World Con Report

This past weekend was LoneStarCon 3, the 71s World Science Fiction Convention, in San Antonio, Texas. I love San Antonio, which I've only visited once (for John Picacio's wedding) and have been wanting a good excuse to visit again.

Sam Sykes at the Pyr Presents Panel

I got in on Thursday, having bumped into Scott Lynch on the plane, and arrived in time to have lunch, register, wander around, and still make my Literary Beer by 5pm. And by the way, Literary Beers are a great idea and starting cons with them even better. Then it was off for a (long) walk down the Riverwalk to Acenar. I dined here years ago and am so glad to say it was everything I remembered. As far from the convention center as it was, it was odd when Scott Lynch was seated at the next table five minutes after I arrived. (Was he following me?) Then I spent the night in the Marriott Rivercenter bar with many, many friends until very late.

Tower of the Americas

Picacio wins 2 Chesleys

Friday began with a panel on the relationship between writers and editors, then the Pyr Books Presents panel, and then a panel on New Trends in Sword & Sorcery. Afterwards I hit the opening of the Penguin Random House Party atop the Tower of the Americas, where I caught up with Melinda Snodgrass, but had to leave early to present the first category at the Chesley Awards, where it was my privilege to see John Picacio win twice, once for the cover of Brenda Cooper's The Creative Fire,which I art directed.

Saturday began with an hour long Stroll With the Stars along the Riverwalk, followed by an art portfolio review, then a lunch with Liza Trombi of Locus. In the afternoon, I did my ScriptTips presentation, the talk I have been giving for several years now about how to use my preferred method of screenwriting as a tool for novel outlining. The room was packed, the response was phenomenal, and quite a few people had some very nice things to say about it afterwards.

Writers of the Future

That evening I went out to dinner with John Picacio, his assistant Tara, George R R Martin, his wife Paris, his two assistants and one of their boyfriends (who turned out to be from my hometown). George wanted authentic barbeque, so we hired a van and drove an hour to Lockhart for the Kreuz Market and Barbeque. Unfortunately, when we got there, they were out of everything but beef shoulder and some sausage. All the pork and chicken was long gone, and as I don't eat red meat -- well, I dined on sauerkraut, mac and cheese, and white bread. But I had a lovely conversation with everyone, especially Paris McBride, and the company made up for the lack of edible (for Lou) food. Afterwards, John, Tara, and I made the tail end of the "Drinks with Authors" event at Ernie's Bar, and then I sat up until 3am with some smart young writers who were Writers of the Future winners.

Looking good for Hugos:
Anders, Tayler, Cornell and Picacio

Sunday I had a photo shoot with Locus magazine, a panel on Using Art Briefs, a "Who Painted That?" panel, and drinks with the JABberwocky Literary Agency. And then, the Hugos!

Hartwell and Picacio

Paul Cornell did an amazing job as Toastmaster, bringing a real dignity to the event that I wish every Hugo ceremony had. He was just the right amount of funny vs sincere, and even the slight politicizing went towards making the event feel like what it should be -- the Oscars of science fiction. Also, at one point during the ceremony, they had a tribute to all of the people in science-fiction or important to science-fiction that we had lost in the last year. They played music and showed all the names. This range from famous writers like Iain M. Banks to people like film critic Roger Ebert who has written for the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction and was an outspoken fan of written science fiction as well. I was very gratified to see the founder of my parent company, Dr. Paul Kurtz, listed on the screen.

Consolation d20 Lollipop

The highlight of the Hugos, of course, was watching my friend John Picacio win for the second time. Then it was the Hugo Losers Party (where I broke out the amazing d20 lollipop that Sara Felix brought for me!) and spent some time commiserating with Toni Weisskopf and hanging with John Picacio. 

I really enjoyed hanging with Saladin Ahmed, Paolo Bacigalupi, Myke Cole, John DeNardo, Irene Gallo, Dave Gross, Mary Robinette Kowal, Mur Lafferty, Scott Lynch, John Picacio,  John Scalzi, Sam Sykes, Howard Tayler, Liza Trombi, Vincent Villafranca, Sandra Wickham, and many, many others. Even so, there were friends present like Jess Nevins and Michael Rowley that I didn't even see. I saw Michael Swanwick once from a distance and never got close enough to say hello. I could have used another week just to hang with people.

Airport Viking

Still, this was a fairly low-key World Con for me. I had a LOT of programming and a lot of meetings, and I fought to carve out space for my friends and family, but it wasn't as high energy as running a DragonCon booth, or as stressful as some convention programming can be. This weekend had a different energy. In fact, my highlight was different from any other year. It was taking my son to meet Steve Jackson and spending an hour with him creating a branching track in Jackson's big Steampunk Chaos machine. My boy is a Munchin fan and meeting Jackson was a thrill for him, and the big marble maze was pretty incredible. If I could relive one moment from the entire con again, that would be the one. A close second would be another dinner with my family at Acenar.

LoneStarCon 3: My Schedule

Later this week, I will be attending LoneStarCon 3, the 71s World Science Fiction Convention, in San Antonio, Texas. I'll be appearing on several panels, giving my usual Pyr Books Presents! presentation, and also giving my ScriptTips presentation (for the first time at a WorldCon). Here is my schedule for those interested:

Thursday

17:00

Literary Beer

Exh A - Literary Beers (Convention Center)

Friday

12:00

The Relationship Between Writers and Editors

101B (Convention Center)

15:00

Pyr Books Presents!

007CD (Convention Center)

16:00

The State of Sword & Sorcery: New Trends

006B (Convention Center)

Saturday

11:00

Art Portfolio Review (Anders)

003B (Convention Center)

14:00

Screenplay Structure for Novelists: From the Screen to the Printed Page

101B (Convention Center)
 

Sunday

12:00

Using Art Briefs

101A (Convention Center)

13:00

Who Painted That!

006B (Convention Center)

Wik'13 (Writing & Illustrating for Kids)

There's a short interview up with me today at YA Sleuth, the blog of Middle Grade author F. T. Bradley, concerning my talk at the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators' Wik (Writing & Illustrating for Kids) conference this October 11-12.

Thank you, F.T. Bradley. Now everybody go order her book, Double Vision.

DragonCon and WorldCon

Pyr Books will have a presence this coming weekend at both LoneStarCon 3, the 71s World Science Fiction Convention, in San Antonio, Texas and DragonCon, in Atlanta, Georgia. I (Lou Anders) be giving the Pyr Books Presents! panel at LoneStarCon 3, along with several attending Pyr authors, and my editorial assistant, Rene Sears, will be hosting her first panel at DragonCon at the exact time in Atlanta, also with attending authors. These are two different panels - no simulcasting or multiplexing going on - but lots of never before seen cover art at both. Please come by if you are attending either con. And if you can somehow attend both, we'd really like to meet you.

World Con

3:00 PM, Friday

Pyr Books Presents!

Room: 007CD (Convention Center)

Lou Anders with Ari Marmell, Chris Willrich, Sam Sykes

DragonCon 
 
4:00 PM Friday*
Pyr Rising
Room: Regency V (Hyatt)

Rene Sears with Clay & Susan Griffith, Gabrielle Harbowy, E.C. Myers, Mike Resnick, Joel Shepherd


*Since Atlanta is an hour ahead of San Antonio, these two panels will be happening simultaneously.

The Other Man of Steel

Years ago, in a galaxy far far away, I co-wrote and co-directed a short, hopefully but not necessarily comedic, black-box theater in a crack neighborhood in Chicago. The theater was called The Playwrights' Center, it was about a block or two south of the Green Mill, and when we left late at night to catch the L home we'd see the lines of folks cuing up for drugs at the local crack houses. Good times.

There was a young kid named Michael in our plays. He slept on my couch more than once, we've played drinking games, etc... For about six months I directed him in a serialized story called The Cafe with No Name. He played the son of the cafe owner who happened to be bionic.

In one episode--I'd like to think one of the better ones--we had him fight the cafe owner's first born, the Evil Bionic Man (because, you know, that's what bionic people do). We turned on a strobe light and the two bionic people fought in slow motion, making the Steve Austin sound effects themselves, going "nnnna....nnnna....nnnnnaaa....nnnnnaaaa" as they punched each other with agonizing slowness.

It was fun. But it was amateurish, horribly written, best forgotten stuff. We often had more people on stage than in the audience.

But I've always wondered what happened to Michael. He was really talented, maybe the most talented person I worked with.

A few weeks ago, my friend journalist Eric Spitznagel messaged me to say he was interviewing a certain famous, Oscar-nominated actor and did I remember any details about when he acted for us in Chicago.

I looked him up on IMDB. And suddenly the penny dropped.

Eric told me after the interview that it turns out those Chicago days were formative for Michael. It was a time when he was seriously considering leaving acting, and the small, black box work he did renewed his faith in the craft and his ability.

I'm thrilled to see that the person I identified as the most talented really was, and did well by that talent. I'm honored to think I had a hand in keeping him on the path of acting. Mostly though, I'm chuffed that decades before Zack Snyder, I directed Michael Shannon in a super hero battle.

So yeah, it's kind of all my fault.

Here is Eric's interview with General Zod.

GenCon 2013

There's a first time for everything they say, and last week/weekend was my first ever GenCon, the "best four days in gaming," held at the Indiana Convention Center, August 15th to 18th, in Indianapolis, Indiana. I was a participant in the GenCon Writer's Sumposium, but also there as a fan and a curious former (and now I suppose it's time to admit renewed) gamer. My interest in RPGs has been growing over the past few years. I've acquired two shelves worth of new manuals. I count dozens of friends in the RPG industry. Pyr has published an RPG tie-in novel. I'm backing quite a few RPG Kickstarters... It just seemed like a good thing to go and do.

So, I arrived on Wednesday where good friend Howard Andrew Jones (The Desert of Souls, Pathfinder Tales: Plague of Shadows) picked me up at the airport. We checked into the Omni, then checked out the convention center, where we ran into friend James L. Sutter, Fiction Editor at Paizo, and New Friend Wesley Schneider, Paizo Editor-in-Chief. Then it was off to the Old Spaghetti Factory, for the Writer's Symposium dinner, where I got to meet Bradley P. Beaulieu who I've only ever known online, among others. Afterwards was the Diana Jones Award party, where I met Monte Cook, Matt Forbeck, and Wil Wheaton. The night ended in a long discussion in the lobby of the Omni with Paizo Publisher and good friend Erik Mona.

Thursday I had lunch with Wolfgang Baur of Kobold Press, who I've known online for a while but never met face to face. Really good guy, who makes really good game product and publishes some really good How To books (every fantasy author should read the Kobold Guide to Worldbuilding.) Afterwards, I had most of the day to walk the floor, where I met Rick Meints and got to congratulate him on the success of The Guide to Glorantha Kickstarter.

That night, I got to sit down at the table and play an RPG run by Howard Andrew Jones, alongside Saladin Ahmed (Throne of the Crescent Moon), Dave Gross (Pathfinder Tales: Queen of Thorns), Scott Lynch (The Republic of Thieves), and Howard Tayler (Schlock Mercenary: The Sharp End of the Stick,Extraordinary Zoology). My friend and author Joel Shepherd (recently returned from New Delhi) was there was well, as part of a three con tour in support of his just-released 23 Years on Fire. (Joel and I haven't seen each other in the flesh since 2006, so spending so much time together was fantastic.) I also got to spend  a little time with Mary Robinette Kowal, who came in that evening.

Friday things kicked into high gear with four panels on the symposium, starting with back to back 8 and 9am panels! I was on a 2pm "Magic and Mysticism" panel with Brandon Sanderson, when afterwards, Rachel Feld, Director of Retail & Consumer Marketing came up to me. She was the one person I didn't get to meet a few weeks ago when I flew up to NYC a few weeks ago to meet everyone in Sales, Marketing & Publicity working on my book, there with Brandon, and so we were both thrilled to discover the other at GenCon. And Friday night roommates Howard Andrew Jones and Scott Lynch and I, along with Joel Shepherd, got, off-campus to Bosporus Istanbul Cafe, where the stuffed eggplant was incredible!

A word on the Writer's Symposium. I had no idea such an enormous and valuable symposium existed. Over 50 authors took part, including heavy hitters like James Dashner, David Farland, Mercedes Lackey, Patrick Rothfuss, and the aforementioned Sanderson. With over 110 hours of programming and so many talented panelists, I would be surprised if there is a larger and more star-studded genre writers symposium anywhere in the US. Marc Tassin deserves incredible kudos for pulling this off, as does his helper Molly Findley and everyone on his team who worked to make this happen. The symposium has apparently been growing every year. I hope GenCon knows what a valuable side-track they have running! 

Amazingly, the 8 and 9am panels had over 100 attendee (the room held 200 and often looked full) while the afternoon panels sometimes (though not always) had fewer. Marc explained that this is because the game rooms open at 10, so unlike other cons, early morning is prime time here. This about killed me. I lost my voice entirely, but still managed to give my solo "ScripTips" screenwriting for novelist talk on Saturday. I got my voice back for it, but the effort ragged me out completely.

Saturday afternoon I met up with good friends Matt Wilson (Chief Creative Officer, Privateer Press) and Miles Holmes (Gameloft game designer, but look for his Road/Kill Kickstarter coming September 9th!). Then we were joined by John Scalzi (The Human Division) and Liz Smith (Dammit Liz Productions). Then it was off to a dinner with Pierce Watters, Erik Mona, Chris Self from Paizo, Tom Doherty (founder Tor books) and Tom Doherty Jr., and some folks from Margaret Weis Productions. A wonderful time, which finished with Tom Doherty telling me stories about the crazy days of Chicago magazine distribution.

One last night of drinks with the Writer's Symposium, one final Sunday morning panel, one last coffee with Scott Lynch, then Howard Andrew Jones and I rode away into the sunset, though he had to lend me a suitcase to get all the RPG manuals I'd bought home!

You were a great con GenCon. I'll definitely be back! Not sure if I'll be there next year or if it will be the year after. Let me roll for initiative.

PW Children's Bookshelf

I was out of town last week, but as I got on the airplane last Wednesday, I had this nice surprise. My recent good news made Publishers Weekly's Children's Bookshelf newsletter:

Phoebe Yeh has also acquired Frostborn by Lou Anders, book one in a three-book middle grade fantasy adventure series called Thrones and Bones, inspired by Norse myth and folklore. The book introduces Karn, who would rather be playing the board game Thrones and Bones, and Thianna, half-frost giant, half-human, who team up when they are chased by wyverns, a dead Viking sea captain, and a 1200-year-old dragon. Publication is slated for 2014; Joe Monti of the Barry Goldblatt Literary Agency brokered the deal for world English rights.

Deal of the Day at Publishers Marketplace!

News of my recent three book deal was selected as the Deal of the Day at Publishers Marketplace!

Children's: Middle grade: Nebula, World Fantasy, Hugo and Chelsea Award editorial finalist Lou Anders's FROSTBORN, the first in a series beginning with the brave frost giant's daughter who befriends a cunning boy in a land inspired by Norse folklore as they become embroiled against warriors, wyverns, and the past, and FROSTFORGED, to Phoebe Yeh at Crown Children's, in a good deal, in a three-book deal, for publication in August 2014, by Joe Monti at Barry Goldblatt Literary(World English).

Film: Eddie Gamarra at The Gotham Group

I should point out that the credit list isn't quite accurate. I've actually won the Hugo and Chesley awards, but never been nominated for a Nebula (though I have been nominated for a Locus, a PKD, 6 more Hugos, 5 more Chesleys, and 3 WFC awards). Also the title of book two is probably changing. But I am grateful for such good exposure! And deeply grateful to my agent, editor, and publisher.

But if anybody wants to repeat this news (with my thanks!), a more accurate wording would be:

Children's: Middle grade: Hugo and Chelsea Award winning editor/art director Lou Anders's FROSTBORN, the first in a series beginning with the brave frost giant's daughter who befriends a cunning boy in a land inspired by Norse folklore as they become embroiled against warriors, wyverns, and the past, and two sequels, to Phoebe Yeh at Crown Books for Young Readers, in a good deal, in a three-book deal, for publication in August 2014, by Joe Monti at Barry Goldblatt Literary(World English).

Film: Eddie Gamarra at The Gotham Group

Now It Can Be Told...

I've been sitting on some news for a month, not allowed to talk until this press release, and just bursting at the seams. But now I can speak. And so, I'm tickled pink to tell you that...

Drum roll please...

I've sold a book. And not just a book, but three books, to Phoebe Yeh, newly crowned vice president and publisher of Crown Books for Young Readers, a brand new imprint from Random House Children's Books. It's a middle reader fantasy that I'm very proud of, and it kicks off a series. The series is called Thrones and Bones, and the first book is titled Frostborn.

Joe and Lou take Manhattan

Obviously, I'm enormously grateful to my new editor Phoebe, to Barbara Marcus, RHCB president and publisher, and to my agent, the extraordinary Joe Monti. I'm thrilled to be working with them all. Recently, I was in New York City, where I got to sit down with seven people from Random House' sales and marketing departments, and I'm excited to work with them as well and very confident that I am in great hands. And the opportunity to be part of the first list from a brand new, prestigious imprint from the largest publishing house... oh my!

Frostborn is slated for an August 2014 debut. Watch this space, Facebook, and my Twitter account (@LouAnders) for updates.

Convergence 2013

Last weekend, July 4th to 7th, was CONvergence 2013, a convention held in Bloomington, MN that I've been hearing good things about for several years now. I had the privileged of being a Guest of Honor, and the double-thrill of having my good friends John Picacio, Paul Cornell, Melinda Snodgrass, and Charlie Jane Anders all there as Guests of Honor as well!

Attendance at the convention was apparently a record-breaking 6,789 persons, who somehow all fit inside the Double Tree hotel. And not only did they fit - the Double Tree has a large indoor courtyard and attendees rent rooms with patios opening on to it, strip the rooms of furnishings, and convert them into elaborately constructed party palaces. My son loved the Japanese Tea House, so every evening we stopped by for a different tea and biscuits. I probably went through half-a-hundred fruit smoothies at the Space Lounge. And while I didn't sample "Green" nor "Orange" in the Enterprise, I did get to stand on a teleporter and and pose as a communications officer on a Star Trek: TOS set.

It's hard to communicate the energy and enthusiasm at this show--even the
hotel staff are wearing CONvergence t-shirts throughout the weekend - or the friendliness and professionalism of the con. We were all of us very impressed by the opening ceremonies. When I heard I was going to be interviewed by a puppet mascot, I confess to a feeling of dread. Instead, the opening puppet show was of professional puppeteer quality - though how could it not be when Bill Corbett (Crow T. Robot) and Kevin Murphy (Tom Servo) are regular guests? It was a blast. And now my son is in love with robot mascot Connie and her virtual evil twin.

Comic book artist Christopher Jones (Young Justice, The Batman Strikes!) is one of the founders of CONvergence, and kindly drew a unique badge for each one of the attendees. Mine is taking from my 2011 Hugo Award win. I'm 40 lbs heavier in that picture than I am now, but I'm also holding a glowing rocket, so hey. Really, I was just grinning and showing off my badge for hours after they gave it to me. Being animated by such a great artist was really something else. And speaking of something else...

My wrangler Andrew McKay was extraordinaire too, giving us a tour of the Mall of America--which everyone should see once. Actually, the aquarium is quite nice and the mirror maze was fantastic. The roller coasters looked amazing but - alas! - no one in my family does roller coasters but me. Also, I've never been able to sit still for a game at a con - too much to see and do - but my son was very curious about Munchkins and we weren't sure if it was age appropriate, so Andrew rounded up a game and ran one for us. We loved it and Steven Jackson has scored another customer. 

Thursday night John Picacio, his assistant Tara Smith, and I snuck out to a dinner at Republic in downtown Minneapolis, where I had some great fish and chips, grilled vegetables with one of the spiciest habanero peppers I've had in a long while, and a fantastic (and fantastically named) beer called Dragon's Milk, which was rich, thick, and had the sort of bite you'd expect from a beer so called. The bartender was delighted that an appreciative audience had come from so far away and kept sending me free samples of his other wares all night too. Great place, great food and drink, great company. Highly recommended.

The whole weekend was marvelous, especially for being able to spend time with so many friends, the aforementioned guests, as well as Scott Lynch, Elizabeth Bear, new friend Peter Lee (of WotC), and many more. I also got to put faces on some blogger's names and see some folk I haven't seen in a long while.

Huge thanks to Guest Co-Head Tanya Brody, Director Michael Lee, artist in residence and founding member Christopher Jones, my excellent wrangler Andrew McKay, programming head Craig Finseth, Picacio's wrangler Carly Buchanan who also helped me out a time or two and everyone working in front of and behind the scenes who made this such a magnificent time!  You're a great con CONvergence. I hope to come back!

2013 Chesley Award Nominations

The Association of Science Fiction and Fantasy Artists have announced the nominees for the 2013 Chesley Awards. The Chesley Awards were established in 1985 as ASFA's peer awards to recognize individual works and achievements not otherwise recognized by the Hugo Awards, during a given year and are named in honor of famed astronomical artist Chesley Bonestell. This year’s ceremony will take place at the 71st World Science Fiction convention, LoneStarCon 3, in San Antonio, TX, August 29th - September 2nd.

This year, Pyr is delighted to be represented on the ballot five times!

•  2013 Chesley Award for Best Cover Illustration, Paperback, nominee: Dehong He, Lance of Earth and Sky

 

•  2013 Chesley Award for Best Cover Illustration, Paperback, nominee: Todd Lockwood, The Dusk Watchman

 

• 2013 Chesley Award for Best Cover Illustration, Paperback, nominee: John Picacio, The Creative Fire

 

•  2013 Chesley Award for Best Cover Illustration, Hardback, nominee: Sam Weber, Quantum Coin

 

• 2013 Chesley Award for Best Art Director, nominee: Lou Anders

Here is the full list. Congratulations to all the nominees:

Best Cover Illustration: Paperback Book

• Dehong He: Lance of Earth and Sky by Erin Hoffman, Pyr, April 2012
• Todd Lockwood: The Dusk Watchman by Tom Lloyd, Pyr, August 2012
• John Jude Palencar: The Palencar Project edited by David G. Hartwell, Tor ebook, February 2012
• John Picacio: The Creative Fire by Brenda Cooper, Pyr, November 2012
• Elena Vizerskaya: Flying in the Heart of the Lafayette Escadrille by James Van Pelt, Fairwood Press, November 2012

Best Cover Illustration: Hardback Book

• J.K. Drummond: Deadhouse Gates by Steven Erikson, Subterranean Press, March 2012
• Bob Eggleton: Gods of Opar by Philip José Farmer & Christopher Paul Carey, Subterranean Press, June 2012
• Donato Giancola: Range of Ghosts by Elizabeth Bear, Tor, March 2012
• Todd Lockwood: The Wild Road by Jennifer Roberson, DAW, September 2012
• John Picacio: Hyperion by Dan Simmons, Subterranean Press, April 2012
• Sam Weber: Quantum Coin by E. C. Myers, Pyr, October 2012

Best Cover Illustration: Magazine

• Ken Barthelmey: Clarkesworld #74 November 2012
• Julie Dillon: Clarkesworld #73 October 2012
• Bob Eggleton: Famous Masters of Filmland #262 July/August 2012
• Martin Faragasso: Clarkesworld #71 August 2012
• David Palumbo: Creepy #9 Dark Horse, July 2012
• Craig J. Spearing: Dragon #418 December 2012

Best Interior Illustration

• Brom: Krampus by Brom Harper, Voyager, Oct. 2012
• Sam Burley: “Brother. Prince. Snake.” by Cecil Castellucci, Tor.com, July 2012
• J. K. Drummond: Deadhouse Gates by Steven Erikson, Subterranean Press, Mar. 2012
• Bob Eggleton: Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs, MBI/Easton Press, Dec. 2012
• William O'Connor: Dracopedia The Great Dragons: An Artist's Field Guide and Drawing Journal by William O'Connor, Impact, June 2012

Best Monochrome: Unpublished

• Larry Elmore: “By the River,” oil
• Travis Lewis: “Deep,” oil & mixed media
• Joāo Ruas “Sides,” graphite
• Raoul Vitale: “Last of His Kind,” pencil
• Allen Williams: “Fawn,” graphite

Best Color Work: Unpublished

• Julie Bell: “A Passion for the Future,” oil
• Donato Giancola: “Joan of Arc,” oil
• Lucas Graciano: “Guardianship,” oil
• Michael C. Hayes: “Procession,” oil
• Mark Poole: “Waiting on a Memory,” oil
• Soutchay Sougpradith: “Peacock Prophecy,” oil
• Raoul Vitale: “Safe,” oil

Best Three-Dimensional Art

• Dan Chudzinski: “Gus Gets a Jetpack,” mixed
• Michael Defeo: “Octopus,” resin
• David Meng: “Sashimi,” mixed
• Michael Parkes: “Startled Sky Nymph,” half life-size bronze
• James Shoop: “Ramautar,” bronze
• Vincent Villafranca: “Spaceman on the Verge,” bronze
• Cindy Wynn: “Alien Chair,” steel

Best Gaming-Related Illustration

• Lucas Graciano: “Dragon Swarm” (Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Artifacts & Legends) Paizo, October 2012
• D. Alexander Gregory: “Chandra the Firebrand” (2013 Core Set Magic card) WotC, July 2012
• David Palumbo: “Ereshkigal, Death Mistress” (“Legend of the Cryptids”) Applibot Inc., April 2012
• James Ryman: “Princess of the Underworld,” (“Legend of the Cryptids”) Applibot Inc., April 2012
•  Sverlin Velinov: “Thundermaw Hellkite” (2013 Core Set Magic card) Wizards of the Coast, July 2012

Best Product Illustration

• Jim Burns: “The Wanderers” (IlluXCon 5 promotional art) Munchkin Press, November 2012
• Dan Dos Santos: “The Dragon Empress” (Dragon*Con promotional poster) August, 2012
• John Harris: “The Search” (Illuxcon 5 promotional art) Munchkin Press, Nov. 2012
• Iain McCaig: Concept and character design for John Carter, Disney, March 2012
• John Picacio: La Sirena Loteria card 2012

Best Art Director

• Lou Anders for Pyr Books
• Irene Gallo for Tor
• Lauren Panepinto for Orbit Books
• William Schafer for Subterranean Press
• Jon Schindehette for Wizards of the Coast

Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement

• Brom
• Larry Elmore
• David Hardy
•  John Harris
• Gary Lippincott

Sidewise Awards for Alternate History

The judges for the the Sidewise Awards for Alternate History have just announced the short list of finalists for the 2012 Sidewise Award, and Mark Hodder's Expedition to the Mountains of the Moon has made the list. The Sidewise Awards for Alternate History were established in 1995 to recognize the best alternate history stories and novels of the year. The winners will be announced at LoneStarCon 3, the 71st Annual World Science Fiction Convention the weekend of August 30, 2013, in San Antonio. Congratulations to Mark and all the nominees!

Fair Coin wins 2012 Andre Norton Award for Excellence

The Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America, Inc. has announced the recipients of the 2012 Nebula Awards. And...

Drum roll please....

Fair Coin by E.C. Myers, won the 2012 Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction/Fantasy Book this past weekend!

The Nebula Awards® are voted on and presented by the active members of SFWA for outstanding science fiction and fantasy published in 2012. The awards were announced at the Nebula Awards® Banquet held at in San Jose, CA, May 16-20.

Congratulations to E.C. and to all the Nebula winners.

The Best of Spock

First: The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins:



Then: Old Mr. Spock v New Mr. Spock Audi Commercial



Because I need them together in one place.