Well, I just did another Mind Meld for the SF Signal folks. This time we were asked ‘Who Are Tomorrow’s Genre Stars’? you can read the discussion over on SF Signal. I think it’s interesting how we’ve all interpreted the idea of new, up and coming, and genre star.   For my own money, there are a bunch of writers I don’t mention over much because I think they are stars now; they have commercial success etc. For example, Scott Westerfeld is a New York Times Bestseller who has been publishing for over a decade and is well-established in the field. He’s one of today’s stars.  Same thing for Charlie Stross.  A question I want to ponder for a while is not ‘who are tomorrow’s genre stars’, but ‘who will still be being read in twenty years’?  I can see Westerfeld and Stross being active and widely read then. But who else?

The good folk at the University of Kansas have also announced the nominees for the 2008 John W Campbell Memorial Award. They are:

• Brian Aldiss, HARM
• Michael Chabon, The Yiddish Policeman’s Union
• Kathleen Ann Goonan, In War Times
• Nalo Hopkinson, The New Moon’s Arms
• Jay Lake, Mainspring
• Ken MacLeod, The Execution Channel
• Ian McDonald, Brasyl
• Rebecca Ore, Time’s Child
• Matt Ruff, Bad Monkeys
• Robert J. Sawyer, Rollback
• Jose Carlos Somoza, Zig Zag
• Sheri S. Tepper, The Margarets
• Jeffrey Thomas, Deadstock
• Robert Charles Wilson, Axis

Well, a few other people are announcing their’s, so here’s my tentative WorldCon schedule:

• 2008:  The Year in SF  (Wed 13:00)
• Book Reviewers:  The Missing Link of the Publishing Industry (Fri 11:30)
• The Comeback of Original Anthology Collections (Sat 10:00)
• Hugo Reception and Ceremony (Sat 17:30)

I’m pretty happy with the panels, and may still do another.  We’ll have to see.

The good folk at the University of Kansas have announced the nominees for the 2008 Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award. They are:

• Barron, Laird   “The Forest”
• Bear, Elizabeth  “Tideline”
• Chiang, Ted  “The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate”
• Ford, Jeffrey  “The Dreaming Wind”
• Fowler, Karen Joy  “Always”
• Jones, Gwyneth  “The Tomb Wife”
• Kessel, John  “The Last American”
• McLeod, Ian R.  “The Master Miller’s Wife”
• Moles, David  “Finisterra”
• Sinisalo, Johanna  “Baby Doll”
• Wolfe, Gene  “Memorare”

Congratulations to all of the nominees!  I love several of these stories, so I’ll be fascinated to see who wins.

Your children give you the opportunity to live up to their expectations. When they’re young, before you and life have had the time to disappoint them, they automatically assume wonderful things about you.  It’s a gift, and a challenge.  If you can meet their expectations – not all of them, but the important ones – then you get to learn more about who you are and about your own ability to love.  And, there just might be the additional gift that they’ll want to stay a part of your life when they no longer have to.