The British Science Fiction Awards nominees have been announced. The awards will be presented at Eastercon in April.
Best Novel
- Cyber Circus, by Kim Lakin-Smith
- Embassytown, by China Miéville
- The Islanders, by Christopher Priest
- By Light Alone, by Adam Roberts
- Osama, by Lavie Tidhar
Best Short Fiction
- “The Silver Wind,” by Nina Allan
- “The Copenhagen Interpretation,” by Paul Cornell
- “Afterbirth,” by Kameron Hurley
- “Covehithe,” by China Miéville
- “Of Dawn,” by Al Robertson
Best Non-Fiction
- Out of This World: Science Fiction But Not as We Know It, by Mike Ashley
- The SF Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition, edited by John Clute, Peter Nicholls, & David Langford
- Review of Arslan, by M.J. Engh & Abigail Nussbaum
- SF Mistressworks, edited by Ian Sales
- Pornokitsch, edited by Jared Shurin & Anne Perry,
- The Unsilent Library: Essays on the Russell T. Davies Era of the New Doctor Who, by Graham Sleight, Tony Keen, & Simon Bradshaw
Best Art
- cover for The Noise Revealed, by Dominic Harman
- cover for A Monster Calls, by Jim Kay
- cover for Osama, by Pedro Marques
- cover for A Glass of Shadow, by Anne Sudworth
For more information…
Genevieve Valentine’s debut novel Mechanique: A Tale of the Circus Tresaulti has been announced as the winner of the William L. Crawford Award. The Crawford Award is presented annually for a new fantasy author whose first book appeared during the previous year. It is presented at the International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts, which will be held this year from March 21-25 in Orlando, Florida.
For more information…
Actor Nicol Williamson (b.1938) died on December 16. Williamson, who hasn’t appeared on film since 1997, is best known for his role as Merlin in John Boorman’s 1981 film Excalibur, has appeared in numerous genre films over the years, including Venom, Spawn, Return to Oz, and The Exorcist III. Williamson also took great pride in a recording of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit. He also played Little John in Robin and Marion and Sherlock Holmes in The Seven-Per-Cent Solution.
Actor James Farentino (b.1938) died on January 24. Farentino appeared in two episodes of Rod Serling’s Night Gallery, the film The Final Countdown, and horror films Dead & Buried, The Possessed.
Norman Edmund (b.1916) died on January 16. Following World War II, Edmund began a catalog company as a reseller of military lenses rendered obsolete by the invention of radar. The company grew into Edmund Scientific, which sold telescopes, microscopes, chemistry kits, robot parts, gyroscopes, and the famous drinking bird among other scientific equipment and supplies.
The nominees for this year’s Academy Awards have been announced and winners will be presented on February 26. The science fiction film Hugo received the most nominations, with 11 nods. Nine films were nominated in the Best Picture category. Categories with nominees of genre interest are listed below.
Best Picture
- The Artist
- The Descendants
- Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
- The Help
- Hugo
- Midnight in Paris
- Moneyball
- The Tree of Life
- War Horse
Best Director
- Woody Allen for Midnight in Paris
- Michel Hazanavicius for The Artist
- Terrence Malick for The Tree of Life
- Alexander Payne for The Descendants
- Martin Scorsese for Hugo
Animated Feature
- A Cat in Paris
- Chico & Rita
- Kung Fu Panda 2
- Puss in Boots
- Rango
Animated Short Film
- Dimanche/Sunday
- The Fantastic Flying Books o fMr. Morris Lessmore
- La Luna
- A Morning Stroll
- Wild Life
Writing, Adapted Screenplay
- The Descendants, Screenplay by Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash
- Hugo, Screenplay by John Logan
- The Ides of March, Screenplay by George Clooney & Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon
- Moneyball, Screenplay by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin, Story by Stan Chervin
- Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Screenplay by Bridget O’Connor & Peter Straughan
Written, Original Screenplay
- The Artist, by Michael Hazanavicius
- Bridesmaids, by Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig
- Margin Call, by J.C. Chandor
- Midnight in Paris, Woody Allen
- A Separation, by Asghar Farhadi
Art Direction
- The Artist, Laurence Bennett (Production Design) and Roubert Gould (Set Decoration)
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, Stuart Craig (Production Design) and Stephenie McMillan (Set Decoration)
- Hugo, Dante Ferretti (Production Design), Francesca Lo Schiavo (Set Decoration)
- Midnight in Paris, Anne Siebel(Production Design) and Hélène Dubreuil (Set Decoration)
- War Horse, Rick Carter (Production Design) and Lee Sandales (Set Decoration)
Achievement in Cinematography
- The Artist, Guillaume Schiffman
- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Jeff Cronenweth
- Hugo, Robert Richardson
- The Tree of Life, Emanuel Lubezki
- War Horse, Janusz Kaminski
Achievement in Costume Design
- Anonymous, Lisy Christl
- The Artist, Mark Bridges
- Hugo, Sandy Powell
- Jane Eyre, Michael O’Connor
- W.E., Arianne Phillips
Achievement in Film Editing
- The Artist, Anne-Sophie Bion & Michael Hazanavicius
- The Descendants, Kevin Tent
- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Kirk Baxter & Angus Wall
- Hugo, Thelma Schoonmaker
- Moneyball, Christopher Tellefsen
Achievement in Makeup
- Albert Nobbs, Martial Corneville, Lynn Johnston, and Matthew W. Mungle
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng
- The Iron Lady, Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland
Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Score)
- The Adventures of Tintin, John Williams
- The Artist, Ludovic Bource
- Hugo, Howard Shore
- Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Alberto Iglesias
- War Horse, John Williams
Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Song)
- “Man or Muppet” from The Muppets, Music and Lyric by Bret McKenzie
- “Real in Rio” from Rio, Music by Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown, Lyric by Siedah Garrett
Achievement in Sound Editing
- Drive, Lon Bender and Victor Ray Ennis
- The Girls with the Dragon Tattoo, Ren Klyce
- Hugo, Philip Stockton and Eugene Gearty
- Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl
- War Horse, Richard Hymns and Gary Rydstrom
Achievement in Sound Mixing
- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce, and Bo Persson
- Hugo, Tom Fleischman and John Midgley
- Moneyball, Deb Adair, Ron Bochar, Dave Giammarco, and Ed Novick
- Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, Jeffrey J. Haboush, and Peter J. Devlin
- War Horse, Gary Rydstrom, Andy Nelson, Tom Johnson, and Stuart Wilson
Achievement in Visual Effects
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, Tim Burke, David Vickery, Greg Butler, and John Richardson
- Hugo, Rob Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossman, and Alex Henning
- Real Steel, John Rosengrant, Dan Taylor, and Swen Gillberg
- Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White, and Daniel Barrett
- Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Matthew Butler, and John Frazier
For more information…
Voice actor Dick Tufeld (b.1926) died on January 22. Tufeld may be best known as the voice of the robot on Lost in Space, a role he reprised for the film and in various homages to the series, such as an episode of The Simpsons. He had numerous other voice over roles, often uncredited, on shows including Space Patrol, The Amazing Spider-Man and His Friends, The Fantastic Four, The Time Tunnel, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, and many more.
David Langford underwent surgery on January 20 to repair a detached retina. According to his surgeon, the procedure, which corrected a rapidly deteriorating vision issue, was a success and Langford is currently recuperating, noting that “life is still blurry and full of typos.”
Lister Matheson (b.1949) died on January 19. Matheson served as director for Clarion East and worked at Michigan State University as a professor of English and Medieval Studies. Matheson’s works include Popular and Practical Science of Medieval England, Icons of the Middle Ages: Rulers, Writers, Rebels, and Saints, and Robin Hood: The Early Poems, 1465-1560, Texts, Contexts, and Ideology.
Author Phyllis MacLennan (b.1920) died on January 8. MacLennan worked in Military Intelligence during World War II and began publishing science fiction in 1963 with the story “A Contract in Karasthan” in Fantastic. Her only science fiction novel, Turned Loose on Irdra, was published in 1970 and she published six more stories by 1980, including “Thus Love Betrays Us ,” which was reprinted in three different “Best of” collections.
