Josh and I are hard at work on turning Worldcon news and interviews into articles for the SF/F focus issue of PW (September 10! Mark your calendars!) but here’s some breaking news for you in the meantime.
Worldcon-related:
- The Hugo Awards results, of course.
- During Neil Gaiman’s acceptance speech for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form (for his Doctor Who episode “The Doctor’s Wife”), he let it slip that he’s on the third draft of another Doctor Who script. Cue much squeeing.
- …except from those people who couldn’t see his speech because Ustream cut off the awards ceremony webcast, citing copyright violation. That would presumably be because the broadcast included clips of the Best Dramatic Presentation nominees; the clips had been provided by the studios and were used and streamed legally, but that didn’t stop some DRM-hound program from blocking the transmission. Cue much outrage.
- The London in 2014 team won its unopposed bid to host the 2014 Worldcon, which will be called Loncon 3 and already has a sterling line-up of honored guests. Josh and I promptly upgraded from “friend of the bid” to full membership. I have so far dodged all attempts to get me to volunteer, though I did offer to make myself available as a consultant on programming matters. That’s totally different from volunteering, right? Anyway, I expect it will be an excellent convention and I’m really looking forward to it.
- The 2015 bid is hotly contested by Orlando, Spokane, and Helsinki, plus a Phoenix AZ bid for
the 2015 NASFiC if Helsinki gets the Worldconthe 2014 NASFiC. (Apologies for the error.) - LoneStarCon 3, the 2013 Worldcon in San Antonio TX, has announced that it will have a Spanish-language programming track–presumably not just about Spanish-language work but actually conducted in Spanish. That would be very exciting.
Publishing news:
- Harper Voyager is “actively seeking new authors with fresh voices, strong storytelling abilities, original ideas and compelling storylines” to submit manuscripts for consideration for a new digital-first line. Submissions will be open for two weeks only, October 1–14, at www.harpervoyagersubmissions.com (link not live because the site isn’t up yet). Distribution for accepted, published titles will be worldwide (world English rights). Executive Editor Diana Gill says they’re looking for “novels, novellas, short stories, interstitials.” Get those manuscripts polished up!
- Patty Garcia of Tor Books tells me that Harry Harrison turned in the manuscript of his memoirs just two weeks before his death in August. “We had originally scheduled it for spring but we are trying to move it into late fall,” she says.
- A source I cannot name informs me that Jim Butcher is supposedly about to turn in the manuscript for Cold Days, the 14th Dresden Files novel, currently slated for a November 27 release. The series pub dates have been creeping later for a while, from a year-long gap between volumes to nearly a year and a half since Ghost Story came out last July. Fans will be very relieved to see this one hit the shelves.
Speaking of the Dresden Files, I’ve been quite enjoying getting to walk around Chicago, but it is a little disappointing to encounter neither mobsters nor monsters. Any suggestions for Dresden-related landmarks to visit before we head home?
The obvious landmark is presumably Sue at the Field Museum. You might also enjoy the discussion at http://chicago.straightdope.com/sdc20090319.php .
A few Twitter users have whipped up a few suggestions for a Dresden-themed Chicago tour. Check your @ replies.
Awesome, thank you!
There’s also this: http://goo.gl/maps/8BXfq Which is all kinds of cool.
Not to be annoying, but the link to http://www.harpervoyagersubmissions.com seems to be broken, and I can’t get it to work. When I just put in the URL, it takes me to GoDaddy.
Speaking of “NASFIC in case of Helsinki in 2015″, is there a “NASFIC in light of London in 2014″?
(Also the Harper Voyager submissions link is /broken instead of http://working.)
And, er, actually, http://www.harpervoyagersubmissions.com/ is some kind of GoDaddy parking page.
There is a NASFiC bid in case of Helsinki: Houston. The Phoenix NASFiC (still a bid until next year) is a week away from Loncon 3.
Avon/HarperCollins Impulse is a romance imprint. More info at the Avon Romance web site link.
But where romance goes can SF/F be far behind?
“The 2015 bid is hotly contested by Orlando, Spokane, and Helsinki, plus a Phoenix AZ bid for the 2015 NASFiC if Helsinki gets the Worldcon.”
The Phoenix bid is for 2014 – the year of LonCon 3:
http://www.leprecon.org/phoenixin2014/2011/08/01/phoenixin2014/
Amusingly, if Helsinki were to win the right to host the Worldcon the members of LonCon 3 would be deciding a 2015 NASFiC.
Thanks for the correction!
In the madness & craziness & late night parties & all-around fun of a Worldcon … notes some times become indecipherable.
That Harper Voyager link is coming up bad…
The Phoenix NASFIC bid is for 2014, when the Worldcon will be in London. That will be voted on next year in Texas. There are some people talking about a 2015 NASFIC bid that I know of, but I don’t know if anything has been officially announced.
Caught up on your sleep yet?!
Erh, how come when I include a link in a message my comment disappears into The Abyss – without even an automatic “You have submitted” msg?
I have no idea! I don’t see it in my “pending comments” list, but other comments with URLs are showing up fine. Maybe there was just a browser glitch.
Isn’t it time for a NASFIC in Cuba?
Feel free to start a bid!
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