It’s been 10 years since the space shuttle Columbia was lost during re-entry at the end of mission STS-107. Here’s a look back at a short video that Fast Forward created in February, 2003 to remember the astronauts who lost their lives.
You can find the video here:
RIP
In the spirit of Halloween, author Neil Gaiman has recorded a reading of a short story which you can download for free at audible.com. It’s called “Click-Clack the Rattle Bag”, and you can only download it until October 31st. For each download from the site, audible.com will make a donation to donorschoose.org or booktrust.
You can go to Neil Gaiman’s journal (journal.neilgaiman.com) for more information. The complete link to his post about the story is http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2012/10/something-really-cool-is-about-to-happen.html.
Neil asks that you wait to listen to it until after dark…
I’m at the live Squeecast event at Chicon. Highly entertaining. Cat Valente has given an enthusiastic plug for the classic John Crowley book, Engine Summer. Jay Lake has told the audience about Rubber, the most bizarre film he’s seen (and that’s saying something).
Not attending Chicon 7? Don’t forget that you can watch the Hugo Award ceremony live from Chicago on Ustream at www.ustream.tv/channel/worldcon1. If you can’t handle the video bandwidth, there will also be live text coverage of the ceremony at www.TheHugoAwards.org.
Mentioned at a panel on “Best New SF&F Authors of the 21st Century” at the Worldcon: China Mieville, Paolo Bacigalupi, M. Rickert, Peter Watts, Genevieve Valentine, Adam Roberts, Darryl Gregory, Cat Valente, Joe Hill, Nnedi Okorafor, & Aliette De Bodard.
Members of the Fast Forward team have arrived at Chicon. We hope to post a few pictures and updates from the convention, for the benefit of those of you who can’t attend.
Here’s another event of interest to science fiction fans in the Washington, DC region:
Click on poster for full size image
On Friday, May 11th, 2012, the American Women Writers National Museum will be hosting a lunchtime panel on “Fantastic Heroines of Sci Fi & Fantasy.” The panelists are authors Brenda Clough, Mindy Klasky, L. Jagi Lamplighter and Jeri Smith-Ready, and the panel will be moderated by Fast Forward‘s very own book reviewer, Colleen Cahill.
FANTASTIC HEROINES OF SCI FI & FANTASY
Panel Sponsored by American Women Writers National Museum
Friday, May 11, 2012
11:30am-1:30pm
1275 K St. NW @ 13th St. NW, Suite 102
(13th St. shared space entrance)
Washington, DC
FREE!
FURTHER INFO CONTACT: awwnm1@gmail.com
The folks here at Fast Forward love it when noteworthy SF related events come to our hometown. So we’re very excited that SFWA (Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America) is holding their Nebula Awards Weekend in the Washington, DC region this month. It’s a weekend of panels, workshops, booksignings, and partying – and you don’t have to be a SFWA member to attend – memberships can be purchased by the general public. Many of the finest and most celebrated SF writers and other SF professionals will be in attendance. If you’re an aspiring writer this is a great opportunity – don’t miss it!
The Nebula Awards Weekend is happening May 17-20, 2012, at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City in Arlington, VA. For more information, go to the Nebula Awards section of the SFWA website at www.sfwa.org/nebula-awards.
We hope to see you there!