27 August 2002

Stewart at ConJosé
ConJosé co-chairman Tom Whitmore and Kevin Standlee were in the middle of a radio interview on KFJC when they received an on-air call from Events Deputy Division Manager Randy Smith informing them that actor Patrick Stewart would be appearing at ConJosé. Stewart, who has appeared as Jean-Luc Picard in various "Star Trek: The Next Generation" projects and Professor X in "X-Men, will be speaking on Friday, August 30 at 7:30. His speech will be open to all attending and one-day members of the convention up to the limit of the hall (approximately 3000). In addition to his high profile roles, Stewart was in the David Lynch version of "Dune" and played Leonderance in "Excalibur."

25 August 2002

Charles Sheffield Home from Hospital
On August 12, Charles Sheffield, author of Dark as Day and The Amazing Dr. Darwin, announced that he had been diagnosed with several brain tumors. He underwent surgery on August 14 and returned home on August 22. According to his wife, author Nancy Kress, Sheffield is about to begin chemotherapy and physical therapy. He is resting comfortably with no pain, although his speech is slightly impaired.

Obituaries
Dave van Arnam (August 3)
Norman Jolley (August 13)

Dave van Arnam (b.1935) began publishing science fiction with the novelization Lost in Space in 1957 with "Ron Archer." Van Arnam went on to write a number of science fiction and fantasy novels in the 1960s.

Norman Jolley (b.1916) portrayed villain "Agent X" in the television series "Space Patrol" before becoming the show's head writer. Over the course of the series, Jolley would create numerous gadgets which would be mirrored by later science fiction films.

20 August 2002

Birth Announcement
John Ordover, editor of Pocket Books Star Trek Line, and his wife, Carol, became the parents of a son, Arren Isaac Ordover, at 5:18 AM (EDT) on August 20, 2002.

19 August 2002

Writers and Illustrators of the Future
The L. Ron Hubbard Achievement Awards were presented on Saturday August 17 at the L. Ron Hubbard Gallery in Hollywood, California. This year's Writers of the Future Award was presented to Dylan Otto Krider and the Illustrators of the Future Award was given to Yankova Dimitrova. The L. Ron Hubbard Achievement Awards were founded 18 years ago as part of the Writers of the Future Contest to promote new authors and artists.

13 August 2002

Torcon III to host Canvention in 2003
Canvention, the Canadian National Convention, will be hosted next year by Torcon III, the World Science Fiction Convention, to be held from August 28-September 1, 2003 in Toronto. Canvention is a traveling con which rotates between conventions in eastern and western Canada. Held at any time of the year, its primary function is to administer the Aurora Awards and hold the CSFFA business meeting.

The Moon Race, Part II
Following China's announcement that it intends to land a man on the Moon by 2010 (see May news column), India has announced its intentions of landing unmanned space craft on the moon by 2007. India plans to join Russia, the US and Japan in landing an object on the Moon. They plan to use their Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle. Coincidentally, the announcement comes shortly after India elected Abdul Kalam, a rocket scientist, as President.

Shuttle Troubles Continue
Only a week after NASA announced the resumption of shuttle launches following the discovery of cracks in the fuel lines of all four shuttles, the shuttle program has been threatened by the discover that bearings in the tractors that carry the shuttles from the Vehicle Assembly Building to the launch site developed cracks. While the bearings will be replaced, the repair work may delay launch of Atlantis, currently scheduled for September 28, by up to a month, although no decision has yet been made.

12 August 2002

Starship Lands at Dragon*Con
Rock band Jefferson Starship will perform for 2½ hours at Dragon*Con in Atlanta on Sunday, September 1, 2002. Founded by Paul Kantner as Jefferson Airplane, the band, known for such hit songs as "White Rabbit," and "Somebody to Love," produced the only Hugo-Nominated rock album, "Blows Against the Empire," in 1970.

World Fantasy Nominations
The World Fantasy Award Nominations, to be given out this year at World Fantasy Con in Minneapolis on November 3, have been announced. In addition to the nominees listed below, a Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented to a recipient who has not yet been named.

NOVEL
American Gods, Neil Gaiman (Morrow)
Brown Harvest, Jay Russell (Four Walls Eight Windows)
The Curse of Chalion, Lois McMaster Bujold (Eos)
From the Dust Returned, Ray Bradbury (Morrow)
The Onion Girl, Charles de Lint (Tor)
The Other Wind, Ursula K. Le Guin (Harcourt)
The Wooden Sea, Jonathan Carroll (Tor)

NOVELLA
"The Bird Catcher", S.P. Somtow (The Museum of Horrors, Dennis Etchison, ed., Leisure)
"Cleopatra Brimstone", Elizabeth Hand (Redshift, Al Sarrantonio, ed., Roc)
"Eternity and Afterward", Lucius Shepard (F&SF Mar 2001)
"The Finder", Ursula K. Le Guin (Tales from Earthsea, Harcourt)
"Karuna, Inc.", Paul Di Filippo (Strange Trades, Golden Gryphon)
"Struwwelpeter", Glen Hirshberg (Sci Fiction 11.28.01)

SHORT STORY
"His Own Back Yard", James P. Blaylock (Sci Fiction 07.11.01)
"The Honeyed Knot", Jeffrey Ford (F&SF May 2001)
"Legerdemain", Jack O'Connell (F&SF Oct/Nov 2001)
"Queen for a Day", Albert E. Cowdrey (F&SF Oct/Nov 2001)
"Something to Hitch Meat To", Nalo Hopkinson (Skin Folk, Warner Aspect)

ANTHOLOGY
The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror: Volume Twelve, Stephen Jones, ed. (Robinson; Carrol & Graf)
The Mammoth Book of Vampire Stories by Women, Stephen Jones, ed. (Robinson; Carrol & Graf)
The Museum of Horrors, Dennis Etchison, ed. (Leisure)
Stigmata, Jerad Walters, ed. (Cocytus Press)
The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Fourteenth Annual Collection, Ellen Datlow & Terry Windling, eds. (St. Martin's)

COLLECTION
Dark Universe: Stories 1951-2001, William F. Nolan (Stealth Press)
The Essential Ellison: A 50-Year Retrospective: Revised and Expanded, Harlan Ellison; Terry Dowling with Richard Delap & Gil Lamont, eds. (Morpheus)
Skin Folk, Nalo Hopkinson (Warner Aspect)
Stranger Things Happen, Kelly Link (Small Beer Press)
Talking in the Dark, Dennis Etchison (Stealth Press)

ARTIST
Donato Giancola
Allen Koszowski
John Jude Palencar
Douglas Walters
Gahan Wilson

SPECIAL AWARD, PROFESSIONAL
Randy Broecker (for Fantasy of the 20th Century: An Illustrated History)
Ellen Datlow (for editing)
Jo Fletcher (for editing the Fantasy Masterworks series, Gollancz)
Stephen Jones (for editing)
Douglas E. Winter (for Clive Barker: The Dark Fantastic)

SPECIAL AWARD, NON-PROFESSIONAL
Peter Crowther (for PS Publishing)
Paula Guran (for Horror Garage)
Raymond Russell & Rosalie Parker (for Tartarus Press)
Jerad Walters (for Cocytus Press)
Michael Waltz, et al. (for Sidecar Preservation Society)

Charlton Heston May Have Alzheimer's Disease
Actor Charlton Heston, who has appeared in several historical epics as well as the science fiction Planet of the Apes series, Omega Man, and the Nebula Award winning Soylent Green, announced that his doctors have diagnosed him with symptoms which indicate the onset of Alzheimer's Disease.

10 August 2002

Aurora Awards
The Aurora Awards for Canadian science fiction were announced on Friday, August 9 at Canversion in Calgary. This year's winners include Alex von Thorn, SF Site's convention listing editor.

Best Long-Form Work in English: In the Company of Others, Julie E. Czerneda (DAW, June/2001)
Best Long-Form Work in French: Les Transfigurés du Centaure, Jean-Louis Trudel (Médiaspaul, 2001)
Best Short-Form Work in English: "Left Foot on a Blind Man", Julie E. Czerneda (Silicon Dreams, DAW)
Best Short-Form Work in French: "Souvenirs de lumière", Daniel Sernine (Solaris 138)
Best Work in English (Other): "Underwater Nightmare", Isaac Szpindel (Rescue Heroes Cycle II -- Episode 17a, air-date Aug/2001) [TV screenplay]
Best Work in French (Other): Solaris, Joël Champetier, réd. (Les Compagnons à temps perdu)
Artistic Achievement: James Beveridge (On Spec Spring/01, On Spec Summer/01)
Fan Achievement (Fanzine): Voyageur, Karen Bennett & Sharon Lowachee, eds. (USS Hudson Bay / IDIC) (www.idic.ca) [clubzine]
Fan Achievement (Organizational): Peter Johnson (USS Hudson Bay / IDIC)
Fan Achievement (Other): Alex von Thorn, fan writing/écriture fanique

9 August 2002

Harry Potter vs. Frodo, the DVD Match
Although "Harry Potter and the Philsopher's Stone" beat out "Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" in their opening theatrical weekends ($90.3m-$66.1m), the first episode of the Tolkien classic outsold Harry Potter on their first day of DVD release, with Fellowship selling a record 1.27 million DVDs and Potter "only" selling 1.25 million. This surprised many analysts because New Line Cinema has already announced that a longer special edition of "The Fellowship of the Ring" will be released on November 12 with additional special features not available on its initial release. Many purchasers have said that they also plan to purchase the special edition.

Birth/Obituary
Ella Morehouse Rounds (2002)

On August 5, Shawn Rounds, partner to author Lyda Morehouse, gave birth to a baby girl, Ella Durene Mae Morehouse Rounds. Unfortunately, the baby died shortly after her birth. The baby was born a full week after her due date. A private funeral for family members will be held on either August 12 or 13 at Lakewood Cemetery.

Obituary
Phyllis White (July 7)

TV screenwriter Phyllis White (b.1923), who wrote for the 1963-66 television series "My Favorite Martian," died of a stroke on July 7 in Venice, California. (She is not the same Phyllis White who was married to Anthony Boucher. That Phyllis White died in 2000.)

7 August 2002

European Science Fiction Society Awards
The European Science Fiction Society announced its annual awards at Eurocon 2002, held in Chotebor, Czech Republic.

Best Author: Valerio Evangelisti (Italy)
Best Translator: Paulina Braiter-Ziemkiewicz (Poland)
Best Promoter: Yurii Ilkov (Bulgaria)
Best Journal: Fantazia (Slovakia)
Best Publisher: Leonardo – Jiri Pilch (Czech Republic)
Best Artist: J.P. Krasny (Czech Republic)
Best Fanzine: Terra Fantastica (Bulgaria)

In addition, Encouragement Awards were given to Alexander Karapanchev (Bulgaria), Vitali Kaplan (Russia), Alexandra Pavelkova (Slovakia) and Miroslav Zamboch (Czech Republic)

British Fantasy Nominations
The nomination list for the British Fantasy Awards, to be presented at Fantasycon 2002 in London on September 21, have been announced.

Best Novel (August Derleth Fantasy Award)
Always Forever, by Mark Chadbourn
The Night of the Triffids, by Simon Clark
American Gods, by Neil Gaiman
Bold as Love, by Gwyneth Jones
Smoking Poppy, by Graham Joyce

Best Anthology
Futures, edited by Peter Crowther
The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: 14th Annual Collection, edited by Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling
The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror: Volume 12, edited by Stephen Jones
The Mammoth Book of Vampire Stories by Women, edited by Stephen Jones
Phantoms of Venice, edited by David Sutton

Best Collection
Aftershocks, by Paul Finch
The Conan Chronicles, Volume 2: The Hour of the Dragon, by Robert E. Howard
As the Sun Goes Down, by Tim Lebbon
London Bone, by Michael Moorcock
Magic Terror, by Peter Straub

Best Short Fiction
"Goblin City Lights," by Simon Clark
"Black Dust," by Graham Joyce
"Telling the Tale," by Steve Lockley & Paul Lewis
"Diamond Dogs," by Alastair Reynolds
"Nearly People," by Conrad Williams

Best Artist
Poppy Alexander
Jim Burns
Simon Duric
Les Edwards
Edward Miller

Best Small Press
The Alien Online
Dark Horizons
PS Publishing
Telos Publishing
The 3rd Alternative

Celebrity Auctions Comics
Actor Nicholas Cage, who was once considered for the role of Superman, is auctioning 400 comics from his collection at the Dallas ComiCon over the weekend of October 11-13. The collection includes first appearances of Captain America and the Green Lantern, although the centerpiece may be Action Comics #1, which features the introduction of Superman.

Obituary
Frank Liltz (July 6)

Frank Liltz was an artist and a fan, the husband of Barbara Fister-Liltz, with whom he had created many works of science fictional art over the past twenty-five years. Litz served in the Navy during Viet Nam. He died in Chicago from advanced metastatic cancer at age 55.

6 August 2002

Shuttle Repairs
NASA has announced that the space shuttle Atlantis will begin to undergo repair work for cracks discovered in the fuel lines which resulted in the cancellation of all shuttle launches. If everything goes according to schedule, Atlantis could resume flying as early as September 28, with Endeavor and Columbia scheduled to return to active status in November. The cracks were discovered by David Strait during a visual inspection in June. Discovery is undergoing a major overhaul and is not scheduled to fly again until 2004.

Voyage of the Space Beagle
European engineers have begun construction on the Beagle 2, a robotic probe scheduled to land on Mars in December 2003. Launched to Mars as part of the Mars Express mission, the Beagle 2, named for the ship which transported Charles Darwin, will search the planet for organic matter and life-related compounds. The craft is being constructed in a clean room environment and will be launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in May or June 2003.

Obituary
Ian McAuley Hails (August 2)

Australian author Ian Hails, who wrote the conspiracy thriller Back Door Man and the story "Crowd Control," lost a long battle with a congenital heart condition. He was in his late forties.

Galaxy Press Announced
Bridge Publications, the publishing arm of the Church of Scientology, has announced that it will spin off a company, called Galaxy Press, to publish its fiction. In the bast, Bridge published several of L. Ron Hubbard's novels as well as the Writers of the Future anthologies. According to spokesperson Elise Toth, Hubbard currently has 20 works of fiction in print, but has more than 250 novels which the new firm can publish.

5 August 2002

Obituary
Franco Lucentini (August 4)

Italian science fiction and mystery author Franco Lucentini (b.1920) committed suicide by jumping from the stairwell of his house in Turin, Italy following a lengthy battle with lung cancer. Perhaps best known for his completion of Charles Dickens's unfinished novel The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Lucentini published science fiction in collaboration with Carlo Fruttero.

4 August 2002

Mythopoeic Awards
This year's Mythopoeic Awards were announced at Mythcon XXXIII in Boulder Colorado. The winners were:
Adult Literature: Lois McMaster Bujold, The Curse of Chalion
Children's Literature: Peter Dickinson, The Ropemaker
Scholarship Award for Inkling Studies: Verlyn Flieger & Carl F. Hofstetter, Tolkien's Lengendarium: Essays on the History of Middle Earth
Scholarship Award for Myth and Fantasy Studies: G. Ronald Murphy, The Owl, the Raven and the Dove: The Religious Meaning of Grimm's Magic Fairy Tales.

2 August 2002

University of Calgary Receives Collection
Canadian SF Collector William Gibson (not to be confused with the author), has left his collection of more than 35,000 volumes of science fiction dating back to the nineteenth century to the University of Calgary. The university estimates that it will cost at least C$500,000 to clean, preserve and catalogue the collection. The collection includes Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and a nearly complete run of Astounding/Analog. Mr. Gibson died in 2001 at the age of 92.

1 August 2002

Meet the New Con, not the Old Con
SCSFFS (St. Charles Science Fiction and Fantasy Society) has announced that after fifteen years, the St. Louis based Name That Con has come to an end. Instead, they are going to begin a new convention, ShowMeCon (http://www.showmecon.com). The first ShowMeCon will be held from July 11-13, 2003 at the Four Points Sheraton, Earth City, Missouri.

See an Asteroid
On July 14, astronomers discovered asteroid 2002NY40, an 800meter asteroid which will pass the Earth at a distance of 325,000 miles, only 1.3 times further than the moon, on August 17 and 18. What sets this asteroid apart is that astronomers believe it will be visible to anyone with a pair of binoculars and reach a magnitude of 9. The last time an asteroid this large passed so close was in 1925, although the passage wasn't discovered until last year.

Star Wars II on DVD
Attack of the Clones will be released as a two-DVD set on November 12, the same day that the expanded Fellowship of the Ring is to be released on DVD. The Star Wars DVD will include a commentary by George Lucas, Rick McCallum, and others, deleted scenes, documentaries, trailers, and new visual effects.

Obituary
Ron Walotsky (July 29)

Artist Ron Walotsky (b.1943) died of kidney failure near midnight on July 29 following a month-long hospitalization. Walotsky, whose art has graced hundreds of book and magazine covers beginning with The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, had just returned from a trip to Africa. In addition to his traditional science fiction art, Walotsky has also illustrated the covers for several albums and has worked on music videos for Billy Joel and the Romantics. In 1996, Walotsky was the artist guest of honor at World Fantasy Con. In 1993, his October/November cover for Fantasy and Science Fiction was nominated for a Hugo for Best Original Artwork.