Out of the Woodwork 137. April 2008
Fantastic Literature - setting the standards for out of print on-line bookselling.

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.

From our chum Simon Clark:

I'm just back from Salt Lake City, WHC2008, and I though you'd be interested to know quite a few people were mentioning your website and recommending it to others. I'm sure, like me, you tend not to get a great deal of feedback on websites so I thought it might hearten you to know that your site is very highly regarded over the other side of the Atlantic!

Best,

Simon

Just too late for our last newsletter was the sad news that Arthur C Clarke died at the grand old age of 90 in Sri Lanka. Born in Somerset, he came to fame in 1968 when a short story The Sentinel was made into the film 2001: A Space Odyssey by director Stanley Kubrick.Once called "the first dweller in the electronic cottage", his vision of future space travel and computing captured the popular imagination.An aide said he died at 0130 local time after a cardio-respiratory attack. Full BBC News story and BBC tribute, Independent obituary. The cartoon below was from Private Eye

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Woodwormers responded: typical comments

Dear Simon,

Thank you for passing on this sad news so rapidly. I would otherwise not have heard about it until tonight - or maybe even some days! He will be missed.

Regards,

Mererid.

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The news is flying all over the Internet and has been on major broadcasts. Clarke was one of the greats, synonymous with SF and one of my favorites. I loved CITY AND THE STARS and 2001: A Space Odyssey especially. HE WILL BE MISSED!
*sigh*
Amy

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Follow up:

British science fiction writer Sir Arthur C Clarke is to be buried at a private funeral in Sri Lanka. Sir Arthur, the author of science fiction classics such as 2001, died in his adopted home on Wednesday, aged 90.His body has been laid out in a casket at his home near the capital Colombo for mourners to pay respects.Sir Arthur will be buried at Colombo's General Cemetery on Saturday at 1530 (1000 GMT) in a strictly secular ceremony, his spokesman said. Full BBC story

1st edition of J R R Tolkien's "The Hobbit" fetches £60,000 at auction. A 1937 first edition of JRR Tolkien's The Hobbit has been sold at auction to an anonymous bidder for £60,000 - twice what it was expected to reach. The Hobbit was Tolkien's most successful book, establishing his name as an author, and was a prequel to the longer Lord Of The Rings trilogy. Full BBC story

One for the collective consciousness: could you help with the title or author of a book about a transport ship separated into sections. Hero is possibly Amish. Crew dead due to a meteor hit. I cannot find it anywhere although the concept is similar to starlost tv programme it was definitely a paperback - can you help? If you can e-mail us.

The winner of this year's Philip K. Dick Award, for best original paperback published in the US in 2007, is M. John Harrison's Nova Swing (Bantam Spectra), with a special citation given to Minister Faust for From the Notebooks of Dr. Brain (Del Rey). • Results were announced 21st march at Norwescon in SeaTac, Washington

Finalists for this year's Prometheus Awards for best Libertarian SF of 2007 are Ragamuffin by Tobias S. Buckell, The Execution Channel by Ken MacLeod, Fleet of Worlds by Larry Niven & Edward M. Lerner, The Gladiator by Harry S. Turtledove, and Ha'Penny by Jo Walton (all published by Tor); finalists for classic fiction (which can be and are nominated year after year until they win) are by Anthony Burgess, Rudyard Kipling, C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and T.H. White. Winners will be announced at Denvention 3.

Winners of year's Ditmar Awards for Australian science fiction, announced 23rd March at Swancon, the 2008 Australian National SF Convention, include Sean Williams' novel Saturn Returns, short fiction by Cat Sparks and Rick Kennett, anthologies edited by Jonathan Strahan & Gardner Dozois and by Russell B. Farr, and artwork by Nick Stathopolous.

Hugo and John W Campbell award nominations for 2008. Denvention 3 announced the shortlist and the winners will be announced at the World Science Fiction Convention August 6th - 10th 2008.

NOVEL
Brasyl, Ian McDonald (Gollancz; Pyr)
Halting State, Charles Stross (Ace)
The Last Colony, John Scalzi (Tor)
Rollback, Robert J. Sawyer (Analog Oct 2006 - Jan/Feb 2007; Tor)
The Yiddish Policeman's Union, Michael Chabon (HarperCollins; Fourth Estate)
NOVELLA
"All Seated on the Ground", Connie Willis (Asimov's Dec 2007; Subterranean Press)
"The Fountain of Age", Nancy Kress (Asimov's Jul 2007)
"Memorare", Gene Wolfe (F&SF Apr 2007)
"Recovering Apollo 8", Kristine Kathryn Rusch (Asimov's Feb 2007)
"Stars Seen Through Stone", Lucius Shepard (F&SF Jul 2007)
NOVELETTE
"The Cambist and Lord Iron: a Fairytale of Economics", Daniel Abraham (Logorrhea, ed John Klima, Bantam)
"Dark Integers", Greg Egan (Asimov's Oct/Nov 2007)
"Finisterra", David Moles (F&SF Dec 2007)
"Glory", Greg Egan (The New Space Opera, ed Gardner Dozois & Jonathan Strahan, Eos)
"The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate", Ted Chiang (F&SF Sep 2007)
SHORT STORY
"Distant Replay", Mike Resnick (Asimov's Apr/May 2007)
"Last Contact", Stephen Baxter (The Solaris Book of Science Fiction, ed George Mann, Solaris Books)
"A Small Room in Koboldtown", Michael Swanwick (Asimov's Apr/May 2007; The Dog Said Bow-Wow Tachyon Publications)
"Tideline", Elizabeth Bear (Asimov's Jun 2007)
"Who's Afraid of Wolf 359?", Ken MacLeod (The New Space Opera, ed Gardner Dozois & Jonathan Strahan, Eos)
RELATED BOOK
The Arrival, Shaun Tan (Scholastic/Arthur A. Levine)
Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction, Jeff Prucher (Oxford University Press)
Breakfast in the Ruins: Science Fiction in the Last Millennium, Barry N. Malzberg (Baen)
The Company They Keep: C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien as Writers in Community, Diana Glyer (Kent State University Press)
Emshwiller: Infinity x Two, Luis Ortiz (Nonstop)
DRAMATIC PRESENTATION: LONG FORM
Enchanted (Written by Bill Kelly. Directed by Kevin Lima. Walt Disney Pictures)
The Golden Compass (Written by Chris Weitz, based on the novel by Philip Pullman. Directed by Chris Weitz. New Line Cinema)
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Written by Michael Goldenberg, based on the novel by J.K. Rowling. Directed by David Yates. Warner Bros. Pictures)
Heroes, Season 1 (Created by Tim Kring. NBC Universal Television and Tailwind Productions)
Stardust (Written by Jane Goldman & Matthew Vaughn, based on the novel by Neil Gaiman. Directed by Matthew Vaughn. Paramount Pictures)
DRAMATIC PRESENTATION: SHORT FORM
Battlestar Galactica: "Razor" (Written by Michael Taylor. Directed by Félix Enríquez Alcalá and Wayne Rose. Sci Fi Channel. [televised version, not DVD])
Doctor Who: "Blink" (Written by Stephen Moffat. Directed by Hettie Macdonald. BBC)
Doctor Who: "Human Nature"; "The Family of Blood" (Written by Paul Cornell. Directed by Charles Palmer. BBC)
Star Trek New Voyages: "World Enough and Time" (Written by Michael Reaves & Marc Scott Zicree. Directed by Marc Scott Zicree. Cawley Entertainment Co. and The Magic Time Co.)
Torchwood: "Captain Jack Harkness" (Written by Catherine Tregenna. Directed by Ashley Way. BBC Wales)
EDITOR, SHORT FORM
Ellen Datlow
Stanley Schmidt
Jonathan Strahan
Gordon Van Gelder
Sheila Williams
EDITOR, LONG FORM
Lou Anders
Ginjer Buchanan
David G. Hartwell
Beth Meacham
Patrick Nielsen Hayden
PROFESSIONAL ARTIST
Bob Eggleton
Phil Foglio
John Harris
Stephan Martiniere
John Picacio
Shaun Tan
SEMIPROZINE
Ansible, Dave Langford
Helix, William Sanders & Lawrence Watt-Evans
Interzone, Andy Cox
Locus, Charles N. Brown, Kirsten Gong-Wong & Liza Groen Trombi
The New York Review of Science Fiction, Kathryn Cramer, Kristine Dikeman, David G. Hartwell & Kevin J. Maroney
FANZINE
Argentus, Steven H Silver
Challenger, Guy Lillian III
Drink Tank, Chris Garcia
File 770, Mike Glyer
Plokta, Alison Scott, Steve Davies & Mike Scott
FAN WRITER
Chris Garcia
Dave Langford
Cheryl Morgan
John Scalzi
Steven H Silver
FAN ARTIST
Brad Foster
Teddy Harvia
Sue Mason
Steve Stiles
Taral Wayne

John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer (Not a Hugo)

Joe Abercrombie (second year of eligibility)
Jon Armstrong (first year of eligibility)
David Anthony Durham (first year of eligibility)
David Louis Edelman (second year of eligibility)
Mary Robinette Kowal (second year of eligibility)
Scott Lynch (second year of eligibility)

Dept of smug self satisfaction and pompous aggrandisement:

Hi Laraine,

Just a short note to indicate I have received 'South Pacific Fury' today (26th March 2008). It is as I expected and I am very pleased with it.

I am also pleased that it is one book of J E MacDonnell's I have NOT read. Although it deals with characters he introduced in Australian published books of the same series, THIS book seems to have never been published in Australia. Possibly because the American characters were not well received by parochial Australians.

As an aside, I ordered three books on the same day (20th March 2008). Two books had to travel from Britain; the third from an hour and a half travel by motorway in Queensland (what I would consider 'local'). The book from you and the local book arrived in the same post. I consider this remarkably fast for the book from you and normal travel time for the local book. Well done!

Thank for all you have done, Luke

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Simon, Laraine,

WINTERTIDE by Megan Sybil Baker arrived today! The book's just beautiful!
Thank you so much!

Gratefully,
David Gray

DOUGLAS ADAMS
CHARLES ADDAMS
LAURIE ANDERSON
J.G. BALLARD
NICK BANTOCK
CLIVE BARKER
ART BELL
BJÖRK
DAVID BOWIE
RAY BRADBURY
MARGARET BRUNDAGE
WILLIAM S. BURROUGHS
TIM BURTON
KATE BUSH
OCTAVIA BUTLER
ANGELA CARTER
NICK CAVE
LON CHANEY SR.
CIRQUE DU SOLEIL
JOEL & ETHAN COEN
ALICE COOPER
DAVID CRONENBERG
R. CRUMB
ROALD DAHL
SALVADOR DALI
SAMUEL R. DELANY
PHILIP K. DICK
STEVE DITKO
HARLAN ELLISON
M.C. ESCHER
VIRGIL FINLAY
CHARLES FORT
NEIL GAIMAN
TERRY GILLIAM
EDWARD GOREY
GUNTHER VON HAGENS
JIM HENSON
ROBERT E. HOWARD
SHIRLEY JACKSON
FRANZ KAFKA
FRIDA KAHLO
ANDY KAUFMAN
STEPHEN KING
STANLEY KUBRICK
MADELEINE L’ENGLE
GARY LARSON
TANITH LEE
THOMAS LIGOTTI
H.P. LOVECRAFT
DAVID LYNCH
GABRIEL GARCIA MARQUEZ
DAVE MCKEAN
RAND & ROBYN MILLER
MICHAEL MOORCOCK
ALAN MOORE
CATHERINE L. MOORE & HENRY KUTTNER
GRANT MORRISON
JOYCE CAROL OATES
MERVYN PEAKE
PENN & TELLER
BILL PLYMPTON
THOMAS PYNCHON
ANNE RICE
ROD SERLING
DR. SEUSS
ALICE SHELDON, a.k.a. JAMES TIPTREE JR.
CHUCK SHEPHERD
CLARK ASHTON SMITH
STEPHEN SONDHEIM
REV. IVAN STANG
OSAMU TEZUKA
HUNTER S. THOMPSON
KOOL KEITH THORNTON, a.k.a. DR. OCTAGON
KURT VONNEGUT
TOM WAITS
ALICE WALKER
KARA WALKER
ANDY WARHOL
SYLVIA TOWNSEND WARNER
JOHN WATERS
ROGER WATERS
WIM WENDERS
THORNTON WILDER
ROBERT ANTON WILSON
WARREN ZEVON

(So what do you think - any key omissions?)

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