Goodreads also has posted the vote totals for the top 20 finishers
in each category.
Margaret Atwood’s The Testaments, placed in the Best
Fiction category, came in first there, receiving more than twice as many votes
as the second-place book.
BEST SCIENCE FICTION
Recursion by Blake Crouch
Pierce Brown’s Dark Age came in second, Tamsyn Muir’s Gideon
the Ninth, third, and Amal El-Mohar and Max Gladstone’s This is How You Lose
the Time War, fourth.
Congratulations to Theodora Goss (Fantasy), Ann Leckie (Science Fiction), Neil Gaiman (Narration by Author) and others whose work won Audie Awards tonight.
The Audio Publishers Association (APA) announced the winners of the 23rd annual Audie Awards®, recognizing distinction in audiobooks and spoken word entertainment, at a ceremony on May 31 in New York City.
Of the 26 award categories, here are the results in the 11 containing genre nominees. The winners are in BOLD.
AUDIOBOOK OF THE YEAR
Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders, narrated by George Saunders, Nick Offerman, David Sedaris, and 163 others, published by Random House Audio
BEST FEMALE NARRATOR
The Alice Network by Kate Quinn, narrated by Saskia Maarleveld, published by HarperAudio
Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery, narrated by Rachel McAdams, published by Audible Studios
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, narrated by Bahni Turpin, published by HarperAudio
The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer (Twin Peaks) by Jennifer Lynch, narrated by Sheryl Lee, published by Audible Studios
The Stone Sky by N.K. Jemisin, narrated by Robin Miles, published by Hachette Audio
FANTASY
Red Sister by Mark Lawrence, narrated by Heather O’Neil, published by Recorded Books
The Refrigerator Monologues by Catherynne M. Valente, narrated by Karis A. Campbell, published by HighBridge Audio, a division of Recorded Books
Skullsworn by Brian Stavely, narrated by Elizabeth Knowelden, published by Brilliance Publishing
Snake Eyes by John Conroe, narrated by James Patrick Cronin, published by Audible Studios
Spellmonger: The Spellmonger Series, Book 1 by Terry Mancour, narrated by John Lee, published by Podium Publishing
The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter by Theodora Goss, narrated by Kate Reading, published by Simon & Schuster Audio
LITERARY FICTION & CLASSICS
Beast by Paul Kingsnorth, narrated by Simon Vance, published by Tantor Audio, a division of Recorded Books
Daisy Miller by Henry James, narrated by Kitty Hendrix, published by Spoken Realms (formerly Listen 2 a Book)
Dracula by Bram Stoker, narrated by Nick Sandys, published by Brilliance Publishing
The Handmaid’s Tale: Special Edition by Margaret Atwood and Valerie Martin, narrated by Claire Danes, Margaret Atwood, and a full cast, published by Audible Studios
House of Names by Colm Toibin, narrated by Juliet Stevenson, et al., published by Simon & Schuster Audio
Phineas Finn by Anthony Trollope, narrated by David Shaw-Parker, published by Naxos AudioBooks
MIDDLE GRADE
The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora, written and narrated by Pablo Cartaya, published by Listening Library
Patina by Jason Reynolds, narrated by Heather Alicia Simms, published by Simon & Schuster Audio
Refugee by Alan Gratz, narrated by Michael Goldstrom, Kyla Garcia, and Assaf Cohen, published by Scholastic Audio
See You in the Cosmos by Jack Cheng, narrated by Kivlighan de Montebello and a full cast, published by Listening Library
Wedgie & Gizmo by Suzanne Selfors, narrated by Johnny Heller and Maxwell Glick, published by HarperAudio
MULTI-VOICED PERFORMANCE
Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders, narrated by George Saunders, Nick Offerman, David Sedaris, and 163 others, published by Random House Audio
Restart by Gordon Korman, narrated by Jonathan Todd Ross, Laura Knight Keating, Ramon de Ocampo, Andy Paris, Suzy Jackson, Graham Halstead, and John Kroft, published by Recorded Books
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid, narrated by Alma Cuervo, Robin Miles, and Julia Whelan, published by Simon & Schuster Audio
The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See, narrated by Ruthie Ann Miles, Kimiko Glenn, and others, published by Simon & Schuster Audio
The X-Files: Cold Cases by Joe Harris, Chris Carter, and Dirk Maggs, narrated by David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, Mitch Pileggi, William B. Davis, Tom Braidwood, Dean Haglund, and Bruce Harwood, published by Audible Studios
NARRATION BY THE AUTHOR or AUTHORS
Astrophysics for People in a Hurry, written and narrated by Neil deGrasse Tyson, published by Blackstone Publishing
Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood, written and narrated by Trevor Noah, published by Audible Studios
Nikki Giovanni: Love Poems & a Good Cry, written and narrated by Nikki Giovanni, published by HarperAudio
Norse Mythology, written and narrated by Neil Gaiman, published by HarperAudio
This Fight Is Our Fight, written and narrated by Elizabeth Warren, published by Macmillan Audio
ORIGINAL WORK
The Handmaid’s Tale: Special Edition by Margaret Atwood and Valerie Martin, narrated by Claire Danes, Margaret Atwood, and a full cast, published by Audible Studios
Mother Go by James Patrick Kelly, narrated by January LaVoy, published by Audible Original Publishing
Nevertheless We Persisted, edited by Tanya Eby, written by Amy Oestreicher, Cat Gould, Charlotte McKinnon, Christa Lewis, Christina St. Clair, Danielle Dayney, Deepti Gupta, Echo Aspnes, Gina Dawe Weaver, Gracie Greenbaum, Jack Arkel, Jacqueline Pick, Janina Edward, Jerrianne Hayslett, Karen Randall, Karen White, Kass Hillard, Laura Schmidt, Lauren Ezzo, Lily Schmidt, Mark Blickley, Martha McSweeney Brower, Nancy Wagner, Rodney Vaccaro, Sandy Logan, Sahana Kumar, Sue Pitkin, Tanya Eby, Tamara Hansen, Tammy Scott, Tricia Lowther, and Viji Chary, narrated by Amy Landon, Amy McFadden, Bailey Carr, Cat Gould, Christa Lewis, Deepti Gupta, Emily Beresford, Emily Sutton-Smith, Erin Bennett, Erin Mallon, Gina Dawe Weaver, Gracie Greenbaum, Julie McKay, Lauren Ezzo, Lauri Jo Daniels, James Patrick Cronin, Janina Edwards, Karen White, Kate Rudd, Nancy Wagner, Nicol Zanzarella, Mark Kamish, Paul Heitsch, Sarah Mollo-Christensen, Sue Pitkin, and Tanya Eby, published by Blunder Woman Productions
Rebuttal by Jyotsna Hariharan, narrated by Phoebe Strole, Michael Crouch, Nina Mehta, Peter Ganim, and Dan Bittner, published by HarperAudio
Romeo and Juliet: A Novel by David Hewson, narrated by Richard Armitage, published by Audible Studios
PARANORMAL
Curse on the Land: Soulwood, Book 2 by Faith Hunter, narrated by Khristine Hvam, published by Audible Studios
Eleventh Grave in Moonlight by Darynda Jones, narrated by Lorelei King, published by Macmillan Audio
Finding My Pack by Lane Whitt, narrated by Cooper North and Aletha George, published by Tantor Audio, a division of Recorded Books
Nights of the Living Dead: An Anthology edited by Jonathan Maberry and George A. Romero, narrated by Stefan Rudnicki, Rex Linn, Gabrielle de Cuir, Adenrele Ojo, Richard Gilliland, Ray Porter, Kristoffer Tabori, and Kasey Lansdale, published by Blackstone Publishing
Silver Silence by Nalini Singh, narrated by Angela Dawe, published by Tantor Audio, a division of Recorded Books
SCIENCE FICTION
Battlefront II: Inferno Squad (Star Wars) by Christie Golden, narrated by Janina Gavankar, published by Random House Audio
New York 2140 by Kim Stanley Robinson, narrated by Suzanne Toren, Robin Miles, Peter Ganim, Jay Snyder, Caitlin Kelly, Michael Crouch, Ryan Vincent Anderson, Christopher Ryan Grant, and Robert Blumenfeld, published by Hachette Audio
Provenance by Ann Leckie, narrated by Adjoa Andoh, published by Hachette Audio
The Stone Sky by N.K. Jemisin, narrated by a Robin Miles, published by Hachette Audio
The X-Files: Cold Cases by Joe Harris, Chris Carter, and Dirk Maggs, narrated by David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, Mitch Pileggi, William B. Davis, Tom Braidwood, Dean Haglund, Bruce Harwood, published by Audible Studios
SHORT STORIES/COLLECTIONS
Difficult Women by Roxane Gay, narrated by Robin Miles, published by Audible Studios
Good Behavior by Blake Crouch, narrated by Blake Crouch and Julia Whelan, published by Brilliance Publishing
The Language of Thorns: Midnight Tales and Dangerous Magic by Leigh Bardugo, narrated by Lauren Fortgang, published by Audible Studios
Tales of Ordinary Madness by Charles Bukowski, edited by Gail Chiarrello, narrated by Will Patton, published by Audible Studios
You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me, written and narrated by Sherman Alexie, published by Hachette Audio Books
YOUNG ADULT
Before the Devil Breaks You by Libba Bray, narrated by January LaVoy, published by Listening Library
Disappeared by Francisco X. Stork, narrated by Roxana Ortega and Christian Barillas, published by Scholastic Audio
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, narrated by Bahni Turpin, published by HarperAudio
Solo by Kwame Alexander, with Mary Rand Hess, narrated by Kwame Alexander, music by Randy Preston, published by Blink
You Bring the Distant Near by Mitali Perkins, narrated by Sneha Mathan, Shivali Bhammer, Priya Ayyar, and others, published by Listening Library
(1) HERALDRY. The former astronaut, now Governor General of Canada Her Excellency the Right Honourable Julie Payette, has an official Coat of Arms.
Arms
A symbol of exploration and liberty, an open wing embodies our desire to reach higher and expand our horizons. As with birds protecting their young, the wing also conveys the strength and safety of family ties. Moreover, it represents Ms. Payette’s career as an aviator and astronaut. The Royal Crown symbolizes the viceregal office and service to all Canadians.
The astronaut’s helmet represents the never-ending quest for knowledge, a quest that extends beyond the frontiers of the known world.
Welcome to Horror 101. This will be an ongoing series of essays about the horror genre: from analysis about the elements of horror to using monster theory to in-depth looks at individual works of horror….
So as a writer and reader I loved what horror could give me. As a teacher and scholar, though, I wanted to look under the hood. I became interested in exploring how horror operates on a level of mechanics as well as how it operates as a means of communicating ideas. What was the rhetorical value of horror? After studying monster theory, a fairly new form of critical study that looks into monsters and horror from the analytical perspective, I began to think even more deeply about the value of monsters and using them both in writing and in teaching. I’m lucky to teach at a university that allows me to shape my composition courses and this allowed me to create a class that teaches multimodal composition and communication through the theme of Monsters. Monsters are a fun way to get students thinking about much deeper issues. By exploring the ideas of monstrosity, we’re able to look at acts of othering and monstering that permeate history: racism, sexism, xenophobia, homophobia, and the list goes on. My students began to pick up on these ideas and tropes in various media they consumed. They realized it wasn’t just a “genre” thing as they could point to the language of othering and monstering in the speeches of politicians.
(3) INKY AWARDS. The winners of the 2017 Inky Awards were announced October 2. The award recognizes achievement in young adult literature, with nominees and winners selected by voters under the age of 20. Some of the shortlisted titles were of genre interest, though it’d be a stretch to say that about either winner.
The Gold Inky for Australian titles went to Words in Deep Blue, and the Silver Inky for international titles to Radio Silence..
Widely regarded as the first ever sci-fi convention, the ‘The Coming Race’ and ‘Vril-Ya’ Bazaar and Fete was held at the Royal Albert Hall on 5-10 March 1891.
This costumed fund-raiser was themed on a 1871 science fiction novel, The Coming Race by Baron Edward Bulwer-Lytton, in which the Earth is threatened by the ‘Vril-ya’. This superior and winged master race find the source of their power in ‘Vril’ – a latent source of energy akin to electricity. The Coming Race was a pioneering publication of the sci-fi genre, and extremely popular in popular culture in the 1890s.
In the model of modern comic-cons, visitors were encouraged to come in fancy dress, filling the Hall with various ‘Coming Race’ characters and generally ‘exotically’ costumed fans of the book; many donned wings. The character of Princess Zee, from the novel, was played by a young lady wearing a black satin dress and silver flower tiara that glowed with electric lights.
With Vril-ya architecture having been described as similar to that of ancient Egypt, Sumeria and India, the Hall was bedecked in flowers, palm leaves and ferns. A grand ‘Pillar of the Vril-ya’ was erected in the arena, modeled on Cleopatra’s Needle. Vril-themed magic shows, a fortune telling dog, musical entertainment and grand feasts were held in the auditorium, while winged Vril-ya mannequins flew above….
(5) DIEHL OBIT. The founding editor of the Los Angeles Times Book Review, Digby Diehl, died September 26. With many publishing credits as a reviewer, he also wrote celebrity bios and a history of EC Horror Comics series Tales from the Crypt. He was 76.
(6) TODAY IN HISTORY
October 2, 1959 — The Twilight Zone premiered.
October 2, 1976 – Ark II aired “The Robot.”
(7) TODAY’S BIRTHDAY BOYS
Born October 2, 1895 – Bud Abbott, whose resume includes Abbott and Costello Go To Mars (1953).
Good fairy tales balance sweetness and nightmares. They are candy apples with razorblades inside; kisses touched with poison. Bad ones are nothing but sweet. They coddle and muffle and take all the sharp, dangerous edges off of the dirty business of learning important lessons in a world that’s rarely as nice as we want it to be. The bad ones sing Careful what you wish for and Sometimes pretty isn’t as important as smart with choruses of cute mice and bluebirds. But the good ones don’t end before there’s blood on the knife.
The good ones understand that scars are the best teachers.
Starting in 2002 and working with the Nebraska Department of Transportation, he ran a five-year test on a 150-foot-long bridge near Lincoln, Neb. He says a 208-volt current running through electrodes kept the bridge free of ice during 15 major snowstorms at the “amazingly low” operating cost of about $250 per storm.
The conductive concrete involves adding steel fiber and carbon to the concrete mix, he says. While regular concrete costs $120 per cubic yard, the conductive concrete costs $350-$400 per cubic yard. But in the long term, Tuan says the conductive concrete means fewer de-icing chemicals in the ecosystem, and concrete that lasts longer and costs less to maintain.
It has long been the case that machines can beat us in games of strategy like chess.
And we have come to accept that artificial intelligence is best at analysing huge amounts of data – sifting through the supermarket receipts of millions of shoppers to work out who might be tempted by some vouchers for washing powder.
But what if AI were able to handle the most human of tasks – navigating the minefield of subtle nuance, rhetoric and even emotions to take us on in an argument?
It is a possibility that could help humans make better decisions and one which growing numbers of researchers are working on.
The next thing they’ll need after that is a computer that knows what to do when humans ignore their superior arguments – Facebook should give them lots of practice.
Ah, Geek Girl Con. Every year, Seattle’s clarion call of intellectual feminine fandom calls us to attend Washington’s signature science fiction/fantasy event. It is an intimate (but growing) gathering of sff devotees with a fascination for things both creative and technical.
This year, as with last year, the Journey was invited to speak on the last 12 months in fandom, and boy did we have a lot to relate. From coverage of Marvel Comics’ slew of new superheroes to a report on this year’s Hugo winners, and with a special piece on the woman pioneers of space exploration, our four panelists ensured that our several dozen attendees left educated and excited.
(13) CUFF INFO. Kent Pollard tells his plans for moving the Canadian Unity Fan Fund history to a new home.
The cometedust.ca website hasn’t been used for anything else in half a decade, and the hosting has become pointless for me. rather than have it drop off the net completely, I’m going to transition the pages into a blogger account. the domain name itself is sufficiently inexpensive that I will retain it and point it that blog when I can (The Canadian Internet Registration Authority being privacy-aware requires all .ca domains to have private whois information, which must be manually removed before Google will accept a transfer of the name control.) The existing site will function for an un-defined period. Eventually (I hope), cuff.cometdust.ca will point to cufffanfundery.blogspot.ca. for the moment, users can go directly to that blog if they are seeking old info about the Canadian Unity Fan Fund.
(14) DIVING AGAIN. Kristine Kathryn Rusch told fans today that WMG just published the latest Diving novel, The Runabout. “Also, I finished the next novel in the series. That’ll appear next year, but bits and pieces of it (as well as a standalone novella) will start appearing in Asimov’s in 2018.”
The Runabout
A Diving Novel
Kristine Kathryn Rusch
A graveyard of spaceships, abandoned by the mysterious Fleet thousands of years earlier. Boss calls it “the Boneyard.” She needs the ships inside to expand her work for Lost Souls Corporation. Yash Zarlengo thinks the Boneyard will help her discover if the Fleet still exists.
Boss and Yash, while exploring the Boneyard, discover a small ship with a powerful and dangerous problem: the ship’s active anacapa drive.
To escape the Boneyard, Boss must deal with the drive. Which means she’ll have to dive the ship on limited time and under extremely dangerous conditions. And she can’t go alone.
The tacky-but-classic Big Mouth Billy Bass will soon be compatible with Amazon’s Alexa assistant, according to Business Insider. This means the fish will be able to pair over Bluetooth and then lip sync and dance when music plays. I’m sure this is just what you all wanted: a connected, dancing silicon fish.
In case you didn’t know —
The Big Mouth Billy Bass is a classic of novelty shops and Wal-Marts, designed to sing “Take Me To The River” or “Don’t Worry Be Happy” when its motion sensor is activated. There’s no built-in microphone, so presumably Billy is running off some off-camera offboard microphone.
[Thanks to Chip Hitchcock, John King Tarpinian, James Davis Nicoll, Andrew Porter, and Michael J. Walsh for some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day Jack Lint.]
