R.F. Kuang’s The Poppy War has won the 2019 Compton Crook Award for Best Debut
Novel presented by the Baltimore Science
Fiction Society.
Members of BSFS chose The
Poppy War by reading and rating debut novels published between Nov 1, 2017
and October 31, 2018. First, members selected six finalists and then gave The
Poppy War their highest rating. The other finalists were:
• S.A. Chakraborty – The City of Brass
• Rebecca Roanhorse – Trail of Lightning
• Rena Rossner – Sisters of the Winter Wood
• Lauren Teffeau – Implanted
• Nick Clark Windo – The Feed
BSFS will award R. F. Kuang with a check for
$1,000 and an invitation to be the Compton Crook Guest at Balticon (the BSFS annual
convention) for two years. This year Balticon will be held May 24-27, 2019 at
the Renaissance Baltimore Harborplace Hotel. Baltimore, Maryland.
BSFS has presented the Compton Crook Award for
best first novel in the science fiction, fantasy, and horror genres since 1983.
Past winners have included Donald Kingsbury, Elizabeth Moon, Michael Flynn, Wen
Spencer, Maria Snyder, Naomi Novik, Paolo Bacigalupi, Myke Cole, Charles
Gannon, and Ada Palmer. Last year’s winner was Nicky Drayden for Prey of
Gods.
Kuang may be the youngest winner of the award. She
started writing The Poppy War while still a student at Georgetown
University and was only 22 when Harper Voyager published it. The sequel, The
Dragon Republic, will be published this summer.
BSFS named the Compton Crook Award in memory of
Towson State College Professor of Natural Sciences Compton Crook, who wrote
under the name Stephen Tall, after his death in 1981. Professor Crook, an
active member of BSFS, was a staunch champion of new works in the speculative
genres.
BSFS is a 501(c)(3), non-profit, charitable,
literary and educational organization, dedicated to the promotion of, and an
appreciation for, science fiction in all of its many forms. BSFS was launched
on January 5, 1963 and has been holding its convention, Balticon, since 1967.
The Baltimore Science
Fiction Society (BSFS) released the names of the six finalists for its 2019
Compton Crook Award for best first novel in the science fiction, fantasy, and
horror genres. The finalists are:
• S.A. Chakraborty – The City of Brass
• R. F. Kuang – The
Poppy War
• Rebecca Roanhorse – Trail of Lightning
• Rena Rossner – Sisters
of the Winter Wood
• Lauren Teffeau – Implanted
• Nick Clark Windo – The
Feed
The award includes a framed award document and, for the novel’s author, a check for $1,000 and an invitation to be the Compton Crook Guest at Balticon (the BSFS annual convention) for two years. This year Balticon will be held May 24-27, 2019 at the Renaissance Baltimore Harborplace Hotel. Baltimore, Maryland.
Members of BSFS selected the finalists by reading and rating debut novels published between Nov 1, 2017 and October 31, 2018. The finalist round of reading and rating will close April 13 and the winner will be notified on Sunday, April 14 and announced to the public on Monday, April 15th.
The Baltimore Science
Fiction Society (BSFS) has been giving out the Compton Crook Award for best
first novel since 1983. Past winners have included Donald Kingsbury, Elizabeth
Moon, Michael Flynn, Wen Spencer, Maria Snyder, Naomi Novik, Paolo Bacigalupi,
Myke Cole, Charles Gannon, and Ada Palmer. Last year’s winner was Nicky Drayden
for Prey of Gods.
The Award was named in
memory of Towson State College Professor of Natural Sciences Compton Crook, who
wrote under the name Stephen Tall, and who died in 1981. Professor Crook was
active for many years in the Baltimore Science Fiction Society and was a
staunch champion of new works in the fields eligible for the award.
BSFS is a 501(c)(3),
non-profit, charitable, literary and educational organization, dedicated to the
promotion of, and an appreciation for, science fiction in all of its many
forms. The Baltimore Science Fiction Society was launched on January 5, 1963
and has been holding Balticon since 1967.
(1) 100 LOVED BOOKS. PBS series The Great American Read premieres May 22. One hundred books, one winner:
THE GREAT AMERICAN READ is an eight-part series that explores and celebrates the power of reading, told through the prism of America’s 100 best-loved novels (as chosen in a national survey). It investigates how and why writers create their fictional worlds, how we as readers are affected by these stories, and what these 100 different books have to say about our diverse nation and our shared human experience.
How many have you read? Take the quiz. At 31 books, I’ll probably register one of the lowest scores around here.
Click on the link to see The Great American Read’s list of America’s 100 most-loved books. It includes 26 books (and series) classified as SFF.
(3) COMPTON CROOK AWARD. Nicky Drayden announced on April 19 that her book Prey of Gods won the 2018 Compton Crook Award. [Via Locus Online.]
(4) RINGO’S WORLD. John Ringo’s April 16 Facebook post about his withdrawal as ConCarolinas special guest continues gathering moss, now with over 900 likes. Today Ringo showed everyone what they’ll be missing with a new comment that explains to his sycophants why ConCarolina’s Guest of Honor can’t compete with him.
No. Because nobody but people who pay close attention to the industry and awards has ever heard of her.
Her Amazon rankings are pretty low. Her bookscan ratings are low. That indicates she’s not particularly popular just heavily promoted and ‘popular’ with the ‘right crowd’. (Which is a very small crowd.)
James Patterson is a big name. JK Rowling is a big name. Hell, China Meville is a big name.
Seanan McGuire is not ‘a big name’.
I have no clue where we stand representationally in sales comparison to me but I suspect I sell more books. Just a suspicion, though, and it probably depends on the series.
Honestly, I suspect A Deeper Blue sold more books than all of hers combined.
Back in the 1970s, the Denver Museum of Nature and Science hired artist Kent Pendleton to paint the backdrops for many of the museum’s wildlife dioramas. Little did it know that Pendleton’s penchant for hiding tiny mythical creatures in these paintings would add a whole new dimension to the museum experience.
It all began with eight elves—or gnomes, or leprechauns, depending who you ask—hidden in Pendleton’s wildlife dioramas. An elf hiding in the lowland river. An elf riding a dinosaur along a cretaceous creekbed. Another elf sat on a rock in the Great Smoky Mountains. And others, hard to spot but definitely there, in various backdrops throughout the museum.
In 2018, Pendleton told the Denverite: “It was just kind of my own little private joke. The first one was so small that hardly anyone could see it, but it sort of escalated over time, I guess. Some of the museum volunteers picked up on it and it developed a life of its own.”
(6) THE PEOPLE’S CHOICE. Kevin Standlee is running for office in his home town:
I’m Kevin Standlee, and I’m running for a seat on the Board of Directors of the North Lyon County Fire Protection District, which serves the city of Fernley, Nevada.
I grew up in a fire station. As the child of a US Forest Service officer, I lived a lot of my formative years on a series of fire outposts in the Sierra Nevada….
There’s a reason the original “Star Wars” movie was filmed in the deserts of southern Tunisia. This stark, remote landscape looks like another planet.
One of Tunisia’s vast desert regions is even called Tataouine (ta-TWEEN), like Luke Skywalker’s home planet, Tattoine.
And the underground home where Luke Skywalker first appeared living with his uncle and aunt is a real hotel in the town of Matmata, one of various desert locations used in the movies.
Masoud Berachad owns the Hotel Sidi Driss. He says visitors have dropped off since Tunisia’s democratic revolution in 2011 and attacks on tourists in 2015.
Still, devoted “Star Wars” fans keep the hotel in business….
(8) CURSED CHILD IN NEW YORK. David Rooney goes into great detail – perhaps too much – in his “‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’: Theater Review” for The Hollywood Reporter. Here’s a relatively spoiler-free excerpt:
…Pockets of racist outrage exploded online when it was first announced that a black actress had been cast as Hermione, which Rowling shot down in her no-nonsense style by pointing out that the character’s ethnicity was never mentioned in the books. In any case, only the most bigoted idiot could find fault with the brilliant Dumezweni’s performance, her haughtiness, quicksilver intellect and underlying warmth tracing a line way back to the precociously clever girl Harry first met on the train all those years ago.
Thornley’s Ron, too, is readily identifiable as the perennial joker of the trio. He’s acquired substance and a charming mellowness over the years, though a glimpse of him in a time-warped present tells a heartbreakingly different story. Miller takes the early indicators of Ginny’s strength and builds on them, shaping a smart, grounded woman capable of handling Harry’s complicated baggage. And Price’s Draco is still peevish and moody, his bitterness exploding in an entertaining clash of wands with Harry, but he’s found a softer side in maturity as well.
At the center of it all is Parker’s Harry, grown up and more confident but still pensive and troubled as ever, plagued by memories of the orphaned boy who slept under the stairs at his aunt and uncle’s home, and the reluctant hero he was forced to become. It’s a finely nuanced performance, with gravitas and heart, particularly as he wrestles with and eventually overcomes his struggles as a parent. Even with the sweet sentimentality of the closing scenes, what lingers most about Parker’s characterization is the stoical knowledge he carries with him that every moment of happiness contains the promise of more pain to come.
Of equal importance in the story are Albus and Scorpius, and while Clemmett is affecting in the more tortured role, at war with himself as much as his father, the discovery here is Boyle. His comic timing, nervous mannerisms and endearing awkwardness even in moments of triumph make him a quintessential Rowling character and a winning new addition. “My geekness is a-quivering,” he chirps at one point, probably echoing how half the audience is feeling. It’s stirring watching these two young outsiders conquer their self-doubt to find courage and fortitude….
(9) COMICS SECTION.
Daniel Dern doesn’t want Filers to miss xkcd’s cartoon “Misinterpretation.”
Lise Andreasen asks, “Things men weren’t meant to know?”
STAN LEE WAS FINISHED with comics. “We’re writing nonsense,” he once told his wife Joan. “It’s a stupid business for a grownup to be in.” After riding the early success of comic books, Lee was concerned about the future of the medium. He wanted to write more intelligent stories, something adults could connect to.
Following his wife’s advice, Lee decided to write one last story. With characters that were grounded in reality, stories that channeled Cold War tensions, and a narrative influenced by popular science fiction, Lee created the Fantastic Four. This was the type of story Lee would have wanted to read. If it was successful, maybe he would stick with comics a little longer.
Popular culture historian Bob Batchelor’s latest book turns a critical eye on the life of Lee, who ultimately became “the man behind Marvel.” Batchelor’s Stan Lee: The Man Behind Marvel focuses on where Lee came from, what influenced him, and how he became the immortal face of the comic book industry. In other words, to use the vernacular of the superhero genre, Batchelor gives us Lee’s origin story.
(11) AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #800.Here’s another variant cover for the upcoming milestone issue.
It’s all been building to this – the biggest Peter Parker and Norman Osborn story of all time, and the first Marvel comic EVER to hit 800 issues! In celebration of the 800th issue of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN and the now historic run of Dan Slott, Marvel is excited to show a variant cover from legendary artist Frank Cho and colorist David Curiel!
Witness the culmination of the Red Goblin story as Slott is joined for his final issue by epic artists such as Stuart Immonen, Humberto Ramos, Giuseppe Camuncoli and Nick Bradshaw!
(12) SKYWATCH. Bill Gates among backers of proposed live-video-from-space satellite constellation called EarthNow:
EarthNow takes advantage of an upgraded version of the satellite platform, or “bus,” developed originally for the OneWeb communications service. Each satellite is equipped with an unprecedented amount of onboard processing power, including more CPU cores than all other commercial satellites combined. According to Greg Wyler, Founder and Executive Chairman of OneWeb, “We created the World’s first lowcost, high-performance satellites for mass-production to bridge the digital divide. These very same satellite features will enable EarthNow to help humanity understand and manage its impact on Earth.”
Use cases are said to include:
Catch illegal fishing ships in the act
Watch hurricanes and typhoons as they evolve
Detect forest fires the moment they start
Watch volcanoes the instant they start to erupt
Assist the media in telling stories from around the world
Track large whales as they migrate
Help “smart cities” become more efficient
Assess the health of crops on demand
Observe conflict zones and respond immediately when crises arise
Instantly create “living” 3D models of a town or city, even in remote locations
See your home as the astronauts see it—a stunning blue marble in space
(13) TODAY’S COPYEDITING TIP. From Cherie Priest:
Nice try, BBC, but none of us are including the word “planet” when we relate this story to friends. https://t.co/QeBYY9Ik6T
On Monday, a federal judge ruled that a class action lawsuit against Facebook can move forward, paving the way for what could turn out to be a costly legal battle for the company.
As Reuters reports, the lawsuit alleges that Facebook improperly collected and stored users’ biometric data. It was originally filed in 2015 by Facebook users in Illinois, which passed the Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) in 2008. The law regulates the collection and storage of biometric data, and requires that a company receive an individual’s consent before it obtains their information.
According to the lawsuit, Facebook ran afoul of BIPA when it began using a tool called Tag Suggestions, which was originally rolled out in 2011. Like many Facebook features, it’s designed to make your user experience better while also providing the company with your data—in this case, very specific facial features.
The double helix, though, is not the only form in which DNA exists. For the first time ever, scientists have identified the existence of a new DNA structure that looks more like a twisted, four-stranded knot than the double helix we all know from high school biology.
The newly identified structure, detailed Monday in the journal Nature Chemistry, could play a crucial role in how DNA is expressed.
Some research had previously suggested the existence of DNA in this tangled form, dubbed an i-motif, but it had never before been detected in living cells outside of the test tube. Researchers at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research in Australia, though, found that not only does the structure exist in living human cells, but it is even quite common.
(16) ROCKET MAN. In his book What Were They Thinking? The 100 Dumbest Events in Television History, author David Hofstede ranked William Shatner’s 1978 performance of Elton John’s “Rocket Man” at #17 on the list. Details from the Wikipedia —
At the 5th Saturn Awards Ceremony, which aired as the Science Fiction Film Awards in January 1978, Taupin introduced William Shatner’s spoken word[29] interpretation of the song. It used chroma key video techniques to simultaneously portray three different images of Shatner, representing the different facets of the Rocket Man’s character….
How can you not want to watch it after a build-up like that?
Since last week, I’ve been working on the season finale of The Big Bang Theory, and today we shot Amy and Sheldon’s wedding.
It was an incredible day, and I am still in disbelief that I got to be in multiple scenes with Kathy Bates, Laurie Matcalf, Jerry O’Connell, Brian Posehn, Lauren Lapkus, Teller, Courtney Henggeler, and this guy, who is not only one of the kindest people I’ve ever worked with, but is also from a science fiction franchise, just like me!
[Thanks to David K.M. Klaus, JJ, Mike Kennedy, John King Tarpinian, Chip Hitchcock, Martin Morse Wooster, Cat Eldridge, Daniel Dern, Michael Toman, Carl Slaughter, Lise Andreasen, and Andrew Porter for some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day Camestros Felapton.]
The 2018 Compton Crook / Stephen Tall Award nominees have been announced. The award is given by the Baltimore Science Fiction Society for the best science fiction or fantasy novel published during the previous year by an author new to the genre. The winner will be revealed at Balticon 51’s opening ceremonies on May 25.
The nominees are:
Nicky Drayden for The Prey of Gods published 6/13/2017 by Harper Voyager with ISBN-13: 978-0062493033
Elan Mastai for All Our Wrong Todays published 2/7/2017 by Dutton with ISBN-13: 978-1101985137
Robyn Bennis for The Guns Above: A Signal Airship Novel published 5/2/2017 by Macmillan with ISBN-13: 978-0765388766
Karin Tidbeck for Amatka published 6/27/2017 by Vintage with ISBN-13: 978-1101973950
Vic James for Gilded Cage (Dark Gifts) published 2/14/2017 by Del Rey with ISBN-13: 978-0425284155
Theodora Goss for The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter (The Extraordinary Adventures of the Athena Club) published 6/20/2017 by Saga Press (Simon & Schuster) with ISBN-13: 978-1481466509
Cat Sparks for Lotus Blue published 3/7/2017 by Tabs with ISBN-13: 978-1940456706
Voting members of BSFS have until the end of April to send their votes to [email protected] and remember only valid voting members of BSFS, not just Balticon members, can vote for this stage of the Crook Award. Final voting for the Award closes at the end of April and the winner will be announced soon thereafter. Congratulations to all of these fine authors.
More information on Balticon, the Maryland Regional Science Fiction Convention, can be found at www.balticon.org
Past Compton Crook Award winners information can be found here.
Too Like the Lightning by Ada Palmer is the winner of the 2017 Compton Crook Award. The award is presented by the members of the Baltimore Science Fiction Society for the best first novel in the genre published during the previous year.
A check for $1,000 and a commemorative plaque will be presented to Palmer during Balticon 51’s Opening Ceremonies on May 26.
The award is named in memory of Towson State College Professor of Natural Sciences Compton Crook, who wrote under the name Stephen Tall, and who died in 1981. The award has been presented since 1983 and is also known as the Compton Crook/Stephen Tall Award.
More information on author Ada Palmer can be found at her website. An excerpt from the winning novel can be read here.
Arabella of Mars (the Adventures of Arabella Ashby) by David D. Levine, Tor Books
Sword and Verse by Kathy MacMillan, HarperTeen
Sleeping Giants (The Themis Files) by Sylvain Neuvel, Del Rey
Too Like the Lightning (Terra Ignota, Book 1) by Ada Palmer, Tor Books
Sleep State Interrupt by T.C. Weber, See Sharp Press
The award winner will be announced in May at Balticon 51.
The Compton Crook Award is presented by BSFS to the best first novel by an individual (no collaborations) published each year in the field of Science Fiction, Fantasy, or Horror. Selection is made by vote of the BSFS membership. The winner gets $1,000 and a commemorative plaque.
The Award is named for science fiction author Compton Crook (d. 1981), who wrote under the nom de plume Stephen Tall. The award has been given since 1983.
A check for $1,000.00 and a commemorative plaque will be presented to Wilde on Friday, May 27, 2016 at 8:00 p.m. during Balticon 50 Opening Ceremonies. Balticon is the Maryland Regional Science Fiction Convention and is celebrating its fiftieth year of existence.
The award is named in memory of Towson State College Professor of Natural Sciences Compton Crook, who wrote under the name Stephen Tall, and who died in 1981. The award has been presented since 1983 and is also known as the Compton Crook/Stephen Tall Award.
Updraft was published September 1, 2015 by Tor Books. More information about author Fran Wilde can be found at her website.
5 to 1 by Holly Bodger, Published by Knopf Books for Young Readers, Released 5/15/15
Owl and the Japanese Circus by Kristie Charish, Published by Gallery Books (Canadian Origin edition), Released 1/13/15
I Will Love You FOREVER (Protector Book 1) by Brian Groover, Published by Taproot, LLC (Createspace), Released 1/21/15
The Gracekeepers: A Novel by Kirsty Logan, Published by Crown, Released 3/19/15
The Thorn of Dentonhill: A Novel of Maradaine by Marshall Ryan Maresca, Published by DAW, Released 2/3/15
Beasts of Tabat (The Tabat Quarter) by Cat Rambo, Published by Wordfire Press, Released 2/20/15
Flex (‘Mancer) by Ferret Steinmetz, Published by Angry Robot Books, Released 3/3/15
Enter the Janitor (The Cleaners, Vol. 1) by Josh Vogt, Published by Wordfire Press, Released 5/4/15
Updraft by Fran Wilde, Published by TOR, Released 9/1/15
The award winner will be announced in May at Balticon 50.
The Compton Crook Award is presented by the Baltimore Science Fiction Society to the best first novel by an individual (no collaborations) published each year in the field of Science Fiction, Fantasy, or Horror. Selection is made by vote of the BSFS membership. The winner gets $1,000 and has his/her way paid to Balticon for two years.
The Award is named for science fiction author Compton Crook (d. 1981), who wrote under the nom de plume Stephen Tall. The award has been given since 1983.
The award is given by the Baltimore Science Fiction Society for the best first novel in the genre published in the previous year.
It is named in memory of Towson State College Professor of Natural Sciences Compton Crook, who wrote under the name Stephen Tall, and who died in 1981.
Charles Gannon’s Fire With Fire (Baen) has been named the winner of the 2014 Compton Crook/Stephen Tall Award.
At Balticon 48, May 23-26, Gannon will receive a $1,000 check and an award plaque.
The Compton Crook Award is given by the Baltimore Science Fiction Society to the best first novel by an individual (no collaborations) published each year in the field of Science Fiction, Fantasy, or Horror. Selection is made by vote of the BSFS membership.
The Award is named for science fiction author Compton Crook (d. 1981), who wrote under the nom de plume Stephen Tall. The award has been given since 1983. For more information check the BSFS website.
