Archives from "In the News" section of Portal:Speculative fiction.
2012
edit- July 24: The winners of the 2012 Teen Choice Awards are announced.[1]
- July 23: The first American female to make it to space, astronaut Sally Ride, dies at 61.[2]
- July 20: English actor Simon Ward, who appeared in genre films such as Supergirl and the 1973 Dracula, dies at 70.[3]
- July 19: The nominees for the 64th Primetime Emmy Awards are announced.[4]
- July 17: American actor Morgan Paull, known best for his role as Holden in Blade Runner, dies at 67.[5]
- July 16: The 5th annual Shirley Jackson Awards are announced during the 2012 Readercon.[6]
- July 16: The winners of the 2012 Scribe Awards are announced.[7]
- July 16: The winners of the 2012 Prometheus Awards, to be presented at Chicon 7, are announced.[8]
- July 16: American television director and producer William Asher, known for his work on The Twilight Zone and Bewitched, dies at 90.[9]
- July 14: American author Frederic Brown (1906-1972) is named winner of the 2012 Cordwainer Smith Rediscovery Award.[10]
- July 10: Dr. Fred Lerner, an alumnus of Columbia University, announces the donation his science fiction and fantasy publications collection to Columbia University Libraries.[11]
- July 8: Prolific American actor Ernest Borgnine, known for costarring in the television seriesAirwolf, dies at 95.[12]
- July 3: American actor Andy Griffith, who had only a few genre appearances, dies at 86.[13]
- June 29: The winners of the 2012 John W. Campbell Memorial Awards and Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Awards are announced.[14]
- June 29: A company demonstrates the first practical cloak of invisibility for large 3D objects.[15]
- June 28: Amazon.com may purchase assets and rights of former publisher Dorchester Publishing at end of August.[16]
- June 26: The nominees for the 2012 Sunburst Award are announced.[17]
- June 19: American actor Richard Lynch, best known for portraying villainous roles, dies at 72.[18]
- June 18: Nominees for the 2012 Chesley Awards are announced.[19]
- June 15: The winners of the 2012 David Gemmell Legend Awards are announced.[20]
- June 13: The winners are announced for the 2012 Ditmar Award for achievement in Australian science fiction, fantasy, and horror.[21]
- June 12: The nominees for the 2012 Sidewise Award for Alternate History are announced.[22]
- June 7: The International Association of Media Tie-In Writers announces the nominees for the 6th annual Scribe Awards.[23]
- June 7: The winners of the 24th Lambda Literary Awards are announced.[24]
- June 7: The winners of the 2012 Audie Awards are announced, including genre work Hard Magic by Larry Correia.[25]
- June 5: British actress Caroline John, best known for her role as Liz Shaw in Doctor Who, dies at 71.[26]
- June 5: Prolific genre author Ray Bradbury dies at 91.[27][28]
- June 3: The winners of the 2012 MTV Movie Awards are announced.[29]
- May 30: The New York Anime Festival merges with the New York Comic Con.[30]
- May 26: American illustrator Leo Dillon dies at 79.[31]
- May 24: Author T. C. McCarthy wins the 2012 Compton Crook Award for his novel Germline.[32]
- May 23: The finalists for the 2012 Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award and John W. Campbell Memorial Award are announced.[33]
- May 23: The 2012 finalists for the Mythopoeic Awards are announced.[34]
- May 20: SFWA announces the winners of the 2011 Nebula Awards.[35]
- May 19: Analog and Asimov's announce the winners of their readers' choice awards.[36]
- May 18: The winners of the 2011 Aurealis Awards are announced.[37]
- May 16: A special exhibit at the British Library, Writing Britain: Wastelands to Wonderlands, celebrates the 75th anniversary of Tolkien's The Hobbit.[38]
- May 16: Dark Horse Comics plans release of classic fantastical and horror comics.[39]
- May 11: MTV announces the nominees for the 2012 MTV Movie Awards.[40]
- May 11: A stage adaptation of Ursula K. Le Guin's The Lathe of Heaven is announced.[41]
- May 9: Disaster experts estimate damage to New York City from The Avengers climactic battle at $160 billion.[42]
- May 9: An analytical biography of the late Frank Herbert, author of Dune, is released.[43]
- May 8: American illustrator and writer Maurice Sendak, best known for his 1963 children's picture book Where the Wild Things Are, dies at 83.[44]
- May 7: The Avengers sets a new opening weekend box office record with $207 million in ticket sales.[45]
- May 7: Nominees for the 2012 British Fantasy Award are announced.[46]
- May 3: American author and editor Stanley Schmidt wins the 2012 Robert A. Heinlein Award.[referencelink]
- May 3: Jane Rogers' near future novel,The Testament of Jessie Lamb, wins the 2012 Arthur C. Clarke Award.[47]
- April 30: American actor George Murdock, known for his role as Dr. Salik on the original Battlestar Galactica, dies at 81.[referencelink]
- April 29: American composer Joel Goldsmith, best known for his work on the TV series Stargate SG-1, dies at 54.[48]
- April 28: British actress Patricia Medina dies at 92.[49]
- April 22: The nominees for the 2011 Shirley Jackson Awards are announced.[50]
- April 20: The winners of the 2012 SFRA Awards are announced.[51]
- April 18: The Edgar Allan Poe Museum announces the future release of a previously-unknown Poe manuscript.[52]
- April 18: American author K. D. Wentworth dies at 61.[53]
- April 16: After nearly a year of delays, Pottermore opens for public registration.[54]
- April 16: American author Ernest Callenbach dies at 83.[55]
- April 13: The nominees for the 2012 Prix Aurora Awards are announced.[56]
- April 13: The University of Iowa announces the acquisition of thousands of pulp magazines collected by long-time fan Rusty Hevelin, who recently died.[57]
- April 13: Canadian actor Jonathan Frid, best known for his portrayal of vampire Barnabas Collins on the gothic soap opera Dark Shadows, dies at 87.[58]
- April 10: The winners of the 2011 BSFA Awards are announced, including Christopher Priest for his novel The Islanders.[59]
- April 9: Author Simon Morden wins the 2012 Philip K. Dick Award for his work, The Samuil Petrovitch Trilogy.[60]
- April 7: The final nominees for the 2012 Hugo Awards are announced.[61]
- April 5: The nominees for the 2012 Eisner Comic Awards are announced.[62]
- April 4: The Libertarian Futurist Society announces the finalists for the 2012 Prometheus Awards.[63]
- April 2: The winners of the 2012 Bram Stoker Awards are announced, including the novel Flesh Eaters by Joe McKinney.[64]
- March 29: CBS sends cease and desist letter to fans working on an unfilmed Star Trek: The Original Series episode by Norman Spinrad.[65]
- March 28: A Doctor Who fan creates a T.A.R.D.I.S. wedding ring.[66]
- March 28: Clarence Howard "Bud" Webster announced to receive the 2012 Service to SFWA Award.[67]
- March 27: The finalists for the 2012 Arthur C. Clarke Award are announced.[68]
- March 27: A video game based on Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn series is set to be released in 2013.[69]
- March 22: The nominees for the 24th Lambda Literary Awards are announced.[70]
- March 20: Japanese director Noboru Ishiguro, known for his work on the Space Battleship Yamato and other series, dies at 73.[71][72]
- March 20: Finalists are announced for the 2011 Aurealis Awards.[73]
- March 19: American author Gene DeWeese dies at 78.[74]
- March 15: A South Carolina parent accuses a teacher of reading pornographic material to students, states that Ender's Game is pornographic, and requests police file charges.[75][76][77]
- March 13: Writers Octavia Butler (1947-2006) and John Clute (b. 1940) receive the SFWA Solstice Award.[78]
- March 10: French comics artist Mœbius dies at 73.[79]
- March 9: Redwood and Wildfire by Andrea Hairston is wins 2011 Tiptree Award.[80]
- March 9: NASA and other international agencies hosting Space Apps Challenge in late April.[81]
- March 9: Pottermore announces public unveiling in April 2012.[82]
- March 6: American composer Robert B. Sherman, winner of two Academy Awards for his work on Mary Poppins, dies at 86.[83]
- March 6: Terra Nova, cancelled by Fox,[84] may possibly be picked up Netflix.[85]
- March 5: BBC begins airing the three-part Dirk Gently TV series.[86]
- March 5: Unfilmed Star Trek: The Original Series episode by Norman Spinrad to be made into a fan film.[87]
- March 5: New Zealand-born Australian writer Paul Haines dies at [88]
- March 3: American conceptual artist Ralph McQuarrie, best known for his design work on the Star Wars series, dies at 82.[89][90]
- March 2: Orson Scott Card's fantasy series Seventh Son to be made into a feature film.[91]
- March 1: Nominees for the 38th Saturn Awards are announced.[92][93]
- March 1: Pac-Man to be made into a new television series.[94]
- February 27: Artist Michael Whelan is announced as the cover illustrator for the final Wheel of Time book, A Memory of Light.[95]
- February 27: Winners are announced for the 84th Academy Awards, with Hugo winning in five categories.[96]
- February 25: The nominees for the 32nd Golden Raspberry Awards are announced.[97][98]
- February 23: Author J. K. Rowling announces publisher for forthcoming book.[99]
- February 23: Original script from axed Star Trek: The Original Series episode found by fan.[100]
- February 23: Upcoming Doctor Who / Star Trek: The Next Generation graphic novel crossover series will have character cameos.[101]
- February 20: The Horror Writers Association announces the nominees for the 2011 Bram Stoker Awards.[102]
- February 20: The release date is announced for A Memory of Light, the final book in The Wheel of Time epic fantasy novel series.[103]
- February 20: The nominees for the 2011 Nebula Awards are announced.[104][105]
- February 20: The Audio Publishers Association announces the nominees for the 2012 Audie Awards.[106]
- February 13: The British Academy of Film and Television Arts announces genre winners at the 65th British Academy Film Awards.[107]
- February 12: Irish actor David Kelly dies at 82.[108]
- February 8: Locus announces a digital version of its magazine.[109]
- February 5: American actor and director Bill Hinzman dies at 75.[110]
- February 3: British writer John Christopher dies at 89.[111]
- February 3: American director, actor, writer, and producer Zalman King dies at 69.[112]
- February 1: American writer Ardath Mayhar dies at 81.[113]
- January 26: English actor Ian Abercrombie dies at 77.[114]
- January 25: A Star Trek Voyager fan has to dismantle his transformed living room due to divorce.[115]
- January 24: American actor Dick Tufeld, best known as the voice of the robot in the original Lost in Space TV series, dies at 85.[116]
- January 24: Nominees for the 84th Academy Awards are announced.[117][118]
- January 24: American actor James Farentino, who costarred with Kirk Douglas in The Final Countdown, dies at 73.[119]
- January 23: The shortlist is released for the 2011 BSFA Awards.[120]
- January 23: Bad Moon Books and Hippocampus Press are announced as the winners of the Horror Writers Association 2011 Specialty Press Award.[121]
- January 21: Oscar-winning costume designer Eiko Ishioka dies at 72.[122]
- January 20: The winners of the Hydra Contest, a speculative fiction contest in Brazil, will be published in InterGalactic Medicine Show.[123]
- January 19: The nominees for the 2012 British Academy Film Awards are announced.[124]
- January 19: Hammer announces the restoration of its horror film library.[125]
- January 18: The Horror Writers Association releases the nominees for the Vampire Novel of the Century Award.[126]
- January 18: American author Connie Willis is named the winner of the 2011 Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award.[127][128]
- January 17: Four genre works win at the 69th Golden Globe Awards.[129]
- January 13: DC Comics ends six of its comics series.[130]
- January 12: American author Howard Hopkins dies at 50.[131]
- January 11: The winners of the 38th People's Choice Awards are announced.[132]
- January 10: Star Wars: Underworld is announced as the working title of the upcoming live-action TV series in the franchise.[133]
- January 10: The 500th episode of the long-running series The Simpsons is set to air in February.[134]
- January 10: The nominees for the 2011 Philip K. Dick Award are announced.[135]
- January 9: Wizards of the Coast seeks to crowdsource the upcoming 5th edition of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy roleplaying game.[136]
- January 9: Four speculative fiction TV series pilots are given the green light by NBC.[137]
- January 9: Joe R. Lansdale and Rick Hautala are named recipients of the Horror Writers Association Lifetime Achievement Award.[138]
- January 9: American author Gene Wolfe wins the first Fuller Award for "outstanding lifetime contribution to literature."[139]
- January 9: Photos from the first science fiction convention, held in Leeds in 1937, are now available online.[140]
- January 6: A Las Vegas-area brothel will feature "alien" women.[141]
- January 6: The Horror Writers Association announces a sponsor for the Bram Stoker Vampire Novel of the Century Award.[142]
- January 5: Boxoffice announces that speculative fiction films dominated the top spots for 2011 domestic box office grosses.[143]
- January 5: The final nominees for the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects are announced.[144]
- January 4: Richard Alf, founder of San Diego Comic-Con International, dies at 59.[145]
- January 1: Bob Anderson, film fight choreographer and stunt double during Darth Vader's lightsaber battles in the original three Star Wars films, dies at 89.[146][147]
2011
edit- December 27: Genre fan and fanzine publisher Rusty Hevelin dies at 89.[148]
- December 22: Harrison Ford named to play Colonel Hyrum Graff in the upcoming film Ender's Game.[149]
- December 22: British actress Helen Mirren expresses interest in portraying the Doctor.[150]
- December 20: Young adult author James Dashner to lead multi-author collaboration for Scholastic.[151]
- December 16: Scottish actor Nicol Williamson, who played Merlin in the 1981 Excalibur, dies at 75.[152]
- December 15: The nominees for the 2012 Golden Globe Awards are announced.[153]
- December 14: ASIFA-Hollywood announces the nominees for the 2011 Annie Awards.[154]
- December 14: The nominees for the 18th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards are announced.[155]
- December 14: American comic book artist, editor, writer, and publisher Joe Simon dies at 98.[156]
- December 13: Parts of two long-thought-lost serials from Doctor Who, Galaxy 4 (1965) and The Underwater Menace (1967), are found in a private collection.[157][158]
- December 13: NASA approves the first private mission to the International Space Station.[159]
- December 13: American author and doctor T. J. Bass dies at 79.[160]
- December 13: American expatriate writer of science fiction and fantasy Russell Hoban dies at 86.[161]
- December 7: American comic book artist Jerry Robinson, known as the creator of The Joker, dies at 89.[162]
- December 7: American actor Harry Morgan, best known in for his role as Colonel Sherman T. Potter in the series M*A*S*H, dies at 96.[163]
- December 6: A special enhanced 75th anniversary ebook edition of The Hobbit is released by Harper Collins.[164]
- December 5: Artist Darrell K. Sweet, who illustrated the covers of many science fiction and fantasy book covers, dies at 77.[165]
- December 2: British author D. West is announced as the winner of the 2011 Rotsler Award.[166]
- December 1: Harlan Ellison drops his suit over alleged copyright infringement of the film In Time.[167]
- December 1: The copy of Action Comics 1 owned by actor Nicolas Cage is sold at auction for $2.1 million.[168]
- November 27: Ken Russell, English director of Altered States, dies at 84.[169]
- November 25: The a scene from the new film The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn causes seizures in multiple people.[170]
- November 22: Publisher Penguin Books temporarily suspends lending of its ebooks.[171]
- November 22: British actor Matt Smith confirms he'll be returning for another series on Doctor Who.[172]
- November 21: Prolific science fiction author Anne McCaffrey, best known for her Dragonriders of Pern series, dies at 85.[173][174][175][176]
- November 20: The winners of the 2011 Prix Aurora Award are announced.[177]
- November 19: British actor and director John Neville, known for the title role in The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, dies at 86.[178]
- November 15: The BBC denies rumors of a Doctor Who feature film.[179]
- November 15: Karl Slover, best known for his role as a Munchkin in the 1939 The Wizard of Oz film, dies at 93.[180][181]
- November 14: American comic book writer and novelist Chris Claremont donates his papers and archives to Columbia University.[182]
- November 14: The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America release their web page listing contact information for deceased authors' estates.[183]
- November 14: American author Cherie Priest is named winner of the 2011 Endeavour Award.[184]
- November 14: The short story The Pod, by Mary Mascari, is named winner of the 2011 ISFiC Writers Contest.[185]
- November 14: David Yates, known for directing the final four Harry Potter films, states he is working on a Doctor Who feature film for the BBC.[186][187]
- November 9: The nominees for the 2012 People's Choice Awards are announced.[188]
- November 8: Harlan Ellison settles his lawsuit against the creators of the film In Time.[189]
- November 8: Director Ridley Scott to release an eight-part miniseries on the Science Channel titled Prophets of Science Fiction.[190]
- November 4: A British man is convicted of killing his wife after she smashed some of his Star Wars toy collection.[191]
- November 3: The magazine Realms of Fantasy ceases publication for a third time.[192]
- November 2: American actor Leonard Stone, whose first notable role was as the father of Violet Beauregarde in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, dies at 87.[193]
- November 2: Writers of the Future launches a new online magazine.[194]
- November 1: Drake Tucker of Phase2Films is named the winner of the Blow the Top of Scott Edelman's Head Off Really Cool Zombie Filmmaking Competition.[195]
- November 1: The British Fantasy Society is considering the possible reworking of the British Fantasy Awards.[196]
- October 31: Netflix and Disney/ABC reach a new deal for online streaming of television series.[197]
- October 31: The winners of the 2011 World Fantasy Awards are announced.[198][199]
- October 26: A release date, 15 March 2013, is set for the Ender's Game film.[200]
- October 25: American actor Wyatt Knight, known in the genre for roles including a guest appearance on Star Trek: The Next Generation, dies at 56.[201]
- October 24: Tim Burton will be designing float for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.[202]
- October 23: American children's author Florence Parry Heide dies at 92.[203]
- October 12: Douglas Trumbull, known for his special effects work, is named as recipient of the Georges Méliès Award.[204]
- October 7: Sam Stone, winner of the 2011 British Fantasy Award for Best Novel, returns the award due to controversy on balloting.[205]
- October 5: Roland Emmerich has hired a new writer for his project adapting Asimov's Foundation series.[206]
- October 4: Way back in his 1999 novel Flashforward, author Robert J. Sawyer predicted two winners of the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics.[207]
- October 4: The winners of the 2011 British Fantasy Awards are announced, including the novel Demon Dance by Sam Stone.[208]
- September 26: Fantasy author Sara Douglass dies at 54 of ovarian cancer.[209]
- September 26: David Zelag Goodman, author of the screenplay for the 1976 genre film Logan's Run, dies at 81.[210]
- September 20: American author Connie Willis is announced as the winner of the 2011 Robert A. Heinlein Award.[211]
- September 19: Horror writer and editor Mark W. Worthen dies at 49.[212]
- September 19: The winners of the 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards are announced, including seven wins for genre shows.[213][214]
- September 15: Canadian actress Frances Bay dies at 92[215][216]
- September 15: Winners of the 2011 Sunburst Awards are announced.[217]
- September 11: Welsh actor and model Andy Whitfield dies at 39.[218]
- September 10: American actor Cliff Robertson, best known recently for playing Peter Parker's gentle Uncle Ben in the Raimi Spider-Man film trilogy, dies at 88.[219][220]
- September 8: IDW Publishing begins releasing graphic novels and comics via iBooks.[221]
- September 7: The winners of the 2011 Seiun Awards are announced.[222]
- September 7: As of September 12, Nature will no longer accept article submissions from Homo sapiens.[223]
- September 5: American film and television director Charles S. Dubin dies at 92.[224]
- September 4: Editor, writer, and game designer Bill Kunkel dies at 61.[225]
- August 27: American actress Eve Brent, best known for her role as Jane in the 1958 film Tarzan's Fight for Life, dies at 82.[226][227]
- August 24: NASA to work with Tor authors to inspire future scientists and astronauts.[228]
- August 22: Disney announces two untitled Pixar films for release in 2013 and 2014.[229]
- August 20: Winners of the 2011 Hugo Awards are announced.[230][231][232]
- August 19: Welsh screenwriter and director Jimmy Sangster, known for his work for horror film producers Hammer Film Productions, dies at 83.[233]
- August 19: Winners of the 2010 Sidewise Award for Alternate History are announced.[234]
- August 17: The Horror Writers Association will be presenting a special Bram Stoker Vampire Novel of the Century at the 2012 World Horror Convention in Salt Lake City, Utah.[235]
- August 15: Colin Harvey, a British science fiction writer and editor, dies at 50.[236]
- August 6: Philip J. Rahman, publisher at weird fiction specialty publishing houseFedogan & Bremer, dies at 59.[237]
- August 6: John Wood, a British actor known for roles in WarGames and Ladyhawke, dies at 81.[238]
- August 3: Bubba Smith, an American actor whose genre works include appearances in Blue Thunder and Wonder Woman, dies at 66.[239]
- August 3: William Sleator, an American science fiction author known for works such as The Boy Who Reversed Himself, dies at 66.[240]
- August 2: Richard A. Hoen, author of a 1948 letter which critiqued a future 1949 issue of Astounding, dies at 81.[referencelink]
- August 2: A new Star Trek theme park will be built in the Kingdom of Jordan, funded substantially by King Abdullah II, who is a fan of the series.[241]
- August 2: American dark fantasy and paranormal romance author L.A. Banks dies at 51.[242]
- August 1: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 has grossed more than $1.01 billion worldwide, making it the #8 top-grossing film of all time after only 19 days in release.[243][244]
- July 30: The nominees for the 2011 World Fantasy Awards are announced.[245]
- July 26: Sakyo Komatsu, a Japanese science fiction writer best known for works such as Japan Sinks and Sayonara Jupiter, dies at 80.[246][247]
- July 20: The winners of the 2011 Mythopoeic Awards are announced.[248]
- July 20: Gollancz announces the pending release as ebooks of thousands of out-of-print science fiction works.[249] (archived)
- July 18: A builder in Utah has recreated the house from the Pixar film Up, and has put it up for sale.[250]
- July 18: Katherine MacLean is named the 2011 winner of the Cordwainer Smith Rediscovery Award.[251]
- July 18: The winners of the 4th annual Shirley Jackson Awards are announced.[252]
- July 18: The winners of the 2001 Rhysling Awards for science fiction poetry are announced.[253]
- July 17: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 breaks all-time opening weekend box office records both domestically and internationally with a total $475.6 million in ticket sales.[254][255][256]
- July 14: The nominees for the 63rd Emmy Awards are announced, including genre works such as Game of Thrones (13 nominations) and The Big Bang Theory (5 nominations).[257][258]
- July 14: Charlaine Harris announces the final Sookie Stackhouse book will be volume 13 in the series.[259][260]
- July 12: Sherwood Schwartz, writer and producer of such genre TV series as It's About Time and My Favorite Martian, dies at 94.[261]
- July 9: The University of Kansas announces it is receiving a donation of the majority of private letters, manuscripts and other papers by author Theodore Sturgeon.[262]
- July 8: The winners of the Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel and Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award are announced.[263]
- July 7: The release date for Thor 2 is set as July 26, 2013.[264]
- July 7: The third edition of The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction will be online-only and will be free.[265][266]
- July 6: The finalists for the 2011 Endeavour Award are announced.[267]
- July 5: The winners of the 2011 Prometheus Awards, including Sarah Hoyt for her novel Darkship Thieves, are announced.[268]
- June 28: Fred Steiner, an American composer, conductor, orchestrator, film historian and arranger for television, radio, and film, dies at 88.[269]
- June 27: The winners of the 37th annual Saturn Awards are announced.[270][271]
- June 27: The nominees for the 2011 British Fantasy Awards are announced.[272]
- June 23: Peter Falk, best known as the lead in Columbo, dies at 83.[273]
- June 23: A star will be added to the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Walter Koenig, best known for his roles as Pavel Chekov in Star Trek and Alfred Bester in Babylon 5.[274]
- June 21: Pixar announces they will release an as-yet-unnamed non-sequel film on November 27, 2013.[275]
- June 21: The first Science Fiction & Fantasy Translation Awards are announced.[276]
- June 20: The nominees are announced for the 2010 Sidewise Award for Alternate History.[277]
- June 20: The winners of the 2010 Bram Stoker Awards are announced, including A Dark Matter by Peter Straub.[278]
- June 13: Winners of the 2011 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award are announced.[279]
- June 12: Film producer Laura Ziskin, known in the genre for producing the 2000s Spider-Man film series, dies at 61.[280]
- June 11: The finalists are announced for the Campbell Memorial Award and the Theodore Sturgeon Award.[281]
- June 8: Roy Skelton, the voice of the Daleks, Cybermen, and the Krotons, dies at 79.[282]
- June 6: The readers of Realms of Fantasy choose the winners of the 2010 Readers Choice Awards.[283]
- June 5: The Twilight Saga: Eclipse wins in five categories at the MTV Movie Awards.[284]
- June 3: Fantasy and horror writer and editor Alan Peter Ryan dies at 68.[285]
- June 3: Actor James Arness, who appeared in several genre works in addition to his most famous role as Marshal Matt Dillon in Gunsmoke, dies at 88.[286]
- June 2: Canadian American science fiction and fantasy author Joel Rosenberg dies at 57.[287]
- May 31: The final nominees for the 2011 Chesley Awards are announced.[288]
- May 27: Jeff Conaway, best known in the genre for his role as Zack Allan on Babylon 5, dies at 60.[289]
- May 23: The winners of the 2010 Analog Analytical Laboratory Awards and Asmiov's Readers' Awards are announced.[290]
- May 21: Winners of the 2010 Nebula Awards, including Eric James Stone for Best Novelette, are announced.[291]
- May 21: The finalists for the 2011 Mythopoeic Awards are announced.[292]
- May 19: Jeffrey Catherine Jones, an American painter known for genre book cover and magazine works, dies at 67.[293][294]
- May 19: The winners of the 2010 Writers and Illustrators of the Future contest are announced.[295]
- May 18: Walter Jon Williams discusses how he has "pirated" his works from those illegally posting his works online.[296]
- May 17: The finalists for the English language Prix Aurora Awards are announced.[297]
- May 17: The winners of the French language Prix Aurora Boréal Awards are announced.[298]
- May 16: English actor Edward Hardwicke, best known for his role as Doctor Watson in The Return of Sherlock Holmes, dies at 78.[299]
- May 5: Dana Wynter, best known for playing the female lead in the 1956 Invasion of the Body Snatchers, dies at 79.[300]
- May 3: Jackie Cooper, best known recently for playing Daily Planet editor Perry White in the Superman film series starring Christopher Reeve, dies at 88.[301][302]
- May 3: The nominees for the 2011 Rhysling Awards are announced.[303]
- April 29: Feminist author Joanna Russ, best known for her award-winning novel The Female Man, dies at 74.[304]
- April 29: Superman states he will renounce his American citizenship in the 900th issue of Action Comics.[305][306][307][308][309]
- April 28: William Campbell, best known for portraying Koloth in Star Trek: The Original Series, dies at 84.[310]
- April 28: Winners of the 2011 Ditmar Award, including Power and Majesty by Tansy Rayner Roberts, are announced.[311]
- April 28: South African author Lauren Beukes wins the 2011 Arthur C. Clarke Award for Zoo City.[312]
- April 27: Yvette Vickers, best known for the title role in the 1958 Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, is found dead in her home. She is believed to have been dead for about a year.[313][314]
- April 25: Nominees for the Hugo Award are announced.[315][316]
- April 24: The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack, by Mark Hodder, wins the 2011 Philip K. Dick Award.[317]
- April 24: Winners of the 2010 BSFA Award, including The Dervish House by Ian McDonald, are announced.[318]
- April 23: Sol Saks, a television screenwriter known best for creating Bewitched, dies at 100.[319][320]
- April 19: Elizabeth Sladen, best known for portraying Sarah Jane Smith on Doctor Who, dies at 63.[321][322]
- April 14: The Science Fiction Writers of America Estates Database requests help finding estates of deceased authors.[323]
- April 14: Robotics merit badge created by collaboration between NASA and the Boy Scouts of America.[324]
- April 14: Nominees announced for the 2010 Shirley Jackson Award.[325]
- April 14: Namco Bandai and Microsoft team up to create the world's largest Pac-Man game.[326]
- April 14: Bruce Campbell states there will be a remake of Evil Dead.[327]
- April 13: David Hayter chosen to pen the screenplay for the upcoming Dragonflight film adaptation.[328]
- April 13: Paramount Pictures purchases the film option for Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles.[329]
- April 8: The nominees for the 2011 Eisner Awards are announced.[330]
- April 7: Rise of the Apes is renamed to Rise of the Planet of the Apes.[331]
- April 5: The nominees for the 5th annual Scribe Award, presented by the International Association of Media Tie-in Writers, are announced.[332]
- April 4: The finalists for the 2010 Prometheus Awards are announced.[333]
- March 31: The Horror Writers Association announces the winners of the Specialty Press and Silver Hammer awards, and the Richard Laymon President's Award for Service.[334]
- March 30: The 2012 sequel (which is actually a prequel) to Pixar's Monsters, Inc. is to be titled Monsters University.[335]
- March 29: Shaun Tan, an Oscar-winning Australian author and illustrator, wins the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award.[336]
- March 26: Diana Wynne Jones, author of Howl's Moving Castle, the Chrestomanci series, and Dark Lord of Derkholm, dies at 76.[337][338]
- March 23: Nominees for the 2010 Aurealis Award are announced, including Grimsdon by Deborah Abela and The Midnight Zoo by Sonya Hartnett.[339]
- March 22: Ellen Datlow and Al Feldstein win the 2011 LIfetime Achievement Award from the Horror Writers Association.[340]
- March 21: April R. Derleth, president and CEO of weird fiction publisher Arkham House, dies at 56.[341]
- March 21: Baba Yaga Laid an Egg, by Dubravka Ugrešić, is named winner of the 2010 Tiptree Award.[342]
- March 21: Peter Jackson announces that principal photography has begun on The Hobbit films.[343]
- March 19: Details of the costume are announced for the title character in the new 2011 Wonder Woman TV series.[344]
- March 17: Nancy Fulda wins the 5th Jim Baen Memorial Writing Contest.[345]
- March 17: Nominees for the 2010 Lambda Literary Awards are announced, including Wilde Stories 2010: The Year's Best Gay Speculative Fiction edited by Steve Berman.[346]
- March 17: Michael Gough, most recently best-known for his role as Alfred Pennyworth in the Tim Burton Batman films, dies at 94.[347][348]
- March 9: The Royal Mail releases eight stamps honoring eight wizarding characters from literature, including Aslan, Rincewind, and Merlin.[349]
- March 9: Doctor Who (series 6) set to begin airing on Saturday, April 23 in the United States.[350]
- March 6: The finalists for the 2001 Arthur C. Clarke Award are announced.[351]
- March 4: Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace announced to be scheduled for a February 10, 2012 release in 3-D.[352]
- March 1: The final ballot for the annual Bram Stoker Awards are announced.[353]
- February 28: The genre winners of the 83rd Academy Awards include Toy Story 3, Inception, Alice in Wonderland, and The Wolfman.[354]
- February 28: The Mysterious Galaxy independent bookstore announces plans for expansion.[355]
- February 26: The winners of the 31st Golden Raspberry Awards are announced, with The Last Airbender taking the most awards.[356]
- February 25: The nominees for the 37th Saturn Awards are announced.[357][358]
- February 25: Thousands of photographs documenting science fiction fandom back to the 1920s are released.[359]
- February 24: Old Man's War, a novel by John Scalzi is optioned by Paramount Pictures.[360]
- February 24: The nominees for the 2011 Audie Awards are announced, including the Audible.com release of The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham, as narrated by Graeme Malcolm.[361]
- February 17: Perry Moore, author, screenwriter, and producer of the first three The Chronicles of Narnia films.[362]
- February 14: Splatter film producer David F. Friedman, known for works such as Blood Feast and An American Werewolf in Paris, dies at 87.[363]
- February 13: The 2011 BAFTA Award winners, including Colleen Atwood for costume design in Alice in Wonderland, are announced.[364]
- February 12: Actor Kenneth Mars, known for appearances in genre works such as Young Frankenstein and The Little Mermaid (voice), dies at age 75.[365]
- February 5: British author Brian Jacques, author of the Redwall fantasy series, dies at age 71.[366]
- February 3: The preliminary ballot for the 2010 Bram Stoker Awards has been released by the Horror Writers Association.[367]
- February 2: A film adaptation of Ender's Game may be closer to being produced.[368]
- February 1: The winners are announced for the 4th annual Black Quill Awards, including works by Peter Straub, Nate Kenyon, and Gemma Files.[369]
- January 31: British actor Henry Cavill is selected to portray Superman in the upcoming December 2012 film.[370]
- January 31: The release date of the film adaptation of The Hunger Games is announced as March 23, 2012.[371]
- January 30: Composer John Barry, best known for his work on 14 James Bond films, dies at age 77.[372][373]
- January 29: Horror author Melissa Mia Hall dies at age 55.[374]
- January 27: American comedian and actor Charlie Callas, who appeared in genre works such as Amazon Women on the Moon and Dracula: Dead and Loving It, dies at age 83.[375]
- January 27: The filming of the upcoming The Hobbit is delayed due to Peter Jackson suffering from a perforated ulcer.[376]
- January 26: The issue of climate change is addressed in the new science fiction anthology, Welcome to the Greenhouse, from editor Gordon Van Gelder.[377]
- January 25: The genre nominees for the 2010 Academy Awards include Alice in Wonderland, How to Train Your Dragon, and Toy Story 3.[378]
- January 24: The nominees for the 2010 Golden Raspberry Award are announced, including The Last Airbender, Twilight Saga: Eclipse, and Vampires Suck.[379]
- January 24: NBC confirms greenlighting of reboot of the classic Wonder Woman TV series.[380]
- January 24: Director James Cameron announces release schedule for Avatar; the two sequels will be released at Christmas in 2014 and 2015.[381]
- January 21: A new Red Dwarf series is set to begin filming in late 2011.[382]
- January 20: The shortlist for the 2010 BSFA Award have been announced, including The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi. [383]
- January 19: The nominees for the 2010 Philip K. Dick Award are announced, including Chill by Elizabeth Bear.[384]
- January 19: The nominees for the 2011 British Academy Film Awards are announced, including Inception for Best Film.[385]
- January 19: The winners of the 2010 Golden Globe Awards are announced, including Toy Story 3 winning Best Animated Feature Film.[386]
- January 15: Susannah York, the British actress who played Lara, the mother of Kal-El, in three of the Superman films, dies at age 72.[387]
- January 13: The Big Bang Theory TV series is set to continue until at least 2014.[388]
- January 13: 2|Entertain announces the DVD release schedule for classic Doctor Who series for 2011.[389]
- January 10: The winners of the Newbery Medal, Caldecott Medal, and Michael L. Printz Award are announced.[390]
- January 5: Joe Quesada steps down, Axel Alonso steps up, as editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics.[391]
- January 5: A large number of genre shows, including three for The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, received People's Choice Awards at the 37th People's Choice Awards ceremony.[392]
- January 4: Dick King-Smith, author of The Sheep-Pig (the book on which the film Babe was based, dies at age 88.[393]
- January 3: Jill Haworth, who starred as Rose in the 1972 horror film Tower of Evil, dies at age 65.[394]
- January 3: Renovation, the 2011 Worldcon, has opened nominations for the Hugo Award.[395]
- January 3: The top nine highest-grossing films of 2010 were science fiction, fantasy, or horror films.[396]
- January 2: Pete Postlethwaite, winner of the 1998 Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor in The Lost World: Jurassic Park, dies at age 64.[397]
- January 2: Anne Francis, best known for her role as Altaira in Forbidden Planet, dies at age 80.[398]
- January 1: The Aeon Award opens for entries.[399]
- January 1: Orson Scott Card, author of Ender's Game, suffers a mild stroke.[400]
2010
edit- December 25: The BBC and BBC America are working to air series six of Doctor Who on the same day in the UK and the US.[401]
- December 17: Syfy cancels Stargate Universe effective the end of season two.[402]
- December 14: Neva Patterson, best known in the genre for her role as Eleanor Dupres in the original V and V: The Final Battle, dies at age 90.[403]
- December 14: Adrienne Roy, who worked as a color artist on (mostly) DC Comics series such as Batman and Detective Comics, dies at age 57.[404]
- December 14: Golden Globe Award nominees announced, including several speculative fiction films and television series.[405]
- December 13: Incomplete story by Roald Dahl has been found and is being auctioned off.[406]* December 7: Iron Man 3 is slated to be 2013 sequel to Thor (2011), Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), and The Avengers (2012).[407]
- December 7: Google becomes a player in the e-book field with its new Google eBookstore.[408]
- December 6: The nominees for the 2010 Annie Awards are announced.[409]
- December 3: Brandon Sanderson will be continuing his Mistborn series with a book titled The Alloy of Law.[410]
- December 3: Nominees for the Black Quill Award, given annually to celebrate excellence in horror fiction, have been announced.[411]
- November 28: Actor Leslie Nielsen, known mostly for his comedy work but also known for a large number of genre works, dies at age 84.[412]
- November 27: Irvin Kershner, director of Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, dies at 87.[413]
- November 21: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I sets both a non-US box office opening record and a US opening record for the film franchise.[414][415]
- November 18: Doctor Who films in Utah's Monument Valley, the first time the series has filmed in the United States.[416]
- November 16: Author David Marusek wins the 2010 Endeavour Award.[417]
- November 12: Photos and other memorabilia from the 1957 Worldcon in London are made available online.[418]
- November 11: Realms of Fantasy not folding after all.[419]
- November 10: Dino De Laurentiis, Italian film producer of genre works such as Barbarella, King Kong, and Conan the Barbarian, dies at 91.[420]
- November 1: Mervyn Haisman, a scriptwriter for several Doctor Who serials, dies at about 82.[421]
- October 31: The 2010 winners of the World Fantasy Award are announced.[422]
- October 28: The Texas Supreme Court cites Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan in a decision.[423]
- October 28: The 1996 US television film, Doctor Who, is announced for release on home video on February 8, 2011.[424]
- October 28: Caprica is cancelled by Syfy.[425]
- October 24: Paranormal Activity 2 has the highest-grossing opening weekend for a supernatural horror film.[426]
- October 22: Alex Anderson, creator of Rocky the Flying Squirrel, Bullwinkle, and Dudley Do-Right, dies at 90.[427]
- October 20: Bob Guccione, publisher of the science fact and fiction magazine Omni, dies at 79.[referencelink]
- October 19: Tom Bosley, best known as Howard Cunningham on Happy Days, dies at 83. He also had many genre roles.[428]
- October 18: Realms of Fantasy, an American fantasy magazine, is shutting down.[429]
- October 16: Barbara Billingsley, best known as June Cleaver in Leave It to Beaver, dies at 94. She also had many genre roles.[430]
- October 14: Simon MacCorkindale, known for starring in the short-lived TV series Manimal, dies at 58.[431]
- October 14: Brian Lumley, Terry Pratchett, and Peter Straub to receive lifetime achievement award at the World Fantasy Convention.[432]
- October 13: Finalists for the National Book Award have been announced.[433]
- October 6: Peter Jackson set to direct The Hobbit films.[434]
- October 5: Roy Ward Baker, known for directing TV series and films such as Quatermass and the Pit and Scars of Dracula, dies at 93.[435]
- October 5: Author J. K. Rowling hints there may be more Harry Potter books.[436]
- October 5: The Hobbit may be released in 3D.[437]
- September 30: Stephen J. Cannell, known for writing and producing works such as The Greatest American Hero and Demon Hunter, dies at age 69.[438]
- September 30: Christopher Nolan confirms he will direct the next Batman film.[439]
- September 29: George Lucas announces that all six Star Wars films will be released in 3D.[440]
- September 28: British scriptwriter and producer Louis Marks, who wrote four scripts for Doctor Who serials, dies at age 82.[441]
- September 27: The winners of the 2010 Sunburst Award were announced as A. M. Dellamonica (adult, Indigo Springs) and Hiromi Goto (young adult, Half World).[442]
- September 23: Jennifer Rardin, author of the Jaz Parks urban fantasy series, dies at the age of 45.[443]
- September 21: Gavin Hood is announced as director of possible Ender's Game film adaptation, currently working on script.[444]
- September 20: Discworld author Terry Pratchett is to be knighted this year, and has made his own sword for the event.[445]
- September 20: Rumors surface that Pixar may animate a Doctor Strange film adaptation.[446]
- September 19: The winners of the 2010 British Fantasy Award include Conrad Williams (best novel), Sarah Pinborough (best novella), and Michael Marshall Smith (best short fiction).[447]
- September 15: The winners of the 26th Annual Writers of the Future and 21st Annual Illustrators of the Future awards are announced.[448]
- September 11: Kevin McCarthy (b. 1914), the actor known for his role in Invasion of the Body Snatchers, dies at the age of 96.[449]
- September 10: Edwin Charles Tubb (b. 1919), a British writer of science fiction, fantasy and western novels, dies at the age of 90.[450]
- September 5: The 2010 Hugo Award winners include Paolo Bacigalupi and China Miéville (tie, best novel), Charles Stross (best novella), and Peter Watts (best novelette).[451]
- September 5: The 2010 Ditmar Award winners include Kaaron Warren (best novel), Paul Haines (best novella/novelette), and Catriona Sparks (best short story).[452]
- September 5: The 2012 Worldcon will be held in Chicago.[453]
- September 3: HarperCollins combining its Eos (U.S.) and Voyager (U.K., Australia, and New Zealand) imprints into one to create the Harper Voyager imprint as of January 2011.[454]
- September 3: Larry Ashmead (b. 1932), a prolific American editor of science fiction, dies at the age of 78.[455]
- August 27: Toy Story 3 becomes the first animated film to gross $1 billion USD. This is also Disney's second $1 billion USD film in 2010, making it the only studio to ever achieve this feat.[456]
- August 17: Toy Story 3 becomes Disney's highest-grossing movie overseas ($539.3 million USD) and the top-grossing animated movie ever worldwide with $940.1 million USD.[457]
- June 30: The Twilight Saga: Eclipse sets new box office records: for biggest midnight opening in US/Canada, and for widest independent release
- May 10: Frank Frazetta (b. 1928), an award-winning American fantasy and science fiction artist, dies at the age of 82
- March 9: Alice in Wonderland snags $210 million worldwide over opening weekend
- February 5: Chinese animator Te Wei dies at age 95 (more...)
2009
edit- January 11, 2009: Mother Goose and Grimm cartoonist sued by Columbian coffee growers over strip (more...)