Locus Online Awards 2012

Locus online has announced the 2012 Locus Awards Winners. Complete list of nominees and the winners can be found at Locus Online News. As is often the case, there is some overlap between the Locus Awards, the Nebulas, and the Hugos, which could be a predictor for the Hugos, which will be awarded at the end of August at the World Science Fiction Convention in Chicago.

Grandmaster Ray Bradbury passes away

If you follow sci fi blogs you know that Ray Bradbury passed away yesterday, 6 Jun 2012. He was an acknowledged Grand Master of the genre. He was awarded the Gandalf Grand Master Award in 1980 from the World Science Fiction Society. The Gandalf award recognizes lifetime achievement in fantasy writing. He was also awarded a retro Hugo for one of best known novels, Fahrenheit 451.

Along with Fahrenheit 451, he was also well known for The Martian Chronicles, and numerous collections of short stories. I remember reading many of his stories and novels from years ago, and although it's been too many years, I still recall parts of them (although not many details): the burning of books in Fahrenheit 451 and the way that the freedom fighters prevented the loss of knowledge by memorizing books; the robotic grandmother from "I Sing the Body Electric," the tattooed body of the Illustrated Man, the passing of the martians in The Martian Chronicles.

Here are other remembrances from around the web:

Cory Doctorow

Lev Grossman

Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America

Neil Gaiman

Locus Online

John Scalzi

io9

Neil Gaiman at the Guardian

Chicago Tribune

SFSignal (with even more links)

If you haven't read any of these classics in a long time, find them in a library or a bookstore, or download the ebooks to your digital reader, and spend a little time with one of the greats.