Capclave

Library of Congress Professional Association What If… Science Fiction and Fantasy Forum Presents:

Booklife: The Public and the Private in the Age of New Media
Jeff VanderMeer

An award-winning author who writes for the New York Times Book Review, Washington Post, and Amazon presents an entertaining talk on the future of writers and publishing as part of a six-week Endurance virtual and real-world book tour.

Tuesday, December 1, 12:10 pm
Pickford Theater, Madison Building

All Staff and Library Patrons are welcome to attend a book signing will follow

Omnivoracious interviewed Jeff VanderMeer about the topic of keeping your private life and public life separate. Jeff’s Booklife talks about his subject as it regards authors.

See Jeff’s website for more on what he’s up to now.

Capclave will have a table at Philcon this weekend. Look for the table with the dodos and the Capclave banner. Buy your membership now at $35 before the price goes up.

On November 17, Studio 360 takes you where no audience has gone before: traveling through time. In this live show hosted by Kurt Andersen at WNYC’s The Greene Space (taped for later broadcast), scientists and artists explain why time travel is more than an idle fantasy.

Astrophysicist David Goldberg (A User’s Guide to the Universe) unravels the physics of time travel. Sci-fi writer Connie Willis tells us what to do if your journey through time goes awry. Simon Wells, the great-grandson of H.G., shares his obsession with the classic The Time Machine. Musical sensation Janelle Monae performs her 28th-century funk. And Mike Daisey drops by to give us advice from the future.

Studio 360’s “Science & Creativity” explores the intersection of art and science. The series is supported in part by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

Studio 360 with Kurt Andersen: Live from Greene Space website
Connie Willis website: http://www.conniewillis.net

I thought posting a bit about Ann VanderMeer would help Capclave and WSFA members get to know another of our upcoming Guests of Honor a bit better. Of course, I googled much and gleaned a bit so I’m pulling in info from various sources — adding links along the way..

Ann VanderMeer is a publisher and editor, and the second woman editor of the Weird Tales. She is also the founder of Buzzcity Press.

Her work as Fiction Editor of Weird Tales won a Hugo Award. Work from her press and related periodicals has won the British Fantasy Award, the International Rhysling Award, and appeared in several year’s best anthologies. Ann was also the founder of The Silver Web magazine, a periodical devoted to experimental and avant-garde fantasy literature. The Best of the Silver Web was published by Prime Books.

In 2009, Weird Tales, edited by Ann VanderMeer and Stephen H. Segal, won a Hugo Award for Best Semiprozine. Though some of its individual contributors have been honored with Hugos, Nebula Awards, and even one Pulitzer Prize, the magazine itself had never before even been nominated for a Hugo. It has also been nominated for a 2009 World Fantasy Award in the category “Special Award – Professional”.

WSFA Press released it’s newest publication Reincarnations by Harry Turtledove with introduction and story notes by Sheila Williams at this year’s Capclave. If you missed buying a copy at Capclave, we still have books available:

Reincarnations by Harry Turtledove (signed hardcover, 2009)
Reincarnations by Harry Turtledove (trade hardcover)

The Washington Science Fiction Association’s WSFA Press is trying to clear out inventory to make room for planned future releases, and to scare up monies to further support Capclave, our annual convention, for future years. So we’re selling some of our older, limited edition publications. They have:

The Edge of Things by Lewis Shiner (75 copies of the signed hardcover; published in 1991)
Home by the Sea by Pat Cadigan (50 copies of the slipcased/signed hardcover, 1992)
Future Washington edited by Ernest Lilley (200 copies of the trade papereback, 2005)
Future Washington edited by Ernest Lilley (40 copies of the trade hardcover)

We’re also offering “special sets, representing a slice of WSFA Press history, comprised of five hardcovers, for just $100: The Edge of Things, Through Darkest Resnick with Gun and Camera by Mike Resnick (1990, unsigned), Home by the Sea, Future Washington, and Reincarnations.” (Only 5 bundles left as of 23 October 2009).

The books (individuals and sets) are available on a first-come first-served. WSFA Press is offering dealer discounts (for more information, contact Gayle Surrette or Paul Haggerty at webmaster@wsfapressbooks.org) or to purchase go to WSFAPress.org

Jeff VanderMeer has just had a new book released, Booklife. Here’s what the press release has to say:

A unique writing guide to sustainable careers and sustainable creativity, the first to fully integrate discussion of the role of new media into topics that have always been of interest to writers.

“Offering timely advice in an era when the burden of production and publicity frequently falls on authors, this essential reference reflects on methods for being focused, productive, and savvy in the craft of writing. Discussing a wide range of essential topics for self-promoting authors, this important guide explores questions such as How can authors use social media and the internet? How does the new online paradigm affect authors, readers, and the book industry? How can authors find the time to both create and promote their work? and What should never be done? Through good-humored encouragement, practical tips of the trade culled from 25 years of experience as a writer, reviewer, editor, publisher, agent, and blogger are shared. Including topics such as personal space versus public space, deadlines, and networking, the benefits of interacting with readers through new technologies is revealed.”

The Washington Science Fiction Association is pleased to announce the winner of the 2009 WSFA Small Press Award for Short Fiction: “The Absence of Stars: Part 1” by Greg Siewert, published in Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show, edited by Edmund R. Schubert, Hatrack Publishing.

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. An unusual feature of the selection process is that all voting is done with the identity of the author hidden so that the final choice is based solely on the quality of the story. The award consists of certificates for both the author and publisher as well as a trophy and $250 for the author.

The other finalists were:

“Drinking Problem” by K.D. Wentworth, published in Seeds of Change, edited by John Joseph Adams, Prime Books (August, 2008).

“Hard Rain at the Fortean Café” by Lavie Tidhar, published in issue 14 of Aeon Speculative Fiction Magazine, edited by Bridget McKenna.

“His Last Arrow” by Christopher Sequeira, published in Gaslight Grimoire: Fantastic Tales of Sherlock Holmes, edited by Jeff Campbell and Charles Prepolec, Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing, (October, 2008).

“Silent as Dust” by James Maxey, published in Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show, edited by Edmund R. Schubert, Hatrack Publishing.

“Spider the Artist” by Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu, published in Seeds of Change, edited by John Joseph Adams, Prime Books (August, 2008)

“The Toy Car” by Luisa Maria Garcia Velasco, (translated from Spanish by Ian Watson) published in April 2008 edition of Aberrant Dreams, edited by Joseph W. Dickerson.

The winner is chosen by the members of the Washington Science Fiction Association and is presented at their annual convention, Capclave, held this year on October 16-18 in Rockville, Maryland. Present to accept their awards were Greg Siewert and Edmund R. Schubert, the editor of Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show. Also present to accept their Honorable Mention certificates were: James Maxey for his story “Silent as Dust” and John Joseph Adams editor of Seeds of Change accepting for Nnedi Okarafor-Mbachu and K.D. Wentworth.

 

The program is up and there is a super cool new feature this year online. Click the box next to a program participants name and see all of their panels. You can click on the one next to Harry, Sheila, or Rob for the same functionality.

Check it out and see you soon.

Capclave is on the horizon, less than a month away. Registration goes to $60 on October 1, 2009. More Capclave news to come. A preliminary grid should be available soon.

Lee Strong and I donated a pair of boxes of Asimov’s Magazines to Walter Reed Medical Center this week. The donation was well received. Bethesda prefers donations be mailed, so Lee is arranging to get them to them.

Several WSFA members will be at the National Book Festival Saturday.  We’ll be handing out book marks and flyers.  Sarah will have Darth there in his newest incarnation.  Yes, the first appearance of Doctor Dodo.  That dodo is going to end up with more costumes than a Vegas Showgirl.