The Haunting of SFWA House – Halloween Costume Party
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Author Archive
Announcing the Narrative Worlds Webinar Series!
Dear 2020 Nebula Conference Online Attendee,
We are pleased to announce a new webinar series as part of your registration for the ongoing 2020 SFWA Nebula Conference Online!
On Sunday, October 11, at 1:00 pm Pacific Time, Narrative Worlds will premiere, and you are invited to take part at the Nebula event website: events.sfwa.org. Log in just as you did during the Nebula conference in May, and settle in for a great webinar with host Kate Elliott. Live chat discussion will be rolling along with the vidcast!
This monthly Sunday series will dig into the idea of narrative worlds and the theory and practice of building the worlds in which stories are set. Rather than focusing on a survey of basics like “What elements do you need to create a setting?” your host will discuss a specific single topic in more depth each month with a guest. Topics will include technology, language, power, cosmology, use of details, agriculture, material culture, social space, and more.
The first Narrative Worlds guest will be Tade Thompson! Tade and Kate will discuss How Much Worldbuilding is Too Much? How Little is Too Little? Upcoming guests include Zen Cho, Ken Liu, Nilah Magruder, Aliette de Bodard, Rebecca Roanhorse, and N.K. Jemisin!
A videocast offers a format that can reach as many people as possible. The live vidcast is scheduled to fit a spread of time zones:
6 am Sydney, Australia / 1 pm PT USA / 2 pm MT USA / 3 pm CT USA/ 4 pm ET USA / 5 pm Rio de Janeiro / 8 pm Dakar / 9 pm UK / 10 pm Western Europe
It will also be recorded and available afterward at the event website for viewing at your leisure, or if you were asleep in Australia or Singapore or Mumbai—sorry about that! It’s the fault of the world being round.
The general outline of the one hour videocast will be an introduction, forty minutes of dialogue, and 15 minutes of Q&A, if needed. This is not a class or a workshop. There will probably not be power points or illustrations, unless a guest wants to bring something along to share, and there will likely not be practice exercises on offer, although it’s possible worldbuilding exercises may be suggested now and then.
We hope you will join us, and don’t forget that our weekly Sunday writing dates are also ongoing! Indeed, on 10/11, you can roll right into one after Narrative Worlds premieres—that should be inspirational for you! Here are the next two dates and hosts:
- – October 4: Zoraida Córdova, award-winning author of the Brooklyn Brujas series.
- – October 11: Jeffe Kennedy, award-winning author of the Uncharted Realms and the Twelve Kingdoms series, and a SFWA Board member.
- – October 18: Mary Robinette Kowal, award-winning author of the Lady Astronaut series, and SFWA President.
All Nebula writing dates take place Sundays at 2:00 pm P.T. Upcoming dates for Narrative Worlds are November 15, December 20, January 17, February 21, March 21, and April 18. Mark your calendars!
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KATE ELLIOTT’s most recent novel is Unconquerable Sun, gender spun Alexander the Great in space. She is best known for her Crown of Stars epic fantasy series, the Afro-Celtic post-Roman alt-history fantasy (with lawyer dinosaurs) Cold Magic, and YA fantasy Court of Fives. Her particular focus is immersive world building and centering women in epic stories of adventure and transformative cultural change. She lives in Hawaii, where she paddles outrigger canoes and spoils her schnauzer. You can find her online at kateelliott.substack.com and @KateElliottSFF on Twitter.
Announcing the Winners of the 55th Annual SFWA Nebula Awards®
Elevation, Connection, Celebration
The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA, Inc.) is pleased to announce the winners of the 55th Annual SFWA Nebula Awards.
Originally scheduled to take place in Woodland Hills, California, a decision was made to create a virtual conference in light of the coronavirus pandemic. Aboard the virtual flagship zeppelin, The Nebula, on Saturday, May 30, 2020, Toastmaster Aydrea Walden presided over the award ceremony which featured a star-studded lineup of science fiction and fantasy luminaries as presenters.
Novel
✬ A Song for a New Day, Sarah Pinsker (Berkley)
Novella
✬ This Is How You Lose the Time War, Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone (Saga; Jo Fletcher)
Novelette
✬ Carpe Glitter, Cat Rambo (Meerkat)
Short Story
✬ “Give the Family My Love”, A.T. Greenblatt (Clarkesworld Magazine 2/19)
Ray Bradbury Nebula Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation
✬ Good Omens: “Hard Times”, Neil Gaiman (Amazon Studios/BBC Studios)
Andre Norton Nebula Award for Middle Grade and Young Adult Fiction
✬ Riverland, Fran Wilde (Amulet)
Best Game Writing
✬ The Outer Worlds, Leonard Boyarsky, Kate Dollarhyde, Paul Kirsch, Chris L’Etoile, Daniel McPhee, Carrie Patel, Nitai Poddar, Marc Soskin, Megan Starks (Obsidian Entertainment)
Additional awards and honors presented that evening included the SFWA Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award, presented to Lois McMaster Bujold, the Kate Wilhelm Solstice Award, presented to both John Picacio and David Gaughran, and the Kevin J. O’Donnell, Jr., Service to SFWA Award, presented to Julia Rios.
Presenters joined virtually from around the country, including Sam Weller, Sarah Pinsker, Rebecca Roanhorse, Lillian Stewart Carl, Greg Bear, George R.R. Martin, Jeffe Kennedy, LeVar Burton, Sarah Gailey, Whitney “Strix” Beltrán, and Charlie Jane Anders. Additionally, Ambassador Carol Moseley Braun addressed the festivities with a message for the Nebula audience.
For a full list of nominees and winners, click here.
About the Nebulas
The Nebula Awards® are voted on, and presented by, full members of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Inc. Founded as the Science Fiction Writers of America in 1965 by Damon Knight, the organization began with a charter membership of 78 writers; it now has more than 2000 members, among them many of the leading writers of science fiction and fantasy.
Since 1965, the Nebula Awards® have been given each year for the best novel, novella, novelette, and short story eligible for that year’s award. The Ray Bradbury Nebula Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation was added in 2000, followed by the Andre Norton Nebula Award for Middle Grade and Young Adult Fiction in 2005, and the Nebula Award for Best Game Writing in 2018. An anthology including the winning pieces of short fiction and several runners-up is also published every year.
SFWA’s Nebula Awards® Ceremony in Virtual Reality from Oculus This Saturday
For Immediate Release
May 29, 2020
For More Information
Kevin Lampe (312) 617-7280
kevin@kurthlampe.com
BREAKING NEWS
Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America’s (SFWA) 2020 Nebula Awards Ceremony will be available in Virtual Reality (VR) for the first time this Saturday, May 30, 2020, at 5 PM PDT/8 PM EDT/midnight UTC. SFWA will welcome their newest Grand Master, Lois McMaster Bujold, and reveal the winners of this year’s Nebula Awards.
“We are excited about exploring VR Events with Oculus and look forward to what the future holds,” said Mary Robinette Kowal, SFWA President.
Please visit https://www.oculus.com/experiences/event/628499264406152/ for details about viewing the ceremony in VR.
About the Nebulas
The Nebula Awards® are voted on, and presented by, full members of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Inc. Founded as the Science Fiction Writers of America in 1965 by Damon Knight, the organization began with a charter membership of 78 writers; it now has more than 2000 members, among them many of the leading writers of science fiction and fantasy.
Since 1965, the Nebula Awards® have been given each year for the best novel, novella, novelette, and short story eligible for that year’s award. The Ray Bradbury Nebula Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation was added in 2000, followed by the Andre Norton Nebula Award for Middle Grade and Young Adult Fiction in 2005, and the Nebula Award for Best Game Writing in 2018. An anthology including the winning pieces of short fiction and several runners-up is also published every year.
Nebula Conference scholarships deadline May 28
Great news & please share! We have 50 scholarships available for people of marginalized backgrounds to attend the #Nebulas2020 conference this weekend! Apply by 6pm PDT, May 28, when we will be randomly awarding them from the applicants. Apply here.
Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America’s 2020 Nebula Award Finalists
THREE DAYS OF ONLINE VIDEO PANELS WITH REAL-TIME INTERACTION
MAY 29 – 31
SFWA’s 2020 Nebula Awards® will be one of the highlights of the SFWA Nebula Conference. This year’s conference is transforming into an entirely virtual conference. It will be presented live and in interactive form from May 29th-31st. The innovative program will convey the essence of the in-person Nebula Conference, albeit in an all-online format due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “The Nebula Awards Ceremony will be seen live online by people around the globe,” said Mary Robinette Kowal, SFWA President. “While the circumstances are difficult, we’re excited that the conference is more accessible than when in a physical location.”
As part of the celebration of the Nebula Award winners, SFWA has partnered with audio-first entertainment studio Podium Audio to adapt, produce and distribute its 55th Nebula Awards Showcase Anthology, edited by Cat Valente, in audio format. A top publisher of science-fiction and fantasy audiobooks, Podium Audio is on the forefront of discovering new authors and voice artists from the U.S. and around the world.
“Since the publication of the first Nebula anthology in 1966, the yearly collection has only been available in print. Expanding into the world of audiobooks offers new opportunities for expression and outreach,” says Kowal. “We’re delighted to partner with the innovative and experienced team at Podium Audio.”
There are multiple writing categories and their respective finalists for the 2020 Nebula Awards listed below and, of course, the Nebula Awards ceremony itself will stream live at 8 pm Eastern on May 30th.
Please visit https://nebulas.sfwa.org for the latest details.
2020 Nebula Awards Categories and Finalists:
Best Novel
Marque of Caine by Charles E. Gannon,
The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow
A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine
Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
A Song for a New Day by Sarah Pinsker
Best Novella
“Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom” by Ted Chiang
The Haunting of Tram Car 015 by P. Djèlí Clark
This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
Her Silhouette, Drawn in Water by Vylar Kaftan
The Deep by Rivers Solomon, Daveed Diggs, William Hutson, and Jonathan Snipes
Catfish Lullaby by A C Wise
Best Novelette
“A Strange Uncertain Light” by G. V. Anderson
“For He Can Creep” by Siobhan Carroll
“His Footsteps, Through Darkness and Light” by Mimi Mondal
“The Blur in the Corner of Your Eye” by Sarah Pinsker
Carpe Glitter by Cat Rambo
“The Archronology of Love” by Caroline M. Yoachim
Best Short Story
“Give the Family My Love” by A. T. Greenblatt
“The Dead, In Their Uncontrollable Power” by Karen Osborne
“And Now His Lordship Is Laughing” by Shiv Ramdas
“Ten Excerpts from an Annotated Bibliography on the Cannibal Women of Ratnabar Island” by Nibedita Sen
“A Catalog of Storms” by Fran Wilde
“How the Trick Is Done” by A C Wise
Ray Bradbury Nebula Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation
Captain Marvel written by Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck, and Geneva Robertson-Dworet (Marvel Studios)
The Mandalorian: “The Child”, Jon Favreau (Disney+) written by Jon Favreau (Disney+)
Good Omens: “Hard Times” written by Neil Gaiman (Amazon Studios and BBC Studios)
Watchmen: “A God Walks into Abar” written by Jeff Jensen and Damon Lindelof (HBO)
Avengers: Endgame written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely (Marvel Studios)
Russian Doll: “The Way Out” written by Allison Silverman and Leslye Headland (Netflix)
Andre Norton Nebula Award for Middle Grade and Young Adult Fiction
Cog by Greg van Eekhout, published by HarperCollins
Sal and Gabi Break the Universe by Carlos Hernandez
Catfishing on CatNet by Naomi Kritzer
Dragon Pearl by Yoon Ha Lee
Peasprout Chen: Battle of Champions by Henry Lien
Riverland by Fran Wilde
Best Game Writing
Outer Wilds by Kelsey Beachum, published by Mobius Digital
The Outer Worlds by Leonard Boyarsky, Kate Dollarhyde, Paul Kirsch, Chris L’Etoile, Daniel McPhee, Carrie Patel, Nitai Poddar, Marc Soskin, and Megan Starks
The Magician’s Workshop by Kate Heartfield
Disco Elysium by Robert Kurvitz
Fate Accessibility Toolkit by Elsa Sjunneson-Henry, Jess Banks, Laurel Bell, C.D. “Casey” Casas, Lillian Cohen-Moore, Brian Engard, Philippe-Antoine Ménard, Clark Valentine, Mysty Vander, and Zeph Wibby
About the Nebulas
The Nebula Awards® are voted on, and presented by, full members of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Inc. Founded as the Science Fiction Writers of America in 1965 by Damon Knight, the organization began with a charter membership of 78 writers; it now has more than 2000 members, among them many of the leading writers of science fiction and fantasy.
Since 1965, the Nebula Awards® have been given each year for the best novel, novella, novelette, and short story eligible for that year’s award. The Ray Bradbury Nebula Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation was added in 2000, followed by the Andre Norton Nebula Award for Middle Grade and Young Adult Fiction in 2005, and the Nebula Award for Best Game Writing in 2018. An anthology including the winning pieces of short fiction and several runners-up is also published every year.
About Podium Audio
Podium Audio is an audio-first entertainment studio that finances, develops, produces, and distributes immersive audio content. It gained international notice for turning unknown author Andy Weir’s e-book The Martian into the most successful audiobook in the world. Podium Audio remains at the forefront of discovering new literary and voice talent, focused on supporting, nurturing, and discovering independent authors and narrators from the U.S. and around the world. It is an industry leader in the audiobook genres of Science Fiction and Fantasy and a pioneer in bringing the popular Science Fiction sub-genres of GameLit, LitRPG, Wuxia, and Asian fantasy to the fore. Additionally, Podium publishes mystery/thriller, young adult, romance, and non-fiction genres.
Top-selling authors who have partnered with Podium for multiple long-term agreements include Craig Alanson (Expeditionary Force), Andrew Rowe (Arcane Ascension), Lindsay Buroker (Star Kingdom) and Game-Lit Pioneer Harmon Cooper (Death’s Mantle) as well as fan-favorite voice performers R.C. Bray (Expeditionary Force, The Martian), Luke Daniels (Ascend Online), Andrea Parsneau (Death’s Mantle) and Nick Podehl (A Pattern of Shadow and Light). www.podiumaudio.com.
Watch the 55th Nebula Awards® Finalist Reception
Finalist Reception takes off Saturday!
Nebula Showcase anthologies now at SFWA Book Depot
Great news! In addition to the Nebula-nominated books and books by attendees, all recent Nebula Awards® Showcases are now available in the SFWA Book Depot. Great collections include all the Nebula award winning stories 2015-2019. Collect them all!
The SFWA Nebula Conference Online Website Is Now Live!
Elevation, Connection, Celebration
We are excited to announce that the new SFWA Nebula Conference Online website is live! The re-imagined conference, complete with an artistic redesign of SFWA’s logos and spaces is now open for registration. Please visit us at events.sfwa.org to secure your spot. Space is limited this year, so don’t miss out.
What is the SFWA Nebula Conference Online?
Taking place on May 29th – 31st, 2020, and focusing on content relevant to professionals in the genre, attendees will be able to choose from career management, professional development, and expert knowledge panels and workshops. The event will also include solo presentations, conference mentorships, forums, chats, and virtual room parties (including a dance party hosted by John Scalzi). We will also be hosting the Nebula Awards ceremony on Saturday night, May 31st, to celebrate all that this community continues to offer.
A note: You do not need to be a member of SFWA to attend. We encourage anyone with a connection to the field to join us.
Want to showcase both your support for the organization and your brand/works during the conference? Please visit our sponsorships page to see current opportunities here.