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
Best Director
Animated Feature
Animated Short Film
Writing, Adapted Screenplay
Written, Original Screenplay
Art Direction
Achievement in Cinematography
Achievement in Costume Design
Achievement in Film Editing
Achievement in Makeup
Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Score)
Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Song)
Achievement in Sound Editing
Achievement in Sound Mixing
Achievement in Visual Effects
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.
Actress Jenny Tomasin (b.1936) died on January 3. Although best known for portraying Ruby on Upstairs, Downstairs, Tomasin also appeared in the 1985 Doctor Who serial “Revelations of the Daleks” as Tasambeker and in 2000 appeared in a made-for-television adaptation of Cinderella.
Fan Robert Lovell (b.1947) died on January 15. Lovell was involved in Baltimore-Washington fandom from the late 1970s until 1983 and was involved with the bid that landed the 1983 Worldcon, Constellation, for Baltimore. Lovell supported the bids by offering “Backrubs for Baltimore.”
Wizards of the Coast has announced that they will be reprinting the first edition Advanced Dungeons and Dragons rulebooks by E. Gary Gygax to raise funds for the Gygax Memorial Fund, with the goal of erecting a statue to Gygax in Library Park in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. The three books, The Monster Manual, The Player’s Handbook, and The Dungeon Master’s Guide will include the original content and artwork, with new cover art, and go on sale on April 17 for prices ranging from $34.95 to $44.95.
Christopher Kastensmidt’s The Elephant and Macaw Banner and Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show have announced the winner of the Hydra Competition to find the best sf short story published in Brazil during 2009 and 2010. Brontops Baruq’s story “História com desenho e diálogo” was selected by Card and translated from Portuguese into English by Kastensmidt. It appears in the current issue of Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show.