LA Times Book Prizes
The L.A. Times Book Prizes were announced on April 24 at the Chandler Auditorium. The winners of genre interest are listed below. Terry Pratchett won the award for Best Young Adult Literature for his novel Nation.
Tiptree Winners
The winners and Honor List of this year’s James Tiptree, Jr. Award have been announced. The winners, a tie this year, will be presented with their prize at Wiscon, in Madison, Wisconsin. The Tiptree Award is presented to works that explore and expand gender roles in sf and fantasy.
Winners
- The Knife of Never Letting Go, by Patrick Ness
- Filter House, Nisi Shawl
Honor List
- The Love We Share Without Knowing, by Christopher Barzak
- The Explosionist, by Jenny Davidson
- Shadowbridge and Lord Tophet, by Gregory Frost
- Two Pearls of Wisdom, by Alison Goodman
- “Pride and Prometheus,” by John Kessel
- Tender Morsels, by Margo Lanagan
- Lavinia, by Ursula K. Le Guin
- Let the Right One In, by John Ajvide Lindqvist
- A Princess of Roumania, The Tourmaline, The White Tyger, and The Hidden World, by Paul Park
- The Alchemy of Stone, by Ekaterina Sedia
- Girl Meets Boy, by Ali Smith
- Flora’s Dare: How a Girl of Spirit Gambles All to Expand Her Vocabulary, Confront a Bouncing Boy Terror, and Try to Save Califa from a Shaky Doom (Despite Being Confined to Her Room), by Ysabeau S. Wilce
Obituary: Bea Arthur
Actress Bea Arthur (b.1922) died on April 25. Arthur was best known for her non-genre work, including Maude and The Golden Girls, and her husky voice, but she also had some genre roles in her career, most notably doing voicework for Futurama, a small role in Mel Brooks’s History of the World, Part One, and as Ackmena in The Star Wars Holiday Special.
Nebula Winners
The 2008 Nebula Awards were presented on April 25 at the Grand Horizon Ballroom at Sunset Village on the UCLA campus. The evening was chaired by Christine Valada. Janis Ian served as toastmaster and Chuck Lorre gave the keynote address. Other awards included:
- Best Novel: Powers, by Ursula K. Le Guin
- Best Novella: “The Spacetime Pool,” by Catherine Asaro
- Best Novelette: “Pride and Prometheus,” by John Kessel
- Best Short Story: “Trophy Wives,” by Nina Kiriki Hoffman
- Best Script: WALL-E, by Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon, Original story by Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter
- Andre Norton Award for Outstanding Young Adult Science Fiction/Fantasy Book: Flora’s Dare: How a Girl of Spirit Gambles All to Expand Her Vocabulary, Confront a Bouncing Boy Terror, and Try to Save Califa from a Shaky Doom (Despite Being Confined to Her Room), by Ysabeau S. Wilce
- Damon Knight Grandmaster Award: Harry Harrison
- SFWA Writer Emerita: M.J. Engh
- Bradbury Award: Joss Whedon
- SFWA Service Award: Victoria Strauss
- Solstice Awards: Kate Wilhelm, Algis Budrys, Martin H. Greenberg
Obituary: Ken Rand
Author Ken Rand (b.1946) died on April 21 following a long battle with abdominal cancer. Rand is the author of several novels, including The Paradox Stone, Rock ‘n’ Roll Universe, and others. He also wrote the non-fiction The 10% Solution: Self-editing for the Modern Writer.
Obituary: Jack Cardiff
Cinematographer Jack Cardiff (b.1914) has died. Cardiff worked on numerous films of genre, or nominal genre interest, including The Vikings, Conan the Destroyer, Crossed Swords, The Fifth Musketeer, and The Tell-Tale Heart. He might be best known for his work on The African Queen, and he worked as the director on Sons and Lovers. He won an Oscar for cinematography for Black Narcissus in 1947 and an honorary Oscar in 2001.
Obituary: Jack Jardine
Author Jack Jardine (b.1931) died on April 14. Jardine published under a variety of pseudonyms, including Howard L. Cory and Larry Maddock. His novels included the Agent of T.E.R.R.A. series as well as The Mind Monsters and The Nymph and the Satyr. Following a stroke in 2005, Jardine published the short story collection Unaccustomed as I am to Public Dying.
Obituary: J.G. Ballard
Author J.G. Ballard (b.1930) died on April 19. Ballard was a major part of science fiction’s New Wave and his novels, particularly Empire of the Sun and Crash, gained him mainstream acceptance. Other novels included The Burning World, The Crystal World (which won the Seiun Award), and The Day of Creation. Ballard was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2006.
TAFF Winner
Steve Green has won the Westbound TAFF Race for 2009. Green beat out Tom Womack for the opportunity to travel to Montreal for Anticipation, this year’s Worldcon. TAFF was founded in order to help create closer ties between European and North American fandom.
Shirley Jackson Award Ballot
The ballot for the Shirley Jackson Award has been released. The award, which recognizes excellence in psychological suspense, horror, and the dark fantastic in literature, will be presented on July 12 at Readercon in Burlington, MA.
Novel
- Alive in Necropolis, Doug Dorst
- The Man on the Ceiling, Steve Rasnic Tem and Melanie Tem
- Pandemonium, Daryl Gregory
- The Resurrectionist, Jack O’Connell
- The Shadow Year, Jeffrey Ford
- Tender Morsels, Margo Lanagan
Novella
- Disquiet, Julia Leigh
- “Dormitory,” Yoko Ogawa
- Living With the Dead, Darrell Schweitzer
- The Long Trial of Nolan Dugatti, Stephen Graham Jones
- “N,”, Stephen King
Novelette
- “Hunger Moon,” Deborah Noyes
- “The Lagerstatte,” Laird Barron
- “Penguins of the Apocalypse,” William Browning Spencer
- “Pride and Prometheus,” John Kessel
- The Situation, Jeff Vandermeer
Short Story
- “68° 07’ 15″N, 31° 36’ 44″W,” Conrad Williams
- “The Dinner Party,” Joshua Ferris
- “Evidence of Love in a Case of Abandonment: One Daughter’s Personal Account,” M. Rickert
- “The Inner City,” Karen Heuler
- “Intertropical Convergence Zone,” Nadia Bulkin
- “The Pile,” Michael Bishop
Collection
- A Better Angel, Chris Adrian
- Dangerous Laughter, Steven Millhauser
- The Diving Pool, Yoko Ogawa
- The Girl on the Fridge, Etgar Keret
- Just After Sunset, Stephen King
- Wild Nights! , Joyce Carol Oates
Anthology
- Bound for Evil, edited by Tom English
- Exotic Gothic 2: New Tales of Taboo, edited by Danel Olson
- Fast Ships, Black Sails, edited by Ann and Jeff Vandermeer
- The New Uncanny, edited by Sarah Eyre and Ra Page
- Shades of Darkness, edited by Barbara and Christopher Roden