James Fiscus (1944-2021)

James W, Fiscus

Author and photographer James W. Fiscus, administrator of the Endeavour Awards, died unexpectedly at home on November 7. He was 76.

Fiscus spent decades as a SFWA volunteer. He hosted SFWA’s hospitality events at Westercons in the early 1990s. Later he began writing a column for the SFWA Bulletin looking at the business and legal aspects of the publishing industry. He oversaw a review of the SFWA Handbook from 2002-3.

In 2008, SFWA President Russell Davis appointed Fiscus to succeed him in the position of Western Regional Director, a position Fiscus held until the California re-incorporation, at which time he became a Director-at-large until 2015. During his time as a Director, Fiscus served as Chair of the Orphan Works Committee. When it was re-formed as the Legal Affairs Committee, Fiscus continued as co-Chair with Michael Capobianco. Fiscus also joined the Contracts Committee in 2014, and took on its leadership when the former chair stepped down. SFWA honored him with the Kevin O’Donnell Jr. Service to SFWA Award in 2017.

Fiscus’ first published sf story was “A Time of Martyrs” in Carr and Pournelle’s 1986 anthology Warrior. Another half-dozen short stories he wrote – several of them alternate history – appeared from 2004-2008 in anthologies edited by Harry Turtledove, Martin H. Greenberg, and others.

He was born in Oregon, where part of his family had lived since the 1840s. He was raised in England, Baltimore, Manhattan, New Haven, and occasionally in California, returning to Oregon for high school.

He interrupted his studies at Lewis and Clark College in 1967 to volunteer for the Navy, serving in Vietnam and Okinawa. He eventually returned to finish his undergrad work, then freelanced as a photojournalist for most of a decade before entering Portland State University to earn an MA in Middle East and Asian History in 1987.

He was Oregon/Washington correspondent for The Medical Post (Toronto) and The Medical Tribune (New York), and wrote history books for high school students.

He also wrote Meet King Kong (Famous Movie Monsters), a book on the making of the original King Kong. His other non-fiction works include The Suez Crisis (War and Conflict in the Middle East), Iraqi Insurgents: Resisting America’s Nation-Building in Iraq (Frontline Coverage of Current Events), America’s War in Afghanistan (War and Conflict in the Middle East), and Coping With Growth Spurts and Delayed Growth.

He served as Editorial Director and Media Relations Manager for the National Resource Center for Safe Schools in Portland and as Senior Public Relations Specialist at Legacy Health System in Portland.

Fiscus also held two long-term volunteer posts for Oregon Science Fiction Conventions, Inc., a nonprofit group that hosts OryCons, and other events. He chaired the Endeavour Awards, which annually honors a book by a Pacific Northwest author. And he chaired the board of trustees of the Clayton Memorial Medical Fund, named for the late Jo Clayton, which provides grants to Pacific Northwest genre authors for medical emergencies.

He is survived by his wife, Shawn Wall.

2017 Endeavour Award Finalists

Five books written by writers from the Pacific Northwest are finalists for the 19th annual Endeavour Award. The Award comes with an honorarium of $1,000. The winner will be announced November 17 at OryCon in Portland, Oregon.

  • Arabella of Mars by Portland, OR, writer David D. Levine, Tor Books;
  • Dreams of Distant Shores by North Bend, OR, writer Patricia McKillip, Tachyon;
  • Eocene Station by Victoria, BC, writer Dave Duncan, Five Rivers Publishing;
  • Lovecraft Country by Seattle, WA, writer Matt Ruff, Harper; and
  • Waypoint Kangaroo by Portland, OR, writer Curtis Chen, Thomas Dunne Books/St Martin’s Press

The Endeavour Award honors a distinguished science fiction or fantasy book, either a novel or a single-author collection, created by a writer living in the Pacific Northwest. All entries are read and scored by seven readers randomly selected from a panel of preliminary readers. The five highest scoring books then go to three final judges, who are all professional writers or editors from outside of the Pacific Northwest.

The judges for the 2017 Award are.

  • Ginjer Buchanan

In the early 1970s, Ginjer Buchanan moved from Pittsburgh, PA. to New York City where she made her living as a social worker, while doing freelance editorial work. In 1984, she took a job as an editor at Ace Books. She was promoted several times over the years and in 2007, became Editor-in-Chief, Ace/Roc Books. In April of 2014, she retired. She is now enjoying sleeping late, reading a lot, watching an inordinate amount of television, and polishing the Hugo she won at Loncon, for Best Editor–Long Form.

  • John R. Douglas

John R. Douglas was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He moved to the United States and married fellow fan, Ginjer Buchanan in 1975. In 1978, he stumbled into a job in publishing and spent over twenty years working as an editor for four different major mass market publishers. Although he handled Science Fiction and Fantasy for all of them, he also edited mysteries, thrillers and other genre fiction and many kinds of non-fiction. He has been an editorial freelancer since late 1999 continuing to work with words in many different ways.

  • Andy Duncan

Andy Duncan’s stories have been honored with a Nebula Award, a Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award, and three World Fantasy Awards. His third collection, An Agent of Utopia: New and Selected Stories, is upcoming from Small Beer Press. A native of Batesburg, S.C., and an alumnus of Clarion West 1994, he teaches writing at Frostburg State University in Maryland.

Award Eligibility for 2018: To be eligible for next year’s Endeavour Award the book — either a novel or a single-author collection of stories — must be either science fiction or fantasy. The majority of the book must have been written, and the book accepted for publication, while the author was living in the Pacific Northwest (Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Alaska, British Columbia, or the Yukon.)

The deadline to enter books published during 2017 is February 15, 2018. Full information on entering the Award is available on the Endeavour Web site. Click on Entry Form in the left-hand column for a fill-in PDF of the form.

The Endeavour Award is sponsored by Oregon Science Fiction Conventions, Inc. (OSFCI), a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation.

[Thanks to Jim Fiscus for the story.]

Jim Fiscus to Receive Kevin O’Donnell, Jr. Service to SFWA Award

Jim Fiscus

Congratulations to Jim Fiscus, winner of the 2017 Kevin O’Donnell, Jr. Service to SFWA Award for his outstanding work on behalf of the organization.

Jim Fiscus’ long service to the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America began when he volunteered to host hospitality events at Westercons in the early 1990s. Later he began writing a column for the SFWA Bulletin looking at the business and legal aspects of the publishing industry, including an explanation of the Tasini case, contracts which were hostile to writers, and other aspects of the law.  Fiscus oversaw a review of the SFWA Handbook from 2002-3.

In 2008, SFWA President Russell Davis appointed Fiscus to succeed him in the position of Western Regional Director, a position Fiscus held until the California re-incorporation, at which time he became a Director-at-large until 2015.  While serving as a Director, Fiscus served as Chair of the Orphan Works Committee.  When the Orphan Works Committee was re-formed as the Legal Affairs Committee, Fiscus remained on board as co-Chair with Michael Capobianco.  Fiscus also joined the Contracts Committee in 2014 and became Chair when the former chair stepped down.

Past winners of the Kevin O’Donnell, Jr. Service to SFWA Award include Victoria Strauss, George Zebrowski and Pamela Sargent (jointly), Michael Capobianco and Ann Crispin (joint awards), Keith Stokes, Vonda McIntyre and John E. Johnston III.

The award will be presented during the annual Nebula Award Conference, which will run from May 18-21 in Pittsburgh. On May 19, a mass autograph session will take place at the Pittsburgh Marriott City Center and is open to the public.

2016 Endeavour Award Shortlist

Five novels written by writers from the Pacific Northwest are finalists for the 18th annual Endeavour Award.

  • Edge of Dark by Brenda Cooper of Kirkland, WA (Pyr Books)
  • Irona 700 by Dave Duncan of Victoria, BC (Open Road Integrated Media)
  • The Price of Valor by Django Wexler of Bothell, WA (Roc Books)
  • Silver on the Road by Laura Anne Gilman of Seattle, WA (Saga Press)
  • Tracker by C.J. Cherryh of Spokane, WA (Daw Books)

The finalists were announced at Westercon over the Independence Day weekend.

The Award comes with an honorarium of $1,000. The winner will be announced November 18, 2016, at OryCon, Oregon’s primary science fiction convention.

The Endeavour Award honors a distinguished science fiction or fantasy book, either a novel or a single-author collection, created by a writer living in the Pacific Northwest. All entries are read and scored by seven readers randomly selected from a panel of preliminary readers. The five highest scoring books then go to three final judges, who are all professional writers or editors from outside of the Pacific Northwest. The Endeavour Award is sponsored by Oregon Science Fiction Conventions, Inc. (OSFCI), a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation.

The judges for the 2016 Award are Jack McDevitt, Michaela Roessner, and Gordon Van Gelder.

Jack McDevitt

Jack McDevitt is the author of twenty-one novels, eleven of which have been Nebula Award finalists. Seeker won the award in 2007. In 2003, Omega received the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for best science fiction novel. He has also won the Robert A. Heinlein award, and a recognition from the Georgia Writers’ Association, both for lifetime achievement. McDevitt resides in Brunswick, Georgia.

Michaela Roessner

Michaela Roessner has had four novels and shorter works published in a number of publications. Her first novel Walkabout Woman won the Crawford and John W. Campbell awards. Roessner teaches creative writing at Western State Colorado University’s low-residency MFA program and online classes for Gotham Writers’ Workshop.

Gordon Van Gelder

Gordon Van Gelder worked as an editor for St. Martin’s Press for twelve years. He was the editor of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction for sixteen years, during which time he won the Hugo Award twice and the World Fantasy Award twice. He is currently the publisher of F&SF. He lives in New Jersey.

[Thanks to Jim Fiscus for the story.]

Rebecca Neason 1954 – 2010

By Jim Fiscus: New York Times best selling author Rebecca Neason died August 31, 2010 in Auburn, Washington. She was 55, and is survived by her husband of 30 years, Stephen Neason, a sister, and several nieces and nephews. Neason had suffered from fibromyalgia for years. 
 
“She was a damn fine friend, as well as an accomplished author,” said writer Lenora Good. 
 
Neason will be remembered throughout the science fiction and fantasy community as a woman who generously gave of her time to encourage both new and established writers. She was a regular panelist at conventions in the Pacific Northwest. 
 
Remembrances may be made in Rebecca’s name to Enumclaw Fire Department, 1330 Wells St., Enumclaw, WA 98022 or Medic One, 7064 S. 220th St., Bldg. #9, Kent, WA 98037 
 
Bibliography of published novels: 
Guises of the Mind – ST:TNG #27, (NYT Best Seller List) (Sep 1, 1993) 
Highlander ™: The Path (Highlander, No 5, Aug 1, 1997) 
Highlander ™: Shadow of Obsession (Jun 1, 1998) 
The Thirteenth Scroll (Jun 1, 2001) 
The Truest Power (Dec 1, 2002) 

Neason is also cited as author of The Oak and the Cross, from Thomas Nelson, Inc, but publishing details were unavailable at the time this was written. She also published a number of short stories.