Out of the Woodwork 155. mid August 2009
Fantastic Literature - setting the standards for out of print on-line bookselling.

Welcome to our newsletter, it contains up to the minute news and gossip as well as awards details and items requiring help from the collective consciousness. If you wish to contribute please do so! We welcome your thoughts, your news items and any gossip! We do love a bit of gossip here at Fantastic HQ.

Recently returned from an eventful holiday in France where I almost got arrested for fishing without a licence, saved two French families from drowning near Mimizan Plage and the car got attacked by squirrels - dropping pine cones on it from 75 feet. Oh, and the leash on my board broke 100 metres off shore - very scary moment.

On a slightly different note, I've also just taken redundancy/early retirement after 32 years of teaching. That means that Laraine and I will be devoting even more time to ensuring Fantastic Literature Ltd provides the very best sales and customer service of all booksites on the internet!

In this newsletter:

Winners of the 2009 Mythopoeic Awards - announced July 17th
The Hugo Winners - announced August 9th
The Chesley Awards for SF and Fantasy Art
The Sidewise Awards for Alternate History
Collective Consciousness - success from the last newsletter. And yet another!
World Fantasy Award Nominations covering the year 2008
Department of Smug Self Satisfaction - a smug look at a howler from Book and Magazine Collector.
Archive

2009 Mythopoeic Awards winners:

ADULT LITERATURE

Flesh and Spirit and Breath and Bone, Carol Berg (Roc)

CHILDREN’S LITERATURE

Graceling, Kristin Cashore (Harcourt Children's)

INKLINGS STUDIES

The History of the Hobbit, Part One: Mr. Baggins; Part Two: Return to Bag-end, John Rateliff (Houghton Mifflin, 2007)

MYTH AND FANTASY STUDIES

Four British Fantasists: Place and Culture in the Children’s Fantasies of Penelope Lively, Alan Garner, Diana Wynne Jones, and Susan Cooper, Charles Butler (Children's Literature Association & Scarecrow Press, 2006). Mythopoeic Society

The Hugo Awards and John W. Campbell Award winners were presented at the Hugo Award Ceremony, August 9, 2009 at the the 67th Worldcon, Anticipation at the Palais de Congrès in Montreal, Québec.

NOVEL

The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman (HarperCollins; Bloomsbury)

NOVELLA

"The Erdmann Nexus", Nancy Kress (Asimov's Oct/Nov 2008)

NOVELETTE
"Shoggoths in Bloom", Elizabeth Bear (Asimov's Mar 2008)

SHORT STORY

"Exhalation", Ted Chiang (Eclipse Two)

RELATED BOOK

Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded: A Decade of Whatever, 1998-2008, John Scalzi (Subterranean Press)

GRAPHIC STORY

Girl Genius, Volume 8: Agatha Heterodyne and the Chapel of Bones, Kaja & Phil Foglio, art by Phil Foglio, colors by Cheyenne Wright (Airship Entertainment)

DRAMATIC PRESENTATION: LONG FORM
WALL-E (Andrew Stanton & Pete Docter, story; Andrew Stanton & Jim Reardon, screenplay; Andrew Stanton, directo; Pixar/Walt Disney)

DRAMATIC PRESENTATION: SHORT FORM
Doctor Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (Joss Whedon, & Zack Whedon, & Jed Whedon, & Maurissa Tancharoen, writers; Joss Whedon, director; Mutant Enemy)

EDITOR, SHORT FORM
Ellen Datlow

EDITOR, LONG FORM
David G. Hartwell

PROFESSIONAL ARTIST
Donato Giancola

SEMIPROZINE
Weird Tales, Ann VanderMeer & Stephen H. Segal, eds.

FANZINE
Electric Velocipede, John Klima

FAN WRITER
Cheryl Morgan

FAN ARTIST
Frank Wu

The John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer (Not a Hugo)

David Anthony Durham*

The 24th annual Chesley Awards were announced at Anticipation, the 2009 Worldcon in Montréal, on August 7, 2009. The Chesley Awards were established in 1985 as ASFA's peer awards to recognize individual works and achievements during a given year.

COVER ILLUSTRATION, HARDCOVER
Donato Giancola, for A Book of Wizards (by Marvin Kaye, ed.; SFBC)

COVER ILLUSTRATION, PAPERBACK
John Picacio, for Fast Forward 2 (by Lou Anders, ed.; Pyr)

COVER ILLUSTRATION, MAGAZINE
Matts Minnhagen, for Clarkesworld (Apr 2008)

INTERIOR ILLUSTRATION
Donato Giancola, for "The Wraith" (by J. Robert Lennon; Playboy Nov 2008)

COLOR WORK, UNPUBLISHED
"The Gift", Simon Dominic (digital)

MONOCHROME WORK, UNPUBLISHED
"Kraken", Simon Dominic (digital)

THREE-DIMENSIONAL
"Otherworldly Procession", Vincent Villafranca (bronze)

ARTISTIC ACHIEVEMENT
Julie Bell

ART DIRECTOR
Lou Anders (Pyr Books)

GAMING-RELATED ILLUSTRATION
"Stoic Angel", Volkan Baga (Magic Card: Shards of Alara, Wizards of the Coast)

PRODUCT ILLUSTRATION

"Hellboy 2", Dan Dos Santos (promotional art for the film, Dark Horse & Universal Pictures)

The winners of the Sidewise Awards for alternate history published in 2008 were announced at Anticipation, the 2009 Worldcon in Montréal.

LONG FORM
The Dragon's Nine Sons, Chris Roberson (Solaris)

The Affinity Bridge, George Mann (Snowbooks; Tor 2009)

Half a Crown, Jo Walton (Tor)

Nation, Terry Pratchett (Doubleday UK; HarperCollins)

Swiftly, Adam Roberts (Gollancz)

SHORT FORM

"Sacrifice", Mary Rosenblum (Sideways in Crime)

"A Brief Guide to Other Histories", Paul J. McAuley (Postscripts #15)

"G-Men", Kristine Kathryn Rusch (Sideways in Crime)

"Night Bird Soaring", T. L. Morganfield (Greatest Uncommon Denominator Autumn 2008)

"The People's Machine", Tobias S. Buckell (Sideways in Crime)

"Poison Victory", Albert E. Cowdrey (F&SF Jul 2008)

One for the collective consciousness, yet another result!

Something of a long shot but I am searching for a book I read many years ago (possibly late 60's) about an organism that absorbed humans it came into contact with and grew as a result. I recall it started with a lady trying to clear her sink plug hole and getting absorbed and it grew from there until it took over most of the London tube network. I also seem to recall it didn't absorb the water in our bodies but left it as residue.

Any ideas what this may be?

Colin Cooper

The responses came in thick and fast:

a) Hi, maybe it is the story about the "Blob". Bye Ulrike Ergenzinger ;-)

b) This might be THE CLONE by Kate Wilhelm and Theodore L. Thomas. The description seems right, except that the book took place in the US--Chicago, I believe--and not London. John Boston

c) Sounds like Greg Bear's Blood Music, but I haven't read it for many years. Paul Brazier

d) Maybe THE CLONE by Kate Wilhelm and Theodore Thomas (1968)? V. Kalenius, Helsinki

e) Hi, I think the story of the gunk down the plughole was by Kate Wilhelm, but I don't remember the title. Best. Marise

f) I believe that would be THE CLONE, published as an paperback original in the States in 1965. It was co-authored by Kate Wilhelm and Theodore L. Thomas. It had a bland montage cover with horrific elements, but in big letters it told us this was "A Science Fiction Novel." I think it had it's U.K. debut in paperback in 1969. Stanley Wiater

g) Hello. I think the story was called Clone or The Clone. I cannot remember who wrote it but I read it some time in the mid to late 70's and it was new out then. Regards Martin

h) The book Colin Cooper is asking about is Kate Wilhelms The Clone. A particularly scary novel which was a sort of reverse grey goo story. I remember it put me off drinking from public drinking fountains for some years. P. Blissett

j) Haven't read it, but from memory of reviews/blurbs, maybe THE CLONE by Theodore L. Thomas and Kate Wilhelm (1965) even though I didn't think that was set in London?

k) Yeah - this sounds very like 'The Clone' by Kate Wilhelm & Ted Thomas, published in 1964/65 (I think...). I recall this quite clearly as it was one of the first adult sf novels I ever read. I still own my somewhat tattered Mayflower copy. Steve Tabner

l)Hello Simon. This sounds rather like the plot of "The Blob" science fiction film.
Perhaps this was the original story the film was based on?. If Gary likes this type of story, he may want to try "End of an era" by Robert J Sawyer. It wasn't too my taste, but each to their own. James

Colin responded: Simon, Fantastic response, many thanks for this. I will have to try and get hold of a copy of The Clone as I think that may be it. Colin

and another one for the collective consciousness:

Looking for the title of a book I read sometime between 2000 and 2002. And was directed to your site as a possible place to find the answer. It was a sci-fi/ horror book about a town of people that begin changing into their ideal of monsters. There was a large corporation that was doing illegal research on the town. And the mutations were being caused by nanites or something. After some murders, the main characters come to the town to investigate, and eventually the town goes to hell and the main characters have to try and survive. I remember that one kid turned into a cyborg and morphed with his computer. Some people turned into werewolves. And some changed into "Alien" like alien creatures. Any ideas on the title of this book? Roger

2009 World Fantasy Award Nominations (covering the 2008 award year)

BEST NOVEL
The House of the Stag, Kage Baker (Tor)
The Shadow Year, Jeffrey Ford (Morrow)
The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman (HarperCollins; Bloomsbury)
Pandemonium, Daryl Gregory (Del Rey)
Tender Morsels, Margo Lanagan (Allen & Unwin; Knopf)

BEST NOVELLA
"Uncle Chaim and Aunt Rifke and the Angel", Peter S. Beagle (Strange Roads)
"If Angels Fight", Richard Bowes (F&SF 2/08)
"The Overseer", Albert Cowdrey (F&SF 3/08)
"Odd and the Frost Giants", Neil Gaiman (Bloomsbury; HarperCollins)
"Good Boy", Nisi Shawl (Filter House)

BEST SHORT STORY
"Caverns of Mystery", Kage Baker (Subterranean: Tales of Dark Fantasy)
"26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss", Kij Johnson (Asimov's 7/08)
"Pride and Prometheus", John Kessel (F&SF 1/08)
"Our Man in the Sudan", Sarah Pinborough (The Second Humdrumming Book of Horror Stories)
"A Buyer's Guide to Maps of Antarctica", Catherynne M. Valente (Clarkesworld 5/08)

BEST ANTHOLOGY
The Living Dead, John Joseph Adams, ed. (Night Shade Books)
The Del Rey Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy, Ellen Datlow, ed. (Del Rey)
The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror 2008: Twenty-First Annual Collection, Ellen Datlow, Kelly Link, & Gavin J. Grant, eds. (St. Martin's)
Paper Cities: An Anthology of Urban Fantasy, Ekaterina Sedia, ed. (Senses Five Press)
Steampunk, Ann & Jeff VanderMeer, eds. (Tachyon Publications)

BEST COLLECTION
Strange Roads, Peter S. Beagle (DreamHaven Books)
The Drowned Life, Jeffrey Ford (HarperPerennial)
Pretty Monsters, Kelly Link (Viking)
Filter House, Nisi Shawl (Aqueduct Press)
Tales from Outer Suburbia, Shaun Tan (Allen & Unwin; Scholastic '09)

BEST ARTIST
Kinuko Y. Craft
Janet Chui
Stephan Martinière
John Picacio
Shaun Tan

SPECIAL AWARD, PROFESSIONAL
Kelly Link & Gavin J. Grant (for Small Beer Press and Big Mouth House)
Farah Mendlesohn (for The Rhetorics of Fantasy)
Stephen H. Segal & Ann VanderMeer (for Weird Tales)
Jerad Walters (for A Lovecraft Retrospective: Artists Inspired by H.P. Lovecraft)
Jacob Weisman (for Tachyon Publications)

SPECIAL AWARD, NON-PROFESSIONAL
Edith L. Crowe (for her work with The Mythopoeic Society)
John Klima (for Electric Velocipede)
Elise Matthesen (for setting out to inspire and for serving as inspiration for works of poetry, fantasy, and SF over the last decade through her jewelry-making and her "artist's challenges.")
Sean Wallace, Neil Clarke, & Nick Mamatas (for Clarkesworld)
Michael Walsh (for Howard Waldrop collections from Old Earth Books)

Dept of Smug Self Satisfaction (cont)

a) There isn't much this time as we've been away but how about this for a howler on the front cover of Book and Magazine Collector - where they highlight an article about the auction of Forry Ackerman's collection with this: Hollywood Horror - Forrest Ackerman's Horde. Surely that should read "hoard" not "horde"?

We also buy books and travel around the country to purchase, we will pay a finders fee to anyone who puts us in touch with a collection we later purchase.

OotW121. OotW122. OotW 123, OotW 124, OotW 125, OotW 126, OotW 127, OotW 128, OotW 129, OotW 130, OotW 131, OotW 132, OotW 133, OotW134, OotW135, OotW136, OotW 137, OotW138, OotW 139, OotW 140, OotW141, OotW 142, OotW 143, OotW144, OotW145, OotW146. OotW147, OotW148, OotW149, OotW 150, OotW151, OotW 152, OotW 153, OotW 154