7/10/09

Misc fantasy/sci fi stuff with an international flavor, including one item of particular interest to fans of Diana Wynne Jones

Here's an account from the Guardian Book Blog of the first Diana Wynne Jones Conference held last weekend over in Bristol. But, great sadness--DWJ could not be there herself, as she has just been diagnosed with lung cancer.

Moving beyond the UK, there's a fascinating two part look at international science fiction at SFSignal (Part 1 and Part 2).

And going up to Canada, here are the Young Adult novels shortlisted for the 2009 Sunburst Award, which honors Canadian writers of speculative fiction:

The Summoning, Kelley Armstrong (Doubleday Canada)
Dingo, Charles de Lint (Viking)
Little Brother, Cory Doctorow (Tor)
Wild Talent, Eileen Kernaghan (Thistledown Press) (my review)
Night Runner, Max Turner (HarperTrophy)

The first four are friends from my Cybils reading last fall, and the fifth arrived in ARC form in my mail today. I am not at all sure which of the four I've read I'd pick. They are so very different from each other...

Keeping the international theme going with a German word, a festschrift celebrating Ursula Le Guin's 80th birthday is in the works--the call for contributions is here.

For those who like Manga, here are two cards from the Taiwanese Eastern Tarot Deck. Yes, the one on the right is "The Clonk." Very strange. I don't know Manga at all--is she supposed to look evil?

(from The Artwork of Modern Tarot, via Children's/Fantasy Illustrations).


Finally, and with no pretense of thematic cohesion, I'd like to thank JuJu, who just began to blog at Tales of Whimsy, for honoring me with The Kreativ Blogger Award.

3 comments:

  1. Oh my goodness. I am so sorry Diana Wynne Jones is having to grapple with lung cancer. Thanks for letting us know. It's very upsetting.

    On a lighter note, congratulations on the Kreativ Blogger Award. That must have been warming to read.

    ReplyDelete
  2. So sorry to hear about anyone battling cancer. I hope she beats the snot out of cancer
    :)

    You're soooo welcome. I totally dig your blog. It's fun and peaceful.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh, no!
    I've been gone all weekend and just caught up with blogs/paper -- horrible news. We'd planned to interview DWJ -- for the past three Winter/Summer book blogs, and she kept saying (or Sharon November, her agent, did, anyway) "next time." I'm so sorry to hear this.

    ReplyDelete

Free Blog Counter

Button styles