Yes, I know. "Life is short, books are long!"

But look! It isn't only books. It's also given for TV and movies.

http://www.denvention.org/hugos/08hugonomlist.php

Also, there are:
1) Novellas. Not too long. Certainly smaller than that Superman comic Mark is always talking about.
2) Novellettes. It's got "ette" on the end! It has to be small!
3) Short stories. Just tiny little things. Itty bitty, really. I mean, "short" is right there in the name.

Colonel, you could start your own book club and take over the world, just like Oprah did! Only instead of whole big Rowling sized books, you could do the short stories.

Oh my gosh, that reminds of this conversation I had while waiting for the elevator with this woman that I work with who I also was at college with. She was telling me about a telemarketery type job she had where this one guy she worked with belonged to an alien cult. He believed that there were 8 foot purple aliens, and you could talk to them or something and they would tell you what job you were going to have on the mothership. (He was going to be a security guard. Also that reminds me that I saw Pete the Irish security guard at work and I told him about Bertie Ahern and he hadn't heard and he was floored, and thanks to you all once again for keeping me in the loop.) Because, of course, all wacky alien cults have a mothership waiting for you somewhere. So the 8 foot purple aliens were the good guys and the short greys with the big eyes are the bad guys.

What was I talking about? Oh yeah. There are nominees for artwork too. Lots of pretty pictures and even a wordless book by Shaun Tan that looks gorgeous.

So these nominees are for the Hugos that will be at the Worldcon in Denver, right?


On a semi-related note, a friend mentioned to me recently that the 2009 Worldcon's going to be in my city (Montreal)! Eeeee!!!

*ahem* Sorry.

_________________
“The two most common elements in the universe are hydrogen and stupidity.”

-Harland Ellison

	Quote:
	So these nominees are for the Hugos that will be at the Worldcon in Denver, right?

Yeah! Denvention 3: A Mile Closer to the Stars. The one other time I've been in Denver was for a professional conference, and I got terrible altitude sickness.

	Quote:
	On a semi-related note, a friend mentioned to me recently that the 2009 Worldcon's going to be in my city (Montreal)! Eeeee!!!

Whoo hoo! Party at Mokara's!


Seriously people: Everyone get reading. The Colonel is planning a special episode to discuss some of the nominees.

	constance wrote:
	.... and even a wordless book by Shaun Tan...

Hey, I'll get to read something so!

	constance wrote:
	The Colonel is planning a special episode to discuss some of the nominees.

Hah! Is there another "Colonel" planning episodes around here I don't know about?

_________________
Lt. Colonel "Whopper" Creedon



"Lead me, follow me, or get out of my way!"
- Gen. George S. Patton Jr. USA

	Whopper wrote:
	constance wrote: The Colonel is planning a special episode to discuss some of the nominees. Hah! Is there another "Colonel" planning episodes around here I don't know about?

Maybe there's some sort of "Bizarro Colonel" running about.
Well that or Constance is planning to hold you at gun point, thereby forcing you to do such an episode...

_________________
“The two most common elements in the universe are hydrogen and stupidity.”

-Harland Ellison

Uh oh. Busted! Not that I really think that I had anyone going...Anyone? Did I have you going? oh well.

I just got my hands on "The Arrival" by Shaun Tan. I only skimmed it, but it looks like a simple immigration story (dad goes off to make money to send back to the family) set in a fantastic world. I had to go over to the teen department to get it. All I had to say was "I need "The Arrival'" and without a word (hah!) Corey got it for me. The librarian in charge over there told me that she got the ARC, which is an advance readers copy. Of course her sister borrowed it and she hasn't gotten it back yet, but I can't really blame her

Wordless books impress me to no end. The level of detail and meaning that the artist leaves the reader to discover is staggering.

My other fave so far is "A Small Room in Koboldtown" by Michael Swanick. It's one of the nominated short stories that is available online. It's kind of a mystery where the main protagonist is a poliltician's lackey. The politician in question is a ghost, and the setting reminded me of New Orleans. It's short. I liked it.

My second favorite (because apparently there has to be one and only one first place) is "Tideline" by Elizabeth Bear. It's a wee bit more sentimental, but in a good way and not too sappy. I only cried a little.

Looks lahk we got oursevs a "reader"!

_________________
***
Bruce H. Russell, II
bhr3s@yahoo.com
-Quote of the moment:
--“If you have a milkshake and I have a milkshake and I have a straw and my straw reaches across the room and starts to drink your milkshake, I drink your milkshake! Thhhhht! I drink it up!” -Daniel Day-Lewis as Daniel Plainview in There Will Be Blood.

Yes, a reader. So of course, what did I do when I got home after a long day of work and a work related dinner thingy? Put my butt on the couch and watched me some tv!

Oooh! and at the work related dinner thingy we had an address by a children's book author (who happened to be my middle school principal, but I digress) who spoke about the process of having her latest book published. It was being published by a company that produces books here in the US and over in the UK. They had to translate a 32 page picture book from English to English! There are only about 45 words in the whole thing!

So on the SciFi channel here we've been getting "The Dresden Files." They are a set of adventures of a contemporary practicing wizard by the name of Harry Dresden. I guess it's more in the fantasy line than science fiction, but it is based on the series of books by Jim Butcher. I just read the first one, called "Storm Front," and it was great.