Talk Vampires at NYRSF Readings on 10/4

Clay and Susan Griffith

Margot Adler

The NYRSF Readings on October 4 will feature three experts on the subject of vampires, Clay and Susan Griffith, and Margot Adler.

Clay and Susan Griffith are a married couple who have produced two novels in their latest series, Vampire Empire. The first, The Greyfriar, released by Pyr Books to critical acclaim, now has been followed by The Rift Walker

Margot Adler is a journalist and correspondent for National Public Radio. She wrote a piece for their website about the experience of reading 75 vampire novels (she’s now up to 184). Margot is the author of Drawing Down the Moon and Heretic’s Heart. Her grandfather, Alfred Adler, is the father of individual psychology.

The NYRSF Readings take place at The SoHo Gallery for Digital Art, 138 Sullivan Street, New York and begin at 7 p.m. 

The full press release follows the jump.

[Thanks to Jim Freund for the story.]

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New CUFF Logo

Canadian Unity Fan Fund delegate Kent Pollard has picked the winner of his logo design contest:

I’m pleased to announce that I have selected a design by Canadian Artist Craig Norris to represent my CUFF delegacy. As my gift to CUFF, the logo will be available to future delegates if they care to use it. Craig also provided a number of variations and has indicated that they are freely available for use in promoting CUFF. Craig won the $50.00 price for my logo design contest.

Other variations of the logo are here [PDF file].

Update 09/23/2011: It took some time, but Kent eventually realized that the karate champion TV actor Chuck Norris wasn’t the creator of his logo, it’s Craig Norris. Thanks to Lloyd Penney for passing along the correction.

Tracking Withdrawals from the 2012 Hugos

A number of past and present Hugo winners, out of a gracious desire to share the wealth, have already announced they will not accept an award nomination in 2012 for a specific category.

Inevitably, these kinds of announcements get distorted in the retelling. Or somebody will post what they wish the person had said, not what they really said. I’ve already seen this happening though Renovation was just last month!

That’s why I thought it would be helpful to run down the correct information about four prior nominees whose real or rumored withdrawals from the 2012 Hugos have made news. Here is their verified status:

Best Graphic Story: Girl Genius (2012 withdrawal)
Best Professional Editor, Long Form: David Hartwell (permanent withdrawal from this category only)
Best Semiprozine: Clarkesworld (2012 withdrawal)

Also, Patrick Nielsen Hayden, who withdrew from the Best Professional Editor, Long Form category in 2011, says he has yet to make up his mind about 2012 — therefore he has not withdrawn as of this writing.

Girl Genius: Phil Foglio must wonder how he could have made it any more clear, with a public announcement at the 2011 Hugo ceremonies, followed by online comic explaining that the decision to bow out affects next year alone.

David G. Hartwell: The popular editor wants everyone to understand he has pulled out of only one category:

I want this to be very clear. I withdrew from one category only, Best Editor Long Form, permanently. I would very much like to be nominated again in Best Editor Short Form, and for NYRSF (or any other category). But I felt after all these years, and finally three wins in four years, that I should withdraw permanently from Best Editor Long Form, as long as it remains a category. And I am pleased to see the way the category has opened up to younger talent.

Neil Clarke, Clarkesworld Magazine: The outspoken champion of the semiprozine category, whose zine won the Hugo in 2010 and 2011, said he wants to see new titles on the ballot:  

Yes, Clarkesworld is withdrawing itself from consideration in 2012. The category has suffered from a history of serial nominees and winners and after two consecutive wins, I felt this was the right thing to do. In stepping down, I hope to encourage people to put their support behind one of the many semiprozines that have never been nominated. There are a lot of worthy candidates. The ballot has been reflecting more of that recently and it’s a trend I’d like to see continue.

Patrick Nielsen Hayden: Patrick withdrew from the Best Professional Editor, Long Form category in 2011 but there’s a reason he has yet to make a decision about 2012:

My only real public statement on the matter was while actually accepting the 2010 Hugo on stage in Melbourne — I said, roughly, that since my colleague David Hartwell and I had now split the four-so-far “Editor Long Form” awards between us, I was going to withdraw from the category in 2011 in order to make sure some other editors got their long-overdue recognition. I meant to write a post on Making Light repeating this, but I never got around to it.

I didn’t commit to withdrawing from the category beyond 2011, and to be honest I haven’t actually made up my mind what I’m going to do next year. I do have one remaining major-SF-award ambition, which is to win a Hugo or something equally whooshy when Teresa is actually in the room. I’ve won a World Fantasy Award and two Hugos, all of them at overseas conventions that Teresa didn’t attend. 

Not that I’m presuming I would automatically make the ballot in future years. As I pointed out to my assistant Liz Gorinsky at the post-Hugos party in Reno, she got the second largest number of nominations, trailing only Lou Anders who actually won. Liz got significantly more nominations than either David or me, and over twice as many as any of the other five runners-up. “That’s crazy,” Liz said. “Hey, numbers don’t lie,” I said. “That’s crazy. That’s crazy. That’s crazy,” was all she would say.

(It is actually a matter of non-trivial pride to me that in 2010, Liz and I were both on the ballot — the first time an editor and his-or-her assistant have been shortlisted for the same Hugo award. In 2010, Liz was also the youngest-ever finalist in any of the editor categories, a record previously set by 31-year-old Jim Baen in 1975.)

[Thanks to Neil Clarke, David G. Hartwell, Patrick Nielsen Hayden, for their comments. ]

Doctor Who 2011 Christmas Special

This year’s Doctor Who Christmas Special takes inspiration from C.S. Lewis’ classic The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe reports Doctor Who Spoilers.

How strong a resemblance the story will bear to Lewis’ novel remains to be seen. The press release posted by the BBC says only this:

The special, set during World War II, sees Madge Arwell and her two children, Lily and Cyril, evacuated to a draughty old house in Dorset, where the caretaker is a mysterious young man in bow tie, and a big blue parcel is waiting for them under the tree. They are about to enter a magical new world and learn that a Time Lord never forgets his debts…

Whatever else happens, Steven Moffat, Lead Writer and Executive Producer, is having a blast:

“The Doctor at Christmas – nothing is more fun to write. Maybe because it’s so his kind of day – everything’s bright and shiny, everybody’s having a laugh, and nobody minds if you wear a really stupid hat. Of all the Doctors, Matt Smith’s is the one that was born for this time of year – so it’s the best news possible that he’s heading back down the chimney.”

[Thanks to David Klaus for the story.]

Lord of the Rings Pez Dispensers

Every couple of weeks a new collector’s item hits the market that makes me feel as if my life won’t be complete without it.

How can I possibly resist the Lord of the Rings™ Collector Set, with 8 dispensers shaped like the heads of Bilbo, Frodo, Sam, Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli and Gollum? Each set comes with 12 rolls of candy.

The only thing that would make this better is if the flavors were thematically matched to the characters. Any kind of sweet could be a suitable match for the hobbits. But I suppose it’s unlikely they’ve created fish-flavored Pez to go inside Gollum. And who knows what the others ought to be?

Read Levine’s BentoCon Report

David Levine writes:

I thought File 770 readers might like to know about “BentoCon, A Science Fiction Convention and Square Dance,” AKA Kate’s and my 50th birthdays and 20th wedding anniversary party, held September 9th-11th in Portland Oregon.  We had about 100 invited guests, including fans, square dancers, mundane friends, and relatives, and it all went off smashingly.  You can read my convention report at http://davidlevine.livejournal.com/242650.html.

Kramer Pretrial Hearing Today

Ed Kramer was scheduled for a pretrial hearing in Connecticut on September 21. He was arrested in Milford last week on charges of reckless endangerment of a child. Bond has been set at $50,000 for those charges.

However, at the time of his arrest Kramer was free on bond pending trial on child molestation charges in Georgia. After the events in Milford a judge revoked that bond and the Gwinett County District Attorney is seeking to have Kramer extradited.

The continuing investigation in Milford may determine the outcome of the extradition request. The Gwinett Daily Post reported five days ago:

Kevin Russo of the Milford Prosecutor’s Office said Kramer is next scheduled to appear in court Wednesday. Whether Connecticut will allow his extradition back to Georgia hinges, in part, on what the investigation uncovers about Kramer’s relationship with the boy.

The boy was in the area acting in a low-budget horror movie. Witnesses told Gwinnett District Attorney Danny Porter this week that Kramer had referred to himself as the boy’s guardian, and that the boy had answered the motel door in a bathrobe as Kramer sat on the bed.

Russo said he wasn’t sure Friday if information has surfaced that Kramer had sexual involvement with the boy or not.

“I don’t know the answer, and if I did, I wouldn’t comment, due to the ongoing investigation,” Russo said.

Kramer is the founder of Dragon*Con. Dragon*Con chair Pat Henry responded to news of latest Kramer’s arrest on the convention website

Edward Kramer resigned from the Dragon Con Convention in the year 2000 after being indicted on felony charges in Gwinnett County.  He has not had any role in Dragon Con planning or activities since that time. 

Since 2000 the convention has been managed by three of the other founders.  These men have been involved with the convention since the beginning.   They are chairman Pat Henry, and board members Dave Cody and Robert Dennis.

However, Kramer remains a minority shareholder in the corporation that owns the con, according to a lawsuit he filed in 2009 against Henry and the other directors of Dragon*Con.

[Thanks to Andrew Porter for the story.]

File Not Found

Did you know File 770 is blocked by the Great Firewall of China? Rich Lynch reports:

I’m in the People’s Republic of China on a business trip all this week and discovered that the F770 website is blocked over here! I didn’t realize that you were such a subversive!

Now you know.

Of course, I also can’t read my blog on my work computer. So you could say, in a manner of speaking, that the U.S. government blocks it too.  

Can any fan’s blog come more highly recommended than that?

2011 WSFA Small Press Award Shortlist

The Washington Science Fiction Association has announced the finalists for the 2011 WSFA Small Press Award for Short Fiction:

  • “After the Dragon” by Sarah Monette, published in Fantasy Magazine (January 2010), edited by Cat Rambo and Sean Wallace.
  • “Amaryllis” by Carrie Vaughn, published in Lightspeed Magazine (June 2010), edited by John Joseph Adams.
  • “The Cassandra Project” by Jack McDevitt, published in Lightspeed Magazine (June 2010), edited by John Joseph Adams
  • “The Days of Flaming Motorcycles” by Catherynne M. Valente, published in Dark Faith, edited by Maurice Broaddus and Jerry Gordon, Apex Book Co. (May 2010).
  • “Enid and the Prince” by RJ Astruc, published in Worlds Next Door, edited by Tehani Wessely, FableCroft Publishing (June 2010).
  • “Lord Bai’s Discovery” by Jean Marie Ward, published in Dragon’s Lure, edited by Danielle Ackley-McPhail, Jennifer Ross, and Jeffrey Lyman, Dark Quest Books (June 2010).

The winner will be selected by vote of WSFA members who participate in a blind judging process – reading the texts with identity of the author, publisher and editor hidden.

The winning story will be revealed at Capclave, held this year on October 14-16 in Gaithersburg, Maryland.

The full press release follows the jump.

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