Just found another one for my wishlist

The book is called The Games. Here's the link to an interview with the author

http://qwillery.blogspot.com/2012/03/interview-with-ted-kosmatka-march-11.html

IN MEMORIUM

Jean Giraud, AKA Moebius 

(1938-2012)

Legendary French artist Jean Henri Gaston Giraud, AKA Moebius, 73, died on March 10, 2012, reportedly after a long bout with cancer.

Giraud’s work can be found in films, comics, books, and more. Over his 50-plus year career, he won a large number of awards, and in 2011 was inducted into the SF Hall of Fame. His most well-known comic creation was the Western anti-hero Blueberry, first appearing in 1963 in France.  He and Stan Lee scripted a two-part miniseries Silver Surfer, winning an Eisner Award in 1989. Giraud was also instrumental in concept art and design for multiple SF films, including Alien, Tron, The Abyss, and The Fifth Element. He was one of the creaters of film Time Masters.

Giraud was born in the Paris suburb of Nogent-sur-Marne in 1938.

Ralph McQuarrie (1929-2012)

Artist Ralph McQuarrie, 82, died March 3, 2012 in Berkeley CA of complications from Parkinson’s disease.

McQuarrie was best known as the conceptual designer and illustrator who created the look of the original Star Wars trilogy; he also worked on the first Battlestar Galactica TV show and the films E.T. and Cocoon, winning an Academy Award for best visual effects for the latter.

Ralph Angus McQuarrie was born June 13, 1929 in Gary IN, and grew up on a farm near Billings MT. He served in the Army during the Korean War. In the ’60s he moved to California, where he worked as an illustrator for a dentistry company and for Boeing while he illustrated movie posters on the side.

Director George Lucas liked McQuarrie’s work, and in 1975 commissioned McQuarrie to illustrate numerous scenes from the Star Wars script. McQuarrie designed the look of numerous iconic figures like Darth Vader, Chewbacca, the droids, and many of the film’s locations. He also worked onThe Empire Strikes Back (where he acted in a small, uncredited role) andReturn of the Jedi. He illustrated numerous Star Wars-related books, including The Illustrated Star Wars Universe, written by Kevin J. Anderson (1995).

McQuarrie is survived by Joan, his wife of 29 years.

 

John Christopher (1922-2012)

  

Christopher Samuel Youd, 89, better known by his pseudonym John Christopher, died February 3, 2012 in Bath England. As Christopher he wrote the classic SF catastrophe novel The Death of Grass (1956; in the US as No Blade of Grass, 1957), and the YA trilogy Tripods, which began in 1967.

His first publication of genre interest was poem “Dreamer” in Weird Tales(1949) as C.S. Youd, with first SF story “Christmas Tree” appearing as Christopher Youd in 1949. His story “A Few Kindred Spirits” (1965), as John Christopher, was a Nebula finalist.

First novel The Winter Swan (1949), as Christopher Youd, was fantasy, and he produced a number of non-SF works in the following years under various names.

The Twenty-Second Century (1954) collected some of his SF stories, and his first true SF novel was The Year of the Comet (1955; in the US as Planet in Peril, 1959), all as John Christopher. Other adult SF work includesThe Long Winter (1962; as The World in Winter), Sweeney’s Island(1964; as Cloud and Silver in the UK), The Possessors (1965), A Wrinkle in the Skin (1965; as The Ragged Edge in the US, 1966), The Little People (1966), Pendulum (1968), and Bad Dream (2003).

He turned to children’s SF and fantasy with The White Mountains (1967), beginning the Tripods series, which also includes The City of Gold and Lead (1967), The Pool of Fire (1968), and prequel When the Tripods Came (1988). The television version of The Tripods was jointly produced by the BBC in the United Kingdom and the Seven Network in Australia. The music soundtrack was written by Ken Freeman.

Series one of The Tripods, broadcast in 1984, which had 13 half-hour episodes written by the well-known author of many radio plays Alick Rowe, covers the first book, The White Mountains; the 12-episode second series (1985) covers The City of Gold and Lead. Although a television script had been written for the third series, it never went into production.

The first series was released on both VHS and DVD. The BBC released Tripods - The Complete Series 1 & 2 on DVD in March 2009.

The series was adapted for TV by the BBC Christopher  also wrote The Prince in Waiting series, the Fireball series, and numerous standalones for children.

Born April 16, 1922 in Huyton, Lancaster, Lancashire, Youd attended Peter Symonds’ School in Winchester, Hampshire before serving in the Royal Corps of Signals from 1941-46. He became a full-time writer in 1958.

 

 

Mark Bourne (1961-2012)

Author Mark Bourne, 50, died Saturday February 25, 2012 at home from what appears to have been a cardiac event.

Born in July 10, 1961, Bourne published short fiction in Asimov’s Science Fiction, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Realms of Fantasy, and several anthologies. He worked with Ray Bradbury to create adaptations of Bradbury’s stories for planetarium performance.

He is survived by his wife, Elizabeth Lawhead Bourne.

 

Jack Scovil (1937-2012)

Literary agent, Jack Scovil, died February 23, 2012 after a brief illness.

An agent for over 40 years, Scovil began his career at the Scott Meredith Agency, where he worked for more than 20 years. In 1992, he formed the Scovil Chichak Galen Literary Agency (now the Scovil Galen Ghosh Agency) with two other Scott Meredith veterans. He worked with such authors as Norman Mailer, Carl Sagan, Arthur C. Clarke, Walter Anderson, Edward Klein, Larry Smith, Margaret Truman, James Brady, and many others. He was also a founding Advisory Board member of the M.F.A. low-residency writing program at Wilkes University.

2011 Nebula Awards Nominees

Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America has announced the nominees for the 2011 Nebula Awards (presented 2012), the nominees for the Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation, and the nominees for the Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy Book.

Novel

• God’s War, Kameron Hurley (Night Shade)
• The Kingdom of Gods, N.K. Jemisin (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
• Firebird, Jack McDevitt (Ace)
• Embassytown, China Miéville (Del Rey)
• Mechanique: A Tale of the Circus Tresaulti, Genevieve Valentine (Prime)
• Among Others, Jo Walton (Tor)

Novella

• ‘‘With Unclean Hands’’, Adam-Troy Castro (Analog 11/11)
• ‘‘The Ice Owl’’, Carolyn Ives Gilman (F&SF 11-12/11)
• ‘‘The Man Who Bridged the Mist’’, Kij Johnson (Asimov’s 10-11/11)
• ‘‘Kiss Me Twice’’, Mary Robinette Kowal (Asimov’s 6/11)
• ‘‘The Man Who Ended History: A Documentary’’, Ken Liu (Panverse Three)
• Silently and Very Fast, Catherynne M. Valente (WSFA)

Novelette

•  ‘‘Six Months, Three Days’’, Charlie Jane Anders (Tor.com 6/8/11)
• ‘‘The Old Equations’’, Jake Kerr (Lightspeed 7/11)
• ‘‘What We Found’’, Geoff Ryman (F&SF 9-10/11)
• ‘‘The Migratory Pattern of Dancers’’, Katherine Sparrow (GigaNotoSaurus 7/11)
• ‘‘Sauerkraut Station’’, Ferrett Steinmetz (GigaNotoSaurus 11/11)
• ‘‘Fields of Gold’’, Rachel Swirsky (Eclipse 4)
• ‘‘Ray of Light’’, Brad R. Torgersen (Analog 12/11)

Short Story

• ‘‘Her Husband’s Hands’’, Adam-Troy Castro (Lightspeed 10/11)
• ‘‘Mama, We Are Zhenya, Your Son’’, Tom Crosshill (Lightspeed 4/11)
• ‘‘Shipbirth’’, Aliette de Bodard (Asimov’s 2/11)
• ‘‘Movement’’, Nancy Fulda (Asimov’s 3/11)
• ‘‘The Axiom of Choice’’, David W. Goldman (New Haven Review Winter ’11)
• ‘‘The Paper Menagerie’’, Ken Liu (F&SF 3-4/11)
• ‘‘The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees’’, E. Lily Yu (Clarkesworld 4/11)

Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation

• The Adjustment Bureau
• Attack the Block
• Captain America: The First Avenger
• Doctor Who: ‘‘The Doctor’s Wife’’
• Hugo
• Midnight in Paris
• Source Code

Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and FantasyBook

• Ultraviolet, R.J. Anderson (Orchard UK; Carolrhoda)
• Chime, Franny Billingsley (Dial)
• The Girl of Fire and Thorns, Rae Carson (Greenwillow; Gollancz as Fire and Thorns)
• The Boy at the End of the World, Greg van Eekhout (Bloomsbury USA)
• Everybody Sees the Ants, A.S. King (Little, Brown)
• Akata Witch, Nnedi Okorafor (Viking)
• The Freedom Maze, Delia Sherman (Big Mouth House)
• Daughter of Smoke & Bone, Laini Taylor (Little, Brown)

The winners will be announced at SFWA’s 47^th Annual Nebula Awards Weekend, to be held Thursday through Sunday, May 17 - May 20, 2012 at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City in Arlington, Virginia, near Reagan National Airport. Connie Willis will be the honored with the 2011 Damon Knight Grand Master Award for her lifetime contributions and achievements in the field. Walter Jon Williams will preside as toastmaster, with Astronaut Michael Fincke as keynote speaker.

Hail and Hosanas

I know I'm a little late reporting this but this duo ranks among my pantheon of favorite authors.

The New England Science Fiction Association named writers Sharon Lee & Steve Miller as the joint recipients of the 2012 Edward E. Smith Memorial Award for Imaginative Fiction, also called the Skylark Award. The award was presented at Boskone, held at the Boston Westin Waterfront, February 17-19 2012.

The Skylark is given to “some person, who, in the opinion of the membership, has contributed significantly to science fiction, both through work in the field and by exemplifying the personal qualities which made the late ‘Doc’ Smith well-loved by those who knew him.”

If your not familiar with Lee and Miller they are the creators of the Liaden Universe of books, some of which are rip roaring space opera (IMHO)

Sharon Lee Blogs here: http://rolanni.livejournal.com/

Their homepage: http://korval.com/

For more information and a list of past recipients, see the NESFA website.

Interesting looking read

Head over to the Qwillery and check out a new novel by British author Benedict Jacka...

http://qwillery.blogspot.com/2012/03/interview-with-benedict-jacka-and.html

A new book that is at the top of my list!

Tobias Buckell.."Crystal Rain, Ragamuffin, and Sly Mongoose and had a sucessful kickstarter project for book 4 The Apocalypse Ocean, has just released a new novel "Artic Rising" that posits an Artic that is all ocean...
He talks about it at the Qwillery:

http://qwillery.blogspot.com/2012/02/interview-with-tobias-s-buckell-and.html