McHugh, Stephenson, Steele head Nebula ballot
hree of last year's Hugo Award winners, Maureen F. McHugh, Neal Stephenson and Allen Steele, have been nominated for the 1996 Nebula Award, along with 1995 Nebula winners Esther Friesner, Ursula K. Le Guin and Robert J. Sawyer. The final ballot was released late last month by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America.
The Nebulas are awarded annually to the best science fiction novel, novella, novelette and short story published in the previous year, as voted on by the active members of the SFWA. This year's awards will be given out during a banquet ceremony to be held April 18-20 in Kansas City, Mo. The complete list of 1996 nominees is:
- Novels
- Griffith, Nicola: Slow River
- Hoffman, Nina Kiriki: The Silent Strength of Stones
- McKillip, Patricia: Winter Rose
- Powers, Tim: Expiration Date
- Sawyer, Robert J.: Starplex
- Stephenson, Neal: The Diamond Age
- Novellas
- Dann, Jack: "Da Vinci Rising"
- Le Guin, Ursula K.: "A Woman's Liberation"
- Martin, George R.R. : "Blood of the Dragon"
- McDevitt, Jack: "Time Travellers Never Die"
- McHugh, Maureen F.: "The Cost to Be Wise"
- Steele, Allen: "The Death of Captain Future"
- Novelettes
- Ford, John M.: "Erase/Record/Play"
- Guthridge, George: "Mirror of Lop Nor"
- Levinson, Paul: "The Chronology Protection Case"
- Rogers, Bruce Holland: "Lifeboat on a Burning Sea"
- Turtledove, Harry: "Must and Shall"
- Wilson, Robert Charles: "The Perseids"
- Wolverton, Dave: "After a Lean Winter"
- Short Story
- Brewster, Kent: "In the Pound, Near Breaktime"
- Friesner, Esther M.: "A Birthday"
- Goonan, Kathleen Ann: "The String"
- Lethem, Jonathan: "Five Fucks"
- Rogers, Bruce Holland: "These Shoes Strangers Have Died Of"
- Smith, Dean Wesley: "In the Shade of the Slowboat Man"
-- Craig E. Engler, Editor
Babylon 5 still flying ... for now
abylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski took to Usenet last month to clear up the confusion caused by a press release issued by Straczynski's partner, Douglas Netter. The release, which apparently went out without Straczynski's knowledge, announced a deal by Turner Network Television to acquire rerun rights to 88 episodes of the multi-year SF saga.
Since 88 episodes is the normal complement of shows for a four-year run -- and because the marginally rated show has not yet been picked up for a fifth season -- the news sent fans into paroxysms of fear thinking that the epic would end prematurely. Straczynski has said all along that his "novel for television" has a five-year story arc.
Not to worry, Straczynski wrote in answer to fan questions about the news release. "That TNT gets access to 88 doesn't preclude a possible season 5, which could air concurrently," he wrote. "(Netter's PR) person could have saved everyone a lot of hassle if it'd been run by me first."
-- Patrick Lee, U.S. Correspondent
The cash is with them both
he Empire Strikes Back struck back indeed in its first weekend of rerelease, raking in more than $22 million and doing what other films had been unable to do for the previous three weekends: knock Star Wars off its No. 1 box office perch.
The Empire Strikes Back: Special Edition earned the biggest February opening ever, surpassing Dante's Peak and becoming the 11th highest grossing domestic film ever, up from its previous position of 15th, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Star Wars, meanwhile, showed that the Force was still with it: its cumulative grosses now exceed $438 million. -- P.L.
Hal Clement named to First Fandom Hall of Fame
uthor Hal Clement will be inaugurated into the First Fandom Hall of Fame at this year's Name-That-Con, which is to be held April 4-6 in Earth City, Mo. Clement is being honored for his alien world stories, which "set the precedent for all those who followed."
Clement, whose real name is Harry Clement Stubbs, began his SF writing career with the publication of his short story "Proof" in 1942. He is best known for his novel Mission of Gravity, which was called "one of the best loved novels in SF" by The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction.
The First Fandom Hall of Fame Award is presented annually for contributions to the field of SF dating back more than 30 years. Contributions can be as a fan, writer, editor, artist, agent, or any combination of the five. In the past the award has been presented during the World Science Fiction Convention's Hugo Award ceremony. -- C.E.E.
He'll be back
umors are that the much anticipated second sequel in the Terminator saga will be arriving in theaters in 1999. Empire Web cites sources at 20th Century Fox as saying that Terminator 3 would only proceed with the participation of Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has previously said he would like to do a third film. -- P.L.
Fans propose Frank Herbert newsgroup
rank Herbert fans looking for a new home on Usenet have submitted a proposal for a newsgroup to be called rec.arts.sf.written.frank-herbert. The new group would serve as a focal point for discussion of Herbert and his works outside of the existing alt.fan.dune newsgroup.
The proposal comes from Christian Gilmore, Matt Philips and Paul Curtis, who say alt.fan.dune has attracted a growing number of non-Dune related discussions that would be better off under their own topic. Also, they noted the alt hierarchy has an "awful signal-to-noise ratio with massive spamming," and that the rec hierarchy would allow them to reach a wider audience while limiting off-topic posts.
The new newsgroup would be home to discussion of all Herbert's works, including but not limited to Dune. The proposal is currently in its request-for-discussion phase, and all comments should be directed to the news.groups topic. -- C.E.E.
Beaming to an Imax near you
tar Trek will be beaming into a 3D Imax theater near you soon, according to a report in Variety. Paramount and Trek executive producer Rick Berman are talking with Imax about creating a new film to be shot in the state-of-the-art Imax format with computer graphics. The 40-minute movie is expected to cost about $10 million, but there's still no deal and no script.
The tenative plan is to use cast and characters from one or more of the current Trek incarnations: The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine or Voyager. -- P.L.
Instead of blue light specials, can we expect red alerts?
tar Trek fans looking for an excuse to leave the TV set for a few hours will soon have a reason: Paramount parent company Viacom will reportedly launch a new retail store, called the Viacom Entertainment Store, that will be themed to the 30-year old space series and its various spinoffs. The store is slated to open in Chicago, Ill., in May.
The store will feature Trek merchandise, videos and other paraphernalia, as well as a "holodeck" interactive game and a tribute area to series creator Gene Roddenberry. -- P.L.
Williams to star opposite Costner in The Postman
evin Costner (Waterworld) has cast relative unknown Olivia Williams as the female lead in his new post-apocalyptic SF film, The Postman, according to Variety. Williams joins Costner and Larenz Tate (Dead Presidents) in the action thriller that Costner will also direct.
Williams, best known for a British TV production of Emma, makes her feature debut. The Postman is based on David Brin's popular book of the same name.-- P.L.
PARSEC announces short story contest
he Pittsburgh Area Real-time Scientifiction Enthusiasts Club -- a.k.a. PARSEC -- announced its third annual short-story contest. The contest will be held in conjunction with ConFluence, PARSEC's yearly science fiction and fantasy conference.
A top prize of $100 will be awarded to the best story on the conference's theme, "Virtual Bridges." Deadline for submissions is June 1. For more information, e-mail: jjwalton@telerama.lm.com. -- P.L.
Latifah rounds out Sphere cast
he cast is falling into place for the wide-screen version of Michael Crichton's underwater SF thriller Sphere, Variety reports. Rapper and actress Queen Latifah (Set It Off) has signed to star in the film, to be directed by Barry Levinson (Homicide: Life on the Street, Diner).
During her summer hiatus from her Fox TV show Living Single, Latifah will join the Sphere cast in the role of a Navy habitat specialist. Dustin Hoffman, Sharon Stone and Samuel L. Jackson round out the cast. -- P.L.
Wizards releases first expansion for BattleTech
ast month Wizards of the Coast announced that its collectible trading card game BattleTech had become the number two seller in the U.S. trading card industry, following the complete sell out of the game's initial limited edition series. Now Wizards says that in April it will release an expansion to the game called Counterstrike, which introduces new "supercharged BattleMechs, enhanced MechWarriors and greater firepower capabilities."
The expansion will be sold in 15-card booster decks that will retail for $2.95. Wizards also recently released the unlimited edition of the game, which costs $8.95 for starter decks and $2.95 for booster packs. -- C.E.E.
Briefly noted...
- For those who haven't received their Hugo nomination ballot yet, an online edition of the form is now available, although you will still have to print out a copy since e-mail nominations are not accepted. The deadline for mailing ballots is April 1.
- Floyd C. Gold, the brother of Galaxy Science Fiction Magazine founder H.L. Gold, died Feb. 23. Floyd Gold had been the book reviewer for Galaxy for many years, writing under the name Floyd C. Gale. He had also published several SF stories in the 1940s under the same pseudynom.
- Author Tad Williams and Deborah Beale announced the birth of their son, Connor Beale Williams, on Jan. 27. The baby was born a healthy 10 pounds, 8 ounces and Tad reports, "This fatherhood thing is pretty good."
- Despite a pallid reception by SF fans, the NBC miniseries Asteroid drew in an average of 32.7 million viewers over its two-night broadcast last month. Those numbers were good enough to make it the third-highest ranked television show for the week of Feb. 10, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
- Columbia/Tri-Star will produce an animated series based on the upcoming film Men In Black, to air on the WB Network sometime in October, Variety reports.
- Nominations are still being accepted for the Sidewise Award for Alternate History until the end of March. For more information and to see a list of current nominees, visit the Sidewise page.
- TrekScoop, a new Internet newsletter on things Star Trek, is beaming onto mailing lists near you. For information, e-mail jcgibson@wctc.net.
- After replacing Val Kilmer as Batman in this summer's blockbuster movie Batman and Robin, George Clooney has reportedly been picked to star in a remake of The Planet of the Apes in the role of the astronaut marooned in the future originally played by Charlton Heston.
