The finalists for the 2016 David Gemmell Awards have been announced. Open public voting will continue through August 19. The winners will be announced September 24 at Fantasycon in Scarborough (UK).
Legend Award – 2016
The Legend Award is presented to the fantasy title judged the year’s best by open vote.
Miles Cameron, The Dread Wyrm (Gollancz)
Larry Correia, Son of the Black Sword (Baen)
David Guymer, Gotrek & Felix: Slayer (Black Library)
John Gwynne, Ruin (Pan Macmillan)
Mark Lawrence, The Liar’s Key (Harper/Voyager)
Morningstar Award – 2016
The Morningstar Award honours the author judged, by open vote, to have made the year’s best debut in fantasy fiction.
Stephen Aryan, Battlemage (Orbit)
Seth Dickinson, The Traitor (Pan Macmillan)
Francesca Haig, The Fire Sermon (Harper/Voyager)
Lucy Hounsom, Starborn (Pan Macmillan)
Peter Newman, The Vagrant (Harper/Voyager)
Sabaa Tahir, An Ember in the Ashes (Harper/Voyager)
All of the works that made the longlist have been rolled over as finalists. The administrators explained:
We normally have five finalists in each category, except in the case of a draw, which has happened only once in the awards’ history. However, as we had just six nominees for the Morningstar this year, and the number of votes separating fifth and sixth place weren’t that great, we thought it was fairest to let all six nominees go through to the final.
Ravenheart Award
The Ravenheart Award is given to the artist/s responsible for the year’s best fantasy book cover art, as chosen by open vote.
Longlists for The David Gemmell Awards For Fantasy — the Legend, Morningstar, and Ravenheart Awards — have been posted. The awards recognize the best in fantasy fiction and artwork. Open voting to determine the finalists has begun and will continue until midnight on Friday June 24.
Next, voting on the shortlist will open midday on Friday July 8 and close at midnight on Friday August 19. The awards will be presented September 24 at Fantasycon in Scarborough, UK.
LEGEND AWARD
The Legend Award, is presented to the fantasy title judged the year’s best by open vote.
Joe Abercrombie, Half A War (Harper/Voyager)
Bradley Beaulieu, Twelve Kings (Gollancz)
Peter V. Brett, The Skull Throne (Harper/Voyager)
Terry Brooks, The Darkling Child (Orbit)
Jim Butcher, The Aeronaut’s Windlass (Orbit)
Miles Cameron, The Dread Wyrm (Gollancz)
Trudi Canavan, Angel of Storms (Orbit)
Larry Correia, Son of the Black Sword (Baen)
Edward Cox, The Cathedral of Known Things (Gollancz)
David Dalglish, Skyborn (Orbit)
Stephen Deas, The Silver Kings (Gollancz)
Aliette de Bodard, The House of Shattered Wings (Gollancz)
Sebastien de Castell, Knight’s Shadow (Jo Fletcher Books)
Kate Elliott, Black Wolves (Orbit)
David Guymer, Gotrek & Felix: Slayer (Black Library)
John Gwynne, Ruin (Pan Macmillan)
David Hair, Ascendant’s Rite (Jo Fletcher Books)
Joanne Hall, Spark and Carousel (Kristell Ink)
Markus Heitz, Devastating Hate (Jo Fletcher Books)
Robin Hobb, Fool’s Quest (Harper/Voyager)
John Hornor Jacobs, Foreign Devils (Gollancz)
NK Jemisin, The Fifth Season (Orbit)
Drew Karpyshyn, Chaos Unleashed (Del Rey)
Julia Knight, Swords and Scoundrels (Orbit)
Snorri Kristjansson, Path of Gods (Jo Fletcher Books)
M.D. Lachlan, Valkyrie’s Song (Gollancz)
Glenda Larke, The Dagger’s Path (Orbit)
Mark Lawrence, The Liar’s Key (Harper/Voyager)
Rebecca Levene, The Hunter’s Kind (Hodder & Stoughton)
Tom Lloyd, Old Man’s Ghosts (Gollancz)
Alex Marshall, A Crown For Cold Silver (Orbit)
Gail Z. Martin, War of Shadows (Orbit)
Brian McClellan, The Autumn Republic(Orbit)
Naomi Novik, Uprooted (Pan Macmillan)
Den Patrick, The Boy Who Wept Blood (Gollancz)
Daniel Polansky, Those Above (Hodder & Stoughton)
Steven Poore, The Heir to the North (Kristell Ink)
Anthony Ryan, Queen of Fire (Orbit)
Rob Sanders, Archaon: Lord of Chaos (Black Library)
Brandon Sanderson, Shadows of Self (Gollancz)
Anna Sheehan, Spinning Thorns (Gollancz)
Brian Staveley, The Providence of Fire (Pan Macmillan)
Adrian Tchaikovsky, Guns of the Dawn (Pan Macmillan)
Ian Tregillis, The Mechanical (Orbit)
Angus Watson, Reign of Iron (Orbit)
David Weber, The Sword of the South (Baen)
Django Wexler, The Price of Valour (Del Rey)
Jen Williams, The Iron Ghost (Headline)
MORNINGSTAR AWARD
The Morningstar Award honors the author judged to have made the year’s best debut in fantasy fiction.
Stephen Aryan, Battlemage (Orbit)
Seth Dickinson, The Traitor (Pan Macmillan)
Francesca Haig, The Fire Sermon (Harper/Voyager)
Lucy Hounsom, Starborn (Pan Macmillan)
Peter Newman, The Vagrant (Harper/Voyager)
Sabaa Tahir, An Ember in the Ashes (Harper/Voyager)
RAVENHEART AWARD
The Ravenheart Award is given to the creator of the year’s best fantasy book cover art.
James Annal for Uprooted by Naomi Novik(Pan Macmillan)
Tommy Arnold for Skyborn by David Dalglish (Orbit)
Kerem Beyit for The Dread Wyrm by Miles Cameron (Gollancz)
Jason Chan for The Liar’s Key by Mark Lawrence (Harper/Voyager)
Wendy Chan for Swords and Scoundrels by Julia Knight (Orbit)
Alejandro Colucci for The Boy Who Wept Blood by Den Patrick (Gollancz)
Bastien Lecouffe Deharme for The Darkling Child by Terry Brooks (Orbit)
Krzysztof Domaradzki for Old Man’s Ghosts by Tom Lloyd (Gollancz)
Larry Elmore & Carol Russo Designfor Son of the Black Sword by Larry Correia (Baen)
Mark Ferrari for The Flotsam Trilogy Omnibus by Peter M Ball (Apocalypse Ink Productions)
Christopher Gibbs for The Cathedral of Known Things by Edward Cox (Gollancz)
Sam Green for Shadows of Self by Brandon Sanderson (Gollancz)
Manuela Hackl for Knight’s Shadow by Sebastien de Castell (Jo Fletcher Books)
Mohamad Hani/Archangel Images for An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir (Harper/Voyager)
Teddy Eduardo Iglesias for The House of Shattered Wings by Aliette de Bodard (Gollancz)
Patrick Insolefor The Iron Ghost by Jen Williams (Headline)
Jaime Jones for The Vagrant by Peter Newman (Harper/Voyager)
Nik Keevil & Nick Castle for Queen of Fire by Anthony Ryan(Orbit)
Patrick Knowles for Foreign Devils by John Hornor Jacobs (Gollancz)
Laura B for Spinning Thorns by Anna Sheehan (Gollancz)
Tim McDonagh for The Hunter’s Kind by Rebecca Levene (Hodder & Stoughton)
Chris McGrath for The Aeronaut’s Windlass by Jim Butcher (Orbit)
Jackie Morris for Fool’s Quest by Robin Hobb (Harper/Voyager)
Lauren Panepinto for The Fifth Season by NK Jemisin (Orbit)
Lauren Panepinto, Gene Mollica & Michael Frost for The Autumn Republic by Brian McClellan (Orbit)
Rhett Podersoo for Those Above by Daniel Polansky (Hodder & Stoughton)
Larry Rostant for The Skull Throne by Peter V Brett (Harper/Voyager)
Larry Rostant for Black Wolves by Kate Elliott (Orbit)
Larry Rostant for War of Shadows by Gail Z. Martin (Orbit)
Larry Rostant for Reign of Iron by Angus Watson (Orbit)
Duncan Spilling for Angel of Storms by Trudi Canavan (Orbit)
Steve Stone for Battlemage by Stephen Aryan(Orbit)
Steve Stone for The Dagger’s Path by Glenda Larke (Orbit)
Raymond Swanland for Archaon: Lord of Chaos by Rob Sanders (Black Library)
Andrew Unangst for Twelve Kings by Bradley Beaulieu (Gollancz)
Stephen Youll for The Silver Kings by Stephen Deas (Gollancz)
Paul Young for Ruin by John Gwynne (Pan Macmillan)
Paul Young for Acendant’s Rite by David Hair (Jo Fletcher Books)
Paul Young for Valkyrie’s Song by MD Lachlan (Gollancz)
A new kind of bird-footed dinosaur footprint was discovered in Gulin county, Southwest China’s Sichuan province and named for Chinese science-fiction writer Liu Cixin, to honor his contribution to raising public interest in science.
Liu, who was thrilled to hear the news, said that he has great interest in paleontology.
“It is like a science fiction we’re reading that the dinosaur in Gulin county was preserved so well for billions of years. It helps us travel back in time. I hope the relics could be studied and preserved well.”
After nearly two years of rumors, “Supergirl” is heading to the CW for its second season, Variety has learned….
At CBS, “Supergirl” averaged a 2.5 rating in adults 18-49 and 10.03 million viewers overall in Nielsen’s “live plus-7” estimates. It was CBS’ top-rated rookie drama this season in the demo, and was also its youngest-skewing drama with a median age of 55.6 — however, it was down from comedies in the Monday night timeslot last year.
The hotly anticipated crossover with “The Flash” on March 28 was a ratings hit for the CW, prompting the rumors to begin swirling once again that “Supergirl” would head over to the younger-skewing network, in order to nab a renewal. That episode, co-starring “Flash’s” Grant Gustin, averaged a 2.5 rating in 18-49 and 9.6 million total viewers in L+7 — the show’s best numbers in the second half of its run.
And you thought Batman was the only DC Comics superhero who would get a TV show about what everyone around him was doing before he became interesting: THR reports that SyFy has ordered a pilot for Krypton, a Superman prequel from David S. Goyer set on the eponymous doomed planet. The series will follow Superman’s grandpa as he “fights to redeem his family’s honor and save his beloved world from chaos,” which is one task at which he is guaranteed to fail (because the world will blow up) and another that is a bit of a moot point (because, again, the world will blow up).
(4) GEMMELL VOTING STARTS TOMORROW. Voting on the longlists for 2016’s David Gemmell Awards for Fantasy (the Legend, Morningstar, and Ravenheart Awards) opens midday on Friday, May 13 and closes at midnight on Friday June 24.
The award’s Facebook page revealed there will be 48 nominations for the Legend Award, 6 for the Morningstar and 39 for the Ravenheart.
Voting on the shortlist opens at midday on Friday July 8 and closes at midnight on Friday August 19.
The presentation takes place at 8pm on Saturday September 24 at Fantasycon in Scarborough.
(5) MIND MELD. SFFWorld threw a lifeline to Rob B, whose Mind Meld installment needed a home after SF Signal went offline. The participants are N. E. White, Jonah Sutton-Morse, Yanni Kuznia, and Summer Brooks.
Q: What recent SF/F/H books have you read and enjoyed which you knew little to nothing about beforehand? (For example, you go into a bookstore and picked a book off the shelf based on title and/or cover alone.)
Both Eisner and Fantasia 2000 also recognise this aspect of the city: it can grind people down, even to the point of death. Using the darkness of the city in this way all three of these representations show the city itself to be an active force working on their various protagonists. Dark Dark Dark focus more on the elemental aspects of the city while Eisner examines the interaction of the people and their home, but both are aware of the inherent magic of the place. Dark Dark Dark present in their enigmatic lyrics and the swirling otherworldliness of their instrumentals what Eisner recognised in his introduction to ‘The Building’, there is something “unexplained and […] magical” about the city which can affect those that live in it.
Keith Kato writes, “Michael and Peter Spierig, the Spierig Brothers, are favorites of (and members of) The Heinlein Society for their most recent film, Predestination (2014 U.S. release), based on the Robert A. Heinlein short story ‘All You Zombies.’ We have been told by the Brothers that they will be out of the country from July-September, presumably for filming commitments for this project and they regret they will not be able to attend the Kansas City Worldcon.”
Dezeen promotion: Spanish brand Sancal has launched a “retro-futuristic” collection of furniture, featuring tables, chairs and ornaments that reference 1960s science fiction films (+ movie).
The Futura collection, which was exhibited by Sancal during this year’s Milan design week, is modelled on the set designs of movies such as the 1968 epic 2001: A Space Odyssey.
The word on the street is that we are about to get a brand-new, very well-funded awards show for San Diego Comic Con.
I understand that high level talks are taking place between Jennifer O’Connell, Executive VP of Alternative Programming, Seth Lederman, Executive VP General Manager of the new streaming channel Comic-Con HQ and David Glanzer, Chief Communications and Strategy Officer of Comic-Con International, the people behind San Diego Comic Con.
While the existing Eisner Awards cover the comic book industry, and have been the premier awards at San Diego for some time, this new award show is planned to cover comics, TV, film, games and all manner of fan and genre culture. So expect very big names on hand to host and present awards…..
Lionsgate is said to be interested in producing the show.
(10) YESTERDAY IN HISTORY. Can it be May 11th was National Twilight Zone Day….? And I missed it?
Well…! Then I guess that makes it appropriate to feature a “lost episode”…
The museum exhibit will allow fans to study Starfleet culture as part of “Starfleet Academy’s Career Day.”
Beginning July 9, those lucky enough to get to New York City can visit Star Trek: The Starfleet Academy Experience. The museum exhibit is opening aboard the USS Intrepid, which sits on Pier 86 along the Hudson River on the west side of Manhattan. A naval museum might seem like a strange location for a Star Trek exhibit, but what is Star Trek if not a space navy? Besides, NASA’s Space Shuttle Enterprise is on display at the Intrepid Museum.
The Intrepid Museum will be the first venue in the United States to host this immersive “Trek Tech” experience, a sort of quick fantasy camp. The exhibit allows visitors to join Starfleet Academy’s Career Day, which includes orientation and nine zones of study in language, medicine, engineering, navigation, command and science. Tickets cost $18–$35. The exhibit runs through October 31, 2016. (That final day will be a cosplay dream.)
When I was a kid I loved Disney Dollars. For those unfamiliar, they’re Disney’s paper notes that look like real money and feature cartoon characters such as Mickey Mouse and Dumbo on the front. They’re only good at Disney Parks and stores, making them essentially like gift certificates. But Disney will stop printing Disney Dollars on May 14, 2016.
It’s truly the end of an era for Disney nerds. As reported by WDW News Today, the move is being blamed on the rise of gift cards and the general death of paper money. Disney staff were told just a couple of hours ago but the company has yet to make an official statement.
Disney Dollars will continue to be accepted at Disney locations, since they have no expiration date. But unless you have hundreds of notes to unload you should probably just hold on to them for a bit. The resale market for even once-common Disney products can be pretty lucrative after a few years.
John King Tarpinian recalls, “A long time ago when friends would have a kid or a grandkid I would buy one share of Disney stock. (Usually with a $25 premium over the stock price.) The certificates were beautifully framed, not to mention that with even one share it would get an invite to corporate events. Then Disney went electronic and that was gone. Now Disney Dollars. Gift cards are just not the same.”
(17) CAP’S PSA. Jim Burns says, “With all this Captain America chat (my all time favorite super hero, by the way!), a truly rare piece of film: a public service announcement, circa 1980 (or thereabouts)!”
[Thanks to John King Tarpinian, Keith Kato, Will R., Tom Galloway, Andrew Porter, and James H. Burns for some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day Doctor Science.]
The finalists for the 2015 David Gemmell Awards have been announced. Online voting by the public has commenced and continues through July 17. The Gemmell Awards will be presented at Nine Worlds Geekfest on August 8.
The Legend Award (for the year’s best fantasy title)
Half a King by Joe Abercrombie (HarperCollins)
Valour by John Gwynne (Pan Macmillan/Tor UK)
Prince of Fools by Mark Lawrence (HarperCollins)
Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson (Gollancz)
The Broken Eye by Brent Weeks (Orbit)
The Morningstar Award (for the author of the year’s best debut in fantasy fiction)
Traitor’s Blade by Sebastien de Castell (Jo Fletcher Books)
The Mirror Empire by Kameron Hurley (Angry Robot)
The Godless by Ben Peek (Pan Macmillan/Tor UK)
The Emperor’s Blades by Brian Staveley (Pan Macmillan/Tor UK)
Age of Iron by Angus Watson (Orbit)
Ravenheart Award (given to the artist of the year’s best fantasy book cover)