Author: Glenn Hauman

Fans of ABC’s cancelled drama FlashForward are planning to stage protests at ABC’s offices in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Detroit and Atlanta this Thursday. Flashmobs (sorry) will lie down on the ground in front of the various ABC offices for two minutes and 17 seconds, in honor of the blackouts that happen in the plot of the show. 

Now, if any of the fans report seeing anything in the future, we could have something here…

Additionally, fans shipped 20,000 friendship bracelets to ABC
Entertainment Chairman Steve McPherson, similar to the one Joseph
Fiennes’ character, Mark Benford, was given by
his daughter on the series.

For more information, go to http://www.preventtheblackout.com/.

Aquaman meets BP.

Hat tip: Oliver Willis.

Jeanne Robinson, dancer, choreographer, teacher and Hugo and Nebula winning co-author of three science fiction novels known as The Stardance Trilogy
with her husband Spider Robinson, died Sunday of bilary tract cancer at the age of 62.

Robinson studied dance at the Boston Conservatory, and at the Martha
Graham, Alvin Ailey, and Erick
Hawkins schools. She performed with the Beverly Brown Dance
Ensemble in New York and served as the artistic director of Halifax’s
Nova Dance Theatre, where she choreographed more than thirty original
works. In the seventies she created the concept of zero-gravity dance in the
Hugo Award-winning novel Stardance. In 1980 NASA asked her to dance in space aboard the Space
Shuttle– an invitation withdrawn when the Challenger explosion ended the
Civilian In Space Program.

She is survived by her husband of 35 years, her daughter Terri, and her granddaughter Marisa. She was a wonderful woman and will be missed. Our hearts go out to her family.

Spider writes about her and her passing here.

The 2010 Glyph Comics Awards were handed out Friday night at this weekend’s East Coast Black Age of Comics Con. The awards honor “the best in comics made by, for, and about people of color.”

Jay Potts and his blaxploitation webcomic World of Hurt took three of the ten awards. Aya: The Secrets Come Out and Luke Cage Noir each took two awards, while The K Chronicles by Keith Knight won for best comic strip for the fourth time in five years. Last year’s big winner, Jeremy Love’s Bayou, and our own The Original Johnson by Trevor Von Eeden were nominated for several awards but were shut out. (And yes, it was a honor just to be nominated, particularly against a field like this.)

The complete list of winners includes:

• Story of the Year: Unknown Soldier #13-14; Joshua Dysart, writer, Pat Masioni, artist
• Best Writer: Alex Simmons, Archie & Friends
• Best Artist: Jay Potts, World of Hurt
• Best Male Character: Isaiah Pastor, World of Hurt; created by Jay Potts, writer and artist
• Best Female Character: Aya, Aya: The Secrets Come Out; created by Marguerite Abouet, writer, Clement Oubrerie, artist
• Rising Star Award: Jay Potts, World of Hurt
• Best Reprint Publication: Aya: The Secrets Come Out; Drawn & Quarterly
• Best Cover: Luke Cage Noir #1; Tim Bradstreet, illustrator
• Best Comic Strip: The K Chronicles; Keith Knight, writer and artist
• Fan Award for Best Comic: Luke Cage Noir; Mike Benson & Adam Glass, writers, Shawn Martinbrough, artist

For those in the New York City area who can’t attend tomorrow’s Nebula Awards Dinner in Cape Canaveral, Florida, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America has arranged NYC Nebula Night which will include a large-screen simulcast of the ceremony, along with a full-scale reception and dinner including an open wine bar, rib-eye steak and paella. NYC Nebula Night will be held at The SoHo Gallery for Digital Art at 138 Sullivan St. in New York, NY. Catering will be provided by Sagaponack of Chelsea. (The SGDA is owned by John Ordover, who has spent over 20 years in the science fiction field.)

The New York evening begins with a reception at the gallery from 6pm to 7pm, followed by an upscale banquet. The Simulcast is scheduled to begin between 7:00 and 7:30 as attendees in Florida and New York are being seated for dinner; from then the New York banquet will run in concert with the Florida gathering until the Nebula Awards Ceremony has concluded. Nebula Award Nominee N. K. Jemisin will be attending, her Nebula nominated story “Non-Zero Probabilities” can be read here.

The cost of the evening is $25 for SFWA members, $30 for all others; 30% of the proceeds will be donated to the SFWA Emergency Medical Fund. There are less than fifty seats left. Tickets can be purchased at http://tinyurl.com/nycnebs.

Yes, we really are living in the future now…

UPDATE: Originally had wrong prices. Fixed now. Go order.