Author: Krista Ball

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Michèle Laframboise wins Trillium Book Award

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SF Canada member Michèle Laframboise has won one of four Trillium Book Awards, for her YA novel Le secret de Paloma. 

Trapped on a planet where the air pressure drops drastically after the sun goes down, a human colony somehow survives behind an airtight curtain.

Could her friend’s death have something to do with the orbit of Troll, an evil comet whose tail bombards the planet with meteorites? What Alouette discovers will change the colony forever…

Both oppressive and uplifting, Le secret de Paloma raises the issues of responsibility, secrets too heavy to share, friendship, and forgiveness within a society in survival mode.

 

 

You can see Michèle accepting the award here.

 

 

More about the Trillium Book Awards here.

 

Michèle Laframboise lives in Mississauga, in Southwestern Ontario, where she divides her time between drawing, writing, and her family. With a scientific background, she has established herself as a science fiction author, concocting, with pen or brush, captivating stories set in mysterious worlds. To date, she has published around 20 novels and comic book albums as well as numerous short stories, which have earned her several distinctions and literary prizes.

Link to publisher’s website [French only]: https://editionsdavid.com/livres/fiche-livre/?titre=le-secret-de-paloma&ISBN=9782895977827

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New release! Super-Earth Mother by Guy Immega

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SF Canada member Guy Immega is excited to announce his new novel, Super-Earth Mother. 

“Super-Earth Mother: The AI that Engineered a Brave New World” is a captivating saga of humanity’s endeavor to survive and thrive in an alien world.

It starts with the unexpected death of lunar magnate Walcott, and the ascension of Mother-9, an artificial intelligence, who seizes control of Walcott’s mining operation and orchestrates humanity’s most audacious endeavor, and Walcott’s dream – sending a colony ship to Lalande 21185.

After a devastating gamma ray burst wipes out life on Earth, Mother-9’s mission turns from Walcott’s visionary dream to humanity’s last hope.

As the ship reaches Lalande 21185, also known as Valencia, the narrative shifts to the new world. From the Mothership in orbit, two lifeboats descend, touching down in Valencia’s Great Ocean. Mother-9 triggers the activation of its artificial womb, birthing genetically modified humans. Raised by nannybots, these children eventually inhabit the island continent of Terra Firma.

But life on Valencia is no Eden; it’s a constant struggle for sustenance against predators and alien elements.
“Super-Earth Mother” is a refreshing departure from conventional colonization novels, a journey into the heart of artificial intelligence, humanity, and the uncharted realms of life beyond our home planet.

Amazon

About the Author:

Author Guy Immega is a retired aerospace engineer and entrepreneur, bringing his expertise and imagination to the novel’s scientific concepts and futuristic technology. He has also published several short stories from Super-Earth Mother in acclaimed anthologies, showcasing his talent as a writer in the science fiction genre.

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Congratulations to Melissa Yi for her Derringer Award win!

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Congratulations to SF Canada member Melissa Yi for winning the 2023 Derringer for Best Short Short Story!  Her short story “My Two-Legs” appeared in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine: September/October 2022. 

You can see the entire winner’s list here.

Melissa Yi is an emergency physician and award-winning writer. In her latest crime novel, WHITE LIGHTNING, Dr. Hope Sze’s romantic getaway at a Windsor Prohibition hotel morphs into a ghost-ridden historical crime scene with potential links to Al Capone. Previous Hope Sze thrillers were recommended by The Globe and Mail, CBC Books, and The Next Chapter as one of the best Canadian suspense novels. Yi was shortlisted for the Derringer Award for the world’s best short mystery fiction. Under the name Melissa Yuan-Innes, she also writes medical humour and has won speculative fiction awards. http://www.melissayuaninnes.com/

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Announcing the 2023 Prix Aurora Ballot

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This year’s Aurora Award ballot has just been announced. Several SF Canada members are nominated as finalists (their names are in bold below).

The Aurora Awards are nominated by members of the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association.  The top five nominated works were selected.  Additional works were included where there was a tie for fifth place.  An online awards ceremony will be held on August 19th, 2023, at 5pm EDT, with hosts Mark Leslie Lefebvre and Liz Anderson. Details at www.csffa.ca

Congratulations to all nominees!

Best Novel

All the Seas of the World, Guy Gavriel Kay, Penguin Canada
The Daughter of Doctor Moreau, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Del Rey
The Embroidered Book, Kate Heartfield, HarperVoyager
Sea of Tranquility, Emily St. John Mandel, HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
The Void Ascendant, Premee Mohamed, Solaris Books

Best Young Adult Novel

Black Hole Radio – Ka’Azula, Ann Birdgenaw, DartFrog Books
Ghostlight, Kenneth Oppel, Puffin Canada
The Hollow Boys: The Dream Rider Saga, Book 1, Douglas Smith, Spiral Path Books
Night of the Raven, Dawn of the Dove, Rati Mehrotra, Wednesday Books
Zachary Ying and the Dragon Emperor, Xiran Jay Zhao, Margaret K. McElderry Books

Best Novelette/Novella

Even Though I Knew the End, C.L. Polk, Tordotcom
High Times in the Low Parliament, Kelly Robson, TordotCom
The Jade Setter of Janloon, Fonda Lee, Subterranean Press
“A Sky and a Heaven”, Eric Choi, Just Like Being There, Springer Nature
The Tiger Came to the Mountains, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Amazon Original Stories

Best Short Story

“Big Trouble in Droidtown”, Hayden Trenholm, The Astronaut Always Rings Twice, Tyche Books
“Broken Vow: The Adventures of Flick Gibson, Intergalactic Videographer”, Peter G. Reynolds, On Spec Magazine, Issue 120
“Douen”, Suzan Palumbo, The Dark, Issue 82
“The Five Rules of Supernova Surfing, or A For Real Solution to the Fermi Paradox, Bro”, Geoffrey W. Cole, Clarkesworld, Issue 184
“Green Witch”, Elizabeth Whitton, Prairie Witch, Prairie Soul Press
“A New Brave World”, Eric Choi, Brave New Worlds, Zombies Need Brains
“Schrödinger’s Cats”, Wayne Cusack, Polar Borealis Magazine, Issue #22
“We Are the Thing That Lives on the Moon”, Gillian Secord, Fireside Magazine, Issue 101, March

Best Graphic Novel/Comic

Birds of Maine, Michael deForge, Drawn and Quarterly
Cupcake War Machine, Marika Kapogeorgakis, webcomic
Goblins, Ellipsis Hana Stephens, webcomic
It Never Rains, Kari Maaren, webcomic
Mistress of the Winds, Michèle Laframboise, Echofictions
Questionable Content, Jeph Jacques, webcomic
Wychwood, Ally Rom Colthoff, webcomic

Best Poem/Song

“After the Apocalypse”, Colleen Anderson, NewMyths, Vol 16, issue 61
“Ghost Stories”, James Grotkowski, Polar Starlight Magazine, Issue 6
“In Stock Images of the Future, Everything is White”, Terese Mason Pierre, Uncanny Magazine, Issue Forty-Six
“Poltergeist”, Rhonda Parrish, Star*Line, Vol 45, Issue 2
“Rapunzel in the Desert”, Melissa Yuan-Innes, On Spec Magazine, Issue 122
“a sinkhole invites a street to consider its future”, Dominik Parisien, Uncanny Magazine, Issue Forty-Four
“Three Herons”, Geoffrey W. Cole, Polar Starlight Magazine, Issue 5
“The Wolf of Your Passions”, Lynne Sargent, Augur Magazine, Issue 5.2

Best Related Work

The Astronaut Always Rings Twice, edited by Shannon Allen and JR Campbell, Tyche Books
Nothing Without Us Too, edited by Cait Gordon and Talia C. Johnson, Renaissance
On Spec Magazine, Issues 119, 120, and 121, managing editor Diane Walton, The Copper Pig Writers’ Society
Prairie Witch, edited by Stacey Kondla, Prairie Soul Press
Strange Wars: Speculative Fiction of Coalitions in Conflict, edited by Don Miasek, TDotSpec

Best Cover Art/Interior Illustration

Arboreality, cover art, Rachel Yu Lobbenberg, Stelliform Press
The Astronaut Always Rings Twice, cover art, Kayla Kowalyk, Tyche Books
Birthday of the Unicorn, cover art, Marco Marin, TdotSpec
Weird Fishes, cover art, Julia Louise Pereira, Stelliform Press
The World We Left Behind, Swati Chavda, On Spec Magazine, Issue 119

Best Fan Writing and Publication

JenEric Movie Reviews, Éric Desmarais, JenEric Designs
Polar Borealis Magazine, Issues: 21, 22, and 23, edited by R. Graeme Cameron
Polar Starlight Magazine, Issues: 5, 6, and 7, edited by Rhea E. Rose
The Travelling TARDIS, Jennifer Desmarais, JenEric Designs
Young People Read Old SFF, edited by James Davis Nicoll, online

Best Fan Related Work

Augurcon, Terese Mason Pierre and Kerry C. Byrne, co-directors, Toria Liao, operations director, online
Can*Con, Marie Bilodeau and Derek Künsken, co-chairs, Ottawa
ephemera Reading Series, KT Bryski and Jen R. Albert, co-chairs, online
When Words Collide, Randy McCharles, chair, online
The Worldshapers Podcast, Edward Willett, online

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Arthurian legends are reborn in this upbeat queer urban fantasy with a mystery at its heart

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SF Canada member Jes Battis is excited to announce their new urban fantasy novel!

The knights of the round table are alive in Vancouver, but when one winds up dead, it’s clear the familiar stories have taken a left turn. Hildie, a Valkyrie and the investigator assigned to the case, wants to find the killer — and maybe figure her life out while she’s at it. On her short list of suspects is Wayne, an autistic college student and the reincarnation of Sir Gawain, who these days is just trying to survive in a world that wasn’t made for him. After finding himself at the scene of the crime, Wayne is pulled deeper into his medieval family history while trying to navigate a new relationship with the dean’s charming assistant, Bert — who also happens to be a prime murder suspect. To figure out the truth, Wayne and Hildie have to connect with dangerous forces: fallen knights, tricky runesmiths, the Wyrd Sisters of Gastown. And a hungry beast that stalks Wayne’s dreams.

The Winter Knight is a propulsive urban fairy tale and detective story with queer and trans heroes that asks what it means to be a myth, who gets to star in these tales, and ultimately, how we make our stories our own.

All of the buy links and more information can be found at: https://ecwpress.com/products/the-winter-knight

 

About Jes Battis

Jes Battis (they/them) is a queer autistic writer and teacher and the author of the Occult Special Investigator series and Parallel Parks series (as Bailey Cunningham) with Ace. Their first novel, Night Child, was shortlisted for the Sunburst Award. Jes teaches queer and trans studies, medieval literature, and representations of disability/neurodiversity in pop culture at the University of Regina. They split time between the prairies and the west coast.

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The Crystal Key by Douglas Smith is Out Today!

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SF Canada member Douglas Smith has a new release today. The Crystal Key is the second book of The Dream Rider Saga series. Described as Indiana Jones meets Teen Titans in The Dream Rider Saga, a fast-paced urban fantasy trilogy from “one of Canada’s most original writers of speculative fiction” (Library Journal).

Will Dreycott is the Dream Rider, the agoraphobic teenage superhero who walks in our dreams but never in the streets of his city. Case is his girlfriend, a survivor of those streets haunted by voices that warn her of danger. Fader, her brother, is very good at disappearing. Together, they defeated a body swapper and a witch to save the world (The Hollow Boys).

In The Crystal Key, a trail of dark secrets leads Will, Case, and Fader to a hidden world. Trapped between warring cults willing to kill for a mysterious relic, the three friends must master strange new powers that grow stronger and wilder the closer they draw to the truth.

This time it’s not just the fate of the world at stake…but the multiverse.

You can purchase the book from various retailers. Click here for purchase links.

Praise for The Crystal Key:

“The engrossing second installment of Douglas Smith’s Dream Rider Saga trilogy. … Smith continues to demonstrate an ability to expertly weave multiple complex fantasy elements into a cohesive whole. … This fast-paced story delivers in a big way—and Smith has all his ducks lined up for an explosive conclusion [to the series] that readers won’t want to miss.”

—Blueink Review (★ Starred review)

Praise for The Hollow Boys (The Dream Rider Saga, Book 1):

“A must-read story for YA fantasy fans.” —Blueink Review (★ Starred review)

“Inventive, engaging, and boundless fun.” —The Ottawa Review of Books 

“Fast-paced and entertaining.” —SF Crowsnest 

“A fun supernatural tale with well-developed characters and a touch of romance.” —Kirkus Reviews

ABOUT DOUGLAS SMITH

Douglas Smith is a multi-award-winning author described by Library Journal as “one of Canada’s most original writers of speculative fiction.”

His latest work is the YA urban fantasy trilogy, The Dream Rider Saga (The Hollow Boys, The Crystal Key, and The Lost Expedition). His other books include the urban fantasy novel, The Wolf at the End of the World; the collections, Chimerascope and Impossibilia; and the writer’s guide Playing the Short Game: How to Market & Sell Short Fiction.

Published in 27 languages, Doug is a 3-time winner of Canada’s Aurora Award and has been a finalist for the Astounding Award, CBC’s Bookies Award, Canada’s juried Sunburst Award, and France’s juried Prix Masterton and Prix Bob Morane.

His website is https://smithwriter.com.

“The man is Sturgeon good. Zelazny good. I don’t give those up easy.” —Spider Robinson, Hugo and Nebula Awards winner

“A great storyteller with a gifted and individual voice.” —Charles de Lint, World Fantasy Award winner

“His stories are a treasure trove of riches that will touch your heart while making you think.” —Robert J. Sawyer, Hugo and Nebula Awards winner

“Stories you can’t forget, even years later.” —Julie Czerneda, multi-award-winning author and editor