7 Mar 2006

Nebula Awards Final Ballot

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Finalists for this year’s Nebula Awards have been announced. They are:

Novel
Air by Geoff Ryman, Camouflage by Joe Haldeman, Going Postal by Terry Pratchett, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke, Polaris by Jack McDevitt, and Orphans of Chaos by John C. Wright

Novella
“Clay’s Pride” by Bud Sparhawk, “Identity Theft” by Robert J. Sawyer, “Left of the Dial” by Paul Witcover, “Magic for Beginners” by Kelly Link, and “The Tribes of Bela” by Albert Cowdrey

Novelette
“The Faery Handbag” by Kelly Link, “Flat Diane” by Daniel Abraham, “Men Are Trouble” by Jim Kelly, “Nirvana High” by Eileen Gunn and Leslie What, and “The People of Sand and Slag” by Paolo Bacigalupi

Short Story
“Born-Again” by K.D. Wentworth, “The End of the World as We Know It” by Dale Bailey, “I Live With You” by Carol Emshwiller, “My Mother, Dancing” by Nancy Kress, “Singing My Sister Down” by Margo Lanagan, “Still Life With Boobs” by Anne Harris, and “There’s a Hole in the City” by Richard Bowes

Script
“Act of Contrition”/”You Can’t Go Home Again” by Carla Robinson, Bradley Thompson and David Weddle, (2-part episode of Battlestar Galactica); and Serenity by Joss Whedon

Not a Nebula, but to be awarded at the same time, the first annual award for outstanding Young Adult SF or fantasy novel:

Andre Norton Award
The Amethyst Road by Louise Spiegler, Siberia by Ann Halam, Stormwitch by Susan Vaught, and Valiant: A Modern Tale of Faerie by Holly Black

The Nebula and the Andre Norton Awards are voted on and conferred by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA). Winners will be announced at the Nebula Awards Banquet in Tempe, Ariz., on May 6. (I won’t be there, I’m sorry to say, but best wishes to all the nominees.)

If you look at the same list at SFWA.org, you’ll find links to online copies of many of the shorter works.

3 Mar 2006

What do Jupiter’s Spots, Warplanes, Dodoes, and Memes Have in Common?

posted in: Uncategorized | 0

Answer: they all showed up in my inbox today.

From NASA Science News, Jupiter is growing a new red spot!

If you like pictures of cool aircraft as much as I do, follow this link from Keith Truesdale to pictures from the Moscow Air Show.

From Live Science, via blog reader Marco, news of what sounds like a funny and thought-provoking movie, in which a filmmaker portrays evolutionary scientists as a “Flock of Dodos.”

And finally, an email inviting a response from me for a new blog called Meme Therapy. It looks promising, and it already has some comments by top SF writers. (I don’t have a response yet, but it’s on the burner.)

3 Mar 2006

Electric Grapes and Strawberry Pop Tart Torches

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An article in the latest SFWA Bulletin dovetailed nicely with a home-experiment tip we picked up last summer from our friend, astronomer Larry Molnar. The tip was about cool science you can do with ordinary household grapes and your microwave. The article in the Bulletin mentioned this, and also discussed the brave science you can do with a strawberry Pop Tart and an electric toaster—preferably one you never intend to use again. You can read about both experiments, at http://www.pmichaud.com/grape/ and at http://www.pmichaud.com/toast/.

If you try these at home, just don’t blame me. (Actually, we tried the one with grapes, and it’s pretty cool.)

2 Mar 2006

Nanotubes, Space Elevators, and Tourism Draw Closer to Reality

posted in: science fiction | 0

Having escaped from the den of mind-control aliens [brushing the dust off my sleeves], I am now on to cheerier subjects. In case you haven’t kept up with progress in space entrepreneurship, there’s a series of articles at CNNMoney.com on the prospects for profit-making enterprises in space—including cheaper delivery to orbit, carbon nanotubes and space elevators, and industrial and tourist parks.

This is a great reason to exercise and eat right—so we can live long enough to see this stuff happen, and maybe catch a ride topside for a firsthand look at space!

2 Mar 2006

President Bush is an Alien

posted in: public affairs, quirky, science fiction | 0

Or controlled by one. That seems the best explanation, to me.

I just finished reading an SF novel by Timothy Zahn called, Night Train to Rigel, an entertaining yarn about mystery and intrigue aboard an interstellar train. At the risk of giving away a teensy bit of the plot, I’ll reveal here that one aspect of the story involves alien mind control over important leaders. Not in itself a new idea, but it works well in the context.

It also works well in the context of puzzling out the bizarrely un-American behavior of our current administration (and here I’m using “American” in the good sense—that is, standing for peace, justice, and equal rights under the law). Now, some of you probably think I’m just harping on the same old thing, and I suppose there’s some truth to that. But not without reasons. The most recent two are the failure of Congress to haul White House officials up on the illegal wiretapping of American citizens, and the recent article in the New Yorker about high-level condoning of abuse and torture of prisoners. Garrison Keillor, writing on Salon.com, has efficiently summarized the gist of the article, or you can read the entire article in the Feb 27 issue of the New Yorker. I couldn’t find the article online, but there’s an interesting Q&A with the author of the article, Jane Mayer.

It’s more of the same, of course, always more of the same. And now, today, from the Natural Resources Defense Council, comes news that Bush is yet again trying open the Arctic Wildlife Refuge, this time by putting it into the federal budget package. No matter how many times we knock this madness down, it keeps popping up again like a weeble.

So I’m almost right there with Garrison Keillor—there’s more than enough reason to impeach the sonofabitch. Except…that would leave Dick Cheney in charge. And he’s the head alien pod-person. So I guess the only hope is to go after the aliens themselves, before they take control of more of us.

Before they…ohno they’re coming after mew#$f^zzzzzzzzzzz…….what’s that buzzing in my ear…?

What was I saying? Oh, I remember now. I like our president….

1 Mar 2006

Happy Birthday!

posted in: personal news | 0

Lest I seem all dark and gloomy, let me hasten to add that today was my wife’s birthday! (Well, it’s yesterday now, but it still feels like today to me.) We’ve been together for over 20 years now, and it was a joy to celebrate with her and with the girls. She’s a supportive and trusting wife, an intelligent and funny companion, and a bedrock to the raising of our daughters. And the best friend I ever had. Happy birthday, Allysen!

1 Mar 2006

More on Octavia Butler

posted in: science fiction, writing | 0

A fine remembrance of Octavia Butler appeared in the Washington Post.

I heard from a friend in Seattle—who isn’t even an SF reader—that a memorial reading is planned, in which many SF writers from the Northwest will take turns reading from her work. That seems very fitting.

Too much death and threat of death around lately. I have one dear friend whose husband is dying of cancer, and another good friend whose health is failing and whose life has been so hammered by legal and financial injustices that he is dependent upon charity for medical care.

We all know that life isn’t fair. But sometimes you really wonder.

28 Feb 2006

We Lose Another Great: Octavia Butler

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Science fiction author Octavia Butler died last weekend, following a fall outside her home in the Seattle area. And the science fiction world, and all of the world, have lost another great treasure. She was the first black American woman to rise to prominence as a science fiction writer, and the first science fiction writer to receive a MacArthur Foundation genius grant. She was also widely acknowledged to be one of the finest writers in the field, regardless of race, gender, or another other arbitrary distinction. By the time you read this, there will probably be a number of stories online, but the two I saw first were from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and the Chicago Tribune.

I never knew her personally. But I feel her loss as a blow to the community I’m a part of—really, two communities, the one of humanity, and the more narrowly defined one of science fiction lovers. It also makes me think once more about the fleeting nature of life on this world, and how it seems a shame to do anything but try to use our time well.

21 Feb 2006

Writing Dialogue: Get Fuzzy

posted in: writing | 0

Followers of Get Fuzzy know that Bucky Katt has been hard at work on his film project. I’ve already mentioned it as guidance in how (not) to workshop a script. Today there’s a good illustration of a quick and easy way to…um, make sure that your dialogue is vivid and realistic. Check out today’s Get Fuzzy. Give a man a piece of dialogue, and he’ll write for a day. Teach him to write dialogue, and he’ll write for a lifetime.

And if you haven’t been following, jump back a few weeks in the archive and work your way forward.

21 Feb 2006

Boskone, and News about Galactica

posted in: Battlestar Galactica, personal news, science fiction, writing | 0

Well, I had a thoroughly pleasant time at Boskone. This took me a little by surprise, only because I was feeling all grumpy and not really in the mood to go out. I had to, though, because I was scheduled to be on panels. And once I got there and started seeing old friends, and making some new ones, I got into the spirit of it. I also thought this was the liveliest and most interesting Boskone I have seen in a number of years.

One pleasant result was encountering some fans who had already read Battlestar Galactica: the Miniseries. The feedback was all good. Perhaps the nicest was from a young woman who happens to be a Commander in the US Navy, and who is about to become captain of a guided missile destroyer. She said she thought I’d captured the feel of the story very well—and I took that as significant praise, coming from someone who actually knows what it’s like to run a military vessel. (The only ones I have ever been aboard have been museums, rather like what Galactica was scheduled to become before the pesky Cylons interfered.)

An encouraging sidelight was hearing from one of my writing buddies that he’d met with his editor and confirmed the sale of a new trilogy. Earning a living as a writer is not easy for any of us, and he’s no exception. I don’t know if I should mention his name here, so I’ll just say that it rhymes with Craig Shaw Gardner, and his writing style is very similar. I’ll let him announce the details once everything’s been inked.

And finally, I came home to see an email from my editor, telling me that Galactica has sold to a British publisher and has had a book club sale. Given that my biggest rationale for writing the book was to get my name back in front of the public (I didn’t know then that I was going to enjoy Galactica so much), this is very good news indeed. More readers, and—who knows—maybe even a little more money, in the long run.

(Which reminds me of something I want to write about—readers versus money. But later. Remind me if I forget.)

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