Next weekend marks the 2007 Calgary Young Writers’ Conference. I’ll join approximately fifty other professionals connected with writing for young people, to offer sessions to youths aged ten to fourteen. Topics on writing fiction, non-fiction, poetry and drama as well as on illustration will be offered, as well as a keynote session by Deborah Ellis. A book store and author signings will also be included for the 1200 attendees.
Rainforest Writers’ Retreat 2008
Fairwood Press’ Rainforest Retreat was a smashing success for the twenty-eight writers who met on the Olympic Peninsula near Seattle, on the weekend of March 22 – 25. Patrick and Honna Swensen were the perfect hosts, and guests Jay Lake and Barb and J.C. Hendee were a wealth of information and inspiration. Sessions included plotting the novel, synopses and, of course, readings by our guest authors. In addition, Susan Matthews ran a fascinating session on runes. However, the main reason to go was to get away from it all and write.
The location was perfect: beautiful, with no cell coverage, no internet and no sunshine. Over 77,000 words were written by the participants. And, when our fingers became too stiff from typing, there were communal meals and down time to get to know one another and swap stories about the writing business.
One of my big thrills was to meet David Levine, winner of the 2006 Hugo for best short story. All in all, it was a wonderful weekend.
Working With An Editor–Or Not!
A friend passed this on to me–watch! It’s good.[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zo1XFz0kac0&w=425&h=350]
Review!
Tangent Short Fiction Review had this to say:
“Paid in Full” by Susan Forest tells of two um bug farmers on another world, and the giant gnats which, depending on their kind (Dark/good or White/bad), lay eggs which are nourished by the aphids and then sold, or are the rogue and deadly variety which appear at dark and kill everything they can in their feeding frenzy. One of the farmers has hit hard times and asks a favor of the other, who is forever repaying the former for a long ago debt. But now the debt has been repaid in full, and the first farmer is still extremely ungrateful (his friend has just saved his life). The story is a lesson in learning when to let go of a debt repaid when one learns that one is being taken advantage of. The gnat/aphid symbiosis, and how the eventual product is processed for profit is entertaining, as is the scene of the night terror a swarm of the deadly, blood-sucking White gnats wreaks on the terrified farmers.
Nominations and Eligible Stories
Hope springs eternal! Although my story, “Immunity” (Asimov’s, 2006) did not get nominated for an Aurora Award, my good friend, Hayden Trenholm’s story, “Lumen Essence” did, and two good friends (Rob Sawyer for Best Short Form Work in English for “Biding Time” and Randy McCharles for “Best Fan – Organizational”) WON! Congratulations to all three!
Aurora awards for 2007 are upcoming much earlier this year. Instead of a fall award (2006’s awards were presented in October of 2007) Auroras will be presented in the spring (2007 awards will be presented at Keycon in Winnipeg, Manitoba the weekend of May 16-19, 2008). Hence the deadline for entering nominations is March 17, 2008. Simply put, the works with the most nominations wind up on the ballot. This year the form is MUCH easier, as you can enter on line–no need for an envelope and stamp.
Details are at: http://www.prixaurorawards.ca/English/AwardProcess/nominationForm.php. If you have trouble with the detailed address, go to their website at www.prixaurorawards.ca. Click on “English” then click on “nomination form.” Or just google “prix aurora awards.”
Aurora Awards are Canada’s top awards for Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy–writing, art and other works. For a list of all eligible entries, check out the Canadian SF Works Database.
If you would like to nominate me for a “Best Short Form Work in English,” consider checking out my eligible short story, “Paid in Full,” published in Asimov’s Science Fiction, vol. 31 #10-11, the 2007 October/November issue. You can read the full text on my website, www.speculative-fiction.ca.
Or, have a look at THE PHANTOM OF THE SPACE OPERA, a live performance at the August, 2007 Conversion in Calgary, which is eligible for “Best Work in English, Other.” A DVD of the performance is available, and it will be uploaded onto YouTube by early January for general viewing. I directed and edited the movie, and the writer/actors were all Calgary writers.
Other members of IFWA (Calgary’s Science Fiction / Fantasty writing group) with eligible works include:
Randy McCharles (“Vampires of the Canadian Rockies”) and Susan Forest (“Tomorrow and Tomorrow”) in Tesseracts 11, eligible in “Best Short Form Work in English”
Randy McCharles’s and Sandy Fitzpatrick’s stories from the Okal Rel anthology, for “Best Short Form Work in English”
Hayden Trenholm’s novelette, “Like Water in the Desert” from Challenging Destiny #24 is eligible in “Best Short Form Work in English”
Robert J. Sawyer’s Rollback (Tor) is eligible in the “Best Long Form Work in English”
Kirstin Morrell is eligible in “Best Fan Organizational” category for chairing last year’s Con-Version
You can nominate 3 works in each category. Please consider nominating a writer from western Canada!