February News Roundup

* It's the 5th year of local Bay Area convention FOGCon: March 6th - 8th, 2015 at the Walnut Creek Mariott with Guests of Honor Kim Stanley Robinson and Catherynne M. Valente.  The theme this year is The Traveler and the Chair is once again Guy W. Thomas.  For more information, go to their website here: http://fogcon.org/

* R.I.P. Colleen McCullough.  The author of THE THORN BIRDS, which sold over 30 million copies has passed away at age 77.  http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-01-29/australian-author-colleen-mccullough-dies/6055952

* The non-profit We Need Diverse Books is having a short story contest for unpublished authors.  The winner will receive $1000 and publication in a upcoming anthology from Crown books.  Go here for their definition of unpublished and for more information.  http://weneeddiversebooks.org/short-story-contest/

* Treehugger.com provides three good reasons why you should be reading paper books. http://www.treehugger.com/culture/3-good-reasons-read-paper-books-year.html

* Author Jack McDevitt has won the 2015 Robert A. Heinlein Award for inspiring human exploration of space. http://www.bsfs.org/bsfsheinlein.htm

* The Edgars have announced their nominees for 2015 awards and several of them have speculative elements. http://www.theedgars.com/nominees.html

* For the GAME OF THRONES fans out there, visit beautifuldeath.com for gorgeous posters commemorating all of the deaths over the course of the show.  (Spoiler alert, of course, if you haven't watched the series or read the books.)

* See the shortlisted works for the inaugural James Herbert Award for Horror Writing here: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jan/29/james-herbert-award-horror-writing-shortlist

* Perfect for that person you've always wanted to turn into an alien incubator!  (Warning: this is GROSS.  It's cool but it's gross.)  http://boingboing.net/2015/01/20/chest-burster-creme-egg.html

* Behind-the-scenes photos of some of the most gruesome monster movie make-up being applied.  http://www.viralnova.com/how-monsters-are-made/

* Elon Musk's SpaceX names its Drone ships in honor of ships from Iain M. Banks' Culture novels.  Which, while really awesome, doesn't seem like the smartest thing, considering the personalities of some of those ships.  http://www.tor.com/blogs/2015/01/elon-musk-iain-m-banks-just-read-the-instructions

* Another attempt to adapt RED MARS is being set into motion.  (I think this is attempt number four.)  This time Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski has been tapped to adapt it for Spike TV.  http://deadline.com/2015/01/j-michael-straczynski-red-mars-series-spike-1201354875/

* Zen Cho's collection SPIRITS ABROAD and Stephanie Feldman's novel THE ANGEL OF LOSSES have tied for the William L. Crawford Fantasy Award. Congratulations to them both!  http://www.locusmag.com/News/2015/01/cho-and-feldman-win-crawford-award/

* The Horror Writers Association has revealed the preliminary ballot for the Bram Stoker Awards.  http://horror.org/2014-bram-stoker-awards-preliminary-ballot-announced/