Archive for world fantasy
Angry Robot and the World Fantasy Awards 2011
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HUGE congratulations to the Angry Robot Overlord himself, Marc Gascoigne, who has just walked away with the World Fantasy Special Award (Professional) “for Angry Robot”. We’re absolutely thrilled for Marc, who has put in an enormous amount of work in setting up the company, and not only steering it along the right tracks, but also expanding it, at a time when many imprints are reducing their lists, or closing altogether. This really could not be a more appropriate award for a man who lives to create great genre books – and his plans are only beginning!
John Berlyne (second from right) collected Marc's award on his behalf
Congratulations also, to the mighty Lauren Beukes whose Zoo City was shortlisted for the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel. As you might remember, Zoo City one the Arthur C Clarke Award earlier this year (with the biggest prize in genre awards) and to be shortlisted for the world’s biggest fantasy award in the same year is an amazing achievement! Congratulations, Lauren!
Anyone visiting us at the Angry Robot office tomorrow can grab a glass of something fizzy with us. If you’re early enough it’ll be champagne, otherwise we have some carbonated water in the fridge. (Please come later).
The Angry Robot is appeased somewhat. Normal anger will resume tomorrow.
If you were unable to attend the awards, you can find footage of the entire ceremony, below. Marc’s award is introduced at 32.10 (and it’s worth listening to it for his great acceptance speech).
An author, a publisher and an agent walk into a bar…
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For French writer Aliette de Bodard, it was just another of those annoying airport delays that plague us all from time to time. But it turned out to be just the break she needed.
Forced to spend an extra day in Canada at Calgary airport on her way back from the World Fantasy Convention last November, she fell in with a couple of cheery Brits. They got talking, and the pair mentioned they were setting up a new publishing imprint, and a new literary agency respectively. After no little persuasion, Aliette revealed that she, too, was in the writing game, and following a few well-received short stories had been working on her debut novel. A few months later, like the plot of a Hollywood movie, she’s proud to announce she has a deal with both of them – with the novels represented by new literary agency Zeno, and to be published by new HarperCollins-funded imprint Angry Robot.
For the full story, check out the press release, here.
Calgary calling
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Calgary in Canada – which is where I am right now – is a looong way from the UK, so many hours behind that it feels like the con’s only just started while it’s actually day three already. So why come all this way? Because World Fantasy is possibly the best con around, at least for us publishing types. It’s fairly compact – maybe 1200 folks, and well over half of these are writers, artists and editors. It’s the sort of con where you can spy the near-godlike George RR Martin in a huddle with new guy Peter Brett, or artists of the calibre of Todd Lockwood and John Picacio swapping war stories over a drink, and barely bat an eye. The sheer approachability of such talented men and women is often a feature of SF cons, but at World Fantasy it’s unparalleled. Check out some photos from the con, already up on Flickr, courtesy of the tireless Kathryn Cramer… and yes, your humble scribe is lurking in at least three of these.
This con is also a place where publishers can get some proper face-to-face time with writers old and new, go deep into the detail, and ultimately, well, buy some books. Well, I’ve certainly done some of that… But if it’s all the same with you, you’ll have to wait till the ink’s dry on some contracts before I can tell you what they are. But we’re getting there, that’s for sure. It’s been gratifying to find, too, that so many people here know about Angry Robot, and indeed our mission too.
Calgary itself is an odd place – a massively developed downtown with towering skyscrapers and streets in almost perpetual shade, and a few blocks either side some neighborhoods so shabby you’d swear they were stuck in a Kojak episode from 1975. If you find the Calgary Tower on the photo and go down its column, the con’s in the brown building just below it. Oh yeah, and that clinking sound is enticing me away from my laptop. Cheers!
