MABFAN NEWSLETTER # 40 (January 2004)

Michael A. Burstein's "Friends Across the Net" Newsletter

Happy new year to all! I have nothing new coming out this particular month, but there's still news. I have my list of stories from last year, information on our schedule at Arisia, and reminders for those of you who wish to participate in the science fiction awards process. Read on!

YEAR 2003 ROUNDUP

In the year 2003, I published three stories:

"Paying It Forward" (ANALOG, September 2003) (novelette)
"The New Breed" (short story) (MEN WRITING SCIENCE FICTION AS WOMEN edited by Mike Resnick)
"Lifeblood" (short story) (NEW VOICES IN SCIENCE FICTION edited by Mike Resnick)

At this point, "Paying It Forward" is no longer available, but because I feel very strongly about this story, I'm willing to make this offer. If anyone on this list is planning to vote in either of the awards listed in the next section, let me know and I'll either email you an electronic copy of the story or mail you a photocopy of it from the magazine, your choice.

AWARDS BALLOTS AND OTHER SUCH THINGS

As the new calendar year begins, so does the science fiction awards process. I'd like to take a moment to remind all my regular readers of two awards that you can have a voice in deciding.

The Analytical Laboratory Award, or AnLab, is the award given by the readers of ANALOG magazine for the best work in the previous calendar year. This year, the only story I have eligible is "Paying It Forward" (Analog, September 2003, novelette). I encourage any and all regular readers of ANALOG to vote. You can vote by going to their webpage at http://www.analogsf.com/analogreaders_2003.shtml, but please note that the deadline for voting is FEBRUARY 2, 2004, so it's coming up very soon. Note that all voters are entered in a drawing for a one-year subscription to the magazine, so why not vote? You may win ANALOG for a year!
The Hugo Awards. These awards are given every year by the members of the World Science Fiction Convention -- in short, anyone who chooses to join. The 2004 convention, Noreascon 4, will be held in Boston for the first time since 1989. The Hugo process begins with a nominating ballot that is due back by the end of March 2004, but in order to participate, you either have to have been a member of last year's Worldcon, Torcon III, or you have to join Noreascon 4 before the end of January. If you're interested in finding out more, check out http://www.noreascon.org and http://www.noreascon.org/hugos.

Needless to say (but I say it every year), I have a vested interest in readers of mine participating in these two ballots. However, even if you're not planning to vote for any of my stories, I still encourage you to check it out. The more people who vote, the more meaningful the results.

UPCOMING APPEARANCES

To begin with, Nomi and I will be at Arisia (Boston, MA; January 16-18, 2004; more information at http://www.arisia.org) later this month, and we've been given a very full schedule. Between the two of us, we're on 17 panels! We overlap on two of those, so we're technically only on 15 panels. For those of you who wish to hear us declaim at Arisia, here's our schedule:

Friday, January 16:
- 7 PM. "How to Survive Your First Con." MAB
- 8 PM. "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." MAB, NSB
- 9 PM. "Supermarket Scanners as the Mark of the Beast." NSB
Saturday, January 17 (Nomi's birthday!):
- 10 AM. "Who's Reading Your Blog?" NSB
- 11 AM. "Smallville." MAB
- 12noon. "Physics vs. Hollywood." MAB
- 2 PM. "How to Deal with Editors." MAB
- 3 PM. "The Democratization of Slayerdom." NSB
- 4 PM. "The Future of Language." NSB
- 6 PM. "Reading: Paying It Forward." MAB (I'll be giving out free copies of the story afterwards)
- 7 PM. "Life on LiveJournal." NSB
Sunday, January 18:
- 10 AM. "Advice on Becoming an SF Writer." MAB
- 11 AM. "SF Invades Mainstream Culture." NSB
- 1 PM. "My Invisible Best Friend." MAB, NSB
- 2 PM. "Beta Reading." NSB

Whew! And please keep in mind that if you want me to autograph something, you'll need to wait until after 5:30 PM or so on Saturday night...

Finally, also keep in mind that we'll be at Boskone (Boston, MA; February 13-15, 2004; more information at http://www.boskone.org) and Noreascon 4 (Boston, MA; September 2-6, 2004; more information at http://www.noreascon.org; join now to nominate and vote in the Hugo Awards).

ADMINISTRATIVA

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For more frequent news, or to read some of the stuff I've written, check out my webpage at www.mabfan.com or my weblog at http://www.livejournal.com/users/mabfan. -- Michael A. Burstein