2024 Ignyte Award Winners

Outstanding Novel: Adult

WINNER: The Saint of Bright Doors – Vajra Chandrasekera

Outstanding Novel: YA

WINNER: I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast Is Me – Jamison Shae

Outstanding Middle Grade

WINNER: Abeni’s Song – P. Djèlí Clark

Outstanding Novella

WINNER: The Lies of the Ajungo – Moses Ose Utomi

Outstanding Novelette

WINNER: “Spell for Grief and Longing” – Eboni J. Dunbar

Outstanding Short Story

WINNER: “A Witch’s Transition in the City of Ghosts” – Oluwatomiwa Ajeigbe

2024 British Fantasy Awards Winners

-Best Fantasy Novel – the Robert Holdstock Award

Talonsister – Jen Williams

-Best Horror Novel – the August Derleth Award

Don’t Fear the Reaper – Stephen Graham Jones

-Best Novella

The Last Dragoners of Bowbazar – Indra Das

-Best Short Fiction

 “The Brazen Head of Westinghouse” – Tim Major

-Best Collection

Jackal, Jackal – Tobi Ogundiran

-Best Anthology

Out There Screaming – Jordan Peele & John Joseph Adams, eds.

-Best Independent Press

Flame Tree Press

-Best Non-Fiction

Writing the Future – Dan Coxon & Richard V. Hirst, eds.

-Best Magazine / Periodical

Shoreline of Infinity

-Best Artist

Asya Yordonova

-Best Audio

The Tiny Bookcase

-Best Newcomer – the Sydney J Bounds Award

Teika Marija Smits

-Legends of FantasyCon Award

Debbie Bennet

-Karl Edward Wagner Award

Ramsey Campbell

2024 Ditmar Award
The preliminary ballot for the 2024 Ditmar Awards for Australian SF has been
announced:
Best Novel
Polyphemus – Zachary Ashford
The Tangled Lands – Glenda Larke
The Sinister Booksellers of Bath – Garth Nix
Dream Weaver – Steven Paulsen
When Dark Roots Hunt – Zena Shapter
Traitor’s Run – Keith Stevenson
2024 Sturgeon Award
Goes to R.S.A. Garcia for the short story “Tantie Merle and the Farmhand 4200”
2024 Dragon Awards
Best Science Fiction Novel
WINNER: Starter Villain, John Scalzi
Best Fantasy Novel (Including Paranormal)
WINNER: Iron Flame, Rebecca Yarros
Best Young Adult / Middle Grade Novel
WINNER: Midnight at the Houdini, Delilah S. Dawson
Best Alternate History Novel
WINNER: All the Dead Shall Weep, Charlaine Harris
Best Horror Novel
WINNER: Black River Orchard, Chuck Wendig
Best Illustrative Cover
WINNER: Kelly Chong for Of Jade and Dragons, Amber Chen
Best Comic Book or Graphic Novel
WINNER: Monstress, Marjorie Liu & Sana Takeda
Best Science Fiction or Fantasy TV Series, TV or Internet
WINNER: Fallout
Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Movie
WINNER: Dune: Part Two

The Hugo Award Winners 2024

Best Novel – Some Desperate Glory – Emily Tesh

Best Novella – Thornhedge – T. Kingfisher

Best Novelette – “The Year Without Sunshine” – Naomi Kritzer

Best Short Story – “Better Living through Algorithms” – Naomi Kritzer

Best Series – Imperial Radach by Ann Leckie

Best Graphic Story – Saga, Volume 11

Best related Work – A City on Mars – Kelly Weinersmith and Zach Weinersmith

Best Dramatic Presentation – Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

Best Dramatic Presentation Short Form – The Last of Us, “Long, Long Time”

Best Game or Interactive Work – Baldur’s Gate 3

Best Editor Short Form – Neil Clarke

Best Editor Long Form – Ruoxi Chen

Best Professional Artist – Rovina Cai

Best Semiprozine – Strange Horizons

Best Fanzine – Nerds of a Feather, Flock Together

Best Fancast – Octothorpe

Best Fan Writer – Paul Weimer

Best Fan Artist – Laya Rose

The Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book 2024

To Shape a Dragon’s Breath – Moniquill Blackgoose

Astounding Award for Best New Writer 2024

Xiran Jay Zhao

July 2024

2024 LOCUS AWARD WINNERS

SCIENCE FICTION NOVEL

WINNER: System Collapse – Martha Wells

FANTASY NOVEL

WINNER: Witch King – Martha Wells

HORROR NOVEL

WINNER: A House with Good Bones – T. Kingfisher

YOUNG ADULT NOVEL

WINNER: Promises Stronger Than Darkness – Charlie Jane Anders

FIRST NOVEL

WINNER: The Saint of Bright Doors – Vajra Chandrasekera

NOVELLA

WINNER: Thornhedge – T. Kingfisher

NOVELETTE

WINNER: “The Rainbow Bank“ – Uchechukwu Nwaka

SHORT STORY

WINNER: “How to Raise a Kraken in Your Bathtub“- P. Djèlí Clark

ANTHOLOGY

WINNER: Out There Screaming – Jordan Peele & John Joseph Adams, eds.

COLLECTION

WINNER: White Cat, Black Dog – Kelly Link

MAGAZINE

WINNER: Uncanny

PUBLISHER

WINNER: Tor

EDITOR

WINNER: Neil Clarke

ARTIST

WINNER: John Picacio

NON-FICTION

WINNER: Space Crone – Ursula K. Le Guin

ILLUSTRATED AND ART BOOK

WINNER: The Culture: The Drawings – Iain M. Banks

SPECIAL AWARD 2024: Fostering Excellence in Craft & Career

Jeanne Cavelos and the Odyssey Writing Workshop

May 2024

Art Versus Reality

            We’ve all heard that AI is coming for our jobs, but what they didn’t warn you about was that it was coming for your perception of reality. In an era of fake news, the ability of AI programs to generate images that people perceive as real is a new problem. Let’s start with the science and then move on to fashion. The eclipse was big news and there were tons of pictures online and people did what they typically do, they shared them. Sharing these images without any idea of the origin can create an issue. Plenty of people shared an image where the corona around the occluded Sun appeared to be swirling in a clockwise way. AI detection tools rated the image as 99.8% likely to be fake. But why? One of NASA’s featured images holds the key. Here it’s obviously that the corona radiates outward from the sun in a more “starlike” way. However, people loved sharing that fake.

            It doesn’t stop there, since another photo that made the rounds, which shows an appropriate corona, but also appears to have the surface of the Moon visible as it covers the Sun. This is actually some fantastic photography done by Dr. Sebastian Voltmer – not as many images claimed, captured by either the Hubble telescope or the James Webb telescope. Common sense should have indicated that these telescopes are located in space, so while it is possible that the Moon may pass in front of the Sun from their perspective, it will NOT happen at the same time as this occurs on the Earth and their orbits may even preclude that! Plenty of people once again shared this image as well with its misinformation. That is not all though, because this image is actually from 2017 and has been altered by computer. So, while it’s not artificially generated, it is artificially enhanced, and all of its particulars were wrong.

            But what you might ask does that have to do with Katie Perry’s mother? Well, she like many others were taken in by images posted online of stars attending the Met Gala 2024. This fundraising event is known for its attendee’s star power and their over-the-top fashion. 2024 did not disappoint. Dresses with massive trains were all the rage and Cardi B’s was so big it flowed around her in a circle nearly 20 feet in diameter. The theme was “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion” and certainly the “Garden of Time” dress with its flowers and greens that Perry was shown wearing fit the theme. Here’s the catch though – Katie was never there. Images proliferated through sharing while the event was in progress and the star declared them AI generated fakes on social media. Even her mother was taken in and commented that Perry looked “like her own Rose Bowl parade float”. Perry has already been outspoken about the issues of AI art infringement, so it may have made her more of a target. This is the obvious incident; it should be noted that other stars such as Rhianna also appeared in outfits that were clearly artificially created images. Again, all of these were happily shared around the web and in most cases, with no indication whatsoever about the nature of their provenance. Rhianna was pictured in a bizarre green dress with all sorts of plant outgrowths, and she was also not in attendance at the event. Of course, Lizzo’s outfit, that was all on her.

            So, it becomes clear that the thousand words that a picture is worth may all be lies. There are instances where we depend upon the veracity of images to determine certain information. Astronomers compare images to determine if there are planets in orbit around other stars, find asteroids against starfields, or search for Kuiper belt objects. How do they determine if these images and their information are real and accurate? Do we have to start watermarking things to establish their veracity? Images in the news are also possibly suspect as well. Could I fight a toll ticket if the DMV couldn’t prove that the image of my license plate was real? Also, what happens when we start using AI assisted programs to review the images? Our ability to ascertain veracity of information has become more and more critical.

            There is also another consideration, it is also our duty to think twice before sharing an image we do not know the particulars of. We should first do no harm by increasing the amount of disinformation present in the world. Think twice before hitting share despite the dopamine rush it represents since we’ve “participated”. Is that cat really capable of doing what we are seeing? Does that really look like the politician in question is involved in something that would get them arrested in many states except Florida, and does Mars actually appear to be the same size as the full Moon in the picture? Just think twice before hammering the share button, you’ll feel better about it and things will be a little less chaotic.  

April 2024

2024 Compton Crook Award Winner

Kemi Ashing-Giwa has won the 42^nd Compton Crook Award for the best new Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror book. The prize of $1000 will be presented at this year’s Balticon convention.

March 2024

Nebula Award Nominees

Nebula Award for Novel

The Saint of Bright Doors – Vajra Chandrasekera

The Water Outlaws – S.L. Huang

Translation State – Ann Leckie

The Terraformers – Annalee Newitz

Shigidi and the Brass Head of Obalufon – Wole Talabi

Witch King – Martha Wells

Nebula Award for Novella

The Crane Husband – Kelly Barnhill 

• Linghun – Ai Jiang 

Thornhedge – T. Kingfisher 

Untethered Sky – Fonda Lee 

The Mimicking of Known Successes – Malka Older 

Mammoths at the Gates – Nghi Vo 

Nebula Award for Novelette

“A Short Biography of a Conscious Chair“ – Renan Bernardo 

“I Am AI” – Ai Jiang 

“The Year Without Sunshine“ – Naomi Kritzer 

“Imagine: Purple-Haired Girl Shooting Down The Moon“ – Angela Liu 

“Saturday’s Song“ – Wole Talabi 

“Six Versions of My Brother Found Under the Bridge“ – Eugenia Triantafyllou 

Nebula Award for Short Story

“Once Upon a Time at The Oakmont“ – P.A. Cornell 

“Tantie Merle and the Farmhand 4200“ – R.S.A Garcia 

“Window Boy“ – Thomas Ha 

“The Sound of Children Screaming” – Rachael K. Jones 

“Better Living Through Algorithms” – Naomi Kritzer 

“Bad Doors”, John Wiswell 

Andre Norton Nebula Award for Middle Grade and Young Adult Fiction

To Shape a Dragon’s Breath – Moniquill Blackgoose 

The Inn at the Amethyst Lantern –  J. Dianne Dotson 

Liberty’s Daughter – Naomi Kritzer 

The Ghost Job – Greg van Eekhout 

For the complete list – https://file770.com/sfwa-announces-the-59th-nebula-awards-finalists/

October 2023

January 2024

-Farpoint Convention is next month, February 9-11^th at the Double Tree in Pikesville, MD. Featured guests include Tawney Newsome, J.Lee, Erin MacDonald, Cal Dodd as well as many local authors.

–Registration and rooms are now available for Balticon 58 (May 24-27) to be held at the Renaissance Hotel in Baltimore Inner Harbor. Guests of honor L.E. Modesitt, Jr. and Sheila Williams. 300+ hours of programming, filk, film festival, cosplay Masquerade, Art Show and more await you.

• SciFi Valley Con, June 7^th-9^th will be at the Blair County Convention Center, Altoona, PA featuring Billy West, Phil Lamarr, Greg Baldwin, Lauren Tom, Steven Ogg, Ned Luke, and Shawn “Solo” Fonteno.

-Hershey Comicon – the sweetest Comic Con on Earth – will run from June 29^th-30^th at the Holiday Inn, Grantville, PA. Guests include Mark Morales, Bob McLeod, Scott Hanna, Geof Isherwood, Wayne Faucher, Deegan Puchkors and Chris Ring. Comic Sellers, Exhibitors, Cosplay, and more.

-Also, the same weekend – Horror on Main located at the Sheraton Harrisburg Hershey Hotel, Harrisburg, PA. Guests include Oded Fehr, John Russo, Daniele Serra, Jeffrey Reddick, Jeff Goodwin, Chris Alexander, and Rio Youers.

-Shore Leave 44, July 26^th-28^th has relocated to the Wyndham Lancaster Resort, Lancaster, PA and features such guests as Amanda Tapping, Teryl Rothery, Greg Grunberg, and Ingvild Deila.

-And at exact the same time – Confluence – Pittsburg’s Literary Science Fiction and Fantasy convention will occur on July 26^th-28th at the Sheraton Hotel Pittsburgh Airport Hotel in Coraopolis, PA. Guest of Honor will be New York Times Bestselling author, Richard Kadrey. Featured musical guest is Bonnie Gordon.

PHILCON 2023

-Philadelphia Science Fiction Society’s convention, November 17-19^th, at the Doubletree Cherry Hill, NJ. Guest of Honor Jonathan Maberry, Special Guest Kelley Armstrong, Artist Guest of Honor Rob Carlos.

BALTIMORE SCIENCE FICTION SOCIETY – EVENTS:

Book Club Meeting at BSFS –  L.E. Modesitt Jr. – The Ecolitan Operation– 10/28/23 7:30PM

https://zoom.us/j/94129016253?pwd=LzRMVEZmVGtnUi9jOUc3MnFOcHFHQT09
Meeting ID: 941 2901 6253 Passcode: 041896

Anime Social at BSFS – 10-28-23 starting at 2:00PM also on Discord –

https://discord.com/invite/5U3s2YzPzQ

HUGO AWARD WINNERS 2023

Best Novel

WINNER: Nettle & Bone, T. Kingfisher

Best Novella

WINNER: Where the Drowned Girls Go, Seanan McGuire

Best Novelette

WINNER: “The Space-Time Painter”, Hai Ya

Best Short Story

WINNER: “Rabbit Test”, Samantha Mills

Best Series

WINNER: Children of Time Series, Adrian Tchaikovsky

Best Related Work

WINNER: Terry Pratchett: A Life With Footnotes, Rob Wilkins

Best Graphic Story or Comic

WINNER: Cyberpunk 2077: Big City Dreams

Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form

WINNER: Everything Everywhere All at Once

Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form

WINNER: The Expanse: “Babylon’s Ashes”

Best Editor, Short Form

WINNER: Neil Clarke

Best Editor, Long Form

WINNER: Lindsey Hall

Best Professional Artist

WINNER: Enzhe Zhao

Best Semiprozine

WINNER: Uncanny

Best Fanzine

WINNER: Zero Gravity Newspaper

Best Fancast

WINNER: Hugo, Girl!

Best Fan Writer

WINNER: Chris M. Barkley

Best Fan Artist

WINNER: Richard Man

Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book (Not a Hugo)

WINNER: Akata Woman, Nnedi Okorafor

Astounding Award for Best New Writer (Not a Hugo)

WINNER: Travis Baldree

September 2023

BOOKS, BOOKS, BOOKS 9-23-23

-A celebration of all genres, held at Rock Lititz, Lititz, PA, 12-4PM, 70 attending authors, $5 admission fee

PHILCON 2023

-Philadelphia Science Fiction Society’s convention, November 17-19^th, at the Doubletree Cherry Hill, NJ. Guest of Honor Jonathan Maberry, Special Guest Kelley Armstrong, Artist Guest of Honor Rob Carlos.

BALTIMORE SCIENCE FICTION SOCIETY – EVENTS:

BSFS’s Speculative Poetry Workshop by Zoom – 9/21/23 7:00PM

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82344040646?pwd=eFdCQlZmL29KSVYzYUZXdE1EK3Q1UT09

Meeting ID: 823 4404 0646 Passcode: 365968

Book Club Meeting at BSFS –  Alex Jennings – The Ballad of Perilous Graves– 9/23/23 7:30PM

https://zoom.us/j/94129016253?pwd=LzRMVEZmVGtnUi9jOUc3MnFOcHFHQT09
Meeting ID: 941 2901 6253 Passcode: 041896

Anime Social at BSFS – 9-23-23 starting at 1:00PM also on Discord –

https://discord.com/invite/5U3s2YzPzQ

Writers Circle at BSFS – next meeting 9-28-23 6:30-8:30 by Zoom

https://zoom.us/j/91064908740?pwd=TENjZ25HenRNOHhtcHFaRlZnOGE3dz09
Meeting ID: 910 6490 8740 Passcode: 805110 

August

Dragon Con

– is now accepting nominations for the Dragon Awards. Nominees and voting are all done by fans, no fees, or memberships necessary.

Dragon Con – Largest Multi-genre and Pop Culture Convention

BALTIMORE SCIENCE FICTION SOCIETY – EVENTS :

BSFS’s Speculative Poetry Workshop by Zoom – 8/17/23 7:00PM

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82344040646?pwd=eFdCQlZmL29KSVYzYUZXdE1EK3Q1UT09

Meeting ID: 823 4404 0646 Passcode: 365968

Book Club Meeting at BSFS – Up Against It – Laura J. Mixon – 8/26/23 7:30PM

https://zoom.us/j/94129016253?pwd=LzRMVEZmVGtnUi9jOUc3MnFOcHFHQT09
Meeting ID: 941 2901 6253 Passcode: 041896

Film Night at BSFS – Avatar – The Way of Water – 8/19/23 8:00PM (in person)

Anime Social at BSFS – 8-26-23 starting at 2:00PM also on Discord –

https://discord.com/invite/5U3s2YzPzQ

Alphabet Soup Board Gaming at BSFS 8-20-23 4:30 PM to 9:00 PM (in person)

Writers Circle at BSFS – next meeting 8-24-23 6:30-8:30 by Zoom

https://zoom.us/j/91064908740?pwd=TENjZ25HenRNOHhtcHFaRlZnOGE3dz09
Meeting ID: 910 6490 8740 Passcode: 805110 

BALTIMORE AREA EVENTS:

Heroes: A Video Game Symphony takes off on Friday, August 11 – music from God of War, Dragon Age, Halo, Bioshock, Final Fantasy, Mass Effect and more. Before the show there will be a cosplay contest, food from local vendors, and a performance by the Baltimore Gamer Symphony Orchestra. All at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, 1212 Cathedral Street, Baltimore, MD 21201. More details at https://my.bsomusic.org/overview/18657

2023 CIBA Ozma Awards – Longlist

Ben G. Price – OgdenBook Club Meeting at BSFS:Leisl Kaberry – Titanian Awakenings: Shadow of Darkness

Jenn Lees – The Quest: Arlan’s Pledge Book Two

Philip Carlisle – Surviving Eros Book II

Kathleen Stone – Heatherstone

Nicholas Varner – Seasons of the Blue Pearl

Tim Facciola – A Vengeful Realm: Book One: The Scales of Balance

L.R. Braden – Of Mettle and Magic

A.S. Norris – The Wayward Mage: The Adventures of Jack Wartnose

A.S. Norris – The Forbearing Mage: The Adventures of Jack Wartnose

Lilla Glass – The Unseen

Ross Hightower – Argren Blue

John Diaz – Rogues of the Crosslands: Azoria’s Blade

Amber Kirkpatrick – Unleashed

Amber Kirkpatrick – Until the Rising

Charles Allen – The Order of the Red God

Jaime Castle & Andy Peloquin – Black Talon

Crystal D. Grant – Shadowcast

Ekta R. Garg – In the Heart of the Linden Wood

L.L. Gray – Shadows and Relics

Richard C. Brusca – The Time Travelers

AG Flitcher – Boone and Jacque: Sahon

D. K. Willis – The Unexpected

Celaine Charles – Seam Keepers

D.A Mucci – Ignatius and the Battle at Dinas Affaraon

David V. Mammina – The Angels of Resistance

Dale Griffin – The Last Lion of Karkov

Jonathan Uffelman – Book of Leprechauns: The Lore Gatherers

PM Black – The Solar Realm – Silver Slayer

K.M.Messina – Gemja – The Message

Omayra Vélez – Ultima Skylar

PJ Devlin – The Chamber

Rae St. Clair Bridgman – The Kingdom of Trolls

L. Ryan Storms – Temper the Dark

Alex B. Harper – Of Light and Nightmares: The Ashes of MagicTrilogy, Volume I

S.G. Blaise – Proud Pada

The Ozma Award is presented by Chanticleer Books for best Fantasy novel by an emerging talent, awards presented April 20^th, 2024.

eSpec Books Latest Kickstarter begins 8-14-23

Picking Up Steam! will fund A Cry of Hounds, Other Aether, and The Chaos Clock, with a bonus of Vest of the Pecos by David Sherman, publishing posthumously.

The first book, A Cry of Hounds, is the next volume in the Forgotten Lore series. We have again coordinated with The Tell-Tale Steampunk Festival as this book will be the foundation of the convention’s literary scavenger hunt. The theme next year is Arthur Conan Doyle, his work in general, and The Hounds of the Baskerville in particular. The authors participating are Christopher D. Abbott, Aaron Rosenberg, Keith R.A. DeCandido, Dana Fraedrich, James Chambers, David Lee Summers, Jessica Lucci, Ef Deal, Danielle Ackley-McPhail, Michelle D. Sonnier, Doc Coleman, and John L. French.

Next, we have Other Aether: Tales of Global Steampunk, a collection of stories set all around the world that isn’t Victorian England. Authors participating in this one so far are Jeff Young, Cynthia Radthorne, James Chambers, Hildy Silverman, Aaron Rosenberg, David Lee Summers, Christine Norris, Ef Deal, and Danielle Ackley-McPhail. As a special highlight, Beth Cato (author of the award-nominated A Thousand Recipes for Revenge, and The Clockwork Dagger and The Clockwork Crown) has agreed to be one of our stretch goal authors.

JULY 2023

Confluence – Pittsburg’s Literary Science Fiction and Fantasy convention is July 21^st-23^rd at the Sheraton Hotel Pittsburgh Airport Hotel in Coraopolis, PA. Guest of Honor will be Ada Palmer, winner of the John W. Campbell Award and the Compton Crook Award in 2017. Featured musical guest Sassafrass is an a cappella troop lead by Ada Palmer.                                                                                                                

For more information: https://confluence-sff.org

Dragon Con – is now accepting nominations for the Dragon Awards. Nominees and voting are all done by fans, no fees or memberships necessary.

Dragon Con – Largest Multi-genre and Pop Culture Convention

The Locus Awards 2023

Science Fiction Novel Winner – The Kaiju Preservation Society – John Scalzi

Fantasy Novel Winner – Babel – R.F. Kuang

Horror Novel Winner – What Moves the Dead – T. Kingfisher

Young Adult Novel Winner – Dreams Bigger Than Heartbreak – Charlie Jane Anders

First Novel – The Mountain in the Sea – Ray Nayler

Novella Winner – A Prayer for the Crown Shy – Becky Chambers

Novelette Winner – “If You Find Yourself Speaking to God, Address God with the Informal You” – John Chu

Short Story Winner – “Rabbit Test” – Samantha Mills

Anthology Winner – Africa Risen: A New Era of Speculative Fiction – ed. Sheree Renee Thomas, Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki and Zelda Knights.

Collection Winner – Boys, Beasts, Men – Sam J. Miller

Magazine Winner – Tor.com

Publisher Winner – Tor

Editor Winner – Ellen Datlow

Artist Winner – Charles Vess

Nonfiction Winner – Terry Pratchett: A Life With Footnotes: The Official Biography – Rob Wilkins

Hugo Awards 2023 – Finalists

Best Novel

The Daughter of Doctor Moreau, by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

The Kaiju Preservation Society, by John Scalzi

Legends & Lattes, by Travis Baldree

Nona the Ninth, by Tamsyn Muir

Nettle & Bone, by T. Kingfisher

The Spare Man, by Mary Robinette Kowal

Best Novella

Even Though I Knew the End, by C.L. Polk

Into the Riverlands, by Nghi Vo

A Mirror Mended, by Alix E. Harrow

Ogres, by Adrian Tchaikovsky

What Moves the Dead, by T. Kingfisher

Where the Drowned Girls Go, by Seanan McGuire

Best Novelette

“The Difference Between Love and Time”, by Catherynne M. Valente

“A Dream of Electric Mothers”, by Wole Talabi

“If You Find Yourself Speaking to God, Address God with the Informal You”, by John Chu

“Murder By Pixel: Crime and Responsibility in the Digital Darkness”, by S.L. Huang

“The Space-Time Painter”, by Hai Ya

“We Built This City”, by Marie Vibbert

Best Short Story

“D.I.Y.”, by John Wiswell

“On the Razor’s Edge”, by Jiang Bo

“Rabbit Test”, by Samantha Mills

“Resurrection”, by Ren Qing

“The White Cliff”, by Lu Ban

“Zhurong on Mars”, by Regina Kanyu Wang

Best Series

Children of Time Series, by Adrian Tchaikovsky

The Founders Trilogy, by Robert Jackson Bennett

The Locked Tomb, by Tamsyn Muir

October Daye, by Seanan McGuire

Rivers of London, by Ben Aaronovich

The Scholomance, by Naomi Novik

Best Graphic Story or Comic

Cyberpunk 2077: Big City Dreams, by Bartosz Sztybor, Filipe Andrade, Alessio Fioriniello, Roman Titov, Krzysztof Ostrowski

DUNE: The Official Movie Graphic Novel, by Lilah Sturges, Drew Johnson, Zid

Monstress vol. 7: Devourer, by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda

Once & Future Vol 4: Monarchies in the UK, by Kieron Gillen / Dan Mora

Saga, Vol. 10, by Brian K. Vaughan, Fiona Staples, Fonografiks

Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, by Tom King, Bilquis Evely, and Matheus Lopes

Best Related Work

Blood, Sweat & Chrome: The Wild and True Story of Mad Max: Fury Road, by Kyle Buchanan

Buffalito World Outreach Project, by Lawrence M. Schoen

Chinese Science Fiction, An Oral History, Volume 1, by Yang Feng

“The Ghost of Workshops Past”, by S.L. Huang

Still Just a Geek: An Annotated Memoir, by Wil Wheaton

Terry Pratchett: A Life With Footnotes, by Rob Wilkins

Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form

Avatar: The Way of Water, screenplay by James Cameron, Rick Jaffa, and Amanda Silver, directed by James Cameron

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, screenplay by Ryan Coogler and Joe Robert Cole, directed by Ryan Coogler

Everything Everywhere All at Once, screenplay by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Sheinert

Nope, written by Jordan Peele, directed by Jordan Peele

Severance (Season 1), written by Dan Erickson, Anna Ouyang Moench et al., directed by Ben Stiller and Aoife McArdle

Turning Red, screenplay by Julia Cho and Domee Shi, directed by Domee Shi

Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form

Andor: “One Way Out”, written by Beau Willimon, Tony Gilroy, and George Lucas, directed by Toby Haynes

Andor: “Rix Road”, written by Tony Gilroy and George Lucas, directed by Benjamin Caron

The Expanse: “Babylon’s Ashes”, written by Daniel Abraham, Ty Franck, Naren Shankar, directed by Breck Eisner

For All Mankind: “Stranger in a Strange Land”, written by Matt Wolpert and Ben Nedivi, directed by Craig Zisk

She-Hulk: Attorney at Law: “Whose Show is This?”, written by Jessica Gao, Francesca Gailes, and Jacqueline Gailes, directed by Kat Coiro

Stranger Things: “Chapter Four: Dear Billy”, written by Matt Duffer, Ross Duffer, and Paul Dichter, directed by Shawn Levy

Best Editor, Short Form

Scott H. Andrews

Neil Clarke

Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki

Sheree Renée Thomas

Xu Wang

Feng Yang

Best Editor, Long Form

Ruoxi Chen

Lindsey Hall

Lee Harris

Sarah Peed

Huan Yan

Haijun Yao

Best Professional Artist

Sija Hong

Kuri Huang

Paul Lewin

Alyssa Winans

Jian Zhang

Enzhe Zhao

Best Semiprozine

Escape Pod, co-editors Mur Lafferty & Valerie Valdes; Assistant editors Benjamin C. Kinney & Premee Mohamed, host Tina Connolly, producers Summer Brooks and Adam Pracht

FIYAH, edited by the entire FIYAH team

khōréō, edited by Team khōréō

PodCastle, co-Editors Shingai Njeri Kagunda and Eleanor R. Wood; Assistant Editor Sofia Barker; Host Matt Dovey; Audio Producers Peter Adrian Behravesh, Devin Martin, and Eric Valdes

Strange Horizons, edited by The Strange Horizons Editorial Team

Uncanny Magazine, publishers and editors-in-chief: Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas; managing/poetry editor Chimedum Ohaegbu; managing editor Monte Lin; nonfiction editor Meg Elison; podcast producers Erika Ensign and Steven Schapansky.

Best Fanzine

Chinese Academic SF Express, by Latssep and Tianluo_Qi

Galactic Journey, by Gideon Marcus, Janice Marcus, Tammi Bozich, Erica Frank, Arel Lucas, and Mark Yon

Journey Planet, by Regina Kanyu Wang, Yen Ooi, Arthur Liu, Jean Martin, Erin Underwood, Steven H Silver, Pádraig Ó Méalóid and their other co-editors.

Nerds of a Feather, by Roseanna Pendlebury, Arturo Serrano, Paul Weimer, Adri Joy, Joe Sherry, Vance Kotrla, G. Brown

Unofficial Hugo Book Club Blog, by Olav Rokne and Amanda Wakaruk

Zero Gravity Newspaper, by RiverFlow and Ling Shizhen

Best Fancast

Coode Street Podcast, presented by Jonathan Strahan and Gary K. Wolfe, produced by Jonathan Strahan

Hugo, Girl!, by Haley Zapal, Amy Salley, Lori Anderson, and Kevin Anderson

Hugos There, by Seth Heasley

Kalanadi, created and presented by Rachel

Octothorpe, by John Coxon, Alison Scott, and Liz Batty

Worldbuilding for Masochists, by Cass Morris, Rowenna Miller, Marshall Ryan Maresca

Best Fan Writer

Chris M. Barkley

Bitter Karella

Arthur Liu

RiverFlow

Jason Sanford

Örjan Westin

Best Fan Artist

Iain Clark

Richard Man

Laya Rose

Alison Scott

España Sheriff

Orion Smith

Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book (presented by the World Science Fiction Society)

Akata Woman (The Nsibidi Scripts), by Nnedi Okorafor

Bloodmarked, by Tracy Deonn

Dreams Bigger Than Heartbreak, by Charlie Jane Anders

The Golden Enclaves, by Naomi Novik

In the Serpents Wake, by Rachel Hartman

Osmo Unknown and the Eightpenny Woods, by Catherynne M. Valente

Astounding Award for Best New Writer (presented by Dell Magazines)

Travis Baldree (1st year of eligibility)

Naseem Jamnia (1st year of eligibility)

Isabel J Kim (2nd year of eligibility)

Maijia Liu (1st year of eligibility)

Everina Maxwell (2nd year of eligibility)

Weimu Xin (2nd year of eligibility)

MAY 2023

AWARD WINNERS 2022 NEBULAS

Novel

Babel, R.F. Kuang

Novella

Even Though I Knew the End, C.L. Polk

Novelette

 “If You Find Yourself Speaking to God, Address God with the Informal You“, John Chu

Short Story

 “Rabbit Test”, Samantha Mills

Andre Norton Award

Ruby Finley vs. the Interstellar Invasion, K. Tempest Bradford 

Ray Bradbury Award

Everything Everywhere All at Once

Game Writing

Elden Ring

The SFWA Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award

Robin McKinley

The Kate Wilhelm Solstice Award

Greg Bear (posthumous)

Cerece Rennie Murphy

The Kevin J O’Donnell, Jr. Service to SFWA Award

Mishell Baker

APRIL 2023

Book Signing Maria V. Snyder, May 6^th, 1PM at Barnes and Noble, Lancaster. Maria will be signing her latest work The Study of Poisons as well as other favorites.

Balticon 57, May 26-29^th, the Renaissance Hotel, Baltimore Inner Harbor, MD.

For more information: Home | Balticon 57

Shore Leave 43, July 7-9, the Delta Hotel, Hunt Valley, MD. Media Guests include: Ben Browder, Claudia Black, Grace Park, Aaron Douglas, Robert Picardo, Peter Macon, Jennifer Johnson Jerald, Bonnie Gordon, Robert Duncan McNeill, and Alaina Huffman. For more information: Shore Leave: A Fan-Run Science Fiction Convention (shore-leave.com)

Confluence – Pittsburg’s Literary Science Fiction and Fantasy convention is July 21^st-23^rd at the Sheraton Hotel Pittsburgh Airport Hotel in Coraopolis, PA. Guest of Honor will be Ada Palmer, winner of the John W. Campbell Award and the Compton Crook Award in 2017. Featured musical guest Sassafrass is an a cappella troop lead by Ada Palmer.                                                                                                                  

For more information: https://confluence-sff.org

MARCH 2023

The final ballot for the 2022 Bram Stoker Awards:

Superior Achievement in a Novel

The Devil Takes You Home– Gabino Iglesias

The Fervor– Alma Katsu

Reluctant Immortals – Gwendolyn Kiste

Daphne– Josh Malerman

Sundial– Catriona Ward

Superior Achievement in a First Novel

Jackal- Erin Adams

The Hacienda– Isabel Cañas

Black Tide– KC Jones

Beulah– Christi Nogle

All the White Spaces-Ally Wilkes

Superior Achievement in a Middle Grade Novel

They Stole Our Hearts– Daniel Kraus

This Appearing House– Ally Malinenko

Camp Scare– Delilah S. Dawson

The Clackity, Lora Senf

A Comb of Wishes– Lisa Stringfellow

Superior Achievement in a Young Adult Novel

What We Harvest– Ann Fraistat

The Weight of Blood– Tiffany D. Jackson

These Fleeting Shadows– Kate Alice Marshall

The Triangle– Robert P. Ottone

Gallant– V.E. Schwab

Burn Down, Rise Up– Vincent Tirado

Superior Achievement in Long Fiction

And in Her Smile, the World– Rebecca J. Allred & Gordon B. White

“Through the Looking Glass and Straight into Hell”- Christa Carmen

Below– Laurel Hightower

The Wehrwolf– Alma Katsu

Three Days in the Pink Tower– EV Knight

Superior Achievement in Short Fiction

“Nona Doesn’t Dance”- Aaron Dries

“Poppy’s Poppy”- Douglas

“The Only Thing Different Will Be the Body”- J.A.W McCarthy

“A Song for Barnaby Jones”- Anna Taborska

“The Star”- Anna Taborska

“Fracture”- Mercedes M. Yardley

For the complete list of the ballot, go to – The 2022 Bram Stoker Awards® Final Ballot – Horror Writers AssociationHorror Writers Association

Balticon 57, May 26-29^th, the Renaissance Hotel, Baltimore Inner Harbor, MD.

For more information: Home | Balticon 57

Confluence – Pittsburg’s Literary Science Fiction and Fantasy convention is July 21^st-23^rd at the Sheraton Hotel Pittsburgh Airport Hotel in Coraopolis, PA. Guest of Honor will be Ada Palmer, winner of the John W. Campbell Award and the Compton Crook Award in 2017. Featured musical guest Sassafrass is an a cappella troop lead by Ada Palmer.                                                                                                                      

For more information: https://confluence-sff.org

February 2023

Compton Crook Award Finalists –

Have been announced by the Baltimore Science Fiction Society:

OBSIDIAN – Sarah Daley

THE BALLAD OF PERILOUS GRAVES – Alex Jennings

THE BONE ORCHARD – Sara Mueller

BLUEBIRD – Ciel Pierlot

DAUGHTER OF THE MOON GODDESS – Sue Lynn Tan

THE GENESIS OF MISERY – Neon Yang

As voted upon by the members of the Society, the award will be presented at Balticon 57, May 26-29^th, the Renaissance Hotel, Baltimore Inner Harbor, MD.

For more information: Home | Balticon 57

100 YEAR STARSHIP presents THE CANOPUS AWARDS

Short-Form Fiction – Kevin J. Anderson and Rick Wilber  – “The Hind”

Long-Form Fiction – Jeff Lemire and Gabriel Hernandez Walta – Sentient

Long-Form Nonfiction – Les Johnson – A Traveler’s Guide to the Stars

Short-Form Nonfiction – Alex McKenzie and J. Punske – “Language Development During Interstellar Travel”

Published Digital Presentation – Ixion by Bulwark studios

Original Short-Form Fiction – Jamiella Brooks “The Living Archaeologist”

Original Local Short-Form Fiction – Chioniso Tskisayi – “Gumbojena”

The Tell Tale Steampunk Festival will be held at the Delta Hotel in Hunt Valley, MD, April 1-2. eSpec books will be launching their titles funded by the recent kickstarter. For more information – https://www.telltalesteampunk.com.

Confluence – Pittsburg’s Literary Science Fiction and Fantasy convention is July 21^st-23^rd at the Sheraton Hotel Pittsburgh Airport Hotel in Coraopolis, PA. Guest of Honor will be Ada Palmer, winner of the John W. Campbell Award and the Compton Crook Award in 2017. Featured musical guest Sassafrass is an a cappella troop lead by Ada Palmer.   

For more information: https://confluence-sff.org

January 2023

–The Baltimore Science Fiction Society celebrates its 60^th Anniversary. A party was held on January 14^th and also televised via Zoom. In other BSFS news, registration and rooms are now available for Balticon 57 (May 26-29) to be held at the Renaissance Hotel in Baltimore Inner Harbor.  

-Farpoint Convention is next month, February 10-12^th at the Delta Hotel in Hunt Valley, MD. Featured guests include Billy West, Rylee Alazraqui, Carlos Alazraqui and Wilson Cruz as well as many local authors.

-Confluence – Pittsburg’s Literary Science Fiction and Fantasy convention   just signed their hotel contract and announced that the con will be set July 21^st-23^rd at the Sheraton Hotel Pittsburgh Airport Hotel in Coraopolis, PA. Guest of Honor will be Ada Palmer, winner of the John W. Campbell Award and the Compton Crook Award in 2017. Featured musical guest Sassafrass is an a cappella troop lead by Ada Palmer.                                                                                                                      

November 2022

World Fantasy Awards 2022

Novel – The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri

Novella – And What Can We Offer You Tonight – Premee Mohamed

Short Fiction – “(emet)” – Lauren Ring

Anthology – The Year’s Best African Speculative Fiction (2021) – ed. Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki

Collection – Midnight doorways: Fables from Pakistan – Usman T. Malik

Artist – Tran Nguyen

Special Award Professional – Majorie Liu and Sana Takeda for Monstress volume 6, the Vow

Special Award Non- Professional – Tonia Ransom for Nightlight: a Horror Fiction Podcast

Lifetime Achievement Awards – Samuel Delaney and Terri Windling

SEPTEMBER 2022

AWARDS 2022

2022 Hugo Awards

Best Novel – A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine

Best Novella – A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers 

Best Novelette – “Bots of the Lost Ark” by Suzanne Palmer

Best Short Story – “Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather” by Sarah Pinsker

Best Series – Wayward Children by Seanan McGuire

Best Related Work – Never Say You Can’t Survive by Charlie Jane Anders

Best Graphic Novel or Comic – Far Sector by N.K. Jemisin, art by Jamal Campbell

Best Dramatic Presentation Long Form – Dune

Best Dramatic Presentation Short Form – The Expanse: “Nemesis Games”

Best Editor Short Form – Neil Clarke

Best Editor Long Form – Ruoxi Chen

Lodestar Award – The Last Graduate by Naomi Novik 

Astounding Award – Shelley Parker-Chan

For the complete list – 2022 Hugo, Astounding, and Lodestar Awards Winners – Locus Online (locusmag.com)

2022 Dragon Awards

Best Science Fiction Novel – Leviathan Falls – James S.A. Corey

Best Fantasy Novel – Book of Night – Holly Black

Best Young Adult/Middle Grade Novel – A Dark and Starless Forest – Sarah Hollowell

Best Military Science Fiction or Fantasy Novel – A Call to Insurrection – David Weber, Timothy Zahn, Thomas Pope

Best Alternate History Novel – The Silver Bullets of Annie Oakley – Mercedes Lackey

Best Media Tie-In Novel – Star Wars: Thrawn Ascendency: Lesser Evil – Timothy Zahn

Best Horror Novel – Book of Accidents – Chuck Wendig

Best Comic Book – Immortal X-Men – Kieron Gillen, Mark Brooks

Best Graphic Novel – Dune: House Atreides Volume 2 – Brian Herbet, Kevin J. Anderson, Dev Pramanik

Best Science Fiction or Fantasy TV Series – Stranger Things – Netflix

Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Movie – Dune – Denis Villeneuve

Best Science Fiction or Fantasy PC/Console Game – Elden Ring – Bandai Namco Entertainment

Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Board Game – Diablo Immortal – Blizzard

Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Miniatures / Collectable Card / Role Playing Game -Magic the Gathering, Dungeons and Dragons: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms – Wizards of the Coast –

Eugie Foster Award for Short Fiction “Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather” – Sarah Pinsker

2022 Aurora Awards

Best Novel- Jade Legacy by Fonda Lee

Best YA Novel – Walking in Two Worlds by Wab Kinew

Best Novella/Novelette – The Annual Migration of Clouds by Premee Mohamed

Best Short Story –  “The Mathematics of Fairyland” by Phoebe Barton

Best Graphic Novel or Comic –  It Never Rains by Kari Maaren

Best Related Work – Alias Space and Other Stories by Kelly Robson 

For the complete list – 2022 Aurora Awards Winners – Locus Online (locusmag.com)

2022 Sidewise Awards

Longform – Civilizations by Laurent Bine

Shortform – “Gunpowder Treason” by Alan Smale (Tales from Alternate Earths Vol. III)

2022 Ignyte Awards

Best Novel: Adult – A Master of Djinn – P. Djeli Clark

Best Novel: Young Adult – A Snake Falls to Earth – Darcie Little Badger

Best in Middle Grade – Root Magic – Eden Royce

Best Novella – And This is How to Stay Alive – Shingai Njeri Kagunda

Best Novelette – The Future Library – Peng Shepherd

Best Short Story – “If the Martians Have Magic” – P. Djeli Clark

Best in Speculative Poetry – “Post Massacre Psyche Evaluation” – Abu Bakr Sadiq

Critics Award – Alex Brown

Best Science Fiction Podcast – Khoreo Magazine

Best Artist – Morgan Madeline

Best Comics Team – Nubia: Real One – L.L. McKinney and Robyn Smith

2022 British Fantasy Award Winners

Best Newcomer – The Sydney J. Bounds Award – Shelley Parker-Chan

Best Film / Television Production – Last Night in Soho

Best Non- Fiction – Writing the Uncanny – ed. Dan Coxon and Richard Hirst

Best Artist – Jenni Coutts

Best Comic / Graphic Novel – The Girl From the Sea – Molly Knox Ostertag

Best Magazine / Periodical – Apex Magazine

Best Independent Press – Luna Press Publishing

Best Audio – Monstrous Agonies – H.R. Owen

Best Anthology – Sinopticon: A Celebration of Chinese Fiction – ed. Xueting C. Ni

Best Short Fiction – “Bathymetry” – Lorraine Wilson

Best Collection – Never Have I ever – Isabel Yap

Best Novella – Defekt – Nino Cipri

Best Horror Novel – The August Derleth Award – The Last House on Needless Street – Catriona Ward

Best Fantasy Novel – The Robert Holdstock Award – She Who Became the Sun – Shelley Parker-Chan

AUGUST 2022

Upcoming conventions and Events:

The Clockwork Celt – August 20^th

Adventure out to Royal Rabbit Vineyards, Parkton MD for a day of Celtic-Steampunk fusion fun! Featuring Irish music and dance, vendors with various curiosities, wine, and other activities the day promises to be one of imaginative fun! Irish Country Music, Skilled Irish Dancers, Local Vendors and Local Artists, Archery Shoot and Caber Toss. https://www.facebook.com/events/royal-rabbit-vineyards/clockwork-celt-celtic-steampunk-festival/580864333459528/

Book Signing Maria V. Snyder – August 27th                                                                       Barnes and Noble, Lancaster 12PM-4PM                                                                                      Featuring Maria’s new anthology Up to the Challenge and a reissue of Stormwatcher https://stores.barnesandnoble.com/event/9780062150318-0

DragonCon – September 1-5                                                                                                      

Atlanta, GA                                                                                                       

 https://www.dragoncon.org/

Philcon – November 18-20

Doubletree Hotel in Cherry Hill, NJ

Guest of Honor Keith DeCandido

Artist Guest of Honor Charles Urbach

Philcon features cutting-edge programming about literature, art, television, film, anime, comics, science, gaming, costuming and cosplay, music, and other topics of interest to fans of sci-fi, fantasy, and horror.

Welcome

Chessiecon – November 25-27

Held at Delta Hunt Valley Hotel, Hunt Valley, MD

Guest of Honor – Danielle Ackley-McPhail

Musical Guest of Honor – Blibbering Humdingers

Chessiecon has over 200 hours of programming including writing, music, gaming

and science.

https://chessiecon.org/

2022 Dragon Award Nominees

Best Science Fiction Novel

Leviathan Falls by James S.A. Corey

The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi

Goliath: A Novel by Tochi Onyebuchi

You Sexy Thing by Cat Rambo

Shards of Earth by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Best Fantasy Novel (Including Paranormal)

Age of Ash by Daniel Abraham

Moon Witch, Spider King by Marlon James

Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki

Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher

Book of Night by Holly Black

Jade Legacy by Fonda Lee

Best Young Adult / Middle Grade Novel

Gallant by V.E. Schwab

Akata Woman by Nnedi Okorafor

A Dark and Starless Forest by Sarah Hollowell

A Snake Falls to Earth by Darcie Little Badger

Redemptor by Jordan Ifueko

Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao

Best Military Science Fiction or Fantasy Novel

The Shattered Skies by John Birmingham

A Call to Insurrection by David Weber, Timothy Zahn, Thomas Pope

Citadel by Marko Kloos

Backyard Starship by J.N. Chaney, Terry Maggert

Against All Odds by Jeffery H. Haskell

Resolute by Jack Campbell

Best Alternate History Novel

She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan

Invisible Sun by Charles Stross

The Silver Bullets of Annie Oakley by Mercedes Lackey

When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill

The King’s Daughter by Vonda N. McIntyre

1637: Dr. Gribbleflotz and the Soul of Stoner by Kerryn Offord, Rick Boatright

Best Media Tie-In Novel

Star Wars: The Fallen Star by Claudia Gray

Star Wars: Thrawn Ascendancy: Lesser Evil by Timothy Zahn

Star Trek: Coda: Oblivion’s Gate by David Mack

Star Trek: Picard: Rogue Elements by John Jackson Miller

Halo: Divine Wind by Troy Denning

Best Horror Novel

The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix

The Book of Accidents by Chuck Wendig

The Death of Jane Lawrence by Caitlin Starling

My Heart Is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones

Hide by Kiersten White

Revelator by Daryl Gregory

Best Comic Book

Devil’s Reign by Chip Zdarsky, Marco Checchetto

King Conan by Jason Aaron, Mahmud Asrar

Immortal X-Men by Kieron Gillen, Mark Brooks

Step by Bloody Step by Simon Spurrier, Matías Bergara

Twig by Skottie Young, Kyle Strahm

Nightwing by Tom Taylor, Bruno Redondo

Best Graphic Novel

Geiger by Geoff Johns, Gary Frank

Bitter Root Volume 3 by David F. Walker, Chuck Brown, Sanford Greene, Sofie Dodgson

Dune: House Atreides Volume 2 by Brian Herbert, Kevin J. Anderson, Dev Pramanik

Wonder Woman Historia: The Amazons by Kelly Sue DeConnick, Phil Jimenez

Monstress, Volume 6: The Vow by Marjorie Liu, Sana Takeda

Saga by Brian K. Vaughan, Fiona Staples

Best Science Fiction or Fantasy TV Series

Stranger Things, Netflix

The Expanse, Amazon

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Paramount+

Wheel of Time, Amazon

For All Mankind, Apple TV+

Halo, Paramount+

The Boys, Amazon

Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Movie

Dune by Denis Villeneuve

Spider-Man: No Way Home by Jon Watts

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness by Sam Raimi

Ghostbusters: Afterlife by Jason Reitman

The Adam Project by Shawn Levy

Free Guy by Shawn Levy

Best Science Fiction or Fantasy PC / Console Game

Elden Ring, Bandai Namco Entertainment

Metroid Dread, Nintendo

Destiny 2: The Witch Queen, Bungie

Age of Empires IV, Xbox Game Studios

Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters, Frontier Foundry

Lost Ark, Amazon Games

Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Mobile Game

Diablo Immortal, Blizzard

Pokémon UNITE, The Pokémon Company

Baba Is You, Hempuli

Townscaper, Oskar Stålberg

Alien: Isolation, Sega

World of Demons, PlatinumGames

Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Board Game

Ark Nova, Capstone Games

Cascadia, Alderac Entertainment Group

Return to Dark Tower, Restoration Games

7 Wonders Architects, Asmodee

Alien: Fate of the Nostromo, Ravensburger

Star Wars Outer Rim: Unfinished Business, Fantasy Flight Games

Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Miniatures / Collectible Card / Role-Playing Game

The One Ring, Second Edition, Free League Publishing

Thirsty Sword Lesbians, Evil Hat Productions

Root: The RPG, Magpie Games

Magic: The Gathering, Dungeons & Dragons: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms, Wizards of the Coast

The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game – Revised Core Set, Fantasy Flight Games

Magic: The Gathering, Innistrad: Crimson Vow, Wizards of the Coast

DragonCon, September 1-5, Atlanta, GA. Awards will be presented at the convention and updated on the website – https://www.dragoncon.org/

JUNE 2022

Nominations for the Dragon Awards for 2022 are being accepted right now until July 19^th. Books, short stories and more can be nominated here – Dragon Con 2022 – Dragon Awards Nominations

Upcoming conventions:

SCI-FI Valley Con – June 17^th – 19^th, Altoona, PA at the Blair County Convention Center. Featuring media guests: E.G Daily, Billy West, Nolan North, Rob Paulsen, Grey Delisle, Coleman Townsend, along with 300 exhibitors and more.

Shore Leave – July 15^th – 17^th, Hunt Valley, MD, at the Delta Hotels Baltimore Hunt Valley. Featuring guests: Adam Baldwin, Summer Glau, Gates McFadden, Eddie McClintock, Brandon Routh and more.

Confluence – July 29^th – 30^th, Pittsburgh, PA, at the Sheraton Pittsburgh Airport Hotel. Guest of honor, Neil Clarke of Clarkesworld magazine. Musical guest of honor, Tim Griffin. Featured artist, Kathryn Carr.

MAY 2022

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE WINNERS OF

THE BRAM STOKER AWARDS

SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN A NOVEL

Jones, Stephen Graham – My Heart Is a Chainsaw

SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN A FIRST NOVEL

Piper, Hailey – Queen of Teeth 

SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN A GRAPHIC NOVEL

Manzetti, Alessandro (author) and Cardoselli, Stefano (artist) – The Inhabitant of the Lake 

SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN A YOUNG ADULT NOVEL

Waters, Erica – The River Has Teeth 

SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN LONG FICTION

Strand, Jeff – “Twentieth Anniversary Screening”

SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN SHORT FICTION

Murray, Lee – “Permanent Damage”

SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN A FICTION COLLECTION

Files, Gemma – In That Endlessness, Our End 

SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN A SCREENPLAY

Flanagan, Mike; Flanagan, James; and Howard, Jeff – Midnight Mass, Season 1, Episode 6: “Book VI: Acts of the Apostles”

SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN A POETRY COLLECTION

Sng, Christina; Yuriko Smith, Angela; Murray, Lee; and Flynn, Geneve – Tortured Willows: Bent. Bowed. Unbroken. 

SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN AN ANTHOLOGY

Datlow, Ellen – When Things Get Dark: Stories Inspired by Shirley Jackson 

SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN NON-FICTION

Knost, Michael – Writers Workshop of Horror 2 

SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN SHORT NON-FICTION

Yuriko Smith, Angela – “Horror Writers: Architects of Hope”

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT

Jo Fletcher

Nancy Holder

Koji Suzuki

SPECIALTY PRESS

Valancourt Books

THE RICHARD LAYMON PRESIDENT’S AWARD

Sumiko Saulson

THE SILVER HAMMER AWARD

Kevin J. Wetmore

MENTOR OF THE YEAR

Michael Knost

Awards were presented on May 14^th by the Horror Writers Association of America.

Nominees for the 2022 Locus Awards:

SCIENCE FICTION NOVEL

The Galaxy, and the Ground Within– Becky Chambers

Leviathan Falls– James S.A. Corey

The Echo Wife– Sarah Gailey

Klara and the Sun– Kazuo Ishiguro

A Desolation Called Peace– Arkady Martine

Noor– Nnedi Okorafor

We Are Satellites– Sarah Pinsker

You Sexy Thing– Cat Rambo

Shards of Earth– Adrian Tchaikovsky

Hummingbird Salamander– Jeff VanderMeer

FANTASY NOVEL

Light From Uncommon Stars– Ryka Aoki

The Witness for the Dead– Katherine Addison

Black Water Sister– Zen Cho

Paladin’s Strength– T. Kingfisher

Under the Whispering Door– TJ Klune

Jade Legacy– Fonda Lee

The Last Graduate– Naomi Novik

Soulstar– C.L. Polk

The Jasmine Throne– Tasha Suri

No Gods, No Monsters– Cadwell Turnbull

HORROR NOVEL

Revelator– Daryl Gregory

The Final Girl Support Group– Grady Hendrix

My Heart Is a Chainsaw– Stephen Graham Jones

Billy Summers– Stephen King

Later– Stephen King

Moon Lake– Joe R. Lansdale

A Broken Darkness– Premee Mohamed

Sorrowland– Rivers Solomon

The Death of Jane Lawrence– Caitlin Starling

The Book of Accidents– Chuck Wendig

YOUNG ADULT NOVEL

Victories Greater Than Death– Charlie Jane Anders

This Poison Heart– Kalynn Bayron

The Infinity Courts– Akemi Dawn Bowman

The Gilded Ones– Namina Forna

A Dark and Starless Forest– Sarah Hollowell

Redemptor– Jordan Ifueko

Chaos on CatNet– Naomi Kritzer

A Snake Falls to Earth– Darcie Little Badger

Terciel & Elinor– Garth Nix

Iron Widow– Xiran Jay Zhao

FIRST NOVEL

The Unbroken– C.L. Clark

A Master of Djinn, P- Djèlí Clark

Machinehood– S.B. Divya

The All-Consuming World– Cassandra Khaw

A Marvellous Light– Freya Marske

Winter’s Orbit– Everina Maxwell

She Who Became the Sun– Shelley Parker-Chan

The Chosen and the Beautiful– Nghi Vo

Wendy- Darling, A.C. Wise

– Xiran Jay Zhao

NOVELLA

A Blessing of Unicorns– Elizabeth Bear

A Psalm for the Wild-Built– Becky Chambers

Defekt– Nino Cipri

Fireheart Tiger– Aliette de Bodard

A Spindle Splintered Alix E. Harrow

The Return of the Sorceress– Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Remote Control– Nnedi Okorafor

Comfort Me With Apples– Catherynne M. Valente

The Past is Red– Catherynne M. Valente

Fugitive Telemetry– Martha Wells

NOVELETTE

“The Red Mother“- Elizabeth Bear

“Mulberry and Owl“- Aliette de Bodard

“Broad Dutty Water: A Sunken Story”- Nalo Hopkinson

“Skinder’s Veil”- Kelly Link

“The Black Pages“- Nnedi Okorafor

“Bots of the Lost Ark“- Suzanne Palmer

“L’Esprit de L’Escalier“- Catherynne M. Valente

“Unseelie Brothers, Ltd.”- Fran Wilde

“That Story Isn’t the Story“- John Wiswell

“Small Monsters“- E. Lily Yu

SHORT STORY

“If the Martians Have Magic“- P. Djèlí Clark

“Mr. Death – Alix E. Harrow

“Proof by Induction“- José Pablo Iriarte

“Let All the Children Boogie“- Sam J. Miller

“Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather“- Sarah Pinsker

“Crazy Beautiful”- Cat Rambo

“Huginn and Muninn – and What Came After“- Michael Swanwick

“An Arc of Electric Skin“- Wole Talabi

“The Sin of America“- Catherynne M. Valente

“For Lack of a Bed“- John Wiswell

The Locus Awards will be presented at the Virtual Locus Awards Weekend on June 25^th.

Nominees for the Sturgeon Award for Best Science Fiction Story 2022

“If the Martians Have Magic“- P. Djèlí Clark

“Philia, Eros, Storge, Agápe, Pragma”– R.S.A Garcia

“The Album of Dr. Moreau”- Daryl Gregory

“Broad Dutty Water: A Sunken Story”- Nalo Hopkinson

“Proof by Induction“- José Pablo Iriarte

“The Dark Ride”- John Kessel

“The Metric“- David Moles

“Sarcophagus“- Ray Nayler

“Bots of the Lost Ark“- Suzanne Palmer

“The Necessity of Stars”- E. Catherine Tobler

The Theodore Sturgeon Award for the Best Science Fiction Story will be presented at the Sturgeon Symposium, 9-29 – 9-30, sponsored by the Gunn Center for the Study of Science Fiction.

APRIL 2022

CONGRATULATIONS TO P. DJELI CLARK THIS YEAR’S

     WINNER OF THE COMPTON CROOK AWARD!

The Baltimore Science Fiction Society announced on 4/12/22 that Master of Djinn by P. Djeli Clark was chosen as the 40^th Compton Crook award. The framed award and a prize of $1000 will be presented at Balticon 56, held at the Renaissance Hotel in Baltimore, May 27-30^th. Master of Djinn has received quite a bit of recognition this year being nominated for both the Hugo and Nebula award as well. Due to the virtual nature of the last several Balticons, previous winners of the Compton Crook, Micaiah Johnson, Arkady Martine, and R.F.Kuang were all invited to participate in the event as well.

Hugo Award Nominees for 2022

Best Novel

A Desolation Called Peace, by Arkady Martine

The Galaxy, and the Ground Within, by Becky Chambers

Light From Uncommon Stars, by Ryka Aoki

A Master of Djinn, by P. Djèlí Clark

Project Hail Mary, by Andy Weir

She Who Became the Sun, by Shelley Parker-Chan

Best Novella

Across the Green Grass Fields, by Seanan McGuire

Elder Race, by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Fireheart Tiger, by Aliette de Bodard

The Past Is Red, by Catherynne M. Valente

A Psalm for the Wild-Built, by Becky Chambers

A Spindle Splintered, by Alix E. Harrow

Best Novelette

“Bots of the Lost Ark”, by Suzanne Palmer

“Colors of the Immortal Palette”, by Caroline M. Yoachim

L’Esprit de L’Escalier, by Catherynne M. Valente

“O2 Arena”, by Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki

“That Story Isn’t the Story”, by John Wiswell

“Unseelie Brothers, Ltd.”, by Fran Wilde

Best Short Story

“Mr. Death”, by Alix E. Harrow

“Proof by Induction”, by José Pablo Iriarte

“The Sin of America”, by Catherynne M. Valente

“Tangles”, by Seanan McGuire

“Unknown Number”, by Blue Neustifter

“Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather”, by Sarah Pinsker

Best Series

The Green Bone Saga, by Fonda Lee

The Kingston Cycle, by C. L. Polk

Merchant Princes, by Charles Stross

Terra Ignota, by Ada Palmer

Wayward Children, by Seanan McGuire

The World of the White Rat, by T. Kingfisher

Best Graphic Story or Comic

DIE, vol. 4: Bleed

Far Sector

Lore Olympus, vol. 1

Monstress, vol. 6

Once & Future, vol. 3

Strange Adventures

Best Related Work

Being Seen: One Deafblind Woman’s Fight to End Ableism, by Elsa Sjunneson

The Complete Debarkle: Saga of a Culture War, by Camestros Felapton

Dangerous Visions and New Worlds: Radical Science Fiction, 1950 to 1985, edited by Andrew Nette and Iain McIntyre

“How Twitter can ruin a life”, by Emily St. James

Never Say You Can’t Survive, by Charlie Jane Anders

True Believer: The Rise and Fall of Stan Lee, by Abraham Riesman

Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form

Dune

Encanto

The Green Knight

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

Space Sweepers

WandaVision

Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form

The Wheel of Time: The Flame of Tar Valon

Arcane: The Monster You Created

The Expanse: Nemesis Games

Loki: The Nexus Event

Star Trek: Lower Decks: wej Duj

Best Editor, Short Form

Neil Clarke

Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki

Mur Lafferty & S.B. Divya

Jonathan Strahan

Sheree Renée Thomas

Sheila Williams

Best Editor, Long Form

Ruoxi Chen

Nivia Evans

Sarah T. Guan

Brit Hvide

Patrick Nielsen Hayden

Navah Wolfe

Best Professional Artist

Tommy Arnold

Rovina Cai

Ashley Mackenzie

Maurizio Manzieri

Will Staehle

Alyssa Winans

Best Semiprozine

Beneath Ceaseless Skies

Escape Pod

PodCastle

Strange Horizons

Uncanny Magazine

Best Fanzine

The Full Lid

Galactic Journey

Journey Planet

Small Gods

Unofficial Hugo Book Club Blog

Best Fancast

Be The Serpent

Hugo, Girl

Octothorpe

Our Opinions Are Correct

Worldbuilding for Masochists

Best Fan Writer

Chris M. Barkley

Bitter Karella

Alex Brown

Cora Buhlert

Jason Sanford

Paul Weimer

Best Fan Artist

Iain J. Clark

Lorelei Esther

Sara Felix

Ariela Housman

Nilah Magruder

Lee Moyer

Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book (presented by the World Science Fiction Society)

Chaos on CatNet, by Naomi Kritzer

Iron Widow, by Xiran Jay Zhao

The Last Graduate, by Naomi Novik

Redemptor, by Jordan Ifueko

A Snake Falls to Earth, by Darcie Little Badger

Victories Greater Than Death, by Charlie Jane Anders

Astounding Award for Best New Writer

Tracy Deonn

Micaiah Johnson

A.K. Larkwood

Everina Maxwell

Shelley Parker-Chan

Xiran Jay Zhao

The Hugo Awards will be presented at Chicon 8, the 80^th World Science Fiction Convention, September 1-5^th. Attending and supporting members of last year’s and the present year’s World Con are eligible to vote.

Nebula Award Nominees for 2022

Nebula Award for Novel

Unbroken – C.L. Clark

A Master of Djinn – P. Djeli Clark (author of our April book)

Machinehood – S.B. Divya

A Desolation Called Peace – Arkady Martine

Plague Birds – Jason Sanford

Nebula Award for Novella

A Psalm for the Wild-Built – Becky Chambers

Fireheart Tiger – Aliette de Bodard

And What Can We Offer You Tonight – Premee Mohamed

Sun-Daughters, Sea -Daughters – Aimee Ogden

The Necessity of Stars – E. Catherine Tobler

The Giants of the Violet Sea – Eugenia Triantafyllou

Nebula Award for Novelette

“O2 Arena”, Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki

“Just Enough Rain”, PH Lee

“(emet)”, Lauren Ring

“That Story Isn’t the Story”, John Wiswell

“Colors of the Immortal Palette”, Caroline M. Yoachim

Nebula Award for Short Story

“Mr. Death”, Alix E. Harrow

“Proof by Induction”, José Pablo Iriarte

“Let All the Children Boogie”, Sam J. Miller

“Laughter Among the Trees”, Suzan Palumbo

“Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather”, Sarah Pinsker

“For Lack of a Bed”, John Wiswell

Andre Norton Nebula Award for Middle Grade and Young Adult Fiction

Victories Greater Than Death, Charlie Jane Anders

Thornwood, Leah Cypess

Redemptor, Jordan Ifueko

A Snake Falls to Earth, Darcie Little Badger

Root Magic, Eden Royce

Iron Widow, Xiran Jay Zhao

Ray Bradbury Nebula Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation

Encanto, Charise Castro Smith, Jared Bush, Byron Howard, Jason Hand, Nancy Kruse, Lin-Manuel Miranda

The Green Knight, David Lowery

Loki: Season 1, Bisha K. Ali, Elissa Karasik, Eric Martin, Michael Waldron, Tom Kauffman, Jess Dweck

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Dave Callaham, Destin Daniel Cretton, Andrew Lanham

Space Sweepers, Jo Sung-hee 조성희

WandaVision: Season 1, Peter Cameron, Mackenzie Dohr, Laura Donney, Bobak Esfarjani, Megan McDonnell, Jac Schaeffer, Cameron Squires, Gretchen Enders, Chuck Hayward

What We Do in the Shadows: Season 3, Jake Bender, Zach Dunn, Shana Gohd, Sam Johnson, Chris Marcil, William Meny, Sarah Naftalis, Stefani Robinson, Marika Sawyer, Paul Simms, Lauren Wells

Nebula Award for Game Writing

Coyote & Crow, Connor Alexander, William McKay, Weyodi Oldbear, Derek Pounds, Nico Albert, Riana Elliott, Diogo Nogueira, William Thompson

Granma’s Hand, Balogun Ojetade

Thirsty Sword Lesbians, April Kit Walsh, Whitney Delagio, Dominique Dickey, Jonaya Kemper, Alexis Sara, Rae Nedjadi

Wanderhome, Jay Dragon

Wildermyth, Nate Austin, Anne Austin, Douglas Austin

The Art of the Fantastical Expletive

            A number of SF&F shows and books contain Easter Egg style connections to other creations in the genre and the character in Stargate SG-1, whose name is Dr. Felger is definitely one of them. In fact, his name harkens all the way back to the Original Battlestar Galactica program from 1978 and their made up word “felgercarb”. This particular word, often used as an expletive to replace “crap”, actually referred to a specific instance typically the black buildup which occurred around pipes. When everything wasn’t available via streaming or through cable networks, broadcast networks were given a stricter version of what was allowable to the viewing public. Therefore, if a showrunner wished to use something a little more risque or crass in terms of a descriptor, they had to more creative. Since Battlestar has already been mentioned, it’s appropriate to point out that “frak” also came from the orginal series. It’s a term that’s actually been appropriated by other franchises or at least bowdlerized in terms of the similarities. It’s not just TV though, in the same time period Robert Anton Wilson’s Schrodinger’s Cat turned around and gave people’s privates proper names and let the reader figure things out from the context. The practice certainly hasn’t come to a halt and is unlikely to any time soon. Aside from expletives, there are also plenty of curses and descriptions of things or acts that are considered purient to the viewer from a censor’s point of view and SF&F hasn’t shied away from slapping a new moniker on them either. In fact, in some cases it’s the continuation of world building to round out a culture by creating a series of expletives just to present the whole picture. In case you are saying to yourself, really there aren’t that many of these, Farscape and Firefly were just outliers, here’s some evidence to the contrary…

Alphahole – Crescent City, Sarah J. Maas, expletive

Bags – Sword of Truth, Terry Goodkind, expletive

Bastitch – Judge Dredd, bastard + bitch

Bit Brain – Tron, stupid

Bugger-lover – Enderverse, Orson Scott Card, expletive

Cowpog – Artemis Fowl, moron (gnomish)

Crom – Conan the Barbarian, expletive

Dank Farrik – The Mandalorian, expletive

Dren – Farscape, crap

Fahrbot – Farscape, crazy

Fangbanger – True Blood, has sex with vampires

Fardles – Dragonrider’s of Pern, Anne McCaffrey, expletive

Felgercarb – Battlestar Galactica Original, crap – specifically black residue buildup

on machinery

Felota –Expanse, crap, specifically floaters in zero gravity

Fewmets – A Wind in the Door, Ursula Leguin, literally dragon crap

Finagle’s Fist – Ringworld, Larry Niven, expletive

Flup – Ringworld, Larry Niven, runny recycled crap

Futz – Ringworld, Larry Niven, expletive

Frag – Babylon 5, expletive

Frak – Battlestar Galatica Original and BSG, expletive

Goit & Gimboid – Red Dwarf, stupid

Gorram – Firefly, equivalent “goddamn”

Gritsucker – Discworld, Terry Pratchett, uncomplimentary description, refers to dwarves

Grot – Quark, expletive

Groundpounder – 100, has sex with Earthbound inhabitants

Herbert – Star Trek TOS, uncool

Hezmana – Farscape, Hell (Luxan)

Hraka – Watership Down, Richard Adams crap

Karabast – Star Wars – express frustration

Light Forsaken –Wheel of Time, Robert Jordan, cursed

Meatbag – Futurama, human

Meb, Mips, Mibs – the Coneheads, expletives

Mik’ta – SG1, arse

Mogadored – Discworld, Terry Pratchett – buggered

Momo – Adventure Time, unintelligent

Monkey Boy – Buckaroo Bonzai, human

Mudbloods – Harry Potter, non-pureblood sorcerers

Muggle-lover – Harry Potter, enjoying non-magical company

Muties – Marvel Universe, mutants

Narf – Pink & the Brain, expletive

Nerfherder – Star Wars, similar to pig herder

Nimnul – Mork and Mindy, disparaging term

Null Unit – Tron, stupid

Poodoo – Star Wars, crap

Rutting – Firefly, sexual congress

Prawn – District 9, reminds one of the alien refugees

Scorch It – Dragonrider’s of Pern, Anne McCaffrey, damn it

Shards – Dragonrider’s of Pern, Anne McCaffrey, expletive, refers to shards of a dragon’s egg

Shtako – Defiance, crap

Shazbot – Mork and Mindy, crap

Shol’vah – SG1, traitor

Skinjob – BSG & Bladerunner, referring to the disguise of skin over machinery

Skowng – Avatar, moron (Na’vi)

Slag – Alien Nation, New Comer in a derogatory fashion

Slitch – Friday, Robert Heinlein, (slut + bitch)

Smeg – Red Dwarf, expletive of a derogatory nature

Snakehead – Babylon 5, alien

Son of a Bacchai – Xena, expletive

Son of a Calot – Martian Tales, Edgar Rice Burroughs, expletive

Sparks – Steelheart, Brandon Sanderson, expletive

Spoonhead – Star Trek – DS-9, referring to a Cardassian

Tanj – Known Space, Larry Niven – “there ain’t no justice”

Tansafal – Known Space, Larry Niven – “There ain’t no thing as a free lunch”)

The Others take you – Song of Ice & Fire, George R. Martin, “damn you”

Thoddo – Farscape, stupid person

Thread – Dragonrider’s of Pern, Anne McCaffrey, expletive, refers to the deadly alien

spores called thread

Toaster – BSG, slang for Cylon

Unmutual – The Prisoner, uncooperative

Yarbles – Clockwork Orange, testicles

Yotz – Farscape, expletive

Zark – Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams, expletive

What the Fork – The Good Place, expletive

Zarking Fardwarks – Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams, expletive

There are definitely more expansive lists to be found on the internet and here are a few examples:

Dragon Writing Prompts: Cuparius – Swearwords of Science Fiction and Fantasy AND Others

Taking Names and Making Lists: Swear Words of Science Fiction and Fantasy

So, now you know more than you did before and with great knowledge, comes great responsibility – use your new vocabulary powers wisely.

February 2022

Compton Crook Nominees for the 2021 Award

A Master of Djinn – P. Djèlí Clark

Assassin’s Orbit – John Appel

Nucleation – Kimberly Unger

The Councillor – E. J. Beaton

The Witch’s Heart – Genevieve Gornichec

We Have Always Been Here – Lena Nguyen

The Compton Crook Award is presented by the Baltimore Science Fiction Society to the author for their best first novel in Science Fiction, Fantasy or Horror as chosen by the members of the group. The Award will be presented at Balticon 56, May 27-30^th and includes a cash prize of $1000 and a plaque. This is the 40^th anniversary of the award.

January 2022 – Hugo Awards

BEST NOVEL – Network Effect, Martha Wells

BEST NOVELLA – The Empress of Salt and Fortune, Nghi Vo

BEST NOVELETTE – Two Truths and a Lie, Sarah Pinsker

BEST SHORT STORY – “Metal Like Blood in the Dark”, T. Kingfisher

BEST SERIES – The Murderbot Diaries, Martha Wells

BEST RELATED WORK – Beowulf: A New Translation, Maria Dahvana Headley

BEST GRAPHIC STORY – Parable of the Sower: A Graphic Novel Adaptation, written by Octavia Butler, adapted by Damian Duffy, illustrated by John Jennings

BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION, LONG FORM – The Old Guard, written by Greg Rucka, directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood

BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION, SHORT FORM – The Good Place: Whenever You’re Ready, written and directed by Michael Schur

BEST EDITOR, SHORT FORM – Ellen Datlow

BEST EDITOR, LONG FORM – Diana M. Pho

BEST PROFESSIONAL ARTIST – Rovina Cai

BEST SEMIPROZINE – FIYAH Magazine of Black Speculative Fiction

BEST FANZINE – nerds of a feather, flock together

BEST FANCAST – The Coode Street Podcast

BEST FAN WRITER – Elsa Sjunneson

BEST FAN ARTIST – Sara Felix

BEST VIDEO GAME  – Hades 

LODESTAR AWARD for BEST YOUNG ADULT BOOK – A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking, T. Kingfisher  

ASTOUNDING AWARD for BEST NEW WRITER – Emily Tesh

November 2021

World Fantasy Award winners for 2021:

Novel –Trouble the Saints – Alaya Dawn Johnson

Novella – Riot Baby – Tochi Onyebuchi

Short Fiction – “Glass Bottle Dancer” – Celeste Rita Baker

Anthology – The Big Book of Modern Fantasy – ed. Ann & Jeff VanderMeer

Collection – Where the Wild Ladies Are – Aoka Matsuda

Artist – Rovina Cai

Baltimore Science Fiction Society:

Book Club – November 27, 2021, at 7:30 PM as ZOOM Teleconference and in-person. Featured Book: Probability Moon by Nancy Kress. Stop by the BSFS Building or join by Zoom.

https://zoom.us/j/94129016253?pwd=LzRMVEZmVGtnUi9jOUc3MnFOcHFHQT09

Film Night – November 20, 2021, (for vaccinated and masked only please) from 7:00pm-10:30 pm.

Tabletop Role-Playing Game Event – Still virtually, November 28, 2021, from 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM. Meeting on the Discord server at https://discord.gg/5U3s2YzPzQ.

Anime Social – November 27, 2021, from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. A discord watch party. Just go to the Discord Server at https://discord.gg/5U3s2YzPzQ and select from the available channels #watch-parties.

Alphabet Soup: Board Gaming Event – Returning to in-person at the BSFS Building on November 14, 2021, (for vaccinated and masked only please) from 12:00 Noon til 5:00pm Board gaming. To attend email paulo at bsfs dot org and let him know you are coming, as unless he gets minimum 4 people confirmed he will cancel this month.

Chessie Con:
SF and Fantasy convention usually held in Maryland during Thanksgiving weekend will be virtual this year over November 26-28, 2021. To participate see https://chessiecon.org/ for details.

DisneyMustPay is an organization that is working to ensure that writers whose works were purchased when Disney took on such properties as Marvel, Boom! Comics, Marvel Worldwide, Disney Worldwide Publishing, Dark Horse Comics, and Titan Publishing UK continue to receive revenues generated by the use of or reprinting of their work. Authors are encouraged to visit this website for more information – WritersMustBePaid.org. Their books and material could be being reprinted and used without notification by Disney depriving them of just compensation. To date, several authors have been paid as a result of the group’s efforts, but many others have not, and some may not even realize that their works are affected.

October 2021

Now is a good time to read Octavia Butler because a number of her works are becoming properties in development for the small screen. FX has ordered a pilot for a TV series based on Kindred and chosen Mallori Johnson for the central role of Dana. The film company recently announced they have also added Micah Stock, Austin Smith, Antoinette Crowe-Legacy, Ryan Kwanten, Gayle Rankin, and David Alexander Kaplan to the cast without announcing any particular role for each. Brandon Jacob-Jenkins, responsible for HBO’s Watchmen, has been selected to write and Janicza Bravo to direct. Amazon is looking to develop novels Dawn and Wildseed. A24 has acquired the rights to Parable of the Sower, which WTS read in April of 2017. Finally, HBO is working on Butler’s final novel, Fledgling.

Got a thing for giant monsters? It might be time to check out Kaiju Master Class II, a convention on all things monster in Japanese films. November 5-7, online with more information here – https://kaijumasterclass.com/ . Best of all, it’s free!

Netflix does right by Cowboy BeBop for Japanese viewers – the original voice cast of the anime will voice their roles for the Japanese dub. Those of who watch dubbed anime can sometimes become attached to the voices associated with favorite characters and it’s certainly the same in reverse. Also, if you haven’t seen it yet, here’s a mini-video that came out recently to promote the series, which debuts November 19th – https://youtu.be/_JDWm1f6-M0 If that wasn’t enough, Titan Comics also revealed six different covers for its first issue of their Cowboy BeBop comic, which will have for issues. Read more here – https://www.comingsoon.net/tv/news/1194466-titan-comics-reveals-six-covers-for-first-issue-of-cowboy-bebop-comic#/slide/1 Still not enough for you? Well, finally, Yoko Kano, creator of the music for the original anime is also attached to the project. Here’s a brief video of the cast jamming to “Tank” – https://twitter.com/i/status/1402301557094244352

Since it is the season, here’s something to consider when travel becomes more reasonable – a Witch Festival in Germany, held on Walpurgis Night. Learn more here – https://www.wolfshaeger-hexenbrut.de

September 2021

DisCon III announced that it has selected two Vice Chairpersons to aid recently appointed Chair, Mary Robinette Kowal. Margeurite Smith has volunteered and served as Division Head for several departments at several WorldCons. Lauren Raye Snow has served as the Creative Director for a number of organizations and is the current Art Director for SFWA. DisCon III will be held on December 15-19 in Washington, DC.

Baltimore Science Fiction Society – has paused in person meetings. The film night has been moved to October 16^th. The convention room block for Balticon is now open for reservations and can be found at – https://www.balticon.org/wp56/hotel/ 

Dragon Awards 2021

Best Science Fiction Novel

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

Best Fantasy Novel (Including Paranormal)

Battle Ground by Jim Butcher

Best Young Adult / Middle Grade Novel

A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher

Best Military Science Fiction or Fantasy Novel 

Gun Runner by Larry Correia, John D. Brown

Best Alternate History Novel

1637: No Peace Beyond the Line by Eric Flint, Charles Gannon

Best Media Tie-In Novel

Firefly: Generations by Tim Lebbon

Best Horror Novel

The Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher

Best Comic Book

X-Men by Jonathan Hickman, Mahmud Asrar

Best Graphic Novel

The Magicians: New Class by Lev Grossman, Lilah Sturges, Pius Bak

Best Science Fiction or Fantasy TV Series

The Expanse, Amazon

Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Movie

The Old Guard by Gina Prince-Bythewood

Best Science Fiction or Fantasy PC/Console Game 

Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla, Ubisoft

Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Mobile Game

Harry Potter: Puzzles and Spells, Zynga

Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Board Game

Dune: Imperium, Dire Wolf Games

Beset Science Fiction or Fantasy Miniatures / Collectible Card / Roleplaying Game 

Warhammer: Age of Sigmar: Soulbound Role-Playing Game, Cubicle 7

Presented at the yearly DragonCon convention and winners are voted upon by the public.

July 2021

DisCon III, this year’s WorldCon has gone through some recent changes. Bill Lawhorn, the remaining of the two co-chairs resigned his position on June 25^th. The Baltimore-Washington Area WorldCon Association sought and found a replacement in Mary Robinette Kowal. The Con will run from December 15-19^th as an in-person event at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington D.C. Looking forward to 2023, the Con received a new bid from Winnipeg, Canada to host the event. Previous bids were in from Chengdu, China and Memphis Tennessee. WorldCon 2022 will be in Chicago, Illinois.

Stephen Hickman, a well-known illustrator of genre novels passed away on July 16^th at the age of 72. He received a Hugo award for a commemorative stamp booklet featuring science fiction and fantasy artwork as well as six Chesley Awards and began his career painting covers for Ace books in 1974. He is also the creator of the iconic Cthulhu sculpture for Flights of Imagination.

Finalists for the Arthur C. Clarke Award for 2021

The Infinite by Patience Agbabi

The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenez

Vagabonds by Hao Jingfang, translated by Ken Liu

Edge of Heaven by R.B. Kelly

The Animals in that Country by Laura Jean McKay

Chilling Effect by Valerie Valdes

Howl From Beyond The Fog is an unusual film available know on DVD. It’s about kaiju, which is intriguing of course. It’s also set in Japan in the Meiji Era (during which the last samurai existed). But the kicker is that there is only one human actor in the production and that is the person in the kaiju suit. The rest of the actors are puppets made in the bunraku style. The story follows a blind girl, Takiri and a blind monster in a struggle against greedy developers who seek her family’s land.

Watch the Skies – is back in person. We hope to continue to be that way. Simpson Library was kind enough to invite us back and meetings will resume in person on the third Wednesday of the month at 7:00PM. We are also working to incorporate a hybrid Zoom option as well and will test this during July’s meeting. Be seeing you!

May 2021

VIRTUAL BALTICON 55

Once again Balticon will be conducted online. You can still find many of the same activities, but in a new format. Discover what’s happening this year at: https://www.balticon.org/wp55/. Check out the schedule (Subject to change – so check back often) – https://www.balticon.org/wp55/program-schedule/. Links will be added as the scheduled times approach. Zoom sessions will require a pre-registration and you can find the link to sign up to the right of each panel title. Most panels are listed as Zoom sessions, however Balticon is going to be using multiple platforms in order to facilitate as many presentations as possible. Other platforms include: Discord, YouTube, Second Life, and Gather. To properly enjoy yourself, you need to ensure you are set up in advance before viewing. You can find instructions here: https://www.balticon.org/wp55/platforms/. Planning on visiting the Virtual Con-Suite? You’ll definitely want to hit the link above since it is hosted in Second Life. If you need some help preparing to use or familiarizing yourself with Discord – here is a YouTube video to bring you up to speed – www.youtube.com/watch?v=le_CE–Mnvs. There will be two art show receptions this year in Zoom and Second Life for more information visit here – https://www.balticon.org/wp55/art-show-attendees/. Don’t forget to check out the Dealers room link here – https://www.balticon.org/wp55/dealer-room-attendees/ to find all the fun stuff to order. The Masquerade will also continue online composed of videos from participants – watch this space for more information – https://www.balticon.org/wp55/masquerade/. The Film Festival is also online, more information here: https://www.balticon.org/wp55/sunday-film-festival/. Virtual Gaming is available here:  https://www.balticon.org/wp55/gaming/ and covers a wide variety of platforms.  Finally, if you want to toss a coin to your Virtual Balticon providers, you can here – https://charity.gofundme.com/o/en/campaign/balticon-55-go-fund-me. Every bit helps.

April 2021

Robert Heinlein Award

Congratulations to C.J. Cherryh, the winner of the 2020 Robert Heinlein Award for works of Science Fiction and Technical writings that inspire the exploration of Outer Space. The award will be presented at Virtual Balticon, Friday May 8^th at the opening ceremonies, 8:00PM.

SCIFI FROM SUNDANCE #3

            When your significant other wins an all-access pass to the Virtual Sundance Festival, there are definitely some windfalls. We watched lots of movies, short films and documentaries. We even watched some genre films. Here’s my take on another one of my favorites, How It Ends. What do you do when the world is ending other than go to a party? Well, that’s how Liza imagines things will go, but they certainly turn out differently. The end of the world, due to asteroid, has a scheduled time and the clock is ticking. Liza knows that and despite the weirdness of a version of her younger self showing up with no warning, she is determined to go out in style. So, when she and Liza Jr. discover that her car has been stolen, it puts things in a different perspective. Having your younger self is good for conversational introspection, so Liza decides two things: she will walk through Los Angeles to the party and along the way she’ll tie up some loose ends to her life that she finally admits she’s been ducking. After a quick party prep session, she and Liza the younger set out. What they find is an oddly empty L.A. populated with the typically bizarre versions of humanity willing to play songs to strangers on guitar, argue over parking and street front upkeep, stoners and new age queens offering free enlightenment, and even someone else’s younger doppleganger who’s given up on his older self to chat with passersby. All of these folks are cameo bits by well known stars. These are little fill in bits as Liza confronts her absentee father, the boyfriend who cheated on her, her self-obsessed mother, and eventually the unstable individual who stole her car and then proceeded to stalk her. Bit by bit she recovers more of her self-confidence and gains insights into her life by conversing with her younger version. Finally, she does arrive at the party only to discover that she really doesn’t want to miss everything ending by becoming insensately oblivious due to drugs or alcohol. Guest appearances include Helen Hunt, Olivia Wilde, Paully Shore, Charlie Day and Nick Kroll. The movie is the brainchild of Zoey Lister-Jones and David Wein. Zoey plays the part of Liza and often provides some wonderful comedic stand-up type moments. Young Liza is represented by Cailee Spaeny, who at times provides an excellent foil and at others steals the spotlight. How It Ends presents an L.A. where the people are mostly indoors preparing themselves for their demise. In reality, it’s an L.A. under the threat of Covid-19 and the absence of people allowed for some unique opportunities for Lister-Jones and Wein to film. Yes, it is a lot of walking and talking and that provides some unique introspection for the characters and interestingly enough both versions of Liza come out more self-aware. Zoey as the Writer-director has produced some wonderful comedic moments and then gets to deliver them herself or share them with Cailee. Is it twee, silly and overly sweet at times? Well, yes, but in the long run, much like Liza’s journey to accepting herself in the last moments of her life, it is worth it. How It Ends will hopefully be available to watch soon.

https://io9.gizmodo.com/how-it-ends-is-a-smart-small-end-of-the-world-comedy-1846176147?fbclid=IwAR3IImjlx7XJHRL5kk_hz15IxIdwNmvUpIfZnXhXoKO3iNklkNmbc0oKdRY

March 2021

SCIFI FROM SUNDANCE #2

            When your significant other wins an all-access pass to the Virtual Sundance Festival, there are definitely some windfalls. We watched lots of movies, short films and documentaries. We even watched some genre films. Here’s my take on another one of my favorites, Eight for Silver. Just the idea that a werewolf movie made it to the festival, put it directly on my radar. In 19^th century France a landowner, Seamus Laurent takes action against Romas (gypsies) who are trying to lay claim to his land. Laurent hires men to scare them off and the whole incident rapidly goes out of control resulting in deaths. In the end, he and his land are cursed by a gypsy woman he captures. The curse takes physical form as set of silver wolves’ teeth that become a vector to transform humans into monsters. The physical aspects transformation is definitely not what you are expecting in a run-of-the-mill-werewolf. The monsters are done with CGI and are menacing but are rarely on screen long enough to give the viewer a good look. Laurent’s son goes missing and becomes the one turning others. Enter our second character of importance, John McBride, a pathologist by trade who just happens to be following certain gypsies. Why, you might ask, because his wife and child were similarly affected by a curse in Gevaudon. (Remember that name, we’ll come back to it.) McBride becomes a source of were knowledge to Laurent and then steps into the role of werewolf hunter. Now that more than one beast is out there, they are not only terrorizing Laurent’s lands, but also the nearby village. At McBride’s urging, the locals board themselves up the village’s cathedral and the final confrontation takes place there. The film is well shot, and the images are eerie. The beasts are quick, and you are not given a good look until more than half of the movie is over. Their menace is built out of well-staged action, character reaction and brief glimpses in motion. Since we are talking about motion, that was one thing that I did find distracting at points. Many of the action shots move well beyond mere shaky cam in order to establish speed and motion. I suspect that some of the effect and blur was to limit the exposure of the CGI nature of the beasts, but it did become very distracting at times. The final action scenes in the church contained quite a bit of blurred imagery. All in all, Eight for Silver, to me, makes a fine addition to the genre of werewolf movies and I certainly look forward to seeing it again. There is one small problem there. As of right now, the film does not have any type of distribution and is not available for streaming. Before I forget, lets talk briefly about the Beast of Gevaudon, which was the basis for one of my favorite werewolf movies, Brotherhood of the Wolf. Between 1764 and 1767, a large animal attacked and killed between 60-100 people (or more in some reports) in the Gevaudon province of France. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beast_of_G%C3%A9vaudan) The Brotherhood of the Wolf features gorgeous photography in lush scenery, fantastic costumes and some very over the top fight scenes. The movie takes some unexpected turns, and the end exposition of the beast is surprise. There are even some similarities in the beast attacks from both movies and the way they are filmed. It was very nice to see the reference to Gevaudon in Eight for Silver. Fortunately, Brotherhood is available on DVD and hopefully, Eight for Silver will also soon be accessible as well.  

by Jeff Young

February 2021

SCIFI FROM SUNDANCE

            When your significant other wins an all-access pass to the Virtual Sundance Festival, there are definitely some windfalls. We watched lots of movies, short films and documentaries. We even watched some genre films. Here’s my take on one of my favorites, Strawberry Mansion. When I read the description, “In a world where the government records and taxes dreams, an unassuming dream auditor gets swept up in a cosmic journey through the life and dreams of an aging eccentric named Bella. Together they must find a way back home” I was hooked on the idea. The reality did not disappoint. Starring Kentucker Audley and Penny Fuller, this really is a ride through Bella’s dreams. Just like a dream though, things are very surreal and also non-linear. Don’t go in with expectations, just let the movie carry you along. James Preble (Kentucker’s character), is handed the task of auditing Bella and when he walks in to discover she hasn’t been using the current technology to record her dreams, the piles of VCR tapes are a good indication of the trouble ahead for him. But he is definitely dutiful and after accepting her invitation to stay in her home while he does the work, he sets to. It quickly becomes obvious that Bella, despite her carefree attitude about life in general, is willing to direct James to specific dreams. Under his dream helmet (a wonderfully wonky device that is very obviously hand-made), James tries to maintain his professionalism but rapidly becomes drawn to the actions of the Bella from her older dreams. He still does catalog each taxable dream item though and sets himself a schedule to try to complete what seems a monstrous task. Bella, however, is a distraction not only in the present but in the form of her younger self. The deeper he goes into the dreams; the more James discovers about Bella and her family and gradually he starts to lose his grip of what’s occurring around him. Like the nature of the dream helmet, a great deal of the sets border on the edge of semiprofessional. But it’s this quirky nature that brings warmth to the picture, whereas the use of CGI would have only detracted. The characters are engaging and never over played. Rotten Tomatoes gave the film an 84% and most of the negative reviews called it self-indulgent or overly surreal in its second half. There is definitely a Wes Andersen flavor to the film, but it’s a nod, not a full-on embrace. While it dates its action as set in 2035, there is an immersive retro flavor to the scenes. Those of you who have watched either Tales from the Loop or Until the End of the World, will know what I mean. Is it possible, that the future is nostalgic for the past? Most of Strawberry Mansion was filmed outside of Baltimore and by that, I mean in the countryside, not the city. It’s a refreshing film with a unique vision that’s perhaps a tiny bit too sweet at times, but then again aren’t strawberries supposed to be that way?

by Jeff Young

THE 2021 COMPTON CROOK FINALISTS

Architects of Memory – Karen Osborne

Axiom’s End – Lindsay Ellis

Bone Shard Daughter – Andrea Stewart

Docile – K.M. Szpara

Nameless Queen – Rebecca McLaughlin

The Space Between Worlds – Micaiah Johnson

The Compton Crook Award Winner is selected by the members of the Baltimore Science Fiction Society and given to the author of an exemplary first commercially available novel in the genre of Science Fiction, Fantasy or Horror. Traditionally, the award is presented the first night of the Society’s yearly convention, Balticon.

January 2021

WORLD CON CO-CHAIR RESIGNS

(Watch the Skies has been given permission to share the following statement)

By now the news has been announced. I resigned as co-chair of DisCon III.

I have been part of the Worldcon community since 1995 when I attended Intersection as my honeymoon, and I welcomed my now husband to the community with a Wedcon room party at Noreascon 4. I started volunteering in 1996 and have volunteered either at the Worldcon or for one I was working or bidding for at every Worldcon I have attended since then. I have volunteered at the Division Head level or higher at every Worldcon since 2017 save one.

In my years of growing responsibility of working for Worldcons, I have become increasingly alarmed and upset at the level of abuse and vitriol spewed at the all-volunteer staff. So much so that I have now abruptly walked away from probably the best chance I had to improve matters ‘from the inside.’

The Hugo announcement made Monday (and since retracted by DC III) made it clear that for the first time ever, all contributors to a Hugo finalist work would be listed and recognized as Hugo Finalists.  No matter how many persons were named by the finalist work – everyone would be credited in the permanent record of the Hugo Awards, receive the finalist pin, and be celebrated as a finalist. The limits that were set were where resources and readability might become an issue.  If you review the Hugo Finalist listings over there years, I can say with strong knowledge that if the listing said “Team [X]” or “X, Y, Z editors and the Staff of A” it was because the Hugo Administrator told the finalist that there was not the ability to list everyone they wanted to.  DC III decided to drop those limits for the first time. 

NOT GOOD ENOUGH, said some of the worst abusers of Hugo Admin staff over the years. They twisted the announcement to meet their selfish ends and I had to watch my staff despair that people were yelling at us for a misunderstanding. Because there were concerns about the readability of the ballot (most vote electronically, but paper ballots are required by the WSFS Constitution) and the physical ability of how many people we could fit together in reception and ceremony spaces, we were accused of stifling BIPOC creators. A rich accusation from the white editors/gatekeepers who pride themselves on being performatively abusive, in a social media community where this is not just tolerated but rewarded.

If this were the first time The Internet rounded on Worldcon staff, I would be less worried, but it happens over and over.  As a member of CoNZealand’s committee, I saw how upset the staff were when numerous Hugo Finalists loudly and publicly proclaimed how upset they were with their programming, did not give CoNZealand a chance to make modifications, and then ran their own programming scheme attaching the convention’s name to it without asking, and finally had the gall to remind everyone at the end that their programming might be eligible for a best related work Hugo Award. A former staffer accused Worldcon 75 of withholding the souvenir book based on her misunderstanding of internal communications, and even though she was clearly wrong, I got to watch former Worldcon chairs, among others, pile on with cheap rhetorical shots, here on File 770 and within the complainers FB post.

Worldcon staff are people. People who are working hard to do the right thing and put on a convention where all feel welcome. Worldcon staff should be, must be, and are held responsible to ensure their work is welcoming and inclusive as possible, but the endless cycle of assume-bad-faith, attack-without-mercy is wearying, toxic and destructive to the very community these people claim to be a part of and care about.  I have seen senior professionals in the field repeatedly abuse staff, cutting them off to berate them as they are trying to explain how they can help them. I have spent more time listening, comforting and caring for upset, traumatized and dejected staffers who have just been on the receiving end of nasty and vicious abuse (both verbal/in-person and in writing/online) than I care to think about.

I have managed and worked with thousands of Worldcon staffers over the years, from all over the world, and all of them come to their roles at Worldcon wanting to make this event better, inclusive and enjoyable for all. Mistakes will be made, but it is horrifying to see how vicious and unforgiving some in the community have become.

What is going to happen if this dangerous cycle doesn’t end? I don’t know, and since I’m leaving the Worldcon volunteer community, I no longer have to care.  However, to paraphrase Gritty, the Hero of Philadelphia – keep f*cking around and we’ll find out.

Colette H. Fozard

IN MEMORIAM 2020

The following authors and artists

have joined their fans who have passed on

G.J. Arnaud

Paul Barnett

Ben Bova

Rachel Caine

Debra Doyle

Phylla Eisenstein

Susan Ellison

Keith Ferrell

Terry Goodkind

P.M. Griffin

James Gunn

Dean Ing

Richard Lupoff

Joseph Pulver Sr.

Mike Resnick

Charles Saunders

Susan Sizemore

Anton Strout

Christopher Tolkien

Tim White

Ye Yonglie

ATTACKS of OPPORTUNITY

Join friend of the group and fabulous fantasy author Jon Sprunk as he discusses his passion for Dungeons and Dragons and Table Top gaming! Hear about starting adventures, shared world building, wiping out parties of characters, and much more!

Click here to check out the videos

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September 2020

Love Him or Hate Him, the Sparkly Vampire is Back

15 years after Twilight started a worldwide obsession with vampires and werewolves, Midnight Sun, which covers the events of Twilight told in Edward’s perspective, was released in August.

I remember picking up the Twilight series in college, circa 2008. I DEVOURED those books and insisted all my friends read them. Yes, he was a sparkly vampire, but there was just something compelling that pulled me into the story. Back then, Meyer had already started working on Edward’s book, but a huge leak of an early draft led her to shelve it indefinitely. Flash forward to 2020, when Meyer suddenly drops the bomb on all her fans stuck at home that we’re finally going to get the book we’ve always wanted. *cue Millennial cheering*

Now let me be clear: through all those years, you tend to gain some perspective on things. Nowadays I can acknowledge how problematic the story is. But again, there’s just something to it that makes you either love it or hate it. Additionally, Twilight was released at a time when Young Adult was just starting to become its own thing. Readers, including myself, were voraciously consuming anything with the label, regardless if it was good or not.

After hearing the news, I opted to re-read Twilight before picking up Midnight Sun. I started this journey enthusiastically, looking forward to the nostalgia. The problems I didn’t pay much attention to the first time, definitely stuck out to me now. Still, the experience wasn’t quite like the time I picked up A Spell for Chameleon as an adult and ended up chucking it across the room – I didn’t hate it. And with Bella’s point of view fresh in mind, I was ready for Edward.

What immediately stuck out to me as soon as I started Midnight Sun was how much Meyer’s writing had improved. There is an incredibly drastic difference, and I think that shows how much can be accomplished and cultivated in 15 years. This improvement lent to the ability to actually write a 100-year-old character. Had she tried to write Edward’s mind back in the Twilight days, it wouldn’t have felt genuine because she just didn’t have the writing skills for it.

That said, I happen to love stories told from multiple points of view. I like knowing what is in each of the character’s heads. Breaking Dawn, the fourth book in the series, is the only one not told completely from Bella’s perspective. A part of me wonders how much better the series would have been as a whole if it was all multiple points of view. Would Bella have felt quite so whiny and dramatic if we weren’t stuck in her head the whole time? I also question if doing so with Breaking Dawn was part of that gained writer experience – did she realize how much more we’d get from the story that way?

So, Midnight Sun really hit that mark for me. It filled in so many spaces left behind by Twilight. We get Edward’s theory about why he can’t hear Bella’s thoughts, and the interesting tidbit that the vampires don’t know the werewolves can smell them. The small parts where we get to hear Jacob’s mind were pure and adorable, and it was really cool to see how Alice’s mind and ability to see the future worked. Also, it finally dawned on me WHY he sparkles – his body is supposed to be like stone. As in a diamond. Which sparkles in the sunlight. Call me crazy but I never picked up on that previously.

The problem with this book is, at 662 pages, Midnight Sun is LONG. Too long. You get the sense about halfway in that Meyer had all this Cullen backstory she never got to write about and used this book to do so. It detracted so much from the story that I had to sit it down for a few weeks and come back to it. This book could have easily been 100+ pages less and we wouldn’t have lost anything.

In the end, during a time when the world is so uncertain, I appreciated the opportunity to reminisce. Was the book out of this world? Absolutely not. I’d argue that any book that tells the same story from a different point of view isn’t going to be earth-shattering, because you already know what’s going to happen. The length was also a major deterrent. But as I closed the book on the last page, all I could think was “Man, I really want Jacob’s point-of-view.” Obviously, Meyer is still doing something right.

By Krystal Bloom

VIRTUAL BALTICON 54

Due to the current situation, this year’s Balticon will be conducted online. You can still find many of the same activities, but in a new format. Start here at: www.balticon.org. Check out the schedule (Subject to change – so check back often) – www.balticon.org/wp54/programming/program-schedule/. Links will be added as the scheduled times approach. Zoom sessions will require a pre-registration and you can find the link to sign up to the right of each panel title. Most panels are listed as Zoom sessions, however Balticon is going to be using multiple platforms in order to facilitate as many presentations as possible. Other platforms include: Discord, YouTube, Second Life, Twitch and Facebook. To properly enjoy yourself, you need to ensure you are set up in advance before viewing. You can find instructions here: www.balticon.org/wp54/platforms/. Planning on visiting the Virtual Con-Suite? You’ll definitely want to hit the link above since it is hosted in Second Life. If you need some help preparing to use or familiarizing yourself with Discord – here is a YouTube video to bring you up to speed – www.youtube.com/watch?v=le_CE–Mnvs. Want to visit Artist’s Alley, you can do so here – www.balticon.org/wp54/vendors/virtual-artist-alley/. Like what you see? You can find more at the artist’s websites linked to each description. Don’t forget to check out the Dealers room link here – www.balticon.org/wp54/virtual-dealer-room/ to find all the fun stuff to order. The Masquerade will also continue online composed of videos from participants and aired at 8:00PM on Saturday the 23^rd on Twitch. The Film Festival is also online and consists of 18 films broken into two viewing sessions with more information here: www.balticon.org/wp54/virtual-film-festival/. Virtual Gaming is available here:  www.balticon.org/wp54/gaming-schedule/ and covers a wide variety of platforms.  Finally, if you want to toss a coin to your Virtual Balticon providers, you can here – charity.gofundme.com/o/en/campaign/virtual-balticon. Every bit helps.

COMPTON CROOK AWARD 2020

Congratulations to Arkady Martine, author of A Memory Called Empire and the 2020 Winner of the Compton Crook Award.  The award will be presented at Balticon 54 Online.

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STAYING IN – ACTIVITIES FOR THE INSIDE

-Try out Google’s new gaming platform Stadia for free – https://stadia.google.com/

Designed for gaming on any platform that can run Google Chrome and effortless transition to mobile, get 2 months of Stadia Pro free.

-Marvel Comics is releasing comics for free – https://www.marvel.com/comics/discover/1626/read-these-free-comics Also, looking forward, keep an eye out as there has to be some sort of online answer to Free Comic Book Day, which would have been May 2^nd and has been postponed.

-Check out the official BSG Podcast on April 20^th, which will include a cast reunion and a reading of the episode “33” –

https://www.syfy.com/tags/battlestar-galacticast

SyFy also will run all four Seasons, as well as the miniseries and movies starting April 20^th. And that’s not all they are planning – Xena, all six seasons, will be shown on Thursdays, mornings and afternoons starting April 16^th with post episode commentary by Lucy Lawless.

–Nikon is offering free classes in photography until the end of April –

https://www.nikonevents.com/us/live/nikon-school-online/

-Take a free course on Astronomy – https://www.classcentral.com/subject/astronomy, Physics- https://www.classcentral.com/subject/physics, Quantum Mechanics – https://www.classcentral.com/subject/quantum-mechanics and even Robotics- https://www.classcentral.com/subject/robotics

-Experiment with Kitchen Science – http://sciencecafe.org/content/

-Check out the world without leaving the living room with Explore.org’s cams –https://explore.org/livecams

-Give in to podcasts : Flash Forward – looks at the effects one change can have on the future –  https://www.flashforwardpod.com/. Improv comedy to the stars follows ambassadors in the Zyxx Quadrant in Mission to Zyxx – https://www.missiontozyxx.space/. Timey, wimey, wibbly, wobbly travel in ars Paradoxica – https://www.whisperforge.org/arsparadoxica.

is February 21-23, 2020 at the Delta Hotel by Marriott, Hunt Valley, MD and features media guests: Jenny Johnson Jerald, Mary Chieffo and Anthony Montgomery.

Vernor Vinge was chosen as this year’s recipient of the Robert A. Heinlein award by the Baltimore Science Fiction Society. The award is given to an author whose body of work inspires the human exploration of space. The Heinlein award will be presented at Balticon 54, on Friday May 22nd during the opening ceremonies for the convention.

2019 World Fantasy Award Winners

Best Novel – Witchmark – C.L. Polk

Best Novella – “The Privilege of the Happy Ending” – Kij Johnson

Best Short Fiction (Tie)

“Ten Deals with the indigo Snake” – Mel Kassel

“Like a River Loves the Sky” – Emma Törzs

Best Anthology – Worlds Seen in Passing – ed. Irene Gallo

Best Collection – The Tangled Lands – Paolo Bacigalupi and Tobias Bucknell

Best Artist – Rovina Cai

Special Award Professional – The Writer’s Map: An Atlas of Imaginary Lands – Huw Lewis-Jones

Special Award Non-Professional – Beneath Ceaseless Skies – Scott H. Andrews

Lifetime Achievement Awards – Hayao Miyazaki and Jack Zipes

THE 2019 SATURN AWARDS

Best Comic-to-Motion-Picture Release – Avengers : Endgame

Best Science Fiction Film Release – Ready Player One

Best Fantasy Film Release – Toy Story Four

Best Horror Film Release – A Quiet Place

Best Action/Adventure Film Release – Mission Impossible – Fallout

Best Thriller Film Release – Bad Times at the El Royale

Best Animated Film Release – Spider-man – Into the Spider-verse

Best Independent Film Release – Mandy

Best Actor in a Film – Robert Downey Jr., Avengers : Endgame

Best Actress in a Film – Jamie Lee Curtis, Halloween

Best Supporting Actor in a Film – Josh Brolin – Avengers : Infinity War

Best Supporting Actress in a Film – Zendaya, Spider-man, Far From Home

Best Performance by a Young Actor – Tom Holland, Spider-man : Far From Home

Best Film Director – Jordan Peele, Us

Best Film Screenplay – Bryan Woods, Scott Beck and John Krasinski, A Quiet Place

Best Film Production Design – Charles Wood, Avengers : Endgame

Best Film Music – Marc Shaiman, Mary Poppins Returns

Best Film Costume – Michael Williams, Aladdin

Best Film Makeup – John Blake, Michael Snipe, Avengers : Endgame

Best Film Special/Visual Effects – Avengers : Endgame

Best Superhero TV Series – Supergirl

Best Science Fiction TV Series – Westworld

Best Fantasy Television Series – Game of Thrones

Best Horror Television Series – The Walking Dead

Best Action/Thriller Television Series – Better Call Saul

Best Actor in a Television Series – Sam Heughan, Outlander

Best Actress in a Television Series – Emilia Clarke, Game of Thrones

Best Supporting Actor in a Television Series – Peter Dinklage, Game of Thrones

Best Supporting Actress in a Television Series – Danai Gurira, The Walking Dead

Best Performance by a Young Actor – Maisie Williams, Game of Thrones

Best Guest-Starring Performance on a Television Series – Jeffrey Morgan, The Walking Dead

Best Streaming Superhero Series – Marvel’s Daredevil

Best Streaming Fantasy, Sci-Fi, or Action/Thriller Television Series – Star Trek : Discovery

Best Streaming Horror and Thriller Series – Stranger Things

Best Actor in Streaming Presentation – Henry Thomas, The Haunting of Hill House

Best Actress in a Streaming Presentation – Sonequa Martin-Green, Star Trek: Discovery

Best Supporting Actor in a Streaming Presentation – Doug Jones, Star Trek: Discovery

Best Supporting Actress in a Streaming Series – Maya Hawke, Stranger Things

2019 Compton Crook Award

The 2019 Compton Crook award goes to R.F. Kuang for her novel, The Poppy War. She began writing the novel during her schooling at Georgetown University and was 22 when the book was published. The Dragon Republic, the follow up will be published this summer. The award will be given out at the 53rd Balticon on Memorial Day weekend. Winners of the Compton Crook Award receive $1000, a guest of honor position at this and the following convention and a commemorative plaque.

SEPTEMBER 2018

SciFi Saturday – Harrisburg East Mall, September 22^nd, 10-3PM. Featuring authors, cosplay contest and discussions, and panels, the event is sponsored by the USS Susquehannock Star Trek group and the 2^nd and Charles bookstore.

 

JULY 2018

 

GISH

One of my favorite parts of fandom is seeing people from so many different places, both geographically and metaphorically speaking, come together in their love of something and turn that into a jump-off point for the opportunity to join as a community to do good.  When we embrace the world and our fellow man and give a part of ourselves, we can make the world a little better place to be Things like gathering books and funds for books for kids.  Doing blood drives.  Having charity auctions.  I’ve seen all these and more at conventions.  Watching it grow beyond that and encompass people outside fandom who get caught up in the joy of creating and sharing beautiful things, bringing people smiles, offering help, and saying thank you to those who do these same things every day as a part of their job or personal calling is something that will often leave me at a loss for words.  GISH is a great example of this.  Many people are familiar with the television show Supernatural.  It’s been running for about 13 years now.  I’ve met lots of people who enjoy the show and are a part of its fandom.  Some of those people also are fans and followers of Misha Collins who plays one of the main characters of the show.  Misha, like much of the rest of the cast, is a big proponent of giving back to the world at large.  He started a charitable organization that is called Random acts –  http://www.randomacts.org/  Once a year Misha and his Gishnomes and Minions run an event called GISH (formerly GISHWHES – Greatest International Scavenger Hunt the World Has Ever Seen), which has a different campaign every year.  This year it’s helping to rescue at-risk dogs and cats around the world.  Last year it was to save the rainforest…and we collectively saved 40,000 acres.  How do these things fit together?  All these do-gooder type things?  Well, you pay or someone donates a scholarship for you to play in the hunt or you can also just be that person who helps out people who are playing.  The hunt is a week of chaotic insanity with the goal of destroying the idea of normal while spreading joy and happiness and doing good works.  From things as silly and frivolous as me putting on a cat’s head mask and prowling around a pet shop last year acting like an escaped pet, to going with a group of friends to take a ghost picture at the cemetery in Centralia, PA, to creating a beret made of actual raspberries to wear on my head while shopping in a second hand store. There are more serious things like donations from my partners in crime of homemade patient care bags for people with cancer, blood drives, coat drives, bone marrow registrations, taking flowers to people of a different denomination at their place of worship to share fellowship that goes beyond our differences.  It’s slightly different every year and it’s beautiful and silly every time. Much like fandom, the best thing…the lasting brilliance of these things, isn’t getting together with people we know and just having fun sharing what we already all know about one or a few things.  It’s meeting new people, often very different from ourselves, and seeing that the differences can be delightful, challenging, extraordinary, awe-inspiring, and sometimes the least important part of this amazing new friend you’ve made.  The most important part?  That you’ve met a kindred soul who wants to make the world a better place to be in with you in all the crazy, silly, and poignant ways possible.  So, I tripped across this amazing family of people from around the world of every shape, size, gender, orientation, color, religion, social, economic, and educational background, because I was socially following an actor I think is hot, from a show I like.  Now I have met amazing people who are new friends and I have so many more of them I still want to meet and know, and I get to do all these crazy, fun, and important things with them and share it.  That’s pretty special in my mind.  So, I wanted to take a minute to tell you about this incredible thing I’m lucky enough to have found, that offers me so many wonderful and fulfilling opportunities to embrace the life I want to live.  If you think you might be our kind of crazy, or even if you’re just curious or bored, check it out at www.gish.com.

 

What’s In a Name is A Game – Watch the Skies

West Coast Megagames has created something that’s a combination between a huge board game and a live action role-play. Watch the Skies allows teams of players to represent a country, play as an alien or even a member of the media in a first contact situation. Each country has a prime minister/president, a scientist, a military advisor and a UN advisor. A control group is there for support and also takes care of any actions from countries not represented by player groups runs the game, amusingly enough known as NPCs or NonPlayer Countries. Groups are all given goals, which may include the acquisition of alien technology, certain stances on policies or even international alliances. Aliens arriving definitely unsettled the world; so one of the measures of the game is the “terror level” in one’s country. This affects your Public Relations value, which changes your national income in a positive or negative fashion. Your megabucks allow you to purchase various things, fund your military and develop your science. There are game pieces for the military assets on a huge map of the world, sometimes even three dimensional, lots of dice rolling to establish various things, plenty of cards and paper as well. The play area is by necessity quite large. The military map is placed in the center and can only be accessed by the military advisor. The country groups all have tables around the perimeter. Scientists meet in a separate room and so does the UN, unsurprisingly, only these representatives can attend. The media has its own separate area and is made up of two news services. The aliens have their own enclave that only the aliens can enter. This a turn based game that runs typically at most 12 turns. Each turn has three phases that work out to about 40 minutes apiece. A number of actions take place simultaneously and the final phase is a free form one that allows players to interact. Each turn represents about 3 months of time. If this doesn’t sound mildly chaotic, Control is going to reveal various events that will affect game play. Never mind the fact that the aliens also have their own agenda. Creativity is encouraged, getting into your role definitely helps, including costuming. For a cost of a day, you and your friends can save or damn the world.

 

JUNE 2018

Visit the State Library for the Comic Book/Graphica Open House on Thursday, June 28th from 12PM-1PM, followed by a tour of the Rare Comics Exhibit. Professor Travis Kurowski, a York College Graphica expert will be on hand to give a talk about the development of American Comics.

Gardner Dozois—7-23-47—5-27-18
Gardner was both an author and an editor who is perhaps best known as the founding editor for The Year’s Best Science Fiction series of anthologies. He also served as an editor for Azimov’s magazine for 20 years starting in 1984. He received both Hugo and Nebula awards and was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2011. Gardner won a Hugo for Best Professional Editor 15 times in the 17 years of his tenure at Asimovs. He passed away on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend in a Philadelphia hospital from an infection. A memorial was held for him at this year’s Balticon.

eSpec Books will visit Watch the Skies for the August meeting, 8-15-18 7PM to present theirlatest publications and talk about small press publishing.

Confluence, Pittsburgh’s Science Fiction and Fantasy convention will be held from July 27th-29th at the Sheraton Airpot Hotel. The Guest of Honor is Catherynne M. Valente.

 

 

MARCH 2018

 

June 20th, at 7:00PM Fortress Publishing will visit Watch the Skies to talk about their latest adventures and present their latest creations

 

 

DONATE AND YOU MIGHT GET TO
HANG OUT WITH ROBERT DOWNEY JR.

Fight a rare disease and get a chance to join Robert Downey Junior at the premiere of Avengers: Infinity War—no
downside. Crowdrise.com/rdj will take you to a site where you can donate to help combat ROHHAD syndrome, a
disease which manifests in the first year of life and requires almost constant hospital care due to the failure of most
organs. The diagnosis, at this time, is considered fatal. The ROHHAD Association wants to stop that and find ways to ameliorate the suffering of those currently diagnosed. For every $10 donation, you get a chance entered for you and a friend to be flown in to join Robert at the gala, go to the after party and stay for 2 nights in a 4 star hotel. The more you give, the more chances you have.

 

FEBRUARY 2018

 

April 18th, at 7:00PM, Jon Sprunk will join Watch the Skies to talk about his latest book, the third in the Black Earth series.

May 16th, at 7:00PM, Heather Hutsell will join Watch the skies to talk about her writing and introduce us to her works.

There is still time to get in on the rewards and support the Kickstarter for the Afterpunk Anthology edited by Danielle Ackley-McPhail, the novel The Clockwork Witch by Michelle Sonnier and the story collection Spirit Seeker by Jeff Young.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/e-specbooks/tales-of-paranormal-steampunk

 

 

 

Celebrate the 2018 One Book One Community events with one our favorite authors, Maria V. Snyder.

 

My First Cosplay

I enjoy the idea of cosplay – have for a long time. I really love a lot of the amazing work I’ve seen from others. It’s a bit like Halloween all year round, but it’s the joy of sharing something you really like with others. The problem is I’ve always had kind of a problem with finding costume parts in my size. Yes, I know that’s why people make their own stuff. I’m not that good at making stuff, nor have I committed the time to learning it. I should, but I haven’t.

When the Potterverse convention came about I got this notion that Hagrid was actually a character I could cosplay. IF there was ever an appropriately sized character he was the one. So, at forty-seven years of age I set out to do my very first ever cosplay. Turns out I had a lot to learn.

Getting ready

As it turned out, there was only one thing that would be “home made” that wasn’t already done. I would purchase most of the outfit and recycle certain other parts that were already in the house. I don’t have any abilities with sewing, and by the time I committed to doing this it was far too late to start that sort of thing. I have seen and heard many other cosplayer stories of the last minute late night sewing / hot glue sessions. I was not in any sort of position to do that. Some of the things I learned were:

-Just because it’s for sale, doesn’t mean it will ship to you in time. One of the most vital bits was slated to arrive a week after the con, so I had to scramble to find something else that could be substituted in and that would ship in time.

-If you squint really hard, you can justify a lot of stuff. Boots, pants and jacket all came down to, “I can totally use that for work, so it’s OK that I’m spending a hundred bucks today…” I am lucky that I had the means at hand to make the last minute purchases work. More time in planning will equal a smaller payout in the future.

-Even shopping takes time. Not just the shipping part, but also the actually looking up the thing that will be just right and the right size. It’s a time consuming thing. I confess that without my lovely wife assisting me I might not have been able to pull it off.

-Test it out. I cut everything close enough that I didn’t have time to pull the whole thing together and test it out before I was actually on site for the convention. Two parts of the ensemble didn’t actually fit right. Sure, when I got new boots I tried them on. I’m still an “in person” kind of guy for that stuff. Everything else was based on sizes I figured I knew that were pretty standard. Not so much. “Standard” sizes… aren’t. Give yourself time to make sure it all works.

Premiere day

Check the weather- I’m lucky in that Hagrid wears a great big coat that, at least in my case, is actually fantastic in the cold and rain. It is NOT fantastic on an 84 degree day when you’ll be required to walk six floors out of the convention due to a fire alarm. What you wear should, at least if you can, be tailored to the weather.

Being late- I was actually a little shocked to only see one other Hagrid among all the cosplay folks at Potterverse. It was kind of cool to be so close to unique. It was also time consuming. I got stopped for a lot of pictures along the way. Leave extra time in your schedule for stopping for pictures.

Something to say- cosplay is a live and in person kind of thing. People will want to interact with you. They will talk to you. Sometimes it will be nothing more than, “hey, that’s cool” or, “can we get a photo?”. Other times they might expect you to be able to say something relatively in character or want to grill you about your level of knowledge about the character you’re portraying.

Afterward

When you’re done, you still have all that stuff. Some of the things, like boots, are good for other stuff. Some things are strictly part of your cosplay. Give some thought to when / if you might wear the whole thing again. Give some other thought to what you can recycle into other cosplay. Most importantly, figure out what you’re going to do with the stuff that doesn’t work with anything else. Hopefully you won’t have tons of things that are single outfit specific, but if you do where are you going to put them when you’re done.

Pictures. I don’t know how it’s been for any other cosplayer but my first experience was a whirlwind. Part of that was the convention I was at being a bit larger than expected, but another aspect was the entire experience was completely new. Those things combined into the simple fact that I forgot to get my own set of pictures. If not for the kindness of others I wouldn’t have any photos of my first attempt at all. Do your best to record what you’ve done. One day it will be cool to look back and see how far you’ve come.

In The End

I can say that I had a really fun time with my first ever cosplay. I was overwhelmed, stupid hot and lacking in witty banter but it was still fun. I am actually going to hold onto all the bits of the cosplay and work toward making small improvements as I see the chance. I’ll definitely wear this get-up again and I’m already considering what my next cosplay will be…

By Eric V. Hardenbrook

 

 

 Mermaiding for a Cause

Sometimes it’s not just enough to do what you love. Hannah Fraser (known as Hannah Mermaid), inspired by the film Splash, created her first tail at age 9. Now she prefers to use a Finis Monofin. A talented free diver and swimmer, Hannah discovered that donning the tail and playing the part wasn’t enough. While she is an active advocate for the activity of mermaiding, she also became involved in conservation and awareness efforts around the state of her favorite place, the ocean. In 2003 she began to make her pastime a career, promoting herself as a freelance mermaid. She’s done everything from underwater fashion photography to conservationist videos, as well as advertising for Finis. Hannah works with an promotes such organizations as Surfers for Cetaceans, Greenpeace and Blue Sphere in their efforts to stop pollution, over fishing and unsustainable fishing practices and the hunting of whales, sharks and other species. She also makes her own tails, which are complicated pieces that create a fluid motion underwater. All in all, the little girl who dreamed of being a mermaid found a way to not only become one but use it as a strong female role model to advocate the preservation and care of our oceans and their inhabitants.

https://youtu.be/SaZ4wv8VyVM