Strong are we with the Force, but not that strong

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Statistics Canada’s release of information on the religious affiliations of Canadians taken from the National Household Survey of 2011 show the number of people identifying as Jedi has dropped from over 20,000 five years earlier to around 9,000 now. This follows a general worldwide decline in the number of observant Jedi reporting as such to statistics bureaus. Whether the numbers jump again following the planned release of Star Wars Episode VII in 2015 is also a matter of speculation. The number of self-identified Jedi in Canada still outnumbers Zoroastrians (6,130), Scientologists (1,745), Rastafarians (1,055) and Satanists (1,050).

Aurora Award Nominations Announced!

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Nominations for the 2013 Aurora Awards have been announced with a large slate of nominees in each category. Voting opens on 6 May 2013 and will continue until noon Friday 13 September 2013. The awards will be handed out at Canvention 33, to be held this year in conjunction with Can-Con in Ottawa, 4 – 6 October 2013.

The nominees are:

Best Novel – English

  • Destiny’s Fall by Marie Bilodeau, Dragon Moon Press
  • Food for the Gods by Karen Dudley, Ravenstone Books
  • Healer’s Sword: Part 7 of the Okal Rel Saga by Lynda Williams, EDGE
  • The Silvered by Tanya Huff, DAW Books, Inc.
  • Thunder Road by Chadwick Ginther, Ravenstone Books
  • Triggers by Robert J. Sawyer, Penguin Canada

Best YA Novel – English

  • Above by Leah Bobet, Arthur A. Levine Books/Scholastic
  • The Calling by Kelley Armstrong, Harper Teen
  • Dissolve by Neil Godbout, Bundoran Press
  • Mik Murdoch, Boy Superhero by Michell Plested, Five Rivers
  • Pirate Cinema by Cory Doctorow, TOR Teen
  • Under My Skin: Wildlings Series (Book 1) by Charles de Lint, Razorbill Canada

Best Short Fiction – English

  • “Delta Pi” by Matt Moore, Torn Realities, Post Mortem Press
  • “Happily Ever After” by Marie Bilodeau, When the Villain Comes Home, Dragon Moon Press
  • “Knights Exemplar” by Al Onia, On Spec #90, Fall
  • “Synch Me, Kiss Me, Drop” by Suzanne Church, Clarkesworld, Issue #68, May
  • “The Walker of the Shifting Borderland” by Douglas Smith, On Spec #90, Fall

Best Poem/Song – English

  • “A sea monster tells his story” by David Clink, The Literary Review of Canada, July/August
  • “The Ghosts of Birds” by Helen Marshall, Phantom Drift 2: Valuable Estrangements, Wordcraft of Oregon
  • “Hold Fast” by Leah Bobet, Strange Horizons, June 11, 2012
  • “Roc” by Sandra Kasturi, Come Late to the Love of Birds, Tightrope Books
  • “Zombie Descartes Writes a Personal Ad” by Carolyn Clink, Tesseracts Sixteen, EDGE

Best Graphic Novel – English

  • Goblins by Tarol Hunt, webcomic
  • Looking for Group by Ryan Sohmer and Lar DeSouza, webcomic
  • Raygun Gothic by GMB Chomichuk, Alchemical Press
  • Weregeek by Alina Pete, webcomic
  • West of Bathurst by Kari Maaren, webcomic

Best Related Work – English

  • Shanghai Steam edited by Ace Jordyn, Calvin D. Jim, and Renée Bennett, EDGE
  • Imaginarium 2012: The Best Canadian Speculative Writing edited by Sandra Kasturi and Halli Villegas, ChiZine Publications
  • Hair Side, Flesh Side by Helen Marshall, ChiZine Publications
  • Blood and Water edited by Hayden Trenholm, Bundoran Press
  • On Spec published by the Copper Pig Writers’ Society

Best Artist

  • Richard Bartrop, illustrations for fiction on Reality Skimming blog
  • GMB Chomichuk, Raygun Gothic, Alchemical Press
  • Costi Gurgu, cover art for Inner Diverse, (Starfire World Syndicate)
  • Michelle Milburn, cover art for Gathering Storm and Healer’s Sword, (EDGE)
  • Erik Mohr, cover art for ChiZine Publications

Best Fan Publication

  • BCSFAzine, edited by Felicity Walker
  • Broken Toys, edited by Taral Wayne
  • In Places Between: The Robyn Herrington Short Story Contest, edited by Renée Bennett
  • Reality Skimming blog, content coordinator Michelle Carraway
  • Space Cadet, edited by R. Graeme Cameron
  • Speculating Canada blog, edited by Derek Newman-Stille

Best Fan Filk

  • Morva Bowman and Alan Pollard, Concert at FilKONtario 22
  • Debs & Errol (Deborah Linden and Errol Elumir), Songs in the Key of Geek CD
  • Brooke Lunderville, International Guest of Honour Concert at Consonance
  • Kari Maaren, Body of Work
  • Peggi Warner-Lalonde, Concert at NEFilk 22 ConCertino 2012

Best Fan Organizational

  • Andrew Gurudata, Organizing the Constellation Awards, Toronto
  • Evelyn Baker, Amy De Ruyte, and Peter Halasz, Executive Committee of WFC Toronto, 2012
  • Sandra Kasturi, Helen Marshall, and, James Bambury, Co-Chairs, Chiaroscuro Reading Series, Toronto
  • Sandra Kasturi and Laura Marshall. Co-Chairs, Toronto SpecFic Colloquium: Beyond the Human
  • Randy McCharles, Chair and Programming, When Words Collide, Calgary

Best Fan Related Work

  • Ron Friedman, conception and delivery of the Aurora Awards voter package
  • Helen Marshall, “The Book is Dead; Long Live the Book!”: Some Thoughts on the Coming of eBooks, lecture at the 2012 Toronto SpecFic Colloquium
  • Michael Matheson, compilation and maintenance of the Can Spec Fic List
  • Lloyd Penney, for fanwriting and letter and article writing for fanzines and e-fanzines
  • Peter Watts, “Hive Minds, Mind Hives” lecture at Toronto SpecFic Colloquium

Gordon Bennett

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Engineers at Cambridge university have developed a program that simulates text and facial expressions based on a human actress. The program is currently used to help the deaf read lips and autistic children recognize emotional cues, but the developers say it could also be turned into a kind of electronic personal assistant. The fact that the program looks remarkably like Holly the computer from the science fiction comedy series Red Dwarf was not lost on reporters. That the actress’ last name is Lister is also worth noting.

The Commanding Office View

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Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, already the darling of social media with his regular tweets and photographs sent from the International Space Station, today took command of the station for the duration of Expedition 35. In a transfer-of-command ceremony, outgoing NASA commander Kevin Ford played O Canada, calling attention to the fact that Hadfield will be the first commander of the station who is not either a NASA astronaut nor a Russian Federal Space Agency cosmonaut. Hadfield, already used to high-profile chats with terrestrial well-wishers, was congratulated by both Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Queen.

Blue Sky On Mars?

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NASA’s Curiosity rover has shown evidence that Mars was once capable of supporting life, though they haven’t found evidence of any yet. A drilling sample taken from the soil in Yellowknife Bay, the region of Mars the rover is exploring, shows that the area was once a body of water with a sandy clay bottom and not too salty, acidic or oxidizing for bacteria to survive. The area of Mars was named Yellowknife Bay after the Canadian city in recognition of its geological links in exploring the oldest rocks in North America.

One hit, one near miss.

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One meteor strike and one near miss in the last week have made it very interesting to look up and wonder what’s going to come hurtling down at you.
A meteor that exploded over Russia on 15 February 2013 with the estimated force of 20 Hiroshima-sized bombs caused more than 33 million dollars of damage, including some 200,000 square metres of glass windows. The blast also injured more than 1,100 people, mostly from glass sent hurtling inwards by the shockwave. Meanwhile, the same day, another asteroid approximately 45 metres in diameter and 130,000 tonnes passed by Earth closer than orbiting communications satellites. Had it hit, it was estimated to do some significant damage as well. Of course, the chances of another large extinction-causing event happening in our lifetimes remains infinitesimal, but the universe has a way of reminding us that a good, well-funded space program is probably in our best interests, and soon.