Aurora Award Nominations are Open: Support Canadian Science Fiction

Calling all Canadians citizens at home and abroad and permanent residents of Canada: our national science fiction awards, the Aurora Awards, are now open for nominations. This year, I will nominate the following works and individuals, and I hope you will too.

Eligible for Best English Novel:

Triptych, by J.M. Frey

Read my review of it here

Eligible for Best English Short Story:

My 2 recommendations:

"The Needle's Eye" by Suzanne Church, in Chilling Tales: Evil Did I Dwell; Lewd I Did Live, EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing. Available online at Suzanne's website. Note: this is a science fiction horror story, so some graphic content might not be suitable for some readers.

"We Who Steal Faces" by Tony Pi, in Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show #22, April 2011. Available online at Tony's website .

Eligible for Best Artist:

Costi Gurgi, for the cover art of Outer Diverse. See it on his website.

Eligible for Best Fan Organizational

Andrew Gurudata, organizing the Constellation Awards 2011. Read about him here

To learn more about the Aurora Awards and to nominate stories and individuals, visit:

http://www.prixaurorawards.ca/Membership/

To make your nominations, go to the above website and register for membership in the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association (CSFFA). Starting this year, the CSFFA charges a $10 membership fee, so both new and returning members will be asked to pay $10 by Paypal. After receiving your Society number by email (if you are a new member), you can go back to the Aurora Awards website and submit your nominations. Nominees do not get any sort of monetary gain from the fees. The CSFFA is a non-profit organization, and its small budget, raised by the membership and voting fees, goes to administer the awards program and produce the trophies. $10 is a low price to promote national pride in our science fiction and to give a small reward to your favourite authors, artists, and fan organizers.

 

Nomination deadline is March 31, 2012. Nominate your favourites now!

Nominate Andrew Gurudata for an Aurora Award for Best Fan Organizational

At the same time that you're submitting Prix Aurora Awards nominations for stories, remember that the Prix Aurora Awards has a category for Best Fan Organizational.

 Andrew Gurudata at the 2011 Constellation Awards

I attend various science fiction awards ceremonies, and one of the best organized and entertaining is undoubtedly the Constellation Awards, held annually at the Polaris Science Fiction Convention. It's got videos that work, comedy skits, celebrity emcees, and Canadian actors, actresses, and models. And it's also the best-dressed of the Canadian science fiction award ceremonies. Fashion TV should do a report from the Constellations.

Andrew Gurudata is Awards Committee Chair for this ceremony, so please consider nominating Andrew Gurudata for the the Prix Aurora Award for Best Fan Organizational.

To learn more about the Aurora Awards and to nominate stories and individuals, visit:

http://www.prixaurorawards.ca/Membership/

To make your nominations, go to the above website and register for membership in the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association (CSFFA). Starting this year, the CSFFA charges a $10 membership fee, so both new and returning members will be asked to pay $10 by Paypal or by cheque or money order with a mail-in nomination form. After receiving your Society number by email (if you are a new member), you can go back to the Aurora Awards website and submit your nominations. Nominees do not get any sort of monetary gain from the fees. The CSFFA is a non-profit organization, and its small budget, raised by the membership and voting fees, goes to administer the awards program and produce the trophies. $10 is a low price to promote national pride in our science fiction and to give a small reward to your favourite authors, artists, and fan organizers.

Here are other works and persons whom I think deserve an Aurora Award nomination this year.

 

Nomination deadline is March 31, 2012. Nominate your favourites now!

Review: J.M. Frey's Triptych Deserves an Aurora Nomination

J.M. Frey's first novel, Triptych, reminds me of the stories of Walter Tevis. Tevis, the author of The Man Who Fell to Earth and Mockingbird, did not write hard sci-fi, with its intricate technology and scientific theories. He came from the school of science fiction that examined the social sciences and societal and cultural issues. Among those writers, he was a master in depicting human relationships, personal drama, and loneliness and other emotions. Triptych reminds me of a Walter Tevis novel in style and theme. But despite the similarities, J.M. Frey is not imitating Tevis. She has a distinct style of her own.

In short, Triptych is about Kalp, one of many aliens who have arrived on Earth after their home planet has died. The government assigns several humans, including Gwen and Basil, to assist the aliens to integrate into life on Earth. One thing leads to another, and Kalp, Gwen, and Basil form a threesome where Kalp is husband to both Gwen and Basil, Basil is husband to both Kalp and Gwen, and Gwen is wife to both Kalp and Basil. You get the idea.

But not everyone is at peace with this type of future. Someone goes back in time to kill young Gwen, and someone is out to get Kalp.

I enjoyed Triptych's development of the relationships. Kalp, Gwen, and Basil are hardly the ideal lovers from a category romance, but they're not the usual dysfunctional couple/threesome that many writers use when they want to appear profound.

J.M. Frey divides the book into sections told from each of the main character's viewpoints. The characters are all well-developed and have distinct personalities and voices. Kalp's memories of his old world and its destruction are especially haunting.

And kudos to J.M. Frey for not portraying the main characters' enemies as easy straw dogs, for example, the Christians, Republicans, white Alabamans, and other stock characters that usually exist only in "fundamentalist" flavour in science fiction. It has become de rigeur in Canadian science fiction to stereotype and demonize so-called fundies and conservatives, but Triptych doesn't follow the trend. Frey, thankfully, wrote a novel about real people.

By the way, Aurora Award nominations for 2012 are open until March 31 (see http://www.prixaurorawards.ca/Membership/). Let's encourage the small presses like Dragon Moon to publish more books like Triptych. Get Triptych, read it, and if you like it, nominate it for Best Novel - English.

Constellation Awards 2012: What I'll Nominate

It's time to nominate science fiction and fantasy movies and TV series for the Constellation Awards, Canada's awards for excellence in science fiction film and television ( http://constellations.tcon.ca/ ). Here are the movies, TV series, and artists whom I will be nominating. 2011 was another year of overhyped blockbuster movies like Green Lantern, Thor, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, or Captain  America, but I'll nominate the underrated and understated works. While they didn't have massive explosions or giant robots, they did have well-written stories about people and great performances by their actors.

In particular, the CBC TV series Being Erica had a splendid season, and though it's overlooked by hard-core, convention-going science fiction fans, I think it deserves several nominations this year.

You too can nominate your favourite science fiction and fantasy films and television series for the Constellation Awards. Visit the website above and nominate them.

Television Categories:

1. Best Male Performance in a 2011 Science Fiction Television Episode:

Michael Riley in Being Erica "Sins of the Father"

In "Sins of the Father", Doctor Tom, so used to giving advice to others, realizes that he needs therapist to fix his life of broken relationships. Michael Riley gives his best performance of the series.

2. Best Female Performance in a 2011 Science Fiction Television Episode:

Erin Karpluk in Being Erica "Dr. Erica"

 

Erin Karpluk has to tie up all the loose threads of Erica Strange's life in this episode, and she does it so well.

3. Best Science Fiction Television Series of 2011:

Being Erica

Season four was full of drama, humour, and romance. The three previous seasons have been building towards it. What could be better?

Film/ TV Movie / Mini-Series Categories:

4. Best Male Performance in a 2011 Science Fiction Film, TV Movie, or Mini-Series:

Jake Gyllenhaal in Source Code

  

This is an intellectual thriller that deserved to do better at the box office. Jake Gyllenhaal is superb as an Air Force officer who gets sent back in time repeatedly to the same train bombing.

5. Best Female Performance in a 2011 Science Fiction Film, TV Movie or Mini-Series:

Kirsten Dunst in Melancholia

Kirsten Dunst's character both neurotically ruins her own wedding and calmly prepares for the end of the world without any change in her personality. She won the Best Actress Award at Cannes for this one.

6. Best Science Fiction Film, TV Movie or Mini-Series of 2011:

Another Earth

 This is an art house movie about the discovery of a twin Earth, where there is a duplicate of everyone on our planet. Quiet and thought-provoking.

Other Categories:

7. Best Technical Accomplishment in a 2011 Science Fiction Film or Television Production:

Douglas Trumbull for special effects in The Tree of Life

In The Tree of Life, he created the universe, matter, energy, the planets, life, evolution, and dinosaurs, and that darn meteorite, all in twenty minutes.

8. Best Overall 2011 Science Fiction Film or Television Script:

Being Erica episode "Dr. Erica"

This is the end of season four, and it's a remarkable episode, showing how Erica and her friends and family have made dramatic changes in their lives. In four years, Erica Strange has gone from neurotic, single therapy patient to a confident book publisher with a steady boyfriend. But that's not the end of her story, as "Dr. Erica" sets her up for a new stage in her life.

9. Outstanding Canadian Contribution to Science Fiction Film or Television in 2011:

Being Erica (TV series)

 

Being Erica is an underrated fantasy series. True, it's not about interstellar wars or superheroes saving the world. But it is about people creating relationships and coping with them and daily struggles with a much-needed sense of humour. Best of all, it's about book editors and writers in Toronto, so it's a science fiction or fantasy TV series that I can relate to.

"Cloned to Kill" is "fairly awesome and well-constructed" - reviewer at New York Catholic Examiner

John Konecsni of the New York Catholic Examiner reviewed the anthology Infinite Space, Infinite God II for New York Catholic Examiner. He writes about the book: "At the end of the day, if you like science fiction, you'll enjoy this book. It's worth the price of admission..."

And about my story "Cloned to Kill", he writes, "This one was fairly awesome and very well constructed."

Read his review here.

The Curious History of Kentucky Colonel Uniforms

The Governor of Kentucky made me an honourary Colonel and Aide-de-Camp, more properly known as a Kentucky Colonel, in 1995. New Kentucky Colonels inevitably wonder if there exists a Kentucky Colonel uniform, and yes, several have existed over the centuries. Alas, their history is not well documented.

The Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels (HOKC) has this picture of Colonel Charles Todd in uniform, circa 1820: http://kycolonels.org/index.cgi?id=13 . After then, illustrations and descriptions of Kentucky Colonels uniforms are scarce, though a close-collared uniform existed in the early 20th century. Photographs of it did not exist until one was discovered in 2008:

1931 Kentucky Colonel uniform

The 1931 Kentucky Colonel uniform 

Over the years, several colonels have appeared at the Kentucky Derby and other events wearing Civil War-inspired uniforms (costumes?). Some were Union blue, others were Confederate grey. During the Civil War, Kentucky was in both the Union and the Confederacy simultaneously, with a Union-aligned government in Frankfort and a rival Confederate government in Bowling Green.

In 2007, a year before the 1931 uniform was re-discovered, I made my own Kentucky Colonel uniform based on a Civil War style. I made it from a black frock coat tuxedo from a shop that sold prom clothes to high school students. The shoulder rank insignia, Kentucky state seal buttons, and cap come from a Civil War re-enactors supply store. The gold stripe on the sleeves and pants came from fabric store in Toronto's garment district. I used to have a cap insignia made from an HOKC metallic logo decal adhered to a thick cardboard base. When the HOKC re-issued the historic aide-de-camp badge (a red, white, and blue shield topped with a gold eagle) as a lapel pin, I used it as a cap badge and insignia on the uniform.

 

Beside the Christmas tree in the condo building lobby, December 22, 2010. Photo by Kent Wong.

I also made a modern white mess dress uniform for a specific event. As a science fiction writer, I'm sometimes asked to present science fiction awards. One of these awards ceremonies, the Constellation Awards for Canadian science fiction film and TV shows, was held on a stage with an unavoidable black backdrop. The director told me to wear any colour except black. The best contrast with black is white, so I created a white mess dress uniform. It is a U.S. Army white mess dress jacket whose original buttons have been removed and replaced with Kentucky buttons from a Civil War re-enactor supply store. The shoulder epaulettes and braid are from a company that sells supplies to American high school marching bands and ROTC units. The Kentucky aide-de-camp shield pins are from the HOKC.

With Katie Uhlmann, reporter for TTN-HD News, at the Constellation Awards ceremony, Richmond Hill, Ontario, July 17, 2010.

My friend Stephen Lautens, another Kentucky Colonel in Canada, made a modern mess dress uniform based a description of one of the uniforms approved, but possibly never made, at a 1931 meeting of the Kentucky Colonels. His magnificent creation is shown on his website:

Colonel Lauten's uniform
 

Of course, I'm going to have to get a uniform like Stephen's made before the next time I'm nominated for an Aurora Award.

That there is little uniformity in Kentucky Colonel uniforms over the years is typical of American military garb of the nineteenth century. Despite what movies may show, the Union and Confederate forces wore a variety of uniforms. Each regiment or unit had its own uniform, and colours included blue (worn by both sides), grey (also worn by both sides), red, and green. The Union even had a militia unit dressed in kilts like a British Highland regiment (the 79th Regiment, New York State Militia). Thus an American tradition continues, curiously upheld by Canadians in Toronto.

The Dragon and the Stars wins an Aurora Award!

Left to right: Derwin Mak, Tony Pi, and Eric Choi with the Aurora Award trophies for The Dragon and the Stars.

 

The Dragon and the Stars won the Aurora Award for Best Related Work in English. The Aurora Awards, Canada's national science fiction awards for science fiction, were handed out at SFContario 2, which served as this year's Canadian National Science Fiction Convention, on November 20, 2011. The short-list of nominees and the winners were decided by voting of Canadian science fiction readers.

This is the probably the first time that a Chinese-theme anthology of science fiction and fantasy has won a national science fiction award outside China. Hopefully, the success of The Dragon and the Stars will encourage the publishing of more science fiction and fantasy inspired by the various cultures and traditions of the world.

The editors Derwin Mak and Eric Choi thanked Dr. Wu Yan of Beijing Normal University, Canadian author Julie Czerneda, John Helfers of Tekno Books, Sheila Gilbert of DAW Books, and the authors of the anthology. Tony Pi, who wrote the story "The Character of the Hound", represented the authors at the ceremony.

Thanks to all the persons who voted in the Aurora Awards.

May science fiction and fantasy flourish in Canada and the Chinese communities around the world for ten thousand years!

Left to right: Eric Choi, Derwin Mak, and Tony Pi.

Derwin Mak with author J.M. Frey, a presenter at the Aurora Awards. Publishers' Weekly listed J.M.'s novel Triptych as one of the five best science fiction or fantasy novels of 2011.