May News Roundup

* The Locus Awards have announced their nominees for 2015!  http://www.locusmag.com/News/2015/05/2015-locus-awards-finalists/

* Controversial Nobel Prize-winning German author Gunter Glass, who often made use of the fantastic in his works, has passed away.  http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2015/04/13/399303570/gunter-grass-nobel-winning-author-of-the-tin-drum-dies-at-87

* DC continues to expand its television universe.  It will be introducing new heroes (including Hawkgirl!) in the Flash finale before Legends of Tomorrow premieres this fall.  http://www.comicbookresources.com/article/hawkgirl-other-legends-stars-to-appear-in-the-flash-season-finale

* The Romantic Times Book Reviews Awards have been announced, many of which have speculative elements.  Check out all the subcategories of winners here: http://www.rtbookreviews.com/blog/82892/announcing-2014-rt-reviewers-choice-and-career-achievement-awards-winners

* The fanzine Black Gate, and authors Markos Kloos, Annie Bellet, and Edmund R. Schubert have declined their Hugo nominations for various reasons.  See their separate statements here:
https://www.blackgate.com/2015/04/19/black-gate-withdraws-from-hugo-consideration/
http://www.munchkinwrangler.com/2015/04/15/a-statement-on-my-hugo-nomination/
https://overactive.wordpress.com/2015/04/15/hugo-story-withdrawn/
http://whatever.scalzi.com/2015/04/27/in-which-edmund-schubert-withdraws-from-the-hugos/

* The rogue Russian spacecraft that has been hurtling toward Earth for a while has disintegrated safely.  http://gizmodo.com/the-rogue-russian-spacecraft-disintegrated-safely-1703029437/

* The Aurealis Awards which celebrate Australian SF/F/H have announced their winners.  See them here: http://aurealisawards.org/2015/04/12/and-the-winners-are/

* Peggy Carter fans all over the world have a reason to celebrate as "Agent Carter" the TV series has been renewed for a second series.  http://www.cinemablend.com/television/Agent-Carter-Definitely-Coming-Back-Season-2-71760.html

* The identity of K.J. Parker has long been a mystery in the publishing world.  Well, it has finally been revealed that the master of emotionally dark realistic fantasy is also the successful humorous fantasy writer Tom Holt.  Listen to the whole interview reveal here: http://jonathanstrahan.podbean.com/e/episode-230-k-j-parker-and-the-history-of-a-writer/

* In an exciting bit of news, Nick Offerman of "Parks and Rec" fame will be Toastmaster of the Nebulas this year.  http://www.sfwa.org/nebula-awards/nebula-weekend/about-the-toastmaster-nick-offerman/

* io9 gathers a group of diverse opinions on what are some utterly brilliant novels with one fatal flaw.  Check out a wide breadth of answers here: http://io9.com/10-brilliant-novels-that-have-one-fatal-flaw-1702859884

* 10 science fiction authors including Robert Charles Wilson, Genevieve Valentine, Ken Liu and more predict how our world will change in the next ten years.  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/05/06/sci-fi-predictions_n_7102742.html

* "The Tall Grass" novella written by father/son team Stephen King and Joe Hill about a brother and pregnant sister fighting for their lives in a field will be getting a big-screen adaptation.  http://sciencefiction.com/2015/05/07/in-the-tall-grass-stephen-king-son-get-big-screen-treatment/

* Speaking of Stephen King, the 2015 Edgar Awards have been announced, and they include King's novel MR. MERCEDES and the delightful Gillian Flynn short story "What Do You Do", (which is collected in the GRRM and Gardner Dozois edited anthology ROGUES).  See the full list of winners here: http://www.theedgars.com/nominees.html

* Fans of Cassandra Clare have reason to celebrate since her Shadowhunters series, which failed as a movie, has found second life as an ABC Family TV series, and they have found their Clary.  Do you like who they've chosen?  http://www.mtv.com/news/2153680/shadowhunters-clary-fray-katherine-mcnamara/

* It is a sad day, because after twenty years Ellen Klages has retired as the Tiptree Auction emcee.  Those of us who've seen her know it will be a great loss.  Read her goodbye and reminisce on the good times.  http://blog.wiscon.info/2015/04/ellen-klages-and-the-tiptree-auction/

* Emily St. John Mandel has won the Arthur C. Clarke Award for her novel STATION ELEVEN.  Check out the judges' comments, the shortlist, and more over at the Clarke Award website.  http://www.clarkeaward.com/

* Have six minutes? Then watch the short film "The Red Witch", done by Aron Bothman (with screenplay by Samara Weiss) as a fourth year film project.  A woman tries to learn Mars' story as it's being terraformed and becomes one herself.  http://www.kuriositas.com/2015/05/the-red-witch.html

* The Shirley Jackson Award nominees have been announced.  http://www.shirleyjacksonawards.org/nominees/

* Over at io9.com,  K. Tempest Bradford gathers the best short stories from the past week in her regular io9 Newsstand feature:  http://io9.com/io9-newsstand-the-best-stories-from-the-week-of-may-3-1703080879

* Our friends at Comix Experience < http://www.comixexperience.com > are running into some of the same challenges regarding the San Francisco Minimum Wage that we faced (i.e. the prices for their goods are set by the publisher and they will have a hard time meeting the minimum wage as it goes up).  However, they aren't planning on closing.  Instead they're offering a graphic novel subscription service that, with sufficient support, will allow them to continue operations and meet the increasing minimum wage.  You can find all the information about it here < http://www.graphicnovelclub.com > but the thumbnail sketch is that, for a flat monthly fee of $25, you will receive a copy of the graphic novel of the month.