• From November 15^th – February 15^th, Active and Associate members may nominate up to 5 works in each category of the Nebulas, the Bradbury and the Andre Norton Award.

• Members may change their ballot at any point during the nomination period.

• Only works published between July 1, 2008 and December 31^st, 2009 are eligible.

• Works may not be nominated by their authors, editors, publishers, or agents, by spouses or domestic partners of their authors, or by any other party with a monetary interest in the work.

• The 6 items in each category that receive the most votes go on the ballot. (The Norton Jury may add up to 3 works on the Norton ballot.)

• By March 1st, the final ballot is sent to Active members only.

• The Nebula ceremony is in May

What is eligible for a Nebula?

Works published between July 1, 2008 and December 31, 2009 are eligible in the following categories.

a. Short Story: less than 7,500 words;
b. Novelette: at least 7,500 words but less than 17,500 words;
c. Novella: at least 17,500 words but less than 40,000 words
d. Novel: 40,000 words or more.
( At the author’s request, a novella-length work published individually, rather than as a part of a collection, anthology, or other collective work, shall appear in the novel category. )

This is the confusing bit. As part of the transition rules, works which received at least five (5) recommendations under the previous Nebula Awards® rules and were published after July 1, 2008, but didn’t make the 2008 Preliminary Ballot get to have those nominations added to their total for this year. Members who recommended these works last year will not have their total number of allowed nominations reduced, but they may not nominate these works a second time.

Works which received less than five (5) recommendations under the previous Nebula rules and were published after July 1, 2008, may be nominated but their nominations don’t carry over from last year.

According to the last published NAR, the following works and members are affected by this.

Novelette
6 Kosmatka, Ted: Divining Light (Asimov’s, Aug08) DWGoldman, STourtellotte, EJStone, NKress, MMcGarry, CDeLancey

Short Story
5 Burstein, Michael A.: I Remember the Future (I Remember the Future, Apex Publications, Nov08 <Single-author collection>) JPelland, CArdai, MResnick, PLevinson, RSawyer

Preliminary data from a dramatic experiment on the moon “indicates the mission successfully uncovered water in a permanently shadowed lunar crater,” NASA said in a statement.

“The discovery opens a new chapter in our understanding of the moon,” it added, as ecstatic scientists celebrated the landmark discovery.

Read the full article for more details. Our question is: How many science-fiction books and stories have just become out-dated, do you think?

via Brandie Tarvin

Please do note that there are no other confirmed cases at WFC, but given the incidence of con crud at a normal convention, it seems prudent to mention this.

For more information about H1N1, visit the Center for Disease Control. The CDC reports that the incubation period from exposure is 1-7 days, with 1-4 being most likely.

Edited to add: Jonathan let us know in comments that though his doctor diagnosed it as H1N1, he did not do clinical tests.  Let’s hope that it is not.

Meanwhile, get well soon, Jonathan.

 Listen to the interview at Nigel Beal’s web site

WINNERS OF THE SPANISH IV XATAFI-CYBERDARK AWARD OF THE CRITICS OF FANTASTIC LITERATURE

Spanish fiction book (ex-aequo):

El mapa del tiempo [The Map of Time], by Félix J. Palma (Algaida)

El hermano de las moscas, by Jon Bilbao (Salto de página)

The finalists have been:

Rojo alma, negro sombra, by Ismael Martínez Biurrun (451 Ed.)
El hombre divergente, by Marc R. Soto (Grupo AJEC)

Spanish tale:

“Mosquitos”, by Marc R. Soto (in Marc R. Soto, El hombre divergente, AJEC)

The finalists have been:

“Lo más dulce”, by Santiago Eximeno (in Santiago Eximeno, Bebés
jugando con cuchillos, Grupo AJEC)

“El hombre divergente”, by Marc R. Soto (in Marc R. Soto, El hombre
divergente, Grupo AJEC)

Foreigner fiction book:

The Yiddish’s Policemen Union, by Michael Chabon (Mondadori)

The finalists have been:

War fever, by J.G. Ballard (Berenice)

Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman, by Haruki Murakami (Tusquets)

The Terror, by Dan Simmons (Roca)

Spin, by Robert Charles Wilson (Omicrón)

Foreigner tale:

“The Index”, by J. G. Ballard (in J.G. Ballard, Fiebre de guerra, Berenice)

The finalists have been:

“Fever War”, by J.G. Ballard (in J.G. Ballard, Fiebre de guerra, Minotauro)
“The Ice Man”, by Haruki Murakami (in Haruki Murakami, Sauce ciego,
mujer dormida, Tusquets)

“Salmonella Men on Planet Porno”, by Yasutaka Tsutsui (in Yasutaka
Tsutsui, Hombres salmonela en el planeta Porno, Atalanta)

Publisher iniciative:

Francisco Arellano, because of Biblioteca del Laberinto

The finalists have been:

Mondadori, because of Miracles of Life, by J.G. Ballard

Menoscuarto, because of La realidad oculta. Cuentos fantásticos
españoles del siglo XX, (David Roas and Ana Casas, ed.)

Puerto NORTE-SUR and Libros del Zorro Rojo, because of the reedition
of ilustrated clasiccs for the young readers

Tusquets, because of Cuentos completos, by Cristina Fernández Cubas

What the site doesn’t say is that today, she is celebrating her 80th birthday.  During those 80 years she has touched the lives of countless people, some who know the warm and fiercely intelligent person, and others who are readers and have met her only through her fiction. The impact of the person and her work has made a far deeper imprint than the ink on a page.

As part of an online celebration, we’re asking people to wish her a happy birthday. Please share, if you have a favorite memory of her or her fiction.  To start us off, here’s Robert Silverberg.

Dear Ursula:

45 years ago, when you were a mere wee girl, editor Cele Goldsmith of AMAZING STORIES introduced you to me at the 1964 Oakland Worldcon as one of her most promising new writers.   Cele didn’t exactly say what it was you were promising, but I’ve noticed that you’ve written a story or three over the succeeding years, and I’d say the promise has been kept.

Happy birthday, Ursula!  Live long and prosper!

Robert Silverberg

The SFWA board of directors voted unanimously Sept. 23 to fund AboutSF with a $5,000 one-year grant. SFWA has previously supported AboutSF with $3,000 annually.

“The Lessons Library, which AboutSF has put together, is a trememdous resource and is just a fraction of the work they do to bring SF to a broader audience,” said SFWA Secretary Mary Robinette Kowal. “I am delighted that SFWA is able to partner with them on this outreach.”

In addition to the Lessons Library, AboutSF also established and maintains Speculation Speakers, a speakers’ bureau resource for libraries, businesses and schools. It also serves as a press list for journalists and other media representative seeking unique perspective, commentary and insight from SF authors.

AboutSF is hosted at the University of Kansas. For additional information, visit the AboutSF website at www.AboutSF.com.

Joe Haldeman

Joe Haldeman maintains his official website at http://home.earthlink.net/~haldeman/

John Varley maintains his official website at http://www.varley.net/

The Baltimore Science Fiction Society provides logistical support for the award and maintains a website where winners are permanently recorded at http://www.bsfs.org/bsfsheinlein.htm

—Dale S. Arnold,
   Assistant to Dr. Kondo.
   Director at Large Baltimore Science Fiction Society.

Thanks for agreeing to do the interview. Whether it’s your short stories or novels, I find that you have a unique style and voice that no one else in the field is doing. How did you develop your particular writing style?

Reading, reading and reading. I have a theory that you can’t be a good writer if you aren’t a great reader. And you must read lots of different things too, with no regard for one particular genre, or for high or low literature. Obviously, I have more of an affinity towards the rococo and melodramatic, but I think it’s important not to be too limited in my reading choices, so I will read almost anything. Immersion in reading helped me develop an ear for rhythm, and made my style second nature. Now I just sit down and start typing, and out it all comes!

All your fiction so far seems to be set in the world of Califa. How did you come up with this cosmology? How do you keep track of all your characters and locations and interactions?

Califa evolved over a long long time. In the beginning elements of Califa could be found in a role playing game that my friends and I were obsessed with in high school. Back then, Califa was not called Califa, and it was more medieval. Later, when I got interested in American history, Califa began to turn into more of a California cognate. I decided, as a point of ideology, to have all my fantasy based in American mythology and geography. In my opinion, pastoral Tolkien-type fantasy is already well-picked over and I wanted to do something new. As far as keeping track of people and places, I do not do so formally. It’s all in my head. Thankfully my editor is very good at picking up continuity errors!

Have you ever considered writing fiction that’s not set in your Califa setting?

I’ve considered it, but rejected the consideration for the moment. Right now I’m still having fun with Califa and its environs, and my readers seem happy to be exploring that world along with me. But at some point I’ll have to stretch into something new.

(Read the entire interview at NebulaAwards.com)