With apologies for the political-style sloganeering...

Locus magazine has opened the ballot for the 42nd Locus Awards. These honour the finest published works in the fields of science fiction and fantasy.

Nothing on the ballot by Ray this year, but Jon Eller's superb Becoming Ray Bradbury is listed, and is worthy of a vote.



You can read my review here. Then, if you haven't already done so, read the book. Then, if you haven't already done so, vote for it!

Prof Eller tells me that he's about two-thirds done with writing the sequel, which will see Ray progress through the writing of Moby Dick to become a different kind of writer. (Think Something Wicked This Way Comes, all those Irish plays, the poems...)

The sequel volume will take us up to 1972.

Phil, this a great text! A must for serious RB fans.

Really, Phil ... how you do go on. Now you've made me order it. Any more of this sort of thing, and I'm going to start waiting at the postbox.

Seriously, though, for those who are interested, digital copies of Locus Magazine are now available, in various formats, at Weightless Books. The ballot is in there.

quote:

Originally posted by douglasSP:
...The ballot is in there.

I meant to post a link to the ballot web page (anyone can vote, but I think subscribers' votes carry more weight). Here's the page:

http://www.locusmag.com/Magazi...2/PollAndSurvey.html

quote:

Originally posted by douglasSP:
... how you do go on. Now you've made me order it. Any more of this sort of thing, and I'm going to start waiting at the postbox...

You would have ordered it anyway, douglasSP; you're just using me as an excuse!

As for waiting at the postbox, you sound like Cora of "The Great Wide World Over There".

BECOMING RAY BRADBURY is indeed one of the Locus award finalists in the non-fiction category. The winner will be announced in Seattle, Washington in June of 2012 during the annual Science Fiction Awards Weekend. For more information, you can click on the following link:

http://www.locusmag.com/News/2...cus-award-finalists/

That's excellent news. I haven't read any of the competing works, but I know that the Atwood has been widely reported on and reviewed, and is probably a more widely read book. On those grounds, it might be the one to win this popularity contest.

Anyway, Jon is to be congratulated on getting onto the shortlist. My fingers are crossed for a favourable outcome!

In fact, I just congratulated Jon and he asked me to pass on a message:

"I'm grateful to all of the voters who participated in the process. It's always fun to see the actual vote count later on in the summer LOCUS issues."

He also said he won't be able to get to Seattle, but may ask someone in the area to represent him on awards day.

University of Illinois Press has this report as well:

http://www.press.uillinois.edu/wordpress/?p=9504