Monthly Archives: November 2016

Ray Harryhausen Tribute at Philcon

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By Steve Vertlieb: Here are photos from my memorial tribute to old friend and special effects genius Ray Harryhausen on November 19 at Philcon, the annual convention of The Philadelphia Science Fiction Society.

The one-hour remembrance and celebration of Ray’s life and career was a belated opportunity to share memories of a nearly fifty-year friendship with a well-attended audience of fans and admirers throughout the East Coast. Happily, a most successful and well attended event.

Steve Vertlieb displays photo of his younger self with Ray Harryhausen.

Steve Vertlieb displays photo of his younger self with Ray Harryhausen.

 

Displaying my personal invitation to Ray Harryhausen’s private memorial service in London during the one hour tribute to the immortal film maker at Philcon.

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With pal and fellow panelist Richard Stout during the highly successful panel.

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Pixel Scroll 11/25/16 Pixel, Pixel Every Where, Nor Any Scroll To Tick

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(1) PRO TIP. Jason Sanford, upon reading editor Sean Wallace’s Facebook comments about getting negative replies to fast submission responses, says “Authors shouldn’t whine about fast rejection times”.

The Dark is a online magazine of horror and dark fantasy which, in the last three years, has received a number of accolades and reprints in “year’s best” anthologies. Edited by Sean Wallace and Silvia Moreno-Garcia, the magazine is open to more experimental stories and new authors, which results in issues of The Dark often pushing the boundaries of both the genre and literary fiction.

The Dark is also known for fast response times on most submissions, often within 24 hours. Sean and assistant editor Jack Fisher divide up the slush pile and give each story a first read.

You’d think authors would be happy with fast response times because it means they can submit their stories somewhere else. But it turns out some authors hate a quick no. They’d rather the band-aid be pulled off bit by bit over months and years instead of a quick yank…..

(2) OH, THOSE SLUSH CRUSHERS. Gardner Dozois, commenting on Sean Wallace’s public Facebook post, told how he dealt with the flood of unsolicited manuscripts in his days at Asimov’s.

In fact, one of the greatest challenges in training a slush reader–and I’ve trained several–is to teach them not to spend time reading all or even more of a manuscript that is obviously hopeless, and train them out of reading all of it to “give it a chance.” We used to get a thousand manuscripts a month at ASIMOV’S; no time for that.

I had a few [slush readers] at the beginning of my tenure at ASIMOV’S, but after a year or so I decided that nobody could do the job as good or as fast as I did myself, so from that point on I read all the slush at ASIMOV’S myself. Part of the challenge of reading slush, and mostly why I took it over myself, is that your job is not only to plow through the bad stories and get rid of them as fast as possible, but ALSO to spot the good or potentially good stories that are also going to show up in the slush. I found I could get people who could plow through the bad stuff, but nobody who was as good as I was myself in spotting the good and potentially good stuff. Used right, a slush pile can be a valuable resource for a magazine, and several writers who later became reliable regulars started there.

(3) ART THAT GRABS YOUR ATTENTION. Dangerous Minds takes a tour of “The Fabulously Surreal Sci-Fi Book Covers of Davis Meltzer”

That delightful ’60s/‘70s intersection of pop-psychedelic surrealism and space-age futurism produced some of the most awesome book covers the world has ever seen, with illustrations that often far exceeded in greatness the pulpy sci-fi genre novels they’d adorned. While some of those artists achieved renown, too often, those covers were the works of obscure toilers about whom little is known.

Davis Meltzer, alas, fits deep into the latter category. My best search-fu yielded so little biographical data that I’m not even able to determine if he’s currently alive.

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(4) OPEN THE POD BAY DOOR. At Reverse Shot, Damon Smith has a deep analysis of 2001: A Space Odyssey, which he says is “the first modern sci-fi movie:  mature, intelligent, technically precise, and ambiguously metaphysical.”

Science, art, and the spiritual have been linked for centuries across pictorial traditions, but they achieve a unique synthesis in Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, an audaciously cerebral epic that, whenever seen or contemplated in its original 70mm format, never feels like anything less than a miracle of human imagination. The relevance of 2001 has kept pace with the times, too, as it coolly examines our relationship with technology and the grand mystery of cosmic reality, which grows richer and stranger the more we learn about the physics of massive phenomena we cannot directly observe (dark matter, black holes) and the even spookier action of quantum-scale particles. Grappling seriously with our place in the universe as individuals and as a species, 2001 was the first modern sci-fi movie; mature, intelligent, technically precise, and ambiguously metaphysical, the film mostly dispenses with conventional narrative in order to represent, for much of its 160-minute duration, the physical and psychological experience of “being in space.” More importantly, by coding his unusually realistic visual journey with mythic totems and baffling set pieces, Kubrick heightens the subjective experience of viewers, leaving the logic of the whole intentionally fuzzy and open to innumerable readings. Forty-seven years after its debut, 2001: A Space Odyssey continues to fascinate audiences, influencing filmmakers as artistically dissimilar as George Lucas, Alfonso Cuarón, and Christopher Nolan, and casting a long, monolithic shadow over any filmic depiction of interstellar space, all without losing its seemingly timeless mystique.

(5) EXPANSE PERK. Orbit Books UK has a message for Expanse fans —

For a limited time, we’re giving away free signed bookplates with proof of pre-order of Babylon’s Ashes. Visit the website to submit…

(6) FANTASTIC CHOW. Tired of turkey yet? Scott Edelman invites you to listen to another round of barbecue in the latest Eating the Fantastic podcast — “Grab Kansas City BBQ with the incredibly prolific Robert Reed in Episode 23 of Eating the Fantastic”.

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My final Eating the Fantastic episode recorded during the Kansas City Worldcon was also my final taste of Kansas City BBQ. I chose Q39 for my brisket farewell, as Bonjwing Lee, a foodie I trust, had written that the place offered “some of the most tender and well-smoked meat” he’d eaten recently according to his Eater survey on Kansas City burnt ends.

My guest this episode is the incredible prolific Robert Reed, who’s been writing award-winning science fiction for decades—and I do mean decades—starting in 1986, when he was the first Writers of the Future Grand Prize Winner for his story “Mudpuppies,” all the way to 2007, when he won the Best Novella Hugo Award for “A Billion Eves” (which I was honored to accept on his behalf at the 2007 Worldcon in Yokohama).

(7) RE-READING. Juliet E. McKenna adds another book to her life raft: “Desert Island Books – Larry Niven – Tales of Known Space”.

Why this particular collection, of all Niven’s books? It has some of my favourite stories in it, such as Eye of an Octopus for a start. It’s also an interesting collection for a writer since it charts the evolution of his Known Space writing and includes a timeline as well as some author’s notes reflecting on the haphazard creation of a milieu through a varied body of work, written over many years. Unsurprisingly, this is of particular interest to me, as I continue exploring the River Kingdom world which I’m developing. I also want to take a new and closer look at Niven’s skills and techniques, in the peace and quiet that I hope to find on this notional Desert Island. The advent of ebooks is seeing a resurgence in shorter form fiction and I reckon we can all learn a lot from looking back to the previous heyday of SF as published in weekly and monthly magazines.

What? I’m calling for a return to the past? Advocating a reactionary, old-fashioned view of SF? Not at all. Don’t be daft. I’m talking about craft, not content here. Mind you, if you want to argue with the content, you’ll need to come prepared. Niven is an eloquent and persuasive advocate for his particular world view. Do I always agree with him? No. But that’s something else I’ve always valued about reading science fiction: getting insights into attitudes that might challenge me to justify my own. All the more so in our current world, now that it’s fatally easy to end up in our own personal echo chambers, thanks to Twitter and Facebook. Reading stories from people who in operate in different spheres can definitely broaden our perspective.

(8) AND IT WASN’T A SNICKERS. Business Insider reports “Astronomers just discovered one of the most massive objects in the universe hiding behind the Milky Way”.

To peer through it, Kraan-Korteweg and her colleagues combined the observations of several telescopes: the newly refurbished South African Large Telescope near Cape Town, the Anglo-Australian Telescope near Sydney, and X-ray surveys of the galactic plane.

Using that data, they calculated how fast each galaxy they saw above and below the galactic plane was moving away from Earth. Their number-crunching soon revealed that they all seemed to be moving together — indicating a lot of galaxies couldn’t be seen.

“It became obvious we were uncovering a massive network of galaxies, extending much further than we had ever expected,” Michelle Cluver, an astrophysicist at the University of the Western Cape, said in a release.

The researchers estimate that Vela supercluster is about the same mass of the Shapley supercluster of roughly 8,600 galaxies, which is located about 650 million light-years away. Given that the typical galaxy has about 100 billion stars, researchers estimate that Vela could contain somewhere between 1,000 and 10,000 trillion stars.

(9) GODZILLA EFFECTS. “Shirogumi X Stealthworks Shin Godzilla Destruction Reel” gives some examples of the FX used in Shin Godzilla, while carefully NOT explaining why the filmmakers decided to make 90 percent of the film a foreign policy seminar about Japan’s role in world affairs

(10) TODAY IN HISTORY

  • November 25, 1915: Albert Einstein formulated his general theory of relativity.
  • November 23, 1951 — DC Comics has its first feature film with Superman and the Mole Men.

(11) TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS

  • Born November 25, 1920 — Noel Neill
  • Born November 25, 1920 — Ricardo Montalban

Lois Lane and Khan….

(12) @MIDNIGHT PROFILES TINGLE. Chris Hardwick enlists Willam Belli, Justin Martindale and Bridget Everett to help him uncover the identity of mysterious erotic novelist Chuck Tingle.

(13) IT’S ABOUT TIME. This New York Times op-ed writer doesn’t just want to get rid of the changes between daylight savings and standard time, but wants to dump time zones too.

Most people would be happy to dispense with this oddity of timekeeping, first imposed in Germany 100 years ago. But we can do better. We need to deep-six not just daylight saving time, but the whole jerry-rigged scheme of time zones that has ruled the world’s clocks for the last century and a half.

The time-zone map is a hodgepodge — a jigsaw puzzle by Dalí. Logically you might assume there are 24, one per hour. You would be wrong. There are 39, crossing and overlapping, defying the sun, some offset by 30 minutes or even 45, and fluctuating on the whims of local satraps.

Let us all — wherever and whenever — live on what the world’s timekeepers call Coordinated Universal Time, or U.T.C. (though “earth time” might be less presumptuous). When it’s noon in Greenwich, Britain, let it be 12 everywhere. No more resetting the clocks. No more wondering what time it is in Peoria or Petropavlovsk. Our biological clocks can stay with the sun, as they have from the dawn of history. Only the numerals will change, and they have always been arbitrary.

Some mental adjustment will be necessary at first. Every place will learn a new relationship with the hours. New York (with its longitudinal companions) will be the place where people breakfast at noon, where the sun reaches its zenith around 4 p.m., and where people start dinner close to midnight. (“Midnight” will come to seem a quaint word for the zero hour, where the sun still shines.) In Sydney, the sun will set around 7 a.m., but the Australians can handle it; after all, their winter comes in June.

(14) ONE PICTURE, JJ recommends this Tom Gauld cartoon on adapting books for film and TV.

After Zadie Smith’s 300-page novel NW was made into a film by the BBC, Tom Gauld thinks up a hypothetical conversation between an author and a producer

(15) FOR THE EPICUREAN. Who ‘n’ Ales (@who_n_ales) is a Twitter account “dedicated to finding you the perfect pairing between real ale and classic Dr Who.”

A couple of example tweets —

(16) BONUS: DEEP TURKEY PSYCHOLOGY: The Gallery of Dangerous Women has something to say about wild turkeys.

Why are kayaks Incredibly Rude to swans? I’m asking because we have a lot of wild turkeys on my college campus and they HATE cars. They will block you from opening car doors, circle you in your car like a shark, jump on top of cars and snap at tires.

…2/2 so I was wondering if large birds just hate human transportation or something haha. Thanks for your post, very interesting.            

(In reference to a comment I made about kayaks being incredibly rude in Swan Culture)…

I’ve been looking at my inbox like “I am not some kind of ECCENTRIC BIRD WHISPERER,” but I actually know the answer to this one, and it’s hilarious.

Large birds don’t have a particular hateboner for human transportation, but wild turkeys have two unique properties that make them behave ridiculously when they collide with human populations….

The First Unique Turkey Property: Now, wild turkeys are a little bit like betta fish, in that they perceive any shiny/reflective surface that shows them a reflection as actually containing Another Turkey, and they react accordingly. When they react to the Other Turkey – usually by posturing aggressively and flaring their fins feathers majestically – the Other Turkey ESCALATES THE SITUATION by posturing as well. At some point the real turkey loses its temper and attacks, pecking and scratching and trying to take the fucker apart, only to find that the Other Turkey has protected itself with some kind of force field.

So to a wild turkey that has encountered enough autumnal car-related psychic battles, the completely logical conclusion to take away from them is that cars contain demonic spirits that must be subdued. Other examples of things that wild turkeys are compelled to vanquish include… well, other reflective things.

To address this, cover reflective things (you can rub soap on your car to make it less reflective) and frighten off the turkey if it’s keeping you from leaving your car….

[Thanks to Todd Dashoff, JJ, Mark-kitteh, Cat Eldridge, Martin Morse Wooster, and John King Tarpinian for some of these stories. Title credit belongs to File 770 contributing editor of the day Stoic Cynic.]

Sharon Joss Interview

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Sharon Joss

By Carl Slaughter: It’s been a busy few months for Sharon Joss. At the August WorldCon, she sat with Robert Sawyer as a first time panelist discussing biology hard sci-fi, moderated a panel on lab stories, sat with Mike Resnick for a reading/signing of her Galaxy’s Edge story “Ides of Neveh-Neveh,” and attended her first SFWA business meeting.  Also in August, Mystic Jive, the fourth in her Hand of Fate series, was released. In September, her SFWA membership card arrived. In November, she was at OryCon in Portland, OR sitting on five panels and moderating one of them. She’s hard at work wrapping the current Hand of Fate storyline with book #5. Joss is a WOTF Golden Pen Award winner.

CARL SLAUGHTER: Is Mattie, the main character in your Hand of Fate series, an eager heroine or a reluctant heroine?

SHARON JOSS: In Destiny Blues (Book 1 in the Hand of Fate Series), Mattie Blackman is most definitely a reluctant heroine.

CS: What makes Mattie tick?  Does she want to go to college, get married, have children, launch a career?  Hang out with friends, read a novel, go mountain climbing, help out at the soup kitchen?

SJ: Mattie suffered through years of neglect by her mother, and was raised primarily by her older half-brother. Growing up in a small town, she idolized the police officer father of a friend who lived in the neighborhood.  Because of this, she identifies strongly with victims, and yearns to some day protect and serve her community as a police officer. As an officer of the law, she believes she will finally have the respect and social acceptance she so craves. Until that day arrives, she’s working as a parking control officer.

CS: How does Mattie evolve over the course of the series?

SJ: As the daughter of a notorious (and not in a good way) family, Mattie has always yearned for respectability with an eye for upholding the law–her fondest dream has always been to join the ranks of law enforcement.  Everything she does is orchestrated to keep her reputation and her current job as a parking control officer intact–often with ridiculous results.  As the series evolves, circumstances force Mattie to continually choose between her desire for social acceptance and a normal life, and what she has vowed to do as the Hand of Fate for the goddess, Morta.

CS: What effect do the events in Mystic Jive have on Mattie?

SJ: Without giving anything away in Mystic Jive, Mattie is forced to come to terms with what the Hand of Fate really is, and that in order to stop a sorcerer’s cult from preying on the living and undead citizens of Shore Haven, she must invoke Morta’s gifts and take the law into her own hands. By doing so, she risks the lives of the people she loves and everyone in Shore Haven.

CS: Who would be ideally cast as Mattie in a screen version?

SJ: Hard to say. In my mind, Mattie is a little like Stephanie Plum meets Lucy Ricardo meets Anne Osborne (the district attorney in the 1986 film, The Big Easy) meets Anita Blake meets Indiana Jones.  I was disappointed in actress selected for the film adaptation of the first Stephanie Plum book; whoever plays Mattie would be athletic, dark-haired, and a bit exotic-looking.  She’d also be a bit repressed, scatter-brained, and ditsy.

CS: How long will the series continue?

SJ: It really depends on the readers! I am planning on wrapping up the current story line in Book 5, which I am working on now.

 

CS: What exactly is the Golden Pen Award?

SJ: The Writers of the Future (WOTF) is a quarterly speculative fiction contest, open to authors who have no, or few, professional publications. Manuscripts are judged with the authors’ names deleted, and are separated out in quarterfinal and semifinal award rounds by the Coordinating Judge (currently, David Farland).  Eight finalists are sent to a panel of professional science fiction writers, who determine the top three awards. At the end of the contest year, a week-long workshop (taught by some of the biggest author names in Science Fiction and Fantasy) is held for all the quarterly winners, and the four quarterly first place stories compete for a separate annual grand prize, known as the “Golden Pen Award,” and a check for $5000, as well as paid publication in the annual Writers of the Future anthology.  Previous Writers of the Future winners include Sean Williams, Ken Liu, Patrick Rothfuss, Jay Lake, Diana Rowland,  and Nnedi Okorafor.

CS: How difficult is it to qualify for SFWA membership?

SJ: Speaking for myself, I have found the process to be both challenging and rewarding.  After four years of writing full-time, I made my first pro-rate sale in 2013 (yay!).  However, it was not a SWFA-qualified market (rats!). I have made several sales since then, but the only sales I’ve made to SWFA-qualified markets were my Writers of the Future anthology science fiction story, “Stars That Make Dark Heaven Light” (which was also a finalist for the 2015 Canopus Award) and a post-apocalyptic short story sale to Galaxy’s Edge, called ‘The Ides of Nevah-Nevah’.  Over the past seven years, I’ve written seven novels, but I’m still chasing that third sale for full membership (and eagerly looking forward to the day!).

CS: Why is SFWA membership important?

SJ: For me, SFWA membership is a goal. It means I’ve joined the ranks of other professionals.  Membership is a marker along the way to being a self-supporting, full-time author, recognized by other professionals as a ‘real’ writer.  SFWA is the professional society of science fiction and fantasy authors.  Formed in 1965, SWFA has been going for more than 50 years, and now that it has become a charitable organization, I am proud to be part of a professional group of authors that informs, supports, and advocates for authors in a variety of ways.

CS: What topics did you speak about in Kansas City, who was on the same panels, and what did you and the others say?

SJ: MidAmeriCon II was my first WoldCon as a panelist, and I was wowed by number of attendees in the panels I participated in.  I was part of a group reading for Mike Resnick’s Galaxy’s Edge magazine, and read an excerpt of my post apocalyptic short story, “The Ides of Nevah-Nevah”.  Mike Resnick, Alex Schvartsman, Marina J. Lostetter, and Tina Gower also read their stories as published by Galaxy’s Edge. I was quite moved, when, after the reading when several attendees brought me their copies of the magazine so I could sign my story.

I also moderated a panel, “The Real Lab” with Dr. Helen Pennington, Dr. Ronald Taylor, Donald Douglas Fratz, and Benjamin C. Kinney, where the panelists recalled some of their greatest highs and lows in the research lab, including a hilarious story from Dr. Pennington about an incident involving superglue and anatomically suggestive cactus. In “Biology: The New Hard SF”, I joined S. B. Divya, Dr. Tom Easton, and others in discussing the latest biological advances and how they might impact the future of SF storytelling. This was a lively session and the room was packed!  I also attended the “Legends and Myths in Urban Fantasy” session (with Dana Cameron, Yanni Kuznia, Chelsea Mueller, and Randy Henderson), the SFWA Business meeting (the first one I’d ever attended!), and “Science That Inspired Science Fiction Authors,” with Paul Dale Anderson, Matthew Hughes, and Bradley Denton, in a standing room-only crowd.

CS: Same questions for Portland.

SJ: OryCon is always fun for me.

  • “Fantasy vs. Science Fiction” with David Dvorkin, Ann Gimpel, Peter Jones, Deborah Ross, Sharon Joss. The answer was a resounding ‘yes’ to both!
  • “Paranormal Romance” with Peter ‘Frog” Jones, Laura Whitcomb, Sharon Joss. We debated the differences between Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance
  • ” If You Could Talk to the Animals… ” With Laura Anne Giman and Sara Mueller. We all love animals, and both Sara and Laura are experienced horsewomen, while I’m a falconer. We discussed how best to research animal behavior in order to avoid ‘humanizing’ animal characters.
  • Endings: Cuddling with the Reader with Dean Wells, Deborah Ross and Mike Shepherd. This great fun, and we talked about how different authors view endings in short stories, novels, and multi-novel series.
  • Structurally Speaking with John C. Bunnell, Erika Satifka, David Boop. (I was the moderator for this one).  I really enjoyed this panel; we discussed Campbell’s Hero’s Journey, non-linear storytelling, unconventional  narratives, and even explored how structure interacts with theme, plot, and characterization.

CS: What’s on the horizon for Sharon Joss?

SJ: I’m hard at work on Book 5 of the Hand of Fate series. I’ve also got two solicited short stories to write for two different science fiction anthologies (due in February), and I’m developing ideas/outlines for my next series. That should keep me busy for the next few months!

SHARON JOSS SOCIAL MEDIA

Jonathan Miller Shows Superpowers Don’t Fix All Your Problems

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By Carl Slaughter: In Jonathan Miller’s Gravity Breaker, Tallah’s father discovers he has a superpower and tries to use it to ensure a safe future for his daughter. The story does not end well for either and she finds herself an orphan runaway. In the sequel, Tallah, released in October, she discovers she has the same superpower. Rather than run or fight, she separates and builds. But like her father, she discovers the hard way that dealing with her power and dealing with people is complicated. The ending hits at big change and another sequel.

GRAVITY BREAKER

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For Isaac Williams, nothing comes easy.

From his dead-end job to his one-bedroom apartment, life so far has been a steady grind, one challenge after another. But that’s about to change. During a routine encounter with a police officer in Oakland, Isaac makes a life-changing realization: He can use gravity to do almost anything. To build or destroy. To lift up or hold in place. To bend, straighten, or break apart.

Isaac is suddenly in command of a power beyond his wildest imagination, the power to reshape the world around him, something that—as a biracial black man from hurricane-ravaged Mississippi—he has struggled to do his entire life. Filled with newfound hope, Isaac immerses himself in the experimentation process: testing his limits, broadening his skill set, and refining his control, all in secret.

But Isaac, a single father of an eleven-year-old daughter, is forced to reveal the extent of his abilities when his daughter is attacked. This sets in motion a series of events that strips him of everything he’s worked so hard for: his child, his job, and his home. Pursued relentlessly by the authorities, Isaac is forced to use his abilities in increasingly dramatic and dangerous ways to avoid capture and reunite with his daughter, ultimately learning that the power he wields—though enviable—comes at a deeply unenviable price.

TALLAH

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With her father gone and her newfound abilities barely under control, twelve-year-old Tallah lives alone on the streets, stealing food from shopping carts, fending off predators, and trying to steer clear of the law. Torn between using her powers to lash out at the world, to seize control of her situation, or to make herself disappear, Tallah is lost, adrift without a guide—until she meets someone, another girl about her age, also homeless. Her name is Harmony.

Together, Tallah and Harmony carve out a simple life in an encampment next to a river that runs through the heart of the city. Over time, Tallah grows to trust Harmony—enough to reveal the secret of her abilities. But as the pair grows closer, Harmony’s darker motivations become clear, culminating in an act of betrayal that leads Tallah to abandon her former friend and turn her back on humanity—including her own.

Consumed by rage, Tallah embarks on an odyssey of destruction, unleashing the full force of her volatile powers.  Soon she finds herself on a collision course with the authorities, and her only hope for redemption lies in the promise of a new town, a new civilization—a utopia she can create on her own—but before she can build her future, she needs to reckon with the ghosts of her past…

Poets and Writers magazine describes Jonathan Miller: “Though his books are labeled literary thrillers, Miller is most concerned with his characters, who struggle with issues of discrimination, identity, ideological rigidity, and belonging.”

Jonathan Miller

Jonathan Miller

Pixel Scroll 11/24/16 And He Pixeled A Crooked Scroll

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(1) AS GOD IS MY WITNESS, I THOUGHT TURKEYS COULD FLY. The astronauts aboard the International Space Station tucked into another technically perfect holiday meal today. Motherboard explains — “Happy Space Thanksgiving: How the Food-Stuffed Holiday Went Orbital”.

Naturally, these hermetically packaged, shelf-stable Thanksgiving edibles lack much of the flavor and flair of the dishes that Earthbound feasters will be piling up on their plates. But these meal packs are still leaps and bounds beyond the humble dinners shared by the crew of Skylab over four decades ago, when manned spaceflight was still in its early years.

(2) SMALL BUSINESS MODELING. Kristine Kathryn Rusch explains why the election was not a Black Swan event, but was one of the reasonably possible scenarios she considered in developing her current business plans — “Business Musings: Running A (Writing) Business In Uncertain Times”.

The first two items in her ten-point plan are —

To do modeling for the next year of your business, you need to be as clear-eyed as possible. You should research trends for your business for similar economic times, if you can.

Then you figure out as best you can what your future will be.

Here’s how you do it.

First, you figure out what the possible futures could be. By July, ours were pretty simple. Clinton victory—then what? Trump victory—then what? Markets react well—then what? Markets react poorly—then what? Civil unrest—then what? Governmental gridlock—then what? Governmental ease—then what? Possible impeachment (either candidate)—then what? And so on.

Second, figure out the impact those scenarios will have on your business. Dean and I were modeling for different businesses. Our retail businesses have a local component that our publishing and writing businesses do not have. Therefore, our models for the retail business were different than our models for publishing and writing.

Some scenarios will have no impact at all on what you’re doing. Others might have a huge impact. Be as clear-eyed and honest with yourself as possible as you set out these scenarios.

(3) ROCKS AND SHOALS. Jules Verne’s status as a hard science fiction writer received an unexpected boost from the latest research reported by New Scientist.

JULES VERNE’s idea of an ocean deep below the surface in Journey to the Centre of the Earth may not have been too far off. Earth’s mantle may contain many oceans’ worth of water – with the deepest 1000 kilometres down.

“If it wasn’t down there, we would all be submerged,” says Steve Jacobsen at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, whose team made the discovery. “This implies a bigger reservoir of water on the planet than previously thought.”

This water is much deeper than any seen before, at a third of the way to the edge of Earth’s core. Its presence was indicated by a diamond spat out 90 million years ago by a volcano near the São Luíz river in Juina, Brazil.

The diamond has an imperfection – a sealed-off inclusion – that contains minerals that became trapped during the diamond’s formation. When the researchers took a closer look at it with infrared microscopy, they saw unmistakable evidence of the presence of hydroxyl ions, which normally come from water. They were everywhere, says Jacobsen.

(4) CAST OF THE RINGS. Empire magazine came up with a cute gimmick: “The Lord of the Rings at 15: the Fellowship interview each other”.

One anniversary to rule them all… To celebrate the 15th anniversary of The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring, the latest issue of Empire gathered the nine members of the Fellowship, and asked each of them to pose nine questions to one another.

One does not simply walk into a Lord Of The Rings interview. So here, as a little Middle-earth aperitif, we can reveal one answer from each actor. For the full interviews, be sure to pick up a copy of the January issue of Empire, on sale from Thursday 24 November….

Sean Astin (Samwise Gamgee)

Where do you keep the sword you were given when you completed Lord Of The Rings? Question set by Ian McKellen

The garage, or maybe a cupboard, or in storage with a ton of fan art. I cried heavily through my send-off. I remember being presented with my costume, including Sam’s backpack (pots, pans, sausages, elven rope, lembas bread, box of salt) and sword. But the most moving trophy was the wee dress [my daughter] Ali wore as she portrayed Elanor in the last moments of Return Of The King.

(5) ALIEN POSTER CHILD. By sharing this image, does CinemaBlend aim to upset turkey-filled tummies? “Alien: Covenant’s First Poster Is Simple And Absolutely Terrifying”.

Following the lukewarm response to Prometheus in 2012, the Alien franchise is aiming to win back hearts with the next entry in the series, Alien: Covenant. As an early Thanksgiving treat, 20th Century Fox just released the first poster for the blockbuster, and it’s making sure fans know that like previous installments, it will be a terrifying ordeal.

(6) UNCLE 4E TALK AT ALIEN CON. A panel discussion about the Ackermonster:

Alien Con marked the 100th birthday of Forrest J Ackerman — writer, literary agent, and professional Sci-Fi geek who not only founded Famous Monsters, but invented cosplay and encouraged the pursuits of monster fanatics everywhere! Hear Forry memories and learn about TALES FROM THE ACKER-MANSION, American Gothic Press’s massive tribute to the man who created the term “Sci-Fi”.  Guests on Panel: Kevin Burns, Joe Moe, William F Nolan, Jason V. Brock

Part I

Part II

(7) SOMEWHERE OVER THE WORMHOLE. Scifinow has it right – “Emerald City trailer is definitely not in Kansas anymore”.

(8) CHIZINE GROWS ANNUAL ANTHOLOGY. ChiZine Publications will expand Imaginarium, its Annual ‘Best-Of’ short story,  and poetry volume, to include more content in an anthology that will be released every two years.

The latest edition,  Imaginarium 5, will be released in Summer 2017 and encompass the best short stories and poetry from 2015 and 2016. It will include an introduction from bestselling Canadian author Andrew Pyper.

There will be a call for submissions for both short stories and poetry published in 2016 for Imaginarium 5 announced via Facebook and the CZP Website in December 2016.

(9) TODAY IN HISTORY

Fifty years ago Thursday, Lunar Orbiter II took a picture of a moon crater. When it was beamed back to Earth, the photo’s then-unique view made the moon real in a way it hadn’t been before — as an actual place, another world that might be a second home for humanity. Seeing the Copernicus crater close up mustered Space Age feelings of wonder. Such wonder is harder to provoke now, but the image reminds us: The moon still waits for us

(10) TODAY’S BIRTHDAY MONSTER KID

  • Born November 24, 1916 – Forrest J Ackerman

Learn more about him on the Ray Harryhausen Podcast.

November 24th 2016 marks the 100th birthday of sci-fi legend Forrest J Ackerman, founder of ‘Famous Monsters of Filmland’ magazine. Forry was also one of Ray Harryhausen’s oldest friends, the two having met in the late 1930’s after discovering a shared interest in ‘King Kong’.

We caught up with former ‘Famous Monsters’ editor David Weiner to discuss the friendship between Ray, Forry and Ray Bradbury. We also heard a clip of the three legends in discussion, taken from an interview which can be found on the ‘Ray Harryhausen- the early years collection’ DVD.

And in the November issue of Aeromexico’s Aire magazine, Guillermo Del Toro tells how important Ackerman was to his artistic development. (You’ll need to click on the second image and zoom in to make the text readable.)

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(11) TODAY’S ROSWELL BIRTHDAYS

  • Born November 24, 1977 — Colin Hanks
  • Born November 24, 1978 — Katherine Heigl

(12) NEWEST K9 IN THE CULTURE WARS. Sarah A. Hoyt, in yesterday’s Sad Puppies 5 announcement, said: “….One of the things the — for lack of a better term — other side has is bully pulpits…. BUT still, they have magazines that publish recommended lists, and interviews with authors, and turn the spotlight on work they think should be read. We have nothing like that.”

However, as someone pointed out, she had overlooked the brand new review site Puppy of the Month Book Club – where the motto is Hugo delenda est.

Jon Mollison and Nathan Housley explained what they’ll be covering:

So what makes a book a viable candidate for Puppy Of the Month?  Easy:

  • Any novel nominated by the Sad Puppies for a Hugo nomination
  • Any novel nominated by the Rabid Puppies for a Hugo nomination
  • Any work listed in Appendix N of Gary Gygax’s D&D Dungeon Master’s Guide
  • Any work published by Castalia House
  • Any work selected by a Contributor that isn’t shouted down by the rest of the contributors as an inappropriate selection

Their latest post is an interview with Schuyler Hernstrom, a fellow who knows on which side his bread is buttered:

Editor: Rabid or Sad?

SH: Ya know, this is corny but I am actually going to pull a quote from my own work to answer. It is a bit early in the career to pull a stunt like this but it is so apropos I can’t resist:

He took a knife from his belt and cut away the flag and a length of cloth from the sleeve and turned to Tyur. He tied the thing to the hunter’s thick arm. Tyur looked down in awe.

“But I am not of your blood…”

“All who fight tyranny are of my tribe.”

The young man grasped his host’s shoulders and the old man returned the gesture.

(13) REJECTS ZERO SUM GAMES. Kevin Standlee tells how he feels about the latest Sad Puppies announcement in “Perhaps we should be grateful”.

Why don’t these people who are so completely certain (or so they say) that the Hugo Awards are washed up, finished, dead, pushing up daisies, etc. concentrate on the awards that they so confidently insisted would overwhelm the entire field and be the One True Awards That Real Fans Give for Real Good Stuff So There Will Be No Need For Any Other Awards Ever Again? They seem pretty unhappy that the members of WSFS continue to hold their convention and present their awards just like they have been doing for many years, including arguing over the rules (which, for those who have been paying attention, was a running theme long before the Puppies showed up). “Sad” is a good description for people for whom, as far as I can tell, think that the amount of happiness is a finite quantity, so that the only way they can be happy is to make other people unhappy.

(14) WELLS STORY DISCOVERED. The Guardian brings word of an “Unseen HG Wells ghost story published for the first time”.

Here’s a gothic tale for a stormy night: a man called Meredith converts a room in his house into a cluttered and untidy study, and one day asks a visiting friend if he can see anything strange on the ceiling.

“Don’t you see it?” he said. “
See what?”
“The – thing. The woman.”
I shook my head and looked at him.
“All right then,” he said abruptly. “Don’t see it!”

This is the beginning of a newly discovered HG Wells ghost story, called The Haunted Ceiling, a macabre tale found in an archive that Wells scholars say they have never seen before. It will be published for the first time this week, in the Strand magazine.

(15) TRUE GRIT. An unplanned furrow plowed when the Spirit rover suffered a broken wheel may have reaped a harvest of evidence for life on the Red Planet — “Scientists Think They Finally Found Evidence of Ancient Life on Mars”.

What the researchers found was that El Tatio produces silica deposits that appear nearly identical to those found by Spirit in Gusev Crater on Mars. The discovery of these deposits in similar environments on both planets suggests life because it implies they were formed by a similar process—specifically, microbial organisms.

“We went to El Tatio looking for comparisons with the features found by Spirit at Home Plate,” Ruff said in a statement. “Our results show that the conditions at El Tatio produce silica deposits with characteristics that are among the most Mars-like of any silica deposits on Earth.”

Exploration by the Spirit rover was discontinued in 2010 when the front wheel broke, causing the rover to get stuck and plow across the ground. This mishap is actually what caused the digging that uncovered the rich deposit of pure silica, and now the discovery of the silica deposits in Chile may be enough to send a rover back to that same site on Mars.

(16) ASK NOT FOR WHOM THE CHURRO TRUCK BELL TOLLS. You’ve got mail!

[Thanksgiving every day for John King Tarpinian and everyone else who contributes to this site, which today includes JJ, and Martin Morse Wooster. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor on Turkey Day, Paul Weimer.]

Pre-Order Long List Anthology Volume 2 Ebook

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long-list-2-published-coverBy JJ: Editor David Steffen has announced that the Long List Anthology Volume 2 ebook is available for pre-order on Amazon (other vendors and formats soon) for $4.99, and look at that stunning cover by Galen Dara!

The stories included are:

  • “Damage” by David D. Levine
  • “Pockets” by Amal El-Mohtar
  • “Today I Am Paul” by Martin L. Shoemaker
  • “The Women You Didn’t See” by Nicola Griffith (a letter from Letters to Tiptree)
  • “Tuesdays With Molakesh the Destroyer” by Megan Grey
  • “Wooden Feathers” by Ursula Vernon
  • “Three Cups of Grief, By Starlight” by Aliette de Bodard
  • “Madeleine” by Amal El-Mohtar
  • “Neat Things” by Seanan McGuire (a letter from Letters To Tiptree)
  • “Pocosin” by Ursula Vernon
  • “Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers” by Alyssa Wong
  • “So Much Cooking” by Naomi Kritzer
  • “The Deepwater Bride” by Tamsyn Muir
  • “The Heart’s Filthy Lesson” by Elizabeth Bear
  • “Grandmother-nai-Leylit’s Cloth of Winds” by Rose Lemberg
  • “Another Word For World” by Ann Leckie
  • “The Long Goodnight of Violet Wild” by Catherynne M. Valente
  • “Our Lady of the Open Road” by Sarah Pinsker
  • “The Pauper Prince and the Eucalyptus Jinn” by Usman T. Malik
  • “The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps” by Kai Ashante Wilson

Brian K. Lowe’s Stolen Future Series

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Brian K. Lowe

Brian K. Lowe

By Carl Slaughter: Brian K. Lowe graduated from UCLA’s Creative Writing Program and attended the Taos Toolbox in the same classroom with Hugo winners David Levine and Will McIntosh. His short fiction has appeared in Intergalactic Medicine Show, Starship Sofa, and Daily Science Fiction. Lowe has written sci-fi (The Stolen Future trilogy), pulp thriller (The Choking Rain), and humor (Once a Knight.) The second novel in his Stolen Future trilogy, Secret City, came out in March. The series is heavily influenced by Edgar Rice Burroughs.

INVISIBLE CITY

lowe-invisible-city

Captain Charles Clee stumbles onto a secret archeological expedition from the 23rd century and finds himself stranded nearly one million years in the future. When the woman he loves is taken from him by one of Earth’s alien overlords, he becomes the enemy of the one of most powerful men in the world. But in his quest to rescue her, he learns that a working time machine may still exist with which he could return to his own time and save his men from certain annihilation. Now, torn between love and his duty to the men who served under him a million years past, pursued by the merciless assassins of the Time Police, Clee fights against war, slavery, and fantastic beasts in a race against time itself–knowing that whatever the outcome, he must lose.

SECRET CITY

lowe-secret-city

In this sequel to The Invisible City, after twenty years alone, Charles “Keryl” Clee once again finds himself hurtling through a time portal to an uncertain future. Stranded in an unforgiving desert populated by unseen predators, Clee must find a place for himself in a world that wants him only dead. But his greatest fear is that he may not have returned to the world he left behind, that he may have travelled to an earlier or later era than that he knows, and that his love, the Lady Maire, may be long dead or centuries unborn. Finding human treachery even more hazardous than beasts, accused of a crime he did not commit, still hunted for his attempt to free humanity from slavery decades before, Clee must find his own way as a ghost in a world where all are known, and ordered, and categorized. Discovering that everything he worked for has been lost, and that his love has formed a new alliance with his greatest enemy, he has no choice but to fight–and just when it seems he has achieved victory, he and all he holds dear are plunged into the depths of horror as a new race arises from the nightmares of the distant past to wreak its revenge–and if Clee cannot stop them, they will destroy every remnant of human civilization.

Pixel Scroll 11/23/16 A Pixel On All Your Houses

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(1) COVER GIRL. Maya Kaathryn Bonhoff continues her critique of the clothing (or lack of it) depicted on sff book covers in “There’s a Bimbo on the Cover, Verse 2: The Bimbo Wears Black Leather” at Book View Café.

I may be outvoted, but so far the winner of the award for Wardrobe Malfunction is the Dutch cover of Vonda McIntyre’s Dreamsnake (Droomslang in Dutch). Vonda assures me that she has no problem with full frontal nudity. She does, however, have a problem with full frontal nudity that is nowhere in the book.

(2) ELLISON KICKSTARTER. Jason Davis, needing to squeeze out another $17,000 to reach the Harlan Ellison Book Preservation Kickstarter’s $100,000 goal, sent an e-mail to his list reminding them about the donor perks. This one’s my favorite —

$300 — A Piece of the Puzzle, signed by Harlan: In the earliest days of HarlanEllisonBooks.com, Harlan entrusted to me an unusual item: a book of New York Times crossword puzzles. All the puzzles were completed between 2010 and 2011, and Harlan had signed and dated each page.

(3) HINES CONTINUES CHARITY AUCTION. Jim C. Hines fundraiser for Transgender Michigan is in its second day, auctioning a Tuckerization and Autographed ARC from A. M. (Alyx) Dellamonica.

Full details and bidding instructions at the site.

(4) BRANDON SANDERSON’S BOOK TOUR SCHEDULE. Tachyon Publications knows where you can find Brandon Sanderson on the road, from Seattle to Hoboken.

(5) THE SOUND AND THE FURY. The print edition is on the way for a novella that, unusually, was first offered as an audiobook: “Subterranean Press Announces Print Edition of John Scalzi’s The Dispatcher“ (Tor.com).

As promised, John Scalzi’s new novella The Dispatcher, originally released as an audiobook from Audible, will also be available in print. Subterranean Press announced today that it will publish The Dispatcher in May 2017, in both trade hardcover edition as well as a limited signed hardcover edition.

Subterranean Press shared the cover, by Vincent Chong, who also handled interior illustrations. The trade edition is a fully cloth bound hardcover edition; 400 limited-edition versions are signed numbered hardcover copies, bound in leather.

(6) KOWAL’S LADY ASTRONAUT PROGRAM. Tor.com also brings word of a “New ‘Lady Astronaut of Mars’ Book Series Coming, Based on Hugo-Winning Novelette”.

Tor Books is happy to announce that author Mary Robinette Kowal will build on the universe of her Hugo Award-winning novelette “The Lady Astronaut of Mars” with two new books coming in 2018!

From Kowal: “I jokingly call the Lady Astronaut universe ‘punchcard punk’ because it’s rooted in the 1950s and 60s. It’s a chance to re-imagine the science-fiction of Ray Bradbury and Cordwainer Smith, where all of the science was very physical and practical.”

The novels will be prequels, greatly expanding upon the world that was first revealed in “Lady Astronaut”. The first novel, The Calculating Stars will present one perspective of the prequel story, followed closely by the second novel The Fated Sky, which will present an opposite perspective; one tightly woven into the first novel.

(7) THORNTON OBIT. From The Hollywood Reporter: “Ron Thornton, Emmy-Winning Visual Effects Guru on ‘Babylon 5,’ Dies at 59”:

Ron Thornton, an Emmy-winning visual effects designer, supervisor and producer who worked on such shows as Babylon 5 and Star Trek: Voyager, has died. He was 59.

Thornton, often credited with bringing the power of CGI to television visual effects, died Monday at his home in Albuquerque, N.M., after a short battle with liver disease, his friend, veteran VFX supervisor Emile Smith, told The Hollywood Reporter.

Thornton received his Emmy for the 1993 telefilm Babylon 5: The Gathering (the pilot for the series) and also was nominated for his work on episodes of Star Trek: Voyager and Buffy the Vampire Slayer and on the 2002 telefilm Superfire.

(8) TODAY’S BIRTHDAY BOLT BOY

  • Born November 23, 1887 – Boris Karloff

(9) THANKSGIVING DAY TV MARATHONS. The Los Angeles Times says “’Mystery Science Theater 3000′ returns with new blood for the Turkey Day marathon”:

Twenty-eight years ago the little science fiction show that could, “Mystery Science Theater 3000,” premiered on Thanksgiving Day. It all started with one Earthling, series creator Joel Hodgson, and his gang of lovable robot puppets. Together they drifted through space in the “Satellite of Love,”…

In Los Angeles, we also have KTLA’s annual 18-episode marathon of Rod Serling’s classic anthology series “The Twilight Zone.” 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

RETRO MARATHON MAN. This will be the first Thanksgiving since File 770 contributor James H. Burns passed away. If he were still with us I know he’d have come up with a brand new way for me to point to his trilogy of articles at The Thunder Child about the era when a New York City TV station persuaded whole families to park in front of the set on Thanksgiving and watch King Kong for the zillionth time.

King Kong in the City: A Thanksgiving Tradition: Burns tells about his father’s affinity for the famous ape movie, and his personal memory of discovering the film on Saturday morning TV in the Sixties. The station was New York’s channel 9 (the former WOR-TV) and in the next decade it broadcast the movie every Thanksgiving, before long adding the sequel, Son of Kong, and 1949’s Mighty Joe Young, another stop-motion animation picture from Kong’s creators. The annual tradition lasted until 1985.

Chris Steinbrunner: A Renaissance of Fantasy: Chris Steinbrunner, an executive with WOR-TV, is according to Burns “one of the great unsung heroes of fandom, who helped run many of his era’s conventions, was an Edgar-award winning author, wrote one of the very first books on science fiction and fantasy movies, published many books (with Centaur Press)… and produced what may well be a lost 007 special!…”  Burns says, “My old pal was a pretty neat guy, and a while ago, I was stunned that save for a short Wikipedia entry, there was virtually none of Chris’ history on the web.” Articles like this surely will keep him from being forgotten.

One of the great times Chris and I were together came early one morning in 1983 when we ran into each other high atop the Empire State Building, gathered on the Observation Deck for a special press party commemorating King Kong’s fiftieth anniversary. With the men in suits and the ladies elegantly attired, champagne was poured as we looked towards the bi-planes in the distance, booked especially for the event, that buzzed as though in a dream, above the shores of Manhattan.

When someone asked Chris about Kong Thursdays, he replied, as he almost always did, with a quick pause, a sudden smile, and said:  “King Kong on Thanksgiving…? Whoever would have thought of such an odd idea?”

Meanwhile, At the Empire State Building: The third installment is about the Empire State Building and Fay Wray.

(10) BANG BANG. Jonathan McCalmont of Ruthless Culture delivers two cheap shots for the price of one tweet.

https://twitter.com/ApeInWinter/status/801343208936656896

(11) A BEASTLY MOVIE. Book View Café’s Steven Harper Piziks has seen it – “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them–An Extensive Review” (beware spoilers).

Is there good stuff?  Sure.  It’s fun to see the Harry Potter world in 1920s America.  The movie focuses on magical animals instead of spells and potions, a potentially fun new area to explore.  The effects are lovely.  Dan Fogler as Mr. Kowalski is a delight as the stand-in for the audience as he’s accidentally thrust into a wizardling world he can barely understand but gamely does his best to master.

But…

The movie has serious pacing problems.  Things take forever to get moving in the beginning. We  spend too much time dealing with unimportant issues, like the annoying niffler’s thieving and the preparation of food in a witch’s kitchen, and not enough time on actual plot points, like what the villain wants and how he intends to get it.  The latter is annoyingly muddled and confused.  Less time on special-effects creatures and more time on human character development would have been a better scripting choice.

(12) EVERYBODY NEEDS A HOBBY. “Mr. Night Has The Day Off,” on Vimeo, is a charming cartoon from Lithuania about what happens when Night wanders around during his day off and zaps things (cars, clothes) black.

(13) THE GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PRESENT. Is there anyplace where the grapes have more wrath than Westeros? Now you can buy Game of Thrones wine, albeit at Lannister prices.

Vintage Wine Estates announced that they’ve partnered with HBO to release three different officially licensed Game of Thrones wines—a Chardonnay (suggested retail $19.99), a Red Blend (suggested retail $19.99) and a Cabernet Sauvignon (suggested retail $39.99). We haven’t heard Tyrion mention a preferred varietal, but based on his wine habit it seems safe to assume he’d back all of these.

 

gotr-wine

(14) THE GHOST OF CHRISTMAS GIFT PAST. A computer that can fit in your pocket – if you’re Captain Kangaroo – and at such a reasonable price! Of course, that’s back when $169.95 really was worth $169.95…

tra80

[Thanks to John King Tarpinian, Martin Morse Wooster, Mark-kitteh, and JJ for some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day IanP.]

2016 Endeavour Award Winner

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Left: Laura Anne Gilman, 2016 Endeavour Award Finalist. Right: Brenda Cooper, 2016 Endeavour Award Winner. Photo by James Fiscus..

Left: Laura Anne Gilman, 2016 Endeavour Award Finalist. Right: Brenda Cooper, 2016 Endeavour Award Winner. Photo by James Fiscus..

The 18th annual Endeavour Award was won by Edge of Dark, a novel by Kirkland, WA, writer Brenda Cooper. The award was presented at OryCon on November 18, along with an honorarium of $1,000.00.

It is Cooper’s second Endeavour Award, the previous coming in 2008 for The Silver Ship and the Sea.

The other finalists were:

  • Irona 700 by Victoria, BC, writer Dave Duncan, Open Road Integrated Media;
  • The Price of Valor by Bothell, WA, writer Django Wexler, Roc Books;
  • Silver on the Roa by Seattle, WA, writer Laura Anne Gilman, Saga Press
  • Tracker by Spokane, WA, writer C.J. Cherryh, Daw Books.

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 2016 Award were Jack McDevitt, Michaela Roessner, and Gordon Van Gelder.

Award Eligibility for 2017: To be eligible for next year’s Endeavour Award the book – a novel or a single-author collection of stories — must be 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 2016 is February 15, 2017. Full information on entering the Award is available on the Endeavour Website: www.osfci.org/endeavour. Click on Entry Form in the left-hand column for a fill-in PDF of the form.

[Thanks to James W.Fiscus for the story.]