Last Saturday, October 19, at the ceremony in Ottawa hosted by Can*Con, I was honored to receive this year’s Aurora Award for Bet Fan Related Work for my podcast, The Worldshapers.
The Prix Aurora Awards are Canada’s fan-nominated-and-voted-on awards for science fiction, fantasy, and related work, roughly the Canadian equivalent of the Hugo Awards.
The Best Fan Related Work category is for “Best fan activity in the area of Science Fiction or Fantasy…in areas such as: presentations, performances, fan music of all types, albums, song writing, video, APAS, Podcasts, or unpaid art by a Canadian in the previous calendar year.”
My fellow nominees were:
- S.M. Beiko and Clare C. Marshall, Business BFFs (Podcast)
- Kari Maaren, ChiSeries Toronto, monthly musical performances
- Derek Newman-Stille, Speculating Canada
- Joshua Pantalleresco, Just Joshing (Podcast)
I was thrilled to win and even happier because my editor and publisher from DAW Books, Sheila E. Gilbert, was in attendance–as she was the last time I won an Aurora, in 2009 for Marseguro, so I think she’s my good luck charm.That year I was totally unprepared and forgot to thank my wife and daughter, Margaret Anne and Alice, and she’s never let me forget that faux pas. This year, I thanked them first! And also, all the wonderful authors who have been willing to let me chat to them in-depth about the roots of their love for science fiction and fantasy and their process for creating it.
And the podcast continues! If you haven’t checked it out, I hope you will.
Here are the other award winners and nominees (from the Locus Magazinewebsite):
Best Novel
- WINNER: Armed in Her Fashion, Kate Heartfield (ChiZine)
- One of Us, Craig DiLouie (Orbit)
- They Promised Me the Gun Wasn’t Loaded, James Alan Gardner (Tor)
- Graveyard Mind, Chadwick Ginther (ChiZine)
- The Quantum Magician, Derek Künsken (Solaris)
- Witchmark, C.L. Polk (Tor.com Publishing)
Best YA Novel
- WINNER: Cross Fire, Fonda Lee (Scholastic)
- Children of the Bloodlands, S.M. Beiko (ECW)
- Exit Plans for Teenage Freaks, ‘Nathan Burgoine (Bold Strokes)
- The Sign of Faust, Éric Desmarais (Renaissance)
- Finding Atlantis, JM Dover (Evil Alter Ego)
- Timefall, Alison Lohans (Five Rivers)
- The Emerald Cloth, Clare C. Marshall (Faery Ink)
- Legacy of Light, Sarah Raughley (Simon Pulse)
Best Short Fiction
- WINNER: Gods, Monsters, and the Lucky Peach, Kelly Robson (Tor.comPublishing)
- “A Hold Full of Truffles”, Julie E. Czerneda (Tales from Plexis)
- “For A Rich Man to Enter”, Susan Forest (IGMS 4/18)
- Alice Payne Arrives, Kate Heartfield (Tor.com Publishing)
- “Critical Mass”, Liz Westbrook-Trenholm (Shades Within Us: Tales of Migrations and Fractured Borders)
Best Graphic Novel
- WINNER: It Never Rains, Kari Maaren (http://itneverrainscomic.com/)
- Krampus Is My Boyfriend!, S.M. Beiko (https://www.smbeiko.com/)
- Woman World, Aminder Dhaliwal (Drawn and Quarterly)
- Crash and Burn, Finn Lucullan & Kate Larking (Astres)
- FUTILITY: Orange Planet Horror, Rick Overwater & Cam Hayden (Coffin Hop)
Best Related Work
- WINNER: Disabled People Destroy Science Fiction, Dominik Parisien & Elsa Sjunneson-Henry, eds. (Uncanny)
- By the Light of Camelot, J.R. Campbell & Shannon Allen, eds. (EDGE)
- Gaslight Gothic: Strange Tales of Sherlock Holmes, J.R. Campbell & Charles Prepolec, eds. (EDGE)
- Shades Within Us: Tales of Migrations and Fractured Borders, Susan Forest & Lucas K. Law, eds. (Laksa)
- We Shall Be Monsters, Derek Newman-Stille, ed. (Renaissance)
Best Poem/Song
- WINNER: “Ursula Le Guin in the Underworld”, Sarah Tolmie (On Spec #107)
- “Echos”, Shannon Allen (By the Light of Camelot)
- “Osiris”, Leah Bobet (Uncanny 11-12/18)
- “How My Life Will End”, Vanessa Cardui (Shades Within Us: Tales of Migrations and Fractured Borders)
- “Trips to Impossible Cities”, Sandra Kasturi (Amazing Stories Winter 2018)
Best Artist
- WINNER: Samantha M. Beiko, covers for Laksa Media
- Lily Author, cover art for Polar Borealis #8
- James F. Beveridge, cover art for Tyche Books
- Roger Czerneda, cover for Tales from Plexis
- Dan O’Driscoll, covers for Bundoran Press
- Lynne Taylor Fahnestalk, cartoons for Amazing Stories
Best Visual Presentation
- WINNER: Deadpool 2
- Bao
- Murdoch Mysteries, 2018 episodes
- Travelers, Season 3
- Wynonna Earp, Season 3
Best Fan Writing and Publications
- WINNER: “She Wrote It But…Revisiting Joanna Russ’ How to Suppress Women’s Writing 35 Years Later“, Krista D. Ball (reddit.com/r/fantasy)
- “Travelling TARDIS“, Jen Desmarais (JenEric Designs)
- “Mars vs. Titan“, Ron S. Friedman (Quora)
- “Constructing the Future“, Derek Newman-Stille (Disabled People Destroy Science Fiction)
- “Adios Cowboy“, Adam Shaftoe (www.adamshaftoe.com)
- Books and Tea, Christina Vasilevski
Best Fan Organizational
- WINNER: Derek Künsken & Marie Bilodeau, co-chairs, Can*Con
- Sandra Kasturi, chair Chiaroscuro Reading Series: Toronto
- Randy McCharles, chair, When Words Collide
- Matt Moore, Marie Bilodeau & Nicole Lavigne, co-chairs, Chiaroscuro Reading Series: Ottawa
- Sandra Wickham, chair, Creative Ink Festival
