Capclave

We finally got the Capclave Hotel Registration page link.  It’s now on our website under Hotels and it’s also here:

http://www.hilton.com/en/hi/groups/personalized/IADMRHF-CAP-20101021/index.jhtml?WT.mc_id=POG

or TinyURL: http://tinyurl.com/27k7zj5.

The page says the room block closes on September 30th, however the Hilton has extended the time to October 8th since we got the link so late.

Please book your room as soon as you can.

We also recently learned of this special deal for those who have/use American Express Cards. You can check it out here if it’s applicable for you.

Also, we still have room in several of our workshops. Check out the workshop page and if interested send email to programming at capclave dot org (make the appropriate changes to that email.

Things are really coming together and we hope to have a DRAFT Program up on the website soon. So check back often.

Jeff VanderMeer reviewed four books for the New York Times Book Review. The reviews are of:

REDEMPTION IN INDIGO, By Karen Lord. Small Beer Press, paper, $16.
THE DERVISH HOUSE, By Ian McDonald. Pyr/Prometheus, $26.
THE GASLIGHT DOGS, By Karin Lowachee. Orbit, paper, $7.99.
A LIFE ON PAPER, Stories. By Georges-Olivier Châteaureynaud. Translated by Edward Gauvin. Small Beer Press, $22.

Check out the reviews. One of these books may be of interest and find its way to your to-be-read pile.

The Washington Science Fiction Association is pleased to announce the finalists for the 2010 WSFA Small Press Award for Short Fiction (published in 2009):

“each thing i show you is a piece of my death” by Gemma Files and Stephen J. Barringer, published in Clockwork Phoenix 2, edited by Mike Allen, Norilana Books (July 2009).

“Images of Anna” by Nancy Kress, published in Fantasy Magazine, edited by Cat Rambo (September 2009).

“James and the Dark Grimoire” by Kevin Lauderdale, published in Cthulhu Unbound, edited by Thomas Brannan and John Sunseri, Permuted Press, (March 2009).

“Race to the Moon” by Kyell Gold, published in New Fables, Summer 2009, edited by Tim Susman, Sofawolf Press (July 2009).

“Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast” by Eugie Foster, published in Interzone (January 2009) / Apex Magazine (August 2009), edited by Andy Cox (Interzone)/ Catherynne M. Valente (Apex).

“Siren Beat” by Tansy Rayner Roberts, published in Twelfth Planet Press, edited by Alisa Krasnostein (October 2009).

“The Pirate Captain’s Daughter” by Yoon Ha Lee, published in Beneath Ceaseless Skies Issue #27, 10/08/2009, edited Scott H. Andrews.

“The Very Difficult Diwali of Sub-Inspector Gurushankar Rajaram” by Jeff Soesbe, published in DayBreak Magazine, edited by Jetse de Vries (October 2009).

The award honors the efforts of small press publishers in providing a critical venue for short fiction in the area of speculative fiction. The award showcases the best original short fiction published by small presses in the previous year (2009). An unusual feature of the selection process is that all voting is done with the identity of the author (and publisher) hidden so that the final choice is based solely on the quality of the story.

The winner is chosen by the members of the Washington Science Fiction Association (www.wsfa.org) and will be presented at their annual convention, Capclave (www.capclave.org), held this year on October 22-24th in Rockville, Maryland.

Matt Staggs interviewed Jeff and Ann VanderMeer for Suvudu at Comic Com about their soon to be released anthology Steampunk Reloaded and the steampunk genre. The video is on YouTube or you can watch it here. (There’s a warning on the video that there is a lot of ambient noise — wind and air traffic in the background.

Daniel Rabuzzi writes:
My fantasy novel The Choir Boats (ChiZine Publications, Toronto, 2009; launched at Worldcon, Montreal) is Wowio’s July Book of the Month. During July 2010 only, the e-book version is FREE here: http://news.wowio.com/2010/07/book-of-the-month-choir-boats/

Reviewers describe it as “Gulliver’s Travels crossed with The Golden Compass and a dollop of Pride and Prejudice,” and “a muscular, Napoleonic-era fantasy that, like Philip Pullman’s Dark Materials series, will appeal to both adult and young adult readers.”

The Choir Boats was selected by January Magazine as a Top Ten Young Adult Novel for 2009.

This special edition of the novel includes bonus illustrations by Deborah A. Mills. It’s also DRM-free, so it can be read on any device compatible with PDFs, and shared with friends just like a regular book.

Author’s bio, publication data and reviews are available at www.danielarabuzzi.com.

Suvudo has an article by Connie Willis about her novel the Doomsday Book.

From the article:

Eighteen years ago readers got lucky—Connie Willis brought us the wonderful Doomsday Book, a novel that would go on to win both the Nebula and Hugo Awards. Time-traveling, the plague, and Connie’s trademark wit—it was a brilliant combination that I will admit blew me away when I read it.

It also introduced us to Colin, a character that she would revisit in her books Blackout and the upcoming All Clear.

Check out the article on Suduvo.

This year WSFA Press is proud to publish two books in honor of the Guests of Honor of Capclave, the Washington Science Fiction Association’s yearly convention, this year being held in Rockville Maryland Oct 22-24th, 2010.

Fire Watch, by Connie Willis and The Three Quests of the Wizard Sarnod, by Jeff VanderMeer will be made available initially at Capclave to the members of the convention. As only 500 copies of each book (signed and numbered) will be printed, and the membership of Capclave is being capped at 500 members, we have made every effort to allow the members of Capclave to pre-order copies if they choose to do so.

If you are not already a member of Capclave, but are planning to attend the convention, you may register at our Registration Page. You may also pre-order your books at the same time.

If you are already a member of Capclave, but became one before the books were made available, you should simply contact the webmaster (that’s the username) at either wsfapressbooks.org or capclave.org (they both go to the same person). Let the webmaster know you wish to pre-order one or both of the books and you’ll be given the information you need.

UPDATE:
After several weeks, we’ve decided that we can open up pre-orders to non-members of Capclave on a limited basis. One hundred copies of each book are now available for sale from this website. Depending on the sale volume, additional copies may or may not be made available later. In any event, pre-ordered books from non-members of Capclave will be
mailed out via the USPS during the week following Capclave.

Book Sellers:
If you are a Book Seller, and are interested in pre-ordering books, please contact the webmaster as above, for further information.

It’s been 23 years since the publication of Connie Willis’ Lincoln’s Dream.

Suvudo has an interview with Connie Willis about Lincoln’s Dream and writing up on their site. Here’s the intro:

Twenty-three years ago, Spectra published LINCOLN’S DREAMS, by Connie Willis, which would go on to win the John W. Campbell Award. Connie happily talks about her experience working on the book and being a part of the Spectra family, and her editor for the book, Shawna McCarthy, discusses what it was like working with Connie:

“The thing I most remember about LINCOLN’S DREAMS is that after it came out, people kept coming up to talk to me not about the novel, but about their dreams. They’d tell me, in detail, about dreams they’d had and ask me what they meant.

Check out the entire article at the above link.

Why the Dodo:
When we started our annual convention and named it Capclave, we decided we needed a mascot.  It took a couple of years, but suddenly it was 2005 and our Guest of Honor that year was Howard Waldrop who’d written a very funny and poignant story called “The Ugly Chicken.” So, we had lots of dodos at the convention.

We decided that the Dodo would make a good mascot for Capclave because Capclave celebrates short fiction and reading. We also began to use the phrase: Capclave, where reading is not extinct. While the Dodo lives in our hearts, we’ll continue to celebrate reading, good stories, and good fellowship because they should never be allowed to go extinct.

As we’re gearing up for Capclave 2010, we tend to take our Dodos out to conventions to talk about Capclave. (Did I mention the Dodos are puppets?) Capclave this year will have three Guests of Honor: Connie Willis, Ann VanderMeer, and Jeff VanderMeer. The convention will be held 22-24 October 2010 at the Hilton Washington DC/Rockville, Executive Meeting Center, 1750 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852. (Check our website for registration information.)

Dodo Photos:
Just how did we get a photo of Connie Willis with our Dodos? Well, as I said, members of WSFA are attending conventions and bringing Dodos with them — after all Dodos make very good companions. One WSFAn spotted our Guest of Honor and asked for a photo. Connie being a very good sport posed with these two very friendly and well-read Capclave Dodos.

So, if you see us at a convention with a Dodo, ask about our convention, and we’ll be more than willing to tell you what a great time you’ll have if you join us for Capclave 2010. We may even take your photo with one of our Dodos for our website.

NOTE: We’re capping membership at 500 this year. Also, WSFA Press will be premiering two books at Capclave (details here). We’re only printing 500 copies of each book and they are available for preorders to Capclave members and will be available for purchase at Capclave. The books are: The Three Quests of the Wizard Sarnod, by Jeff VanderMeer and Fire Watch by Connie Willis.

Steampunk has gotten quite popular. Jeff and Ann VanderMeer have edited a new collection of steampunk fiction, Steampunk II: Steampunk Reloaded, which will be available in October … just in time for Capclave.

With their interest in steampunk fiction, it’s no surprise that Jeff VanderMeer reviewed Dexter Palmer’s The Dream of Perpetual Motion in The New York Times Sunday Book Review. To read the full review go to the article, Malevolent Design. Here’s the first paragraph of the review:

In his tragicomic first novel, “The Dream of Perpetual Motion,” Dexter Palmer takes elements from Nabokov, Neal Stephenson, Steven Millhauser and “The Tempest,” tosses them into a retro-futuristic blender and hits “purée.” The result is a singular riff on steampunk — sophisticated, subversive entertainment that never settles for escapism.