NOI 3 - Selection Update

After some long and hard deliberation, I'm going to be finishing off the final selection for North of Infinity 3. I'd been toying for a few months now with the idea of holding some of the final selection stories that won't make it into NOI 3 for NOI 4. But there were too issues with that. One, the theme would have been too close to the theme for NOI 3, which, although I love the theme, I'm not comfortable with. Two, at the rate these books are actually getting published, NOI 4 might not be out until 2009, and that's working way too far into the future for my preferences.

At this point, if Mosaic Press is interested in doing a North of Infinity 4, I'll certainly edit it with an open submission reading and selection period (ideally, a much shorter delay between the submission and the selection), but I'll wait until North of Infinity 3 is actually out and on bookstore shelves or at the very least, the final galley edit is off my plate. And then, unlike the conflict of time that working on NOI 2 and NOI 3 simultaneously caused on my projected time lines for NOI 3, I'd be much more comfortable with a clean break between them.


So, in a nutshell, if you're one of the shortlisted contributors and you haven't heard from me, you will by the end of October.

North of Infinity III - Still Working On Subs

Just a quick update for the many talented and frustrated writers whose stories are sitting in the final selection for North of Infinity III.

I'm still working on paring the final selection down. I'll come right out and explain what's taking me so long (and it's not all laziness on my part) -- it's damn hard to reject any of the short-listed tales. They're all wonderful. What a great dilemna to be in, and it's taking far longer than I could ever imagine.

If you haven't heard from me, that's a good thing so far. But I am working on it, very slowly. Very, very slowly.

NOI Contributor Wins World's Top Juried Award For Sci-Fi

North of Infinity contributor Robert J. Sawyer has just won the world's top juried award for science fiction, the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Novel of the Year.

The award, which Sawyer won for his latest novel, MINDSCAN, was presented Friday night, July 7, 2006, at a banquet at the J. Wayne and Elsie M. Gunn Center for the Study of Science Fiction at the University of Kansas.

With this award win -- his 38th for his fiction -- Robert J. Sawyer now joins the most-select club in all of science fiction: the seven writers who have won all three of the field's top awards for best novel of the year:

• the World Science Fiction Society's Hugo Award, which he won in 2003 for his novel HOMINIDS;
• the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America's Nebula Award, which he won in 1996 for his novel THE TERMINAL EXPERIMENT;
• and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award, which he has now won for MINDSCAN.

(The full list of winners of all three awards: David Brin, Arthur C. Clarke, Joe Haldeman, Frederik Pohl, Kim Stanley Robinson, Robert J. Sawyer, and Connie Willis; Sawyer is the only Canadian to win all three.)

Rob's story "Forever" appears in North of Infinity II
Rob's story "Where The Heart Is" appears in North of Infinity

Congratulations, Rob!

Pictures From NOI 2 Launch

Here are some pictures of the launch for North of Infinity II which took place at BakkaPhoenix on June 24, 2006.

(These are the ones that turned out, anyways - most of the others were too blurry either because my hand was shaking or I had the camera settings on "glacier movement" -- haven't figured that out) -- So if anyone was there and has non-blurry pictures of the event to share, by all means, please email them over to me and I'd be happy to post them.

Karen Danylak, Stephanie Bedwell-Grime, Robert J. Sawyer, A.M. Matte, Douglas Smith, Kimberly Foottit, Stephen Graham King

Karen Danylak, Stephanie Bedwell-Grime, A.M. Matte, Robert J. Sawyer, Mark Leslie, Douglas Smith, Kimberly Foottit, Stephen Graham King

Kimberly Foottit signing a copy of North of Infinity II

BakkaPhoenix Manager Chris Szego, friend of A.M. Matte, A.M. Matte & Stephen Graham King signing copies, Karen Danylak capping her pen and in the background, Robert J. Sawyer signing a copy for Derwin Mak.

Stephen Graham King and BakkaPhoenix Manager Chris Szego

A special thank-you to everyone at BakkaPhoenix, Canada's premiere bookstore specializing in science fiction and fantasy books and magazines for hosting this wonderful event and of course to the contributors of North of Infinity II for their spectacular imaginative tales.

NOI 2 Launch Party - You're Invited

North of Infinity II is currently at the printers, and so it will be HOT off the press when Bakka-Phoenix Science Fiction Bookstore (697 Queen Street West, Toronto) hosts the launch party for North of Infinity II on Saturday June 24th at 3:00 PM.


This is a great opportunity to get a signed copy of this wonderful anthology. Onhand will be Stephanie Bedwell-Grime, Karen Danylak, Kimberly Foottit, Stephen Graham King, A.M. Matte, Douglas Smith and Robert J. Sawyer.

If you can't make it to the event, don't despair -- simply call 416-963-9993 and reserve a signed copy for yourself today.

Contributor Aurora Nominations

It's always exciting for an editor whenever contributors are recognized and nominated for awards. Such is the case for two contributors to North of Infinity II, Robert J. Sawyer and Douglas Smith who are nominees for a 2006 Prix Aurora Award.

Robert J. Sawyer is nominated for: Mindscan for Best Long-Form English. Identity Theft for Best Short-Form English. And the radio drama "Birth," scripted by Sawyer and Michael Lennick and produced by Joe Mahoney for CBC Radio One, for Best English Other

Douglas Smith is nominated for: Going Harvey in the Big House for Best Short-Form English.

You can read the full nominated short stories following the links above, and can find the full 2006 Aurora ballot as well as the full list of nominees in all categories by clicking here.

North of Infinity II - Launch Party

A North of Infinity II Canadian Release Launch Party has been planned for Saturday June 24th starting at 3:00 PM at Bakka-Phoenix Science Fiction Bookstore at 697 Queen Street West in Toronto. So far, 6 contributors are planning on attending, with more to confirm. More news on this and an official list of attendees to come. Stay tuned.

NOI 3 Selection

The end of May is upon us and I've yet to complete my final selection from the short-listed stories for NOI 3. I could blame the tremendous amount of overtime I'm putting in at work, the fact that I'm spending more time focusing on the activities surrounding launching NOI 2 in June or even my own personal writing projects, which are all competing for time.

But I won't. I have only myself to blame for setting such an unrealistic expectation. And I will continue to work at paring down the selection. Getting there . . .