Phyllis Gotlieb novel sold to Robert J. Sawyer Books

Phyllis Gotlieb has sold her latest novel, Birthstones, to Robert J. Sawyer Books. Sawyer writes on his blog:

I am honoured and thrilled to have just acquired the latest novel by Phyllis Gotlieb for my imprint.

In the 1960s, Phyllis was the only significant Canadian science fiction writer; in a profile of her in Maclean's, I was quoted as calling her "the grandmother of us all." Her most-recent book was Mindworlds, published by Tor; her first novel was Sunburst, after which the Canadian award for fantastic literature is named.

Phyllis's new novel is Birthstones, and it is a wonderful far-future, off-Earth, spaceships-and-aliens novel set in Gotlieb's famed Galactic Federation. We'll be releasing it in the spring of next year.

Janine Cross's Shadowed by Wings reviewed by Publisher's Weekly

Janine Cross's new book Shadowed by Wings, book two of the Dragon Temple Saga, has been reviewed by Publisher's Weekly, the review finishing with the memorable line, "Think X-rated Tolkien set in the Middle East."

Here's the cover art.

Eileen Kernaghan's The Alchemist's Daughter makes Our Choice list

Eileen Kernaghan's novel The Alchemist's Daughter made the YA novel list in the 2006 edition of OUR CHOICE: Annual Guide to Canada's Best New Children's Books. Notes Eileen, "There aren't a lot of fantasies on the list--contemporary realism remains the order of the day."

Claude Lalumière story chosen for Best New Erotica anthology

Claude Lalumière reports that Maxim Jakubowski will be reprinting his science fiction story "Different Flesh" in The Mammoth Book of Best New Erotica 6. This is Claude's third consecutive appearance in that "year's best" series. Both stories he published in 2005 have been selected for a "year's best" book (his story from Tesseracts 9 story was chosen for Year's Best Fantasy 6).

Tony Pi second in Writers of the Future contest

New SF Canada member Tony Pi's novelette "The Stone Cipher" won second place in the Writers of the Future Contest, First Quarter 2006. Tony is a linguist, and this is one of several stories he has written which feature linguistics.

The Writers of the Future Contest is an international writing competition for new science fiction and fantasy writers. Entries are judged anonymously. Winners are invited to an all-expense paid trip to a one-week writing workshop and a gala award ceremony.

The judges in the first quarter of 2006 were Robert Silverberg, Anne McCaffrey, Algis Budrys and Eric Kotani.

Tony's story will appear in the Writers of the Future anthology, volume XXIII, to be published in Fall, 2007.

James F. Beveridge designs Andre Norton Award emblem

James F. Beveridge designed this emblem for the Andre Norton Award for Best Young Adult Science Fiction or Fantasy Novel of the Year, which will be used on the covers of the books that win the award, in the tradition of the Newbery and other distinguished literary awards. The gryphon is symbolic of Norton's Witch World series, while the starry background represents her young adult science fiction books such as Storm Over Warlock and Star Rangers.

The first Andre Norton Award was presented in May to Valiant by Holly Black (Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing).

Cover art for Dave Duncan's The Alchemist's Apprentice

Here's the cover art for Dave Duncan's upcoming novel The Alchemist's Apprentice, due out from Ace in March, 2007.

A.M. Dellamonica nominated for Sidewise Award

A.M. (Alyx) Dellamonica's short story "The Illuminated Heretic" (Alternate Generals III, edited by Harry Turtledove, Baen) has been nominated for a 2005 Sidewise Award for excellence in alternate history.

Other nominees for the short form award are William Barton, "Harvest Moon" (Asimov's, September 2005), Kim Newman and Paul J. McAuley, "Prix Victor Hugo Script," Jason Stoddard, "Panacea" (SciFiction, September 14, 2005), and Lois Tilton, "Pericles the Tyrant" (Asimov's, October-November 2005).

The awards will be presented at LAConIV, the World Science Fiction Convention, in Anaheim, CA, in late August.

Dave Duncan's Children of Chaos now on sale

Dave Duncan reports that his latest novel, Children of Chaos, is on sale in the US and "possibly" in Canada, where "Some stores have it, others seem to be waiting for the official release date of June 26."

Dave will be interviewed by Solveig McLaren on Author's Exclusive at 9 a.m. Eastern Time on June 28. The program is on internet radio at www.voiceamerica.com (which claims 3 million hits a month).

Paperback cover art for Edward Willett's Lost in Translation

Here's the cover art, by Steve Stone, of the upcoming mass-market paperback version of Edward Willett's SF novel Lost in Translation, due out from DAW Books October 3.

Cory Doctorow, Holly Phillips on Sunburst Award shortlist

The shortlist for the 2006 Sunburst Award for the best Canadian "literature of the fantastic" includes two SF Canada members. Cory Doctorow is on the list with Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town (Tor) and Holly Phillips makes the list with In the Palace of Repose (Prime Books). The other shortlisted authors are Robert Charles Wilson for Spin (Tor), James Alan Gardner for Gravity Wells: Speculative Fiction Stories (HarperCollins Canada) and Alison McLeod for The Wave Theory of Angels (Penguin Canada).

The winner will be announced this fall.

Several SF Canada members finalists for Aurora Awards

Several SF Canada members are finalists for Aurora Awards, Canada's national SF awards.

They include, for Best Long-Form Work in French, Michèle Laframboise for Le Dragon de l'Alliance (Médiaspaul) and, in the same category, Élisabeth Vonarburg, a finalist for both Reine de Mémoire 1. La Maison d'Oubli and Reine de Mémoire 2. Le Dragon de Feu (both Alire).

In the Best Short-Form Work in English category, SF Canada nominees include Douglas Smith for "Going Harvey in the Big House" (Cicada, Jan/Feb 2005), Hayden Trenholm for "Like Monsters of the Deep" (On Spec #61 Summer/2005), and "Mayfly," by Derryl Murphy and Peter Watts (Tesseracts Nine, Edge).

Under Best Work in English (Other) SF Canada members who are finalists include Joe Mahoney, in his role as producer for Birth, a radio drama written by Michael Lennick and Robert J. Sawyer and aired on CBC Radio One on July 8, 2005, and again as series coordinating producer for Six Impossible Things, hosted and curated by Nalo Hopkinson and airing on CBC Radio One May 16-27, 2005, Karl Johanson as editor of Neo-opsis Science Fiction Magazine, and Diane Walton as managing editor of On Spec.

In the category of Best Work in French (Other), Jean Pettigrew is a finalist for her critiques in Solaris 153-156, Joël Champetier for editing Solaris, and Jean-Louis Trudel for his essay «Les enfants de Jules Verne au Canada: la génération étouffée», published in Solaris 156.

In the Artistic Achievement category, Elaine Chen is a finalist for Wasps at the Speed of Sound and Mockingbird) and Stephanie Ann Johanson is a finalist for her Cover for Neo-opsis 6, and illustrations for Neo-opsis 5, 6 & 7).

Finally, under Fan Achievement (Other), Don Bassie is a finalist for the Made in Canada website/site web.

The complete list of finalists is here.

Edward Willett to teach SF writing at University of Regina Centre for Continuing Education

Edward Willett will be teaching a seven-week, one-night-a-week course on "Writing Speculative Fiction" for the University of Regina's Centre for Continuing Education this fall, one of several writing courses offered under the Centre's Business and Professional Development Programs.

As well, Ed will be teaching the Sage Hill Teen Writing Experience July 24 to 28 in Regina, for the second year in a row.

English-dubbed version of Joël Champetier's La Peau blanche out on DVD

The English-dubbed version of the movie adaptation of Joël Champetier's novel La Peau blanche is now available on DVD under the new title Cannibal.

Joël also reports that Daniel Roby, producer-director and co-writer of La Peau blanche is in Los-Angeles for the summer, pitching Joël's science-fiction screenplay Reset at the big studios.

Jeanne, Spider Robinson seek fan support for Stardance film

Jeanne Robinson--wife of writer Spider Robinson--was shortlisted to go into space aboard the Shuttle as part of the NASA's Civilians in Space program. After the Challenger disaster, that program got canceled, and Jeanne never got to go into space, where she would have pioneered zero-gravity dance, as described in their Hugo-winning Stardance that she and Spider wrote together.

But the dream lives on. Spider, Jeanne, and Michael Lennick--producer of Discovery Channel's Rocket Science, and effects maestro for the films of David Cronenberg--plus Hugo-winning artist Ron Miller, graphics designer Jack Senett, composer James Raymond, and line producer Lynn Fuhr have teamed up to make a computer-generated film based on Stardance.

Jeanne, Spider, and the rest of their team need the support of fans to make the Stardance film a reality. Full details are online here.

The film's grand opening is scheduled for July 7, 2007, Robert A. Heinlein's 100th birthday, as part of the Heinlein Centennial Celebrations in Kansas City, Missouri.

Leslie Carmichael book launch on June 18

Leslie Carmichael will be holding a book launch for her first children's fantasy novel, Lyranel's Song,on June 18 from 2 - 3:30 pm. at Symons Valley United Church, 183 Beddington Drive NE, Calgary, AB. There will be music, refreshments and a reading. Children are welcome (with parents in tow).

Matthew Hughes sells novella to F&SF

Matthew Hughes reports he sold the final episode in his Guth Bandar series, "Help 'n Out," to Gordon Van Gelder at The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. It's a 39,000-word novella that recaps the action in the novel Black Brillion from Guth's point of view--and it's his 14th sale to F&SF since he started writing short fiction three years ago.

Ahmed A. Khan story short listed for Carl Brandon Society Parallax Award

Ahmed A. Khan's story "The Meaning of Life, and Other Clichés" did not win the Carl Brandon Society Parallax Award but it did make the short list. In the words of judge M.J. Hardman, had some nice words to say about the story: "A dialogue between two stranded spacers coping with memories, watching maybe sentient will-o-the-wisps, telling a whole story sparsely. Lovely writing, close to poetry."

Marie Jakober wins Albert Book Award

Marie Jakober's second Civil War novel, Sons of Liberty, won the Georges Bugnet Award for Novel at the Alberta Book Awards on May 13 in Calgary.