Out of the Woodwork 152. June 2009
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.

Ian R. MacLeod's Song of Time (PS Publishing) won the Arthur C. Clarke Award for the best science fiction novel published in the UK in 2008, presented at a cermeony April 29, 2009 in London. The award includes an engraved bookend and a £2009 cash prize. MacLeod was present to accept the award.

Other finalists were:

The Quiet War, Paul McAuley (Gollancz)
House of Suns, Alastair Reynolds (Gollancz)
Anathem, Neal Stephenson (Atlantic)
The Margarets, Sheri S. Tepper (Gollancz)
Martin Martin's on the Other Side, Mark Wernham (Jonathan Cape)

Arthur C Clarke Award

22nd may - Independent Crossword:

12AC. A book ahead of rest - as in Fahrenheit 451 (6) - answer at the foot of the page

Blistering Barnacles - Tintin museum to open in Belgium.

Tintin, the comic book series about a blonde-haired reporter, has been loved by generations and remains one of Belgium's best known exports.

A museum is set to open in Belgium celebrating the comic strip and devoting itself to the life's work of Tintin's creator, Herge. BBC story and video

Doctor Who's new assistant has been revealed: Little-known actress Karen Gillan has been unveiled as the next assistant in Doctor Who. The 21-year-old will star alongside new Time Lord Matt Smith in the new series, to be broadcast next year. Full BBC story Also David Tennant is to appear as the Time Lord in Doctor Who spin-off The Sarah Jane Adventures, the BBC has announced. Tennant, 38, will appear over two episodes of a new 12-part series of the CBBC show, which starts in September. Full BBC story

Finalists for the 2008 Sidewise Awards for excellence in alternate history have been announced:

LONG FORM

The Affinity Bridge, George Mann (Snowbooks; Tor '09)
The Dragon's Nine Sons, Chris Roberson (Solaris)
Half a Crown, Jo Walton (Tor)
Nation, Terry Pratchett (Doubleday UK; HarperCollins)
Swiftly, Adam Roberts (Gollancz)

SHORT FORM

"A Brief Guide to Other Histories", Paul J. McAuley (Postscripts #15)
"G-Men," Kristine Kathryn Rusch (Sideways in Crime)
"Night Bird Soaring," T.L. Morganfield (Greatest Uncommon Denominator Autumn '08)
"The People's Machine", Tobias Buckell (Sideways in Crime)
"Poison Victory", Albert E. Cowdrey (F&SF 07/08)
"Sacrifice", Mary Rosenblum (Sideways in Crime)

The awards will be presented at Anticipation, the 67th Worldcon, to be held in Montreal, Canada from August 6-10, 2009. The judges are Stephen Baxter, Evelyn Leeper, Jim Rittenhouse, Stuart Shiffman, Kurt Sidaway, and Steven H Silver. Sidewise Awards

Analog Science Fiction and Fact and Asimov's Science Fiction announced their readers' award winners.

The winners of Analog's Analytical Laboratory (AnLab) Awards are:

Best Novella: "Tenbrook of Mars", Dean McLaughlin (July-August)
Best Novelette: "The Man in the Mirror", Geoffrey A. Landis (January-February)
Best Short Story: "Starship Down", Tracy Canfield (October)
Best Fact Article: "The World's Simplest Fusion Reactor", Tom Ligon (January-February)
Best Cover: April 2008, Scott Grimando

The winners of Asimov's Readers' Awards are:

Best Novella: "The Room of Lost Souls", Kristine Kathryn Rusch (April-May)
Best Novelette: "The Ray-Gun: A Love Story", James Alan Gardner (February)
Best Short Story: "26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss", Kij Johnson (July)
Best Poem: "Deaths on Other Planets", Joanne Merriam (April-May)
Best Cover Artist (tie): Tomasz Maronski (March)
Best Cover Artist (tie): John Picacio (September)

Finalists for the 2009 Sturgeon Awards have been announced:

"The Gambler", Paolo Bacigalupi (Fast Forward 2)
"The Political Prisoner", Charles Coleman Finlay (F&SF 8/08)
"True Names", Cory Doctorow & Benjamin Rosenbaum (Fast Forward 2)
"The Ray Gun: A Love Story", James Alan Gardner (Asimov's 2/08)
"Memory Dog", Kathleen Ann Goonan (Asimov's 4-5/08)
"The Tear", Ian McDonald (Galactic Empires)
"Special Economics", Maureen McHugh (The Del Rey Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy)
"His Master's Voice", Hanu Rajaniemi (Interzone #218)
"From Babel's Fall'n Glory We Fled", Michael Swanwick (Asimov's 2/08).

Kij Johnson's "26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss" (Asimov's 7/08) was a finalist, but Johnson removed it from consideration because she is a juror. The awards will be presented at a banquet July 10, 2009, held during the Campbell Conference in Lawrence KS, from July 9-12 Sturgeon Awards

2009 Mythopoeic Awards finalists:

ADULT LITERATURE

Flesh and Spirit and Breath and Bone, Carol Berg (Roc)

Pandemonium, Daryl Gregory (Del Rey)

Lavinia, Ursula K. Le Guin (Harcourt)

The Bell at Sealey Head, Patricia A. McKillip (Ace)

An Evil Guest, Gene Wolfe (Tor)

CHILDREN’S LITERATURE

Graceling, Kristin Cashore (Harcourt Children's)

The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman (HarperCollins)

House of Many Ways, Diana Wynne Jones (HarperCollins)

Savvy, Ingrid Law (Dial)

Nation, Terry Pratchett (HarperCollins)

INKLINGS STUDIES

Charles Williams: Alchemy and Imagination, Gavin Ashenden (Kent State, 2008)

Tolkien on Fairy-stories: Expanded Edition, with Commentary and Notes, Veryln Flieger and Douglas A. Anderson, eds. (HarperCollins, 2008)

The History of the Hobbit, Part One: Mr. Baggins; Part Two: Return to Bag-end, John Rateliff (Houghton Mifflin, 2007)

Planet Narnia: The Seven Heavens in the Imagination of C.S. Lewis, Michael Ward (Oxford, 2008)

The Evolution of Tolkien’s Mythology: A Study of the History of Middle-earth, Elizabeth A. Whittingham (McFarland, 2008)

MYTH AND FANTASY STUDIES

Four British Fantasists: Place and Culture in the Children’s Fantasies of Penelope Lively, Alan Garner, Diana Wynne Jones, and Susan Cooper, Charles Butler (Children’s Literature Association & Scarecrow, 2006)

Folklore and the Fantastic in Nineteenth-Century British Fiction, Jason Marc Harris (Ashgate, 2008)

Rhetorics of Fantasy, Farah Mendlesohn (Wesleyan University Press, 2008)

One Earth, One People: The Mythopoeic Fantasy Series of Ursula K. Le Guin, Madeleine L’Engle and Orson Scott Card, Marek Oziewicz (McFarland, 2008)

Oz in Perspective: Magic and Myth in the Frank L. Baum Books, Richard Carl Tuerk (McFarland, 2007)

DITMAR AWARDS Finalists: The Ditmar sub-committee has released the Australian SF ("Ditmar") Awards finalists for 2009. This ballot honours the best works of science fiction, fantasy, and horror published by Australians in 2008 as nominated by members of Australian fandom. Horroscope

Best Novel

Fivefold, Nathan Burrage (Random House)
Hal Spacejock: No Free Lunch, Simon Haynes (Fremantle Press)
Tender Morsels, Margo Lanagan (Allen & Unwin)
How to Ditch Your Fairy, Justine Larbalestier (Allen & Unwin)
The Daughters of Moab, Kim Westwood (Harper Voyager)
Earth Ascendant, Sean Wiliams (Orbit)

Best Novella or Novelette

"Soft Viscosity", David Conyers (2012, Twelfth Planet Press)
"Night Heron's Curse", Thoraiya Dyer (Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine #37)
Angel Rising, Dirk Flinthart (Twelfth Planet Press)
"Creeping in Reptile Flesh", Robert Hood (Creeping in Reptile Flesh, Altair Australia Books)
"Painlessness", Kirstyn McDermott (GUD #2)

Best Short Story

"Pale Dark Soldier", Deborah Biancotti (Midnight Echo #1)
"This Is Not My Story", Dirk Flinthart (Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine #37)
"The Goosle", Margo Lanagan (The Del Rey Book of Science Fiction, ed. Ellen Datlow)
"Her Collection of Intimacy", Paul Haines (Black: Australian Dark Culture Magazine #2)
"Moments of Dying", Robert Hood (Black: Australian Dark Culture Magazine #1)
"Sammarynda Deep", Cat Sparks (Paper Cities, ed. Ekaterina Sedia)
"Ass-Hat Magic Spider", Scott Westerfeld (The Starry Rift, ed. Jonathan Strahan)

Best Collected Work

Dreaming Again, edited by Jack Dann (Harper Voyager)
Canterbury 2100, edited by Dirk Flinthart (Agog! Press)
2012, edited by Alisa Krasnostein and Ben Payne (Twelfth Planet Press)
Midnight Echo, edited by Kirstyn McDermott and Ian Mond (AHWA)
Black: Australian Dark Culture Magazine, edited by Angela Challis (Brimstone Press)
Creeping In Reptile Flesh, Robert Hood (Altair Australia Books)
The Starry Rift, edited by Jonathan Strahan (Viking)

Best Artwork

Aurealis #40 cover, Adam Duncan
The Last Realm, Book 1 - Dragonscarpe, Michael Dutkiewics
Gallery in Black Box, Andrew McKiernan
Creeping In Reptile Flesh cover, Cat Sparks
Cover of 2012, Cat Sparks
Tales from Outer Suburbia, Shaun Tan

Best Fan Writer

Craig Bezant for HorrorScope
Edwina Harvey for Australian Science Fiction Bullsheet
Robert Hood for Undead Backbrain
Chuck McKenzie for HorrorScope
Mark Smith-Briggs for HorrorScope
Brenton Tomlinson for HorrorScope

Best Fan Artist

Rachel Holkner, for Gumble Soft toy and other works
Nancy Lorenz for body of work
Andrew McKiernan for body of work
Tansy Rayner Roberts for Daleks are a girl's best friend
David Schembri for body of work
Cat Sparks for Scary Food Cookbook
Anna Tambour for Box of Noses and other works

Best Fan Publication

HorrorScope, edited by Shane Jiraiya Cummings et al. (Brimstone Press)
Scary Food Cookbook, edited by Cat Sparks (Agog! Press)
ASif! (Australian Speculative Fiction In Focus), edited by Alisa Krasnostein & Gene Melzack (Twelfth Planet Press)
Australian SF Bullsheet, edited by Edwina Harvey & Ted Scribner

William Atheling Jr Award for Criticism or Review

"Dark Suspense: The End of the Line" by Shane Jiraiya Cummings (in Black: Australian Dark Culture Magazine #3)
"George A. Romero: Master of the Living Dead" by Robert Hood (in Black: Australian Dark Culture Magazine #2)
"Bad Film Diaries - Sometimes the Brand Burns: Tim Burton and the Planet of the Apes", Grant Watson (in Borderlands #10)
"Popular genres and the Australian literary community: the case of fantasy fiction," Kim Wilkins (in Journal of Australian Studies)

Best Achievement

Angela Challis for Black: Australian Dark Culture Magazine and Brimstone Press.
Marty Young and the AHWA Committee for promoting horror through the Australian Horror Writers Association.
Talie Helene for her work as AHWA News Editor.
Steve Clark for Tasmaniac Publications.
Damien Broderick for fiction editing in Cosmos Magazine.
James Doig for preserving colonial Australian horror fiction and his anthologies Australian Gothic and Australian Nightmares.
The Gunny Project: A tribute to Ian Gunn 1959-1998, Jocko and K'Rin, presented MSFC.

Best New Talent

Peter M. Ball
Felicity Dowker
Jason Fischer
Gary Kemble
Amanda Pillar

Paul Melko's Singularity's Ring won the 2009 Compton Crook / Stephen Tall Award for the best SF/fantasy first novel from the previous year, which includes a plaque and a $1,000 cash prize. The award was presented on May 22, 2009 at Balticon

One for the collective consciousness:

Hello Simon,

I'm writing my master's thesis on R. Murray Gilchrist. His short stories (horror/fantasy) are readily available but his novels are extremely scarce. I'm particularly interested in The Labyrinth, The Abbey Mystery and Weird Wedlock.

Have you ever heard of or seen any of these? Any information about Mr. Gilchrist you may have would be deeply appreciated, for he's turned out be quite an elusive subject.

Sincerely,

Laurence

New Spring is a graphical adaptation of the best-selling prequel to Robert Jordan's acclaimed fantasy series, The Wheel of Time. The New Spring comic series, which is 8 issues long, was started in 2005 and was published up through issue #5. In 2009 Dabel Brothers will be completing the series by publishing issues 6-8.

In this issue, entitled “The Deeps”, Al'Lan Mandragoran, uncrowned king of the lost nation Malkier, makes his way to the city of Chachin. He is chasing a rumor that Lady Edeyn, a woman from his past, intends to lead a crusade of warriors in an effort to reclaim his lost country from the Blight. Unexpectedly, his journey will lead him to Moiraine who is on a crusade of her own—a secret and desperate search for a child born of prophecy. The Dragon has been reborn in the world and the fate of all will rest on the shoulders of those who find him. Dabel Brothers

More news from the World Horror Convention:

World Horror Convention 2010 is proud and delighted to announce that our very Special Guest of Honour is Britain's most influential and successful horror writer of all time -- JAMES HERBERT.

James Herbert created the modern mass-market horror genre with the publication of his first ground-breaking novel, THE RATS, in 1974 (for the record, Stephen King's CARRIE was published a few months later). Since then he has reigned as Britain's undisputed #1 author of chiller fiction, with more than 20 novels to his credit -- which have sold more than fifty million copies world-wide. His books have been translated into more than thirty-five languages, including Russian and Chinese.

THE RATS has never been out of print, and Jim's list of best-selling titles includes THE FOG, THE SURVIVOR, FLUKE, THE SPEAR, LAIR, THE DARK, THE JONAH, SHRINE, DOMAIN, MOON, THE MAGIC COTTAGE, SEPULCHRE, HAUNTED, CREED, PORTENT, THE GHOSTS OF SLEATH, '48, OTHERS, ONCE, NOBODY TRUE and THE SECRET OF CRICKLEY HALL.

THE RATS (aka DEADLY EYES), THE SURVIVOR, FLUKE and HAUNTED have all been made into movies, the latter starring Aidan Quinn, Kate Beckinsale and Sir John Gielgud.

In his 1992 Introduction to the bio-bibliography JAMES HERBERT: BY HORROR HAUNTED, Stephen King wondered "with real excitement" what James Herbert might be up to in the year 2010. Well, now we know -- he'll be at World Horror Convention in Brighton!

Dept of smug self satisfaction (cont)

Dear Madam,Sir,

I have received the books several days ago,and am extremely happy with them.
Thank You,very much.

Best regards, Dejan

We also buy books and travel around the country to purchase, we will pay a finders fee to anyone who puts us in touch with a collection we later purchase.

OotW121. OotW122. OotW 123, OotW 124, OotW 125, OotW 126, OotW 127, OotW 128, OotW 129, OotW 130, OotW 131, OotW 132, OotW 133, OotW134, OotW135, OotW136, OotW 137, OotW138, OotW 139, OotW 140, OotW141, OotW 142, OotW 143, OotW144, OotW145, OotW146. OotW147, OotW148, OotW149, OotW 150, OotW151