Here are this year’s nominees and winners. I’ve arranged the list with the winners at the top of each category, starred and bolded:

BEST NOVEL IN ENGLISH :

*WAKE, Robert J. Sawyer, Penguin Canada

THE AMULET OF AMON-RA, by Leslie Carmichael, CBAY Books

DRUIDS, by Barbara Galler-Smith and Josh Langston, Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy

STEEL WHISPERS, Hayden Trenholm, Bundoran Press

TERRA INSEGURA, Edward Willett, DAW Books

MEILLEUR ROMAN EN FRANÇAIS ( Best Novel In French ):

*Suprématie. Laurent McAllister, (Bragelonne)

Le protocole Reston. Mathieu Fortin, (Coups de tête)

La Quête de Chaaas (L’axe de Koudriss). Michèle Laframboise, Médiaspaul

Un tour en Arkadie. Francine Pelletier, Alire

Filles de lune 3. Le talisman de Maxandre. Élisabeth Tremblay, (De Mortagne)

BEST SHORT-FORM WORK IN ENGLISH:

*”PAWNS DREAMING OF ROSES”, Eileen Bell, Women of the Apocalypse. Absolute Xpress

“HERE THERE BE MONSTERS” Brad Carson, Ages of Wonder, (DAW) (story)

“LITTLE DEATHS” Ivan Dorin, Tesseracts Thirteen

“RADIO NOWHERE” Douglas Smith, Campus Chills

“THE WORLD MORE FULL OF WEEPING” Robert J. Wiersema, ChiZine Publications

MEILLEURE NOUVELLE EN FRANÇAIS ( Best Short-Form In French )

*« Ors blancs » Alain Bergeron, (Solaris 171)

« De l’amour dans l’air » Claude Bolduc, (Solaris 172)

« La vie des douze Jésus » Luc Dagenais, (Solaris 172)

« Billet de faveur » Michèle Laframboise, (Galaxies 41)

« Grains de silice » Mario Tessier, (Solaris 170)

« La mort aux dés » Élisabeth Vonarburg, (Solaris 171)

BEST WORK IN ENGLISH (OTHER) :

*WOMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE (the Apocalyptic Four) Editor, Absolute Xpress

AGES OF WONDER Julie E. Czerneda, & Rob St. Martin, Editors, DAW Books

NEO-OPSIS MAGAZINE, Karl Johanson, Editor

ON SPEC MAGAZINE, Diane Walton, Managing Editor, The Copper Pig Writers’ Society

DISTANT EARLY WARNINGS: CANADA’S BEST SCIENCE FICTION Robert J. Sawyer, Editor, Robert J. Sawyer books

MEILLEUR OUVRAGE EN FRANÇAIS (AUTRE) / (Best Work In French (Other):

*Revue. Joel Champetier, éditeur, Solaris

Critiques. Jérôme-Olivier Allard, (Solaris 169-172)

Le jardin du general, Manga. Michele Laframboise, ,Fichtre, Montréal

Rien à voir avec la fantasy. Thibaud Sallé, (Solaris 169)

Chronique «Les Carnets du Futurible». Mario Tessier, (Solaris 169-171)

ARTISTIC ACHIEVEMENT :

*Dan O’Driscoll, Cover of Steel Whispers, Bundoran Press

Kari-Ann Anderson, for cover of “Nina Kimberly the Merciless”,Dragon Moon Press

Jim Beveridge, “Xenobiology 101: Field Trip” Neo-opsis #16

Lar de Souza, “Looking for Group” online Comic

Tarol Hunt, “Goblins”. Webcomic

FAN ACCOMPLISHMENT (Fanzine):

*Richard Graeme Cameron,.WCFSAZine

Jeff Boman, The Original Universe

Dale Speirs, Opuntia

Guillaume Voisine, éd. Brins d’Éternité

Felicity Walker, BCSFAzine

FAN ACCOMPLISHMENT (Organization) :

*David Hayman, organization Filk Hall of Fame

Renée Benett, for “In Spaces Between” at Con-Version 25

Robbie Bourget, and René Walling, Chairs of “Anticipation”, the 67 th WorldCon

Roy Miles, work on USS Hudson Bay Executive

Kirstin Morrell, Programming for Con-Version 25

FAN ACCOMPLISHMENT (Other) :

*Ray Badgerow, Astronomy Lecture at USS Hudson Bay

Ivan Dorin, “Gods Anonymous” (Con-Version 25 radio play)

Judith Hayman and Peggi Warner-Lalonde organization, Filk track @Anticipation

Tom Jeffers and Sue Posteraro, Filk Concert, Anticipation

Lloyd Penney, Fanwriting

The other finalists are Wake, by Robert J. Sawyer, Steel Whispers by Hayden Trenholm, Druids by Barbara Galler-Smith and Josh Langston, and The Amulet of Amon-Ra by Leslie Carmichael. I know every one of these authors. It should be a great evening at KeyCon in Winnipeg in May when the winners are announced.

Voting will begin soon, once the complete shortlist has been announced. Keep on eye on the Aurora Award website.

The Aurora Awards, for the best Canadian works of science fiction and fantasy, are nominated and voted on by fans. Any Canadian citizen or permanent resident can nominate up to three works or individuals in a range of categories in both English and French. The five works with the most nominations go on the final ballot and are voted on by members of CanVention, the annual national SF convention. It costs nothing to nominate but there is a fee for voting on the final ballot. The mail-in and on-line nomination forms are here.

My novel Marseguro (DAW Books) won the Aurora Award for best long-form work in English last year, and its sequel, Terra Insegura, is eligible this year. You can read the first two chapters of Terra Insegura (or listen to me read them) online here.

If you consider my work worthy of a nomination this year, and you’re a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, I hope you’ll take the time to do so. But I hope you’ll also take the time to nominate others. There’s a partial list of other eligible work at the Canadian SF database.

Remember, nominating is free! And it only takes a couple of minutes.

The Hugos were rather predictable, but the Canadian Prix Aurora went to Edward Willett’s bleak and beautiful Marseguro, a novel which has not received the attention and acclaim it deserves.

I would never be so forward as to apply the phrase “bleak and beautiful” to my own work, but it’s nice to know Kari feels that way about it!

As for the part about Marseguro not receiving the attention and acclaim it deserves, well…every writer feels that way about his or her work, so I’d be obviously lying if I didn’t say I agreed with her about that! : )

Any Canadian citizen, whether or not they live in Canada, or any permanent resident of Canada may nominate for the Prix Aurora Awards. The categories have been re-named slightly and are now Best Novel In English, Best Novel In French, Best Short-Form Work In English,  Best Short-Form Work In French, Best Work In English (Other), Best Work In French (Other), Artistic Achievement, Fan Achievement (Fanzine), Fan Achievement (Organizational), and Fan Achievement (Other).

My novel Terra Insegura, sequel to Marseguro, is eligible this year in the Best Novel in English category, and I’d be honored if you think it worthy of nomination, but whether you do or not, if you read Canadian science fiction and fantasy, I hope you’ll consider nominating your favorite works from the past year.

You can do so online or via printed-and-mailed PDF form, here.

Still, I’ve grabbed a few minute this evening to post a few things.

First, here’s some video of me winning the Aurora Award for Marseguro, courtesy of of Neo-Opsis Science Fiction editor Karl Johanson (who won one himself that evening):

A couple of additional stories on the win showed up in the media in addition to the ones I mentioned in previous posts. Here’s the Regina LeaderPost‘s story (which got picked up Global TV and other components of the CanWest conglomerate), and here’s one from the weekly newspaper I once worked for as a reporter/photographer and eventually news editor, The Weyburn Review.

I’d like to take this opportunity to remind everyone that there is also a sequel to Marseguro, entitled Terra Insegura. Oh, and look, here’s a review!

From Fantasy & SciFi Lovin’ News & Reviews:

Terra Insegura is an action-packed thrill-ride that outshines its predecessor…Plot twists, surprise characters, and well-drawn action make this novel both enjoyable and a prime example of why science fiction is still awesome. I find it difficult to complain about this novel, because I had problems putting it down. Terra Insegura has just enough action to keep me fixed to the page, and plenty of suspense (and even a little romance) to make this more than just another book of explosions and space battles. It’s a novel that knows it is good science fiction and isn’t afraid to show it…science fiction at its best.

I think the reviewer liked it.

Not sure that it means much in the big scheme of things, but I also discovered that Terra Insegura just missed making Locus Magazine‘s August bestsellers’ list; they mention it as “the new runner-up.” Maybe it’ll make it in September.

Meanwhile, some people are just now reading Marseguro. From the LiveJournal My Den:

This was an excellent read. It has action, murderous cultists, an airhead who becomes a resistance fighter and a brainwashed murderous clerk who becomes a hero. It is a fascinating universe that Willett has created and I intend to read the sequel as soon as possible.

Others prefer to judge a book by its cover. On the theory that all publicity is good publicity, here’s a link so you can listen in to the commentors at Good Show Sir! react to the Marseguro cover (which I still like. So there!).

Finally, as a reminder that I also write non-fiction, here’s a review of my book Disease-Hunting Scientist from the National Science Teachers’ Association NSTA Recommends website, by third-grade teacher Jacqueline Pfeiffer:

I couldn’t put this book down, and neither will your students. What an impetus to do more research and reading!…

The publishers say the book is for readers in grades five and up or ages 10 and up. The reading flows so easily that I believe younger students who have an interest in science would enjoy the book as well. I highly recommend this book for students who want to explore scientific fields.

Very nice!

Well, I just finished a doozy of a convention, the grandaddy of them all: the 67th annual World Science Fiction Convention in Montreal, a.k.a. Anticipation.

Yes, there were people in costumes (though I only saw one Star Trek costume—an original series one, at that—and not a single Klingon). And, yes, the media tended to focus on those people. Which is fine: they’re the eye-catching ones, and they’re an important part of science fiction fandom. (And as someone who loves performing in musical theatre, I am hardly one to disparage the wearing of costumes.)

But there is so much more at a World Science Fiction convention. In fact, it’s a veritable buffet of goodness for the intellectually curious: where else, for instance, could you listen to Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman in conversation with British science fiction writer Charles Stross?

To extend the buffet metaphor further, WorldCon is an all-you-can-eat-and-then-some buffet. At any given moment, there could be a couple of dozen choices of things to do.

For example, at 2 p.m. on Friday, among the offerings were a presentation by McGill students of science posters they had created; a panel on creating science fiction haiku; “My Parents Made Me Do It” (about growing up in science fiction fandom); “SF in French-Speaking America;” and “In Conversation with Tarl Wayne” (the fan artist guest of honor).

During that same time, the aforementioned Paul Krugman was giving a presentation on how reading science fiction led him into becoming an economist, and there was a panel on the “Greatest Fan Writer,” several author readings, a presentation on “Computing Before Computers,” a panel on “Food: Ancient, Modern, Future, Near and Far,” a writers’ workshop on creating alien languages, a panel on modern graphic design in publishing, and a costuming panel on embellishment techniques.

There were also panels in French, a look at the fiction of Neil Gaiman, this year’s Guest of Honour, a program for teens on how to present yourself in frontof an audience; a panel on “The Future of Gender,” a presentation by Prof. Gail Chmura, a climate-change specialist at McGill University, a panal on environmental issues in science fiction and fantasy, a discussion of who should win the Hugo Award (science fiction’s top fan-voted award) in the Short Form Dramatic Presentation category, a panel on what the people behind the camera do in television and movie production, and a panel introducing book binding, archiving and preservation.

That was just one hour to hour-and-a-half time frame—and I left a few things out.

See, here’s what people who rely on media stereotypes of science fiction fans (you know, can’t get a date, live in their mother’s basement, etc.) don’t realize: the kinds of people who are interested in science fiction are often the kinds of people who interested in everything.

Among the panels I personally attended were one on star maps from antiquity to today; a rather depressing discussion on the outlook for manned space flight in the U.S. post-shuttle; and a panel discussing the exploration of Mars from the persepective of the Canadian Space Agency.

At its heart, though, WorldCon is still focused on books. The premiere award of the weekend is the Hugo Award for Best Novel, which was won by Neil Gaiman for The Graveyard Book.

Among the other awards given out at WorldCon: the Aurora Awards for the best Canadian science fiction and fantasy…and I was honored to receive the Aurora for Best Long-Form Work in English for my novel Marseguro (DAW Books).

Obviously, that alone made the 67th annual World Science Fiction Convention the best in history, as far as I was concerned.

But if you’re interested enough to read this column every week, there’s a good chance you’d enjoy a science fiction convention even without winning an award.

Next time there’s one in your neck of the woods, why not give it a try?

I attended two presentations today, one on star maps from antiquity ’til today (very interesting) and one on Mars exploration, with a focus on the Canadian Space Agency. And then tonight I attended the dinner DAW Books threw for its authors at a fine local restaurant, Chez L’Epicier. Delicious food and good conversation.

And that brings me to now, when it’s after midnight and I’ve just returned to the hotel room!

Tomorrow I have a signing at 12:30 p.m., and then at 5 p.m. a supper meeting with my editor, Sheila Gilbert. Then it’s the Hugos. And after that, the con is practically over, although there are still panels on Monday and I have a reading.

Oh, and I was interviewed today by Jessica Murphy of the Canadian Press: that story is online here. (I was also interviewed, purely by happenstance, by Will Nicholls, the editor of Nation, an independent aboriginal publication. I’ll be interested to see what if anything they make of that, since they also interviewed my daughter about the book she and I have been writing together–which is what is going on in the photo at left.)

I’d give you the complete list of winners as I usually do, except as one of the nominees, I didn’t take notes or photos tonight. I’ll post them when I have a chance. But in my acceptance speech I made a point of thanking Robert J. Sawyer, who was a nominee in the same category tonight, because it was in his Banff Centre class in writing science fiction that Marseguro began, and I also did my best to acknowledge all the other nominees in my category, Douglas Smith, Ursula Pflug and Hayden Trenholm, urging people to read them all, because, I said, “Canadian science fiction deserves it.” Of course, in the process I forgot to thank my wife and daughter, and I fumbled introducing Sheila and Betsy from DAW, but it’s amazing how hard it is to think when you win an award.

Speaking of my daughter, I think she was more anxious than I was as my category (which, by the way, was announced by none other than well-known cigar-smoking puppet Ed the Sock) approached, and she apparently, though I didn’t see it, reacted with even more glee.

Afterward, of course, once I had Tweeted and Facebooked and phoned Mom, I headed over to the Delta Hotel for the SF Canada/Robert J. Sawyer Books party. I was also briefly in the SFWA Suite, where Analog and Asimov‘s were hosting a party, until it was closed down by the hotel. Oops. (Apparently a few people hung on in near-silence and seclusion.) It’s amazing what carrying a pointy, shiny award around an SF convention does to encourage people to talk to you. Two parties was my limit, though. (Pointy, you ask? The Aurora Award is famous for its sharp points, which are a) useful for forcing your way through crowds, b) an exellent means of self-defense should you be mugged on your way to your hotel, and c) known to shred clothing if you pack it injudiciously in your luggage. Fortunately, since we drove, I should be able to take it back in one piece).

Oh, I did do a few other things today. I went to a rather depressing panel on “After the Shuttle,” which spent much of its time pointing out that NASA’s plans for replacing the shuttle are inadequate, and therefore NASA astronauts won’t be going anywhere other than low-Earth-orbit riding Russian Soyuzes any time soon, manned the SFWA table for an hour and then signed books (not very many, but some) at the SFWA table for another hour, and went to the DAW Books upcoming books presentation.

It’ll be hard to have a better day than today at the this year’s WorldCon. But I’ll give it the old college try tomorrow!

And my deepest thanks to everyone who voted for Marseguro! You’ve made my year.

*Oh, have I mentioned recently that Marseguro is an Aurora Award finalist? The voting deadline is July 15! Don’t delay, vote today!