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Mike Allen edits the anthology series Clockwork Phoenix and the poetry journal Mythic Delirium. His story “The Button Bin” is a 2008 Nebula Award nominee.
Featured Book
Hezbollah has obtained an atomic bomb and a would-be martyr eager to deliver it — and that’s the good news.
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 April, 2010
Song of Scarabaeus
Friday, April 30th, 2010
The Crib trained her. Mercs kidnapped her. No one knows quite
what Edie is capable of…
Tags: Creasy, Sara Creasy
Posted in Featured Book | Comments Off
Quick Updates for 2010-04-30
Friday, April 30th, 2010
- Welcome to SFWA's newest Active member Gary Kriss, author of The Zodiac Deception, sold to Tor in March 2010. #
- Welcome to SFWA's newest Active member Sara Creasy, author of Song of Scarabaeus from Eos. http://saracreasy.com/ #
- Welcome to SFWA's newest Active member S. E. Ward with three short story sales to Baen, RoF and Chizine. #
- SFWA member Saladin Ahmed sold “Mister Hadj’s Sunset Ride,” a Muslim weird western story, to Beneath Ceaseless Skies. #
- SFWA members: I'm traveling today and at Penguicon this weekend. If you have news DM me. I won't be watching the streams otherwise. #
Tags: twitter
Posted in Excluded Categories | Comments Off
A Future for Worldcon?
Thursday, April 29th, 2010
by Cheryl Morgan
I’m writing this article in response to the recent Dialogue between Mike Resnick and Barry Maltzberg that touched, amongst other things, on an apparent declining attendance at Worldcon. For those of you who don’t know me, I’m fairly notorious in fandom for suggesting changes in the way that Worldcon is run. It should not surprise you, therefore, to hear that I agree with much of what Mike and Barry had to say. However, their article also contained some highly debatable statistics and some rather muddled ideas about how Worldcon works. If writers want Worldcon to be a successful event (and I hope that you do) then you need to understand it better. Hopefully this article will help.
When Worldcon started, back in 1939, the attendance was around 200 people. That may well have accounted for a substantial part of the science fiction reading and writing community of the time. These days, however, we have won the culture war. Millions of people watch science fiction in films and TV, while fantasy novels dominate the bookstores. It was inevitable that the convention market would grow and diversify to cater to the burgeoning interest in what we offer. So Worldcon is no longer the only game in town, and as everyone is being careful with money these days it is entirely reasonable that people are making choices about which convention to attend. There are very good reasons why you may pick a big, commercial event such as San Diego ComicCon or Dragon*Con, or a smaller, specialist event such as World Fantasy or WisCon. You might also choose to go to your local regional. But possibly Worldcon is still the right convention for you. (more…)
Tags: Cheryl Morgan, hugo, Worldcon
Posted in Bulletin, SFWA Blog | 5 Comments »
Quick Updates for 2010-04-29
Thursday, April 29th, 2010
Member News
- Happy booklaunch day to SFWA member Leah Cypess and Mistwood!
- Podcast reading from FOR THE WIN, SFWA member Cory Doctorow‘s Young Adult novel about goldfarming and economics.
- Happy Launch Day to SFWA member John A. Pitts and BLACK BLADE BLUES.
- SFWA member David B. Coe has Two Ways to Win a Book.
- Welcome to SFWA’s newest Active member Pete Hautman, author of RASH from Simon & Schuster.
- Happy Launch day to SFWA member Janni Lee Simner and THIEF EYES, her fantasy set in Iceland.
- Welcome to SFWA’s newest Active member, Robert Grossbach with sales to Analog and Fantasy & Science Fiction.
- Welcome to SFWA’s newest Associate member Spanner Spencer with a story to video game magazine The Escapist.
- Welcome to SFWA’s newest Affiliate member Thomas W. Knowles, editor at DarkStar Books.
Tags: Cory Doctorow, David B. Coe, Janni Lee Simner, John A. Pitts, Leah Cypess, Pete Hautman, Robert Grossbach, Spanner Spencer, Thomas W. Knowles!, twitter
Posted in News, SFWA Blog | Comments Off
Quick Updates for 2010-04-28
Wednesday, April 28th, 2010
- Happy booklaunch day to SFWA member @LeahCypess and Mistwood! #
- Podcast reading from FOR THE WIN, SFWA member @doctorow's #YA novel about #goldfarming and #economics http://tinyurl.com/3yb44lk #
- Happy Launch Day to SFWA member @JAPittsWriter and BLACK BLADE BLUES http://bit.ly/dAO9RA #
- SFWA member @DavidBCoe has Two Ways to Win a Book. http://bit.ly/9Z5Z77 #
- Welcome to SFWA's newest Active member Pete Hautman, author of RASH from Simon & Schuster. http://www.petehautman.com/ #
- Happy Launch day to SFWA member @innaj and THIEF EYES, her fantasy set in Iceland. http://www.thiefeyes.com #
Tags: twitter
Posted in Excluded Categories | Comments Off
Quick Updates for 2010-04-27
Tuesday, April 27th, 2010
Resources
- Ellen Kushner: Terri Windling on writing, social networking, and art.
- Victoria Janssen: American Indians in Children's Literature – "Why This Blog Matters".
- Congratulations to SFWA member Tony Pi sold a short story, "A Sweet Calling", to Clarkesworld.
Member News
- Welcome to SFWA’s newest Active member Ben Aaronovitch, author of Midnight Riot, from Del Rey.
- Welcome to SFWA’s newest Active member, Barbara Chepaitis, author of The Fear Principle from ACE/Penguin.
- Welcome to SFWA’s newest Active member Larry Mike Garmon, author of Anatomy of Terror from Scholastic
- Welcome to SFWA’s newest Associate member, Barbara Barnett-Stewart. Read her qualifying story “Lucky Clover.”
- SFWA member John A. Pitts talks to Seattle Geekly podcast about his new novel BLACK BLADE BLUES.
- Review of I Am Not a Serial Killer by SFWA member Dan Wells.
Tags: Barbara Barnett-Stewart, Barbara Chepaitis, Ben Aaronovitch, Dan Wells, Ellen Kushner, John A. Pitts, Larry Mike Garmon, Tony Pi, twitter, victoria janssen
Posted in News, SFWA Blog | Comments Off
Quick Updates for 2010-04-26
Monday, April 26th, 2010
- Welcome to SFWA's newest Active member Ben Aaronovitch, author of Midnight Riot, from Del Rey. #
- Welcome to SFWA's newest Active member, Barbara Chepaitis, author of The Fear Principle from ACE/Penguin. http://www.wildreads.com/ #
- Welcome to SFWA's newest Active member Larry Mike Garmon, author of Anatomy of Terror from Scholastic. http://www.larrymikegarmon.com #
- RT @EllenKushner: Terri Windling on writing, social networking, and art: http://is.gd/bHCbw #
- Welcome to SFWA's newest Associate member, Barbara Barnett-Stewart. Read her qualifying story "Lucky Clover" http://is.gd/bHCi3 #
Tags: twitter
Posted in Excluded Categories | Comments Off
Quick Updates for 2010-04-24
Saturday, April 24th, 2010
- Congratulations to SFWA member Tony Pi who sold "The Gold Silkworm" to Fantasy Magazine. #
- RT @caitkitt There is no magic publishing spell. There is no shortcut. Agents are not monsters, and those published did not game the system. #
- SFWA member @LeahCypess's Mistwood is the "Big Idea" essay at @scalzi's blog. http://bit.ly/9DB39M #
- Video of SFWA member @lawrenceschimel reading in Seville, starting at minute 7. http://bit.ly/cZH457 #
- Congratulations to SFWA @tinaconnolly who sold "As We Report to Gabriel" to Fantasy magazine. #
- Anytime you have member or industry news, just DM @sfwa or use our Contact Us page and select "Quick Updates" http://is.gd/bEWOq #
- The short film, "Bottles," based on SFWA member Samantha Henderson's story, screens 7:30 May 4 in Hollywood. http://is.gd/bEX8D #
- Here's the trailer for "Bottles" the short film based on SFWA member Samantha Henderson's Realms of Fantasy story. http://is.gd/bEXdI #
- RT @victoriastrauss: More delays for Google Book Settlement? Judge Denny Chin promoted to 2nd Circuit Court of Appeal. http://is.gd/bEXAn #
- SFWA member @MaryRobinette is giving away an ARC of Shades of Milk and Honey ARC on Library Thing http://bit.ly/9Rvwk7 #
- Congratulations to SFWA member @jennreese who has a 2-book deal with Candlewick for her middle grade SF series: http://is.gd/bF1BV #
- To celebrate their 30th birthday @tordotcom is giving away books. http://is.gd/bFbFY #
- SFWA members @kamigarcia and @mstohl's schedule of appearances at LA Times Festival of Books – http://su.pr/1dpTxA #
- Podcast interview with SFWA member Ellen Datlow. http://is.gd/bFspK #
Tags: twitter
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Quick Updates for 2010-04-24
Saturday, April 24th, 2010
Resources
- Anytime you have member or industry news, just DM @sfwa or use our Contact Us page and select "Quick Updates"
Member News
- SFWA member Michael Canfield's short-short story "People with Earplugs" is up on EverydayWeirdness.com.
- The Nebula Awards interviews Richard Bowes.
- Congratulations to SFWA member Tony Pi who sold "The Gold Silkworm" to Fantasy Magazine.
- SFWA member Leah Cypess's Mistwood is the "Big Idea" essay at John Scalzi's blog.
- Video of SFWA member Lawrence Schimel reading in Seville (starts at minute 7).
- Congratulations to SFWA Tina Connolly who sold "As We Report to Gabriel" to Fantasy magazine.
- The short film, "Bottles," based on SFWA member Samantha Henderson's story, screens at7:30 May 4 in Hollywood. See the trailer here.
- SFWA member Mary Robinette is giving away an Advanced Readers Copy of Shades of Milk and Honey on Library Thing.
- Congratulations to SFWA member Jenn Reese who has a 2-book deal with Candlewick for her middle grade SF series.
Industry News
- Victoria Strauss: More delays for Google Book Settlement? Judge Denny Chin promoted to 2nd Circuit Court of Appeal.
- To celebrate their 30th birthday Tor.com is giving away books.
Tags: Ellen Datlow, Jenn Reese, John Scalzi, Kami Garcia, Lawrence Schimel, Leah Cypess, Margaret Stohl, Mary Robinette, Michael Canfield, Richard Bowes, Samantha Henderson, Tina Connolly, Tony Pi, twitter, victoria strauss
Posted in News, SFWA Blog | Comments Off
Guest Blog Post: How Libraries Choose Books to Purchase
Friday, April 23rd, 2010
Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware
A frequent question, especially among self- and small press-published authors, is how books get into libraries, and what authors can do to help. Today, guest blogger and public librarian Abigail Goben explains how libraries choose the books they purchase--and what authors should (and shouldn't) do to play a part in that process.
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by Abigail Goben
One of the many hats of your public librarian is book purchasing. We are allocated a budget and spend a fair amount of time trying to build a collection that is well rounded, appeals to a wide variety of people, mixes great literature with popular novels, and will meet the needs of our community.
In this day and age of budget cuts and calls for fiscal responsibility, it is not only harder to get published, but harder to get published books into libraries. As we're trimming ever shrinking budgets, we librarians need to be able to justify the materials that tax dollars are being spent on. Libraries don't have the resources to buy mediocre books, where there is not the demand of a big author or a classroom's worth of little girls asking for it.
Still, we're trying to make as much as we can available. Here's how I do it:
Where I find books:
- Professional Reviews: I spend time diligently going through Library Journal, Kirkus, Publisher's Weekly, and other professional review journals. The majority of my selections come from there, and that's probably what you'll catch me perusing at the reference desk.
- Librarian Blogs: We're a chatty bunch and love recommending things to each other. There are certainly better or worse blogs, but when it's a review coming from someone whose blog I respect, I'm more inclined to consider a purchase. Librarians working with patrons every day know what goes well with their audience and what might go well with mine.
- Patron Requests: I'm fortunate enough to have a big enough budget that if a patron requests it, we can usually get it. I do verify that the requester belongs to my library system.
Tags: library, Writer Beware
Posted in Building a Career, SFWA Blog, Tips for Beginners, Writer Beware, Writing Technique | 2 Comments »