Okay, one last reminder–

The deadline for nominating for the Prix Aurora Awards, the annual Canadian science fiction and fantasy awards, is THIS MONDAY.

Online ballots must be cast by Monday, March 17, 2008 (three days from today). So while you’re drinking your green beer on St. Paddy’s Day don’t forget to vote.

Any Canadian may nominate, and there is no charge to do so.

The online ballot is here.

A comprehensive list of eligible works is available at the Canadian SF Works Database.

*cough cough*

And you may notice by reading that list that my Writers of the Future Grand Prize-winning story, “Saturn in G Minor”, is eligible for the Aurora in the Best Short-Form Work in English category. If there’s anyone out there who is eligible to vote (ie: a Canadian citizen or permanent resident–and there are 30 million of you out there…) but who hasn’t read the story please e-mail me; I’ll send you an e-copy this weekend for your consideration.

– S.

Hi gang –

Just got the preliminary schedule of this year’s Ad Astra panels (remember: Ad Astra is running here in Toronto March 28-30). Here’s a rundown of the panels I’m on:

Sat 10:00 AM Near Future vs. Far Future Settings
[Glenn Grant (mod), Robert J. Sawyer, Stephen Kotowych, Mike Rimar]
– Panelists will discuss the tradeoffs and the possibilities of each.

Sat 1:00 PM Getting the Most Out of a Writer’s Workshop
[Stephen Kotowych (mod), Suzanne Church, Tony Pi, Douglas Smith]
– How do you get into the major SF writers’ workshops? How can you afford the time and money to go? What can you expect while you’re there? Does attendance grant credibility with editors? How are you and your writing changed when you get back to the “real world?”
– This is a panel Tony and I suggested and it’s my first-ever turn as panel moderator…yikes!

Sat 4:00 PM Goblin War
[Jim C. Hines Book Launch]
– The goblins are going to war. You may have spotted them at registration. Our spies tell us they’ve been working with human sympathizers. Your job is to capture these goblins from their human partners. The humans should be easy to recognize. We’re told they wear their pro-goblin sentiments openly. Rewards will be given to those valiant warriors who bring the most prisoners to the Goblin War launch party at 4:00 on Saturday.
– I’m going to help my buddy Jim out and be one of the human sympathizers…but you didn’t hear that from me… 😉

Sat 5:30 PM Reading
[Stephen Kotowych’s Reading]
– My first-ever reading…yikes! I’ll be reading my Writers of the Future Grand Prize-winning story “Saturn in G Minor”…and hopefully by then we’ll know whether it’s also an Aurora Award nominee *hint hint*…

Sun 10:00 AM Writers of the Future
[Jim C. Hines (mod), Robert J. Sawyer, Mike Rimar, Stephen Kotowych]
– Past winners and judges will discuss this contest.

Also, for those writer-types of you in attendance, I note that from 11am-1pm on Saturday, Guests of Honour Kevin J. Anderson and Rebecca Moesta will be giving their session “Things I Wish Some Pro Had Told Me When I Was Starting Out”, which is the very same session they gave at this year’s Writers of the Future workshop. The description from the programme reads:

“No-nonsense professional advice on how to build your career as a professional writer, what to do after you have sold your first story or novel, details on contracts, editors, etc. A fee is required for this workshop.”

Now, I can attest that this workshop is worth the extra fee (I don’t know what that fee is, but it’ll be worth it). They give a great presentation, which is especially useful to those starting out, and which is fabulously inspiring. You will leave this session and immediately run to the nearest computer to start writing something–it’s that energizing. Not to me missed, if you can make it!

– S.

Hi all –

Just a friendly reminder that online nominations for the Prix Aurora Awards are due by March 17 (Happy St. Patrick’s Day!) If you haven’t already filled out a ballot you can find the online form here.

For those analog amongst you, the print-it-out-and-snail-mail-it version is here. But remember–even if you care so much about the Auroras that you want actual licking to be involved in nominating that’s fine so long as you ensure your saliva-filled missive is postmarked by 10 March. Otherwise, all the loogies in the world won’t do you any good in nominating this year.

*cough cough* As it happens, I have several stories eligible for this years Auroras. If you would like to nominate me, I’m asking that you please consider nominating my story “Saturn in G Minor”, which won the Writers of the Future Grand Prize in August 2007.

And there are lots of other deserving nominees in the various categories–you can nominate up to three in each subject during the nominating process. The best resource for finding out about Canadian SF works published in 2007 is the aptly named Canadian SF Works Database, a wiki started by Marcel Gagné and Robert J. Sawyer which is coincidentally eligible for an Aurora under the ‘Best Work In English (Other)’ category *hint hint*.

– S.

Every once and a while (far too infrequently, if you ask me) something really sci-fi creeps out into the real world, and the opening of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, tunneled deep into the permafrost of the Norwegian Arctic, is one such example.

Think about it: not only does it LOOK like something one could imagine finding in a sci-fi novel or movie, but it’s stated purpose–to store seeds of key agricultural crops from around the globe so that in the event such crops are lost due to a man-made or natural apocalypse staples like rice, wheat, lentils, etc. can be reestablished–is the kind of grand foresight human beings are often possessed of only in fiction.

Even the building shows foresight: the roof and parts of the frontage of the visible entrance section are filled with triangles of high reflection, acid resistant steel of various sizes. Together with other refractive elements like dichroic mirror glass and prisms, they will throw light back in all directions, providing a dazzling reflection of sunlight and other lights, depending on season and time of day. So even if something happens and we end up back in the Stone Age people might see the building and think, “I wonder what’s in there?”

Very cool.

It kinda reminds me of nuclear waste site markers people like Gregory Benford have been asked to help design so that, should civilization collapse entirely and all knowledge of our atomic legacy be lost, people might somehow be warned that some very nasty and no-good-for-you material is stored here or there and should be avoided.

Somehow, though, I find the Global Seed Vault a lot more hopeful… 🙂

– S.

Hello all –

As you can tell from the countdown widget in the sidebar, there are now only two weeks left to nominate for the John W. Campbell Best New Writer Award shortlist. I’m eligible for the award, given my three publications in 2007.

And don’t forget that the San Francisco Bay Area Science Fiction Association (BASFA) has included me on their list of 2008 Hugo Award Recommendations, under the Campbell Award category.

The John W. Campbell Award is given to the best new science fiction or fantasy writer whose first work was published in a professional publication in the previous two years. For the 2008 award, which is presented at the World Science Fiction Convention (WorldCon), the qualifying work must have been published in 2006 or 2007.

The Campbell Award uses the same nomination and voting mechanism as the Hugo, though the Campbell Award is not a Hugo.

To be able to nominate a writer for the 2008 award, you must have either been an attending member of the 2007 Worldcon in Japan or be a supporting or attending member of the 2008 Worldcon in Denver before Jan. 31, 2008.

Nomination ballots must be received by March 1, 2008. Please see the official nomination ballot on the Denvention 3 website.

Thanks for your consideration!

– S.

No, not me–this.

Scientists at Columbia have not only determined what causes muscle fatigue (it has something to do with calcium flow within muscles, and not lactic acid–which is what I thought, but which was apparently discredited long ago), but they’ve also devised, for mice, an experimental drug that can revive the animals and let them keep running long after they would normally flop down in exhaustion.

Now, this therapy has been designed with treatment of legitimate conditions in mind–in this case, congestive heart failure. But as I’ve spoken of elsewhere, high-performance athletes and their coaches will no doubt turn this therapy (as they’ve done for so many others) to use in trying to cheat in competition.

Something that lets you avoid muscle fatigue? Come on. It’s no wonder the NY Times article included a photo of a marathon runner in the header…

– S.

Wow!

I had three stories published in 2007 and Rich Horton liked them all and has mentioned each in his year-end wrap-up on LiveJournal.

Today, he reviews anthologies from other countries, which in this case means Tesseracts Eleven (from Canada, eh?) and an Aussie antho. He lists my story, “Citius, Altius, Fortius”, as one of the TESS 11 stories that “impressed.”

Cool!

Hopefully I get to meet Mr. Horton sometime–I think I’d like to shake his hand 😉

– S.

Rich Horton, book reviewer and columnist for the likes of Locus, Black Gate, and Fantasy Magazine, has been posting a sort of virtual year’s-best on his Live Journal over the last little while. A recent post on his LJ highlighted my story “Borrowed Time” as one of the best from last year’s series of DAW anthologies, and he’s also reviewed my stories in Writers of the Future XXIII and Tesseracts Eleven.

Today he’s posted on anthologies from 2007 mostly devoted to newer writers. He includes Writers of the Future XXIII on his list saying it was full of:

Sweet!

And congratulations to my fellow WOTFians Andrea and Tony–well deserved praise, indeed!

– S.

Hi all –

I’m very pleased to announce that the San Francisco Bay Area Science Fiction Association (BASFA) has included me on their list of 2008 Hugo Award Recommendations, under the Campbell Award category. It’s always a thrill when people I’ve never met have read and enjoyed my work, let alone recommend it for awards!

Also highlighted on BASFA’s Campbell recommendation list are fellow WOTFians Aliette de Bodard, Damon Kaswell, and my evil twin Tony Pi.

You can find BASFA’s list of Campbell recommendations here.

The John W. Campbell Award is given to the best new science fiction or fantasy writer whose first work of science fiction or fantasy was published in a professional publication in the previous two years. For the 2008 award, which is presented at the World Science Fiction Convention (WorldCon), the qualifying work must have been published in 2006 or 2007.

The John W. Campbell Award uses the same nomination and voting mechanism as the Hugo, even though the Campbell Award is not a Hugo. To be able to nominate a writer for the 2008 award, you must have either been an attending member of the 2007 Worldcon in Japan or be a supporting or attending member of the 2008 Worldcon in Denver before Jan. 31, 2008.

Nomination ballots must be received by March 1, 2008. Please see the official nomination ballot on the Denvention 3 website.

– S.

This from the Quill & Quire Online:

“At the same time, Red Deer is also launching a new fantasy imprint to be overseen by author Nalo Hopkinson. (Hopkinson’s novel Brown Girl in the Ring will be featured in the Canada Reads competition on CBC Radio late this month.) The as-yet-unnamed imprint will debut this fall and will release at least three titles per year, says Dionne. It’s the second author-driven imprint for Red Deer: Robert J. Sawyer Books, with titles chosen by the Canadian science fiction giant, is also continuing to publish, with three titles planned for this spring.

Hopkinson could not be reached for comment, but Dionne says she had done some editing work on Kristyn Dunnion’s novel Big Big Sky, which is being released as a standalone Red Deer title next month. “As the editorial process unfolded, it became clear that Nalo had a lot of fantastic ideas that could take shape through a Canadian fantasy imprint,” says Dionne.”

Congratulations, Nalo!

– S.