Tag: BSFA

London Meeting: Sarah Pinborough interviewed by Donna Scott

May’s London meeting will feature of Sarah Pinborough (author of The Language of Dying and The Dog-Faced Gods), who will be interviewed by Donna Scott (BSFA Awards Administrator).

Date: Wednesday 25th May 2011

Venue: The Upstairs room at the Antelope Tavern. 22, Eaton Terrace, Belgravia, London, SW1W 8EZ. The nearest tube station is Sloane Square (District/Circle) A map of the location is here.

All are welcome! (No entry fee or tickets. Non-members welcome.) The Interview will commence at 7.00 pm, but the room is open from 6.00 (and fans in the downstairs bar from 5). There will be a raffle (£1 for five tickets), with a selection of sf novels as prizes.

Future London Meetings

4th June 2011 – BSFA/SFF AGM: BSFA Guest TRICIA SULLIVAN, SFF Guest MIKE ASHLEY
30th June 2011 * – GILLIAN POLACK interviewed by Maureen Kincaid Speller
27th July 2011 – SOPHIA MCDOUGALL interviewed by Roz Kaveney
24th August 2011 – KIM LAKIN-SMITH interviewed by Paul Skevington

* Note that this meeting is on the fifth Thursday of the month.

London Meeting: David Weber interviewed by Pat McMurray

April’s London meeting will feature David Weber (author of the Honor Harrington novels), who will be interviewed by Pat McMurray (2004 GUFF Delegate).

Date: Wednesday 20th April 2011 (Note: This is the THIRD Wednesday of the month.)

Venue: The Upstairs room at the Antelope Tavern. 22, Eaton Terrace, Belgravia, London, SW1W 8EZ. The nearest tube station is Sloane Square (District/Circle) A map of the location is here.

All are welcome! (No entry fee or tickets. Non-members welcome.) The Interview will commence at 7.00 pm, but the room is open from 6.00 (and fans in the downstairs bar from 5). There will be a raffle (£1 for five tickets), with a selection of sf novels as prizes.

Future London Meetings

25th May 2011 – SARAH PINBOROUGH interviewed by Donna ScottSaturday 4th June 2011 – BSFA/SFF AGM: BSFA Guest TRICIA SULLIVAN
30th June 2011 * – GILLIAN POLACK interviewed by Maureen Kincaid Speller
27th July 2011 – SOPHIA MCDOUGALL interviewed by Roz Kaveney
* Note that this meeting is on the fifth Thursday of the month.

P.S. BSFA events coming up this weekend at Eastercon include the BSFA Awards (Saturday 7:30 pm) and the annual BSFA lecture, “Prolegomena to a Steampunk Catullus: Classics and SF”, given by Gideon Nisbet of the University of Birmingham (Sunday 3 pm).

London Meeting: BSFA Award Discussion

With only about a month left until voting closes for the BSFA Awards, it’s time for the annual BSFA Award Discussion at the London Meeting. Our panelists this year year will be Tom Hunter, Clarke Award Director; Martin McGrath, BSFA Focus Editor; and Donna Scott, the BSFA Awards Administrator.

As a reminder, here are the shortlists. I hope many of you will be able to come and join in the discussion there!

Date: Wednesday 23rd March 2011

Venue: The Upstairs room at the Antelope Tavern. 22, Eaton Terrace, Belgravia, London, SW1W 8EZ. The nearest tube station is Sloane Square (District/Circle) A map of the location is here.

All are welcome! (No entry fee or tickets. Non-members welcome.) The Interview will commence at 7.00 pm, but the room is open from 6.00 (and fans in the downstairs bar from 5). There will be a raffle (£1 for five tickets), with a selection of sf novels as prizes.

Future London Meetings

Wednesday 20th April 2011 ** – DAVID WEBER: Interviewer TBC
Wednesday 25th May 2011 – SARAH PINBOROUGH: Interviewer TBC
Saturday 4th June 2011 – BSFA/SFF AGM
Thursday 30th June 2011 ** – GILLIAN POLACK: Interviewer TBC

Vector 265

Saturday morning’s post brought with it Vector 265, at long last. Not just Vector: the mailing includes a booklet in memory of Rob Holstock, edited by Niall Harrison; the BSFA Awards booklet, with all of the shortlisted short stories; and a ballot for voting on the BSFA awards.

Vector 265 is the last one edited by Niall, and it’s a hefty one, a rich tribute to Stephen Baxter, plus book reviews, edited by Martin Lewis. For those of you not currently BSFA members, here is what you’re missing out on:

Table of Contents
“That Cosmological Feeling: An Interview with Stephen Baxter”
“Stephen Baxter’s Xeelee Cycle: No Coming Home”, Jonathan McCalmont
“The Settee and the Stars: Stephen Baxter and the Dilemma of Scale”, Gary K Wolfe
“An Atomic Theory of Baxter’s Fiction”, Adam Roberts
“Three Colours NASA: Reflections on Stephen Baxter’s ‘NASA’ trilogy”, Simon Bradshaw
“Putting the Past into the Future: The Time’s Tapestry sequence”, Tony Keen
“Foundation’s Favourite: Stone Spring”, Andy Sawyer
“Baxter’s People”, Niall Harrison
“Giant Killer Rodents in Space Armour, With Guns: the other side of Stephen Baxter”, Graham Sleight

“First Impressions”, Martin Lewis
Book reviews edited by Martin Lewis
Orgasmachine by Ian Watson (Newcon Press, 2010) – reviewed by
Justin Robson
Shine, edited by Jetse de Vries (Solaris, 2010) – reviewed by
Anthony Nanson
The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi (Gollancz, 2010) –
reviewed by Paul Kincaid
The Dervish House by Ian McDonald (Gollancz, 2010) – reviewed
by Tony Keen
The Restoration Game by Ken MacLeod (Orbit, 2010) – reviewed by
Michael Abbott
The Fuller Memorandum by Charles Stross (Orbit, 2010) –
reviewed by Martin Potts
Escape From Hell by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle (Tor, 2009)
– reviewed by Dave M Roberts
The Turing Test by Chris Beckett and The Last Reef by
Gareth L Powell (Elastic Press, 2008) – reviewed by Dave M Roberts
The Holy Machine (Corvus, 2010) and Marcher (Cosmos
Books, 2008) by Chris Beckett – reviewed by Jim Steel
Inside/Outside – Chris Beckett interviewed by Paul Graham Raven
Major Carnage by Gord Zajac (ChiZine Publications, 2010) –
reviewed by Shaun Green
Nexus: Ascension by Robert Boyczuk (ChiZine Pubications, 2010)
– reviewed by Graham Andrews
The Nemesis List by RJ Frith – reviewed by Ben Jeapes
The Noise Within by Ian Whates (Solaris, 2010) – reviewed by
Stuart Carter
Brave Story and The Book Of Heroes by Miyuke Miyabe
(Haikasoru, 2007 and 2009) – reviewed by Cherith Baldry
WE by John Dickinson (David Fickling Books, 2010) – reviewed by
Donna Scott
I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore (Penguin, 2010) – reviewed by CB Harvey
Monsters Of Men by Patrick Ness (Walker Books, 2010) – reviewed
by Anne F Wilson
The Iron Hunt, Darkness Calls and A Wild Light by
Marjorie M Liu (Orbit, 2008-10) – reviewed by Amanda Rutter
The Poison Throne by Celine Kiernan (Orbit, 2009) – reviewed by
Alan Fraser
Shadow Prowler by Alexey Pehov (Simon & Schuster, 2010) –
reviewed by Sandra Unerman
The Office Of Shadow by Mathew Sturges (Pyr, 2010) – reviewed
by AP Canavan
Lord Of The Changing Winds by Rachel Neumeier (Orbit, 2010) –
reviewed by Lynne Bispham

BSFA Awards Shortlist 2011

Anyone who joined the BSFA recently may end up with the wrong impression as to how frequently mailings occur, inasmuch as we expect the next one to be sent out within the next month-or-so. It’s all still quarterly, however.

Vector welcomes letters of comment, or feedback on the forum.

London Meeting: Matt Brooker (D’Israeli)

Febraury’s London meeting will feature Matt Brooker (D’Israeli) (Eagle Award-winning artist of Stickleback and Scarlet Traces) will be interviewed by Tony Keen (London meetings organizer).

Date: Wednesday 23rd February 2011

Venue: The Upstairs room at the Antelope Tavern. 22, Eaton Terrace, Belgravia, London, SW1W 8EZ. The nearest tube station is Sloane Square (District/Circle) A map of the location is here.

All are welcome! (No entry fee or tickets. Non-members welcome.) The Interview will commence at 7.00 pm, but the room is open from 6.00 (and fans in the downstairs bar from 5). There will be a raffle (£1 for five tickets), with a selection of sf novels as prizes.

Future London Meetings

23rd March 2011 * – BSFA Awards Meeting
20th April 2011 ** – DAVID WEBER: Interviewer TBC
25th May 2011 – TBC

The BSFA’s history in numbers

I was intending to tell you some interesting tidbits about this year’s BSFA Awards – but you’ll have to wait until I have one last piece of information: the approximate current number of BSFA members. I emailed away for the details earlier today, but here I was, sitting in front of a web browser with access to a search engine… which is how I came to be reading the eleventh issue of Peter Weston’s Prolapse fanzine, dated May 2008.

The fanzine features a write-up of one of the BSFA’s fiftieth anniversary events that year at Eastercon, organized by Claire Brialey and Mark Plummer. What interested me most about the write-up, given what was on my mind, was the discussion of the BSFA’s membership history. I particularly appreciated Peter Weston’s graph of ’64 to ’78’s membership numbers. (p. 7) These were based on Greg Pickersgill’s work of compiling a history of membership numbers, beginning with a membership list published in Vector #2, from 69 members up to around 738 of them in 1980. By 2008, he estimated numbers were around 600.

I like having long-term data to play with, and between Greg Pickersgill’s (Unofficial) BSFA Archives and the Prolapse discussions, I’m feeling a little more orientated to the BSFA’s – and thus Vector‘s – development. If I use or abuse these numbers in the future, you’ll know where they came from.

London Meeting: Frances Hardinge

For the first London Meeting of the year, the BSFA’s guest will be Frances Hardinge (author of Fly by Night, Verdigris Deep and Gullstruck Island), who will be interviewed by Farah Mendlesohn (author of The Inter-Galactic Playground).

Date: Wednesday 26th January 2011 from around 7pm.

Venue: The Upstairs room at the Antelope Tavern. 22, Eaton Terrace, Belgravia, London, SW1W 8EZ. The nearest tube station is Sloane Square (District/Circle) A map of the location is here.

All are welcome! (No entry fee or tickets. Non-members welcome.) The Interview will commence at 7.00 pm, but the room is open from 6.00 (and fans in the downstairs bar from 5). There will be a raffle (£1 for five tickets), with a selection of sf novels as prizes.

Future London Meetings

23rd February 2011 – MATT BROOKER (D’ISRAELI) interviewed by Tony Keen
23rd March 2011 – BSFA Awards Meeting
20th April 2011 – DAVID WEBER: Interviewer TBC

BSFA Nominees So Far: Best Novel

And the final category: Best Novel. As for the other lists, everything below has received at least one nomination. The five books with the most nominations at the end of today (23.59 GMT) will go forward to the shortlist. So, last chance: send your nominations in!

  • The Technician by Neal Asher (Tor)
  • A Festival of Skeletons by RJ Astruc (Crossed Genres)
  • The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi (Orbit)
  • Blood and Iron by Tony Ballantyne (Tor)
  • Surface Detail by Iain M Banks (Orbit)
  • The Holy Machine by Chris Beckett (Corvus)
  • The Reapers Are The Angels by Alden Bell (Tor)
  • Zoo City by Lauren Beukes (Angry Robot)
  • Engineman by Eric Brown (Solaris)
  • Guardians of the Phoenix by Eric Brown (Solaris)
  • Farlander by Col Buchanan (Tor)
  • The Orphaned Worlds by Michael Cobley (Orbit)
  • Servant of the Underworld by Aliette de Bodard (Angry Robot)
  • Zendegi by Greg Egan (Gollancz)
  • Under Heaven by Guy Gavriel Kay (Voyager)
  • Empire of Light by Gary Gibson (Tor)
  • Zero History by William Gibson (Viking)
  • The Places Between by Terry Grimwood (Pendragon)
  • The Evolutionary Void by Peter F Hamilton (Macmillan)
  • Horns by Joe Hill (Gollancz)
  • Alison by Andrew Humphrey (TTA Press)
  • The Dervish House by Ian McDonald (Gollancz)
  • The Restoration Game by Ken MacLeod (Orbit)
  • Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion (Vintage)
  • Absorption by John Meaney (Gollancz)
  • Kraken by China Mieville (Macmillan)
  • The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell (Sceptre)
  • Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness (Walker)
  • City of Ruin by Mark Charan Newton (Tor)
  • Silversands by Gareth L Powell (Pendragon)
  • The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi (Gollancz)
  • Terminal World by Alastair Reynolds (Gollancz)
  • New Model Army by Adam Roberts (Gollancz)
  • Time Crystal vol 1 by Wyken Seagrave (Podiobooks)
  • Birdbrain by Johanna Sinisalo (Peter Owen)
  • The Fuller Memorandum by Charles Stross (Orbit)
  • Lightborn by Tricia Sullivan (Orbit)
  • Above the Snowline by Steph Swainston (Gollancz)
  • The Scarab Path by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Tor)
  • Orgasmachine by Ian Watson (Newcon)
  • The Noise Within by Ian Whates (Solaris)
  • City of Dreams and Nightmare by Ian Whates (Angry Robot)
  • How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu (Corvus)

BSFA Nominees So Far: Best Short Fiction

Not surprisingly, the longest list so far: here’s all the works of short fiction that have received at least one nomination from BSFA members. Send yours to awards@bsfa.co.uk by the end of the day.

  • “Flying in the Face of God” by Nina Allan (Interzone 227)
  • “The Phoney War” by Nina Allan (Catastrophia)
  • “Feet of Clay” by Nina Allan (Never Again)
  • “Darwin Anathema” by Stephen Baxter (The Mammoth Book of Alternate History)
  • “Our Land” by Chris Beckett (Conflicts)
  • “The Heart of a Mouse” by KJ Bishop (Subterranean)
  • “Hanging Around” by Neil K Bond (Shoes, Ships and Cadavers)
  • Hothouse Flowers” by Chaz Brenchley (The Bitten Word)
  • “Sussed” by Keith Brooke (Conflicts)
  • “Have Guitar Will Travel” by Chris Butler (The Immersion Book of SF)
  • “The Nightmare of You and Death in the Room” by Christopher Adam (Hub 126)
  • “In the Long Run” by David L Clements (Conflicts)
  • “A War of Stars” by David L Clements (Analog Jan/Feb 2010)
  • “The Maker’s Mark” by Michael Cobley (Conflicts)
  • “Where the Vampires Live” by Storm Constantine (The Bitten Word)
  • “The Shoe Factory” by Michael Cook (Interzone 231)
  • “The Shipmaker” by Aliette de Bodard (Interzone 231)
  • “Spare Change” by Jay Eales (Murky Depths 12)
  • “On Not Going Extinct” by Carol Emshwiller (Strange Horizons)
  • “The Mad Scientist’s Daughter” by Theodora Goss (Strange Horizons)
  • “Flower, Mercy, Needle, Chain” by Yoon Ha Lee (Lightspeed 4)
  • “The Issuance of One Hundred and Thirty-Six” by Mark Harding (Future Fire 21)
  • “The Red Bride” by Samantha Henderson (Strange Horizons)
  • “The Pearl Diver with the Gold Chain” by Paul Hogan (GUD 5)
  • “Ne Cadant in Obscurum” by David Hoing (The Company He Keeps)
  • “Dali’s Clocks” by Dave Hutchinson (Daybreak)
  • “On the Banks of the River Lex” by NK Jemisin (Clarkesworld)
  • “Reflection” by Jessica E Kaiser (Future Fire 19)
  • “Hibakusha” by Keevil Tyler (Interzone 226)
  • “The Earth Beneath My Feet” by James Lecky (Jupiter 29)
  • “Torhec the Sculptor” by Tanith Lee (Asimov’s Oct/Nov)
  • “Alternate Girl’s Expatriate Life” by Rochita Luenen-Ruiz (Interzone 229)
  • “Second Journey of the Magus” by Ian R MacLeod (Subterranean)
  • “Havana Augmented” by Tim Maughan (M-Brane 12)
  • “War Without End” by Una McCormack (Conflicts)
  • “Seven Sexy Cowboy Robots” by Sandra McDonald (Strange Horizons)
  • “Hirasol” by Melissa Mead (Bull Spec 2)
  • “The Isthmus Variation” by Kris Millering (Beneath Ceaseless Skies)
  • “The Untied States of America” by Mario Milosevic (Interzone 228)
  • “The Raft of the Titanic” by James Morrow (The Mammoth Book of Alternate History)
  • “Trouble with Telebrations” by Tim Nickels (Catastrophia)
  • “The Cloth From Which She is Cut” by Gareth Owens (Fun With Rainbows)
  • “Abandonware” by An Owomoyela (Fantasy)
  • “Fallout” by Gareth L Powell (Conflicts)
  • “Pallbearer” by Robert Reed (The Mammoth Book of Alternate History)
  • “Psi.Copath” by Andy Remic (Conflicts)
  • “Partly ES” by Uncle River (Albedo One)
  • “A Serpent in the Gears” by Margaret Ronald (Beneath Ceaseless Skies)
  • “Red Letter Day” by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (Analog)
  • “In the Face of Disaster” by Ian Sales (Catastrophia)
  • “Somadeva: A Sky River Sutra” by Vandana Singh (Strange Horizons)
  • “A Winter’s Tale” by Sarah Singleton (The Bitten Word)
  • “Songbirds” by Martin Sketchley (Conflicts)
  • “Coldrush” by Kari Sperring (The Bitten Word)
  • “Star in a Glass” by Vaughan Stanger (Music for Another World)
  • “The Shostakovich Ensemble” by Jim Steel (Music for Another World)
  • “That Leviathan, Whom Thou Hast Made” by Eric James Stone (Analog)
  • “I Won the Earth Evacuation Lottery” by Tim C Taylor (Shoes, Ships and Cadavers)
  • “To Soar Free” by Todd Thorne (Lorelei Signal)
  • “The Insurance Agent” by Lavie Tidhar (Interzone 230)
  • Cloud Permutations by Lavie Tidhar (PS Publishing)
  • “Lode Stars” by Lavie Tidhar (The Immersion Book of SF)
  • “Thirteen Ways of Looking at Space/Time” by Catherynne M Valente (Clarkesworld)
  • “Dark Mirrors” by John Walters (Warrior Wisewoman 3)
  • “A Walk of Solace with my Dead Baby” by Ian Watson (Shoes, Ships and Cadavers)
  • “The Things” by Peter Watts (Clarkesworld)
  • “The Cruel Ship’s Captain” by Harvey Welles and Philip Raines (Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet)
  • “Mano Mart” by Andy West (Shoes, Ships and Cadavers)
  • “The Abomination of Beauty” by Ian Whates (The Bitten Word)
  • “Several Items of Interest” by Rick Wilber (Asimov’s)
  • “Arrhythmia” by Neil Williamson (Music for Another World)
  • “A to Z in the Ultimate Big Company Superhero Universe (Villains Too)” by Bill Willingham (Masked)