Lakeshore

Apropos of nothing in particular, as of this year, exactly 150 people have been nominated for the Campbell Award.

36 have won (including a tie in 1974, the award's second year). Presumably that number will be 37 after Denvention.

14 of those 36 have won in their second year of nomination (as distinct from second year of eligibility), though 45 writers have been nominated twice.

Just in case you were wondering.

Congratulations to this year's Nebula winners!

Matt Staggs with a nice review of Mainspring [ Powell's | Amazon thb | Audible ] — Which will be released this week in a handy mass market paperback edition [ Amazon mmpb ], I am pleased to say,

Roly poly fish heads at Nuevo Rancho Lake

The Galactic Center Radio Arc — More APOD awesomeness.

McCain uses wife's jet — The Straight Talk Express flies again. Wait, I thought he was flying coach? And just for the record, I'm perfectly clear on how high net worth individuals of both major parties self-fund and self-support their campaigns. The point here is the irony of McCain's continuing free pass from the press on the mismatch between his words and his deeds. Or even his words and reality in general, as evidenced by his repeated major misstatements on Iran. Strongly reminiscent of Bush's treatment during the 2000 election. (Snurched from around the liberal blogosphere.)

Florida conservatives, on gay marriage: "This is a tremendous social crisis, greater even than the issue of slavery." — I'd usually say it's so cute what conservatives believe, but that isn't remotely cute. It's psychotic.

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4/27/08
Time in saddle: 0 minutes (rest day)
Last night's weigh-out: n/a
This morning's weigh-in: n/a
Currently reading: (between books)

Per the Sidewise Awards site (and related email):

Best Short Form:

• Elizabeth Bear, "Les Innocents/Lumiere" (in New Amsterdam, Subterranean Press)


• Michael Flynn, "Quaestiones Super Caelo Et Mundo" (in Analog, 7/07)


• Matthew Johnson, "Public Safety" (in Asimov's, 3/07)


• Jess Nevins, "An Alternate History of Chinese Science Fiction" (in No Fear of the Future, May 17, 2007)


• Chris Roberson, "Metal Dragon Year" (in Interzone, 12/07)


• Kristine Kathryn Rusch, "Recovering Apollo 8" (in Asimov's, 2/07)


• John Scalzi, "Missives from Possible Futures #1: Alternate History Search Results" (in Subterranean Magazine, Winter 2007)

Best Long Form:

• Michael Chabon, The Yiddish Policemen's Union (HarperCollins)


• Robert Conroy, 1945: A Novel (Ballantine Books)


• Mary Gentle, Ilario (The Lion's Eye and The Stone Golem) (Eos)


• Jay Lake, Mainspring (Tor Books)


• Sophia McDougall, Rome Burning (Orion)


• Jo Walton, Ha'penny (Tor Books)

book_pimp on Escapement [ Amazon ] — Also some love there for timpratt's If There Were Wolves [ Amazon ]

Some of the reviews are out for Paper Cities — That one is very worth checking out.

Breakfast for Barry — A Hugo campaign of a reasonable sort. Check it out, give it consideration.

muneraven gets into an argument about the Hugos — Despite a certain amount of crabbiness all around, the comment thread is highly informative concerning the machinery of Hugo-dom, if you care about that sort of thing. Good on muneraven and kevinstandlee for having an interesting discussion.

The perils of Craigslist — This is just bizarre. Someone gave away a man's belongings on Craiglist. (Thanks to lillypond.)

Higgs bosons are us — CERN goes god hunting.

Weather Engineering China — Olympic sized ambitions.

Spirit, seen from space

NASA funding cut for Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity will shut them down at least temporarily — This will save NASA $4 million dollars. To put this in perspective, $4 million funds about 15 minutes of the Iraq War. Gosh, I feel safer already.

California requires certification for home schoolers — I have strong (and unpopular) views on home schooling, but I can see why this makes a lot of people on all sides of the fence uncomfortable.

McCain's free ride from the press — It's like Bush in 2000 all over again. Your Liberal Media, hard at work distorting the truth for the benefit of conservatives.

Caption contest voting poll is still open — Vote early, vote often!

2008 Hugo Ballot announced — Congratulations to everybody involved!

This just in: ID types stupid and dumb — I suppose that's what happens when you pretend to the intellectually indefensible.

Unnamed Methane Sea on Titan — Mmmm.

Two Fired for Viewing Obama Passport File — The timing of the incidents is very curious.

Congratulations to everyone on the 2008 Hugo ballot! See all of you at Denvention, I hope.

pnh with the true adventures of tor.com

scalzi is nice about Escapement [ Amazon ]

ericjamesstone answers one of my minor but important wishes — He points us to this compact combo power strip and USB charger. Now if the darned thing would only come into shipping availability.

Living in the shadow of Chernobyl — (Thanks to RadCon Bob.)

The Locus poll is up — Go vote. I'm on there in three places, if'n you like my stuff. You do not have to be a current subscriber to participate. (Thanks to lasirenadolce.)

Language Log on sounds, meaning and ideophonics

In Praise of Ancient Light — Centauri Dreams on the very early and true history of the Universe. (Or God's careful deceptions regarding same, if you happen to be a Creationist.)

Constructing 3D models from a single photo

Adaptable Polymer Inspired by Sea Cucumbers — That must be at least the headline of the month.

"Malling-Hansen Writing Ball," 1867 — :: wants ::
I actually describe one of these in the Flowers books. Lord Mayor Imago has one in his office in the Rugmaker's Cupola. (Thanks to scarlettina.)

Novels
Odyssey - McDevitt, Jack (Ace, Nov06)
The Accidental Time Machine - Haldeman, Joe (Ace, Aug07)
The Yiddish Policemen's Union - Chabon, Michael (HarperCollins, May07)
The New Moon's Arms - Hopkinson, Nalo (Warner Books, Feb07)
Ragamuffin - Buckell, Tobias (Tor, Jun07)

Novellas
Kiosk - Sterling, Bruce (F&SF, Jan07)
Memorare - Wolfe, Gene (F&SF, Apr07)
Awakening - Berman, Judith (Black Gate 10, Spr07)
Stars Seen Through Stone - Shepard, Lucius (F&SF, Jul07)
The Helper and His Hero - Hughes, Matt (F&SF, Feb07 & Mar07)
Fountain of Age - Kress, Nancy (Asimov's, Jul07)

Novelettes
The Fiddler of Bayou Teche - Sherman, Delia (Coyote Road, Trickster Tales, Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling, Ed., Viking Juvenile, Jul07)
Pol Pot's Beautiful Daughter - Ryman, Geoff (F&SF, Nov06)
The Evolution of Trickster Stories Among the Dogs Of North Park After the Change - Johnson, Kij (Coyote Road, Trickster Tales, Ellen Datlow and Terri
Windling, Ed., Viking Juvenile, Jul07)
Safeguard - Kress, Nancy (Asimov's, Jan07)
The Children's Crusade - Bailey, Robin Wayne (Heroes in Training, Martin H. Greenberg and Jim C. Hines, Ed., DAW, Sep07)
The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate - Chiang, Ted (F&SF, Sep07)
Child, Maiden, Mother, Crone - Bramlett, Terry (Jim Baen's Universe 7, June 2007)

Short Stories
Unique Chicken Goes In Reverse - Duncan, Andy (Eclipse 1: New Science Fiction And Fantasy, Jonathan Strahan, Ed., Night Shade Books, Oct07)
Titanium Mike Saves the Day - Levine, David D. (F&SF, Apr07)
Captive Girl - Pelland, Jennifer (Helix: A Speculative Fiction Quarterly, WS & LWE, Ed., Oct06 (Fall06 issue -- #2))
Always - Fowler, Karen Joy (Asimov's, May07 (Apr/May07 issue))
Pride - Turzillo, Mary (Fast Forward 1, Pyr, February 2007)
The Story of Love - Nazarian, Vera (Salt of the Air, Prime Books, Sep06)

Scripts
Children of Men - Cuaron, Alfonso & Sexton, Timothy J. and Arata, David and Fergus, Mark & Ostby, Hawk (Universal Studios, Dec06)
The Prestige - Nolan, Christopher and Nolan, Jonathon (Newmarket Films, Oct06 (Oct 20, 2006 -- based on the novel by Christopher Priest))
Pan's Labyrinth - del Toro, Guillermo (Time/Warner, Jan07)
V for Vendetta - Wachowski, Larry & Wachowski, Andy (Warner Films, Mar06 (released 3/17/2006 -- Written by the Wachowski Brothers, based on the graphic novel illustrated by David Lloyd and published by Vertigo/DC Comics))
World Enough and Time - Zicree, Marc Scott and Reeves, Michael (Star Trek: New Voyages, http://www.startreknewvoyages.com, Aug07 (Aired 8/23/07))
Blink - Moffat, Steven (Doctor Who, BBC/The Sci-Fi Channel, Sep07 (Aired on SciFi Channel 14Sep07))

Andre Norton Award
The True Meaning of Smek Day - Rex, Adam (Hyperion, Oct07)
The Lion Hunter - Wein, Elizabeth (Viking Juvenile, Jun07 (The Mark of Solomon, Book 1))
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Rowling, J. K. (Scholastic Press, Jul07)
The Shadow Speaker - Okorafor-Mbachu, Nnedi (Jump At The Sun, Sep07)
Into the Wild - Durst, Sarah Beth (Penguin Razorbill, Jun07)
Vintage: A Ghost Story - Berman, Steve (Haworth Positronic Press, Mar07)
Flora Segunda: Being the Magickal Mishaps of a Girl of Spirit, Her
Glass-Gazing Sidekick, Two Ominous Butlers (One Blue), a House with Eleven Thousand
Rooms,and a Red Dog - Wilce, Ysabeau S. (Harcourt, Jan07)

Sadly, Mainspring [ Powell's | Amazon | Audible ] did not make the final ballot. It's good field, and I'm very proud of all my friends who are up for the award this year.

Hugo nominations close in five weeks. As mentioned previously, ( here are a few of my own favorites you might want to consider: )

The 2008 Preliminary Nebula Ballot arrived today. I have voted online so I can save the ballot with my name on it. As mentioned previously, if you are a Nebula voter, you can download an electronic reading copy of Mainspring [ Powell's | Amazon | Audible ] from the SFWA Web site here. Click through to the members link for the download.

Of course I'd be tickled to make the final ballot, but considering the field on the long ballot, just being there is quite the honor.

ecbatan comments on the Nebula longlist

robin_d_laws on the difference between rpg plots and fiction plots — (Thanks to biomekanic.)

The Nature of Reasons: Two Philosophers Feud Over a Book Review — Ah, grown ups.

ktempest on the perceived need for dues paying — She's talking about recent stories (cited on this blog among other places) about people who succeed in publishing through nonstandard approaches, and the judgmentalism this seems to bring out in some writers.

Farrago's Wainscot is having a modest fund drive — I modestly propose you go support them, should you be so moved.

Ancient Tsunami Behind Huge Yellowstone Explosion — Wow. Also, can a wave be considered a tsunami if it occurs on a landlocked body of fresh water?

Big Brain Theory: Have Cosmologists Lost Theirs? — In which science goes off the Deep End.

Huckabee calls for amending the Constitution to meet God's laws — Mmm. How about that separation of Church and State? Or for you strict Constitutionalists, that freedom of religion other than Huckabee's? Republicans don't need no stinkin' First Amendment! (Thanks to biomekanic.)

As previously mentioned, if you are a Nebula voter, you can download an electronic reading copy of Mainspring [ Powell's | Amazon | Audible ] from the SFWA Web site here. Click through to the members link for the download.

If you're a SFWA member and you'd like to read Mainspring for consideration in the preliminary voting, drop me an email at jlake(a)jlake.com. I've been talking to Tor about distributing a .pdf to SFWA members, and it looks do-able.

The Sekrit Newz is no longer secret, according to M. Brook West of the Nebula committee of SFWA. The 2008 preliminary Nebula ballot (a/k/a the "long ballot") is now out of embargo. I am quite pleased that Mainspring [ Powell's | Amazon | Audible ] is on the Novel list. Warmest congratulations to all here.

( The entire ballot, per SFWA )

It seems like the time to update my 2007 publications. ( Here's a (nearly) complete list: )

If you're a likely Hugo voter, or are looking forward to the World Fantasy nomination process, ( here are a few of my own favorites you might want to consider: )