The Hugo Awards included Best Novel to Joe Haldeman's Forever Peace ($21.95, $6.50 pb due early September) and Best Nonfiction Book to John Clute and John Grant for The Encyclopedia of Fantsy ($75.00).
Joe Haldeman's Forever Peace also won the John W. Campbell Memorial Award. Greg Bear's \Slant ($6.99) placed second and Paul Preuss' Secret Passages ($6.99) placed third.
The Arthur C. Clarke Award for the best sf novel published in England in 1977 went to The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell ($12.00). The other nominees were Titan by Stephen Baxter ($23.00), Glimmering by Elizabeth Hand ($6.99), Days by James Lovegrove, Nymphomation by Jeff Noon, and Family Tree by Sheri S. Tepper ($6.99).
The Bram Stoker Awards included Best Novel to Children of the Dusk by Janet Berliner & George Guthridge ($5.99, third book of the trilogy), Best First Novel to Lives of the Monster Dogs by Kirsten Bakis ($12.99), and Best Collection to Exorcisms and Ecstasies by Karl Edward Wagner ($32.00, published by local small press Fedogan & Bremer).
The Locus Awards included Best Science Fiction Novel to The Rise of Endymion by Dan Simmons ($6.50), Best Fantasy Novel to Earthquake Weather by Tim Powers ($24.95, $6.99 paperback due early October), Best First Novel to The Great Wheel by Ian R. MacLeod ($24), Best Non-Fiction to The Encyclopedia of Fantasy ($75), Best Art Book to Infinite Worlds by Vincent Di Fate ($45), Best Collection to Slippage by Harlan Ellison ($22), & Best Anthology to The Year's Best Science Fiction: Fourteenth Annual Collection edited by Gardner Dozois ($17.95).
The English-language novel nominees for the 1998 Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Awards are Trader by Charles de Lint ($6.99), Black Wine by Candas Jane Dorsey ($13.95), Shadows of Ashland by Terence M. Green, Frameshift by Robert J. Sawyer ($23.95 signed hc, $6.99 pb due early October), & Illegal Alien by Robert J. Sawyer ($21.95).
Medical Benefit, Parts 1 & 2
As announced last issue, we held a benefit sale to help local author John M. "Mike" Ford with his medical bills. Between the proceeds of the sale and contributions that were mailed in or dropped off, $726.71 was raised.
Vonda McIntyre didn't find out about this project until just before the sale, but she wanted to do something to help out. So, here's what we worked out: Whoever makes the largest pledge or contribution during the month of September to the "John M. Ford Trust" will receive a free signed book from Vonda. The person who gets the signed book can choose either the hardcover of The Moon and the Sun (winner of the Nebula Award for best novel of last year) or the trade hardcover of her long out-of-print Superluminal or (if the winning pledge or contribution is over $50) the limited edition, slipcased hardcover of Superluminal. Uncle Hugo's will determine the winner; Vonda will send the book to the winner; the winner will have to decide whether to keep the book in their library or use it as a gift. (If you want more information about the books, check out http://www.sff.net/people/Vonda/ )
Dr. Who Books
We thought the problems with getting Dr. Who books was over, but we were wrong. While we've been getting new titles in about when expected, getting restocked has been a challenge. New titles received in March sold out around April first, were reordered immediately, were promised by the distributor for May 5th, then early June, then early July, then by August 12th for sure, and still have not arrived. Better buy your Dr. Who books fast if you want them.
New titles that have come in since last issue and that we still have copies of (all at $5.95 each): Dreams of Empire by Justin Richards, Mission Impractical by David A McIntee, Seeing I by Jonathan Blum & Kate Orman, and Vanderdeken's Children by Christopher Bulis; Missing Adventures (also $5.95 each) are Another Girl, Another Planet by Martin Day & Len Beech and The Sword of Forever by Jim Mortimore.
More Signed Books
We have two kinds of signings. About 75% of the time we have what might be called drive-by signings, but are more politely called stock signings - we will find out anywhere from 15 minutes in advance to a couple of months in advance that an author will stop by for a few minutes to sign stock, but not to have a formal signing to meet readers. Commonly, this means the author is in town to do a formal signing at one of the big chain stores, but tries to stop by briefly at as many other stores as possible to sign stock and chat with the staff to encourage them to push his/her latest book. The other kind of signing involves a scheduled block of time (usually between one and two hours) when the author will be in the store meeting readers and signing books that readers bring into the store, as well as the books that the store has in stock.
Recent drive-by signings have been committed at Uncle Hugo's by Terry Brooks (lots of A Knight of the Word ($25.95), a single copy of the British first edition hardcover of First King of Shannara ($37.95), and lots of signed paperbacks), Judith & Garfield Reeves-Stevens (mainly Star Trek books remain), and R. A. Salvatore (only paperbacks remain). Uncle Edgar's has been visited by Colleen A. Barnett (Mystery Women ($19.95)), Richard Barre (The Ghosts of Morning ($21.95)), Lee Child (Die Trying ($23.95)), Harlan Coben (One False Move ($21.95)), Michael Connelly (Blood Work ($23.95)), Sparkle Hayter (The Last Manly Man ($22)), Stephen Hunter (Time to Hunt ($23.95)), Dennis Lehane (Gone Baby Gone ($24)), Phillip Margolin (The Undertaker's Widow ($24.95)), Perri O'Shaughnessy (Obstruction of Justice ($23.95) & Breach of Promise ($23.95)), and Laurence Shames (Mangrove Squeeze ($22.95)). Most of these authors also signed paperbacks while they were in the store.
Uncle Edgar's has been notified of three forthcoming drive-by signings, in case you'd like to reserve signed (or even personalized) books in advance. Sujata Massey, author of fan favorites The Salaryman's Wife and Zen Attitude (Harper paperback originals, $5.99 each), will stop by early in the week of September 14th to sign stock.
Though her third Connor Westfall mystery, Right to Remain Silent (Bantam PBO, $5.50), won't be out until the first week of November, author Penny Warner will be dropping by over the September 26th weekend. Connor is a deaf female reporter working out of Flat Skunk, part of the California Gold Country. Kathleen Taylor is expected to stop by Thursday November 12th around 6 pm to sign her fourth Tory Bauer South Dakota mystery, Mourning Shift (Avon PBO, due about September 10, $5.99).
We also have a number of formal signings scheduled. Iowa author Donald Harstad will be at Uncle Edgar's Saturday, September 19th, from 12:30 to 1:30 pm to sign his first novel, Eleven Days ($22.95). Eleven Days features Iowa Highway Patrolman & Deputy Sheriff Carl Houseman, and we've been getting very favorable comments back from customers who have already read it. Kinky Friedman will be at Uncle Edgar's Tuesday, September 29, from 5:30 to 7:00 pm [Note: This is an hour earlier than originally scheduled!] to sign his eleventh book, Blast From the Past ($23.00), the six of the previous ten books that are still in print. David Weber will be at Uncle Hugo's on Tuesday, October 20th, from 6 to 8 pm, to sign his newest Honor Harrington book, Echoes of Honor ($24.00, due mid-September), his latest fantasy, The War God's Own ($22.00), and his many other books.
Mystery author and poodle expert Laurie Berenson will be at Uncle Edgar's on Saturday, November 7 from 1 to 2 pm to sign Watch Dog (5th Melanie Travis mystery, $20.00, due early October) and Hair of the Dog (4th Melanie Travis, $18.95, $5.99 paperback due early October) and/or to answer your poodle questions. Elizabeth Cosin will be at Uncle Edgar's on Saturday, November 14th from 1 to 2 pm to sign her first mystery novel, Zen and the Art of Murder ($22.95, due late September, with tough female PI Zen Moses of Los Angeles). For her "day job", Elizabeth works as story editor for Buddy Faro, a new CBS mystery series on Friday nights this fall. Steven Brust's next Vlad Taltos book, Dragon ($22.95) should be in mid-October, and Steve will be at Uncle Hugo's signing copies on Saturday, November 14 from 3 to 5 pm. Robert Jordan will be on a signing tour in November and the first half of December for The Path of Daggers (on sale October 20th, $27.95), and we've been told that he might be coming to Uncle Hugo's. Nothing has been scheduled yet, but if you're interested you should check with Uncle Hugo's around the middle of October.
Neighborhood Update
by Don Blyly
Anybody who has visited the Uncles recently has noticed that parking has become a problem. The new owner of the former Sears site has put up a chainlink fence to prevent parking in the large parking lot across Chicago from the Uncles. All of the area businesses have depended on that parking lot to supplement the parking meter spaces for decades. There simply aren't enough parking spaces on the street for all the cars of the employees and customers of the area businesses. The dental office next to the Uncles is happy to allow our customers to use their lot after 5 pm and on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays (when the clinic is closed), but wants the parking spaces in their lot to be available to their own employees and customers before 5 pm Monday through Thursday. Please cooperate.
How long is parking likely to be problem? Until the new parking ramp on the far side of the old Sears building is completed, and construction probably will start in the spring of 1999 and take at least a year. All of the area merchants are very concerned about the problem, and some are talking about purchasing of some of the properties across the alley on the 2900 block of Columbus Ave. and trying to get permission from the neighborhood and the city to tear down some old houses and get a zoning change to turn them into parking lots, but that is always an expensive and time-consuming project. As we all fear the coming of the snow emergency season, my best advice is that if the parking situation becomes too bad, try to time your trips for after 5 pm Monday through Thursday or any time on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays so that you can use the dental clinic lot, or use the mail order option.
