Friday Findings

Urban Fantasy Land Readers Choice Awards
If you haven’t already, make sure you get on over to Urban Fantasy Land and vote for you favourite urban fantasy authors and books from 2008. Post the link on your blog or website and you’ll be automatically entered into the draw for a $25 gift certificate from a major bookseller. Polls close at midnight 30 January 2009. Winners will be announced 31 January 2009.

Interview and Contest with Carrie Vaughn
This is included a little late, but there is still time to enter the contest for winning one of FIFTEEN copies of Carrie Vaughn's latest book, Kitty and the Deadman's Hand. Check out the interview and contest details at Bitten By Books.

Laurell K. Hamilton Update
Tez Says reports that the title for the next Laurell K. Hamilton Meredith Gentry book is Sins of the Flesh and it has been posted and is available as a preorder at Amazon. No word from Laurell’s website or blog about this so far so we will have to wait and see if this is the ‘final’ title. It’s due out October 27, 2009.

Weekly Geeks Favourite Sites Profiles
Jackie at Literary Escapism has some wonderful profiles of favourite blogs (including yours truly – thanks Jackie) using the criteria “Tell us what it is about these blogs that you love, that inspire or educate you or make you laugh.” Check them out, they are all worth a look and I believe most are also on my own RSS feed.

AWARDS NEWS

2009 Crawford Award Announced
Daryl Gregory's Pandemonium has been announced as the winner of the Crawford Award from the International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts (IAFA) for a debut fantasy book. The award will be presented at the International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts, March 18-22, in Orlando, Florida. Other short listed titles were –

• Alive in Necropolis by Doug Dorst
• Superpowers by David Schwartz
• Thunderer by Felix Gilman
• Last Dragon by J.M. McDermott.

Pandemonium has been sitting in my TBR pile for awhile. Guess I have no excuse now.

2009 Philip K. Dick Award Nominees
The nominees for the 2009 Philip K. Dick Award have been announced. They are as follows:

• Emissaries from the Dead by Adam-Troy Castro (Eos Books)
• Endgame by Kristine Smith (Eos Books) (UPDATE: disqualified pub.2007)
  
• Fast Forward 2 by Lou Anders (ed.) (Pyr)
• Judge by Karen Traviss (Eos Books)
• Terminal Mind by David Walton (Meadowhawk Press)
• Time Machines Repaired While-U-Wait by K. A. Bedford (EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing)
• Plague Year by Jeff Carlson (UPDATE: replacement entry)
  

Actually read two of the titles on the list this year (Emissaries from the Dead and Judge – both were good)

Blogging Awards
The new year is launching on an auspicious note and SciFiGuy.ca is thrilled with the nominations received from fellow bloggers for the following online awards. Thank you friends and readers alike.

Sid Viscious, Literary Escapism and Suburban Vampire have all nominated SciFiGuy.ca for a Rated Excellent Award that recognizes blogs that show true excellence in many ways.

Dark Wolf’s Fantasy Reviews, Drey’s Library and Un:Bound nominated SciFiGuy.ca for a Premio Dardos award! This award acknowledges the values that ever blogger shows in his/her effort to transmit cultural, ethical, literary and personal values every day.