Fall 2005 Donor Prizes
Strange Horizons thanks all of our generous contributors for providing these prizes! Prize winners will be selected by our own special Sorting Hat from all donors after the Fund Drive ends.
"Intelligent Design" (c) Ellen Klages 2005 (8 x 10 photo, framed)
Ellen Klages writes: "I think of my photos as three-dimensional fiction. The characters are "lead civilians" from the 1920-40s; I usually travel with a few of them in my pocket, and pose them in odd and interesting places. This one was taken in rural France, a juxtapositon of a tiny blacksmith and a hedgehog skull." (Donated by Ellen Klages)
A one year's subscription to Asimov's.
(Donated by Sheila
Williams, Editor of Asimov's.)
Meet Me In the Moon Room
Ray Vukcevich's collection of short fiction appeared on the
Locus Recommended Reading list in 2001 and was nominated
for the Phillip K. Dick award. Vukcevich is a master of the surreal
and absurd, and his collection is a joy to read. His story "Glinky"
was in the Hartwell/Cramer Year's Best SF 10, and is on the prelim Neb
ballot. (Donated by Ray Vukcevich.)
All-in-one Small Beer Press super pack
A Small Beer t-shirt (large, only size available), a deck of MAGIC FOR BEGINNERS poker cards, and a "chocolate" (ie each issue of the zine comes with a chocolate bar) subscription to the best zine named after the mother of a former British Prime Minister, Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet. (Donated by Small Beer Press)
"Tales of the Chinese Zodiac" printed story, by Jenn Reese
Choose one of the 12 short tales that comprise the series, and you'll
receive a typeset version of the story with accompanying illustration,
suitable for framing. (Donated by Jenn Reese)
A complete signed set of the Jenny Casey trilogy, by Elizabeth Bear
Hammered, Scardown and Worldwired, signed by the
Campbell-award-winning author. (Donated by Elizabeth Bear)
A writer's package
The Deluxe Transitive Vampire: The
Ultimate Handbook of Grammar for the Innocent, the Eager, and the
Doomed, by Karen Elizabeth Gordon, and The Unstrung Harp, by
Edward Gorey. One helps you be a better novelist, one follows the
misadventures of an unfortunate novelist. (Donated by Elizabeth Bear)
Limited Edition "Sea Teller" print
Susan Urbanek Linville is offering a matted 11" x 14" hand-colored
limited edition print of her pen & ink drawing entitled "Sea Teller"
(a fortune-telling
dolphin). View
the image. (Donated by Susan Urbanek Linville.)
Mothers and Other Monsters, Maureen McHugh
Maureen F. McHugh's genre-expanding short fiction has won the Hugo and Locus
Awards and has frequently been included in Best of the Year
anthologies. Since 1988 she has attracted a broad readership in
publications such as Asimov's, Scifiction, Starlight, The Year's Best
Science Fiction, and The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror. Now, in her
luminous, long-awaited debut collection, award-winning novelist
Maureen F. McHugh wryly and delicately examines the impacts of social
and technological shifts on families. Using beautiful, deceptively
simple prose, she illuminates the relationship between parents and
children and the expected and unexpected chasms that open between
generations. McHugh's characters -- her Alzheimers-afflicted
parents or her smart and rebellious teenagers -- are always
recognizable: stubborn, human, and heartbreakingly real.
(Donated by Small Beer Press)
Extremes 4: Darkest Africa
This limited-edition CD-ROM features 20 works of original fiction. Illustrated by GAK, Lone Wolf Publications 2002. Signed by contributors, #94/321. (Donated by Marge Simon)
Building Harlequin's Moon
Hardbound copy of Building Harlequin's Moon, the sweeping
science fiction tale by New York Times bestselling author Larry Niven
and relative newcomer Brenda Cooper. Brenda has had short fiction in
Strange Horizons, Analog, Oceans of
the Mind, and multiple anthologies. Larry, of course, has
published fiction almost everywhere. Building Harlequin's Moon
will be out in hardcover in June from Tor books. (Donated by Brenda
Cooper.)
Travel Light, by Naomi Mitchison
Features a new Introduction.
The second novel in our Peapod Classics reprint line is the tale of a
marvelous story that will transport you into Halla's world where a basilisk
might be met in the desert, heroes are taken to Valhalla by Valkyries, and a
fortune might be made with a word to the right horse. This short and
fabulous book transports the reader from a cave in the forest to a dragon's
lair to the wonders of early Constantinople. It's dense and light, happy and
sad, amazing, and short enough that once it's read all at once you'll have
time to read it again.
"A 78-year-old friend staying at my house picked up Travel Light, and a few
hours later she said, 'Oh, I wish I'd known there were books like this when
I was younger!' So, read it now -- think of all those wasted years!"--
Ursula K. Le Guin, Gifts
(Donated by Small Beer Press)
Sick Humor Postcards—A Twisted Look at Life with Disability
A 12-pack contains
humorist and disability rights activist Sharon Wachsler's most popular
cartoons, including "Clip 'n Copy" "("handy responses for all those
'helpful' suggestions")", "If Hollywood Did Disability . . . ," and "Late
Night with MCS/CFIDS" (where the cat contemplates existential
questions about being neutered). Some cards may be sold out and can be substituted by the winner. (Donated by Sharon Wachsler.)
The Glaze from Breaking
The dreadlocks of polar bears; the atomized droplets of an underground
waterfall; oranges as an offering to the dead; a purple hippopotamus
wading pool in a strip club; hoarfrost and aurora borealis and bail
bondsmen and roadkill: Joanne Merriam's inaugural collection of
poetry catalogues morsels of experience. The Glaze from Breaking
overflows with lovely, vivid poems about the aftermath of a breakup,
and the redemptive power of travel, nature, and love. (Donated by Joanne Merriam.)
Blues for Port City
David Lunde's chapbook of SF poetry. (Donated by David Lunde.)
Wild Things, by Charles Coleman Finlay
"Finlay shows himself to be a versatile writer of imaginative fiction
in his first story collection...these 14 tales display an insightful
knowledge of human nature." - Publishers' Weekly
"An absorbing, often-surprising collection." - Booklist
(Donated by Charles Coleman Finlay)
Writers of the Future 21
Writers of the Future is a yearly short fiction contest for beginning
speculative fiction writers, judged by major writers in the field. The
contest is now in its 22nd year. Many successful spec-fic writers had
a WotF win early in their careers, including Nina Kiriki Hoffman,
Karen Joy Fowler, Robert Reed, Stephen M. Baxter, K.D. Wentworth,
Bruce Holland Rogers, Sean Williams, Jay Lake, and others. John
Schoffstall was the WotF Grand Prize winner in the 2004 contest, and
his story, "In the Flue," is science fiction set in a still war-torn
Middle East in the near future. (Donated by John Schoffstall.)
Carmen Dog, by Carol Emshwiller
The debut title in our Peapod Classics reprint line is "A rollicking outre
satire.... full of comic leaps and absurdist genius." (Bitch Magazine)
In this dangerous and sharp-eyed look at men, women, and the world we
live in, everything is changing: women are turning into animals, and animals
are turning into women. Pooch, a golden setter, is turning into a beautiful
woman -- although she still has some of her canine traits: she just can't
shuck that loyalty thing -- and her former owner has turned into a snapping
turtle. When the turtle tries to take a bite of her own baby, Pooch snatches
the baby and runs. Meanwhile, there's a dangerous wolverine on the loose,
men are desperately trying to figure out what's going on, and Pooch
discovers what she really wants: to sing Carmen.
Carmen Dog is the funny feminist classic that inspired writers Pat
Murphy and Karen Joy Fowler to create the James Tiptree Jr. Memorial Award.
We are very pleased to publish it as the debut title in our new Peapod Press
reprint line.
(Donated by Small Beer Press)
Papercraft copy of The Poltergeist of Polaris, by
Elizabeth Barrette
Computer-printed on archival-quality art paper with embellishments,
assembled by hand, suitable for framing or displaying in a
scrapbook. Winner's choice of 8 1/2" x 11" or 12" square format, with
or without author's autograph. This poem, a bittersweet science
fiction ghost story, first appeared in The Pedestal; it has since been
nominated for the 2005 Rhysling Award (long poem category).
Elizabeth Barrette writes speculative poetry and fiction, among other
things. Her poetry has appeared in over 200 markets including
StarLine, Mytholog, and The Magazine of Speculative Poetry. In 2003
she won the Poet Laureate competition in Sol Magazine. She enjoys
scrapbooking for fun, and often shares her poetry this way with family
and friends. (Donated by Elizabeth Barrette.)
One-year membership to the Online Writing Workshop
(Donated by the Workshop)
Two-year subscription to Dreams and
Nightmares
Dreams and Nightmares is one of the oldest extant magazines of science
fiction and fantasy poetry. The 20th anniversary issue will be
published in January 2006, and this two-year subscription will begin
with that issue. Numerous poems published in Dreams and Nightmares
have been nominated for the Science Fiction Poetry Association's
annual Rhysling award; a couple have won. The magazine itself made
the preliminary ballot for the Stoker Award of the Horror Writers
Association in the alternate forms category in 2004. DN is published
three times a year; a two-year subscription includes six issues.
(Donated by David Kopaska-Merkel.)
Raven's Runes
Raven's Runes: Equations in Time by Karen A. Romanko contains
21 sf/f/h poems on the themes of time, history and myth. 7ARS and
Sandy DeLuca have contributed 11 striking illustrations, which
interpret and extend the meaning of the poems. In a Star*Line review,
Shannon Riley described Raven's Runes as "a brilliant work, succeeding
on all levels." You can read more about Raven's Runes here. (Donated
by Karen A. Romanko.)
Storyteller: Writing Lessons and More from 27 Years of the Clarion Writers' Workshop, Kate Wilhelm
For 27 years, Kate Wilhelm and her husband, Damon Knight, taught at
the Clarion Writers' Workshop, an intensive and ambitious six-week
writing program for novice writers, known to participants as "boot
camp for writers."
Part memoir and part writing manual, Storyteller is Wilhelm's
affectionate account of the history of the program and her years there
with Damon as mentors and instructors.
She relates how Clarion began, explains why workshop participants fear
red pencils* and rejoice at the sight of water guns, what she learned,
and how she passed a love of the written word on to generations of
writers. Storyteller is a gift to all writers from this generous and
acclaimed teacher. It includes a special section of writing exercises
and advice.
* See page 121 for the origin of "The Red Line of Death."
(Donated by Small Beer Press)
Ball cap and mug from USS BOXER
(Donated by Dawn Paris).
"Well Read By Moonlight"
Archival print of this
watercolor.
(Donated by Kat Beyer.)
Rocket Science
Rocket Science, the critically-acclaimed first novel from
Campbell Award winner Jay Lake, will be personalized by him for the
selecting donor. Booklist called it "a real tour-de-force by a
top-flight talent", while Locus said "an auspicious debut,
paying tribute to SF's golden age without mawkish sentimentality,
action-packed without being shallow."
Matted prints by M.C.A. Hogarth
When she's not writing, M.C.A. Hogarth is painting... and her Jokka
are some of her more exotic subjects. She's offered two pieces as
matted prints for the SH Fund Drive, both inspired by the
prize-winning Strange Horizons story "Unspeakable": "Edlona," the
original commissioned illustration for the story, is matted at 9x12 in
violet-blue and remarqued with gold and silver pinprick stars, and
features Ekkuli the mysterious clay-keeper; and "Elithik,"
companion-piece, matted at 9x12 in clay rose marble, portrays Tañel,
the narrator of the story and the daylight to Ekkuli's dark. Both
prints are signed, and are no longer readily available. Snag one today
as your reward!
Your choice of: Elithik or Edlona.
Mockingbird, by Sean Stewart
Elena Beauchamp used magic the way other people used credit cards, and now
that she's dead, her daughters Toni and Candy have a debt to pay. Set in
modern-day Houston, Texas, this is a funny and moving novel of voodoo,
pregnancy, and family ties. While Toni sorts out the mess that Elena left
behind, she must also come to terms with her childhood and with the
supernatural and dangerous gift that she has inherited from her mother.
* With a new Afterword by the author.
* A New York Times Notable Book
* World Fantasy and Nebula Award Finalist
"Witty, wicked, and wise. Wonderful!"-- Karen Joy Fowler, The Jane Austen
Book Club
"A wonderfully vivid and unexpected blend of magic realism and
finely-observed contemporary experience."-- William Gibson, Pattern
Recognition
(Donated by Small Beer Press)
Melusine, by Sarah Monette
Signed hardback of MELUSINE, a dark fantasy about a wizard who's no
longer a wizard and an assassin who's no longer an assassin. Starred
reviews from PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY and BOOKLIST.
(Donated by Sarah Monette.)
Embracing Darkness, by Margaret Carter
Linnet can't get the police to
listen to her theory about the murder of her niece and her niece's
lover. When Max, the young man's older brother, shows up with the same
theory, Linnet joins forces with him to track down the strange woman
responsible for the killings. Little does Linnet suspect that both Max
and their quarry are vampires. A story of love across species
boundaries. (Donated by
Margaret Carter.)
One-year subscription to Mythic Delirium
Mythic Delirium is a biannual journal that publishes science fiction,
fantasy, horror, surreal and cross-genre poetry. They are interested
in work that demonstrates ambition, that casts new light on genre
tropes, that introduces readers to the legends of other cultures, that
re-evaluates the myths of old from a modern perspective, that twists
reality in unexpected ways. In the past two years, 16 of their poems
have received Honorable Mentions from the editors of The Year's Best
Fantasy and Horror, and one has won a Rhysling Award. (Donated by Mike
Allen).
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P.O. Box 1693
Dubuque, IA 52004-1693
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Tax-exemption: Contributions to Strange Horizons are now tax-deductible. Strange Horizons has received provisional 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service. Donations made during 2003 and 2004 are tax-deductible. Additionally, donations made during 2000, 2001, and 2002 may also be claimed; if you donated more than $250 to us during those years, please contact our Associate Editor, Brian Peters, for a copy of the necessary documentation to support your IRS claim.