The Open Page – 5/4/08
 
1) Weird Tales magazine is celebrating its 85th anniversary this month with issue number 349. The anniversary issue features legendary fantasy author Michael Moorcock's new Elric novella, "Black Petals," and stories from Sarah Monette and Tanith Lee, among others. The issue also offers a feature tied into Weird Tales’ website, called “The 85 Weirdest Storytellers of the Past 85 Years,” about SFFH in print and elsewhere. The magazine was launched in 1923 to publish stories of the bizarre, before the term science fiction had even come into common usage.

2) The 2008 finalists have been announced for this year's Locus Awards, which are presented to the winners of Locus Magazine's annual readers' poll. Winners will be announced on June 21st during the Science Fiction Museum's Hall of Fame weekend in Seattle. The finalists are:

SF Novel: The Accidental Time Machine by Joe Haldeman, Brasyl by Ian McDonald, Halting State by Charles Stross, Spook Country by William Gibson, The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon

Fantasy Novel: Endless Things by John Crowley, Making Money by Terry Pratchett, Pirate Freedom by Gene Wolfe, Territory by Emma Bull, Ysabel by Guy Gavriel Kay

Young-Adult Book: Extras by Scott Westerfeld, The H-Bomb Girl by Stephen Baxter, Magic's Child by Justine Larbalestier, Powers by Ursula K. Le Guin, Un Lun Dun by China Mieville

First Novel: City of Bones by Cassandra Clare, Flora Segunda by Ysabeau S. Wilce, Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill, The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss, One for Sorrow by Christopher Barzak

Novella: "After the Siege" by Cory Doctorow, "All Seated on the Ground" by Connie Willis, "Memorare" by Gene Wolfe, "Muse of Fire" by Dan Simmons, "Stars Seen Through Stone" by Lucius Shepard

Novelette: "Dark Integers" by Greg Egan, "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate" by Ted Chiang, "Trunk and Disorderly" by Charles Stross, "We Never Talk About My Brother" by Peter S. Beagle, "The Witch's Headstone" by Neil Gaiman

Short Story: "The Last and Only, or Mr. Moscowitz Becomes French" by Peter S. Beagle, "Last Contact" by Stephen Baxter, "A Small Room in Koboldtown" by Michael Swanwick, "Tideline" by Elizabeth Bear, "Who's Afraid of Wolf 359?" by Ken MacLeod

Collection: The Dog Said Bow-Wow by Michael Swanwick, The Jack Vance Treasury by Jack Vance, Overclocked by Cory Doctorow, Things Will Never Be the Same by Howard Waldrop, The Winds of Marble Arch and Other Stories by Connie Willis

Anthology: The Best of Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet, Kelly Link and Gavin J. Grant, eds.; The Coyote Road, Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling, eds.; The New Space Opera, Gardner Dozois and Jonathan Strahan, eds.; The Year's Best Fantasy & Horror 2007: Twentieth Annual Collection, Ellen Datlow, Kelly Link and Gavin J. Grant, eds.; The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Fourth Annual Collection, Gardner Dozois, ed.

Nonfiction: Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction, Jeff Prucher, ed.; Breakfast in the Ruins by Barry N. Malzberg; The Country You Have Never Seen by Joanna Russ; Gateways to Forever: The Story of the Science-Fiction Magazines From 1970 to 1980 by Mike Ashley; Shadows of the New Sun: Wolfe on Writing/Writers on Wolfe by Peter Wright

Art Book: The Arrival by Shaun Tan; Dreamscape: The Best of Imaginary Realism, Claus Brusen and Marcel Salome, eds.; Emshwiller: Infinity x Two, Luis Ortiz, ed.; Mervyn Peake: The Man and His Art, compiled by Sebastian Peake and Alison Eldred, edited by G. Peter Winnington; Spectrum 14: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art, Cathy Fenner and Arnie Fenner, eds.

Editor: Ellen Datlow, Gardner Dozois, David G. Hartwell, Patrick Nielsen Hayden, Gordon Van Gelder

3) The Science Fiction Museum will hold its Hall of Fame induction ceremonies on June 21st in Seattle, Washington, USA, at the Sky Church of the Experience Music Project/Science Fiction Museum (EMP/SFM). (The Locus Awards will also be presented; see item above.) This year’s honorees are Betty and Ian Ballantine (Literature Category), William Gibson (Literature Category), Richard M. Powers (Art Category), and Rod Serling (Film, Television and Media Category.) Science fiction author Connie Willis will host the evening’s events. A display featuring personal artifacts and video footage from each inductee will be added to the existing Hall of Fame exhibit. The inductees are also featured in laser-etched images in the display. For  further information on the event, visit http://www.empsfm.org

4) The winners of the 2007 Nebulas are:

NOVEL: The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon
NOVELLA: "Fountain of Age" by Nancy Kress
NOVELETTE: "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate" by Ted Chiang
SHORT STORY: "Always" by Karen Joy Fowler
SCRIPT: Pan's Labyrinth by Guillermo del Toro

Andre Norton Award: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling

Michael Moorcock was also presented with The Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award.

5) The 2008 Arthur C. Clarke Award has been given to Richard Morgan for his SF novel Black Man (entitled Thirteen in the U.S.) The award was presented at the Sci-Fi London Film Festival at the Apollo Cinema in London, U.K. The other nominees were: The Execution Channel, Ken MacLeod; The Carhullan Army, Sarah Hall; The H-Bomb Girl, Stephen Baxter; The Raw Shark Texts, Steven Hall; and The Red Men, Matthew de Abaitua. Many toasts were raised to the memory of the recently deceased Mr. Clarke by the attendees of the ceremony.