![]() ![]() It’ll be hard to have a better day than today at the this year’s WorldCon. I went to a rather depressing panel on “After the Shuttle,” which spent much of its time pointing out that NASA’s plans for replacing the shuttle are inadequate, and therefore NASA astronauts won’t be going anywhere other than low-Earth-orbit riding Russian Soyuzes any time soon, manned the SFWA table for an hour and then signed books (not very many, but some) at the SFWA table for another hour, and went to the DAW Books upcoming books presentation. Fortunately, since we drove, I should be able to take it back in one piece). (Pointy, you ask? The Aurora Award is famous for its sharp points, which are a) useful for forcing your way through crowds, b) an exellent means of self-defense should you be mugged on your way to your hotel, and c) known to shred clothing if you pack it injudiciously in your luggage. (Apparently a few people hung on in near-silence and seclusion.) It’s amazing what carrying a pointy, shiny award around an SF convention does to encourage people to talk to you. I was also briefly in the SFWA Suite, where Analog and Asimov‘s were hosting a party, until it was closed down by the hotel. Speaking of my daughter, I think she was more anxious than I was as my category (which, by the way, was announced by none other than well-known cigar-smoking puppet Ed the Sock) approached, and she apparently, though I didn’t see it, reacted with even more glee.Īfterward, of course, once I had Tweeted and Facebooked and phoned Mom, I headed over to the Delta Hotel for the SF Canada/Robert J. Sawyer, who was a nominee in the same category tonight, because it was in his Banff Centre class in writing science fiction that Marseguro began, and I also did my best to acknowledge all the other nominees in my category, Douglas Smith, Ursula Pflug and Hayden Trenholm, urging people to read them all, because, I said, “Canadian science fiction deserves it.” Of course, in the process I forgot to thank my wife and daughter, and I fumbled introducing Sheila and Betsy from DAW, but it’s amazing how hard it is to think when you win an award. But in my acceptance speech I made a point of thanking Robert J. I’d give you the complete list of winners as I usually do, except as one of the nominees, I didn’t take notes or photos tonight. The award was presented at a banquet this evening, and my publishers, Betsy Wollheim and Sheila Gilbert of DAW Books, were both present (Sheila is also my editor, and that’s her in the photo with me and the award at left). ![]() Although Pellegrini started astrophotography only in 2019, the pandemic helped him in honing his skills to capture breathtaking stills.Well, you can’t have a much better day at a WorldCon than I had today, short of winning a Hugo: tonight I won the Aurora Award for the best long-form work of science fiction or fantasy by a Canadian writer in English in 2008. The image was captured by Stefano Pellegrini, an astrophotographer based in Milan, Italy. Spiral auroras can be seen canvassing the sky in the shades of green. The rock arch is known as Gatklettur where the larger rocks span as long as a meter across. NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a mesmerizing snapshot of Spiral Auroras captured over a rock arch in the northwest coast of Iceland. But when particles hit at a height lower than 100 km, it results in the formation of pink auroras. Green auroras are formed when energy particles hit the oxygen atoms at 100 km to 300 km from the surface of the planet. Although auroras are usually green in colour, they can appear as pink sometimes too. Auroras, also known as the Northern and Southern Lights, put on a mesmerizing show of lights in the night skies of the polar regions. Scientists have long studied Auroras to better understand the workings of Earth's magnetic field and the solar wind. ![]()
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