Balticon
Balticon is the Maryland Regional science fiction convention, sponsored by the Baltimore Science Fiction Society (BSFS). It has been held annually since 1966. The name "Balticon" is trademarked by BSFS. Overview Balticon brings together over 1800 science, science fiction and fantasy professionals, creative amateurs, and fans on Memorial Day weekend each year for a 4-day multi-track event in or around Baltimore. Balticon can be described as a "General" or "Big Tent" science fiction convention since, while the primary emphasis is literary, programming and activities cover a number of other areas, such as anime, art, costuming, science, Podcasting and new media, gaming, and Filk music. Balticon is produced by the Baltimore Science Fiction Society, Inc., a 501(c)(3) literary society. It is run entirely by volunteers, who assume responsibility at many levels, ranging from gofers who sign up and run errands at the convention, to the Con Chair who may spend up to two years on planning ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Baltimore Science Fiction Society
The Baltimore Science Fiction Society (BSFS) is a literary organization focusing on science fiction, fantasy and related genres. A 501c3 literary society based in Baltimore, Maryland, the BSFS sponsors Balticon, the Maryland Regional Science Fiction Convention. Activities BSFS is an active organization which hosts many free, public events at its headquarters in the Highlandtown section of Baltimore City. Located at 3310 East Baltimore Street, it holds a business meeting on the second Saturday of each month at 7 PM that covers planning for Balticon and general BSFS organizational issues. It also hosts an anime, manga, and gaming social event on the third Saturday of the month from 2 – 6 PM. BSFS also hosts a Speculative Fiction Critique Circle for science fiction, fantasy, horror, etc. writers to receive feedback on their work: that Circle meets on the 2nd and 4th Thursday of every month, from 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM. There is also a Book Discussion Circle that meets on the 4th Satur ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Compton Crook Award
The Compton Crook Award is presented to the best English language first novel of the year in the field of science fiction, fantasy, or horror by the members of the Baltimore Science Fiction Society at their annual science fiction convention, Balticon, held in Baltimore on Memorial Day weekend. The award, also known as the Compton Crook/Stephen Tall Award, has been presented since 1983. The list of eligible books is published in the monthly newsletter so that all club members will have a chance to read and vote. The winning author is invited to Balticon (BSFS pays transportation and lodging) for two years, and presented with the cash award of $1,000. Compton Crook, who wrote under the name of Stephen Tall, was a long-time Baltimore resident, Towson University professor, and science fiction author who died in 1981. Winners * 1983 - Donald Kingsbury, '' Courtship Rite'' * 1984 - Christopher Rowley, '' War For Eternity'' * 1985 - David R. Palmer, '' Emergence'' * 1986 - Sheila Fi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The Hunt For Gollum
''The Hunt for Gollum'' is a 2009 British fantasy fan film based on the appendices of J. R. R. Tolkien's 1954–55 book ''The Lord of the Rings''. The film is set in Middle-earth, when the wizard Gandalf the Grey fears that Gollum may reveal information about the One Ring to Sauron. Gandalf sends ranger Aragorn on a quest to find Gollum. Filming took place in North Wales, Epping Forest, and Hampstead Heath. The film was shot in high definition video, with a budget of £3,000 (US$5,000). The production is completely unofficial and unauthorized, though Bouchard said he had "reached an understanding" with Tolkien Enterprises in 2009. ''The Hunt for Gollum'' debuted at the Sci-Fi-London film festival and on the Internet, free to view, on 3 May 2009. By 20 October, it had been viewed by 5 million people, and over 15 million times by 2020. Plot The film is set during the timespan of ''The Fellowship of the Ring''. It takes place 17 years after Bilbo Baggins's 111th birthday party and ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Kate Wilhelm
Kate Wilhelm (June 8, 1928 – March 8, 2018) was an American author. She wrote novels and stories in the science fiction, mystery, and suspense genres, including the Hugo Award–winning ''Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang''. Wilhelm established the Clarion Workshop along with her husband Damon Knight and writer Robin Scott Wilson. Life Katie Gertrude Meredith was born in Toledo, Ohio, daughter of Jesse and Ann Meredith. She graduated from high school in Louisville, Kentucky, and worked as a model, telephone operator, sales clerk, switchboard operator, and underwriter for an insurance company. She married Joseph Wilhelm in 1947 and had two sons. The couple divorced in 1962 and Wilhelm married Damon Knight in 1963. She and her husband lived in Eugene, Oregon, until his death in 2002 and she remained there until her own death in 2018. Career Her first published short fiction was "The Pint-Size Genie" in the October 1956 issue of ''Fantastic'', edited by Paul W. Fairman (assisted ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Parke Godwin
Parke Godwin (January 28, 1929 – June 19, 2013) was an American writer. He won the World Fantasy Award for Best Novella in 1982 for his story "The Fire When It Comes". He was a native of New York City, where he was born in 1929. He was the grandson of Harry Post Godwin. Works Godwin is known for his novels of legendary figures placed in realistic historical settings, written in a lyrical yet precise prose style and sardonic humor. His retelling of parts of the Arthur legend, ''Firelord'' in 1980, ''Beloved Exile'' in 1984, and ''The Lovers: The Legend of Tristan and Yseult'' in 1999 (under the pseudonym Kate Hawks) is set in the 5th century during the collapse of the Roman empire, and his reinterpretation of Robin Hood (''Sherwood'', 1991, and ''Robin and the King'', 1993) takes place during the Norman conquest and features kings William the Conqueror and William Rufus as major characters. His other well-known works include '' Waiting for the Galactic Bus'' (1988) and its se ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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John Varley (author)
John Herbert Varley (born August 9, 1947) is an American science fiction writer. Biography Varley was born in Austin, Texas. He grew up in Fort Worth, moved to Port Arthur in 1957, graduated from Nederland High School—all in Texas—and went to Michigan State University on a National Merit Scholarship. He started as a physics major, switched to English, then left school before his 20th birthday and arrived in Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco just in time for the "Summer of Love" in 1967. There he worked at various unskilled jobs, depended on St. Anthony's Mission for meals, and panhandled outside the Cala Market on Stanyan Street (since closed) before deciding that writing had to be a better way to make a living. He was serendipitously present at Woodstock in 1969 when his car ran out of gas a half-mile away. He also has lived at various times in Portland and Eugene, Oregon, New York City, San Francisco again, Berkeley, and Los Angeles. Varley has written s ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Algis Budrys
Algirdas Jonas "Algis" Budrys (January 9, 1931 – June 9, 2008) was a Lithuanian-American science fiction author, editor, and critic. He was also known under the pen names Frank Mason, Alger Rome (in collaboration with Jerome Bixby), John A. Sentry, William Scarff, and Paul Janvier. He is known for the influential 1960 novel ''Rogue Moon''. Biography Budrys was born in Königsberg (today's Kaliningrad) in the then East Prussia, Germany. His father Jonas Budrys was the consul general of Lithuania; as a child he saw Adolf Hitler in a parade in the city. In 1936, when Budrys was five years old, Jonas was appointed as the consul general in New York, instead of Paris as he had hoped. After the Soviet Union's occupation of Lithuania, the Budrys family ran a chicken farm in New Jersey while Jonas remained part of the exile Lithuanian Diplomatic Service, since the United States continued to recognize the pre-World War II Lithuanian diplomats. During most of his adult life, Budry ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Anne McCaffrey
Anne Inez McCaffrey (1 April 1926 – 21 November 2011) was an American-Irish writer known for the ''Dragonriders of Pern'' science fiction series. She was the first woman to win a Hugo Award for fiction (Best Novella, ''Weyr Search'', 1968) and the first to win a Nebula Award (Best Novella, ''Dragonrider'', 1969). Her 1978 novel ''The White Dragon (novel), The White Dragon'' became one of the first science-fiction books to appear on the New York Times Best Seller list, ''New York Times'' Best Seller list. In 2005 the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America named McCaffrey its 22nd SFWA Grand Master, Grand Master, an annual award to living writers of fantasy and science fiction. She was inducted by the EMP Museum#Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame, Science Fiction Hall of Fame on 17 June 2006. She also received the Robert A. Heinlein Award for her work in 2007. Life and career Anne McCaffrey was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the second of three children ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Philip Jose Farmer
Philip, also Phillip, is a male given name, derived from the Greek (''Philippos'', lit. "horse-loving" or "fond of horses"), from a compound of (''philos'', "dear", "loved", "loving") and (''hippos'', "horse"). Prominent Philips who popularized the name include kings of Macedonia and one of the apostles of early Christianity. ''Philip'' has many alternative spellings. One derivation often used as a surname is Phillips. It was also found during ancient Greek times with two Ps as Philippides and Philippos. It has many diminutive (or even hypocoristic) forms including Phil, Philly, Lip, Pip, Pep or Peps. There are also feminine forms such as Philippine and Philippa. Antiquity Kings of Macedon * Philip I of Macedon * Philip II of Macedon, father of Alexander the Great * Philip III of Macedon, half-brother of Alexander the Great * Philip IV of Macedon * Philip V of Macedon New Testament * Philip the Apostle * Philip the Evangelist Others * Philippus of Croton (c. 6th cent ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Isaac Asimov
yi, יצחק אזימאװ , birth_date = , birth_place = Petrovichi, Russian SFSR , spouse = , relatives = , children = 2 , death_date = , death_place = Manhattan, New York City, U.S. , nationality = Russian (1920–1922)Soviet (1922–1928)American (1928–1992) , occupation = Writer, professor of biochemistry , years_active = 1939–1992 , genre = Science fiction (hard SF, social SF), mystery, popular science , subject = Popular science, science textbooks, essays, history, literary criticism , education = Columbia University ( BA, MA, PhD) , movement = Golden Age of Science Fiction , module = , signature = Isaac Asimov signature.svg Isaac Asimov ( ; 1920 – April 6, 1992) was an American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University. During his lifetime, Asimov was considered one of the "Big Three" science fiction writers, along with Robert A. Heinlein and Arthur C. Clarke. A prolific writer, he wrote or edited more than 500 books ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Hal Clement
Harry Clement Stubbs (May 30, 1922 – October 29, 2003), better known by the pen name Hal Clement, was an American science fiction writer and a leader of the hard science fiction subgenre. He also painted astronomically oriented artworks under the name George Richard. In 1998 Clement was inducted by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame and named the 17th SFWA Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (presented in 1999). Biography Harry Clement Stubbs was born in Somerville, Massachusetts on May 30, 1922. He went to Harvard, graduating with a B.S. in astronomy in 1943. While there he wrote his first published story, "Proof", which appeared in the June 1942 issue of '' Astounding Science Fiction'', edited by John W. Campbell; three more appeared in later 1942 numbers. His further educational background includes an M.Ed. (Boston University 1946) and M.S. in chemistry (Simmons College 1963). During World War II Clement was a pilot and copi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |