Tis the Season

For the major fan-chosen science fiction and fantasy awards, that is.

The Hugo Awards (World Science Fiction Society) and the Aurora Awards (Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association) will both be presented next month at Anticipation, the 67th World Science Fiction Convention in Montreal.

Even if you're not able to attend Anticipation, the awards are a wonderful opportunity to read some fabulous science fiction and fantasy stories. This is because, not only are lists of fan favourite stories gathered together in one location for easy access, but many of these stories are currently available to read online or download for free.

With huge numbers of new titles published every year, and tight personal finances, it can be difficult to part with one's hard-earned cash to test drive a new-to-you author. Now you don't have to. Check out the list of Hugo Award Finalists for links to free downloads and online versions of most of the short form works on the Hugo ballot (including James Alan Gardner's wonderful best novelette nominee and Sturgeon Award winner "The Ray Gun: A Love Story"), plus Cory Doctorow's best novel Hugo finalist and Campbell Award winner Little Brother.

Finding free offerings from Aurora Award finalists takes a little more digging, but the awards Short List contains links to many of the author's personal web sites where more information on nominated works and often free excerpts (and in some cases entire stories) can be found. These include:

• Susan Forest's best short-form work in English finalist "Back"
  
• "Identity Theft", the lead story in Robert J. Sawyer's best long-form work in English finalist Identity Theft and Other Stories
  
• and my personal favourite: Douglas Smith's brilliant "Bouquet of Flowers in a Vase, by Van Gogh", a best short-form work in English finalist and the lead story in his best long-form work in English finalist Impossibilia

You can read my reviews of some of Rob Sawyer's novels and short stories, including reviews of two of the stories featured in Identity Theft, "Kata Bindu" and "Immortality" here and reviews of Doug Smith's Impossibilia as well as several of his short stories, including "Bouquet" here -- but don't delay jumping on this opportunity to read the actual stories themselves. Many will only be available for free for a limited time. (Voting for the Hugos closed yesterday, and Aurora Award voting closes July 15th.)

So go, read some great stories. And, if you're Canadian, please consider supporting Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy by voting for the Auroras. (Voting details can be found http://www.prixaurorawards.ca/English/AwardProcess/voting.html.)

Rainbow Dragon Recommends

I met up with Douglas Smith at a genre writing convention last month at which I had the opportunity to pick up some of Doug's writing including his wonderful new short story collection Impossibilia.

The lead story in Impossibilia is so brilliant, I had to do what I could to spread the word about this important work, so I've revamped my reviews web site and added several new reviews this month (including reviews of Impossibilia and the individual stories within).

Both Impossibilia and its lead story "Bouquet of Flowers in a Vase, by Van Gogh" are finalists for the 2009 Aurora Awards. If you're a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident of Canada, you can become a voting member of Canvention and cast your vote for the Auroras.

Check out my reviews, read story excerpts and get ordering information on Doug's web site, then visit the Canvention web site for voting details.

Script Frenzy

Somewhat after the fact, but...

I participated in Script Frenzy this year and met the 100 page challenge.

I got started late. Had some exams and term papers due the first week of April and consequently didn't even start to think about Screnzy until the 4th or 5th of the month. At that point, I had no plans for a story of my own that I wished to tell in script format, so I mapped out a Babylon 5 fanfic that I'd been wanting to write for a number of years.

My story is large cast and involves a number of crowd scenes as well as some large and involved sets which just wouldn't work shot on bare sound stages in front of a green screen. In short: considering the no-expenses-spared budget the B5 powers that be afforded The Lost Tales, there's not even a pipe dream of ever seeing my story on screen. But I had fun writing it, and it was good to stretch my writing muscles by playing in a different medium for a while.

The Purple Update - A Little Late

I've been so busy organizing things over on my local Wrimos' group blog that I've been neglecting things over here on my personal account of the experience. Oops.

I crossed 50K on the 15th of November -- then promptly took a week off from my NaNo story. It's not finished yet, it's just taking a back seat to term papers and studying for final exams for a couple of weeks. Once I'm finished with school for the term, I'll get back into a good rhythm on the story and expect to have a draft finished by the end of December. Then it's editing time!

As for my ongoing battle with Reliance: it's still nowhere. The latest bill they sent me finally had all of the correct initial charges on it -- plus a late payment fee for my not having paid one of their earlier, incorrect bills, which they'd assured me would be reversed! Renting one's water heater is supposed to be the "hassle-free" way of doing it, no? Anyhow... I've sent them a long letter, detailing all of their many errors, and asking what they plan to do now to make things right with me. No response so far.

Second Wind

Only a couple thousand words yesterday.

My pace slowed because I had mapped out Act I, which I finished Tuesday night, scene by scene before beginning to write. Act II, however, heading into NaNo, only had the major plot points documented. Other than that, my notes basically said, "the good guys pursue the bad guys and encounter lots of obstacles." In other words: the basic outline of every Act II ever written. So yesterday, I struggled through the first scene of Act II (the protagonist's first date with the love interest -- blagh) and called it a day.

The upside of this story is that I made use of the time I wasn't writing yesterday to make myself a large cauldron of spicy pumpkin soup, a big tray of chicken lasagna and an apple pie. With any luck, I won't need to cook again between here and 50,000 words. Also: I called Reliance (again) and think I may have finally convinced them to send me a bill for the correct amount of money for my water heater rental. (Third time's a charm, right?)

And this morning when I awoke: the next twelve scenes for Act II came to me, just like that. Time to get cracking.

A Better World

Yesterday I topped 15,000 words in my 2008 NaNo quest, and (far more importantly) my American neighbours made the world a better place. I feel giddy with hope.

A Good Start

Last year I went to bed early the night before NaNo, rose early the morning of November 1st to do my yoga practice, then commenced my writing.

This year I stayed up to watch the clock tick over -- and began my writing in the wee hours of the morning.

It felt good to complete the NaNo baseline daily quota for the day before going to bed the night before.

Between my wee-hours-of-the-morning session, this afternoon's write-in with some local team mates on the NaNo quest, and another chapter and a half I wrote this evening after dinner, I've brought my output for the first day of NaNo 2008 up to 5118 words. Not too shabby of an accomplishment, if I do say so myself.

Now, if I could just get that whole yoga angle back on track...