If you were a member of the World Science Fiction Convention in Denver last year, or if you’re a member of the Montreal version this year, you can nominate stuff for the Hugos. Did you know this? I sure as hell didn’t the first time I went to a Worldcon, probably because I was more concerned with avoiding the outrageous parking fees at the Anaheim Convention Center than voting and nominating and such.
Ever since, I’ve tried to get the people I know on the ballot, for both the quality of their work and the novelty of saying, “Hey, I know that name!” It hasn’t worked out as well as I’ve hoped, but no one said World Domination was easy. That’s why I hope this little nugget will spread from my site to Facebook and Twitter and beyond. You gotta start somewhere.
So, if you can nominate stuff for the Hugos, please take a look at these works. If you like them, please tell people about them. And if you really like them, please nominate them.
Best Novel: “Pandemonium,” by Daryl Gregory. Del Rey, August 2008.
Best Novella: “Far Horizon,” by Jason Stoddard. Interzone #214.
Best Novelette: “The Right People,” by Adam Rakunas (hey, I know that name!). Futurismic, October 2008.
Best Novelette: “The Elephant Ironclads,” by Jason Stoddard. The Del Rey Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy. Del Rey, April 2008.
Best Short Story: “Willpower,” by Jason Stoddard. Futurismic, December 2008.
Best Short Story: “Living with Creely,” Andrew Tisbert. Rosebud #41.
Best Short Story: “Tetris Dooms Itself,” by Meghan McCarron. Clarkesworld #23, August 2008.
Best Short Story: “Random Acts of Cosmic Whimsey,” by Jetse de Vries. Flurb #6.
Tags: hugos anticipation worldcon
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I’ve only done two crosses, and neither of them had mud. I think I’ve been missing something.
Chad Orzel is trying to raise money for science teachers across America. As a former physics student, I can get behind that. Please consider dropping a ducat in his bucket.
(Cross-posted at Science Fiction LA. Just ’cause.)
So, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction gave away free review copies to the first twenty people who asked and said they’d write about it. I asked, I got it (and thank you!), I’m writing about it.
1) I was very glad to see that F&SF was sending out these free review copies to average people. Jason Stoddard and I are always yelling that the best way to market good products is to give free samples to loudmouths and encourage them to talk things up. F&SF’s target audience is packed with loudmouths, so they just have to find ‘em and let ‘em go to town. I hope they’ll start pushing copies on io9, SFSignal, and maybe shove a few at Wil Wheaton and John Scalzi.
2) The edition I got did not make me want it. Warren Ellis’s words that magazines are objects that are designed to be wanted ring in my brain every time I see a new rag on the shelf. Anything with the words “fantasy” and “science fiction” will get my attention, but, man, if you want me to part with cash for your words, the container for those words had better kick me in the back of the head.
3) Three stand-out stories gave me that blessed skull-thumping feeling: Geoff Ryman’s “Days of Wonder,” Albert E. Cowdrey’s “Inside Story,” and M. Rickert’s “Evidence of Love in a Case of Abandonment: One Daughter’s Personal Account.” Rickert’s story, about a future where women who had abortions are capital criminals, scared the crap out of me and got even scarier the more I heard from Sarah Palin.
4) My one complaint (because what kind of blogger would I be unless I complained about something?) is this: everyone in this edition has been published in F&SF before (though if I’m misremembering, I’m happy to print a correction). A double issue would have been a perfect opportunity to rescue someone from the slush pile and introduce a new writer to F&SF’s audience. And I don’t just say this as a collector of rejection slips; I say this as someone who loves new stuff. Give us new authors, guys! Give ‘em a lower rate and put ‘em on your website instead of in print! Make little story origami to hand out at conventions! Make a widget that has nothing but newbs! You can make the Internets work for you, and New And Shiny is the Internets’ currency. Just sayin’.
I grew up with comedy albums. I can still do Bill Cosby’s Hofstra from memory, and my brother only has to start singing “Soap, soap, soap” to crack me up. Dr. Demento only opened more doors.
And of course George Carlin was in there. The classic gold albums (FM & AM, Occupation: Foole and Class Clown) are still my favorites, though it’s his routine “Death and Dying” from On the Road that epitomizes what I loved about Carlin: the voices, the microphone mastery, the playful love of words and language how they shape our thinking about Big Heavy Shit.
I didn’t like much of his standup after Parental Advisory because it sounded like he’d stopped going for the funny and gone after the applause. It’s easy to make a friendly crowd hoot and cheer, but making them laugh? That’s hard, man. And to make adults laugh over wordplay and absurdity all while dealing with Big Heavy Shit, that’s really hard. All of the albums that were based on misanthropy sounded like a man who’d just said, “It’s too hard. Fuck it.”
So, I don’t mourn George Carlin, because the teacher I listened to hasn’t gone away and will never go away. Light up some Toledo Windowbox tonight for him.
I can’t remember the last time I saw something this gloriously, rockingly silly. Supergrass, I am now going to buy your entire back catalog in pounds sterling. Because I want you to spend it all on puppets.
Tags: silly as hell but awesome all the same, supergrass, video
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Hi, there. May I call you Nathan? I’d call you “Captain,” but I’m sure you get enough of that, especially from the Internet.
Here’s the thing, Nathan: I had a hell of a tough weekend. 22 miles on foot on Saturday, then 1.5 hours in the Pacific (water temps somewhere in the high 50s), then 8 hours in the saddle. I was supposed to bring in 115 miles, and the weather was beautiful, just the kind you’d want on a big ride. Problem was, see, I still can’t do the hills on PCH, so I had to go south along the bike path. And if I thought it was a good day for cycling, so did half the city. The other half decided it was perfect for walking and rollerblading, and that the bike path would be the perfect spot to get their mobile on.
So, it was a long day of slowing down, dodging pedestrians, helping people out with flats because I wasn’t going fast enough to escape their pleas for help, everything. And the sun was going down, and I still hadn’t found the last 17 miles and…
Nathan, I had to pack it in. I probably could’ve grabbed my windbreaker and lights, slugged down one more Powerbar and done a fast Marina loop, but I was done. No more dodging cars, no more looking out for taxis fighting for fares, no more swerving around jaywalking Venice hipster wanktards. Finito. Finished. Done.
I felt like an utter failure, that I was going to travel to Taupo only to get pulled from the bike course because I couldn’t finish the bike course in time. It’s been a long nine months, man, and I’m sure you could imagine how frustrating that would be. I flopped on the floor, without even the energy to stretch, and I flipped on the tube, hoping to have myself a good manly cry.
And there you were. TNT was playing “Saving Private Ryan,” right at your scene.
I don’t know if your turn as James Frederick Ryan, Minnesota, is one you recall with fondness (though, dude, getting a speaking part like that in a Spielberg movie had to mean a pretty good paycheck), but it has now earned a special place in my heart because, just at that moment when I lay on the floor, completely out of gas, and you started bawling. And I mean bawling, just sobbing your guts out like the entire world had come to an end and there was nothing else to do.
And I realized: I don’t need to cry, because you did it for me.
After watching that bit a few times (thanks, Tivo!), I felt better. Granted, the hot shower, banana and resting in my wife’s lap helped, but I will always know that it was you, Nathan Fillion, who pulled me out of that funk. And for that, sir, I thank you.
-A.
Tags: nathan fillion is my goddamn hero
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