30 August 2004

Obituaries
Fan George Flynn (b.1936) died on August 29 after being in rehabilitation for twin surgeries since late June. Flynn was a fellow of NESFA and served as an officer of the WSFS throughout the eighties and nineties. He co-chaired Ditto 11 in 1998 and wrote for numerous APAs. In recent years, he was very active doing proof-reading for NESFA Press. One of his many reprinted articles about Hugo voting can be found on-line at http://www.nesfa.org/fanzines/votehist.html.

Dr. Fred Whipple (b.1907) died on August 30. Whipple coined the term "dirty snowball" to describe a comet and spent more than fifty years studying comets. He first suggested that comet nuclei were a mixture of ice, rock and dust in 1950, but his theory wasn't proven until 1986 when the ESA probe Giotto flew by Halley's Comet.

29 August 2004

Fan Recovering
Los Angeles Fan Beverly Warren is home from the hospital where she was diagnosed with meningitis. Beverly is married to film critic and Starlog contributor Bill Warren and the two organize fannish tours to Hawaii.

Obituary
Actress Burnu Acquanetta (b.1921) died on August 16 in Ahwatukee, Arizona. She made her debut in the 1942 version of "The Arabian Nights" in the role of Ishya and went on to appear in "Jungle Women," "Tarzan and the Leopard Woman," and "Lost Continent." She was frequently cast in the role of beast women. Part Cherokee, she has been suffering from Alzheimer's.

26 August 2004

Amazing Seeks Editor
David Gross has announced that he is stepping down as the editor of Amazing Stories. Paizo is looking for a replacement to helm the magazine which began publishing in 1926. Gross is the second editor to leave a start-up magazine shortly after it began publishing this year. Earlier this year, Lou Anders stepped down as editor of the revived Argosy.

L. Ron Hubbard Winners
The winners of the twentieth annual L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future Contest were announced on August 20. William T. Katz won the writing contest and Laura Deihl won the illustrator contest. A Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Anne McCaffrey.

Hugo Award Design Contest
Interaction, the 63rd Worldcon, has announced a contest to design the base for the Hugo Award to be presented in Glasgow next year. The contest is being run in conjunction with the Glasgow School of Art. There are two categories, one of students at the school and one for science fiction fans. The four top ranked designs in each group will be presented to a panel of judges for a decision. The winner will receive a membership to Interaction, a cash prize, and be invited to discuss at design at the Hugo ceremony.

Exoplanets Found
An exoplanet, a planet orbiting a sun other than ours, has been discovered using a new technique and a four-inch telescope, smaller than many back-yard scopes. The planet orbits a star in Lyra more than 500 light-years away and is being called TrES-1. Its existence was confirmed by the Keck 1 telescope in Hawaii. The Jovian planet orbits closer to its primary than Mercury and has an estimated temperature of 815°C. Another planet, described as a Super-Earth, was discovered 50 light years around ì Arae. Fourteen times the size of Earth, it is the size of Uranus, but believed to be a terrestrial planet instead of a gas giant.

Birth Announcements
British fans Cat Coast and Dave Hicks gave birth to a daughter, Penelope Susan Coast Hicks on August 21. Penelope was born in Royal Gwent Hospital at 12:30pm and weighed 7lbs, 1 oz.

American publisher Warren Lapine and Angela Kessler gave birth to a daughter, Tara Fae Kessler-Lapine on July 26. Tara weighed 7lbs 11oz at birth.

25 August 2004

Seiun Award Winners
The 2004 Seiun Award winners, for best science fiction in Japan, have been announced. The Seiun Awards are the equivalent of the Hugo Awards in Japan, selected by the fans. The foreign language winners will be presented during the Hugo Award ceremony in Boston on Saturday, September 4, 2004.
Japanese Long: The Sixth Continent by Issui Ogawa
Japanese Short: "Unaccepted Death," by Shinji Kajio
Foreign Long: Heaven's Reach by David Brin, Translated by Akinobu Sakai
Foreign Short: "Hell is the Absence of God," by Ted Chiang, Translated by Yoshimichi Furusawa
Media: Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Comics: From Far Away by Kyoko Hikawa
Art: Daisuke Nishijima
Non-Fiction: Passport to the Universe 2 by Yuichi Sasamoto
Free: The Royal Museum of Science Series

Obituary
Director Daniel Petrie (b.1920) died from cancer on August 22. Petrie made a name for himself directing television shows like "Marcus Welby" and "Studio One" in th e50s and 60s. He went on to direct science fiction films "The Neptune Factor" and "Cocoon: The Return." Petrie won eight Emmy Awards.

19 August 2004

Obituary
Composer Elmer Bernstein (b.1922), best known for the score to "The Magnificent Seven" died at his home on August 18. Bernstein was also active in writing film scores for genre work, including "Saturn 3," "Being John Malkovich," and "An American Werewolf in London." His music was used in more than 250 films dating back to 1951 In 1968, he won an Oscar for Best Original Music Score for "Thoroughly Modern Millie."

18 August 2004

Geek Casting Call
VH1 and Nash Entertainment is casting for a host for a show called "The Revengers." They are looking for people who were and still are geeks. Applicants should have expertise in Computers, Gadgets, Electronics, Special Effects, Improvisation or Comedy skills. Email current photo and bio. To VH1project@nashentertainment.com and send 5 minute videotape about yourself along with current photo and resume to:
Nash Entertainment
"VH1 Pilot"
Attn: Lynsey
1438 N. Gower St.
Bldg. 35
Box 10
Hollywood, CA 90028

Obituary
Cinematographer Neal Fredericks (b.1969) died in a plane crash while filming over the Dry Tortugas. The pilot and rest of the crew were rescued by the Coast Guard. Fredericks shot to fame with his second film, "The Blair Witch Project" in 1999 and went on to work on thirty films, many of which had a fantastic or horrific element.

Fan and computer maven Iain O'Cain (b.1967) committed suicide sometime between August 11 and August 17. O'Cain, an Edmonton fan, was involved in gaming and had previously lived in the Ann Arbor area.

16 August 2004

Fan Suffers Heart Attack
Longtime fan Howard DeVore suffered a massive heart attack on August 4 and was taken to the hospital. He has returned home, but according to Dave Locke is doing "quite poorly." A member of First Fandom, DeVore received a Hugo nomination in 1999 for his reference book The Hugo, Nebula and World Fantasy Awards.

Fan Recovering
In June, former Tangent editor David Truesdale was bitten several times in his sleep by some unknown critter. The bites apparently carried a toxin which caused a high fever with chills for more than a week and a loss of appetite. Tests at the local hospital were inconclusive. Truesdale is now recovering from his mysterious ailment.

Saturn at 33
Cassini has discovered two previously unknown moons in orbit around Saturn, bringing the planet's total number of moons to 33. These moons, only a little over 2 ½ miles in diameter, orbit between the orbits of Mimas and Enceladus, at 120,000 and 131,000 miles from Saturn's center.

12 August 2004

Memory Hole Annex In Search of a Home
Pat McMurray, who has been building the Memory Hole Annex for more than a decade, finds that he needs to turn the collection over to a new curator. The collection includes "all the stuff that a convention produces - PRs, Program Books, badges, Newsletters, shirts, souvenirs and toys, signs, mugs, artwork - just about anything along those lines." McMurray is looking for a UK fan to take over the entire collection sometime in the next couple of months. When the new curator can no longer maintain the collection, the entire collection should be turned over to a new curator.

SMOFcon Scholarships
SFSFCI, the parent corporation for ConJosé, has announced the recipients of two scholarships to attend this year's SMOFcon in Washington, D.C. Tomoko Shintani Stocksiek and Wolfgang Coe each received $500 scholarships to attend the con-runners convention.

Spider Ill
Spider Robinson fell ill on August 8, shortly before he was scheduled to appear at ConVersion. After being admitted to the hospital, he was diagnosed with gastro-enteritis. He came home on August 11 and is now recuperating.

9 August 2004

X-Prize Rocket Explosion
An unmanned test of the Rubicon 1 spacecraft, designed by a small firm to compete for the Ansari X-Prize, exploded shortly after launch just south of Olympic National Park in Washington state. The partners behind the Rubicon 1 plan to re-build the craft and try another launch as soon as possible. They noted that NASA had many similar launch explosions in its early history.

Obituary
Actress Fay Wray (b.1907) died on August 8. Although Wray had a career spanning decades, she is best known for her role as Ann Darrow in the 1933 film King Kong. She began her acting career in 1923 in "Gasoline Love" and most recently appeared in 1980 in "Gideon's Trumpet." In 1936, she appeared as Lady Rowena in "When Knights Were Bold." In addition to "King Kong," she appeared in ten other films in 1933, many of them fantasy or horror films.

6 August 2004

World Fantasy Award Nominations
The nominees for the World Fantasy Award have been announced. The winners will be announced the weekend of October 28 at the World Fantasy Con in Tempe, Arizona.

Novel:
K. J. Bishop, The Etched City
Kij Johnson, Fudoki
Ian R. MacLeod, The Light Ages
Jeff VanderMeer, Veniss Undergound
Jo Walton, Tooth and Claw

Novella:
Simon Clark & Tim Lebbon, Exorcising Angels
Jeffrey Ford, "The Empire of Ice Cream"
Greer Gilman, "A Crowd of Bone"
Glen Hirshberg, "Dancing Men"
Kelly Link, "The Hortlak"

Short Fiction:
Charles de Lint, "A Circle of Cats"
Maureen F. McHugh, "Ancestor Money"
Alex Irvine, "Gus Dreams of Biting the Mailman"
Chris Roberson, "O One"
Bruce Holland Rogers, "Don Ysidro"

Anthology:
Jack Dann, Ramsey Campbell & Dennis Etchison, eds. Gathering The Bones
Ellen Datlow, ed. The Dark: New Ghost Stories
Kelly Link, ed. Trampoline: an anthology
Rosalie Parker, ed. Strange Tales
Jeff VanderMeer & Mark Roberts, eds.The Thackery T. Lambshead Pocket Guide to Eccentric & Discredited Diseases

Collection:
Jack Cady Ghosts of Yesterday
Elizabeth Hand, Bibliomancy
Glen Hirshberg, The Two Sams
George R.R. Martin, GRRM: A RRetrospective
Michael Marshall Smith, More Tomorrows & Other Stories

Artist:
Brom
Donato Giancola
John Jude Palencar
John Picacio
Jason Van Hollander

Professional:
Peter Crowther For PS Publishing
John Howe/Alan Lee For Artwork in The Lord of the Rings
Kelly Link/Gavin Grant For Small Beer Press
Sharyn November For Firebird Books
David Pringle For Interzone/service to the field
Sean Wallace For Prime Books

Non-Professional:
Deborah Layne/Jay Lake For Wheatland Press
Paul Miller For Earthling Publications
Ray Russell/Rosalie Parker For Tartarus Press
Dave Truesdale For Tangent Online
Rodger Turner, Neil Walsh and Wayne MacLaurin For SFSite.com

British Fantasy Award Nominees
The British Fantasy Awards nominations for 2004 has been announced. The winners will be announced the weekend of September 26 at the British Fantasy Convention in Walsall, England.

Best Novel (The August Derleth Fantasy Award):
Simon Clark, Vampyrrhic Rites
Christopher Fowler, Full Dark House
Jon Courtenay Grimwood, Felaheen: The Third Arabesk
James Herbert, Nobody True
Peter Straub, Lost Boy Lost Girl
Liz Williams, The Poison Master

Best Short Fiction:
Ramsey Campbell, 'Fear the Dead'
Mark Chadbourn, Wonderland
Simon Clark & Tim Lebbon, 'Exorcising Angels'
Christopher Fowler, 'American Waitress'
Mark Samuels, 'The White Hands'

Best Anthology:
Andy Cox, ed., Crimewave 7: The Last Sunset
Stephen Jones, ed., By Moonlight Only
Stephen Jones, ed., The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror, Vol. 14
Joel Lane, ed., Beneath The Ground
Andy W. Robertson, ed., William Hope Hodgson's Night Lands, Volume 1: Eternal Love
Jeff Vandermeer & Mark Roberts, eds., The Thackery T. Lambshead Pocket Guide to Eccentric and Discredited Diseases

Best Collection:
Ramsey Campbell, Told by The Dead
Christopher Fowler, Demonized
M. John Harrison, Things That Never Happen
Mark Samuels, The White Hands and Other Weird Tales
Michael Marshall Smith, More Tomorrow and Other Stories

Best Artist:
Dave Bezzina
Deirdre Counihan
Bob Covington
Les Edwards
Dominic Harman

Best Small Press:
The Alien Online (ed. Ariel and co.)
Elastic Press (Andrew Hook)
PS Publishing (Peter Crowther)
Scheherazade (ed. Elizabeth Counihan)
The 3rd Alternative (ed. Andy Cox)

Lord Voldemort Cast
The role of Lord Voldemort for the fourth Harry Potter film, "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" has been announced. The villain of the series will be portrayed by Academy Award-nominated Ralph Fiennes. Fiennes first came to international attention with his role as Nazi guard Amon Goeth in "Schindler's List." He went on to portray John Steed in "The Avengers."

Mythopoeic Awards
The Mythopoeic Society announced the winners of the 2004 Mythopoeic Award at their annual convention, Mythcon, help from July 30-August 2 in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature: Sunshine, by Robin McKinley
Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children's Literature: The Hollow Kingdom, by Clare B. Dunkle
Mythopoeic Scholarship Award in Inklings Studies: Tolkien and the Great War: The Threshold of Middle-earth, by John Garth
Mythopoeic Scholarship Award in General Myth and Fantasy Studies: The Myth of the American Superhero, by John Lawrence & Robert Jewett

Eastern Regional Director Named
SFWA President Catherine Asaro had announced that Diane Turnshek has agreed to fill the role of Eastern Regional Director. Asaro has been filling the role since it was left vacant earlier this year.

James White Award
The 2005 James White Award short story competition is now accepting entries. The winner will be announced in Glasgow during Interaction, the 63rd World Science Fiction Convention and will receive publication in Interzone. The competition is open to non-professional writers from all over the world who may submit up to four original science fiction or fantasy short stories of between 2000 and 4000 words each. The winning story will be selected by an international panel of judges and will be published in Interzone. In addition, the author will receive a trophy and a cash prize. Full details may be obtained from the competition website http://www.jameswhiteaward.com.

Rhysling Winners
The Winners of the Rhysling Award for science fictional poetry have been announced by the Science Fiction Poetry Association.
Long: Theodora Goss, "Octavia Is Lost in the Hall of Masks"
Short: Roger Dutcher, "Just Distance"

3 August 2004

Ellisonian Refunds
Harlan Ellison is issuing refunds to everyone who donated to his KICK Internet Piracy campaign. In addition to refunding the amount of the donation, Ellison is offering and additional $10 to everyone who donated.

Eighth Harry Potter
J.K. Rowling has announced that she plans on producing an eighth Harry Potter book while staying true to her pledge to only write seven novels. The eighth book will apparently contain excerpts which were not included in the original books. Rowling says that the proceeds from the companion volume will all be donated to charity.

Obituaries
Mark K. Gilbert (b.1961) died on July 27 following a long battle with cancer. Gilbert was the author of Thistle and Grimal's Spellbook. A member of the Horror Writers of America, he was the publisher of the on-line magazine Artoise.

Actor Sam Edwards (b.1915) suffered a fatal heart attack on July 28. Edwards played Chuck Ramsey in the "Captain Midnight" serials in the 1940s and also had a bit part in the film "Escape from Witch Mountain."

Actor Eugene Roche (b.1928) died on July 28 after suffering an heart attack. Roche was best known as the Ajax spokesman, but also appeared in the Hugo Award-winning "Slaughterhouse-Five" as Edgar Derby. His other genre credits include "The Possessed" and "Roswell."