Archives: 2009 November

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Featured Author

James David Audlin, author of The Circle of Life; novelist, poet, playwright; most fiction based on dreams. Ordained in several religions; multilingual; instrumentalist-composer; jamesdavidaudlin.com under construction.

Featured Book

Sixteen science fiction writers speculate on climate change.

Nebula Awards Weekend

The Forty-Seventh Nebula Awards Weekend will be held Thursday through Sunday, May 17 to May 20, 2012 at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City in Arlington, Virginia, near Reagan National Airport.

We honor Connie Willis as our Grand Master!

To register, click on “Registration” in the menu to the immediate left. Then scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on the “Register” button.

Tours, workshops and panels are available for registered attendees (the number of people who can be accommodated on the tours and workshops is limited.) Active and Associate SFWA members may nominate works, until February 15th, for the awards to be presented at the May 19th Nebula Awards Weekend Banquet. Hour long interviews and readings will be recorded by Jim Freund for his Hour of the Wolf radio show broadcast on WBAI (99.5FM) in New York City.

Jon Williams is our Toastmaster (he will also conduct a half-day Writers Workshop on Friday morning.) Mike Fincke is our Keynote Speaker.

The Mass Autographing Session on Friday, May 18th will be followed by a reception to honor the nominees and other honorees.

You don’t have to be a nominee, a member of SFWA, or even a writer to participate in the weekend. Registration for the 2012 Nebula Awards Weekend is open now. The cost for the Nebula Awards Banquet is $75.00 per person. The cost to register is $50.00 for a SFWA Member and $60.00 for a non-SFWA Member until February 29, 2012. Rates for registration will be higher as the date of the event draws closer.

Results from the 2010 Nebula Awards (presented 2011).

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Archive for November, 2009

Kindle Nation Daily features Rocket Boy & the Geek Girls

Monday, November 23rd, 2009

Kindle Nation Daily has featured Book View Café’s Rocket Boy & the Geek Girls along with a story from the anthology.

“Ask Arlen,” by Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff, is available to read for free at the Kindle Nation Daily blogsite:

An anthology of classic and favorite science fiction stories by the BVC authors, never before gathered in a single collection, Rocket Boy and the Geek Girls is the premier title from Book View Press.

The book is available in multiple formats in the ebookstore at bookviewcafe.com

Posted in Press Book | Comments Off

“The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland In A Ship Of Her Own Making” by Catherynne M. Valente

Sunday, November 22nd, 2009

“The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland In A Ship Of Her Own Making” by Catherynne M. Valente
November, 2009, Free Online Novel

Tags: Catherynne M. Valente, The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland In A Ship Of Her Own Making., Valente
Posted in Nebula Suggested Reading, Norton Award | Comments Off

“Up” by Bob Peterson and Pete Docter

Sunday, November 22nd, 2009

“Up” by Bob Peterson and Pete Docter
Pixar, May, 2009

Tags: Bob Peterson, Bob Peterson and Pete Docter, Docter, Pete Docter, Peterson, Up
Posted in Bradbury Award, Nebula Suggested Reading | Comments Off

Quick Updates for 2009-11-22

Sunday, November 22nd, 2009

@redrobinreader @melissablue13 We're aware of Thomas Nelson, but they've never been on our qualifying publishers list and wouldn't qualify. in reply to redrobinreader #
@melissablue13 It's a mix of Writer Beware, volunteers and members. We have a contracts committee that reviews for industry standards. in reply to melissablue13 #
@redrobinreader "Them?" being Thomas Nelson? Correct, if "disqualified" in this context means they were on our list and then removed. in reply to redrobinreader #
@redrobinreader The way qualification works is that an applicant requests that we add a market. We research. Meet standards? They get added. in reply to redrobinreader #
@redrobinreader If they don't meet standards, they get added to this list. http://is.gd/51euD Usually, that's how it goes. in reply to redrobinreader #
@redrobinreader Happy to help. That's why I have the stalker search set for "SFWA." in reply to redrobinreader #
Welcome to SFWA's newest Active member, Kate Milford, whose novel "The Boneshaker" comes out in 2010. http://www.clockworkfoundry.com #
Welcome to SFWA's newest Active member, Carlos J. Cortes and his novel "Perfect Circle" from Bantam. http://www.carlosjcortes.com #
Incidentally, Carlos is our 100th new member since the new website went live. #
@inkhaven Thanks! For comparison, we had 98 total new members for all of the preceding year. in reply to inkhaven #
@MattStaggs There's a spot in the members' only area to post electronic versions. Would you like to do that? in reply to mattstaggs #
SFWA members: if you'd like a copy of James Morrow's novella "Shambling Toward Hiroshima" for consideration, let @MattStaggs know. #
@MattStaggs Email me (Mary Robinette Kowal) at secretary@sfwa.org and I'll help with that. in reply to mattstaggs #
SFWA members: If we aren't following you, could you tweet "I'm a SFWA member" so we can follow your news? #
@MattStaggs Awesome. in reply to mattstaggs #
@Nightwolfwriter Thanks! Got you on the list now. in reply to Nightwolfwriter #
@DeannaHoak Good heavens. Why weren't we already following you since I clearly know that! in reply to DeannaHoak #
@skyesblue No, I'm afraid not. We keep a thumbs-down warning list. in reply to skyesblue #
@skyesblue You can also look in our directory since we have several agents as affiliate members. in reply to skyesblue #
@Berry_k Got you! Thanks. in reply to Berry_k #
@jennreese Wonderful, thank you! in reply to jennreese #
@AlanSmale Thanks Alan, I've added you. in reply to AlanSmale #
RT @jasonsanford: Black Static seeks already published online H/SF/F flash fiction to highlight during December. http://3.ly/0fS #
@AlyxDellamonica Thanks! We are following you. Does that sound too stalkery? in reply to AlyxDellamonica #
@cynthia_ward Wonderful! I've added you to the list. in reply to cynthia_ward #

Tags: twitter
Posted in Excluded Categories | Comments Off

Quick Updates for 2009-11-21

Saturday, November 21st, 2009

Resources

The Examiner has a very good article about the difference between self-publishing & vanity imprints.

Member News

Congratulations to Paolo Bacigalupi, whose novel Windup Girl was just named in Library Journal’s Best Books of 2009!

Tags: Paulo Bacigalupi, twitter
Posted in News, SFWA Blog | Comments Off

How semantics can help you! Part 3

Friday, November 20th, 2009

by Juliette Wade

I thought I’d discuss that ubiquitous genre activity – the one that always drives my spell-checker insane – making up words. Thereafter, I’ll give a little thought to the idea of redefining existing words.

I’m guessing that after my last post you can imagine how making up words contributes to an effect of foreignness. Whenever you replace an English word with a foreign one, you lose every connotation and context associated with that English word. The feeling provided by the newly created word will depend on the evocativeness of its pronunciation. This may come from an association with Earth languages that it resembles (which will give the new word some of the contextual association with the language in question), or from general principles of onomatopoeia (such as the association of voiced sounds/o/u with large or loud things, and voiceless sounds/a/i with small or quiet things). Any further associations will have to be deliberately provided by the writer.

I’ve often heard it said that “if it’s a rabbit, call it a rabbit.” I tend to agree with this. After all, why put your reader to the trouble of divesting a word of all its associations if the people in your story use a word with precisely the same associations?

Another created word context is that of words coined from combinations of other words (or parts thereof). This most often occurs in science fiction, when you’ll find people using comlinks and any number of other more exotic things. These words retain and combine associations, provided that the parts of the word are recognized and can be successfully extrapolated.

If you’re using a created word, think through what associations you want it to have. It’s not hard to show a reader through demonstration what the denotation of the word is. By all means, do so – but don’t stop there. For your word to take on life and feel real in the world of the story, it will help if it comes with some of the other types of associations that our words commonly do. I’m thinking of emotional connotations. Here’s an example.

Let’s say you have a word, Korinye, which means a particular type of police officer. In order to define it for the reader, you put one of these on a street corner (or chasing the protagonist, etc.) , point him or her out and say “watch out for the Korinye.” But that alone doesn’t tell you how the Korinye group is regarded in society, whether for example they’re a secret police for a fascist government or whether they’re just a friendly policeman on the beat (who nevertheless won’t be on your side if you steal from the shops). As you go through the story, think about whose point of view you’re in, and how that person regards Korinye in different contexts. Their view of Korinye can even change over the story. Or you can have alternate points of view to show that some people consider the Korinye to be upholders of the law, while others consider them to be ruthless brigands who pillage in the name of the law. Don’t just let your word sit; let it expand just a little each time you use it.

In general I’d suggest that you keep the most subtlety, the most extensive building and explanation only for words that are key to your main conflict. This may be a bias of mine, but why make people put a lot of effort into a word that will give them little reward? Of course, this does assume that you want the reader to feel like an “insider” with the word(s) in question. If you have a human going to an alien planet and feeling lost because all the words are different, then keeping to the human viewpoint will probably mean not explaining any of the alien words.

You can also turn this around. What if you’re in the alien viewpoint? It may surprise you, but my first suggestion for an alien viewpoint is this: Minimize the number of created words.

Part of putting your reader in an alien’s head means making him or her feel comfortable there. So have the alien give not very much thought to things he/she doesn’t feel are important. Names of animals, for example, can be tossed in with just a couple words of context, and even used as metaphors for other things, like “he was mad as a cornered ughara.” Give much more attention to those concepts that will allow readers to understand the alien’s motives. These concepts don’t even need to have made-up names.

Yes, I am suggesting that you can redefine English words rather than putting in created ones every time. Sure, your alien may have an idiosyncratic sense of honor, but you don’t have to call it “zinni” or anything else. Instead, use strategically designed context and explanations to designate the associations that you want, and pluck away the ones you don’t. In my forthcoming Analog story, Cold Words, the aliens have a very distinct set of social judgments associated with the words Warm and Cold (but not Hot). Since these are integral to the plot, I spend some time building them up contextually. The other word I change in that story is “friend.” This one works slightly differently because it is a concept that the aliens do not have. I have to treat it carefully because as you might imagine, this does not mean they don’t have close relationships. In order to change it, I have my character give some conscious thought to what it means and how it fits into the relationships he is familiar with.

I love this stuff – in particular the relation between words and social meaning, which will lead us into our next topics, pragmatics and sociolinguistics. This will be the final post on semantics unless any of my readers have specific questions. If you do, please feel free to comment and ask.

–

How morphology can help you! is reprinted by permission of the author.

Juliette Wade is an author of science fiction and fantasy who loves language and its cultural consequences. Her fiction appears in Analog and other short fiction magazines. She has degrees in Linguistics, Anthropology and Japanese.