Out of the Woodwork 138. Mid May 2008
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Welcome to our newsletter, it contains up to the minute news and gossip as well as awards details and items requiring help from the collective consciousness. If you wish to contribute please do so! We welcome your thoughts, your news items and any gossip! We do love a bit of gossip here at Fantastic HQ

Science fiction artist John Berkey, born 1932, died April 29, 2008. Known for science fictional images of vast space ships, Berkey also painted ships and aircraft, pastoral scenes and portraiture. Collections of his SF art are Painted Space (1991) and Jane Frank's The Art of John Berkey (2003). He was named the Spectrum Grand Master in 1999. Site

Michael De Larrabeiti, the author of "The Borribles" died 18th April 2008. An author of impeccable, old-style Bohemian credentials, Michael de Larrabeiti with his best-known novel The Borribles brought class war into children's fiction as never before. Full Independent obituary.

William Gibson, the novelist who coined the term "cyberspace" and whose novels anticipated the Internet age while home computers were still rarities, received an honorary doctorate Saturday from the university in his hometown.

Describing his "significant contribution to American letters" and "pioneering role in the genre of science fiction," Coastal Carolina University named Gibson a Doctor of Humane Letters during its 2008 commencement ceremonies. Full story

Solution to one for the collective consciousness: Remember this from Louise? Hello I am trying to identify a couple of books/short stories I read, about 20 or more years ago. the first was about a group of people who woke up one morning to discover that everyone else had disappeared. All that seemed to be left was false teeth, glass eyes. I believe the people who survived were all underground - someone suggested Left Behind, which sounds similar, but is not it. the other was a short story about a family moving/travelling to Mars. they were all supposed to breathe in some gas to make them sleep for the journey, but one of the children doesn\'t - he holds his breath and suddenly ages about 300 years when they arrive. . Can you help - email us if you can

Chris Collier did just that:

About those short stories for Louise,the first one sounds a lot like The Langoliers by Stephen King, from Four Past Midnight, only that is set on a plane,and the second one is definitely The Jaunt by Stephen King.It's in his book Skeleton Crew.
Hope this helps,Louise,and thanks Simon and Laraine for all the great stuff!

Louise responded:

Thank you so much for your help, will definitely be getting a copy of The Jaunt, and I managed to find the other book - it is called The Sixth Seal by Mary Wesley, who is generally better know for her romantic type fiction!. Thanks again, you have stopped me going mad thinking about what it could have been.
Louise

All the best,
Chris

Locus reports: The winner of this year's James Tiptree, Jr. Award, given to works of SF and fantasy that explore gender roles, is Sarah Hall's The Carhullan Army, published last year in the UK by Faber and Faber, and just published this year in the US by HarperPerennial as Daughters of the North. Jurors this year were Charlie Anders, Gwenda Bond (chair), Meghan McCarron, Geoff Ryman, and Sheree Renee Thomas. The award, which comes with $1000 prize money, will be celebrated May 25, 2008, at WisCon 32 in Madison, Wisconsin.

Finalists for this year's Compton Crook Award for best first novel, presented by the Baltimore Science Fiction Society, are The Blade Itself by Joe Abercombie (Pyr), The Outback Stars by Sandra McDonald (Tor), The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss (DAW), Magic Lost, Trouble Found by Lisa Shearin (Ace), and One Jump Ahead by Mark Van Name (Baen). The winner will be announced at Balticon 42 in May.

Sidewise Awards for Alternate History: Finalists for this year's Sidewise Awards for works of alternate history, include novels by Michael Chabon, Robert Conroy, Mary Gentle, Jay Lake, Sophia McDougall, and Jo Walton, but short fiction by Elizabeth Bear, Michael Flynn, Matthew Johnson, Jess Nevins, Chris Roberson, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, and John Scalzi. Winners will be announced in August at Denvention, the 66th World SF Convention in Denver, Colorado. SFWA full details

Finalists for the first annual Shirley Jackson Awards, a juried award established to recognize "outstanding achievement in the literature of psychological suspense, horror, and the dark fantastic", include novels by Mike Mignola & Christopher Golden, Elizabeth Hand, Toby Barlow, Dan Simmons, and David Pearce, plus nominees in categories for Novella, Novelette, Short Story, Collection, and Anthology. Winners will be announced July 20, 2008, at Readercon in Burlington, Massachusetts. Full list

The winner of this year's Arthur C. Clarke Award for best SF novel first published in Britain in 2007 is Richard Morgan's Black Man (Gollancz). The announcement was made at a ceremony held in London on the opening night of the Sci-Fi-London film festival. (Morgan's novel was published in the US as Thirteen.) SFWA report

Dept of Smug Self Satisfaction - cont:

Dear Simon

'Meditations on Middle Earth' arrived yesterday morning. What a
wonderful book--classic essays, from Terry Pratchett among others.
All this and illustrations by John Howe!

Many thanks--

Valerie

Our old Chum William Meikle contacted us with regards to his latest tome:

The Midnight Eye Files: The Sirens launches on May 10th, 2008.
At first it's a simple lost son case, but for PI Derek Adams things turn quickly to the twilight zone. Soon he's on a remote island and up to his hips in mer-women, shape changers and ancient fisher cults.
Running back to the city doesn't help; there's mayhem on the streets.
An ancient god is waking up, and only blood will stop him.
The Sirens is the second in William Meikle's series about PI Derek Adams. The novel follows Adams on a case that takes in the Isle of Skye, the legend of the trickster Loki, a shapechanger on the loose in the city, and Derek's perpetual quest for more beer, cigarettes, and women. William Meikle

BBC Reports that Blake's Seven is due for a return to our TV screens

A new remake of sci-fi series Blake's 7 could soon return to television screens, Sky One has revealed. The satellite channel has given the green light for the development of two 60-minute scripts for a "potential event series".

Blake's 7, which originally ran on BBC One between 1978 and 1981, followed a gang of rebels fighting an evil federation that ruled the galaxy. Full BBC Story

BBC reports that Mexican-born filmmaker Guillermo del Toro has been named as the director of the film version of JRR Tolkien's The Hobbit and its proposed sequel.

The films, planned for release in 2010 and 2011, will be prequels to the Lord of the Rings trilogy directed by New Zealand's Peter Jackson. "Contributing to the Lord of the Rings legacy is an absolute dream come true," said del Toro, 43. Full BBC story.

Slugs on the radio. Highly recommended ,A Bite of Stars, a Slug of Time, and Thou burrows insensibly into the science fiction short stories of SF's Golden and Silver Ages. Hosts ELISHA SESSIONS and MARK SINKER and their astounding guests return for eight weeks to this forgotten motherlode, once bedrock of the entire field. Download the podcasts at the site.

Dept of Smug Self Satisfaction (cont - again)

wow... thanks! this book is in even better condition than I thought! - Rick McGrath

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