The novel tore my heart out in 1992: a contrafactual memoir of L Frank Baum; a desperately poor girl called Dorothy Gael from Manhattan, KS; and a makeup artist on the set of the classic MGM film.

Geoff Ryman, author of the stellar novel The Child Garden (a book in which cancer is cured with the side effect of reducing human lifespan to 30 or so), needs your help:

I'm looking for a composer to collaborate on a podcast project, an audio version of my novel The Child Garden.

The Sunburst Award for Best Canadian Science Fiction Book has been awarded to my fellow UK-residing expat Geoff Ryman for his novel Air. Geoff's written many fantastic novels, such as The Child Garden (about a world where curing cancer restricts cellular division and reduces the average lifespan to 30) and WAS, the World Fantasy Award winning mean and dreamlike retelling of the Wizard of Oz from the point of view of the abused and downtrodden little girl in Kansas whom L Frank Baum used as his model for Dorothy. — Read the rest

Geoff Ryman — the brilliant science fiction author who curated last year's 100 AFRICAN WRITERS OF SFF project, continues to publish and curate excellent, exciting science fiction from across Africa.

Canadian/British science fiction and fantasy author Geoff Ryman, author of the incredible novel WAS, has begun a series in which he profiles 100 working science fiction and fantasy writers in Africa, place by place, starting with Nairobi.

The Clarion Writers' Workshop at UC San Diego has announced its lineup of instructors for the 2014 session, and it's pretty spectacular: this year's writer-instructors are Gregory Frost, Geoff Ryman, Catherynne Valente, N.K. Jemisin, Ann VanderMeer, and Jeff VanderMeer.

Clarion is a six-week, intensive boot-camp for science fiction, fantasy and speculative fiction writers. — Read the rest

Congratulations to the winners of the 2011 Nebula Awards, especially to Jo Walton, who won for her magnificent novel, Among Others (see my review, here). Also congrats to Delia Sherman for her best YA book prize for The Freedom Maze (my review). — Read the rest

Last night saw the announcement of the 2012 nominees for science fiction's prestigious Hugo Award. It's a particularly fine ballot, reflecting a record number of nominating ballots (wisdom of the crowds and all that). Included on the ballot are our own moderator Avram (as part of the team that publishes The New York Review of Science Fiction) and one of my all-time favorite books, Among Others. — Read the rest

The Science Fiction Writers of America have announced the nominees for the 2011 Nebula Awards, which are voted by the community of professional sf/f writers (in contrast to the Hugo awards, which are voted by readers). It's a very strong ballot, and includes two of my favorite books of 2011: Jo Walton's astounding Among Others, and Delia Sherman's brilliant YA novel The Freedom Maze. — Read the rest

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America have announced this year's Nebula finalists. There's some really superb work on the ballot this year — the new Nalo Hopkinson novel, "The New Moon's Arms"; Ted Chiang's novelette "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate"; Geoff Ryman's novelette "Pol Pot's Beautiful Daughter"; Delia Sherman's "The Fiddler of Bayou Teche"; Bruce Sterling's novella "Kiosk" and many more. — Read the rest

I'm still on paternity leave, but a couple of matters have come up that are too important to wait (important enough to blog while my daughter naps on my chest!). Here's one from the Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers' workshop, on whose Board I sit (I'm also a graduate and a former instructor):

Applications are now being accepted for the 2008 Clarion Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers' Workshop at U.C.

Eileen sez, "Aqueduct Press has posted its 2007 finale: 22 year's best lists from some of the liveliest and most political of speculative fiction writers and critics, including Nicola Griffith, Kelley Eskridge, Rebecca Ore, Jeff Ford, Eleanor Arneson, Cheryl Morgan, Nisi Shawl, Cat Rambo, Josh Lukin, Lucy Sussex, L. — Read the rest

The Clarion Science Fiction Writers' Workshop has announced its instructor lineup for summer 2008 — and it's a stellar bunch! Clarion is a kind of six-week boot-camp for sf writers (I'm a graduate, sometime instructor and member of the Board of Directors for The Clarion Foundation, the nonprofit that oversees the workshop), and this year's teachers are: Kelly Link, James Patrick Kelly, Mary Anne Mohanraj, Neil Gaiman, Nalo Hopkinson and Geoff Ryman. — Read the rest

This year's Hugo nominees are out — congrats to all the great nominees! It's amazing to see great books like "Glasshouse," "Rainbows End," and "Blindsight" on the ballot, along with stories like Ian McDonald's "The Djinn's Wife," Bill Shunn's "Inclination," Geoff Ryman's "Pol Pot's Beautiful Daughter," Ben Rosenbaum's "The House Beyond Your Sky" not to mention Neil Gaiman's "How to Talk to Girls at Parties," Tim Pratt's "Impossible Dreams" — and the list goes on! — Read the rest

Alan Moore, the genius co-creator of Watchmen, has written a steamy, pornographic new three-volume graphic novel called Lost Girls, co-created with Melinda Gebbie.

Lost Girls tells the story of the adult selves of Alice from Alice in Wonderland, Wendy from Peter Pan, and Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, who find themselves guests at a little Austrian hotel at the brink of World War I. — Read the rest

The 2005 Nebula ballot is out!

Air – Geoff Ryman (St. Martin's Press, Sep04)
Camouflage – Joe Haldeman (Analog, Mar-May 04, also Ace book Aug 2004)
Going Postal – Terry Pratchett (HarperCollins, Oct04)
Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell – Susanna Clarke (Bloomsbury, Sep04)
Polaris – Jack McDevitt (Ace, Nov04)
Orphans of Chaos – John C.

As I mentioned earlier this morning, it's been ten years (!) since I attended the Clarion science fiction writers' workshop (though it hardly seems it!). Patrick Nielsen Hayden, my editor at Tor, has just left for the MSU campus at East Lansing, MI, to be the guest editor there. — Read the rest