A Curious Statistical Anomaly

The Washington Science Fiction Association [http://www.wsfa.org] has created of a literary award to honor the work done by small presses in promoting and preserving science fiction. The WSFA Small Press Award will be given yearly for original short fiction works (17,500 words or fewer) of imaginative literature (e.g., science fiction, fantasy, horror, speculative fiction or like literature) published by a small press.

For the purposes of the award, a small press is defined as a hard copy print or web publication house releasing from 3 to 25 titles per year. Eligible periodicals are those with a paid circulation of fewer than 10,000 in the year that the story is published. Periodicals must have an must pay authors in cash as opposed to non-monetary items. Any story published in a periodical owned by a major publishing house or media producer is not eligible for this award. For complete rules check the website.

For this our 4th Annual WSFA Award, eligible works are those published for the first time in English in 2009. To help us identify worthy pieces, we are asking for small press publishers and authors to nominate stories. (The story does not have to be published by you, although we generally expect you to nominate works from your publications.) You may nominate up to three (3) stories as a publisher, one (1) story as an author.

FOR THIS YEAR THE DEADLINE FOR NOMINATIONS IS April 1st.

Nominated stories _must_ be submitted in electronic form, in any of the common formats (e.g. doc, rtf, pdf). Judging will be blind, that is the name of the author and publisher will be stripped from the story. Therefore, we ask that you either send the story in a format that allows us to edit the file to remove the author’s name, or strip the name yourself but be sure to include the name of the author in the accompanying email message.  Nominations should be sent to admin at wsfasmallpress dot org. The accompanying email should indicate the name of the person or entity that holds the copyright to the story and permission from that person or entity to circulate the story within WSFA for the purposes of judging. We also need to know the publication information (Publication name, issue date) The story WILL NOT be circulated beyond WSFA members and will be housed on a secure, password-protected website.

The award will be presented at the annual WSFA convention, Capclave, held each year in October in the Washington, DC, area. The award winner and the publisher will be notified prior to the convention.

Additional information about the award can be found at the website.

Today was sort of a loss on getting the home/house/shopping stuff done because I had a Capclave Committee Meeting scheduled this afternoon.

Nearly the entire committee was in attendance and those who couldn’t make it sent their reports.  It looks like we’re on track for memberships compared to previous years at this time.  This year Capclave will be capping membership at 500.  So, if you’re dithering please sign up soon. Right now the membership cost is $45.  There will be another price increase on July 1st.  So, the longer you wait the more expensive it gets.

Capclave will be from October 22 to 24th, 2010 at the Rockville Hilton.  Guests of Honor are: Connie Willis, Ann VanderMeer, and Jeff VanderMeer.  Check out our website and the Capclave blog.

We’re putting together ideas for programming. We could use your input on what panels and workshops you’d like to see at the convention. Really, let us know. Email programming with your ideas and suggestions.

If you’d like to volunteer some of your time to help out at the convention, send me email and let me know what area you’d like to work in and how many hours you’d be willing to commit. We’ll be putting a volunteer form up on the Capclave site soon but you can let me know by emailing me earlier.

Now to knit some more on my sock. Have a good evening everyone.

Just today the last fiddlybits on the new Capclave 2010 website got finished up and the site is live. We even have a registration link so you can sign up for the convention on line.

The Guests of Honor for Capclave, which will be held October 22-24th, 2010 at the Rockville Hilton (1750 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852), will be

Connie Willis
Ann VanderMeer
Jeff VanderMeer

All these guests are standouts and the convention should be great.

Capclave is the Washington, DC areas literary science fiction convention and in the past the convention has had kaffeklatches; readings by authors; a dealers’ room (lots and lots of books); space science presentations from NASA scientists; workshops on writing, reviewing, contracts & negotiating basics for writers, publicity for writers, and getting an agent; a hospitality suite, room parties, filking, and board gaming. The WSFA Small Press Award Ceremony is traditionally presented during a Saturday night event.

The membership will be capped at 500 this year. So, check out the website — bookmark it and check back often because we’ll be adding details as we delve into planning the programming schedule and invite participants. The website also has a link to the Capclave blog which will have the most recent news about what’s going on. And since I’m the chair of Capclave 2010, you’ll probably hearing a lot about Capclave here in my blog too.

Right now membership rates are the lowest they are going to be — $35 per person. Membership prices will go up on January 1st to $45 and raise again on July 1st and October 1st. Capclave does offer special rates for active military and students with proof of their status.

So, if you enjoy science fiction, fantasy, and related writings or you are an aspiring writer, or you’re a professional (author, editor, publisher, reviewer, etc.) in the genre — join us in October 2010 for a great convention.

As regular readers of this blog will know, I’m a member of the Washington Science Fiction Association (WSFA) and also one of the members of the publications committee that is responsible WSFA Press publications. So, I’m posting a plug for WSFA Press here (this is really needed since my basement is the storage area for WSFA Press–please, help me get my basement back).

At Capclave 2009 WSFA Press released it’s newest publication Reincarnations by Harry Turtledove with introduction and story notes by Sheila Williams. If you missed buying a copy at Capclave or didn’t attend Capclave, there are still books available:

Reincarnations by Harry Turtledove (signed hardcover, 2009)
Reincarnations by Harry Turtledove (trade hardcover)

The Washington Science Fiction Association’s WSFA Press is trying to clear out inventory to make room for planned future releases, and to scare up monies to further support Capclave, our annual convention, for future years. So we’re selling some of our older, limited edition publications. Available are:

The Edge of Things by Lewis Shiner (75 copies, signed hardcover; published 1991)
Home by the Sea by Pat Cadigan (50 copies, slipcased/signed hardcover, 1992)
Future Washington edited by Ernest Lilley (200 copies, trade papereback, 2005)
Future Washington edited by Ernest Lilley (40 copies, trade hardcover)

They’re also offering “special sets (or bundles), representing a slice of WSFA Press history, comprised of five hardcovers, for just $100: The Edge of Things, Through Darkest Resnick with Gun and Camera by Mike Resnick (1990, unsigned), Home by the Sea, Future Washington, and Reincarnations.” (Only 5 bundles left as of 23 October 2009).

The books (individuals and sets/bundles) are available on a first-come first-served. WSFA Press is offering dealer discounts (for more information, contact Gayle Surrette or Paul Haggerty at webmaster@wsfapressbooks.org) or to purchase go to WSFAPress.org

The Washington Science Fiction Association is pleased to announce the winner of the 2009 WSFA Small Press Award for Short Fiction: “The Absence of Stars: Part 1″ by Greg Siewert, published in Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show, edited by Edmund R. Schubert, Hatrack Publishing.

The award honors the efforts of small press publishers in providing a critical venue for short fiction in the area of speculative fiction. The award showcases the best original short fiction published by small presses in the previous year. An unusual feature of the selection process is that all voting is done with the identity of the author hidden so that the final choice is based solely on the quality of the story. The award consists of certificates for both the author and publisher as well as a trophy and $250 for the author.

The other finalists were:

“Drinking Problem” by K.D. Wentworth, published in Seeds of Change, edited by John Joseph Adams, Prime Books (August, 2008).”

Hard Rain at the Fortean Café” by Lavie Tidhar, published in issue 14 of Aeon Speculative Fiction Magazine, edited by Bridget McKenna.

“His Last Arrow” by Christopher Sequeira, published in Gaslight Grimoire: Fantastic Tales of Sherlock Holmes, edited by Jeff Campbell and Charles Prepolec, Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing, (October, 2008).

“Silent as Dust” by James Maxey, published in Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show, edited by Edmund R. Schubert, Hatrack Publishing.

“Spider the Artist” by Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu, published in Seeds of Change, edited by John Joseph Adams, Prime Books (August, 2008)

“The Toy Car” by Luisa Maria Garcia Velasco, (translated from Spanish by Ian Watson) published in April 2008 edition of Aberrant Dreams, edited by Joseph W. Dickerson.

The winner is chosen by the members of the Washington Science Fiction
Association and is presented at their annual convention, Capclave, held this year on October 16-18 in Rockville, Maryland. Present to accept their awards were Greg Siewert and Edmund R. Schubert, the editor of Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show.
Also present to accept their Honorable Mention certificates were: James Maxey for his story “Silent as Dust” and John Joseph Adams editor of Seeds of Change accepting for Nnedi Okarafor-Mbachu and K.D. Wentworth.

Well we got a bit of a late start this morning having gotten in so late last night and then doing some of the things to the website, printing material and other odd jobs that needed to be done.

So, up and at the world this morning. We packed for the hotel. Finished loading the car with stuff for the SFRevu table. Checked that we had everything a couple of time and then took off. Traffic was terrible — it was raining. In most places rain isn’t really a problem for driving but with so many cars around her (DC area) the road get quite slick — but, even so 40 miles an hour on the Beltway was a bit slow even for here. Finally we arrived at the hotel and began unloading the car, only to find we’d forgotten the SFRevu sign for our table. But no way were we driving back home for this.

Before we’d even set up our table, I found that I was needed to sell Reincarnations next to the Registration table until another person arrived to take over. This was rather fun. I got to talk to people after they got their badges and made sure the people who were new to Capclave knew that there was a guide for new attendees explaining some of the activities available and some of the other items that were going on this weekend. I managed to sell two books. Then I got relieved and checked on Hyperion in the Dealers’ Room. I took over there so he could check into the hotel.

Once we had a room and could get rid of the rest of our stuff I thought I’d check out a few panels and see how things went. Instead, I managed to fill two positions on my Capclave 2010 committee. Then it was helping someone find the table they’d asked for to advertise their convention. Then it was taking over for Hyperion again so he could set up our network for a panel on LibraryThing and other online library/book sites. The SFRevu table got lots of browsers and many friends stopped by but we didn’t get another break until the room closed.

Then I ended up helping out at Registration, which had a huge line and needed to reopen for another couple of hours. I hadn’t worked registration before so this was quite a learning experience. Even better, an experienced person was on hand to answer/help with the difficult questions. I now have a better understanding of the process.

Finally, at about 9PM we managed to get away to go find dinner (which was really lunch as well). We just wanted something quick and spotted an Arby’s. On the way back to the hotel. We stopped at a light and heard some strange noises and turned off the heater so that we could hear better. There was a car in front of us and the one in front of that one hit the first car in the line in the rear. The driver got out to talk to the people in the car that hit her. They evidently cursed at her instead so she went to walk to the rear of their SUV to get their license number and they gunned it and rammed her car out into the intersection, where her empty, driverless car managed to miss two cars going through the intersection on a green light and hit a car waiting on the red. The SUV that rammed that car then drove off.

As surprised as I was by this I was just as surprised that the car in front of us just drove off as if nothing had happened. The woman was by this time a bit hysterical since her car was now in an accident and the people who caused it had driven off. We asked if we could help and offered to call 911. Before we could even complete the call the police arrived. We confirmed that she’d been rammed from behind and pushed through the intersection by a car that then drove off. She had only 3 numbers of the plate. Unfortunately, there was nothing else we could do.

I’m still appalled that anyone would do such a thing. Even more appalled, in a way, at the people who just drove off without even a thought to what had happened. The car in front of us who drove off would have had a clear view of the offending cars license plate and could have offered real police assistance. Whatever happened to good citizenship?

Anyway, finally back to the hotel. We checked on a few items to make sure everything was going smoothly and checked with the ConChair to make sure help wasn’t needed. Then we attended the 1984 party. We had a great time talking to a number of people gathering suggestions for Capclave 2010 and catching up with people we hadn’t seen since the last Capclave.

I’m sure by now you’ve noticed what’s missing in this Capclave report — panel overviews. Right. This year, I’m Vice Chair which means I get to help where needed by the Chair and jump in when necessary if the Chair is busy elsewhere among other things. So, if today is just a taste of what tomorrow will be like — actually coverage of panels and talks may be a bit thin. Maybe what I’ll really be reporting on this year is the behind the scenes running of a convention.

Anyway, it’s nearly 2 AM and I need to be up and ready to work the WSFA Press table tomorrow at 10 AM. So, I’m signing off for now.

Capclave starts tomorrow. Today, we had to drive in to deliver the boxes of books filled with Reincarnations by Harry Turtledove (foreward by Sheila Williams). The book debuts at Capclave.

We also helped stuff the registration packets so they’ll be ready when registrations opens. We didn’t stay at the hotel tonight (or should I say this morning) since we have to drive back in tomorrow with the car filled with the SFRevu stuff for our table in the Dealers’ Room. It was a busy and active day but satisfying in that we got to talk to people and catch up on what’s happening in people’s lives, discuss Capclave items and what still needs to be done and what has been done, make some plans for next year based on this years experience, and to just appreciate being with friends.

If you’re in the DC area and enjoy science fiction and fantasy, check out Capclave. Conventions are a great place to meet people who enjoy the same reading material that you do. I’ll be posting daily coverage of the convention here — or as much coverage as I can and still manage a few hours sleep each night.

If you do come to Capclave — say hello if you spot my name tag or see the SFRevu table in the dealers’ room stop and say Hi.

I spent a good chunk of my time today working with a WordPress Plugin to try to get a map of all the restaurants in the vicinity of the Capclave convention hotel.

After hours of work, Hyperion and I managed to get the maps to show. The problem is that it was one map per restaurant. Not good… back to the drawing board. Searching …searching….searching…reading….searching…. you get the idea.

Anyway finally found another plugin that looks like it will easily do multiple items on one map but I’d have to enter all the data again and it has to already be geocoded when it’s entered because it doesn’t do it automatically like the first one did — which is why it was the first one I tried.

Okay, more fiddling and it looks like we can export the database to a file and then import to the new one once we know what it required and in what order — then I’m back in business.

The frustrating part is I have to enter the rest of the restaurant data into the program we’re not going to use to get the geocode for the one we are going to use. That’s another two pages single spaced of restaurants (names, addresses, telephone, number, types of cuisine, average cost of a meal).

I know I’m complaining but really this hasn’t been a wasted day. I’ve learned a lot about geo codes, maps, mapping plugins, and a couple of programming tips. I’m also thinking it’s about time I learned a bit more so I could actually change a program that ALMOST does what I want to doing EXACTLY what I want. (Yeah, I’ll add that to my TODO list somewhere around item 4,789,968,365. That’s it … I just have to live forever if I’m even going to make a dent in this list.)

Meanwhile, if any reader has tackled trying to do a map of multiple items to display on a WordPress page using your own list of places–especially with a roll-over that will list the restaurant when you are over the little marker — let me know what you used.

Hyperion and I only have like a couple of days to get this up and running on the website. Time is getting short and suggestions are welcome — though that doesn’t necessarily mean I’ll do more than listen and bang my head on the keyboard for a while for not thinking of whatever myself.