Hugo Nominations Open

January 30, 2016 at 1:35 pm

Nominations are now open for the 2016 Hugo Awards.

You can nominate online at http://midamericon2.org/the-hugo-awards/hugo-nominations/

Those still using paper can also download a ballot and mail it in.

On-line works better, though. A mailed ballot, once mailed, is done. On-line, you can fill in a few choices now, then add or change later. The nominations are opening now, but won’t close until March 31. So if you know a few things you want to nominate, and you have your PIN, put them down now. You can always change ’em later.

Of course, you do need to be a worldcon member to nominate. That is to say, a member of this year’s worldcon (MidAmericon II in Kansas City), or last year’s (Sasquan in Spokane), or next year’s (in Helsinki). If you hold a membership in any of those you’re good.

If not, though, you need to act NOW. To qualify, you need to buy a membership in either KC or Helsinki by JANUARY 31, and the last time I looked, that was tomorrow.

You can sign up at:
http://www.worldcon.fi/
http://midamericon2.org/registration/

Even if you can’t come to worldcon, you can still nominate and vote by buying a supporting membership. But attending is better, if you can make it. Finland has never hosted a worldcon before, but Helsinki is a great city, so ’17 should be a hoot and a half. With saunas. As for KC, MidAmericon I in 1976 was my favorite worldcon of all time, and if MAC II is even half as good, it will be terrific.

What you nominate is, of course, entirely up to you.

But please, NOMINATE. I have been beating that same drum for a decade, and this year it behooves me to beat it even louder. Nominate the stuff that you enjoyed best last year. Let your own individual voice be heard.

Yes, I have recommended some stuff I liked, in older posts below. And I will be doing more of same in the near future. But remember, that’s just me saying, “hey, I liked this, you might like it too, take a look.” No one should ever nominate anything just because someone else tells them to.

((This is has been a fannish service announcement)).

Tags: awards, conventions, hugo awards

Last Year (Jean Cocteau)

January 1, 2016 at 4:47 pm

I had a whole page about the Jean Cocteau on my Lost Post. A look back at an amazing year. All the author events, the magic shows, the concerts and comedy acts, the burlesque shows, the special events, the film festivals, the retrospectives, the television premieres, the marathons… and of course the movies.

With picture. Lots and lots of pictures.

Sorry, but I don’t have the patience to re-create it all again.

Suffice it to say that we had a great time at the Jean Cocteau Cinema in 2015, and we’re hoping that 2016 will be even more exciting under our new general manager, David Sidebottom.

We are certainly off to a good start. HATEFUL 8 opened with a sellout. Yay!

Oh, though I won’t rehash the entire year, I do want to mention some things we’re especially proud of. The Jean Cocteau dared to show THE INTERVIEW when all five of the country’s major chains caved in to threats from North Korea. Not only did we pack the house for weeks, we received a special unanimous commendation from the New Mexico state legislature for defending free speech.

Oh, and several weeks later, we defied the local prudes by showing Lina Esco’s film FREE THE NIPPLE, though we had to fight to get our ads published. (We also freed some nipples in the theatre on opening night). Plus we were the only theatre in New Mexico to show INTERSTELLAR the way director Christopher Nolan wanted it shown, on 35mm film.

So I am proud of all that. And of the Cocteau in general. Come visit us if you’re ever in Santa Fe. Our popcorn is great too.

Tags: anthologies, awards

Oh, Speaking of Awards…

January 1, 2016 at 4:29 pm

[… I have been promising my fans on Reddit to post a picture of the Stabby Award they so kindly bestowed on ROGUES, but somehow it kept slipping my mind.

But I finally got a half-decent pic, courtesy of my minion Raya.

So here ’tis.

The Stabby really is a striking award. And no doubt will prove very useful come the zombie apocalypse.

Tags: anthologies, awards

Last Year (Awards)

January 1, 2016 at 3:49 pm

2015 was a great year for me as far as awards and other honors were concerned as well.

It did not start out that way. Last February I flew to LA for the Writers Guild Awards. I was up for two: one for my season four episode “The Lion and the Rose,” and one as part of the writing staff on GAME OF THRONES. Lost both, alas. That was disappointing. Oh, it was a honor to be on the shortlist, to be sure, especially since I had only been nominated for a WGA Award once before, for a TWILIGHT ZONE script way back when. But there’s something special about recognition from one’s peers, and a win would have been cool. I doubt I will be getting another shot at that one.

That was the only (small) down note, however. After that, awards and honors came fast and furious the rest of the year. ROGUES, the latest of the crossgenre anthologies I’ve been editing with Gardner Dozois, won two: a LOCUS and a Stabby. It was also a finalist for the World Fantasy Award, but lost that one (no surprise, as DANGEROUS WOMEN had won the year before). Gardner and I was also gratified that two of our ROGUES contributors won prizes of their own for their stories in the book: Joe Abercrombie took a LOCUS award and Gillian Flynn an Edgar.

I was also thrilled to receive an Alumni Achievement Award from my alma mater, Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism. They gave me a Northwestern football helmet too. And I got to return to Evanston for the first time in decades. All cool.

Then, of course, there was my birthday present. You guys remember that, yes?

That was as unexpected as it was exciting. Having lost the Emmy six times before (twice for BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, four times for GAME OF THRONES), I was pretty pessimistic going in. I was never so glad to be so wrong.

Of course, I can’t really take too many bows: it was David and Dan and Bryan, the great folks at HBO, and the best cast and crew in television who really brought hold the Emmy gold. The first time a fantasy or SF show has ever won… but not, I hope, the last.

One sometimes hears it said that it is more blessed to give than to receive. So maybe it is only fitting that my favorite award of 2015 was not one I won, but one I gave to others. I am, of course, talking about the Alfies.

I am as proud of the Alfies as of anything I have ever done in fandom, and I will always treasure my memories of that night, and especially the words of those who won these old hood ornaments. Sometimes it feels good to do good.

(I said all of this, at somewhat greater length, in the Lost Post).

PS ((Oh, and now that I’ve uploaded this, I realize I forgot that I also received a New Mexico Governor’s Award for contributions to the art, and a PiePlate award from the Santa Fe Independent Film Festival. I did include those in the original update, but missed them in the Cliff’s Notes version. And who knows what else I’ve forgotten? It was a good year for honors)).

Tags: awards

More Hugo Ruminations

December 22, 2015 at 5:52 pm

Time to look at another Hugo category.

Today, Best Graphic Story. (Or ‘best comic book,’ if you want to be less pretentious).

Anyone who knows anything about me knows that I am an old time comic fanboy. I was there for the birth of comics fandom in the 60s. I was the first fan to sign up for the first comicon. My first published words were letters to Stan and Jack in the pages of THE FANTASTIC FOUR and THE AVENGERS. My first published fictions were prose superhero stories in fanzines like HERO and YMIR and STAR-STUDDED COMICS. I was a member of the Merry Marvel Marching Society. I once won an Alley Award (though I never got it). Decades later, I was a guest of honor at San Diego Comicon and won an Inkpot.

That was a long time ago, however. I fear I no longer follow mainstream comics much. I still love the stories and heroes I grew up, Silver Age Marvel and DC (hell, even Charlton, the Question and Blue Beetle were great), but there have been way too many retcons and reboots and restarts for my taste. I don’t know who these characters are any longer, and what’s worse, I don’t much care.

I really don’t think we needed to add a Graphic Story category to the Hugo Awards. Comics have their own awards, the Eisners, they don’t need the Hugo too. Besides, most SF fans do not follow comics closely enough to make informed judgements in this area.

That being said, however, I have to concede that the fans did pretty damned well nominating in this category last year. SAGA was the only one of the finalists that I had actually heard of before Sasquan announced last year’s ballot… but I dutifully read all the others before I voted, and for the most part, I was impressed (okay, not by the Puppy nominee, which was several notches below the other four)… especially by MS. MARVEL, a whole new take on the character (actually a whole new character with an old name), a charming new addition to the Marvel universe, and the eventual winner.

So… I still don’t love Graphic Novel as a Hugo category, but it exists, and those who follow the field more closely than me should nominate Good Stuff here again, and maybe I’ll have more comic books to discover and delight in when the final ballot comes out.

Meanwhile, I do have one truly outstanding graphic novel to suggest… I am not totally disconnected from the world of comics, y’see… and that’s a book called THE SCULPTOR, by Scott McCloud.

McCloud, of course, is the author of UNDERSTANDING COMICS, the seminal work about graphic stories and how they work, a book I recommend unreservedly to all aspiring comic book artists and writers. With THE SCULPTOR, McCloud proves he’s as talented a practitioner as he is a theoretician. It’s a story about a guy with superpowers, yes… but a very real one. No one puts on spandex to fight crime here. This is a story of character, a tale that evokes not Stan Lee or Jack Kirby or even Steve Ditko (much as I love them), but rather Will Eisner. And higher praise than that I do not have.

I haven’t read enough graphic novels to know for certain that THE SCULPTOR was the best of 2015. But it is so damned good, so original and so human, that I cannot imagine that it is not one of the best five. THE SCULPTOR deserves a Hugo nomination, and I know it will be on my ballot.

Tags: awards, comics, graphic novels, hugo awards

Awards Season

December 11, 2015 at 3:34 pm

Awards season is upon us.

The Golden Globe nominations have just been announced. And once again GAME OF THRONES is a finalist in Best Television Series – Drama. Congrats to David Benioff, Dan Weiss, HBO, and our amazing cast and crew. This year we are up against OUTLANDER, MR. ROBOT, NARCOS, and EMPIRE.

Will we win? Maybe. We’ve been nominated before, but never won — but that was true of the Emmy Awards as well, until this year, so maybe this time will prove to be the charm in the Globes as well. Actually, none of the nominees in this category have ever won, so someone is going to be taking home a Globe for the first time. I’m glad to see OUTLANDER getting some recognition, after being snubbed by the Emmys; it’s a superb show. Never watched the other three, so it’s hard to say how they stack up.

Sad to say, none of our actors were nominated. Boo, hiss. Lena Headey deserved a nod for sure, and some of our other regulars as well.

For a full list of those who were, go to:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lists/golden-globe-nominations-complete-list-847494

OUTLANDER did very well with noms for Tobias Menzies in Supporting Actor and Catrionia Balfe in Lead Actress, both well deserved… but the Hollywood Foreign Press should really have made it three by nominating Sam Heughan too. He was amazing as Jamie Frazier.

The film nominations were a mixed bag, in my opinion. Very pleased to see MAD MAX:FURY ROAD up for Best Drama, and Bryan Cranston nominated for his performance as Dalton Trumbo in TRUMBO… a superb film that deserves a lot more attention than it’s getting.

Also pleased to see the nominations for THE MARTIAN… but wait… THE MARTIAN is up for Best Comedy or Musical?????? Was that for Mark Watney’s toe-tapping rendition of “Get Me Home Before I Starve To Death?” Or maybe that ever popular musical number, “Growing Potatoes in Poop, Heigh Ho?” I mean, c’mon guys, a nomination is a nomination, but…

Meanwhile, on other fronts, the Writers Guild of America also announced their screenwriting nominations. GAME OF THRONES is up twice. David Benioff and Dan Weiss and Bryan Cogman and Dave Hill are up collectively as a writing staff, up against the writing staffs of MR. ROBOT, MAD MEN, BETTER CALL SAUL, and THE AMERICANS.

David and Dan are also nominated for best single episode for “Mother’s Mercy,” competing with episodes of NARCOS, THE LEFTOVERS, THE GOOD WIFE, MAD MEN, and BETTER CALL SAUL. For a complete list of finalists, go to:

http://awards.wga.org/wga-awards/nominees-winners

Finally, we also have acting nominations from the Screen Actors Guild, which can be found here:

http://variety.com/2015/film/awards/sag-award-nominations-2016-nominees-full-list-1201657169/

SAG gave GOT three nods: Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama, Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble… and Peter Dinklage for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama.

My congratulations to everyone who was nominated. You deserved it! And my condolences to all those who were not. You were robbed!

Tags: awards, television and film

More Hugo Thoughts

December 5, 2015 at 12:59 pm

Continuing the conversation I began in my Not A Post of November 2…

Last time I talked about some possible nominees for Dramatic Presentation, Long Form. This time I want to focus on Dramatic Presentation, Short Form. In other words, best television episode. (No, not officially, but that’s what it usually comes down to, and let’s ignore the silliness of nominating an Easter Egg or an acceptance speech from the previous year’s Hugos).

I was no fan of the efforts of Puppies to game the Hugo Awards last year. I don’t think I have been shy in my opinions on that subject. But I will give the Puppies this much — their efforts did break the decade-long hold that Dr. Who fandom had on the nominations in this category. I have no problem with episodes of DR. WHO being nominated, and indeed winning, mind you… and the Doctor has won plenty of times in this category over the past decade… but when four of the six finalists are from the same category, that strikes me as way unbalanced and, well, greedy. The Doctor’s fans love their show, I know, but there is a LOT of great SF and fantasy on the tube right now. Nominate DR. WHO, by all means… but leave some room for someone else, please.

(And yes, I would feel the same way if it was four episodes of GAME OF THRONES being nominated every year, rather than four episodes of DR. WHO).

Last year, for the first time in recent memory, we actually had five different series represented on the final ballot. In addition to GAME OF THRONES and DR. WHO, the two shows that had dominated the previous three years, we also had ORPHAN BLACK (the eventual winner), plus episodes of THE FLASH and GRIMM. The Puppies had something to do with that, I can’t deny that. Nonetheless, I do think it was a healthy development. I hope we have five different series represented this year as well… though maybe not the same five.

There’s a lot to choose from, actually. Yes, DR. WHO. No way to keep the Doctor off the ballot. Yes, GAME OF THRONES. I am only human, so I do hope we contend again… I’d favor “Hardhome” myself, but “Mother’s Mercy,” with Cersei’s walk of shame, could be a strong choice as well. ORPHAN BLACK is the defending champion, and should get another nod as well.

THE FLASH? Maybe. But there’s also ARROW and GOTHAM and AGENTS OF SHIELD for the comic book fans out there (I count myself as one of those), and now SUPERGIRL as well.

GRIMM was nominated last year, and is still going strong. And there’s ONCE UPON A TIME as well. That one has never gotten a nod.

However, looking beyond previous nominees, there are lots of shows out there that might be due for a bit of Hugo love. Start with the zombie triad: the very grim WALKING DEAD, the very tongue-in-cheek Z NATION, plus I, ZOMBIE. The undead are well represented.

And for horror fans, there’s also AMERICAN HORROR STORY. A perennial Emmy contender, yet it never seems to get any notice at Hugo time.

I love scary stories myself, count myself a fan of Lovecraft and Poe and Stephen King, so I’ve sampled and enjoyed most of these shows. The one I like better than any of them, though? PENNY DREADFUL. That’s the one I’ll be including on my own Hugo ballot.

I am tempted to mention THE LAST KINGDOM as well… but as much as I love it, it really isn’t eligible. A terrific show, one you should all be watching, but it’s straight historical fiction, with no fantasy elements.

However, I will mention another show that might otherwise be overlooked: OUTLANDER. Yes, it is a historical. Yes, it is a romance. But it is also a science fiction show. TIME TRAVEL, remember? Plus, it’s just flat out terrific. Great production values, first rate writing and directing, and some amazing acting… all three of the leads gave performances worthy of Emmy nods this past year, though the Academy overlooked them. I hope that fandom doesn’t make the same mistake.

Let’s spread the love. Lots of people are doing good work in television right now, and deserve some recognition. Five nominations, five different series, that’s my hope. When the time comes to make your nominations, look beyond the usual suspects.

Tags: awards, hugo awards, television

Sibel Is Coming…. Back

November 18, 2015 at 7:23 pm

Big doings at the Jean Cocteau next week.

Starting on Tuesday, when the amazing SIBEL KEKILLI visits Santa Fe once again. Last time she was here, I introduced her to margaritas and chile con queso, so of course she had to return.

GAME OF THRONES fans know Sibel best as Shae, of course, but she’s much much more than that. In her native Germany, Sibel has twice won the prestigious Lola Award (the ‘German’ Oscar) as Best Actress.

Last time she visited us, we screened the first of her Lola-winning films, her feature debut in HEAD ON. So this time it seemed only right that we show the second, WHEN WE LEAVE.

<lj-embed id=”622″/>

We’ll be showing WHEN WE LEAVE only twice, on Tuesday night and again on Wednesday, and Sibel will be on hand to introduce the film and answer your questions afterward… about WHEN WE LEAVE, about GAME OF THRONES (yay Shae!), about her current starring role in the hit German crime series TATORT, about her work with Terre des Femmes, or whatever. You might even be able to persuade her to sign your GAME OF THRONES books, who knows?

Advance tickets can be purchased on the Cocteau website.

See you at the movies!

Tags: awards, films, game of thrones, jean cocteau cinema

Maybe You CAN Go Home Again…

November 11, 2015 at 1:06 pm

[… at least for a visit.

Last week I returned to my old haunts in Evanston, Illinois, to Northwestern University and the Medill School of Journalism, where I was honored with an Alumni Achievement Award. The honor meant a lot to me, as did the warm welcome I received from the faculty and students at Medill.

I also got to attend a football game at Ryan Field (it was Dyche Stadium when I was there), and witness a thrilling last-minute victory over the ~~Lannister Lions~~ Penn State Nittany Lions. Good game (though Penn State did knock out NU’s starting QB, which could bode ill for the remainder of the season). Not only did I see a win, but I got to hang out with a fellow NU alum, AND was presented with a Northwestern helmet midway through the second quarter. VERY cool.

All that was great… but the best part of the visit was getting to meet some of the students, who turned out in large numbers for all of my public events. For some reason, they all seemed a lot younger than the students I remember from 1970… but just as bright.

I had forgotten what a pretty town Evanston is, especially in autumn. The city has changed a lot since I was last there, however, as has the campus. A LOT of new buildings, everywhere. Fisk and Harris and University were still there, I was pleased to see, but surrounded on all sides by big modern buildings I don’t remember. Deering looked unchanged, though. And Tech… where I took Bergen Evans’ introduction to literature…

A lot of memories. I would have loved to wander the campus a little more and wallow in nostalgia, but alas, I could not walk a block beyond the hotel without being stopped for half a dozen selfies, so I had to put that plan aside.

(I was saddened to see that Evanston has lost all of its old movie theatres. The Varsity, the Valenica, the Evanston up by the stadium, the Coronet down by the Main Street newsstand… gone, every one of them. What a loss).

My thanks to Dean Hamm, President Shapiro, Beth Moellers, the gang at the Nerd Bar, and everyone else who helped to make my visit so special.

Tags: awards, movie theatre, travels

Back to Evanston

November 2, 2015 at 4:01 pm

I will be returning to Evanston, Illinois this weekend ~~in search of my lost youth~~ to receive an alumni award from Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism.

I’ll also be doing an interview and Q&A open to the Northwestern community.

http://www.medill.northwestern.edu/experience/news/2015/fall/best-selling-author-george-r.-r.-martin-to-visit-medill.html

And, hey, I also get to go to a football game. I wonder if I still remember all the words to “Go, U Northwestern.”

<lj-embed id=”620″/>

Tags: awards, old times

Not a Blog