Years Best Military and Adventure SF Paperback Is Out
Baen Books released the paperback of The Year’s Best Military and Adventure SF 2015, edited by David Afsharirad, on June 7. File 770 got an advance look at the table of contents in March, and in April announced the opening of … Continue reading →
Pixel Scroll 6/18/16 By The Pixels At My Thumbs, Something Scrolling This Way Comes
(1) MORE THAN THE SUM OF ITS PARTS. Fantasy-Faction ponders “Character Group Dynamics”. One of the most important tasks of a writer is to get the reader to engage with their characters, but almost as important is how your characters … Continue reading →
MACII Chooses Hugo Base Designers
MidAmeriCon II has announced the winners of the contest to design and produce this year’s Hugo bases. The 2016 Hugo Award base will be created by Sara Felix of Austin, who is also the current president of the Association of … Continue reading →
All Hugo Nominees Who Finished Behind No Award Prior to 2015
One of many ideas advanced in the recent discussion of Hugo Award voting reform is a rule that would erase from the Long List any Hugo nominee who finished behind No Award in the final tally. I’m not in favor of that … Continue reading →
Pixel Scroll 6/17/16 The Second Fifth Season
(1) RAISE YOUR HAND IF YOU’RE A GREAT WRITER. Photos from George R.R. Martin’s sit-down with Stephen King last night in Albuquerque, in “The King and I” at Not a Blog. (2) NON-ENGLISH SCHOLARSHIP AWARD. Through September 1, the International … Continue reading →
Gods With Fur Anthology
Fred Patten’s newest anthology, Gods with Fur, will go on sale at Anthrocon 2016 at the end of this month. Published by FurPlanet Productions, the trade paperback book contains 23 original stories by Kyell Gold, Mary E. Lowd, Michael H. Payne, … Continue reading →
Banjarian Wins 2016 Dell Magazine Award
Rani Banjarian, of Vanderbilt University, won the 2016 Dell Magazine Award for Undergraduate Excellence in Science Fiction and Fantasy for his story “Lullabies in Arabic.” He received an award of $500 dollars and was invited, all expenses paid, to the Conference … Continue reading →
Pixel Scroll 6/16/16 Schroedinger’s Kzin
(1) ARM-WRESTLING WITH A PUBLISHER. Kristine Kathryn Rusch sees writers as too prone to follow rules, and too prone to think themselves as powerless in the face of contractual language: “Business Musings: Thus, Lawyers, and Writers (Contracts/Dealbreakers)”. Lawyers aren’t afraid … Continue reading →
Independence Day Clip Joint
Independence Day: Resurgence comes to theaters June 24 and pre-release publicity is reaching its crescendo. Here are two new clips from the movie, and a pair of bonus clips that feature Jeff Goldblum. Independence Day: Resurgence | “Brackish Okun Laser” … Continue reading →
2016 Campbell Award Shortlist
The finalists for the 2016 John W. Campbell Memorial Award for best science fiction novel of the year have been announced. The Campbell Award is a juried award. The current jurors are Gregory Benford, Sheila Finch, Elizabeth Anne Hull, Paul … Continue reading →
MidAmeriCon Posts Progress Report #3
The 2016 Worldcon, MidAmeriCon II, has made Progress Report #3 available in electronic format at the convention’s website. It’s a free read, and can be viewed online or downloaded as a PDF file. Members who requested printed publications will receive … Continue reading →
Pixel Scroll 6/15/16 Great Sky Pixel
(1) DEFENDING SELF-DEFENSE. Larry Correia covers a lot of ground in “Self-Defense Is A Human Right” at Monster Hunter Nation. Here’s a representative excerpt. Orlando is yet another example that Gun Free Zones are vile, stupid ideas. The intent is to … Continue reading →
2016 Lammy Award Winners
The winners of the 2016 Lambda Literary Awards (“Lammys”) were announced June 6 at a ceremony in New York. The awards celebrate achievement in lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) writing. The winners of genre interest are reported below. The full list is … Continue reading →
Classics of S-F at Westercon 69
By John Hertz: Westercon LXIX has confirmed we’ll discuss three Classics of Science Fiction, one discussion each. Come to as many as you like. You’ll be welcome to join in. I’m still with “A classic is a work that survives … Continue reading →
Bradbury Art Makes Headlines
(1) ENGINE 451. The Chicago Tribune ran photos — “New Waukegan train mural honors author Ray Bradbury”. Pedersen said his work includes lots of trains, “but I had to have a design that was simple and would have an impact. … Continue reading →
Pixel Scroll 6/14/16 The Scroll Above The Port Was The Color of a Pixel, Encoded in a Dead Website
(1) BIG CON BUSINESS. At ICv2 Rob Salkowitz analyzes “Three Convention Trends We Could Do Without”, art scammers, pay to (cos)play and – Indifference to fan experience. The rising prominence of cons means more and more families and individuals plan … Continue reading →
Liu Cixin, The 3 Body Problem, and the Growth of SF in China
Liu Cixin is China’s most famous science fiction author. He has won the Galaxy, China’s version of the Hugo, 9 times. His trilogy, “The 3 Body Problem,” won the Hugo and Galaxy for best novel and was nominated for a … Continue reading →
Two Antipodean NatCons Pick Seanan McGuire as GoH in 2017
Seanan McGuire, urban fantasy and horror author, filk composer, and cartoonist, has been confirmed as the Guest of Honour at LexiCon 2017, the 38th New Zealand National SF and Fantasy Convention. She has also been named International Guest of Honour … Continue reading →
Pixel Scroll 6/13/16 Carry On My Wayward Scroll
(1) NEXT STEP. Sigrid Ellis responds to the Orlando attack with a series of autobiographical notes in “The road to murder is paved with microaggressions”. I was horrified to hear the news out of Orlando. But I wasn’t surprised. I … Continue reading →
1941 Retro Hugo Voter Packet Available
MidAmeriCon II has posted the voter packet containing works by some of the nominees for the 1941 Retro Hugos. Heinlein’s greatest year as a short fiction writer is on display. Otherwise, the voters don’t seem to have picked a lot … Continue reading →
Brighton WorldCon ‘87: A Slightly Delayed Report
By R. A. MacAvoy: I had thought to begin this trip report with the idea it was something lost in the mail. Lost for many, many years. That seemed clever at first, but I realized that my memories aren’t close … Continue reading →
Pixel Scroll 6/12/16 But I Still Haven’t Scrolled Where the Pixels Are
(1) MAGIC STACKS. The Oxford University Press Blog gives “6 reasons why the Hogwarts library is the true hero of the Harry Potter books”. …Alas, when our letter-bearing owl rudely pulls a no-show, accepting one’s muggle status is a hard … Continue reading →
How To Score A Hat Trick on File 770
By Steve Davidson: I’ve scored a fair number of Pixel Scroll titles over the past several months and I was originally going to reveal my secret methods for constructing the same, but then I decided “Nah”. Instead, I’ll propose how … Continue reading →
