Thanks to everyone who took a moment to nominate me for the Aurora Award — I have been short listed in the Short Fiction category for my short story in Analog last June, entitled “Back.” Doubly good news, I am in competition with my good friend, Randy, who wrote a humorous novella, “Ringing the Changes in Okotoks, Alberta,” which appeared in Tesseracts 12 by Edge Press last November. Randy was also nominated in the category, Fan Achievement – Organizational for running the World Fantasy Convention in Calgary last fall, which was a great convention.
More on Aurora Eligibility
Thanks to Ron Friedman of my Imaginative Fiction Writers’ Association for compiling this partial list of eligible works for the Auroras — with the slant that all these writers are from Calgary (or were from Calgary or are good friends of Calgarians). Some to consider, at least:
Long-Form Works ================ Sawyer, Robert J. IDENTITY THEFT AND OTHER STORIES (collection). Red Deer Press, May 2008 Trenholm, Hayden. DEFINING DIANA. Bundoran Press
Novelettes ======== McCharles, Randy. “Ringing the Changes in Okotoks, Alberta.” Tesseracts Twelve, edited by Claude Lalumiere
Short Stories ========== Forest, Susan J. “Back.” Analog Science Fiction and Fact, June 2008
Sawyer, Robert J. “Apple Will Own Margaret Atwood,” The Globe and Mail’s Report on Business Magazine, January 2008 (reprinted as “E-Mails from the Future” in Sawyer’s collection Identity Theft and Other Stories).
Trenholm, Hayden. “Love In its Season” On Spec #73, Summer 2008
===================== Other Non-CanadaSF eligible:
McCharles, Randy (fan achievement) for chairing World fantasy convention. Jeff Campbell – for editing Gaslight Grimoire: Fantastic Tales of Sherlock Holmes
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!
Prix Aurora Awards
It is time, again, for nominations for the Aurora Awards, Canada’s top awards for Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy: writing, art, fan activities and other works. This year, the Auroras 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.
This year the form is MUCH easier, as you can enter online–no need for an envelope and stamp. For a list of all eligible entries, check out the Canadian SF Works Database. You can nominate 3 works in each category.
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 here.
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.
Ballots for the Prix Aurora Awards are available
Susan Forest’s short story, Immunity, is eligible for the 2007 Prix Aurora Award. Read the story, then fill out a ballot here.