Using spec-fic in the classroom
On the weekend, I attended a wonderful conference put on by the English Teacher's Association of WA. They had kindly asked me to present a session on using SF/F in the classroom. The session was very well attended, and people seemed to enjoy it. It was great to be able to spread the word about some of our wonderful Aussie and West Aussie authors. I had great fun developing workshop activities based on Sue Isle and Tansy Rayner Robert's Twelve Planet collections, as well as an extract from the YA series The Rosie Black Chronicles, by local author, Lara Morgan.
As lots of people asked for other recommendations and links, I have put up a new page of resources for using SF/F in the classroom - there are links to various Aussie and International sites and resources, as well as the notes and slides from my talk, and a few activity sheets as well (see link to the page on left). These include an extra activity we didn't get time to do in the workshop, based on the fabulous "what if?" activity designed by Julie Czerneda (see her teaching resources here).
Enjoy! Share!
And yes, I have been rather quiet around here recently, but that will change soon - a few SF/F-related announcements and posts coming up in the next couple of weeks, so do check back!
Our Favourite Female SF/F authors
More number crunching - so I have done the list of all women who have won any pro fiction category in the Hugos andNebulas. Interesting comparison. Total women winners of Hugos: 21. Total women winners of Nebulas: 39.
Willis is the top runner in both awards, and only Willis, LeGuin and Bujold are in the top five of both.
Only 25 women have won either award more than once.
Hugo
Author #wins
1. Connie Willis 11
2. Lois McMaster Bujold 5
3. Ursula K. Le Guin 5
4. C. J. Cherryh 3
5. Joan D. Vinge 2
6. Nancy Kress 2
7. James Tiptree, Jr. 2
8. Elizabeth Bear 2
9. Octavia E. Butler 2
10. Susanna Clarke 1
11. J. K. Rowling 1
12. Vonda N. McIntyre 1
13. Kate Wilhelm 1
14. Joanna Russ 1
15. Anne McCaffrey 1
16. Kelly Link 1
17. Kristine Kathryn Rusch 1
18. Janet Kagan 1
19. Mary Robinette Kowal 1
20. Maureen F. McHugh 1
21. Suzy McKee Charnas 1
Nebula
Author #wins
1. Connie Willis 7
2. Ursula K. Le Guin 6
3. Nancy Kress 4
4. Lois McMaster Bujold 3
5. Pat Murphy 3
6. Kelly Link 3
7. James Tiptree, Jr. 3 (1 of these writing as Raccoona Sheldon)
8. Kate Wilhelm 3
9. Octavia E. Butler 2
10. Vonda N. McIntyre 2
11. Elizabeth Hand 2
12. Jane Yolen 2
13. Kij Johnson 2
14. Karen Joy Fowler 2
15. Carol Emshwiller 2
16. Esther M. Friesner 2
17. Elizabeth Moon 1
18. Catherine Asaro 2
19. Vonda N. McIntyre 1
20. Nicola Griffith 1
21. Elizabeth Ann Scarborough 1
22. Rachel Swirsky 1
23. Kage Baker 1
24. Linda Nagata 1
25. Sheila Finch 1
26. Suzy McKee Charnas 1
27. Katherine MacLean 1
28. Anne McCaffrey 1
29. Eugie Foster 1
30. Ellen Klages 1
31. Mary A. Turzillo 1
32. Pamela Sargent 1
33. Nina Kiriki Hoffman 1
34. Eileen Gunn 1
35. Severna Park 1
36. Leslie What 1
37. Martha Soukup 1
38. Lisa Tuttle 1
39. Joanna Russ 1
A quick and dirty breakdown of major sf awards by gender
I was doing some research on women writers of SF and needed some info on how many women had won Hugos and Nebulas. When i couldn't find anything recent, I pulled this together from Locus awards page:
Hugo / Nebula awards won by women
Hugo awards
Total wins by women in fiction: 46 (out of roughly 217 awards)* = approx 21%
No of women writers to win: 32
Nebula awards
Total wins by women in fiction 72 ( out of roughly 184 awards)* =approx 39%
No of women writers to win: 57
*this is rough as it does not account for ties or no awards etc – this figure is the number of years awards presented in each category – novel, novella, novelette and short story
HUGO
Novel 1953-2011 (59 yrs) total –16 (9 writers)
2011 Blackout / all clear Connie Willis
2005 Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, Susanna Clarke
2004 Paladin of Souls, Lois McMaster Bujold
2001 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J. K. Rowling
1999 To Say Nothing of the Dog, Connie Willis
1995 Mirror Dance, Lois McMaster Bujold
1993 Doomsday Book, Connie Willis
1992 Barrayar, Lois McMaster Bujold
1991 The Vor Game, Lois McMaster Bujold
1989 Cyteen, C. J. Cherryh
1982 Downbelow Station, C. J. Cherryh
1981 The Snow Queen, Joan D. Vinge
1979 Dreamsnake, Vonda N. McIntyre
1977 Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang, Kate Wilhelm
1975 The Dispossessed, Ursula K. Le Guin
1970 The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin
Novella 1968 -2011 (44 yrs) – total 12 (7 writers)
2009 "The Erdmann Nexus", Nancy Kress
2008 "All Seated on the Ground", Connie Willis
2006 "Inside Job", Connie Willis
2000 "The Winds of Marble Arch", Connie Willis
1992 "Beggars in Spain", Nancy Kress
1990 "The Mountains of Mourning", Lois McMaster Bujold
1989 "The Last of the Winnebagos", Connie Willis
1983 "Souls", Joanna Russ
1977 (tie) ""Houston, Houston, Do You Read?", James Tiptree, Jr.
1974 "The Girl Who Was Plugged In", James Tiptree, Jr.
1973 "The Word for World is Forest", Ursula K. Le Guin
1968 tie "Weyr Search", Anne McCaffrey
Novelette 1955 -2011 (57 yrs) total 8 (8 writers)
2009 "Shoggoths in Bloom", Elizabeth Bear
2005 "The Faery Handbag", Kelly Link
2001 "Millennium Babies", Kristine Kathryn Rusch
1993 "The Nutcracker Coup", Janet Kagan
1988 "Buffalo Gals, Won't You Come Out Tonight", Ursula K. Le Guin
1985 "Bloodchild", Octavia E. Butler
1983 "Fire Watch", Connie Willis
1978 "Eyes of Amber", Joan D. Vinge
Short Story 1955-2011 (57 yrs) total 10 (8 writers)
2011 “For Want of a Nail” by Mary Robinette Kowal
2008 "Tideline", Elizabeth Bear
1997 "The Soul Selects Her Own Society” Connie Willis
1996 "The Lincoln Train", Maureen F. McHugh
1994 "Death on the Nile", Connie Willis
1993 "Even the Queen", Connie Willis
1990 "Boobs", Suzy McKee Charnas
1984 "Speech Sounds", Octavia E. Butler
1979 "Cassandra", C. J. Cherryh
1974 "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas", Ursula K. Le Guin
EDITOR, SHORT FORM - 8 wins in all editor categories ( 5 women)
2011 Sheila Williams
2010 Ellen Datlow
2009 Ellen Datlow
PROFESSIONAL EDITOR
2005 Ellen Datlow
2002 Ellen Datlow
1994 Kristine Kathryn Rusch
1986 Judy-Lynn del Rey
1984 Shawna McCarthy
NEBULA
NOVEL 1966 – 2011 (46 yrs) total - 16 (10 writers)
2011 Blackout / All Clear, Connie Willis
2009 Powers, Ursula K. Le Guin
2005 Paladin of Souls, Lois McMaster Bujold
2004 The Speed of Dark, Elizabeth Moon
2002 The Quantum Rose, Catherine Asaro
2000 Parable of the Talents, Octavia E. Butler
1998 The Moon and the Sun, Vonda N. McIntyre
1997 Slow River, Nicola Griffith
1993 Doomsday Book, Connie Willis
1991 Tehanu: The Last Book of Earthsea, Ursula K. Le Guin
1990 The Healer's War, Elizabeth Ann Scarborough
1989 Falling Free, Lois McMaster Bujold
1988 The Falling Woman, Pat Murphy
1979 Dreamsnake, Vonda N. McIntyre
1975 The Dispossessed, Ursula K. Le Guin
1970 The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin
NOVELLA 1966-2011 (46 yrs) total – 16 (15 writers)
2011 “The Lady Who Plucked Red Flowers Beneath the Queen’s Window”, Rachel Swirsky
2010 The Women of Nell Gwynne's, Kage Baker
2009 "The Spacetime Pool", Catherine Asaro
2008 "Fountain of Age", Nancy Kress
2006 "Magic for Beginners", Kelly Link
2001 "Goddesses", Linda Nagata
1999 "Reading the Bones", Sheila Finch
1996 "Last Summer at Mars Hill", Elizabeth Hand
1992 "Beggars in Spain", Nancy Kress
1990 "The Mountains of Mourning", Lois McMaster Bujold
1989 "The Last of the Winnebagos", Connie Willis
1981 "Unicorn Tapestry", Suzy McKee Charnas
1978 "Stardance", Spider Robinson & Jeanne Robinson
1977 "Houston, Houston, Do You Read?", James Tiptree, Jr.
1972 "The Missing Man", Katherine MacLean
1969 "Dragonrider", Anne McCaffrey
NOVELETTE 1966 – 2011 (46 yrs) total- 16 (14 writers)
2010 "Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast", Eugie Foster
2006 "The Faery Handbag", Kelly Link
2005 "Basement Magic", Ellen Klages
2002 "Louise's Ghost", Kelly Link
2000 "Mars Is No Place for Children", Mary A. Turzillo
1999 "Lost Girls", Jane Yolen
1998 "The Flowers of Aulit Prison", Nancy Kress
1996 "Solitude", Ursula K. Le Guin
1993 "Danny Goes to Mars", Pamela Sargent
1990 "At the Rialto", Connie Willis
1988 "Rachel in Love", Pat Murphy
1987 "The Girl Who Fell into the Sky", Kate Wilhelm
1985 "Bloodchild", Octavia E. Butler
1983 "Fire Watch", Connie Willis
1978 "The Screwfly Solution", Raccoona Sheldon
1974 "Of Mist, and Grass, and Sand", Vonda N. McIntyre
SHORT STORY 1966 – 2011 (46 yrs) total – 24 (18 writers)
2011 (tie) “Ponies” by Kij Johnson
2010 "Spar", Kij Johnson
2009 "Trophy Wives", Nina Kiriki Hoffman
2008 "Always", Karen Joy Fowler
2007 "Echo", Elizabeth Hand
2006 "I Live With You", Carol Emshwiller
2005 "Coming to Terms", Eileen Gunn
2004 "What I Didn't See", Karen Joy Fowler
2003 "Creature", Carol Emshwiller
2002 "The Cure for Everything", Severna Park
2000 "The Cost of Doing Business", Leslie What
1998 "Sister Emily's Lightship", Jane Yolen
1997 "A Birthday", Esther M. Friesner
1996 "Death and the Librarian", Esther M. Friesner
1995 "A Defense of the Social Contracts", Martha Soukup
1993 "Even the Queen", Connie Willis
1988 "Forever Yours, Anna", Kate Wilhelm
1986 "Out of All Them Bright Stars", Nancy Kress
1983 "A Letter from the Clearys", Connie Willis
1982 "The Bone Flute", Lisa Tuttle
1975 "The Day Before the Revolution", Ursula K. Le Guin
1974 "Love Is the Plan the Plan Is Death", James Tiptree, Jr.
1973 "When It Changed", Joanna Russ
1969 "The Planners", Kate Wilhelm
Hugo stats – women winners in all fiction awards - 21
- Connie Willis IIIII IIIII I
- Susanna Clarke
- Lois McMaster Bujold IIIII
- J. K. Rowling
- C. J. Cherryh III
- Joan D. Vinge II
- Vonda N. McIntyre
- Kate Wilhelm
- Ursula K. Le Guin IIIII
- Nancy Kress II
- Joanna Russ
- James Tiptree, Jr. II
- Anne McCaffrey
- Elizabeth Bear II
- Kelly Link
- Kristine Kathryn Rusch
- Janet Kagan
- Octavia E. Butler II
- Mary Robinette Kowal
- Maureen F. McHugh
- Suzy McKee Charnas
Only women to win hugo fiction more than once: Willis (11) Bujold (5) le Guin (5) Cherryh (3) Vinge, Kress, Tiptree, Bear, Butler (2)
I want to see it! The PHD Movie!
a movie version of the Piled Higher and Deeper comic - essential reading for any grad / phD student: phdcomics.com
So, what inanimate object will YOU tag yourself as on FB?
After testing on a select group of US accounts (privacy laws aren’t so strict here), Facebook is officially rolling out a new feature that recognizes people’s faces and offers to tag them automatically in photos uploaded to the social network.
So, besides the fact that Google abandoned similar technology due to privacy concerns, why is this bad?
Well, let’s say your friend Becky adds a few photos to her “Druunnkkk!!1!” album and you’re seen making an ass of yourself in several of them. All Becky has to do is click “yes” – which is great for her since she doesn’t have to tag each individual picture of you – and every shot you’re in will be marked accordingly.
Also, and I’m not trying to get all “Big Brother” here, but Facebook is host to over 90 billion images with 200 million being uploaded every day! That’s one hell of a database. How soon until someone can just snap a picture on the street and suddenly know everything about you?
Also also, Facebook has kept with their theme of assuming everybody’s going to want their private info spackeled across the web, and it’s up to YOU to opt-out.
Go to Account > Account Settings > Privacy > Customize Settings > Things Others Share and disable “Suggest photos of me to friends.”
Even if you opt out of the auto-tagging, Facebook is still going to ID you, so many people have started tagging themselves as random/inanimate objects as a way to foil the hounds.
what happens if we all choose Saturn? or the cookie monster? will FB break?:-)
Pre-1923 Utopias and Science Fiction by Women
What a fabulous resource! A reading list of online editions of women's sf and utopias from 1600s - 1920s. Go check it out!
EXPOSED: Facebook's Plan To Plant Anti-Google Stories in the Press
Facebook has admitted hiring a PR firm to raise concerns about Google’s privacy practices. The campaign backfired though when an agent from the firm was caught trying to “help” a prominent blogger write a critical piece on one of Google’s services, according to The Daily Beast.
The PR firm is Burson-Marsteller. The blogger is Chris Soghoian. A Burson agent approached him to write a piece on Google’s Social Circle, a network of social connections that Google uses to deliver relevant search results. The Burson rep even offered to help write the piece and approached other news organizations, including USA Today, with similar offers.
Soghoian declined and instead decided to publish some of the emails from Burson. (They’re available here.) In one email, the Burson rep directly attacks Google, saying, “Google, as you know, has a well-known history of infringing on the privacy rights of America’s Internet users. Not a year has gone by since the founding of the company where it has not been the focus of front-page news detailing its zealous approach to gathering information -– in many cases private and identifiable information — about online users.”
The email goes on to describe Google’s service as the “latest tool designed to scrape private data and build deeply personal dossiers on millions of users –- in a direct and flagrant violation of its agreement with the FTC.”
When Soghoian asked who was paying for this campaign, the Burson representative refused to name the firm’s client. A Facebook representative confirmed to The Daily Beast‘s Dan Lyons that the company hired Burson for two reasons: “First, because it believes Google is doing some things in social networking that raise privacy concerns; second, and perhaps more important, because Facebook resents Google’s attempts to use Facebook data in its own social-networking service.”
It’s one thing to publicly voice your concern about another company’s privacy practices — Microsoft, Google and Facebook have been throwing jabs at each other for some time now — but hiring a PR agent to try to influence bloggers to write negative press about a competitor — that’s a PR catastrophe of the highest degree.
We’ve reached out to Facebook for comment on the story and will keep you updated as we learn more.
[via The Daily Beast, USA Today]
hehehe. Its funny really, except that its not...
Interim: The SwanCon36 MegaPodcast - The Writer and the Critic
Better late than never ... and seeing as a con report is looking increasingly unlikely - have this instead! Live podcasting from swancon 36 /natcon 50 over Easter. This was a lot of fun!
Dr Horrible Pearltree
This one's for Tama:
