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Terra Insegura is an Aurora Award finalist!
Just heard this morning that Terra Insegura, my sequel to last year's Aurora Award-winning science fiction novel Marseguro, is a finalist for this year's Aurora Award for best science fiction or fantasy novel in English. Sounds like they had a record number of nominations, too, so that makes it even sweeter. 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 ...A reminder about Aurora Award nominations
The deadline for nominating works for a Prix Aurora Award is fast approaching. Today is the day when mail-in ballots must be postmarked by, and the deadline for online nominations is February 15. 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 ...Nice mention of “bleak and beautiful” Marseguro
"Bleak and beautiful" is a nice phrase. Even nicer when it's applied to my DAW SF novel Marseguro, which is what happened today in Strange Horizon's review of 2009 by its corps of reviewers...one of whom is my fellow DAW author Kari Sperring (author of Living With Ghosts), who said this: 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 ...Nominations open for Prix Aurora Awards
Back in August, I had the great good fortune and honour to win the Prix Aurora Award for Best Long-Form Work in English for my novel Marseguro (that's me holding it at left, alongside my editor and publisher, Sheila Gilbert of DAW Books). The Prix Aurora Awards honour the best of Canadian science fiction and fantasy from the previous year. In 2010, the Aurora Awards will be handed out at Key-Con in Winnipeg in May...and nominations have just opened. 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 ...Terra Insegura cover art minus the text
In his New Works gallery on his website, Hugo Award-winning artist Stephan Martiniere has included the cover of my DAW SF novel Terra Insegura, minus the text (title, my name, DAW logo) that clutters up the actual book. It's a stunner! And I literally got a chill looking at it when I realized for the very first time that, down at the very bottom, there are human skulls littering the spaceport pavement...I’ll be teaching a course in writing SF for the University of Regina in March…
...for the Centre for Continuing Education Writing Series. The eight-hour course, which runs Tuesday evenings from March 6 to April 8, is described this way: Students will receive an overview of the genres included in the umbrella term speculative fiction—science fiction, fantasy and horror—plus hands-on experience in the crafting of stories within these genres. Topics will include idea development, character development, world building and story structure. Information about speculative fiction markets, workshops, writers’ organizations, websites and conventions will also be provided. Students will be expected to produce work to be critiqued and to critique others’ work. The tuition fee is $99; registration form is online here.The Nipawin Journal reports on my reading there last week…
...and I have to say it's one of the best articles of this sort I've seen anywhere. Thanks to the reporter, Joel Cherry! (Oh, sure, there's one instance of the dreaded "one-T Willett" misspelling of my last name, but if I worried over much about that very common typo I'd go crazy.) The story begins: The term freelance was first used by Sir Walter Scott to describe a medieval mercenary warrior, (a "free-lance") in his novel Ivanhoe. The freelance would fight for whoever needed him. Science journalist, biographer, critic, singer, actor, and Aurora-award winning author of science fiction and fantasy Edward Willett is a freelance if ever there was one. Oct. 20 the Regina-based writer paid Nipawin a visit, ...The centre of the universe likes Marseguro & Terra Insegura!
OK, I should probably explain that the centre of the universe is a blog. The blogger, who goes by the handle Cenobyte, writes, in part: There is just enough nerd factor in these books to make them sciencey, and there is just enough of a fabulous story to make them fictioney. In fact, both of them are the perfect blend of those two things... There are themes of racism, colonialism (don't those two go hand-in-hand anyway), civil rights, and, ultimately, survival. Terra Insegura is more than a sequel; it takes everything that happened in Marseguro and ramps it up a notch... Willett's characters are fascinating and real, although at times are frustrating as hell...But what really makes these books for ...A nice new review of Marseguro
Cranking Plot posts a nice "reader's review" of Marseguro today, with a second "writer's review" promised for later. Calling it a "richly realized" story (though he would have liked more depth to the characterization), the reviewer writes: Marseguro has a strong plot, well developed society and believable technology....Edward Willett has crafted an excellent plot-driven story that was easy and enjoyable to read. I would certainly recommend Marseguro to anyone who enjoys SF. I look forward to seeing what he has to say in his writer's review...and hopefully his thoughts on Terra Insegura, ...Alberta bound
Well, got a couple of nice bits of news this week. First, I've been asked by Pure Speculation, a science fiction convention in Edmonton, to be their Author Guest of Honour, filling in for Spider Robinson, who has had to bow out because of the need to concentrate on helping his wife, Jeanne, as she undergoes a round of chemotherapy. I'm hardly in the same league as Spider, writer-wise, which makes it doubly an honour to be asked. I don't know too many details about programming yet, except that I'll be singing in the Friday night cabaret and I'll be interviewed by Barb Galler-Smith at some point. Pure Speculation runs October 2 to 4 at the Shaw Convention ...
Edward Willett is a Subscribe to my weekly science column
Terra Insegura
Finalist for the 2010 Prix Aurora Award for Best Novel in English
Marseguro, a water world far from Earth, is home to a colony of humans and the Selkies, a water-dwelling race created from modified human DNA. For seventy years the colony has lived in peace. Then Earth discovers Marseguro, and a strike force is sent to eradicate this “abomination.” But Marseguro has created a genetically tailored plague to use against Earth’s Holy Warriors. With the enemy defeated, the people of Marseguro feel they are safe. But Chris Keating, the traitor who signaled Marseguro’s location to the Holy Warriors, has fled to Earth, unknowingly carrying the deadly plague within him. The people of Marseguro feel they must send a ship to Earth with a life-saving vaccine. Only time will tell what awaits them when they reach their destination.
Marseguro
Winner of the 2009 Prix Aurora Award for Best Long-Form Work in English
Water world Marseguro is home to the Selkies, a water-dwelling race created from human DNA. When an unmodified human seeks revenge on a Selkie by activating a distress beacon taken from the remains of the original colony ship, a strikeforce is sent from Earth to eradicate the genetic abomination. Yet Marseguro will not prove as easy to conquer as the Earth force anticipates…
Lost in Translation
Kathryn was a human empath whose world and life had been destroyed when the alien S’sinn slaughtered her parents before her very eyes. Jarrikk was a young S’sinn, an unproven warrior who’d seen his flight mates slaughtered by the humans who’d sought to colonize his world.
As humans and S’sinn found themselves on the brink of war, these two Translators had to work together to find a common ground and avert catastrophe. But whether their Translators’ oath and training could overcome the enemies leagued against them was very much in doubt…
Archives
Historic Walks of Regina and Moose Jaw
Ten walks to points of historic and architectural interest in the cities of Regina and Moose Jaw (eight walks for Regina, two for Moose Jaw).
Disease-Hunting Scientist
The true stories of six real disease hunters. Epidemiologists travel the world trying to keep us safe from deadly diseases—from high-tech labs in Canada to remote villages in Africa. Learn how these “disease detectives” are coming up with new ways to fight disease, and find out if you have what it takes to become an epidemiologist, too!
The Bounty Mutiny
The Bounty was a British ship visiting Tahiti in 1789 when some of the crew overthrew the captain, William Bligh, and set him adrift in a tiny boat with sailors loyal to him. The mutiny resulted in a number of trials–both of the men who mutinied and of Bligh for losing command of his ship. These fascinating events have been the source for numerous Hollywood movies, most recently The Bounty. The Bounty Mutiny: From the Court Case to the Movie explores the famous case and the movies it inspired.
