(1) BRAM STOKER AWARDS. The Horror Writers Association (HWA) today dropped the 2024 Bram Stoker Awards Preliminary Ballot. See what’s on the list at File 770’s post “2024 Bram Stoker Awards Preliminary Ballot Announced”.

This is not the list of finalists, nor are they called nominees: it is the list which HWA members will choose from when they vote to determine the finalists.

The Final Ballot will be announced on or around February 23, 2025.

(2) EDGAR AWARDS NOMINEES. Mystery Writers of America today announced the nominees for the Edgar Allan Poe Awards. The 79th Annual Edgar® Awards will be celebrated on May 1, 2025. The complete list of nominees is in File 770’s post “2025 Edgar Award Nominations”.

(3) AUDIE AWARDS FINALISTS. Finalists in 28 competitive categories for the 2025 Audie Awards were announced by the Audio Publishers Association (APA) on January 22. File 770 picks out the works of genre interest followed by the complete list of “Audie Awards 2025 Finalists”.

(4) CLARKESWORLD READERS’ POLL. The flash nomination phase for the 2024 Clarkesworld Readers’ Poll began today and continues until January 24 at 3:00 p.m. Eastern. Editor Neil Clarke invites readers to celebrate their favorite Clarkesworld cover art and stories, all of which can be found in his January editorial column: “2024 In Review”.

The link to the survey is: 2024 Clarkesworld Readers’ Poll – Nomination Phase Survey (surveymonkey.com)

The top five go onto the final round in February when a winner will be determined by a second round of voting.

(5) DID YOU EVER ADJUST YOUR RABBIT EARS? Lee Weinstein helps File 770 readers remember the Fifties TV series “Science Fiction Theatre” in a post today.

…. Science Fiction Theatre was something different. It was aimed at adults. In addition, unlike earlier genre shows, it was shot on film and remained in syndication for decades. Its 78 episodes had no rocket ships or ray guns, and if some of the characters hinted at being of extraterrestrial origin, they appeared to be human. The series was, or at least pretended to be, well-based in real science. The credits at the end of the first season episodes list one Maxwell Smith as “scientific adviser on electronics and radar operation.” Several episodes did deal with such paranormal phenomena as telepathy, but at the time this was the subject of legitimate scientific inquiry…

(6) BUCKS FOR THE BUCK ROGERS. [Item by Mike Kennedy.] Two of the four American Innovation dollar coins to be released by the US Mint this year will have space themes. The Florida coin will feature the Space Shuttle. The Texas coin will feature the International Space Station.

Three previous coins in the series have also had space themes, including Alabama (Saturn V takeoff, issued 2024), Delaware (Annie Jump Cannon who worked on classifying stars, issued 2019), and Maryland (Hubble Space Telescope, issued 2020).  Future designs have not been announced. The series will continue with four coins a year through 2032. “First look at space shuttle, Mission Control 2025 dollar coins from US Mint” at Space.com.

…Texas’ coin is set to go on sale this summer. Release dates for both coins have yet to be announced.

Both states’ dollars will be struck at the mint’s Philadelphia and Denver facilities. They will initially be sold as uncirculated coins in rolls of 25 and bags of 100 for $36.95 and $123.50, respectively….

(7) MEMORY LANE.

[Written by Cat Eldridge.]

Caprica series (2010)

Fifteen years ago, the Caprica series, a prequel for the rebooted Battlestar Galactica, aired on Syfy. It came out right after the original Battlestar Galactica finished up and was followed by the Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome film. 

The show, like many genre series such as Stargate SG-1, was shot in and around Vancouver, British Columbia. In addition, buildings from the financial district of Dubai have been digitally added to the cityscape of Vancouver to create the futuristic image of Caprica City. 

Unfortunately, the ratings were less than great by quite a bit, and it was cancelled rather quickly so there were only nineteen episodes ever made. You can find it streaming on Peacock. The original and rebooted Battlestar Galactica series are currently running over on Prime. The Blood & Chrome series film which is not streaming anywhere. There is interestingly an unrated version of the latter. 

Reception among critics was fantastic with Annalee Newitz of io9.com saying that “Caprica may be starting off a little unevenly, but it’s packed with such a wealth of great ideas that you won’t want to miss a single episode.” And Kris King of Slant magazine stating, “Caprica manages to take on some daring themes with that familiar dedication to character and plot.” 

Audience reviewers at Rotten Tomatoes currently give it an excellent ninety-one percent on their Popcornmeter. 

(8) COMICS SECTION.

• Macanudo does not leave the mark you expect.
• Moderately Confused adds a surprise character.
• Reality Check is strict.
• Wumo’s fun house isn’t fun for all.

(9) MIND PILOTING. [Item by Steven French.] “Paralysed man flies virtual drone using brain implant” in Nature.

Researchers have developed a device that let a 69-year-old man with paralysis fly a virtual drone using only his thoughts.

The brain–computer interface (BCI) decoded the man’s brain activity as he imagined moving three groups of digits in real time. By associating neural signals with the movements of multiple fingers, the work builds on previous BCI research, most of which has focused on moving a single computer cursor or whole virtual hand. The feat offers hope that BCIs could one day help people with paralysis to perform a wider range of activities, such as typing or playing complex video games.

“There’s a lot of things that we enjoy or do as humans where we use multiple individuated finger movements, so like typing, sewing, playing a musical instrument,” says study co-author Matthew Willsey, a neurosurgeon at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. “That’s what this line of work is focused on, how we enable the control of multiple things at the same time.”

The study, published on 20 January in Nature Medicine, was inspired by the participant’s own request to use a BCI to fly a drone. He told the researchers that controlling the virtual object was like playing a musical instrument. “Flying it is tiny little finesses off a middle line, a little bit up, a little bit down,” he said.’…

(10) UAP DOCUMENTARY. Deadline introduces “’The Age Of Disclosure’ Trailer”.

Watch the trailer for The Age of Disclosure, the documentary directed and produced by Dan Farah that just got a prime opening weekend slot at SXSW. This comes on the heels of bi-partisan Congressional hearings on Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP, aka UFOs) and proposed legislation to disclose what the Government knows.  

Farah got 34 senior members of the U.S. Government, military, and intelligence community to come on camera. He says they reveal an 80 year cover-up of the existence of non-human intelligent life and a secret war amongst major nations to reverse engineer technology of non-human origin. The film explores the profound impact the situation has on the future of humanity, while providing a look behind-the-scenes with those at the forefront of the bi-partisan disclosure effort. The film was granted unprecedented access and support from senior members of the U.S. Government, military, and intelligence community. Everyone interviewed in the film has direct knowledge of UAP as a result of their work for the U.S. Government.

Amongst those featured in the landmark film are Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Lue Elizondo (former Department of Defense official, member of the Government’s Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program, aka AATIP), Senator Mike Rounds, Jay Stratton (former DIA official, Director of the Government’s UAP Task Force), General Jim Clapper (former Director of National Intelligence), Mike Gold (NASA UAP Study Team member), Admiral Tim Gallaudet (Former Navy Chief Oceanographer), Brett Feddersen (former Director of Aviation Security on the White House’s National Security Council), Jim Semivan (former senior CIA official), Representative Carson, Mike Gallagher (former Chairman of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party), Christopher Mellon (former Department of Defense official), senior scientist from multiple Government UAP programs such as Dr. Garry Nolan, quantum physicist Hal Puthoff Ph.D., astrophysicist Eric Davis Ph.D., military eye-witnesses of UAP events over U.S. military bases, and more. 

(11) DONATE TODAY! Ryan George produced a PDA for the charity that will be started on the Red Planet “When The Billionaires Move To Mars”.

(12) VIDEO OF THE DAY. Mark Barsotti returns with a new installment of his video interview with SF Writer Paul Di Filippo: “I WAS LIKE ZONKER HARRIS IN COLLEGE”.

Legendary science fiction writer Paul Di Filippo talks about growing up in Rhode Island, Harlan Ellison, the weirdest story he ever wrote, potential stories that may or may not get written, Thomas Wolfe, and much more! Interview: 11-18-24.

[Thanks to Mike Kennedy, Andrew Porter, John King Tarpinian, Mark Barsotti, Chris Barkley, Cat Eldridge, SF Concatenation’s Jonathan Cowie, Steven French, Kathy Sullivan, and Teddy Harvia for some of these stories. Title credit belongs to File 770 contributing editor of the day Cat Eldridge.]