
The 2015 World Fantasy Award shortlist has been released. The ballot was picked by a two-step process. The two items in each category receiving the most nominations from members of the World Fantasy Convention were placed on the final ballot. The remainder … Continue reading →
Pixel Scroll 7/7
Four news items, a tweet and a trailer in this collection of clippings for today. A.V. Club “Grant Morrison is the new editor-in-chief of Heavy Metal magazine” – July 6 Much like an obscure background character in an old comic … Continue reading →
The Hugo’s the Thing, Whereby We’ll Touch the Conscience of the King
Most sf writers have never been on trading cards either, but they get a lot more worked up about their shot at winning a Hugo Award. Today in a discussion on Lou Antonelli’s Facebook page Ej Shumak pointed out that … Continue reading →
Dublin in 2019 Plans Books Outreach
The Dublin 2019 Worldcon Bid will be supporting a science fiction and fantasy books Outreach program, where they give away free new and secondhand books at various conventions and events in the UK and Ireland, and encourage people to attend … Continue reading →
What Is “Alternate History” and What Is “Self Published”?
Editor’s Note: Francis Hamit, who self-published his Civil War espionage novels The Shenandoah Spy and The Queen of Washington, contributes insight pieces about the strategies and emerging technologies he uses to market his books. By Francis Hamit: We are about … Continue reading →
Apex Magazine # 74 Released
Apex Magazine Issue 74 (July 2015) offeres original fiction from Rich Larson (“Going Endo”), A. A. Balaskovits (“All Who Tremble”), and Shira Lipkin (“Never Choose This Way”), plus poetry (“How the World was Made – A Super Crown” by Roger … Continue reading →
Uncanny Issue 5 Is Here
Hugo Award-winning Publishers/Editors-in-Chief Lynne M. Thomas (Chicks Dig Time Lords, Apex Magazine) and Michael Damian Thomas (Queers Dig Time Lords, Glitter & Mayhem) have released Uncanny Magazine Issue Five. All of the content is available for purchase as an eBook (PDF, EPUB, MOBI) … Continue reading →
Today’s Birthday Boy 7/7
Who’s birthday is it today? Here are a couple of hints. He copy-edited Niven and Pournelle’s A Mote In God’s Eye: All that I suggest doing to the last half is a) cut as many words as possible, and b) search … Continue reading →
Tolkien’s Kullervo Set For 8/27 Release
J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Story of Kullervo, edited by Verlyn Flieger, will be released by HarperCollins on August 27. Written over a century ago, in 1914,it is Tolkien’s reworking of part of the Finnish saga Kalevala. Tolkien described his story as “the … Continue reading →
Westercon Futures, Bona Fide and Faux
There’s a real Denver bid for the 2018 Westercon listed in Kevin Standlee’s report. It’s included on the Westercon 71 placeholder site and has its own Westsidecon bid webpage. They’re even taking presupports. The only thing you can’t find out is … Continue reading →
A Puppy Epilogue
By Mike Glyer: When the crowds watching the roundup in Times Square saw the last tag scroll off the news ticker (“…Lis Carey…”) there was complete silence for a moment. Then an ancillary in the throng of unnervingly ambiguously gendered … Continue reading →
To Your Scattered Kennels Go 7/6
aka Last and First Puppies The Ultimate Roundup brings you Benjamin Domenech and Robert Tracinski, Samuel John Klein, T.P. Kroger, Vox Day, Doctor Science, Aidan Moher, Brandon Kempner, Martin Wisse, Laura “Tegan” Gjovaag, David Steffen, Lis Carey and Cryptic Others. (Title … Continue reading →
Westercon Today and Tomorrow
Westercon 68, held this weekend in San Diego, had 945 total members reports Mike Willmoth. The number in attendance has yet to be released. Site Selection: The unopposed bid for Tempe, Arizona won the right to host Westercon 70 in 2017. … Continue reading →
Shoreline of Infinity Launches
Shoreline of Infinity, a new Scottish science fiction magazine, went on sale July 2. Charles Stross is interviewed in the first issue – a crucial endorsement from Edinburgh’s best known sf author. The magazine’s deep Scots roots are also displayed in … Continue reading →
2015 Utopiales Awards Shortlists
Finalists have been announced for two awards presented at Utopiales, the Nantes International Science Fiction Festival. The nominees for the Utopiales European Awards are: “Celle qui a tous les dons” (The Girl With All The Gifts), Mike Carey (translated by … Continue reading →
Roverfield 7/5
aka Muttropolis. Last roundup tomorrow, July 6. Banner art changes tomorrow. What the future holds for File 770 arrives tomorrow! Meanwhile, roundup content today is provided by Lou Antonelli, Joseph Tomaras, Jonathan Crowe, Laura “Tegan” Gjovaag, Mark Ciocco, Lis Carey, Len Schiff, … Continue reading →
An Immortal Story, Cheaply Told
In Aliens on Ice (2011), the story of Ripley and Newt is adapted by ice skaters. This 2-minute video is a hoot. [Thanks to James H. Burns for the link.] … Continue reading →
