The Fantasy Times

Information has finally hit the big airwaves about the upcoming Terry Goodkind television series, Legend of the Seeker.

Begins November 1st on ABC.  Watch previews and such at Terry Goodkinds Website.

Ellen Datlow, quite possible the most on the ball and sharpest editors on this planet, has offered some tips to aspiring authors submitting works for review….

1) I have received print submissions without PAGE NUMBERS (not often, but still, this should never happen).

2) I have increasingly been the recipient of manuscripts that don’t underline words meant to be italicized in the story’s final, printed form. The reason editors/copy editors/and whoever does the production on a mss need to see underlines is that some typefaces don’t show italics very well, and even if they did–it’s quicker to “see” underline than italics

3)I have been receiving mss without anything indicating space breaks. What happened to ###? I’m in the middle of reading a printout that seemed to be missing at least two pages because there were no transitions…When I checked the efile, lo and behold, the sentence breaks were in different places so I could actually see that there were supposed to be space breaks. Writers–new and pro–please please show your space breaks by putting in hash marks.

4) Paragraphing–before online publishing, paragraphing was shown by indenting margins…Guess what, folks? Most publishing (especially of books) is still print, which means that paragraphs are indented.

Novel
Territory Emma Bull [Tor]
Ysabel Guy Gavriel Kay [Viking Canada/Penguin Roc]
Fangland John Marks [Penguin Press]
Gospel of the Knife Will Shetterly [Tor]
The Servants Michael Marshall Smith [Earthling Publications]

Novella
The Mermaids Robert Edric [PS Publishing]
Illyria Elizabeth Hand [PS Publishing]
“The Master Miller’s Tale” Ian R. MacLeod [F&SF May 2007]
“Cold Snap” Kim Newman [The Secret Files of the Diogenes Club, MonkeyBrain Books]
“Stars Seen through Stone” Lucius Shepard [F&SF July 2007]

Short Story
“The Cambist and Lord Iron: A Fairy Tale of Economics” Daniel Abraham [Logorrhea, Bantam Spectra]
“Singing of Mount Abora” Theodora Goss [Logorrhea, Bantam Spectra]
“The Evolution of Trickster Stories Among the Dogs of North Park After the Change” Kij Johnson [The Coyote Road: Trickster Tales, Viking]
“Damned if you Don’t ” Robert Shearman” [Tiny Deaths, Comma Press]
“The Church on the Island” Simon Kurt Unsworth [At Ease with the Dead,
Ash-Tree Press]

Anthology
Five Strokes to Midnight Gary A. Braunbeck & Hank Schwaeble, Eds. [Haunted Pelican Press]
Wizards: Magical Tales From The Masters of Modern Fantasy
Jack Dann & Gardner Dozois, Eds. [Berkley]
Inferno: New Tales of Terror and the Supernatural Ellen Datlow, Editor [Tor]
The Coyote Road: Trickster Tales Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling, Eds.[Viking]
Logorrhea: Good Words Make Good Stories John Klima, Editor [Bantam Spectra]

Collection
Plots and Misadventures Stephen Gallagher [Subterranean Press]
Portable Childhoods Ellen Klages [Tachyon Publications]
The Secret Files of the Diogenes Club Kim Newman [MonkeyBrain Books]
Hart & Boot & Other Stories Tim Pratt [Night Shade Books]
Tiny Deaths Robert Shearman [Comma Press]
Dagger Key and Other Stories Lucius Shepard [PS Publishing]

Artist
Ruan Jia
Mikko Kinnunen
Stephan Martiniere
Edward Miller
John Picacio

Special Award—Professional
Allison Baker and Chris Roberson for MonkeyBrain Books
Alan Beatts and Jude Feldman for Borderlands Books
Peter Crowther for PS Publishing
Gordon Van Gelder for F&SF
Jeremy Lassen and Jason Williams for Night Shade Books
Shawna McCarthy for Realms of Fantasy

Special Award—Non-professional
Midori Snyder and Terri Windling for Endicott Studios Website
G. S. Evans and Alice Whittenburg for Cafe Irreal
Stephen Jones, Editor for Travellers in Darkness: The Souvenir Book of the World Horror Convention 2007
John Klima for Electric Velocipede
Rosalie Parker and Raymond Russell for Tartarus Press

Elizabeth Bear is hosting a Hugo’s loser party...sounds fun!

“Tomorrow night, I plan to have my very own Hugo Losers party here on the internets. It will take place right in this very comment thread, and you’re all invited.

Especially if you’re also (a) not at Denvention and (b) nominated. After all, it wouldn’t be a bittercon without a Hugo Losers party!

Unfortunately, it will be BYOB. And BYOS.

Doors open at 7:30 PM Mountain Time (that’s 9:30 PM for those of you on the East Coast.) Party runs until somebody goes off the balcony, or hotel livejournal security comes to shut us down.

It’s a glamorous life.”

I never wanted the Fantasy Times to be a plug machine or an advertising haven and I generally don’t try to stroke shows, movies or books.  However, if you read the Fantasy Times you MUST watch this.

Dr. Horrible’s sing along blog.

Amazing soundtrack…….

I have received much email asking my take on the Locus Awards hubbaballoo.  For those of you who have been napping or just simply not paying attention, here is the link to Neil Clark’s article where he quotes the Locus results explanation.  Basically, after the votes were cast, the minds at Locus Magazine decided their subscribers deserved a larger percentage of the votes and thus a stronger voice in the results.

Honestly, I could care less how Locus runs its polls and contests.  However, you would think that after all the complaining that has come from the Hugos voting, they would have just sucked it up and waited until next year to change things.

Why the heck would Locus change the weighting system after the voting was concluded?

I really thought it funny that Mark Kelly wrote about the ‘almost disenfranchised’ vote he placed for the Hugo and then the 1/2 voters who don’t subscribe to Locus being actually disenfranchised after the fact.

Two things:

1.  Was this really a surprise that more non-subscribers voted than subscribers?  Come on, Locus!  Even I could see that coming….

2.  Which leads me to why?  Seriously…why?  The only possible answer to change things after the voting closes is that the results concerned them, not the type of voters.

I won’t make an accusation about their motives, but I will criticize their decision to change things now rather than waiting until next year.  That only makes sense.

At least to me.

IHG Award Nominations
The International Horror Guild Awards are a juried award to recognize outstanding achievements in the field of Horror and Dark Fantasy. Edward Bryant, Stefan R. Dziemianowicz, Ann Kennedy, and Hank Wagner currently adjudicate. Paula Guran is the award administrator. The awards are overseen by a non-profit corporation, The Mirabundus Project, Inc.

Novel
Grin of the Dark, by Ramsey Campbell
Generation Loss, by Elizabeth Hand
The Missing, by Sarah Langan
Season of the Witch, by Natasha Mostert
The Terror, by Dan Simmons

Fiction Collection
The Imago Sequence and Other Stories, by Laird Barron
Plots and Misadventures, by Stephen Gallagher
Shadows Kith and Kin, by Joe R. Lansdale
Masques of Satan, by Reggie Oliver
Dagger Key and Other Stories, by Lucius Shepard

Long Fiction
Procession of the Black Sloth, by Laird Barron
The Man in the Picture: A Ghost Story, by Susan Hill
Softspoken, by Lucius Shepard
The Scalding Rooms, by Conrad Williams

Mid-Length Fiction
“The Janus Tree,” by Glen Hirshberg
“Lie Still, Sleep Becalmed,” by Steven Duffy
“The Bone Man,” by Fredric S. Durbin
“Closet Dreams,” by Lisa Tuttle

Short Fiction
“Digging Deep,” by Ramsey Campbell
“Honey in the Wound,” by Nancy Etchemendy
“The Tank,” by Paul Finch
“Splitfoot,” by Paul Walther
“The Great White Bed,” by Don Webb

Anthology
Inferno, edited by Ellen Datlow
Summer Chills, edited by Stephen Jones
American Supernatural Tales, edited by S.T. Joshi
Strange Tales Volume II, edited by Rosalie Parker
At Ease with the Dead, edited by Barbara and Christopher Roden

Non-Fiction
Frankenstein: A Cultural History, by Susan Tyler Hitchcock
Mario Bava: All the Colors of Dark, by Tim Lucas
Warnings to the Curious: A Sheaf of Criticism on M.R. James, edited by Rosemary Pardoe & S.T. Joshi
Sides, by Peter Straub
The Science of Stephen King, by Bob Weinberg & Lois M. Gresh

Periodical
Black Static
Dead Reckonings
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
Postscripts
Weird Tales

Illustrated Narrative
Scalped: Indian Country, by Jason Aaron and R.M. Guéra
The Nightmare Factory, by Thomas Ligotti, Joe Harris & Stuart Moore, Ben Templesmith, Michael Gaydos, Colleen Doran & Ted McKeever
The Blot, by Tom Neely
The Arrival, by Shaun Tan
Wormwood Gentleman Corpse: Birds, Bees, Blood & Beer, by Ben Templesmith

Art
Didier Cottier for Exhibit at Utopiales, Nantes, France
David Ho for his body of work
Elizabeth McGrath for “The Incurable Disorder”
Chris Mars for “New Salem”
Mike Mignola for cover & illustrations: Baltimore, or, The Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire

For More Information…

Compiled by the SF Site

If you’re a member of Denvention 3, this year’s World Science Fiction Convention in Denver, please remember to vote — the deadline is THIS MONDAY, JULY 7, 2008, at midnight (end of day) Pacific Time.

Worldcon members can vote online here.

You’ll need your PIN to vote; it’s the same one used to nominate, and should be on mailing labels from the convention. If you can’t find it, send an email with your name, postal address, and phone number to pin@denvention.org and they’ll email your PIN to you.

Denvention members can get free electronic copies of the Hugo nominated novels Rollback by Robert J. Sawyer, Brasyl by Ian McDonald, The Last Colony by John Scalzi, and Halting State by Charles Stross for free here.

Ok, so I’m a bit behind.  The editor is coaching his son’s tournament baseball team and the days are full and busy, but fun.

From LocusMag:

Locus Awards Winners

Winners of this year’s Locus Awards, voted by readers of Locus Magazine in the annual Locus Poll, were were announced this afternoon at the Courtyard Marriott Hotel in Seattle, at an event led by Master of Ceremonies Connie Willis.

SF NOVEL

The Yiddish Policemen’s Union, Michael Chabon (HarperCollins)

FANTASY NOVEL

Making Money, Terry Pratchett (Doubleday UK; HarperCollins)

YOUNG ADULT BOOK

Un Lun Dun, China Miéville (Ballantine Del Rey; Macmillan UK)

FIRST NOVEL

Heart-Shaped Box, Joe Hill (Morrow; Gollancz)

NOVELLA

“After the Siege”, Cory Doctorow (The Infinite Matrix Jan 2007)

NOVELETTE

“The Witch’s Headstone”, Neil Gaiman (Wizards)

SHORT STORY

“A Small Room in Koboldtown”, Michael Swanwick (Asimov’s Apr/May 2007)

COLLECTION

The Winds of Marble Arch and Other Stories, Connie Willis (Subterranean)

ANTHOLOGY

The New Space Opera, Gardner Dozois & Jonathan Strahan, eds. (Eos)

NON-FICTION

Breakfast in the Ruins, Barry N. Malzberg (Baen)

ART BOOK

The Arrival, Shaun Tan (Lothian 2006; Scholastic)

EDITOR

Ellen Datlow

MAGAZINE

F&SF

PUBLISHER

Tor

ARTIST

Charles Vess

Complete results of the Locus Poll will be published in the July issue of Locus Magazine, and will be incorporated into the Locus Index to Science Fiction Awards by the end of the year. Finalists for this year’s awards — the top five ranking items in each category — were announced in April.

JK Rowling gave the commencement address at Harvard University for the class of 2008 much to the chagrin of some of the graduating seniors.  NPR has posted the article and the audio of her commencement address for your pleasure.  Ms. Rowling spoke about the power of imagination to learn things that you don’t or can’t experience.  Responding to some of the criticism about her selection as this year’s commencement speaker  Allister Beeson responds:

“That was a terrible thing to say! They’re just a bunch of Muggles!” exclaimed 10-year-old Allister Beeson, borrowing a Hogwart term for ordinary folks who don’t benefit from the gift of magic.

Beeson was one of many young people in the audience who skipped school to hear Rowling. He came in a Harry Potter Halloween costume, all the way from New York. He says Harvard seniors who have a problem with Rowling are actually the ones with the problem. He says they simply lack common sense.

BAHAHAHA!  Who is lacking common sense?  Perhaps the parents of young Mr. Beeson?