Nominees for best science fiction of 2014 -- plus announcements!

See the Nebula nominees for best science fiction of 2014, below. Plus other cool, sci-fi related news. But first, a few announcements...

In the Year 2525: Big Science, Big History and the Far Future of Humanity. Join me for this Skeptics Society Conference, May 29 to 31 in Pasadena, CA – I'll be speaking along with Jared Diamond, Richard Dawkins, Lawrence Krauss, Gregory Benford, Michael Shermer, and Esther Dyson. Registration is now open.

Can't travel to a Sci Fi Convention? I’ll be a guest at SofaCON2: An Online Science Fiction Con, March 14 & 15, along with Kim Stanley Robinson, Joe Haldeman, Paul Di Filippo and Bruce Bethke. Register and tune in for two days of fascinating video panel discussions. 

My graphic novel, The Life Eaters has just been re-released by IDW. Imagine a world in which the Axis forces of World War II suddenly were propelled to victory over the Allies… prompted by aid from the ancient gods of Norse mythology. Welcome to the alternate reality of The Life Eaters, with lush painted art by Scott Hampton. See this vivid trailer for the book. 

(Note: the first third of this award-nominated Graphic Novel -- Thor Meets Captain America -- came in 2nd for a Hugo, way back in the 20th Century.)

A new anthology Old Venus will be published in March.  Sixteen all-new stories about the sister world of jungles, swamps and wondrous beasts that filled our dreams… till 1962… now about to reappear out of the mists of imagination! 

"Tales by science fiction’s top talents" (Joe Haldeman, Elizabeth Bear, Mike Resnick, including, ahem me) collected by bestselling author George R. R. Martin and editor Gardner Dozois -- following up on their successful Old Mars anthology.

The Museum of Science Fiction, "the world’s first comprehensive science fiction museum," is showcasing the winners of its Architectural Design Competition for the first time outside of Washington, DC, from February 12, 2015 - May 15, 2015 at the Brooklyn Public Library. I am on the board of advisors for what may become one of the most fascinating museum projects in North America, right in the national capital.

Kewl first chapter to an Indie sci fi series called “Tether.”

Another workshop site - Inkitt -- for new writers to share stories and offer mutual crit, online. They also run contests.

Oh, by all means rent the film PREDESTINATION. It's a wonderful expansion upon Robert Heinlein's uber-classic story "All You Zombies."  The entire story is there, every single scene... though of course there are added layers and layers, to make it a movie.  None of those layers detract.  The compounded ironies are preserved and enhanced. The writing is solid. Ethan Hawke and Sarah Snook are terrific. It is simply criminal that she was not nominated for Best Actress in the Academy Awards. Criminal. 

Here's a terrific interview with Sarah Snook... with tons of spoilers. 

== The 2014 Nebula List ==

The Science Fiction Writers of America has announced the nominees for this year’s Nebula Awards. Members get special access to these stories but you are welcome to hunt them down, yourselves. (Many of the authors post their tales on their own sites.) A good way to gauge current trends and keep up to date.  

Congratulations to the nominees!

Novel

  •  The Goblin Emperor, Katherine Addison (Tor)

  •   Trial by Fire, Charles E. Gannon (Baen)

  •   Ancillary Sword, Ann Leckie (Orbit US; Orbit UK)

  •   The Three-Body Problem, Cixin Liu (), translated by Ken Liu (Tor)

  •   Coming Home, Jack McDevitt (Ace)

  •   Annihilation, Jeff VanderMeer (FSG Originals; Fourth Estate;

Novella

  •   We Are All Completely Fine, Daryl Gregory (Tachyon)

  •   Yesterday's Kin, Nancy Kress (Tachyon)

  •   The Regular," Ken Liu (Upgraded)

  •   "The Mothers of Voorhisville," Mary Rickert (Tor.com 4/30/14)

  •   Calendrical Regression, Lawrence Schoen (NobleFusion)

  •   "Grand Jeté (The Great Leap)," Rachel Swirsky (Subterranean

Novelette

  •  "Sleep Walking Now and Then," Richard Bowes (Tor.com 7/9/14)

  •   "The Magician and Laplace's Demon," Tom Crosshill (Clarkesworld 12/14)

  •   "A Guide to the Fruits of Hawai'i," Alaya Dawn Johnson (F&SF 7-8/14)

  •   "The Husband Stitch," Carmen Maria Machado (Granta #129)

  •   "We Are the Cloud," Sam J. Miller (Lightspeed 9/14)

  •   "The Devil in America," Kai Ashante Wilson (Tor.com 4/2/14)

Short Story

  •   "The Breath of War," Aliette de Bodard (Beneath Ceaseless Skies 3/6/14)

  •    "When It Ends, He Catches Her," Eugie Foster (Daily SciFiction 9/26/14)

  •   "The Meeker and the All-Seeing Eye," Matthew Kressel (Clarkesworld 5/14)

  •    "The Vaporization Enthalpy of a Peculiar Pakistani Family," Usman T. Malik (Qualia Nous)

  •   "A Stretch of Highway Two Lanes Wide," Sarah Pinsker (F&SF 3-4/14)

  •   "Jackalope Wives," Ursula Vernon (Apex 1/7/14)

  •   "The Fisher Queen," Alyssa Wong (F&SF 5/14)

For additional information, see the SFWA Website.

== Brin-Audio tales! ==

Speaking of SofaCon -- where you can join me for an online Sci Fi Convention -- you might enjoy the audio sci fi magazine Starship Sofa.  Here are some of the very well narrated versions they have run for some of my tales (after some introduction.)

“Mars Opposition” 

“Crystal Spheres” -- also available for Kindle.

“Fortitude” 

“A Professor at Harvard”

Part 1 of my novella “Temptation” makes up the second half of this radio broadcast. 

Oh, and listen soon for announcement of my entire first collection, The River of Time – already available again in paper and e-book – will have a lovely audio edition of its very own.

== Final note... ==

Can one nominate a brief blog posting for a Hugo Award?  Here’s a way cool one by Howard Tayler, creator of Schlock Mercenary.