<![CDATA[io9: charles coleman finlay]]> http://tags.lifehacker.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/io9.com.png <![CDATA[io9: charles coleman finlay]]> http://io9.com/tag/charlescolemanfinlay http://io9.com/tag/charlescolemanfinlay <![CDATA[Final Hugo Awards Ballot Full Of Writing, Publishing Goodness]]> The list of Hugo Award finalists, announced yesterday, is a bit less mystifying than the Nebula finalists, which came out a while back - especially in the novel category. All five of the novel finalists are books we enjoyed, and would be delighted to see win. Meanwhile, it's good to see Charles Coleman Finlay's "The Political Prisoner" and Mary Robinette Kowal's "Evil Robot Monkey" getting recognition. (There seems to be a bit of a monkey theme with the short-story finalists.) I also loved Ted Chiang's "Exhalation." And congrats to our pals Chris Garcia and Cheryl Morgan, for the fan-writer nods. Finally, props to Tor for taking three out of five slots in the "best editor, long form" category, and congrats also to Lou Anders.

Here's the full list:

Best Novel
Anathem by Neal Stephenson (Morrow; Atlantic UK)
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (HarperCollins; Bloomsbury)
Little Brother by Cory Doctorow (Tor)
Saturn's Children by Charles Stross (Ace; Orbit)
Zoe's Tale by John Scalzi (Tor)

Best Novella
‘‘The Erdmann Nexus'' by Nancy Kress (Asimov's Oct/Nov 2008)
‘‘The Political Prisoner'' by Charles Coleman Finlay (F&SF Aug 2008)
‘‘The Tear'' by Ian McDonald (Galactic Empires)
‘‘True Names'' by Benjamin Rosenbaum & Cory Doctorow (Fast Forward 2)
‘‘Truth'' by Robert Reed (Asimov's Oct/Nov 2008)

Best Novelette
‘‘Alastair Baffle's Emporium of Wonders'' by Mike Resnick (Asimov's Jan 2008)
‘‘The Gambler'' by Paolo Bacigalupi (Fast Forward 2)
‘‘Pride and Prometheus'' by John Kessel (F&SF Jan 2008)
‘‘The Ray-Gun: A Love Story'' by James Alan Gardner (Asimov's Feb 2008)
‘‘Shoggoths in Bloom'' by Elizabeth Bear (Asimov's Mar 2008)

Best Short Story
‘‘26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss'' by Kij Johnson (Asimov's Jul 2008)
‘‘Article of Faith'' by Mike Resnick (Baen's Universe Oct 2008)
‘‘Evil Robot Monkey'' by Mary Robinette Kowal (The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction, Volume Two)
‘‘Exhalation'' by Ted Chiang (Eclipse Two)
‘‘From Babel's Fall'n Glory We Fled'' by Michael Swanwick (Asimov's Feb 2008)

Best Related Book
Rhetorics of Fantasy
by Farah Mendlesohn (Wesleyan University Press)
Spectrum 15: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art by Cathy Fenner & Arnie Fenner, eds. (Underwood Books)
The Vorkosigan Companion: The Universe of Lois McMaster Bujold by Lillian Stewart Carl & John Helfers, eds. (Baen)
What It Is We Do When We Read Science Fiction by Paul Kincaid (Beccon Publications)
Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded: A Decade of Whatever, 1998-2008 by John Scalzi (Subterranean Press)

Best Graphic Story
The Dresden Files: Welcome to the Jungle
Written by Jim Butcher, art by Ardian Syaf (Del Rey/Dabel Brothers Publishing)
Girl Genius, Volume 8: Agatha Heterodyne and the Chapel of Bones Written by Kaja & Phil Foglio, art by Phil Foglio, colors by Cheyenne Wright (Airship Entertainment)
Fables: War and Pieces Written by Bill Willingham, pencilled by Mark Buckingham, art by Steve Leialoha and Andrew Pepoy, color by Lee Loughridge, letters by Todd Klein (DC/Vertigo Comics)
Schlock Mercenary: The Body Politic Story and art by Howard Tayler (The Tayler Corporation)
Serenity: Better Days Written by Joss Whedon & Brett Matthews, art by Will Conrad, color by Michelle Madsen, cover by Jo Chen (Dark Horse Comics)
Y: The Last Man, Volume 10: Whys and Wherefores Written/created by Brian K. Vaughan, pencilled/created by Pia Guerra, inked by Jose Marzan, Jr. (DC/Vertigo Comics)

Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form
The Dark Knight
Christopher Nolan & David S. Goyer, story; Jonathan Nolan and Christopher Nolan, screenplay; based on characters created by Bob Kane; Christopher Nolan, director (Warner Brothers)
Hellboy II: The Golden Army Guillermo del Toro & Mike Mignola, story; Guillermo del Toro, screenplay; based on the comic by Mike Mignola; Guillermo del Toro, director (Dark Horse, Universal)
Iron Man Mark Fergus & Hawk Ostby and Art Marcum & Matt Holloway, screenplay; based on characters created by Stan Lee & Don Heck & Larry Lieber & Jack Kirby; Jon Favreau, director (Paramount, Marvel Studios)
METAtropolis edited by John Scalzi; Elizabeth Bear, Jay Lake, Tobias Buckell, John Scalzi, and Karl Schroeder, writers (Audible Inc.)
WALL-E Andrew Stanton & Pete Docter, story; Andrew Stanton & Jim Reardon, screenplay; Andrew Stanton, director (Pixar/Walt Disney)

Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form
Lost
: "The Constant", Carlton Cuse & Damon Lindelof, writers; Jack Bender, director (Bad Robot, ABC studios)
Doctor Horrible's Sing-Along Blog Joss Whedon, & Zack Whedon, & Jed Whedon, & Maurissa Tancharoen, writers; Joss Whedon, director (Mutant Enemy)
Battlestar Galactica: "Revelations", Bradley Thompson & David Weddle, writers; Michael Rymer, director (NBC Universal)
Doctor Who: "Silence in the Library"/"Forest of the Dead", Steven Moffat, writer; Euros Lyn, director (BBC Wales)
Doctor Who: "Turn Left", Russell T. Davies, writer; Graeme Harper, director (BBC Wales)

Best Editor, Short Form
Ellen Datlow
Stanley Schmidt
Jonathan Strahan
Gordon Van Gelder
Sheila Williams

Best Editor, Long Form

Lou Anders
Ginjer Buchanan
David G. Hartwell
Beth Meacham
Patrick Nielsen Hayden

Best Professional Artist
Daniel Dos Santos
Bob Eggleton
Donato Giancola
John Picacio
Shaun Tan

Best Semiprozine
Clarkesworld Magazine
edited by Neil Clarke, Nick Mamatas, & Sean Wallace
Interzone edited by Andy Cox
Locus edited by Charles N. Brown, Kirsten Gong-Wong, & Liza Groen Trombi
The New York Review of Science Fiction edited by Kathryn Cramer, Kris Dikeman, David G. Hartwell, & Kevin J. Maroney
Weird Tales edited by Ann VanderMeer & Stephen H. Segal

Best Fan Writer
Chris Garcia
John Hertz
Dave Langford
Cheryl Morgan
Steven H Silver

Best Fanzine
Argentus
edited by Steven H Silver
Banana Wings edited by Claire Brialey and Mark Plummer
Challenger edited by Guy H. Lillian III
The Drink Tank
edited by Chris Garcia
Electric Velocipede edited by John Klima
File 770 edited by Mike Glyer

Best Fan Artist
Alan F. Beck
Brad W. Foster
Sue Mason
Taral Wayne
Frank Wu

The John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer
Aliette de Bodard
David Anthony Durham
Felix Gilman
Tony Pi
Gord Sellar

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<![CDATA[Post-Apocalyptic Bake Sales And A Pornographic Multiverse, In February F&SF]]> The latest Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction features stories from two of their most interesting contributors. And they're serving up political, trippy and unsettling tales.

I've already praised the stories of Eugene Mirabelli and Charles Coleman Finlay in the past, and they both have pieces in the new F&SF.

Finlay's piece, "The Texas Bake Sale," is another one of his bleak political stories, along the lines of "The Political Prisoner." This time, it's a vaguely post-apocalyptic future where the United States has fallen apart and a troupe of U.S. Marines tries to carry on the old ways. The way they do this is actually pretty surprising and demented — at first you think the "cookies" they keep talking about are a metaphor for some kind of advanced weaponry, and then you realize they're actually cookies. The story has some twists, because nothing can ever go entirely according to plan in a post-apocalyptic military situation, but it also has some weird revelations about the nature of this collapsed U.S. future that may remind you a bit of Battlestar Galactica.

Mirabelli's story, "Catalog," isn't quite as exquisitely crafted as "The Only Known Jump Across Space-Time," which we reviewed a while back. But it's trippy, and demented, and kind of unsettling. A guy jumps across the multiverse, into a weird alternate reality where people from pornographic magazines, L.L. Bean catalogs and classic novels all wander around, and love and dissociation are in the air. It feels like a weird kind of wish-fulfillment, but it's just disturbing enough to work.

The issue also includes a reprint of the novella "The Night We Buried Road Dog" by truck-driving author Jack Cady, and a cover by weird artist Kent Bash. Well worth picking up a copy.

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<![CDATA[Terraforming A Barren Planet — With Your Bare Hands]]> Once again, the best thing in the current Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction is a very political novella about spying during wartime. Like Robert Reed's "Five Thrillers," which we praised a few months ago, "The Political Prisoner" by Charles Coleman Finlay features spies, political turmoil and genetically altered human colonists at odds with the ortho-humans. This time around, though, it's a sequel to the taut spy story "The Political Officer," which F&SF has just posted online for free. Meanwhile, Maurizio Manzieri, who illustrated Reed's "Five Thrillers," has posted his full artwork. You can see a detail above — click through to see the whole thing.

"The Political Officer" and "The Political Prisoner" both take place in a future society of quasi-Russian religious zealots that have terraformed a new planet the hard way: with their bare hands. They're locked in a conflict with the Adareans, who have spliced non-human DNA to allow them to do things like photosynthesize (much like the enhanced Rebirths, in Reed's "Five Thrillers.") In "the Political Officer," which is on the F&SF website, Max is a propagandist and spy, sent aboard a spaceship to spread the official party line and keep tabs on the Education Department's rivals, the Intelligence Department. It's very Gogol-esque. The ship is on a spy mission against the Adareans, but then it comes across a trade ship sporting some new technology that could give the humans an edge in their coming war against the Adareans

In the sequel, "The Political Prisoner," Max comes back to Jesusalem, just in time for the battle between Political Education and Political Intelligence to heat up. He's caught on the wrong side of things, and winds up part of a purge of Political Education supporters. He's bussed out to a gulag, where he and his fellow prisoners are terraforming a new section of the planet, just like their religious zealot ancestors did. It's incredibly rough work: carting rocks out to the ocean, and then carting back a ton of seaweed to help fertilize the dead ground. It's not at all the way you picture terraforming, with huge machines or glowy lights. But it's probably closer to the way actual terraforming would go. Max is forced to live among the Adareans and starts to understand more of their hybrid culture. It's a worthy sequel to "Political Officer," and a worthwhile read in its own right, despite a slightly disappointing ending.

And here's Maurizio Manzieri's full illustration for "Five Thrillers." His blog includes a slightly larger version, plus an illustration showing the work in progress versus the completed work. (See link below.) [Maurizio Manzieri and The Magazine Of Fantasy & Science Fiction]

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