I’m very pleased to announce that my poem “The Collected Postcards of Billy the Kid” has been short-listed for a 2014 Aurora Award in the Best Poem category. This poem was first published by Sean Moreland in Postscripts to Darkness 4 (thanks, Sean, and thanks as well to Dominik Parisien, the poetry editor of issue!).
Dominik very kindly describes the poem as follows in his introduction:
Marshall has a particular knack for composing works that are physically and emotionally wrenching as well as cerebral. The second poem, the poetic sequence “The Collected Postcards of Billy the Kid,” falls into another pattern of her work: the reimagining and interrogation of literature. In her stories “Dead White Men” and “Sanditon,” both from Hair Side, Flesh Side, bodies collapse with books, a woman channels the spirits of literature’s greats into her lovers, and an editor discovers a lost manuscript of Jane Austen under her skin. The poetic sequence Skeleton Leaves masterfully explores the story of Peter Pan. Here, Marshall provides us with “the lost years” of yet another literary figure, Billy the Kid, and fills them with uncanny images and queer beauty.
If you’d like to read the poem, obviously I’d recommend picking up Postscripts to Darkness 4 but I believe it has also been made available for those eligible to vote in the voter’s package.
Speaking of which, voting for the awards will begin for members of CSFFA* (Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association) on May 3rd and will close at Midnight (end of day) EDT on Saturday, September 6th, 2014. The awards will be presented at VCON 39 (www.vcon.ca) in Vancouver, Oct 3 – 5, 2014.
And now for the full ballot…
Best English Novel
A Turn of Light by Julie E. Czerneda, DAW Books
Red Planet Blues by Robert J. Sawyer, Penguin Canada
River of Stars by Guy Gavriel Kay, Viking Canada
The Tattooed Witch by Susan MacGregor, Five Rivers Publishing
Tombstone Blues by Chadwick Ginther, Ravenstone Books
Best English YA (Young Adult) Novel
The Ehrich Weisz Chronicles: Demon Gate by Marty Chan, Fitzhenry & Whiteside
Ink by Amanda Sun, Harlequin Teen
The Lake and the Library by S.M. Beiko, ECW Press
Out of Time by D.G. Laderoute, Five Rivers Publishing
Resolve by Neil Godbout, Bundoran Press
The Rising by Kelley Armstrong, Doubleday Canada
Best English Short Fiction
“A Bunny Hug for Karl” by Mike Rimar, Masked Mosaic, Canadian Super Stories, Tyche Books
“Angela and Her Three Wishes” by Eileen Bell, The Puzzle Box, EDGE
“The Awakening of Master March” by Randy McCharles, The Puzzle Box, EDGE
“Ghost in the Machine” by Ryan McFadden, The Puzzle Box, EDGE
“The Gift” by Susan Forest, Urban Green Man, EDGE
“Green Man She Restless” by Billie Milholland, Urban Green Man, EDGE
“Living Bargains” by Suzanne Church, When the Hero Comes Home 2, Dragon Moon Press
Best English Poem/Song
“A City of Buried Rivers” by Clink, David, The Literary Review of Canada, vol. 21, no. 9, November
“Awake” by Peter Storey, Urban Green Man, EDGE
“The Collected Postcards of Billy the Kid” by Helen Marshall, Postscripts to Darkness, Issue 4, October
“Lost” by Amal El-Mohtar, Strange Horizons, February
“Night Journey: West Coast” by Kernaghan, Eileen, Tesseracts Seventeen: Speculating Canada from Coast to Coast to Coast, EDGE
“Turning the Leaves” by Amal El-Mohtar, Apex Magazine, Issue 55, December
Best English Graphic Novel
Looking for Group by Ryan Sohmer and Lar DeSouza, webcomic
Rock, Paper, Cynic by Peter Chiykowski, webcomic
Weregeek by Alina Pete, webcomic
Wild Game: Sweet Tooth Vol. 6 by Jeff Lemire, Vertigo
Best English Related Work
The Puzzle Box by The Apocalyptic Four, EDGE
Urban Green Man edited by Adria Laycraft and Janice Blaine EDGE
On Spec published by the Copper Pig Writers’ Society
Suzenyms by Susan MacGregor, blog suzenyms.blogspot.ca
Imaginarium 2013: The Best Canadian Speculative Writing edited by Sandra Kasturi and Samantha Beiko, ChiZine Publications
Best Artist
Erik Mohr, cover art for ChiZine Publications
Melissa Mary Duncan, illustrations and cover art
Dan O’Driscoll, covers for Bundoran Press and the SF Aurora banner
Apis Teicher, body of work
Tanya Montini, cover design for The Ehrich Weisz Chronicles: Demon Gate
Best Fan Publications
No award will be given out in this category in 2014 due to insufficient eligible nominees
Best Fan Music
Brooke Abbey for writing and publishing 12 songs
Debs & Errol for CTRL+ALT+DUETS, EP
Chris Hadfield for his performance of Space Oddity
Kari Maaren for Beowulf Pulled My Arm Off, CD
Devin Melanson, Leslie Hudson and, Kari Maaren for Pirate Elves in Space, CD
Best Fan Organizational
Evelyn Baker and Alana Otis-Wood, co-chairs Ad Astra, Toronto
S.M. Beiko and Chadwick Ginther, co-chairs Chiaroscuro Reading Series, ChiSeries Winnipeg
Sandra Kasturi and James Bambury, co-chairs Chiaroscuro Reading Series, ChiSeries Toronto
Randy McCharles, chair When Words Collide, Calgary
Matt Moore, chair Chiaroscuro Reading Series, ChiSeries Ottawa
Rose Wilson, Art Show Director, VCON 38, Vancouver
Best Fan Related Work
R. Graeme Cameron, weekly column in Amazing Stories Magazine
Steve Fahnestalk, weekly column in Amazing Stories Magazine
Robert Runté, ”Why I Read Canadian Speculative Fiction: The Social Dimension of Reading”, Scholar Keynote Address at ACCSFF ’13, Toronto
