30 October 2005

Tabloid Witch Awards
The second annual Tabloid Witch Awards for horror films, sponsored by the Hollywood Investigator, were presented on October 11.
Best Horror Feature: Mole
Best Horror Short: Legion
Honorable Mentions: Hollow, Slinky Milk, Cadaverous

Obituary
Artist Keith Parkinson (b.1958) died on October 26 after fighting Leukemia since 2004. Parkinson began his career as an illustrator for TSR and then moved on to do book covers and other art as a freelance artist, as well as work as a game designer. He won the Chesley Award for book covers in 1988 and 1989. In 2002, Parkinson became the art director for Sigil Games Online.

27 October 2005

Pegasus Award
The Pegasus Awards for filk were presented at the Ohio Valley Filk Fest (OVFF) during the weekend of October 21.
Best Filk Song: Rocket Ride, by Tom Smith
Best Classic Filk Song: Never Set the Cat on Fire, by Frank Hayes
Best Performer: Jeff and Maya Bohnhoff
Best Writer/Composer: Tom Smith
Best Space Opera Song: Signy Mallory, by Mercedes Lackey and Leslie Fish
Best Sword and Sorcery Song: Threes, by Mercedes Lackey and Leslie Fish

Geffen Winners
The 2005 Geffen Winners for Science Fiction published in Israel were awarded at Icon in Tel Aviv on October 20. The award is named for Amos Geffen, who died in 1998.
Translated SF book: Childhood's End / Arthur C. Clarke, translated by David Hanoch
Translated Fantasy Book: Transformation / Carol Berg, translated by David Hanoch
Original Hebrew Short Story: The Perfect Girl / Guy Hasson, translated by Vered Tochterman
Original Hebrew Book: End's World / Ofir Touche Gafla

Deutscher Phantastik Preis
The winners of the Deutscher Phantastik Preis for German science fiction, a fan-voted award, were presented on October 22.
Novel: Der Krieg der Zwerge, by Markus Heitz
First Novel: Lycidas, by Christoph Marzi
International Novel: The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower, by Stephen King
Short Story: Quantenmuell, by Andreas Eschbach
Anthology: Der Atem Gottes - Visionen 2004, edited by Helmuth W. Mommers
Series: Perry Rhodan
Non-Fiction: Das Science-Fiction Jahr
Graphic Novel: Spider-Man
Cover Artist: Dirk Schulz
Audio Book: John Sinclair
Homepage: Phantastik-News.de

20 October 2005

PEN Winner
Ursula K. Le Guin's Gifts will receive the PEN Center USA award for Children's Literature and a $1,000 prize on November 9. This is the 8th year for the award, which is given in 10 categories for work produced or published in the preceding calendar year by writers living west of the Mississippi River. In addition to Le Guin, Micheline Aharonian Marcom who will receive the fiction award for The Daydreaming Boy: A Novel; and Gore Vidal for Lifetime Achievement.

Titans History
The 368th and final Titan rocket was launched on October 19 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Titan rockets were introduced in 1959 and stood sixteen stories tall. In the 1960s, they were used to boost Gemini and Apollo capsules into Earth orbit. The final Titan launch from Florida occurred in April.

Obituary
Artist Tom Gill (b.1913) has died of heart failure. Gill became an artist while at the New York Daily News in the 1930s. Beginning in 1948, he began a twenty year run illustrating the comic book The Lone Ranger and other western titles. Gill was a long-time instructor at New York's School of Visual Arts.

17 October 2005

Obituary
Actor Charles Rocket (b.1949) was found dead in a field on October 7 with a slashed throat. Police have since ruled his death a suicide. Rocket did voice work in several video games, including Star Wars: Starfighter. He appeared in genre films "Hocus Pocus" and "Earth Girls Are Easy" as well as television show "Max Headroom." He gained his greatest notoriety as a cast member of "Saturday Night Live" in 1981 when he cursed on air and was fired from the show.

15 October 2005

Clarion Revived
Despite rumors, the Clarion Writers Workshop will return to Michigan Statue University in 2006. Funding for Clarion was cut by the university, however the Clarion Foundation, a 501 (c) (3) corporation, will administer the Workshop in the future. The board includes present and former Clarion teachers, students and associates Kate Wilhelm (chair), James Patrick Kelly (vice chair), Nancy Etchemendy (treasurer), Leslie What (secretary), Walter Jon Williams, Karen Joy Fowler, Kim Stanley Robinson, Kelly Link and Cory Doctorow. Clarion will be held June 26 to August 4, 2006 and instructors will include Samuel R. Delaney, Gardner Dozois, Nancy Kress, Joe and Gay Haldeman and, for the traditional anchor team, Kelly Link and Holly Black.

Publishers & SFWA
The SFWA will hold its annual Publishers' Reception on November 14 at 7:00 at the Society of Illustrators. This event was formerly called Authors and Editors.

12 October 2005

Quill Awards Announced
The first annual Quill Awards were announced. The Quills are a reader's choice award of literature and the sponsors plan to air the ceremony on NBC on October 22.
Children's Chapter Book/Middle Grade: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, by J.K. Rowling, Mary GrandPré (Illustrator)
Young Adult/Teen: Girls in Pants: The Third Summer of the Sisterhood, by Ann Brashares
General Fiction: The Mermaid Chair, by Sue Monk Kidd
Graphic Novel: 1602, by Neil Gaiman, Andy Kubert, Richard Isanove
Mystery/Suspense/Thriller: Eleven on Top, by Janet Evanovich
Romance: 44 Cranberry Point, Debbie Macomber
Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror: The Stupidest Angel: A Heartwarming Tale of Christmas Terror, by Christopher Moore
Debut Author of the Year: The Historian, by Elizabeth Kostova
Book of the Year: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, by J.K. Rowling

China's Second Manned Mission
China launched its second manned mission on October 12. Colonel Fei Junlong, 40, and Colonel Nie Haisheng, 41, because the first taikonauts since 2003. Their mission is scheduled to last five days, as opposed to the previous 21 hour mission. Their Shenzhou VI capsule was launched from the Northwestern Chinese desert.

10 October 2005

Wallace And Gromit Lost
On the weekend when the film "Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit" was the highest grossing film in the US, the Aardman Animations building where all of props and original films for Wallace and Gromit, "Chicken Run" and other films made by the studio, was destroyed by fire. A spokesman for Aardman said the building housed all the props and sets from the company's history, including its "Wallace and Gromit" films. No one was in the building when the fire broke out.

Mythic Delirium Goes On Its Own Way
DNA Publications has announced that Mythic Delirium will no longer be part of the DNA line of magazines and will instead be edited and published by original owners Anita and Mike Allen. The change will take place with issue 13.

Cryosat Crash
The Cryosat spacecraft, launched by the European Space Agency to study global warming crashed into the Arctic minutes after its launch. The craft was launched from atop a Russian Rockot. Russian has formed a commission to determine the cause of the failure.

Sunburst Award
The 2005 Sunburst Award was presented to Geoff Ryman for his novel Air. The Sunburst Award is given for Canadian Literature of the Fantastic and carries a Can$1,000 prize and a medallion.

Norton Award
The 2005 Norton Award, presented for extraordinary invention and creativity unhindered by the restraints of paltry reason, were given to Jack Vance for Ports of Call and Lurulu and Grania Davis for her efforts to preserve the legacy of Avram Davidson and for her own writings.

Tähtivaeltaja Award
M. John Harrison's novel Light won the Tähtivaeltaja Award for best science fiction published in Finland during 2004. The novel was translated as Valo by Hannu Tervaharju.

Obituaries
Fan Giles Hart (b.1950) was killed during the London terrorist bombings on July 7 while riding on a bus in Tavistock Square. Hart was scheduled to speak on the "Lesser Known Works of Lewis Carroll" later in the day. Following his death, Hart received the Knights Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland for his services to democracy. Hart had been a strong supporter of Solidarity in the 1980s. He was also the chairman of the H.G. Wells Society.

Vladimir Volkoff (b.1932) died on September 13 at his home in Perigord, France. Best known for writing spy thrillers, Volkoff received the Jules Verne Award in 1963 for his novel Metro pour L'enfer (Subway to Hell). Volkoff was born in Paris to Russian émigré parents.

Actress Constance Moore (b.1920) died in Los Angeles on September 16 of heart failure. Moore made her screen debut in 1937 and two years later appeared as Wilma Deering opposite Buster Crabbe in "Buck Rogers." She reprised the role in 1953 in the film "Planet Outlaws."

Author Helen Cresswell (b.1934) died on September 26 at her home in Eakring, England, from cancer. Cresswell is perhaps best known for her Lizzie Drippings books, which were turned into a British television series. She wrote numerous other fantasy books for children as well and received the Phoenix Award for The Night Watchmen and the BAFTA Children's Writer Award.

Fan Barry Bard of Arizona died on October 7. Bard was active in running Phoenix conventions, often serving as procurement officer. Until recently, he was Comic Con International's Freebie Coordinator.

7 October 2005

Serenity Opening On-Line
Universal Studios has made the opening nine minutes of the film Serenity available for streaming video on the internet at http://video.vividas.com/CDN1/3929_Serenity/web/index.html. Serenity, a sequel to Joss Whedon's short-lived television series "Firefly" opened in theaters on September 30.

Obituaries
Director Richard E. Cunha (b.1922) died on September 18 of complications following heart surgery. Cunha was active for less than ten years in the late fifties and sixties, during which time he directed "She Demons," "Giant from the Unknown," "Missile to the Moon," and "Frankenstein's Daughter."

Jerry Juhl (b.1938) died on September 27 from cancer. Juhl was the head writer on "The Muppet Show" and wrote most of the Muppet feature films, as well as the Muppet's work on "Sesame Street" and "Fraggle Rock."

6 October 2005

G.P. Taylor Talk Cut Short
A school talk being given by children's author G.P. Taylor (Shadowmancer) was cut short after Taylor informed the students he was talking to that "As for Harry Potter, well, he's not the only gay in the village." Taylor, who is a priest, explained his comment was a reference to a television show "Little Britain" and was not meant to offend anyone.

SpaceShipOne to Smithsonian
Burt Rutan and Paul Allen have donated SpaceShipOne, the first private craft to fly into space, to the Smithsonian Institution. The craft hangs in the main hall of the Air and Space Museum in Washington along side the Spirit of Saint Louis and the Bell X-1 in the Icons of Flight exhibit.

New Fantasy Magazine
Prime Publishing has announced the launch of a new fantasy magazine entitled Fantasy Magazine. The new magazine, which will debut at World Fantasy Con, will be edited by Sean Wallace. The magazine will retail for $4.95. The debut issue will feature fiction by Jeff VanderMeer, Vera Nazarian, Holly Phillips, Tim Pratt, and others. Paula Guran is the magazine's review editor.

Second Annual 90th Birthday Party
A second annual ninetieth birthday party for fan/author Wilson Tucker is scheduled to be held in Bloomington, Illinois on Saturday, November 26. The party, which is open to about 30 people, will be held at Ming's Restaurant from 5-7pm. Reservations should be made to Roger Tener or Keith Stokes.

5 October 2005

British Fantasy Awards
The winners of the British Fantasy Awards were announced at Fantasycon on October 2.
Karl Edward Wargner Award for Special Achievement: Nigel Kneale, creator of Quatermass
Best Small Press: Elastic Press
Best Artist: Les Edwards
Best Anthology: The Alsiso Project, edited by Andrew Hook
Best Collection: Out of His Mind, by Stephen Gallagher
Best Short Story: "Black Static," by Paul Meloy
Best Novella: Breath, by Christopher Fowler
Best Novel (The August Derleth Fantasy Award): The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower, by Stephen King

Obituary
Actor Hamilton Camp (b.1934) died on October 2. Camp provided voice work for numerous science fiction series and video games. He also appeared on Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek Deep Space Nine, as Leck in multiple episodes of the latter. Camp portrayed H.G. Wells in two episodes of Lois and Clark. He began acting in the 1946 film Bedlam. He was also part of the folk duo Gibson and Camp an was a founder of the Committee, a satirical comedy troupe in San Francisco.

4 October 2005

Obituaries
Nipsey Russell (b.1924) died on October 2 after a bout of cancer. Russell appeared as the Tinman in the 1978 film "The Wiz," a version of L. Frank Baum's The Wizard of Oz. Although Russell only made a handful of films, he was active on Broadway and appeared on numerous gameshows, notably Match Game and Hollywood Squares.

Author Charles Harness (b.1915) is reported to have died on September 20th. Harness's works include The Paradox Men, The Ring of Ritornel and "The Rose." Harness worked as a patent attorney for more than thirty-five years, only publishing SF sporadically.

3 October 2005

Moon Discovered
The same team of scientists who discovered 2003 UB₃₁₃, a trans Neptunian object believed to be larger than Pluto, have now announced their subsequent discovery of a moon in orbit around the object. The scientists, who gave the original object the unofficial nickname Xena, have given a similarly unofficial nickname of Gabrielle, to the moon. The discovery of the moon will likely alter the believed mass of "Xena" downward.

SMOFCon Scholarships
The Seattle Westercon Organizing Committee (SWOC) has announced that it is sponsoring two scholarships to the 2005 SMOFCon to be held in Portland, OR. These scholarships will consist of a membership to the convention plus a $200 stipend to help cover such expenses as hotel, travel and food. Anyone who is on a convention committee is eligible to apply, except the current SWOC Board of Directors and their relatives. Applicants from the Pacific Northwest will be given first preference.

Aeon Award
The winner of the first Aeon Award short fiction contest 2005 was announced during the World Science Fiction Convention in Glasgow. The Award, including a €1000 euro prize was presented to Julian West, for his story, "My Marriage." Ian Watson selected the winner from a short list of six stories selected by a panel of judges.