All posts by Cathy Palmer-Lister

Fanzines

Zines to share + article on Quebec SF

  • Lots of zines came in while I was away.  I also received a couple of interesting links to click. This one was sent to me from Heath, editor of de Profundis.
Hannah Allen-Shim takes us on a tour of Quebec’s science fiction and fantasy scene, from its beginnings in the 1970s to its expansion and diversification in recent years.
February 5, 2024

https://wordswithoutborders.org/read/collection/familiar-and-unknown-worlds-quebec-science-fiction-fantasy/

  • I received this message from Ahrvid in Sweden:

Hi! Yes, I’m from Sweden. Sure you can post my zine whereever you want. I try to cover som interesting history material in every issue. I gsther you’re from Canada? In #120 I wrote about the Swedish-Canadian sf fan Nils Helmer Frome who did one of the earliest Canadian fanzines, perhaps the very first, and corresponded with HPLovecraft. It can be found here: https://fanac.org/fanzines/Intermission/Intermission120.pdf Best, –Ahrvid — ahrvid@hotmail.com//Follow @SFJournalen tweets for sf news//2024 firar Fantastiknovelltävlingen kvartseklet! https://www.freelists.org/post/skriva


Added today at https://efanzines.com are:

Octothorpe #109 a regular fannish podcast by John Coxon, Alison Scott and Liz Batty

Pete Young’s Every Place I Read Your Goddamn Fanzine #4 and #5

Leybl Botwinik’s CyberCozen – May 2024

Christopher J. Garcia’s Claims Department #70

Opuntia #572, edited by Dale Speirs

—
Bill

Eight new issues in the last six days!

Now at https://efanzines.com:

Henry Grynnsten’s Wild Ideas #47

Leigh Edmonds’ Ornithopter Mk.III

John Purcell’s new fanzine, Intermezzo #1

Pete Young’s Every Place I Read Your Goddamn Fanzine #7 & #8

Christopher J. Garcia’s Exhibition Hall #30

Christopher J. Garcia’s Claims Department #71

Christopher J. Garcia’s The Drink Tank #457

—
Bill

 

Astronomy News

The mysterious pairs of planets we still can’t explain

The mysterious pairs of planets we still can’t explain

By Jonathan O’Callaghan
Nasa/Esa/CSA/Mark McCaughrean/Sam Pearson The Orion Nebula captured by the James Webb Space Telescope (Credit: Nasa/Esa/CSA/Mark McCaughrean/Sam Pearson)
Nasa/Esa/CSA/Mark McCaughrean/Sam Pearson (Credit: Nasa/Esa/CSA/Mark McCaughrean/Sam Pearson)

We thought we broadly understood how planets and stars form. But the discovery of dozens of pairs of young planets in a nearby nebula threatens to turn that on its head.

They are worlds that simply defy explanation. Drifting through the Orion Nebula – an enormous cloud of dust and gas relatively close by in our galaxy – are what appears to be dozens of Jupiter-sized planets that don’t conform to the conventional understanding of how planetary systems form. Rather than being bound to a star like the Earth is in our own Solar System, these planets are free-floating through space in pairs. Astronomers who spotted them with the help of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) could only scratch their heads in awe at the discovery.

“These things shouldn’t exist,” says Simon Portegies Zwart, an astrophysicist at Leiden University in the Netherlands. “They go against everything we have learned about star and planet formation.”

In the subsequent months, efforts have been made to try and explain what’s going on. These planets, called Jupiter Mass Binary Objects, or Jumbos, still cannot be fully explained. But we are getting closer to an answer – with crucial observations on the horizon that may solve the mystery once and for all.

READ MORE

Books

Locus Forthcoming Books: JUNE

Locus Forthcoming Books: JUNE 2024 

  • CHAZ BRENCHLEY • Rowany De Vere • NewCon Press UK, Jun 2024 (tp, hc, eb)
  • TOBIAS S. BUCKELL & DAVID KLE¬CHA • The Runes of Engagements • Tachyon Publications, Jun 2024 (tp, eb)
  • M.R. CAREY • Echo of Worlds • Orbit US/Redhook, Jun 2024 (tp, eb)
  • VAJRA CHANDRASEKERA • Rakesfall • Tordotcom, Jun 2024 (hc, eb)
  • LINDSAY ELLIS • Apostles of Mercy • Titan Books UK, Jun 2024 (hc, eb)
  • LINDSAY ELLIS • Apostles of Mercy • St. Martin’s, Jun 2024 (hc, eb)
  • JOANNE HARRIS • The Moonlight Market • Orion UK/Gollancz, Jun 2024 (hc, eb)
  • KEVIN HEARNE • The Hermit Next Door • Subterranean Press, Jun 2024 (na, hc, eb)
  • ALLAN KASTER, ED. • The Year’s Top Hard Science Fiction Stories 8 • AudioText/Infinivox, Jun 2024 (an, tp, eb)
  • MERCEDES LACKEY & LARRY DIXON • Gryphon’s Valor • Titan Books UK, Jun 2024 (hc, eb)
  • MERCEDES LACKEY & LARRY DIXON • Gryphon’s Valor • Astra House/DAW, Jun 2024 (hc, eb)
  • SHARON LEE & STEVE MILLER • Ribbon Dance • Baen, Jun 2024 (hc, eb)
  • YOON HA LEE • Moonstorm • Rebellion/Solaris UK, Jun 2024 (ya, tp, eb)
  • YOON HA LEE • Moonstorm • Penguin Random House/Delacorte, Jun 2024 (ya, hc, eb)
  • PREMEE MOHAMED • We Speak Through the Mountain • ECW Press, Jun 2024 (na, tp, eb)
  • TIM PRATT • The Knife and the Serpent • Angry Robot UK, Jun 2024 (tp, eb)
  • LILITH SAINTCROW • The Fall of Waterstone • Orbit UK, Jun 2024 (tp, eb)
  • LILITH SAINTCROW • The Fall of Waterstone • Orbit US, Jun 2024 (tp, eb)
  • JODI TAYLOR • Killing Time • Headline UK, Jun 2024 (hc, eb)
  • ADRIAN TCHAIKOVSKY • Alien Clay • Orbit US/Redhook, Jun 2024 (1st US, hc, eb)
  • ADRIAN TCHAIKOVSKY • Service Model • Tordotcom, Jun 2024 (hc, eb)
  • PAUL TREMBLAY • Horror Movie • Titan Books UK, Jun 2024 (c, hc, eb)
  • PAUL TREMBLAY • Horror Movie • HarperCollins/Morrow, Jun 2024 (c, hc, eb)
Awards, CSFFA / Aurora Award / Hall of Fame

Aurora Awards and other news from CSFFA

In this newsletter:

 

  1. 2024 Prix Aurora Awards Finalists
  2. Update on the Aurora Award Voters Package
  3. CSFFA Hall of Fame Update
  4. 2024 Professional Development Grant Recipient
  5. Personnel Changes on CSFFA’s Board of Directors

2024 Prix Aurora Award Finalists

This ballot is for works originally done in 2023 by Canadians.  The Aurora Awards are nominated by members of the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association.  The top five nominated works were selected.  Additional works were included where there was a tie for fifth place.  An online awards ceremony will be held on Sunday, August 11th, 2024, at 5pm EDT, with hosts Mark Leslie Lefebvre and Liz Anderson.

Best Novel

Bad Cree, Jessica Johns, HarperCollins Canada
The Marigold, Andrew F. Sullivan, ECW Press
Moon of the Turning Leaves, Waubgeshig Rice, Random House Canada
Silver Nitrate, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Del Rey
The Valkyrie, Kate Heartfield, HarperVoyager

Best Young Adult Novel

The Crystal Key: The Dream Rider Saga, Book 2, Douglas Smith, Spiral Path Books
Flower and Thorn, Rati Mehrotra, Wednesday Books
Funeral Songs for Dying Girls, Cherie Dimaline, Tundra Books
The Grimmer, Naben Ruthnum, ECW Press
The Stars of Mount Quixx, S.M. Beiko, ECW Press

Best Novelette/Novella

Green Fuse Burning, Tiffany Morris, Stelliform Press
I AM AI, Ai Jiang, Shortwave Media
“The Most Strongest Obeah Woman of the World”, Nalo Hopkinson,
Out There Screaming: An Anthology of New Black Horror, Random House
Pluralities, Avi Silver, Atthis Arts
Untethered Sky, Fonda Lee, Tordotcom

Best Short Story

“At Every Door A Ghost”, Premee Mohamed, Communications Breakdown, MIT Press
“The Dust Bowl Café”, Justin Dill, Augur Magazine, Issue 6.1
“If I Should Fall Behind”, Douglas Smith, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Sept/Oct Issue
“Once Upon a Time at The Oakmont”, P.A. Cornell, Fantasy Magazine, Issue 96
“Sink Your Sorrows to the Sea”, Chandra Fisher, Saltwater Sorrows, Tyche Books

Best Graphic Novel/Comic

Atana and the Firebird, Vivian Zhou, HarperCollins
A Call to Cthulhu, Norm Konyu, Titan Nova
Carson of Venus, Ronn Sutton (artist), Martin Powell (writer), and Maggie Lopez (colourist), webcomic
Cosmic Detective, Jeff Lemire and Matt Kindt, art by David Rubin, Image Comics
It Never Rains, Kari Maaren, webcomic
The Secret of the Ravens, written and illustrated by Joanna Cacao, with lettering by Kyla Aiko, Clarion Books
Wychwood, Ally Rom Colthoff, webcomic

Best Poem/Song

“As a, I want to, so I can”, Kelley Tai, Heartlines Spec, Issue 2, Spring/Summer 2023
“Awakening”, Tiffany Morris, Nightmare Magazine, Issue 134
“Lying Flat”, Lynne Sargent, Strange Horizons, Issue 9 October 2023
“predictive text”, Dominik Parisien, Augur, Issue 6.1
“Scarecrow”, David Shultz, Polar Starlight, Issue 9
“A Siren’s Call, A Banshee’s Wail, A Grandmother’s Dream”, Ai Jiang, Uncanny Magazine, Issue Fifty Four

Best Related Work

GAME ON!,  Stephen Kotowych & Tony Pi, editors, Zombies Need Brains LLC
No One Will Come Back for Us and Other Stories, Premee Mohamed, Undertow Publications
On Spec Magazine, Diane L. Walton, Managing Editor, The Copper Pig Writers’ Society
Skin Thief: Stories, Suzan Palumbo, Neon Hemlock Press
Year’s Best Canadian Fantasy and Science Fiction: Volume One, Stephen Kotowych, editor, Ansible Press

Best Cover Art/Interior Illustration

Augur Magazine, Issue 6.1, cover art, Lorna Antoniazzi
Endless Library � Fantasy, interior art, Marcco Marin,
Year’s Best Canadian Fantasy and Science Fiction: Volume One, Ansible Press
Green Fuse Burning, cover art, Chief Lady Bird, Stelliform Press
The Machines That Make Us, cover art, Brent Nichols, Tyche Books
The Passion of Ivan Rodriguez, cover art, Kayla Kowalyk, Tyche Books
Tales & Feathers Magazine, Issue 1, cover art, Jade Zhang

Best Fan Writing and Publication

Maria’s Sci-Fi, Fantasy & Horror Short Fiction Roundup, Maria Haskins
Polar Borealis Magazine, Issues: 24, 25, 26, and 27, edited by R. Graeme Cameron
Polar Starlight Magazine, Issues: 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12, edited by Rhea E. Rose
The Travelling TARDIS, Jennifer Desmarais, JenEric Designs
Young People Read Old SFF, edited by James Davis Nicoll, online

Best Fan Related Work

ephemera Reading Series, KT Bryski and Jen R. Albert, co-chairs, online
Scintillation 4, Jo Walton and René Walling, co-chairs, Montreal
Sip & Read / Sip & Social @ Librairie Saga Bookstore, Mathieu Lauzon-Dicso, bookstore owner
When Words Collide, Randy McCharles, chair, Calgary
The Worldshapers Podcast, Edward Willett, online

Note: Can*Con recused themselves from this year’s ballot even though they had enough nominations.

Voters Package Update

 

The ballot has been announced and we want to send our heartfelt congratulations to each and every nominee. It is an exciting time and now it is your turn to read and immerse yourself in some great work.

The Voter’s Package has a lot of moving parts that take some time to get all gathered into one place and put into the wonderful package we all look forward to. We are in the home stretch to get it out to you so you have as much time as possible to read. You will be able to get the package the week of May 20th. Watch the newsletters, our website and social media for availability.

Remember you are voting for the best of the best so give time and consideration to the material so kindly provided by the publishers, authors, and creators. That way you can make informed choices about what really speaks to you. Read. Enjoy. Vote. If you have any questions or are having problems with the download just drop us at line on our website.

Happy reading!

[]

CSFFA Hall of Fame Update

The 2024 CSFFA Hall of Fame inductees have been selected.

We wish to thank the jury for their work:
Ryah Deines; Gordon Johansen; Rebecca Lovatt; Michelle Sagara; and David Clink, chair.

We will officially announce the inductees later this summer.

We would like to take this moment to thank all of the nominees.
Those who were not selected will remain nominees for future years.

CSFFA members are encouraged to nominate Canadian SFFH creators. The nomination form can be found here. The Hall of Fame honours Canadian creators who have made a significant 20+ year impact in the speculative fields (SFFH). For more information on eligibility, see here.

2024* CSFFA Professional Development Grant Recipient

We launched our Professional Development Grant to further the growth of new writers or new to the genre to the wonderful world of science fiction and fantasy. We’re thrilled to announce the recipient for our first 2024 PD Grant period: Paola Ferrante.

Paola Ferrante is a woman writer living with depression. Her speculative short fiction collection, Her Body Among Animals (Book*hug 2023), received a starred review in Publishers Weekly, made the 2023 CBC Books fall reading list, and was eligible for a CSFFA Prix Aurora Award. Paola will use the grant for a book coach and editorial feedback to continue developing and completing revisions of her first novel, Completables.
(*we conduct two rounds of applications per year, and if you fit the eligibility bill, you are encouraged to apply in our next round by the Aug. 31st deadline).

Personnel Changes on CSFFA’s Board of Directors

Goodbye Clint, Goodbye Jeanette, Welcome Aymen

Clint Budd has retired as a CSFFA director. CSFFA as it is today is the result of years of his leadership as President of the Board. Clint stepped down as President in October, 2019. Until April 2023 Clint also annually organized the CSFFA Hall of Fame jury.

Clint is a CSFFA Hall of Fame nominee: read more about Clint here.

Jeanette Dover joined CSFFA’s Board of Directors as Treasurer in the summer of 2019. CSFFA had the benefit of Jeanette’s time for nearly five years. Jeanette also worked with board member Shannon Allen: Shannon administers CSFFA’s Professional Development Grant.

During the April 2024 Board meeting your Board voted to appoint Aymen Saidane as CSFFA’s new Treasurer.

Aymen’s bio (members will see it as part of the 2024 AGM documents): “Succeeded Jeanette Dover in April. Operations Manager at ECW Press and instructor of Publishing Finance at Humber College. Dreams of living on the moon in retirement.”

Astronomy News

THE BIGGEST SOLAR FLARE OF THE CURRENT SOLAR CYCLE

Space Weather News for May 14, 2024
https://spaceweather.com
https://www.spaceweatheralerts.com

THE BIGGEST SOLAR FLARE OF THE CURRENT SOLAR CYCLE: Earth-orbiting satellites have just detected the most intense solar flare of the current solar cycle (so far)–an X8.7-category blast from giant sunspot AR3664. Extreme ultraviolet radiation from the flare ionized the top of Earth’s atmosphere and caused a deep shortwave blackout over the Americas. Full story @ Spaceweather.com.

Solar flare alerts: Sign up for Space Weather Alerts to receive instant text messages when strong flares are underway
[] 
Above: Today’s X8.7-class solar flare photographed by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory

Fanzines

Zines to Share!

Zines to Share!

From N3F: Tightbeam3561

Added today at https://efanzines.com:

  • John Nielsen Hall’s VT #29
  • Octothorpe #108 a regular fannish podcast by John Coxon, Alison Scott and Liz Batty, is now on line. A transcript of the episode is also available at the link.
  • Andy Hooper’s CAPTAIN FLASHBACK #65
  • Perry Middlemiss’s Perryscope #43
  • Opuntia #571, edited by Dale Speirs

From Joe Major: Alex134

From Leybl Botwinik, CCMay2024-v01

Obituary

Roger Corman dies, aged 98

Roger Corman: The Little Shop of Horrors cult B-movie director dies aged 98

“It became something of a joke in the film industry that Corman could negotiate a contract from a public phone, shoot the film in the phone box and pay for it with the coins in the change slot.”

Roger Corman at the Cannes Film Festival in 2023
Corman attended the Cannes Film Festival in 2023 at the age of 97,Image source, Getty Images

Roger Corman, who directed a series of cult films including 1960’s The Little Shop of Horrors, has died aged 98.

His family told industry publication Variety that he died on Thursday at his home in Santa Monica, California.

“His films were revolutionary and iconoclastic, and captured the spirit of an age,” their statement said.

Jack Nicholson and Robert De Niro are among the actors he helped develop. Directors James Cameron and Martin Scorsese cut their teeth on his films.

Many of his films became cult classics and he became famous for the speed at which he worked, often making two films at the same location and at the same time, in order to save money.

Roger Corman was born in Detroit on 5 April 1926. His father, William, was an engineer and he had intended to follow in his footsteps.

However, while studying at college, he became attracted to film-making and after a spell working for General Motors quit his job and went to work at 20th Century Fox as a messenger boy.

Having failed to make much progress, he set off for Europe where among other things, he briefly studied English literature at Oxford. He returned to the US with ambitions to become a screenwriter.

He sold his first script, The House in the Sea, in 1953 and it was filmed as Highway Dragnet the following year with Corman being credited as co-producer.

However, he was so upset by the changes made to his story that he scraped together some cash and set himself up as a producer.

Corman began directing in 1955 with Swamp Women and over the next 15 years he made more than 50 films, gaining a reputation for the speed with which he could turn them out.

It became something of a joke in the film industry that Corman could negotiate a contract from a public phone, shoot the film in the phone box and pay for it with the coins in the change slot.

The 1960 release, The Little Shop of Horrors, which featured a brief appearance by a young Jack Nicholson, took just two days to shoot with Corman using the set of a previous film, Bucket of Blood.

A stage musical based on the film opened in 1982 and would itself spawn a second film version four years later.

Corman decided to widen his horizons with a series of films based on the works of Edgar Allan Poe and featuring Vincent Price as the lead in all but one of them.

READ MORE: https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-17127556

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Corman

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000339/

Astronomy News

Solar activity has gone into overdrive.

Some members of the club invested infilters for their telescopes and cameras. And I think all of us have eclipse glasses. Needless to say, the weather is not co-operative, but if there’s a break in the clouds, get out and enjoy the show.

Space Weather News for May 6, 2024
https://spaceweather.com
https://www.spaceweatheralerts.com

ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER X-FLARE: Solar activity has gone into overdrive. Since May 3rd, Earth-orbiting satellites have detected four X-class solar flares and an even greater number of almost X-class events. The responsible sunspot, AR3663, is still very active, and NOAA forecasters say more X-flares are possible this week. Full story @ Spaceweather.com.

Above: The extreme ultraviolet flash from an X4.5-class solar flare on May 6, 2024. Credit: NASA/SDO
Above: The extreme ultraviolet flash from an X4.5-class solar flare on May 6, 2024. Credit: NASA/SDO

X-FLARE CHAMPION OF SOLAR CYCLE 25: Active sunspot AR3663 produced two more X-flares today, a pair of X1’s on May 8th at 0145 UT and 0509 UT. This makes it the most active sunspot of Solar Cycle 25 so far. Since May 3rd, the active region has tallied six X-flares, more than any other sunspot in the past 7 years. It may continue to run up the score as it approaches the sun’s western limb later this week. Solar flare alerts: SMS Text

THE CHANCE OF FLARES JUST DOUBLED: There are now two dangerous sunspots facing Earth. In the past 48 hours, AR3664 has more than doubled in size, becoming one of the largest sunspots of the current solar cycle. It is inset in this magnetic map of the sun from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory:

Among the sunspot’s dark cores, magnetic poles of opposite polarity are bumping together in explosive proximity. As a result, AR3664 now poses a threat for X-flares like its more active cousin AR3663 in the northern hemisphere.

Do you have eclipse glasses left over from April 8th? Use them to look at the sun today. AR3663 is ten times wider than Earth and can be seen with no magnification. Solar photographers, submit your images here! Solar flare alerts: SMS Text