Locus Awards Finalists

Locus Awards Finalists
Voting in this year's Locus Poll and Survey has closed.
Here are the finalists in each category.
Winners will be announced in June at the Locus Awards Ceremony in Seattle, June 16th, during the Science Fiction Museum's Hall of Fame weekend.
Finalists are listed alphabetically by title, then by nominee.
You can purchase tickets in advance to attend the Locus Awards ceremony -- use this form.

Best Science Fiction Novel
Blindsight, Peter Watts (Tor)
Carnival, Elizabeth Bear (Bantam Spectra)
Farthing, Jo Walton (Tor)
Glasshouse, Charles Stross (Orbit; Ace)
Rainbows End, Vernor Vinge (Tor)

Best Fantasy Novel
The Jennifer Morgue, Charles Stross (Golden Gryphon Press; Ace)
The Last Witchfinder, James Morrow (Morrow)
The Privilege of the Sword, Ellen Kushner (Bantam Spectra)
Soldier of Sidon, Gene Wolfe (Tor)
Three Days to Never, Tim Powers (Subterranean Press; Morrow)

Best First Novel
Crystal Rain, Tobias S. Buckell (Tor)
The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters, Gordon Dahlquist (Bantam; Viking UK)
The Green Glass Sea, Ellen Klages (Viking)
The Lies of Locke Lamora, Scott Lynch (Gollancz; Bantam Spectra)
Temeraire: His Majesty's Dragon/Throne of Jade/Black Powder, Naomi Novik (Del Rey; Voyager); as Temeraire: In the Service of the King (SFBC)

Best Young Adult Book
The Keys to the Kingdom: Sir Thursday, Garth Nix (Allen & Unwin; The Chicken House)
Magic Lessons, Justine Larbalestier (Penguin/Razorbill)
Spirits That Walk in Shadow, Nina Kiriki Hoffman (Viking)
Voices, Ursula K. Le Guin (Orion Children's; Harcourt)
Wintersmith, Terry Pratchett (Doubleday UK; HarperTempest)

Best Novella
"Botch Town", Jeffrey Ford (The Empire of Ice Cream)
"Lord Weary's Empire", Michael Swanwick (Asimov's 12/06)
"Map of Dreams", M. Rickert (Map of Dreams)
"The Mars Girl", Joe Haldeman (Escape from Earth)
"Missile Gap", Charles Stross (One Million A.D.)

Best Novelette
"I, Row-Boat", Cory Doctorow (Flurb 1, Fall '06)
"The Night Whiskey", Jeffrey Ford (Salon Fantastique)
"Pol Pot's Beautiful Daughter (Fantasy)", Geoff Ryman (F&SF 10-11/06)
"The Singularity Needs Women!", Paul Di Filippo (Forbidden Planets [Crowther])
"When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth", Cory Doctorow (Baen's Universe 8/06)

Best Short Story
"How to Talk to Girls at Parties", Neil Gaiman (Fragile Things)
"In the Abyss of Time", Stephen Baxter (Asimov's 8/06)
"Nano Comes to Clifford Falls", Nancy Kress (Asimov's 7/06)
"Sob in the Silence", Gene Wolfe (Strange Birds)
"Tin Marsh", Michael Swanwick (Asimov's 8/06)

Best Magazine
Analog
Asimov's
Interzone
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction
Strange Horizons

Best Publisher
Baen
Del Rey
Night Shade Books
Subterranean Press
Tor

Best Anthology
One Million A.D., Gardner Dozois, ed. (SFBC)
Salon Fantastique, Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling, eds. (Thunder's Mouth Press)
The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Nineteenth Annual Collection, Ellen Datlow, Kelly Link & Gavin Grant, eds. (St. Martin's)
The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Third Annual Collection, Gardner Dozois, ed. (St. Martin's)
Year's Best SF 11, David G. Hartwell & Kathryn Cramer, eds. (Eos)

Best Collection
The Best of Philip José Farmer, Philip José Farmer (Subterranean Press)
The Empire of Ice Cream, Jeffrey Ford (Golden Gryphon Press)
Fragile Things, Neil Gaiman (Morrow; Headline Review)
Galactic North, Alastair Reynolds (Gollancz)
The Ladies of Grace Adieu and other stories, Susanna Clarke (Bloomsbury)

Best Editor
Jim Baen
Ellen Datlow
Gardner Dozois
David G. Hartwell
Gordon Van Gelder

Best Artist
Bob Eggleton
Donato Giancola
John Picacio
Charles Vess
Michael Whelan

Best Non-Fiction
About Writing, Samuel R. Delany (Wesleyan University Press)
Blood & Thunder: The Life & Art of Robert E. Howard, Mark Finn (MonkeyBrain Books)
The Darkening Garden: A Short Lexicon of Horror, John Clute (Payseur & Schmidt)
James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon, Julie Phillips (St. Martin's)
Myths for the Modern Age: Philip José Farmer's Wold Newton Universe, Win Scott Eckert (MonkeyBrain Books)

Best Art Book
Cathy & Arnie Fenner, eds. Spectrum 13: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art(Underwood)
Edward Gorey, Amphigorey Again (Harcourt)
John Jude Palencar, Origins (Underwood Books)
John Picacio, Cover Story (MonkeyBrain Books)
Boris Vallejo & Julie Bell, The Fabulous Women of Boris Vallejo and Julie Bell (HarperCollins/Collins Design)


The locus award is like the peoples choice awards, less prestigious than the Oscars or Hugos, but its voted on by the public at large.

I'd have liked to see a few more of my choices on there. Infoquake for best Sci-Fi, Lies of Locke Lamora for best Fantasy, Pyr for publisher. I mean really Baen? Sure they did Tuff Voyaging and the Vorksagian books, but when your horse these days is John Ringo? No accounting for taste I suppose.

Hugo Short List

The full list

Novel
Michael F. Flynn, Eifelheim (Tor)
Naomi Novik, His Majesty’s Dragon (Del Rey; also, Voyager, 1/06, as Temeraire)
Charles Stross, Glasshouse (Ace)
Vernor Vinge, Rainbows End (Tor)
Peter Watts, Blindsight (Tor)

Novella
“The Walls of the Universe” by Paul Melko (Asimov’s, April/May 2006)
“A Billion Eyes” by Robert Reed (Asimov’s, October/November 2006)
“Inclination” by William Shunn (Asimov’s, April/May 2006)
“Lord Weary’s Empire” by Michael Swanwick (Asimov’s, December 2006)
Julian: A Christmas Story by Robert Charles Wilson (PS Publishing)

Novelette“Yellow Card Man” by Paolo Bacigalupi (Asimov’s, December 2006)
“Dawn, and Sunset, and the Colours of the Earth” by Michael F. Flynn (Asimov’s, December 2006)
“The Djinn’s Wife” by Ian McDonald (Asimov’s, July 2006)
“All the Things You Are” by Mike Resnick (Jim Baen’s Universe, October 2006)
“Pol Pot’s Beautiful Daughter” by Geoff Ryman (F&SF, October/November 2006)

Short Story
“How to Talk to Girls at Parties” by Neil Gaiman (Fragile Things, William Morrow)
“Kin” by Bruce McAllister (Asimov’s, February 2006)
“Impossible Dreams” by Timothy Pratt (Asimov’s, July 2006)
“Eight Episodes” by Robert Reed (Asimov’s, June 2006)
“The House Beyond Your Sky” by Benjamin Rosenbaum (Strange Horizons, September 2006)

Related Book
Samuel R. Delany, About Writing: Seven Essays, Four Letters, and Five Interviews (Wesleyan University Press)
Joseph T. Major, Heinlein’s Children: The Juveniles (Advent: Publishing)
Julie Phillips, James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon (St. Martin’s Press)
John Picacio, Cover Story: The Art of John Picacio (MonkeyBrain Books)
Mike Resnick & Joe Siclari, eds., Worldcon Guest of Honor Speeches (ISFiC Press)

Dramatic Presentation, Long Form
Children of Men. Screenplay by Alfonso Cuaron and Timothy J. Sexton. Directed by Alfonso Cuaron. (Universal Pictures)
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest. Screenplay by Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio. Directed by Gore Verbinski. (Disney)
The Prestige. Screenplay by Jonathan Nolan and Christopher Nolan. Directed by Christopher Nolan. (Warner Brothers / Touchstone Pictures)
A Scanner Darkly. Screenplay by Richard Linklater. Directed by Richard Linklater. (Warner Independent Pictures)
V for Vendetta. Screenplay by David Lloyd. Directed by James McTeigue. (Warner Brothers)

Dramatic Presentation, Short Form
Battlestar Galactica, “Downloaded.” Writers Bradley Thompson and David Weddle. Directed by Jeff Woolnough. (NBC Universal/British Sky)
Doctor Who, “Army of Ghosts” and “Doomsday.” Written by Russell T. Davies. Directed by Graeme Harper. (BBC Wales/BBC1)
Doctor Who, “Girl in the Fireplace.” Written by Steven Moffat. Directed by Euros Lyn. (BBC Wales/BBC1)
Doctor Who, “School Reunion.” Written by Toby Whithouse. Directed by James Hawes. (BBC Wales/BBC1)
Stargate SG-1, “200.” Written by Brad Wright, Robert C. Cooper, Joseph Mallozzi, Paul Mullie, Carl Binder, Martin Gero, and Alan McCullough. Directed by Martin Wood. (Double Secret Productions/NBC Universal)

Editor, Long Form
Lou Anders (Pyr)
James Patrick Baen (Baen Books)
Ginjer Buchanan (Ace Books/Roc)
David G. Hartwell (Tor Books)
Patrick Nielsen Hayden (Tor Books)

Editor, Short Form
Gardner Dozois (The Year’s Best Science Fiction)
David G. Hartwell (Year’s Best SF / The New York Review of Science Fiction)
Stanley Schmidt (Analog)
Gordon Van Gelder (Fantasy and Science Fiction)
Sheila Williams (Asimov’s)


Professional Artist
Bob Eggleton
Donato Giancola
Stephan Martiniere
John Jude Palencar
John Picacio

Semiprozine
Ansible, ed. Dave Langford
Interzone, ed. Andy Cox
Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet, ed. Gavin J. Grant & Kelly Link
Locus, ed. Charles N. Brown, Kirsten Gong-Wong, & Liza Groen Trombi
The New York Review of Science Fiction, ed. Kathryn Cramer, David G. Hartwell, & Kevin J. Maroney

Fanzine
Banana Wings ed. Claire Brialey & Mark Plummer
Challenger ed. Guy Lillian III
The Drink Tank ed. Christopher J. Garcia
Plokta ed. Alison Scott, Steve Davies, & Mike Scott
Science-Fiction Five-Yearly ed. Lee Hoffman, Geri Sullivan, & Randy Byers

Fan Writer
Chris Garcia
John Hertz
Dave Langford
John Scalzi
Steven H. Silver

Fan Artist
Brad W. Foster
Teddy Harvia
Sue Mason
Steve Stiles
Frank Wu

John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer
Scott Lynch
Sarah Monette
Naomi Novik
Brandon Sanderson
Lawrence M. Schoen

Comments :

So No Lies of Locke Lamora. Outrageous! No R.Scott Bakker. Scandelous!
But other than that the Best Novel category has some quality names. Watts, is now my horse, and I pegged him for the win as soon as I read Blindsight. Vinge is always a Hugo Favorite. I'm a Charlie Stross Fan and Glasshouse makes it four years in a row for him as a best novel nominee. Its also nice to see the newcomer Novik here.

Of the shorter categories the Gaiman work is the only one I've read, so its hard for me to comment, buy judging by some of the nominee's other works I like Wilson, and McDonald.

Next to Lies not being up, the category that chaps my hide is Dranatic Short. I shouldn't be suprised, but the extremely mediocre Dr. Who gets three nominations while BSG gets only one. Even more shocking is the lone nomination wasnt for the wonderful Exodus' part 2 or even Lay Down your Burdens, but for Downloaded, a rather forgetable episdode.

I'm much more satisfied seeing Patrik Neilson Hayden and Lou Anders nominated for best editor, and for Picacio's Coverstory being up for related work. Picacio, Martineire, andGiancola are a hell of a group in the best artist category.

The group of writes up for the Campbell Award are very strong as well, My feelings were a bit molified in seeing Lynch nominted here at least. He's got strong competition from Sanderson, Monnette, and of course Novik here. I'd argue for the inclusion of one or two other's but that would be nitpicking.

The most intriguing name on the list is that of John Scalzi, last years winner of the Campbell Award, as well as a nominee for best novel. Scalzi, isn't up for any of his books however. He's up for Best Fan Writer! I'm pleased to see it as Whatever is a great site.

I'm still debating if I'm going to get a supporting membership to Nippon. I likely will if only so I have a right to bitch when Watts, Lynch, and BSG get hosed.

Coming Soon : Brasyl

I finished reading an advanced review copy of this book last week. I'm still digesting it. This one definitely calls for some reflection. I'll post a review closer to the May release from PYR

Hugo Nominations

I filled out my ballot last Friday.

If you were a member of LA con IV or are a member of Nippon 2007 don't forget to get your nominations in by March 3rd.

Its probably to late to mail in your ballot but you can nominate online here.

My personal pimp is to recommend The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch for Best Novel and Scott for the Campbell Award.

I also found out that your favorite bloggers are eligible for best Fan Writer, so despite its recent hiatus, think about nominating William Lexner for I Hope I Didn't Just Give Away the Ending .

My final recommendation is for Best Dramatic Presentation Short Form. Battlestar Galactica Exodus Pt.2 is easily the best television I saw last year. One of the best ever imo. So despite the dramatic fall off in the quality of the show since that episode airing give it the love it deserves.

If you need some help in other categories suggestions can be found several places.

Live Journal Community

SF Revu

NESFA

Locus

Clarkesworld is closing its virtual doors

I was dissapointed to read the below post regarding the closing of Clarkesworld Books.

I had the chance to talk with Neil for awhile at Boskone last year, and he's a very nice guy. Clarkesworld was an outstanding alternative to Amazon and it will be missed. I wish Neil and his family the best in their future endeavors.

Clarkesworld: The Final Chapter

I started Clarkesworld Books seven years ago and each year, it
has outperformed the prior year. I'm the only employee, but the store uses my home as its storage space, so in effect my wife and kids are honorary staff. I couldn't ask for a more supportive team.

A few weeks ago, we found out that we're expecting our third child. Life takes these little unexpected turns every now and then. This particular one requires living space and that space is currently occupied by a bookstore that has nowhere else to go. After much consideration, I'msad to say that I'm going to be closing the store. I've considered all the options and this is the one that makes the most sense for my soon to be expanding family. If you know how much this business has meant to me,
you know this wasn't an easy decision.

I owe a lot to everyone that has supported us over the years. I feel a bit like I'm letting people down, but this is something I have to do. Family comes first. Clarkesworld is not big enough to take on the staff we'd need to continue (babies need time), and I certainly can't afford the cost
of rent here in NJ. My wife will also need my help to keep her (more profitable) business going.

Everyone who has a preorder in with us will receive their books, but I'll probably stop taking more preorders in the next week or so. The website will continue to be maintained and I will take orders for in-stock books for as long as it takes to sell them all off.

Some of you are probably wondering what this will do to Clarkesworld Magazine. None of the reasons for closing the store apply to the magazine. I have every intention of keeping the magazine going and quite probably taking advantage of a few other related opportunities that are presenting themselves.

Running the store has been a personally rewarding experience. I've met many new friends over the years and never ceased to be amazed by how good some people were to us. Thanks to all of you from all of us.

Take care,
-Neil
Neil Clarke

February 10, 2007

Move Under Ground

Nick Mamatas has released his novel Move Under Ground online under the Creative Commons License.

Download it for FREE here.

http://www.moveunderground.org/

This book has been sitting on my shelves for awhile. I really need to move it up the queue, as I've heard great things about it.

“It’s Kerouac vs. Cthulhu as the most human of writers tangles with the
most inhuman horror. Move Under Ground is a wild, weird ride, and Nick Mamatas
shows awesome chops as well as some sad and funky soul.”—Stewart O’Nan.

Lies of Locke Lamora : limited edition

The cover art for the LoLL ltd ed.
Very pretty.
I have pre ordered my copy from Clarkesworld. It can be purchased directly from Subterranean press also.

Here is the author's blurb on this. *note it actually is scheduled for May release.

In March or April, Subterranean Press will be releasing a high-quality limited edition of The Lies of Locke Lamora.

I believe the run will be 500 Merely Rockin' Limited Edition hardcovers and 15 Ultra Fucking Rad Super Rockin' Edition versions. Obviously those aren't the 'official' descriptions, but what could be better than Ultra Fucking Rad? The answer is nothing. Nothing's better.

This edition of TLOLL will have an original color cover and four color interior illustrations by Edward Miller (http://www.lesedwards.com), and every single one will be signed by yours truly.

If they sell, Bill at SubPress rubs his hands with glee* at the thought of producing a subsequent collector's edition of each book in the Gentleman Bastard sequence. So you know what you need to do-- skip that next meal, ignore your pressing medical concerns, and default on your rent, baby, because there's fresh, pipin' hot books to be had.

*I, of course, do not so much rub my hands together as generate an invisible electromagnetic Glee Field strong enough to knock migrating birds out of the sky.

I went for the merely rockin' edition. I believe the Ultra Rad editions are sold out. I don't normally buy special editions, but I loved this book so much I made an exception.

A Song of Ice and Fire : The Series

From Variety:


HBO has acquired the rights to turn George R.R. Martin's bestselling fantasy series "A Song of Fire and Ice" into a dramatic series to be written and exec produced by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss.
"Fire" is the first TV project for Benioff ("Troy") and Weiss ("Halo") and will shoot in Europe or New Zealand. Benioff and Weiss will write every episode of each season together save one, which the author (a former TV writer) will script.
The series will begin with the 1996 first book, "A Game of Thrones," and the intention is for each novel (they average 1,000 pages each) to fuel a season's worth of episodes. Martin has nearly finished the fifth installment, but won't complete the seven-book cycle until 2011.
The author will co-exec produce the series along with Management 360's Guymon Casady and Created By's Vince Gerardis.
Martin's series has drawn comparisons to J.R.R. Tolkien, because both are period epics set in imagined lands. But Martin has eschewed Tolkien's good-vs.-evil theme in favor of flawed characters from seven noble families.
The book has a decidedly adult bent, with sex and violence comparable to series like "Rome" and "Deadwood."
"They tried for 50 years to make 'Lord of the Rings' as one movie before Peter Jackson found success making three," Martin said. "My books are bigger and more complicated, and would require 18 movies. Otherwise, you'd have to choose one or two characters."
Aside from writing the most recent draft of "Halo," Weiss recently adapted the William Gibson novel "Pattern Recognition" for WB and director Peter Weir.
Benioff and Weiss were repped by CAA and Management 360.

Please let this happen and be good. I'm totally excited about this. HBO has a damn good track record in developing cutting edge television series. I'm not familiar with Beinoff and Weiss. Tray, while a bit disappointed was visually entertaining. Plus with George's background in tv, I think this is a great fit, feature films would never work.

Nebula Ballot

The preliminary ballot for this year's Nebula awards is out.

The Nebulas have an odd calender year, eligiblity is work released from March of 2005 thru Feb of 2006.
The canidates for Best Novel are ok, there might be a couple I'd rather see on there, but as I've not read most of these, I'll not argue.
Nebula Awards weekend is May 11-13 in NY, with James Gunn to be named Grandmaster.

Book Sale!

Neil at Clarkesworld is having in inventory reduction sale
Click here for details.

over 1500 titles have had their priced slashed!

John M. Ford 1957-2006

R.I.P. to Mike Ford who passed away this morning. It was reported on Making Light today.

Mike was a local author whom I had to end up going to Boston to meet. I only got to talk to him for the few moments it took him to sign my books, but he was very gracious and engaging. Other authors such as Elizabeth Bear, Steven Brust, and Charles Stross are lamenting his loss on the LJ circuit. This truly is a great loss for Speculative Fiction. Mike wrote two of the best books, I've ever read in The Dragon Waiting, and The Last Hot Time. He also has several collections of short stories, as well as a couple of the most highly regarded Star Trek novels ever to his credit.

Its criminal that authors such as Terry Goodkind and Robert Newcombe achieve such commercial success, while a man like Mike Ford toils in obscurity. If you have never read Ford, go out and do it.

The Hugo Awards

I'll start with a brief run down of the winners and then get to commentary.

John W. Campbell Award
John Scalzi

Best Fan Artist
Frank Wu

Best Fan Writer
Dave Langford

Best Fanzine
Plokta

Best Semiprozine
Locus

Best Professional Artist
Donato Giancola

Best Professional Editor
David G. Hartwell

Best Dramatic presentation, Short Form
Dr. Who the Empty Child

Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form
Serenity

Best Related Book
Storyteller : Kate Wilhelm

Best Short Story
Tk' tk' tk' : David D. Levine

Best Novellete
Two Hearts : Peter Beagle

Best Novella
Inside Job : Connie Willis

Best Novel
Spin : Robert Charles Wilson

Special Awards were also given to Betty Balantine and Harlan Ellison and Forrey Ackerman was given the Big Heart Award, which was renamed in his honor.

Now my commentary on the results

I wasn't happy with them.
I did not purchase a membership in time to vote, but had I vote, the only choice of mine to win would have been Serenity.

Now I'm a total GRRM fanboy, I've gotten to meet him and chat with him several times, and I really wanted him to win "the big one". But I'm also a realist, and while I think A Storm of Swords is one of the best novels ever written and was robbed, A Feast for Crows was not the book that was going to do it for him. Spin and Accelerando were both extremely tough competition, and Spin likely was deserving.

I also though Magic for Beginners was brilliant, and figured it was a shoe-in for Novella. I'm wondering if Willis didn't get some votes because she was GoH.

Dr. Who beating BSG was also hard to understand... Actually the who voting process is hard to understand. When leaving the awards we were given a printout of the official results. I wish there was an explanation as to how it worked because looking at the results BSG had more first place votes than Dr. Who, the empty child.... in fact is appears to have more votes for Everglade except for last.

This seems to have occurred several times, AFFC had the 3rd most first place votes and finished 5th. John Picacio had the 3rd most votes and finished 5th. Its all very confusing.


Now this was my first Worldcon and my first Hugo Awards. I really enjoyed the ceremony. It did drag on a few times, but for the most part it was very entertaining. The by play between Connie Willis and Robert Silverberg was a highlight. And then of course there was Harlan.
The man is a total dick. However, I find him to be an amusing dick, so I enjoyed his rant. Swallowing the mic was a hoot. Then of course there was "boobgate". IMO it was wrong. But I think some are making a mountain out of a foothill.

The most amusing thing to come out of the hugos to me personally was the rant by William Lexner at I hope I didn't just give away the ending. Looks like he got all the old guard of fandom riled up. Now William is a friend of mine, in fact he was my roommate at Worldcon, and I sat next to him at the Hugos. The man certainly can come off as bombastic, but in reality, he's one of the nicest guys you could meet. That said I know he is getting a kick out of the angry SMOFs. I mean they call themselves Secret Masters of Fandom... They deserve a bit of chain yanking now and again. Kevin Standlee has been one of the biggest critics. Check it out here.
He was also accused of causing Cheryl Morgan to close Emerald City.

Ahhh Good times....Good times.

New Scott Lynch Message Board

The inesteemable OsRavan has started a message board dedicated to Author Scott Lynch.

Check it out HERE.