The Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association (CSFFA) held their AGM yesterday in Vancouver and in addition to the business aspects of the association, the nomination list for the 2015 Aurora Prize were announced.
You can check out the full list here – 2015 Aurora Awards Nominees
As you may recall my short story “Second Harvest” was eligible to be nominated and I wanted to thank everyone who took the time to consider it. Even though my story did not make the final ballot, I can’t be disappointed. There are so many fabulous authors and short stories that did make the final ballot. We are fortunate to have so much talent writing in Canada and from a Canadian perspective.
While the Aurora Awards are given “to honour the best Canadian science fiction and fantasy literary works, artwork, and fan activities from the previous year” that is only part of the mission in my mind. The larger purpose is to bring recognition to the work that is being created by Canadians in the field of Science Fiction and Fantasy.
If your a long time member of the CSSFA, or just signed up for the first time this year as I did, make sure you take time read what you can of the nominated work (A Voter Package of stories should be available in the coming weeks here Aurora Award Voter Package). Voting runs from June 1st 2015 and will close at Midnight (end of day) EDT on October 17th, 2015.
You can support Canadian science fiction and fantasy, by reading it, writing it, and talking about the stories that move you with your friends and family. We need to encourage and support both the next generation of creators and fans.
Good Luck to all the nominees.
If you’re not sure where to look for Canadian science fiction (beyond the obvious big names who are already quite well known), look to our genre publishers. Small to medium sized Canadian genre publishers include: ChiZine (http://chizinepub.com/), Edge (http://www.edgewebsite.com/) and Five Rivers (http://www.fiveriversstudio.com/). Micropresses (tiny presses that you’ve probably never heard of, but will) include: Brain Lag (http://www.brain-lag.com/) and Pop Seagull (https://popseagullpublishing.wordpress.com/).
If you can’t find oodles of great Canadian writing to read among these publishers, you ought to wonder how committed you really are to supporting Canadian science fiction and fantasy.
Thanks for the comment and the links.
I’ve been a long time supporter of Canadian SF and am well aware of the voices in current SF.