Smugglers’ Stash & News

This weekend on the stash: BSFA Awards, a Hugo Award nominations deadline reminder, the BROKEN weeklong bonanza, and upcoming reviews.

BFSA, Nebulas, Hugos — Oh My!

If you didn’t hear, it’s awards season in SFF-land! The British Science Fiction Association just announced the 2015 awards this past weekend–full list of winners below.

Best Novel Award
The House of Shattered Wings by Aliette de Bodard

Best Short Fiction Award
“Three Cups of Grief, by Starlight” by Aliette de Bodard (Clarkesworld 100)

Best Artwork Award
“The Wasp Factory” after Iain Banks by Tessa Farmer

Best Non-Fiction Award

Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers and the First World War by Edward James

Meanwhile, the Nebula Award nominees have been announced and that awards show is upcoming in May. AND, most importantly, the Hugo Awards open nomination period is rapidly coming to an end! Nominations close at 11:59 North American Pacific Daylight Time (GMT – 7) on March 31, 2016. Anyone who is or was a voting member of the 2015, 2016, or 2017 Worldcons is eligible to nominate for the 2016 Hugo Award & John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer.

If you’re an eligible voter and if you care about SFF, please make sure to get your nominations in by March 31! And, if you need help picking books for the ballot, here are our Book Smuggler picks–along with a list of our own eligible works–for nomination. (Unabashed Self-Promotion Alert: The Book Smugglers is eligible for Best Semiprozine this year.)

Cast your nomination ballot at the MidAmeriCon2 website here.

A Broken Bonanza

This past week, we released our very first novel: Broken by Susan Jane Bigelow. To celebrate the release, we kicked off the week with an Extrahuman Union primer & introduction to the series, a giveaway over on Tor.com, a Big Idea post over on John Scalzi’s blog, a list of reasons why to read Broken (as told in gifs) over at Brazilian blog Nem Um Pouco Epico, an essay on the nature of superheroism and laying down the cape, an introduction to Silverwyng (the old superhero call sign for the eponymous Broken) at Lady Business, and a Q&A with Susan Jane Bigelow with A Fantastical Librarian.

Last but not least, our own giveaway of a print book, ebook, and framed print is still running–enter now for a chance to win!

This Week on The Book Smugglers:

On Monday, Thea kicks off the week with her review of touching and surprising middle grade SFF novel The Wild Robot by Peter Brown.

Tuesday, Ana takes over with her review of On the Edge of Gone by Corinne Duyvis.

Then on Wednesday, we shake up Old School Wednesdays with a new feature–part Old School, part New School, this new feature is theme-focused and will mix some old reviews with relevant new themes and issues in SFF. For our very first OSW theme topic, we’ll be talking about Batman versus Superman–looking at our favorite Batman/Superman/Wonder Woman graphic novels, comics, books, and films. (Batman versus Superman did not make the cut. Sorry, Sad Affleck.)

On Thursday, we welcome guest author Nova Ren Suman to talk about the idea behind her recent bestselling novel The Walls Around Us.

And on Friday, we close out the week with Thea over at Kirkus, and her review of Maresi by Maria Turtschaninoff–a Finnish dystopian YA novel recently translated into English.

It’s a busy, busy week! Until tomorrow, we remain…

~ Your Friendly Neighborhood Book Smugglers