Locus, June 2014

by Locus Publications

  AWARDS NEWS

  Winners have been announced for the 2014 Jim Baen Memorial Writing Contest: Grand Prize: ‘‘Low Arc’’, Sean Monaghan. 2nd Place: ‘‘Balance’’, Marina J. Lostetter. 3rd Place: ‘‘Wind Shear’’, Angus McIntyre. The winning story will be featured on the Baen Books website and paid professional publication rates. The contest is sponsored by Baen and the National Space Society, and honors stories which explore the promise of space exploration. The winner receives an award, membership to the 2014 International Space Development Conference, a year’s membership to the National Space Society, as well as Baen books and National Space Society products. For more: .

  Jim Minz (Baen), Sean Monaghan, Marina Lostetter, William Ledbetter (contest administrator)

  The judges for the 2014 Andre Norton Award are Katherine Sparrow (chair), Christopher Barzak, Erin M. Hartshorn, Merrie Haskell, Jenn Reese, Rachel Swirsky, and Greg van Eekhout. Books will be accepted for consideration until January 31, 2015, and any young adult SF/F book first published in English in 2014 is eligible.

  The Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy was established in 2005 and is presented annually by SFWA to the author of an outstanding YA or middle-grade science fiction or fantasy book published in the previous year. This year’s award was presented at the 49th Annual Nebula Awards Weekend in San Jose CA.

  For submission information, please contact Katherine Sparrow at .

  Baen Books has announced the first annual Baen Fantasy Adventure Award contest. The contest will focus on adventure fantasy short stories and entries should not exceed 8,000 words. Submissions should be sent via e-mail to . The window for submissions is May 1 - June 30, 2014.

  The grand prize includes publication on the Baen website, an engraved award, and an assortment of Baen books. The winner will be honored at this year’s Gen Con, August 14-17, 2014. For more information and rules: .

  The David Gemmell Awards have announced a new trophy for the Ravenheart Award for best fantasy cover art, which will be presented for the first time at the awards ceremony on June 13, 2014 at the Magic Circle headquarters in London. The trophy, created by artist Lee Blair, ‘‘is a bust of Druss the Axeman looming over a representation of Dros Delnoch, the fortress at the heart of Legend’’ by David Gemmell.

  Ravenheart Award

  Frankenstein in Baghdad by Ahmed Saadawi is the winner of the 2014 International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF). Other nominees were A Rare Blue Bird that Flies with Me, Youssef Fadel; The Journeys of ‘Abdi, known as Son of Hamriya, Abdelrahim Lahbibi; The Blue Elephant, Ahmed Mourad; No Knives in this City’s Kitchens, Khaled Khalifa; Tashari, Inaam Kachachi. The winner was announced at the 2014 Abu Dhabi International Book Fair held April 30 - May 5, 2014. Saadawi was awarded $50,000 and is guaranteed an English translation of his novel. The IPAF is supported by the Booker Prize Foundation in London and the Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority in the UAE.

  Jason V Brock’s film The Ackermonster Chronicles won the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Award for best documentary. The film details the life and times of the late Forrest J Ackerman, and was directed by Brock and edited by Sunni K Brock.

  The 2013 Shirley Jackson Awards nominees have been announced. The awards are presented for outstanding achievement in horror, psychological suspense, and dark fantasy fiction. Novel: American Elsewhere, Robert Jackson Bennett (Orbit); The Ghost Bride, Yangsze Choo (William Morrow); The Accursed, Joyce Carol Oates (Ecco); Night Film, Marisha Pessl (Random House); The Demonologist, Andrew Pyper (Orion UK; Simon & Schuster US); Wild Fell, Michael Rowe (ChiZine). Novella: ‘‘The Gateway’’, Nina Allan (Stardust); The Last Revelation of Gla’aki, Ramsey Campbell (PS Publishing); Children of No One, Nicole Cushing (DarkFuse); Whom the Gods Would Destroy, Brian Hodge (DarkFuse); It Sustains, Mark Morris (Earthling); Helen’s Story, Rosanne Rabinowitz (PS Publishing); ‘‘Burning Girls’’, Veronica Schanoes (Tor.com 6/13); Novelette: ‘‘My Heart is Either Broken’’, Megan Abbott (Dangerous Women); Cry Murder! In a Small Voice, Greer Gilman (Small Beer); ‘‘A Little of the Night’’, Tanith Lee (Clockwork Phoenix 4); ‘‘Phosphorus’’, Veronica Schanoes (Queen Victoria’s Book of Spells); ‘‘Raptors’’, Conrad Williams (Subterranean Winter 2013); Short Fiction: ‘‘The Traditional’’, Maria Dahvana Headley (Lightspeed 5/13); ‘‘Furnace’’, Livia Llewellyn (The Grimscribe’s Puppets); ‘‘The Memory Book’’, Maureen McHugh (Queen Victoria’s Book of Spells); ‘‘57 Reasons for the Slate Quarry Suicides’’, Sam J. Miller (Nightmare 12/13); ‘‘The Statue in the Garden’’, Paul Park (Exotic Gothic 5); ‘‘That Tiny Flutter of the Heart’’, Robert Shearman (Psycho-Mania!). Single-Author Collection: North American Lake Monsters, Nathan Ballingrud (Small Beer); Before and Afterlives, Christopher Barzak (Lethe); In Search of and Others, Will Ludwigsen (Lethe); The Story Until Now, Kit Reed (Wesleyan); Everything You Need, Michael Marshall Smith (Earthling). Edited Anthology: Where thy Dark Eye Glances: Queering Edgar Allan Poe, Steve Berman, ed. (Lethe); Queen Victoria’s Book of Spells, Ellen Datlow, ed. (Tor); End of the Road, Jonathan Oliver, ed. (Solaris); The Grimscribe’s Puppets, Joseph S. Pulver, Sr., ed. (Miskatonic River); The Book of the Dead, Jared Shurin, ed. (Jurassic London). The awards will be presented on Sunday, July 13, 2014 at Readercon 25 in Burlington MA.

  Finalists for the 2014 Prix Aurora Awards, celebrating the best English-language Canadian SF/fantasy work, have been announced. Novel: A Turn of Light, Julie E. Czerneda (DAW); Tombstone Blues, Chadwick Ginther (Ravenstone); River of Stars, Guy Gavriel Kay (Viking Canada); The Tattooed Witch, Susan MacGregor (Five Rivers); Red Planet Blues, Robert J. Sawyer (Penguin Canada). YA Novel: The Rising, Kelley Armstrong (Doubleday Canada); The Lake and the Library, S.M. Beiko (ECW); The Ehrich Weisz Chronicles: Demon Gate, Marty Chan (Fitzhenry & Whiteside); Resolve, Neil Godbout (Bundoran); Out of Time, D.G. Ladroute (Five Rivers); Ink, Amanda Sun (Harlequin Teen). Short Fiction: ‘‘Angela and Her Three Wishes’’, Eileen Bell (The Puzzle Box); ‘‘Living Bargains’’, Suzanne Church (When the Hero Comes Home 2); ‘‘The Gift’’, Susan Forest (Urban Green Man); ‘‘The Awakening of Master March’’, Randy McCharles (The Puzzle Box); ‘‘Ghost in the Machine’’, Ryan McFadden (The Puzzle Box); ‘‘Green Man She Restless’’, Billie Milholland (Urban Green Man); ‘‘A Bunny Hug for Karl’’, Mike Rimar (Masked Mosaic, Canadian Super Stories). Poem/Song: ‘‘A City of Buried Rivers’’, David Clink (The Literary Review of Canada 11/13); ‘‘Night Journey: West Coast’’, Eileen Kernaghan (Tesseracts Seventeen: Speculating Canada); ‘‘The Collected Postcards of Billy the Kid’’, Helen Marshall (Postscripts to Darkness 11/13); ‘‘Lost’’, Amal El-Mohtar (Strange Horizons 2/25/13); ‘‘Turning the Leaves’’, Amal El-Mohtar (Apex Magazine 12/13); ‘‘Awake’’, Peter Storey (Urban Green Man). Graphic Novel: Rock, Paper, Cynic, Peter Chiykowski (webcomic); Looking for Group, Lar DeSouza & Ryan Sohmer (webcomic); Wild Game: Sweet Tooth Vol. 6, Jeff Lemire (Vertigo); Weregeek, Alina Pete (webcomic). Related Work: The Puzzle Box, The Apocalyptic Four (EDGE); Imaginarium 2013: The Best Canadian Speculative Writing, Samantha Beiko & Sandra Kasturi, eds. (ChiZine); Urban Green Man, Janice Blaine & Adria Laycraft, eds. (EDGE); Suzenyms, Susan MacGregor (suzenyms.blogspot.ca); On Spec (Copper Pig Writers’ Society). Artist: Melissa Mary Duncan; Erik Mohr; Tanya Montini; Dan O’Driscoll; Apis Teicher. There were also nominees in fan/volunteer categories. For a complete list: .

  The 2014 David Gemmell Legend Awards nominees have been announced. The Legend Award for Best Fantasy Novel: The Daylight War, Peter V. Brett (Harper Collins UK); Emperor of Thorns, Mark Lawrence (Harper Collins UK); The Republic of Thieves, Scott Lynch (Gollancz); A Memory of Light, Brandon Sanderson & Robert Jordan (Tor/Forge); War Master’s Gate, Adrian Tchaikovsky (Tor UK). The Morningstar Award for Best Fantasy Newcomer: The Garden of Stones, Mark T. Barnes (47 North); Headtaker, David Guyme
r (Black Library); Promise of Blood, Brian McLellan (Orbit); The Path of Anger, Antoine Rouaud (Gollancz); The Grim Company, Luke Scull (Head of Zeus). The Ravenheart Award for Best Fantasy Cover Art: Benjamin Carre for the cover of The Republic of Thieves by Scott Lynch (Gollancz); Jason Chan for the cover of Emperor of Thorns by Mark Lawrence (Harper Collins UK); Cheol Joo Lee for the cover of Skarsnik by Guy Haley (Black Library); Gene Mollica & Michael Frost for the cover of Promise of Blood by Brian McClellan (Orbit); Rhett Podersoo for the cover of She Who Waits by Daniel Polansky (Hodder). The winners will be announced June 13, 2014 in a ceremony at the Magic Circle in London.

  The Data File continues after ad.

  PUBLISHING NEWS

  Audiobook publisher Recorded Books has purchased Highbridge Audio, the audiobook division of Workman Publishing, which will add around 1,000 titles to the Recorded Books backlist. The Highbridge name will remain as an imprint.

  E-book distributor Kobo has laid off 63 employees from its Toronto office ‘‘to focus resources on innovation, partners, and readers.’’

  E-book subscription service Oyster has added around 500 new publishers to their program, and now offer a library of more than half a million titles. They’ve expanded their relationship with HarperCollins, bringing 10,000 new titles from the publisher’s backlist to their service.

  Disney, which now owns Lucasfilm, announced that Del Rey will continue to publish Star Wars tie-in novels, and that future books will be in ‘‘official Star Wars canon,’’ and will relate closely to the six extant films and TV programs and the upcoming new films. Earlier books are part of the ‘‘Expanded Universe’’ and are no longer considered canonical. The first four canonical tie-ins will appear between September 2014 and March 2015.

  Hodder & Stoughton’s purchase of Quercus is nearly complete. Quercus CEO Mark Smith is leaving his position, but will work as a consultant for at least some time. Quercus will operate as an independent division under Jamie Hodder-Williams. All ‘‘existing arrangements will remain in place,’’ including Quercus’s US distribution.

  Apex Magazine is raising its rates to six cents per word for original fiction, effective July 1, 2014, and is increasing the maximum word limit to 5,000 words. They’ve also set a 200-line limit on all poetry submissions, and will only accept unpublished poems. For more: .

  Amazing Stories has licensed their trademark to publisher FuturesPastEditions, which will create a new imprint, Amazing Stories Classic Reprints, using the magazine’s classic logo.

  LEGAL NEWS

  After Judge Denise Cote denied Apple’s request to postpone the antitrust damages trial scheduled for July 14, 2014, the company filed an appeal, receiving a stay until a three-judge panel can be convened this summer to listen to Apple’s arguments.

  In a separate case, Judge Cote ruled that a class action suit brought by authors against vanity press Author Solutions can move forward. According to Cote’s summary, the plaintiffs assert that ‘‘Author Solutions engages in fraudulent business activities. Author Solutions does not provide the services it promises to provide, and then pressures authors into purchasing ‘more, equally bogus’ editing, marketing, and publishing services. Author Solutions refuses to fix errors in manuscripts, implants new errors, and delays publication until authors purchase more services.’’ She did rule that Author Solutions’s parent company Penguin Random House should not be a direct party in the lawsuit, since most of the charges date from before Penguin acquired Author Solutions in July 2012. The suit is expected to move forward.

  WORLD CONVENTIONS NEWS

  Loncon 3, the 72nd World Science Fiction Convention, to be held August 14-18, 2014 at ExCel, London Docklands, published Media Release #20, announcing scientists who’ve agreed to appear on panels and give talks, including Astronomer Royal Baron Rees, paleobiologist Tori Herridge, cell biologist Jenny Rohn, mathematician Ian Stewart, and Royal Astornomical Society president David Southwood. Media Release #21 announced that Mary Robinette Kowal and Robert Shearman will co-host the Retro Hugo Awards Ceremony, to be held at 8:00 p.m. on August 14 in the ICC Auditorium. Media Release #22 has details on the academic program track ‘‘Diversity in Speculative Fiction’’, described as ‘‘an academic conference running within the broader Loncon 3 convention programme including more than 40 hours of talks and discussions about literature, comics, games, film, television, music and fan culture.’’ For more: .

  The 40th World Fantasy Convention, to be held November 6-9, 2014 in Washington DC, has published Progress Report Three, with details on the $1,000 art show prize, a Scotch tasting event, and the 40th WFC Anniversary Project, plus information on the art show, dealer’s room, program items, membership list, and other information. For more: .

  FINANCIAL NEWS

  January was an exceptional month for publishing, according to AAP monthly statshot, with four main segments showing increases in sales. Compared to January 2013, adult hardcovers increased 4.7%; mass market rose 5.4%; adult paperbacks, the only segment with a notable decrease, fell 5.1%; and juvenile hardcovers were up with a 53.7% year-over-year increase. Total children’s/young adult sales rose 43.7% compared to January 2013, with a 65.1% increase in e-book sales for the segment. Adult trade titles showed a 2.8% growth and was buoyed by $116 million in e-book sales, accounting for 32% of the total in January, compared to 31% the year before. The most notable gain in the adult trade segment was in downloadable audio where sales totaled $12.4 million, an increase of 29%.

  Preliminary numbers from the US Census Bureau report bookstore sales fell 7.8% to $683 million in March 2014 compared to the same period last year. For the first quarter of 2014, bookstore total sales were $2.92 billion, a drop of 9.5%. All retail was up 3.0% in March and 2.2% for the quarter.

  INTERNATIONAL RIGHTS

  Bulgarian rights to Ray Bradbury’s Death Is a Lonely Business sold to Ciela via Andrew Nurnberg Associates International.

  German e-book rights to Dimension of Miracles by Robert Sheckley sold to Heyne via Kathrin Nehm of the Thomas Schlueck Agency in association with Cameron McClure of the Donald Maass Literary Agency.

  Russian rights to Get in Trouble by Kelly Link sold to Synopsis Agency on behalf of Taryn Fagerness Agency and Renee Zuckerbrot of the Renee Zuckerbrot Literary Agency.

  Finnish rights to Grave Sight and Grave Surprise by Charlaine Harris sold to Gummerus via Ib Lauritzen at Bookman; German rights to Last Scene Alive and Poppy Done to Death went to Feder & Schwert via Christian Dittus of the Paul & Peter Fritz Agency; and Slovenian rights to Real Murders, A Bone to Pick, Three Bedrooms, and One Corpse sold to Giks via Ana Milenkovic of Prava I Prevodi, all on behalf of Krystyna Lopez of JABberwocky Literary Agency.

  Swedish rights to Doll Bones and The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black sold to Raben & Sjogren via Heather Baror-Shapiro of Baror International in association with Barry Goldblatt Literary.

  Polish rights to Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson sold to Zysk via Aleksandra Lapinska of ANAW Literary Agency on behalf of Krystyna Lopez at JABberwocky.

  Complex Chinese rights to Scott Westerfeld’s Afterworlds sold to Nancy Chiang at Locus Publishing in a pre-empt via Gray Tan at the Grayhawk Agency on behalf of Cheryl Pientka of Jill Grinberg Literary Management.

  German rights to Live and Let Drood, Casino Infernale, and Down Among the Dead Men by Simon Green went to Feder & Schwert via Christian Dittus of Paul & Peter Fritz Agency on behalf of Krystyna Lopez of JABberwocky Literary Agency.

  Brazilian rights to The Warded Man, The Desert Spear, and The Daylight War by Peter V. Brett sold to DarkSide Books via Karin Schindler of Karin Schindler Agency on behalf of Krystyna Lopez of JABberwocky.

  Czech rights to Myke Cole’s Fortress Frontier and Breach Zone went to Fantom Print via Kristin Olson of the Kristin Olson Literary Agency on behalf of Krystyna Lopez of JABberwocky Literary Agency.

  Russian rights to Frostborn by Lou An
ders sold to AST via Baror International in association with Barry Goldblatt Literary.

  French rights to Perilous Shield by Jack Campbell sold to L’Atalante via Anne Lenclud of Lenclud Literary Agency on behalf of Krystyna Lopez of JABberwocky Literary Agency.

  Japanese rights to Mike Shepherd’s Kris Longknife: Audacious went to Hayakawa via Kohei Hattori of the English Agency in association with Jennifer Jackson of the Donald Maass Literary Agency.

  French rights to Mark Hodder’s The Curious Case of the Clockwork Man went to Bragelonne via Anne Lenclud of Lenclud Literary Agency.

  Danish rights to The Maze Runner, The Scorch Trials, and The Death Cure by James Dashner sold to Rosinante via Ulf Toregard of Ulf Toregard Agency on behalf of Lauren Abramo at Dystel & Goderich Literary Management.

  German rights to Return of the Wizard King, Trial of the Wizard King, and Triumph of the Wizard King by Chad Corrie sold to Nicolai Boncyzk of Mantikore.

  German rights to XOM-B and Project Nemesis by Jeremy Robinson sold to Frank Festa at Festa via Claire Roberts of Trident Media Group on behalf of Scott Miller.

  OTHER RIGHTS

  Audio rights to Finn Fancy Necromancy and two more books by Randy Henderson sold to Adrienne Lombardo at Brilliance via Cameron McClure of the Donald Maass Literary Agency.

  Audio rights to Shifting Dreams by Elizabeth Hunter went to Wil Snape at Audible via Lauren Abramo of Dystel & Goderich Literary Management.

  PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED

  The Gridley Wave No. 370 (July 2013), No. 376 (January 2014), and No. 377 (February 2014), monthly newsletter supplement to The Burroughs Bulletin. Information: editor Henry G. Franke III, 318 Patriot Way, Yorktown VA 23693-4639; e-mail: