Nimoy Tribute on Syfy Sunday Morning

Syfy has announced it will honor the passing of Leonard Nimoy with a special five-hour block of programming on Sunday morning, March 1 beginning 9 a.m./8c.

9:00 a.m.

The Twilight Zone

S3.E15  “Quality of Mercy” – A lieutenant (Dean Stockwell) preparing to lead his platoon suddenly sees the attack as if he were the enemy. Causarano: Albert Salmi. Watkins: Rayford Barnes. Hansen: Leonard Nimoy. Hanacheck: Ralph Votrian. Japanese Soldier: Dale Ishimoto. Japanese Captain: Jerry Fujikawa.

9:30 a.m.

Star Trek: The Next Generation

Two-part episode “Unification”

S5.E8  “Unification” — Conclusion. After locating Spock (Leonard Nimoy) and discovering his plans for unifying the Romulans and the Vulcans, Picard and Data uncover a covert Romulan plot that does not call for unification—but for invasion. Sela: Denise Crosby. Pardek: Malachi Throne.

11:30 a.m.

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

The Enterprise crew members are assigned to escort a Klingon leader to peace talks, but negotiations cease when a Klingon vessel is attacked and Capt. Kirk and Dr. McCoy are accused of the crime and forced to stand trial for murder

Smiling Through The Tears

Reversing the lyrics of a theatrical standard, tragedy yesterday, but comedy tonight.

Leonard Nimoy’s death left many fans with a deep sense of loss. A few small jokes may help the healing process.

Taral Wayne added his own caption to a Star Trek still –

Final Captain's Log

Newsthump posted a bittersweet fake news story:

An arrest warrant has been issued for Star Trek actor William Shatner, who is reported to have stolen the space shuttle Enterprise…

Shatner and his crew – reported to comprise Nichelle Nichols, George Takei and Walter Koenig – are understood to believe that Leonard Nimoy will have been reborn on a new, Edenic alien world as suggested in a 1984 documentary.

When asked their course, shortly before passing out of radio range, Shatner is reported to have replied “Second star on the left, and straight on ’til morning.”

 

Worden Steps Down as Ames Research Center Director

Simon “Pete” Worden, director of NASA’s Ames Research Center, has announced he is retiring.

Worden funded Gregory and Jim Benfords’ Starship Century book and conference, together with UCSD.

He spent the last nine years at Ames and during that time, he told Space News –

We have launched dozens of small, low-cost satellites – and helped ignite a major new industry in this area. Ames people have revitalized space biology and begun to apply the new field of synthetic biology…. Ames has provided entry technology for the emerging commercial space launch sector. We have helped launch small satellites working with a number of nations. And we’ve hosted and inspired thousands of students.

He said he plans to ““to pursue some long-held dreams in the private sector.”

2014 Aurealis Award Finalists

The 2014 Aurealis Awards shortlist has been announced.

Judging coordinator Tehani Wessely said there were over 750 entries, slightly down from last year’s record of over 800 entries across the twelve categories.

The winners as well as the recipient of the Convenors’ Award for Excellence will be announced at a ceremony in Canberra on April 11.

2014 Aurealis Awards – Finalists

BEST FANTASY NOVEL

  • Fireborn, Keri Arthur (Hachette Australia)
  • This Shattered World, Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner (Allen & Unwin)
  • The Lascar’s Dagger, Glenda Larke (Hachette Australia)
  • Dreamer’s Pool, Juliet Marillier (Pan Macmillan Australia)
  • Afterworlds, Scott Westerfeld (Penguin Books Australia)
  • Daughters of the Storm, Kim Wilkins (Harlequin Enterprises Australia)

BEST FANTASY SHORT STORY

  • “The Oud”, Thoraiya Dyer (Long Hidden, Crossed Genres Publications)
  • “Teratogen”, Deborah Kalin (Cemetery Dance, #71, May 2014)
  • “The Ghost of Hephaestus”, Charlotte Nash (Phantazein, FableCroft Publications)
  • “St Dymphna’s School for Poison Girls”, Angela Slatter (The Review of Australian Fiction, Volume 9, Issue 3)
  • “The Badger Bride”, Angela Slatter (Strange Tales IV, Tartarus Press)

BEST SCIENCE FICTION NOVEL

  • Aurora: Meridian, Amanda Bridgeman (Momentum)
  • Nil By Mouth, LynC (Satalyte)
  • The White List, Nina D’Aleo (Momentum)
  • Peacemaker, Marianne de Pierres (Angry Robot)
  • This Shattered World, Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner (Allen & Unwin)
  • Foresight, Graham Storrs (Momentum)

BEST SCIENCE FICTION SHORT STORY

  • “The Executioner Goes Home”, Deborah Biancotti (Review of Australian Fiction, Vol 11 Issue 6)
  • “Wine, Women and Stars”, Thoraiya Dyer (Analog Vol CXXXIV nos 1&2 Jan/Feb)
  • “The Glorious Aerybeth”, Jason Fischer (OnSpec, 11 Sep 2014)
  • “Dellinger”, Charlotte Nash (Use Only As Directed, Peggy Bright Books)
  • “Happy Go Lucky”, Garth Nix (Kaleidoscope, Twelfth Planet Press)

BEST HORROR NOVEL

  • Book of the Dead, Greig Beck (Momentum)
  • Razorhurst, Justine Larbalestier (Allen & Unwin)
  • Obsidian, Alan Baxter (HarperVoyager)

BEST HORROR SHORT STORY

  • “The Executioner Goes Home”, Deborah Biancotti (Review of Australian Fiction, Vol 11 Issue 6)
  • “Skinsuit”, James Bradley (Island Magazine 137)
  • “By the Moon’s Good Grace”, Kirstyn McDermott (Review of Australian Fiction, Vol 12, Issue 3)
  • “Shay Corsham Worsted”, Garth Nix (Fearful Symmetries, Chizine)
  • “Home and Hearth”, Angela Slatter (Spectral Press)

BEST YOUNG ADULT NOVEL

  • The Astrologer’s Daughter, Rebecca Lim (Text Publishing)
  • Afterworld, Lynnette Lounsbury (Allen & Unwin)
  • The Cracks in the Kingdom, Jaclyn Moriarty (Pan Macmillan Australia)
  • Clariel, Garth Nix (Allen & Unwin)
  • The Haunting of Lily Frost, Nova Weetman (UQP)
  • Afterworlds, Scott Westerfeld (Penguin Books Australia)

BEST YOUNG ADULT SHORT STORY

  • “In Hades”, Goldie Alexander (Celapene Press)
  • “Falling Leaves”, Liz Argall (Apex Magazine)
  • “The Fuller and the Bogle”, David Cornish (Tales from the Half-Continent, Omnibus Books)
  • “Vanilla”, Dirk Flinthart (Kaleidoscope, Twelfth Planet Press)
  • “Signature”, Faith Mudge (Kaleidoscope, Twelfth Planet Press)

BEST CHILDREN’S FICTION

  • Slaves of Socorro: Brotherband #4, John Flanagan (Random House Australia)
  • Ophelia and the Marvellous Boy, Karen Foxlee (Hot Key Books)
  • The Last Viking Returns, Norman Jorgensen and James Foley (ILL.) (Fremantle Press)
  • Withering-by-Sea, Judith Rossell (ABC Books)
  • Sunker’s Deep: The Hidden #2, Lian Tanner (Allen & Unwin)
  • Shadow Sister: Dragon Keeper #5, Carole Wilkinson (Black Dog Books)

BEST COLLECTION

  • The Female Factory, Lisa L Hannett and Angela Slatter (Twelfth Planet Press)
  • Secret Lives, Rosaleen Love (Twelfth Planet Press)
  • Angel Dust, Ian McHugh (Ticonderoga Publications)
  • Difficult Second Album: more stories of Xenobiology, Space Elevators, and Bats Out Of Hell, Simon Petrie (Peggy Bright Books)
  • The Bitterwood Bible and Other Recountings, Angela Slatter (Tartarus Press)
  • Black-Winged Angels, Angela Slatter (Ticonderoga Publications)

BEST ANTHOLOGY

  • Kisses by Clockwork, Liz Grzyb (Ed) (Ticonderoga Publications)
  • Kaleidoscope: Diverse YA Science Fiction and Fantasy Stories, Alisa Krasnostein and Julia Rios (Eds), (Twelfth Planet Press)
  • Amok: An Anthology of Asia-Pacific Speculative Fiction, Dominica Malcolm (Ed) (Solarwyrm Press)
  • Reach for Infinity, Jonathan Strahan (Ed) (Solaris Books)
  • Fearsome Magics, Jonathan Strahan (Ed) (Solaris Books)
  • Phantazein, Tehani Wessely (Ed) (FableCroft Publishing)

BEST GRAPHIC NOVEL/ILLUSTRATED WORK

  • Left Hand Path #1, Jason Franks & Paul Abstruse (Winter City Productions)
  • Awkwood, Jase Harper (Milk Shadow Books)
  • “A Small Wild Magic”, Kathleen Jennings (Monstrous Affections, Candlewick Press)
  • Mr Unpronounceable and the Sect of the Bleeding Eye, Tim Molloy (Milk Shadow Books)
  • The Game, Shane W Smith (Deeper Meanings Publishing)

The nominees for the Convenors’ Award were announced in January:

The Convenors’ Award for Excellence

  • “It Grows!”, a film by Ryan Cauchi and Nick Stathopoulos
  • “Night Terrace”, a serial podcast story, produced by John Richards, Ben McKenzie, David Ashton, Petra Elliott and Lee Zachariah
  • “The Australian Women Writers Challenge”, an online reviewing initiative
  • “Useless Questions”, a radio play by Laura Goodin, performed by fans at Conflux.

This award is given at the discretion of the convenors “for a particular achievement in speculative fiction or related areas in the year that cannot otherwise be judged for the Aurealis Awards.”

It can be for a work of non-fiction, artwork, film, television, electronic or multimedia work, or that which brings credit or attention to the speculative fiction genres.

The award has resumed its original title this year – for over a decade it bore the late Peter McNamara’s name as a memorial, but this now has been dropped to avoid confusion with the Peter McNamara Achievement Award presented annually at the Australian National Science Fiction Convention.

Nominations Sought for Pulp Interest and Service Awards

The 2015 Munsey Award nominations are open through May 31. The annual award, named for the publisher of the first pulp magazine, Frank A. Munsey, recognizes an individual who has contributed to the betterment of the pulp community through disseminating knowledge about the pulps, through publishing, or other efforts to preserve and to foster interest in the pulps.

This is also the time to nominate someone for the Rusty Hevelin Service Award, which recognizes people “who have worked long and hard for the pulp community with little thought for individual recognition. It is meant to reward especially good works, and is thus reserved for only those individuals who are most deserving.”

The winners of both awards will be selected by a panel of judges and presented at Pulpfest, being held August 13-16 in Columbus, OH.

All members of the pulp community, except past winners of the Munsey, Hevelin or Lamont Awards are eligible. Names should be sent to Mike Chomko along with a brief paragraph describing why that person should be honored, to 2217 W. Fairview Street, Allentown, PA 18104-6542, or via e-mail to mike [at] pulpfest [dot] com.

[Thanks to Andrew Porter for the story.]

Leonard Nimoy (1931-2015)

Leonard Nimoy (Spock) at the Las Vegas Star Trek Convention 2011. Photo by Beth Madison.

Leonard Nimoy (Spock) at the Las Vegas Star Trek Convention 2011. Photo by Beth Madison.

Leonard Nimoy passed away this morning at the age of 83 after being hospitalized earlier in the week for the long-term effects of COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease).

He did a great deal of TV work before being cast as Star Trek’s iconic Mr. Spock. After the series was cancelled he went on to play Spock in eight Star Trek films, two of which he directed. Nimoy also voiced his character for the animated Star Trek series, and in a 2012 episode of The Big Bang Theory (“The Transporter Malfunction”). Director J. J. Abrams included cameo parts for him in the revived Star Trek film franchise.

Nimoy invented the famed “Vulcan nerve pinch” for the original series when he and the writers were trying to figure out how an unarmed Spock could overpower an adversary without resorting to violence.

Highlights of his other genre work include The Outer Limits – he appeared in episodes of both the Sixties original and the Nineties revival — and The Twilight Zone (“The Quality of Mercy,” 1961). He voiced “Mr. Moundshroud” in The Halloween Tree, based on the work of Ray Bradbury.

His first record album, Leonard Nimoy Presents Mr. Spock’s Music From Outer Space, resulted in a hit “Visit to a Sad Planet” (1967) which charted at #121 on Billboard.

His “Ballad of Bilbo Baggins” also forged a weird but immortal connection in the minds of fans between Star Trek and Tolkien.

Nimoy’s career was linked with William Shatner’s in more than just the obvious way – even before Star Trek, they appeared together in an episode of The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (1964). Afterwards, of course, they were paired in the animated series (1973), an episode of the Shatner vehicle T.J. Hooker (1982), and one of Futurama (1999).

In demand as a narrator, he hosted two nonfiction TV shows, In Search of… (1976) and Ancient Mysteries (1993). He voiced a cartoon version of himself – Leonard Nimoy — in two episodes of The Simpsons.

Nimoy was born in Boston and once commented, “My folks came to the US as immigrants, aliens, and became citizens. I was born in Boston, a citizen, went to Hollywood and became an alien.”

He made this final tweet on February 22:

(He signed all his tweets LLAP for “Live long and prosper.”)

Preflighting Thunderbirds

New Thunderbirds Are Go imagery was released yesterday featuring Brains, Lady Penelope, her dog, her car, and Parker.

An entire Thunderbirds Are Go center was unveiled on YouTube this month.

Material available there includes a video tour of the miniature Tracy Island sets produced by the WETA Workshop, model makers for Lord Of The Rings.

There’s also a teaser trailer, and several short videos of the various Thunderbirds:

ITV has also confirmed that Sylvia Anderson, the voice of Lady Penelope in the original series, has been cast to voice the character of Lady Penelope’s elderly Great Aunt Sylvia in an episode.

Bacigalupi On NPR’s Marketplace

Author Paolo Bacigalupi appeared in the February 26 segment of an NPR Marketplace feature “Water: The High Price of Cheap” commenting about how taking water for granted gets us in trouble. For example, the family farm where he grew up drew water from a federal project, and when circumstances made it unavailable they were especially aware of their dependence on it.

Bacigalupi is known for The Windup Girl and The Drowned Cities. His next novel, out soon, is titled, The Water Knife.

[Thanks to Rich Lynch for the story.]

Uncanny Issue 3 Arrives Next Week

Cover of Uncanny #3 by Carrie Ann Baade.

Cover of Uncanny #3 by Carrie Ann Baade.

Number 3 on 3/3. Think you can remember that? Uncanny Magazine #3 will be released on March 3.

What’s more, Publishers/Editors-in-Chief Lynne M. Thomas (Chicks Dig Time Lords, Apex Magazine) and Michael Damian Thomas (Queers Dig Time Lords) are offering the issue as a free eBook to anyone taking K.T. Bradford’s reading challenge, which several of my readers have heard about…. Click here for details.

Here is the table of contents for Uncanny Magazine Issue 3

Cover:
Carrie Ann Baade – “Unspeakable #2?

Editorial:
The Uncanny Valley – Editorial by Lynne M. Thomas & Michael Damian Thomas

New Fiction:
Sofia Samatar – “Those”
Rosamund Hodge – “The Lamps Thereof Are Fire and Flames”
Kat Howard – “Translatio Corporis”
Maria Dahvana Headley – “Ivory Darts, Golden Arrows”
Sarah Pinsker – “When the Circus Lights Down”
Emily Devenport – “Dr. Polingyouma’s Machine”
Fran Wilde – “You Are Two Point Three Meters from Your Destination”

Classic Fiction:
Ellen Klages – “In the House of the Seven Librarians”

Nonfiction:
Ytasha L. Womack – “Afrofuturism Rising”
Stephanie Zvan – “Family Matters: How Geek Communities Turn Dysfunctional”
Amal El-Mohtar – “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Desolation of Armies”
L.M. Myles – “Cushing in Space”

Poetry:
C.S.E. Cooney – “Deep Bitch”
Jennifer Crow – “Cloudbending”
M Sereno-  “The Eaters”

Interviews:
Sofia Samatar Interviewed by Deborah Stanish
C.S.E. Cooney Interviewed by Deborah Stanish Ellen Klages Interviewed by Deborah Stanish

Podcast 3A:
Kat Howard’s “Translatio Corporis” as read by Amal El-Mohtar, C.S.E. Cooney’s “Deep Bitch” as read by the author, Kat Howard interviewed by Deborah Stanish, Jim C. Hines interviewed by Michi Trota

Podcast 3B:
Sarah Pinsker’s “When the Circus Lights Down” as read by C.S.E. Cooney, M Sereno’s “The Eaters” as read by Amal El-Mohtar, Sarah Pinsker interviewed by Deborah Stanish