Congrats to the Nebula Award winners!

This past weekend, Josh Lawrence and I went down to San Jose for the Nebula Awards. While there, we interviewed several attendees, including Kim Stanley Robinson, Gene Wolfe, and Joe Haldeman. Those interviews will be coming up as podcasts soon, so stay tuned!

Best Novel winner Kim Stanley Robinson with Joe Haldeman.

In the meantime, let's congratulate the winners of the 2012 Nebula Awards!, as posted on Tor.com! Winners in bold.

Novel:

• 2312, Kim Stanley Robinson (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
• Throne of the Crescent Moon, Saladin Ahmed (DAW; Gollancz ’13)
• Ironskin, Tina Connolly (Tor)
• The Killing Moon, N.K. Jemisin (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
• The Drowning Girl, Caitlín R. Kiernan (Roc)
• Glamour in Glass, Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor)

Novella:

• After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall, Nancy Kress (Tachyon)
• On a Red Station, Drifting, Aliette de Bodard (Immersion Press)
• “The Stars Do Not Lie,” Jay Lake (Asimov’s 10-11/12)
• “All the Flavors,” Ken Liu (GigaNotoSaurus 2/1/12)
• “Katabasis,” Robert Reed (F&SF 11-12/12)
• “Barry’s Tale,” Lawrence M. Schoen (Buffalito Buffet)

Novelette:

• “Close Encounters,” Andy Duncan (The Pottawatomie Giant & Other Stories)
• “The Pyre of New Day,” Catherine Asaro (The Mammoth Books of SF Wars)
• “The Waves,” Ken Liu (Asimov’s 12/12)
• “The Finite Canvas,” Brit Mandelo (Tor.com 12/5/12)
• “Swift, Brutal Retaliation,” Meghan McCarron (Tor.com 1/4/12)
• “Portrait of Lisane da Patagnia,” Rachel Swirsky (Tor.com 8/22/12)
• “Fade to White,” Catherynne M. Valente (Clarkesworld 8/12)

Short Story:

• “Immersion,” Aliette de Bodard (Clarkesworld 6/12)
• “Robot,” Helena Bell (Clarkesworld 9/12)
• “Fragmentation, or Ten Thousand Goodbyes,” Tom Crosshill (Clarkesworld 4/12)
• “Nanny’s Day,” Leah Cypess (Asimov’s 3/12)
• “Give Her Honey When You Hear Her Scream,” Maria Dahvana Headley (Lightspeed 7/12)
• “The Bookmaking Habits of Select Species,” Ken Liu (Lightspeed 8/12)
• “Five Ways to Fall in Love on Planet Porcelain,” Cat Rambo (Near + Far)

Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation

• Beasts of the Southern Wild, Benh Zeitlin (director), Benh Zeitlin and Lucy Abilar (writers), (Journeyman/Cinereach/Court 13/Fox Searchlight)
• The Avengers, Joss Whedon (director) and Joss Whedon and Zak Penn (writers), (Marvel/Disney)
• The Cabin in the Woods, Drew Goddard (director), Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard (writers) (Mutant Enemy/Lionsgate)
• The Hunger Games, Gary Ross (director), Gary Ross, Suzanne Collins, and Billy Ray (writers), (Lionsgate)
• John Carter, Andrew Stanton (director), Michael Chabon, Mark Andrews, and Andrew Stanton (writers), (Disney)
• Looper, Rian Johnson (director), Rian Johnson (writer), (FilmDistrict/TriStar)

Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy Book

• Fair Coin, E.C. Myers (Pyr)
• Iron Hearted Violet, Kelly Barnhill (Little, Brown)
• Black Heart, Holly Black (McElderry; Gollancz)
• Above, Leah Bobet (Levine)
• The Diviners, Libba Bray (Little, Brown; Atom)
• Vessel, Sarah Beth Durst (S&S/McElderry)
• Seraphina, Rachel Hartman (Random House; Doubleday UK)
• Enchanted, Alethea Kontis (Harcourt)
• Every Day, David Levithan (Knopf)
• Summer of the Mariposas, Guadalupe Garcia McCall (Tu Books)
• Railsea, China Miéville (Del Rey; Macmillan)
• Above World, Jenn Reese (Candlewick)

Solstice Awards were awarded to editor Ginjer Buchanan and astronomer and entertainer Carl Sagan, the latter of which was accepted by his son Nick Sagan.

The Kevin O'Donnell Jr. Service Award was awarded to Michael Payne.

The winners are announced at SFWA’s 48th Annual Nebula Awards Weekend, held Thursday through Sunday, May 16 to May 19, 2013 at the San Jose Hilton in San Jose, California. Borderland Books hosted the mass autograph session from 5:30 p.m. until 7:30 p.m. on Friday, May 17th at the San Jose Hilton.

As announced earlier this year, Gene Wolfe was the recipient of the 2012 Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award for his lifetime contributions to, and achievements in, the field. Founded in 1965 by the late Damon Knight, Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America brings together the most successful and daring writers of speculative fiction throughout the world.

Near-future divergence?

Someone on Twitter recently asked me an interesting question:

@veronica - Rewatching #VaginalFantasy Ep. 14 ("Naked in Death"), re: you comments on 1995's disc-ridden version of 2058, and had a ?. [+]

— Joia Jones (@JJJJJby5) April 21, 2013

@veronica - Have you seen a term for that? The point when reality catches up to near-future fiction enough to see the two diverge? [-]

— Joia Jones (@JJJJJby5) April 21, 2013

After thinking it over, I decided that this was something we could explore a bit. The case that Joia is referencing deals with a story that takes place in the year 2058. Clearly, the technology in the tale should be far advanced beyond our own, current technologies. 

And while that is true for the most part, there are some interesting differences: for one, most data is contained on a disc, like a DVD. It wasn't enough to take me out of the story, but funny enough that I remembered it long after reading. It's kind of like when you see a movie at the AMC IMAX, and they show you that intro sequence bragging about resolution equivalent to 15,000 CD-ROMS!!

It doesn't really matter that it's an amazing resolution; what matters to most viewers (enough to regularly elicit giggles from the audience) is that they use a CD-ROM for this analogy.

I use the IMAX example because it has the problem of dating itself. Likewise, a near-future science fiction book has the problem of dating itself very badly by using existing technologies as an integral part of the story. In 1995, when Naked in Death was written, CD-ROMs were kind of a big deal. In that scenario, should an author like J.D. Robb have the foresight to try and protect their story against outdating? Is that even possible for a near-future or hard sci-fi tale?

Back to the original question, what do we call the phenomena when "reality catches up to near-future fiction enough to see the two diverge?" Does it even need a name? I kind of like the idea of "near-future divergence," because that can cover a lot of things beyond just technology. What would you call it?

Joe Abercrombie's The First Law (The Graphic Novel) - Interview

As listeners of the podcast know, both Tom and I are big fans of Joe Abercrombie, and especially of The First Law trilogy. So when I found out that Joe was working on a new graphic novel based on Logen Ninefingers and his (mis)adventures (from the man himself, no less) I immediately wanted to learn more.

Joe was kind enough to answer a few questions about the series, which you can learn more about at First Law Comic.

First off, congrats on the graphic novel! That's very exciting!

It's been a long time in the pipeline - maybe 18 months since the deal was first signed - so it's great to see it go out into the world.

Who first approached you to make The First Law into a graphic novel?

Rich Young from Blind Ferret, who also edited, put the artistic team together and brought in Chuck Dixon to adapt.  What interested me in particular about Rich's pitch, quite apart from his creative vision and his love for the books, was Blind Ferret's track record with webcomics and digital distribution.

Had anyone else come to you wanting to do that before, or was that something you had considered on your own?

I'd had a couple of much more traditional approaches, but the traditional comics market is pretty small and steadily dwindling, and obviously crowded with a lot of very powerful and long-established brands, I just didn't see a traditional approach getting enough momentum to make the work worthwhile.

Will this be a print edition, or digitally distributed? Both? And what will the release schedule be like?

It was the method of distribution that really sold this idea to me.  In essence there's a triple approach.  Firstly we're going to be serialising the adaptation, free to all comers, at www.firstlawcomic.com.  The first twelve pages have gone up already, and there'll be new pages posted every monday, wednesday and friday, hopefully for several years to come, given that this is a pretty detailed and comprehensive adaptation.  I just right away felt that, with free distribution, there was the potential to create a lot of goodwill and get a lot of people through the door and involved with it, and that it was potentially a good thing for the books as a whole.  

But for those who aren't satisfied with a page at a time and want to get a little ahead of the game, we're also going to be distributing whole issues, for between 99 cents and $2.99, via ComiXology, which will come with guided view and a package of inks, pencils and designs as a bonus with each issue. 

Finally, we'll be collecting every four issues into hard-copy collections, with further bonus material.  Exact details of those to be confirmed...

One of the great things about reading is the ability to visualize your favorite characters. How do you feel about nailing down the descriptions of the characters on the comic page? Have they ended up the way you pictured them in your head, and did you have input on that for the graphic novel?

Someone was foolish enough to offer me total editorial control, but I've tried to take a reassuringly firm yet lovingly gentle touch with it.  I think when you work with an artist you need to give them the freedom to draw it the way they see it, to let them interpret the work the way they want to.  And as a writer you don't always have entirely vivid pictures of every character and location.  So some designs were perfect right off.  Others were surprising, but fitted.  Others needed some tinkering with.  But generally, Andie Tong, the artist, has an amazing eye for costume and location design, and I've really been able to say yes, yes, yes to a lot of things and let him produce his vision of the books, given extra verve and variety by Pete Pantazis' colours.  So there'll certainly be some things that keen readers of the trilogy will see differently, but as a whole it's an adaptation that I'm very pleased with and hugely proud of.

Obviously the story needs to be trimmed down for this manner of storytelling. What was that process like? How do you pick what makes the cut?

Rich brought in Chuck Dixon, who's a hugely experienced comics writer, to do the adaptation.  He's obviously got a great sense for what to pick out from a scene, what to show and how, what angles to use to get the action across.  But obviously I know the books and the characters better than anyone, so I'd go over each script in some detail trying to keep as much sense of the books and the voices of the characters as possible, and maybe changing something here or there that would be important long term.  It's going to be a detailed adaptation, 16 issues for the Blade Itself alone, so it hasn't been necessary to really lose that much in terms of whole scenes.  it's amazing how much prose you can boil down into one carefully designed panel.  In general the whole process has been quite an education for me.  One that will continue for some time to come.

Do you have any plans to make any of your other books into comics?

At the current rate we probably won't be finished with The First Law for several years to come, so I'm keeping my energy for that, for the time being.  I've got a fair few irons in the fire with book projects as well, of course.  But I certainly wouldn't rule out adaptations of the other books.  We'll see how this one goes...

Thanks For All The Fish! Downbelow Station Wrap-Up & Your Feedback

We've reached the end of our run here on Geek & Sundry, but before we go, its time to wrap up our March pick, C.J.Cherryh's Downbelow Station, see what everyone is talking about over on GoodReads, and venture into Whiteboard Land one last time. 

So long and thanks for all the fish! 

More on this month's pick, Downbelow Station:
On Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57...
C.J. Cherryh's Webpage: http://www.cherryh.com/

Discussion Links: 
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1...
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1...
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1...

"So Much More to Say" by Aaron:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUUWE...

Anthology Submission Guidelines:http://swordandlaser.com/anthology/

Book Release Calendar: http://swordandlaser.com/calendar/

WHUR MUH BOATS AT

Posted without comment. ;)

via Onion AV Club

Author Guide: Peter F. Hamilton!

More on our guest, Peter F. Hamilton!

Website: 
http://www.peterfhamilton.co.uk/
Twitter: 
https://twitter.com/PeterFHamilton1
Goodreads: 
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/...

International Geek Girl Pen Pals Club!

Hey ladies! If you've been looking for more geeky-inclined female friends, check out the International Geek Girl Pen Pals Club. Here's how it works:

This is a new project for us and we are figuring it out as we go along. We are just two nerdy dames reaching out into the vast, tangled web to see if we can find some new friends and help others find new friends too. The basic idea is you fill the form in, then we will collate everyone's info and we then we'll match you up with someone in the same age range with similar interests to you. Then you can swap addresses and get putting pens to paper!

Sounds like fun! Sign-up is open through April 1st, so get to it!

Self-Publishing, Synergy, and R.A. Salvatore!

The author of 22 NYT Best Sellers, creator of Drizzt Do'Urden, and all around fantasy genre luminary R.A. Salvatore joins us to talk what's next for the Drow Ranger, John Fogerty, and why you should quit writing (if you can). Enjoy!

More on our guest, R.A. Salvatore:
Website: http://www.rasalvatore.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/R_A_Salvatore
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/...

More on Bob's works:

Forgotten Realms:
The Icewind Dale trilogy: http://www.goodreads.com/series/49133
The Dark Elf trilogy: http://www.goodreads.com/series/49135
The Legacy of the Drow: http://www.goodreads.com/series/49177
The Paths of Darkness: http://www.goodreads.com/series/49180
The Sellswords: http://www.goodreads.com/series/40474
The Hunter's Blades: http://www.goodreads.com/series/49178
Transitions: http://www.goodreads.com/series/49181
Neverwinter: http://www.goodreads.com/series/49183

Original Series: 
The DemonWars Saga: http://www.goodreads.com/series/60432...
The Crimson Shadow series:http://www.goodreads.com/series/41638...
The Spearweilder's Tale: http://www.goodreads.com/series/42273...
The Chronicles of Ynis Aielle:http://www.goodreads.com/series/41845...

"Metaphorical Basement Lurking" by Aaron:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScRwx...

Season One of S&L Video coming to an end!

The S&L studio team does jazz hands.

As many of you may know from the most recent audio podcast, the video edition of S&L is coming to an end (for now). Huge thanks to Geek & Sundry for making the whole thing possible, for our friends at Pixel Corps for the production and post-production services (and for being awesome in general), and to Fonco Creative for bringing our set (and Lem) to life!

Tom and I are looking into new ways to keep the show alive going forward, so don't fret! We have our hands full right now will getting the anthology off the ground, but we promise you we're working on it.

Episodes of the video show will continue through the end of March, and you can always keep up with the book club on Goodreads and the audio podcast!

Thanks for watching!

The BIBLIO-MAT is not people!

Podcast listener Jacob wanted to let us know that there aren't actually people passing out the books from within the Biblio-Mat in Toronto. It's actually... automated! With mechanisms! And such!

Kushiel's Legacy, Jacqueline Carey, and More!

Author of the Kushiel's Legacy series, Jacqueline Carey, joins us to talk the inspirations behind her immensely popular series, the power of writing in the first person, and Veronica tries not to butcher anyone's name. Enjoy!

More on our guest, Jacqueline Carey!

On the Web: http://www.jacquelinecarey.com/index.htm
GoodReads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/...
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jacquelineca...

More on Jacqueline's Works:

Kushiel's Legacy Series:
Phedre's Trilogy: http://www.goodreads.com/series/54527...
Imriel's Trilogy: http://www.goodreads.com/series/54529...
Moirin's Trilogy: http://www.goodreads.com/series/54528...

Santa Olivia series: http://www.goodreads.com/series/50337...
The Sundering series: http://www.goodreads.com/series/44721...
Agent of Hel series: http://www.goodreads.com/series/78846...

"An Unexpected Visitor" by Aaron: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0bIMf...

"Downbelow Station" - March Book Club Kick-Off & Your Feedback!

We dive into CJ Cherryh's classic Downbelow Station, try to settle the age old question of "which was better: the book or the movie?" and give you the inside scoop on how to become a part of the first ever Sword & Laser anthology! Enjoy!

Discussion Links:
Book vs. Movie: http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1...
A Night in Lonesome October review by Aaron: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzN4XJ...

Anthology Submission Guidelines: http://swordandlaser.com/anthology/

Book Release Calendar: http://swordandlaser.com/calendar/

Subscribe to Geek and Sundry: http://goo.gl/B62jl

Now accepting anthology submissions!

We are now officially accepting story submissions for the S&L Anthology! All of the guidelines are detailed here. PLEASE READ THEM.

SERIOUSLY. READ THEM!

OK, now that's out of the way, have fun and good luck! We can't wait to read your stories!

February Book Club: Bridge of Birds Wrap-Up & Your Feedback!

It's time to find out what everyone thought of Number Ten Ox, and check in on Goodreads for suggestions on good old-fashioned popcorn sci-fi and amateur cartography for our favorite fantasy realms. Enjoy!

More on our February pick, Bridge of Birds:
On GoodReads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15...
Hughart Fan Site: http://www.barryhughart.org/books.htm

Discussion Links:
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1...
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1...
http://afantasyreader.blogspot.com/20...

"Magical Realism in BoB" by Timm:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDVIjM...

S&L Podcast - #121 - A bird too far

It's time for a substantive down-to-Earth deep discussion of Bridge of Birds. And Veronica now feels better about pronouncing things.

WHAT ARE WE DRINKING?
Tom: Jameson's
Veronica: Cono Sur Cabernet Sauvignon

QUICK BURNS
Stephen Donaldson delivers last-ever THOMAS COVENANT novel
An incredibly thorough analysis of how frequently words and characters appear in J.R.R. Tolkien’s books
Make your own pulp magazine covers
Love Of Classics Inspires Raygun Chronicles Kickstarter Anthology Project
THE CITY AND THE CITY on stage in Chicago

CALENDAR

BARE YOUR SWORD
Does science fiction lack good criticism?

TV, MOVIES AND VIDEO GAMES
George R.R. Martin expands on HBO deal
Philip K. Dick’s The Man in the High Castle is coming to Syfy

BOOK CHECK-IN
Pretty Ping Rape? (Spoilers)
A Slight Flaw in His Character... 

EMAIL

Gaiman narrates the audio book Odd and the Frost Giants. Its a great audiobook. Andrew R.

FYI. Not sure if this will be "fresh" enough to cover on the S&L audio show next week... Eric W (Goodreads follow-up)

ADDENDUMS

T-shirts, get your t-shirts heeeere!

This podcast is brought to you by Audible.com the internet’s leading provider of audiobooks with more than 100,000 downloadable titles across all types of literature and featuring audio versions of many New York Times Best Sellers. For listeners of this podcast, Audible is offering a free audiobook, to give you a chance to try out their service. For a free audiobook of your choice go to audiblepodcast.com/sword. 

Subscribe to our podcast!
Direct episode download link

Treacherous Spies, Trilogies, and Trudi Canavan!

Author of "The Black Magician" trilogy, Trudi Canavan, joins us to talk her Millennium's Rule trilogy, upcoming stand alone works, and her appreciation of fan works. Cheers! 

More on our guest, Trudi Canavan:
Website: http://www.trudicanavan.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TrudiCanavan
Pintrest: http://pinterest.com/trudicanavan/
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/...

More on Trudi's works: 
The Black Magician trilogy:http://www.goodreads.com/series/44134...
The Traitor Spy trilogy: http://www.goodreads.com/series/52664...
The Age of Five : http://www.goodreads.com/series/40418...

"Sucker Punching the Audience" by Aaron: http://youtu.be/GO__-fXUhRg

S&L t-shirts now available!

I don't know who this woman is, but she's wearing one of our new t-shirts! You can buy them here over on /loot, and thanks to the wonderful Scott Johnson for hosting them!

Stormlight, Steelheart, Sanderson, and more!

Brandon Sanderson joins us to talk his upcoming Rithmatist, the Legion film adaptation, and why he was the right guy for the job when it came to finishing Robert Jordan's epic Wheel of Time series. Cheers!

More about our guest, Brandon Sanderson:

On the Web: http://www.brandonsanderson.com/
On Twitter: https://twitter.com/BrandSanderson
On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BrandSanderson
On Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/...
His Blog: http://www.brandonsanderson.com/blog

More on Brandon's Works:

The Stormlight Archive series:http://www.goodreads.com/series/49075...
Elantris series: http://www.goodreads.com/series/87970...
Alcatraz series: http://www.goodreads.com/series/45320...
Mistborn series: http://www.goodreads.com/series/40910...
Steelheart series: http://www.goodreads.com/series/93010...

Legion: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13...
Warbreaker: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12...
The Rithmatist: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10...

Wheel of Time novels: 
The Gathering Storm: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11...
Towers of Midnight: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/82...
A Memory of Light: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/77...

"2300 MIles, Zero Complaints" by Aaron:http://youtu.be/seoavNIDbuc