Phillip K. Dick novel in “graphic translation”

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Boom! Studios has produces what it calls a “graphic translation” of Phillip K. Dick’s 1968 novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

The series will consist of about 24 issues, with the first issue released in July.

The issues will also likely be collected into a series of hardcover volumes, each of which will contain four issues, according to editor Ian Brill.

The graphic novel will contain the full text the novel, a condition required by Mr. Dick’s estate, accompanied by graphic art from artist Tony Parker and colorist Blond.

Lettering will be by the award-winning letterer Richard Starkings and his company, Comicraft.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? was adapted into the film Blade Runner in 1982.

2009 Hugo Award winners announced

The winners of the 2009 Hugo awards were announced on 9 August 2009, at Anticipation, the 67th World Science Fiction Convention, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

The Hugo for Best Novel went to The Graveyard Book (HarperCollins; Bloomsbury UK), by Neil Gaiman, while “The Erdmann Nexus” (Asimov’s Oct/Nov 2008), by Nancy Kress was awarded Best Novella and Elizabeth Bear’s “Shoggoths in Bloom” (Asimov’s March 2008) was voted Best Novelette.

The Best Short Story Hugo went to “”Exhalation” (Eclipse Two), by Ted Chiang.

John Scalzi’s Your Hate Mail Will be Graded: A Decade of Whatever, 1998-2008 (Subterranean Press) won the Hugo for Best Related Book, while the Best Graphic Story Hugo went to Girl Genius, Volume 8: Agatha Heterodyne and the Chapel of Bones (Airship Entertainment), written by Kaja and Phil Foglio, art by Phil Foglio, and colors by Cheyenne Wright.

The Hugo for Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form went to WALL-E (Pixar/Walt Disney) while the Best Dramatic Presentation/Short Form was Doctor Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog (Mutant Enemy)

In the editing awards, the Hugo for Short Form editing went to Ellen Datlow, while the Long Form editing Hugo was awarded to David G. Hartwell.

The Best Professional Artist Hugo went to Donato Giancola, while the Best Fan Artist award winner was Frank Wu.

The Hugo for Best Semiprozone was awarded to Weird Tales, edited by Ann VanderMeer and Stephen H. Segal, while the Best Fanzine Hugo went to Electric Velocipede, edited by John Klima.

The Best Fan Writer was Cheryl Morgan, while David Anthony Durham received the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer.

World Fantasy Awards nominations announced

Nominations for the World Fantasy Awards have been announced.

Among writers with more than one nomination each are Kage Baker, Peter S. Beagle, Ellen Datlow, Jeffrey Ford, and Neil Gaiman.

Gaiman’s nominations include one for Best Novel, The Graveyard Book (HarperCollins; Bloomsbury), and for Best Novella, “Odd and the Frost Giants” (Bloomsbury; HarperCollins).

Joining Gaiman with a Best Novel nomination is Kage Baker, for House of the Stag (Tor).

She is also nominated in the Best Short Story category, for “Caverns of Mystery” (Subterranean: Tales of Dark Fantasy).

Peter S. Beagle is nominated in the Best Collection and Best Novella categories, for Strange Roads and “Uncle Chaim and Aunt Rifke and the Angel” respectively.

Jeffrey Ford is nominated for The Shadow Year (Morrow) in the Best Novel category as well as for The Drowned Life (HarperPerennial), in the Best collection category.

Ellen Datlow shares two nominations in the Best Anthology category, as editor of The Del Rey Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy (Del Rey) and as co-editor of The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror 2008: Twenty-First Annual Collection (St. Martin’s) along with Kelly Link and Gavin J. Grant.

The awards will be presented during the 2009 World Fantasy Convention, to held 29 October - 1 Nov, in San Jose, California.

Braveheart man for Captain Nemo adventure

The writer who penned Braveheart has been given the job of rewriting the Disney favourite, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: Captain Nemo.

This is another project being developed by McG. However, there have already been a couple writers on the project who clearly failed to live up the expectations of the producer.

Bill Marsilli (Deja Vu) went first, followed by Justin Marks (Masters of the Universe, Super Max) now it is the turn of Randall Wallace.

The film is in line with many other storylines at the moment, it follows the origin of Captain Nemo and his famous ship the Nautilus.

McG wants Will Smith for the title role and has plans to make the film in Australia; it will be next in line for McG, who is believed to be interested in using the latest Disney Digital 3D technology.

UK authors see advances dwindle

Now is probably not the best time for writers to submit a book in hopes of securing a big advance from a publisher, especially if the author is submitting to a publishing house in the UK.

Many authors are finding that advances being offered are only one-half to one-quarter of what they have previously received.

The biggest declines in advances seem to have been in the non-fiction category of history and in fiction for women, but the likelihood is that other categories, including science fiction and fantasy, have or will also be affected.

According to writers interviewed by The Times, the main problems facing traditional publishers that lead to the lower advances are previously paid out handsome advances that have not been earned back by book sales and competition from print-on-demand publishers that don’t have the need that traditional houses do to commit to large, expensive press runs for risky publications.

The large declines in advances to writers of history has presented another problem, it turns out, not for the publishing industry but for historians who have seen their advances dwindle.

Some professional historians have turned to writing historical fiction in hopes of receiving larger advances, something that some in academia have called “dangerous”.

Vampires join zombies in Classic Lit invasion

The popularity of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith (Quirk Books, 2009) has opened the doors not only for an expanded, deluxe edition, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: the Deluxe Heirloom Edition, due out in November, but it has also spawned a further invasion into classic literature, this time by vampires, according to Publisher’s Weekly.

Among the new entries in the new genre is Mr. Darcy, Vampire, by Amanda Grange (Sourcebooks Landmark, August 2009), is said continue the story begun in Pride and Prejudice, with a twist in the form of a family curse.

Also upcoming is The Immortal Jane Austen, by Janet Mullany (Harpers, Summer 2010), in which Jane Austen participates in a “vampire resistance” during an invasion of England by French forces.

Not to be left out, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies author Seth Grahame-Smith has written Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, tentatively set for publication in April, 2010, in which the reader learns that Lincoln was not only one of the United States’ most notable presidents, but a skilled vampire-hunter, as well.

Donaldson awarded honorary degree

Stephen R. Donaldon, award-winning author of the First, Second and Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, The Gap Cycle, and other science fiction, fantasy and mystery novels and short stories, was recently awarded an honorary degree from the University of St Andrews in Fife, Scotland.

Mr. Donaldson was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Letters on 25 June 2009.

2009 Locus Awards winners announced

The winners of the 2009 Locus Awards were announced Saturday, 27 June, in Seattle, Washington.

Among the winners were:

Anathem, by Neal Stephenson (Atlantic UK, Morrow), as Best Science Fiction Novel

Lavina, by Ursula K. Le Guin (Harcourt), as Best Fantasy Novel

Singularity’s Ring, by Paul Melkor (Tor) as Best First Novel

The Graveyard Book, by Neil Gaiman (HarperCollins, Bloomsbury) as Best Young-Adult Novel

In addition, the graphic novel version of Gaiman’s Coraline, Coraline: The Graphic Novel won in the Non-Fiction/Art Book category for adapter and illustrator P. Craig Russell.

Among winning shorter fiction, “Pretty Monsters”, by Kelly Link, was the winning novella while “Pump Six” by Paolo Bacigalupi won as best novelette and “Exhalation” by Ted Chiang was the winning short story.

The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Fifth Annual Collection, edited by Gardner Dozios (St. Martin’s) won in the Anthology category, while Pump Six and other Stories, by Paolo Bacigalupi (Night Shade Books), which includes Bacigalupi’s winning novellete, was the best Collection.

Other winners were Ellen Datlow as Best Editor, Michael Whelan as Best Artist, F&SF as Best Magazine, and Tor as Best Publisher.

The Locus Awards are determined by a poll of the readers of Locus Magazine.

What next for Star Trek

Considering how successful the latest version of Star Trek was, the next offering should be a lot easier to come with or is it?

It seems that making the first film was easy when compared to coming up with a sequel, should be new or a remake of one of the films or even taken from a storyline that happen in the original series.

The problem is that the audience expects originality and at the same time a connection to the past storylines, this makes it difficult for the writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman.

Of course there are novels too that complemented the entire range of Star Trek episodes, but this is still an issue for the die hard fans.

The only way is to find the middle ground to please all parties, but without compromising Star Trek itself in any way.

Authors pick top Sci-Fi cities

Sometimes it is easy to think of place that has a science fiction connection, these can be visions from films or from the descriptions that we read in books. However, no matter how we personally feel about a location or place, there is always a difference in opinion as to the best places in science fiction.

This view has prompted the Shared Worlds site to ask that burning question to some of the most popular science fiction writers of today, the question is:

“What’s your pick for the top real-life fantasy or science fiction city?”

The answers are somewhat different to what we may have expected:

Elizabeth Hand - REYKAVIK, ICELAND
Nalo Hopkinson – KINGSTON, JAMAICA
Ursula K. LeGuin – VENICE, ITALY
China Miéville – LONDON, ENGLAND
Michael Moorcock – MARRAKESH, MOROCCO

It is strange that no US city has been chosen, considering that, US cities tend to feature in many sci-fi films.