Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America

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Featured Author

Michael Bishop

Michael Bishop’s novels No Enemy But Time and Brittle Innings have won the Nebula Award and the Locus Award, respectively. He lives in Georgia.

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 January, 2010

Announcing SFWA’s 2010 Nebula Awards® Weekend, May 13-16

Thursday, January 28th, 2010

Chestertown, MD — Each year SFWA, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, presents the prestigious Nebula Awards® for the year’s best literary and dramatic works of speculative fiction. This year SFWA’s Nebula Awards® Weekend will be Thursday, May 13 through Sunday, May 16 in Cocoa Beach, Florida, on Cape Canaveral. The date was chosen to coincide with the scheduled launching of the Shuttle Atlantis on Friday, May 14. The Nebula Awards will be presented at a banquet on Saturday evening, May 15, 2010.

The Nebulas will be held at the Hilton Cocoa Beach Oceanfront, just 20 minutes from the Kennedy Space Center. The Friday launch of the shuttle Atlantis will be visible from the beach right outside the hotel. There will be various panels and workshops of interest to the sf/f community.

The Nebula Awards® Banquet will be Saturday night, May 15. Nebula Awards will be given for best short story, novelette, novella, and novel. The Andre Norton Award for Excellence in Science Fiction or Fantasy for Young Adults will also be presented. Renowned author Joe Haldeman will be honored as the Damon Knight Memorial Grandmaster, celebrating a career of extraordinary achievement in the field. Other awards to be presented include the Bradbury Award for excellence in screenwriting and the Solstice Award for outstanding contribution to the field.

The 2010 Nebula Weekend is open to all. Members of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America receive a discount. Early registration is recommended as space is limited and prices will go up on Monday April 5.

Click here for Registration forms and information. (more…)

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Quick Updates for 2010-01-28

Thursday, January 28th, 2010

  • Join the fun as @sfsignal asks who the next SFWA Grand Master should be as part of their latest Mind Meld. http://3.ly/pCc #
  • Remeber, tomorrow is the last day to make a decision about the Google Book Settlement. Http://googlebooksettlement.com #
  • @StaciaKane @LAGilman I've been on a plane all day. What did I miss about RWA? #
  • Welcome to SFWA's newest Active member, Stel Pavlou, author of "Decipher" http://www.stelpavlou.com #
  • @LAGilman @dianapfrancis Thanks for catching me up. #
  • Eric James Fullilove is running for Treasurer of SFWA. http://is.gd/7c3MN His platform will be posted shortly. #

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Quick Updates for 2010-01-27

Wednesday, January 27th, 2010

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Resources

Member News

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Video of the NYC Google Book Settlement Workshop

Tuesday, January 26th, 2010

The New York Chapter of the Internet Society is recorded video of the NYC Google Book Settlement Workshop. You may watch the two hour and fifteen minute workshop there or here.

With NWU President Larry Goldbetter moderating, the panel was

with additional input from:

Remember: January 28, 2010 is the last day to make a decision about opting in or out of the settlement.

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Congratulations to Crawford Award Winner Jedediah Berry

Tuesday, January 26th, 2010

SF Awards Watch reports that SFWA member Jedediah Berry has won the William L. Crawford Award.  Congratulations!

Jedediah Berry has been named the winner of this year’s William L. Crawford Award for his first novel The Manual of Detection.

The award, presented annually at the International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts, is designated for a new fantasy writer whose first book appeared the previous year. This year’s conference will be March 17-21 in Orlando, FL.

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Author Solutions CEO Wants to Talk to Writers’ “Guilds”

Tuesday, January 26th, 2010

Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware

In a video posted to YouTube on Friday, and in an accompanying press release, the CEO of Author Solutions, Kevin Weiss, invited the Romance Writers of America, the Mystery Writers of America, and the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (which he incorrectly dubbed the “Science Fiction Writers’ Association”–though I can’t fault him for this, as PW regularly gets it wrong as well) to sit down with him and other AS representatives to discuss the recent debate over AS’s “partnerships” with Harlequin and Thomas Nelson. (Weiss didn’t mention another professional writers’ group, NINC, which issued a strongly-worded statement in response to the debate.)

(To recap, if you have been living in a cave for the past six months: This fall, Harlequin and Nelson–both major commercial publishers–launched “self-publishing” divisions, whereby aspiring authors could pay a fee and have their books formatted, printed, and distributed online. Both divisions were run by AS. A storm of public criticism ensued, prompting RWA, MWA, and SFWA to issue public statements and to de-list Harlequin, Nelson, or both.)

From the press release:

“I’m inviting the three writers guilds who’ve expressed the greatest objections with the partnerships we’ve established with traditional publishing to sit down with us and discuss how we can improve the opportunity for their writers and the choice for readers,” Weiss said in the statement.

In response to ASI’s announcements of partnerships with traditional publishers, the three writer’s guilds led a campaign to discredit the publishers involved in creating these groundbreaking opportunities, even going so far as to de-list one as a qualified publisher. Weiss believes the guilds may not fully understand the role self-publishing can play in expanding options for writers and consumers while at the same time providing benefits to traditional publishers who are in the midst of tremendous upheaval.

“Not only do I want to discuss the differences they have with our business, as well as the partnership models that we’re engaging with traditional publishing, but I also want to discuss the things that we are doing and plan to do to advance the cause of their members on a daily basis,” Weiss said.

In the video, Weiss claims that “choice is under attack,” citing concerns that cheap ebooks and book retailers’ price wars will undercut publishers’ revenues, resulting in fewer chances for new authors and fewer choices for readers. The implication is that AS addresses that problem by making publishing services available to all (though I would find this more convincing if so many of AS’s services weren’t predatory and overpriced–there’s a good analysis at Shiloh Walker’s blog–and if, by Mr. Weiss’s own admission, the average sales for an AS title didn’t top out at 150).

Weiss also gets a couple of things wrong. I’ve already mentioned SFWA’s name; also, RWA, MWA, and SFWA didn’t de-list just one publisher, but both–MWA and SFWA by implication, since Thomas Nelson doesn’t really publish in their genres, RWA explicitly, by removing Nelson as well as Harlequin from its conference-eligible publisher list. Plus, the press release’s claim that RWA, MWA, and SFWA “led a campaign to discredit the publishers involved” is hyperbolic. The writers’ groups made strong responses, but most of the outcry came from individual writers (and involved Harlequin; Nelson more or less got a free pass), and it was largely the outcry that spurred the statements, not the other way around.

I’d also love to know exactly what it is that AS does to “advance the cause” of RWA, MWA, and SFWA members “on a daily basis”–especially given that authors cannot qualify for membership in MWA and SFWA on the basis of self-published books–but I guess Weiss is saving that for the sit-down.

Will a sit-down, if it happens, be productive? Good question. Part of the objection to the AS/Harlequin/Nelson “partnerships” was the misleading way in which they were presented–seriously overstating the benefits of self-publishing for many if not most authors, using the carrot of possible transition to commercial publishing as a hook to draw in customers–as well as, in Nelson’s case, a promise of referral fees for agents who steered authors its way, plus a truly exorbitant cost. Given that high costs and less-than-transparent presentation are at the core of AS’s services, I don’t think that’s likely to change. Also, can there ever be a meeting of the minds between professional commercial writers’ groups and a company that wants to present fee-based publishing as an “indie revolution?” Part of the problem, I think, is that Weiss is speaking a different language.

I don’t want to be unduly negative. There are certainly ways in which AS could benefit RWA, MWA, and SWFA members–by providing a reasonable, efficient way for members to bring their out-of-print works back into circulation, for instance. And, simply as a matter of pragmatism, I do think that we will have to get used to at least some degree of cohabitation between commercial publishing and fee-based publishing–since commercial publishers need revenue and fee-based publishing is (for now) extremely lucrative. If, in these difficult times of economic pain and technological transition, launching a fee-based publishing division could help a commercial publisher maintain its core publishing operation–and if the fee-based division were straightforward, reasonably-priced, and transparent (i.e., no bogus farm-team promises, or referral fees, or exaggerated portrayals of the potential for success)–I might be able to make peace with that.

Is AS the right company to provide those services, though? Do publishers even need to hire an outside company to set fee-based publishing divisions up for them? Those are whole other questions.

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Posted in SFWA Blog, Writer Beware | 1 Comment »

“Cold Words” by Juliette Wade

Tuesday, January 26th, 2010

“Cold Words” by Juliette Wade
October 2009, Analog

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Quick Updates for 2010-01-26

Tuesday, January 26th, 2010

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Quick Updates for 2010-01-25

Monday, January 25th, 2010

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Industry News

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Congratulations to the Aurealis Awards winners

Sunday, January 24th, 2010

The winners of the 2009 Aurealis Awards, honoring works of SF, fantasy, and horror by Australians, have been announced:

BEST SCIENCE FICTION NOVEL: Andrew McGahan, Wonders of a Godless World, Allen & Unwin

BEST SCIENCE FICTION SHORT STORY: Peter M. Ball, ‘Clockwork, Patchwork and Ravens’, Apex Magazine May 2009

BEST FANTASY NOVEL: Trudi Canavan, Magician’s Apprentice, Orbit

BEST FANTASY SHORT STORY (Tie): Christopher Green, ‘Father’s Kill’, Beneath Ceaseless Skies #24; SFWA member Ian McHugh, ‘Once a Month, On a Sunday’, Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine #40, Andromeda Spaceways Publishing Co-operative Ltd

BEST HORROR NOVEL: Honey Brown, Red Queen, Penguin Australia

BEST HORROR SHORT STORY (Tie): Paul Haines, ‘Wives’, X6, Coeur de Lion Publishing; Paul Haines, ‘Slice of Life – A Spot of Liver’, Slice of Life, The Mayne Press

BEST ANTHOLOGY: SFWA member Jonathan Strahan (editor), Eclipse 3, Night Shade Books

BEST COLLECTION: Greg Egan, Oceanic, Gollancz

BEST ILLUSTATED BOOK/GRAPHIC NOVEL: Nathan Jurevicius, Scarygirl, Allen & Unwin

BEST YOUNG ADULT NOVEL: Scott Westerfeld, Leviathan Trilogy: Book One, Penguin

BEST YOUNG ADULT SHORT STORY: SFWA member Cat Sparks, ‘Seventeen’, Masques, CSFG

BEST CHILDREN’S (8-12 YEARS) NOVEL: Gabrielle Wang, A Ghost in My Suitcase, Puffin Books

BEST CHILDREN’S (8-12 YEARS) SHORT FICTION/ILLUSTRATED WORK/PICTURE BOOK: Pamela Freeman (author), Kim Gamble (illustrator), Victor’s Challenge, Walker Books Australia

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