It’s that time again: there’s a new BSFA mailing out. Vector 248 is a celebration of 20 years of the Arthur C. Clarke Award. As usual, we’ll be posting some articles and reviews from the issue on the website over the next couple of weeks, but for now here’s the table of contents:
Torque Control — editorial
Finding Tomorrow’s Futures — Angie Edwards on the history of the Clarke Award
Twenty Years After — a retrospective by Paul Kincaid
A Brief Survey — perspectives on the Clarke
Preface to The Arthur C. Clarke Award: A Critical Anthology — by Neil Gaiman
Air by Geoff Ryman — an extended review by Andy Sawyer
The Clarke and Me — by Geoff Ryman
Clarke Award Has Winner Written All Over It — by Tom Hunter
Archipelago — reviews of short stories by Clarke-winning authors
First Impressions — book reviews edited by Paul N. Billinger
Particles — by Paul N. Billinger
The New X: All Shall Have Prizes — a column by Graham Sleight
As the editorial of Vector and an article in Matrix explain, we’ve been having ongoing problems with printing and distribution, so this issue is appearing somewhat later than originally planned. (I don’t want to tempt fate by saying that everything’s ok now, even if it is.) As chance would have it, though, that means it’s appearing at more-or-less the same time as The Arthur C. Clarke Award: A Critical Anthology (alternate link), a collection of essays about Clarke-winning books that should be well worth your time and money. (Much like the BSFA.)
Another result of the delays is that this issue is the first to announce the existence of this blog. So if there are any BSFA members checking in for the first time, welcome! Feel free to have a poke around. Some things you may find of interest:
- Discussion about nominating for the BSFA Best Artwork Award
- A review of Children of Men
- Discussion of the first two episodes of Heroes
- Notes on Julie Phillips’ biography of Alice Sheldon
The RSS feed for entries is here, and for comments is here; if you have a livejournal, the feeds are syndicated here and here, respectively.
vector-bsfa.com 
The link to the Clarke Award is broken – for Amazon, this works, but why not send us to Aust Gate instead…?
Hi Chaz — thanks for the catch. I’ve fixed my html, and added the Aust Gate link as well.
W00t! I thought it was running a little late, but didn’t want to raise a potentially prickly subject. Look forward to it arriving…
Did my review make the cut?[/blatant.self.interest]
I’m pretty sure both your reviews were written after the print deadline for this issue (the delays have been almost entirely in printing and posting, not in production). So look for them in 249 or 250.
Would it be worth posting a link to the SF Site’s round-up of Clarke Award winners, or is that article on the “Clarke of Clarkes” going to be one of those posted online?
Spookily enough, a Clarke link roundup (“Now All Clarke Award Until The End”!) had been in the back of my mind.
As for online content, the two pieces I was hoping to get online (assuming their authors agree) are Paul Kincaid’s and Andy Sawyer’s. Plus some reviews. Of course, as I just said over in the open thread, long-term I want to get content from back-issues online — so it might be an idea to put the survey up to coincide with the next Clarke ceremony, or something.
Just a quick note to say that I’ll be donating everything made (barring a small percentage for what the bank charges me) on sale of the Clarke Award anthology to the Serendip Foundation from the Aust Gate.