Michèle Laframboise's Blog - Posts Tagged "science-fiction"
My last novel, L'axe de Koudriss is now an Aurora finalist in the Best Novel In French category.
My short-story , Billet de faveur in Galaxies 41 is finalist for the Best Short-Form In French category
and
Le jardin du general, Manga. Fichtre, Montréal is fianlist in the Best Work In French (Other)
The Aurora prizes are one of the rare Canadian awards for the SF and fantastic works. For the full list of works and authors, see the Aurora awards site
My short-story , Billet de faveur in Galaxies 41 is finalist for the Best Short-Form In French category
and
Le jardin du general, Manga. Fichtre, Montréal is fianlist in the Best Work In French (Other)
The Aurora prizes are one of the rare Canadian awards for the SF and fantastic works. For the full list of works and authors, see the Aurora awards site
Here is my schedule of signings for the next SILQ. As a writer and a comic artist.
Voici mon horaire de dédicaces au SILQ, à la fois comme écrivaines et bédéiste.
PROLOGUE: I'm signing _L'axe de Koudriss_ (La quête de Chaaas, tome 3) Médiaspaul, 208 p. L'axe de Koudriss
RECF: I'm signing _La plume japonaise_, Vermillon, 56 p. manga Plume japonaise La
Horaire- Schedule
MERCREDI 7 avril
RECF 10h-11h (hmmm... my plane landing at 10h35!!!)
ESPACE FANZINE: 12h - 13h
PROLOGUE 13h - 15h
RECF 16h-17h
CAFÉ rencontre: 18h45 , (Kaffeeklatch )
JEUDI (THURSDAY) 8 avril
PROLOGUE 10h - 12h
atelier, Dessin 12h30
RECF 14h-15h
ESPACE FANZINE: 15h - 16h
RECF 18h-19h
VENDREDI (FRIDAY) 9 avril
RECF 10h-11h
Atelier, Dessin 11h30-12h00
PROLOGUE 13h - 14h30
RECF 15h-16h
PROLOGUE 19h - 20h30
SAMEDI (SATURDAY) 10 avril
RECF 10h-11h
PROLOGUE 13h - 15h
RECF 16h-17h
DIMANCHE (SUNDAY) 11 avril
RECF 10-11 h
PROLOGUE 11h - 12h
L'espace fanzine is in stand 347
Voici mon horaire de dédicaces au SILQ, à la fois comme écrivaines et bédéiste.
PROLOGUE: I'm signing _L'axe de Koudriss_ (La quête de Chaaas, tome 3) Médiaspaul, 208 p. L'axe de Koudriss
RECF: I'm signing _La plume japonaise_, Vermillon, 56 p. manga Plume japonaise La
Horaire- Schedule
MERCREDI 7 avril
RECF 10h-11h (hmmm... my plane landing at 10h35!!!)
ESPACE FANZINE: 12h - 13h
PROLOGUE 13h - 15h
RECF 16h-17h
CAFÉ rencontre: 18h45 , (Kaffeeklatch )
JEUDI (THURSDAY) 8 avril
PROLOGUE 10h - 12h
atelier, Dessin 12h30
RECF 14h-15h
ESPACE FANZINE: 15h - 16h
RECF 18h-19h
VENDREDI (FRIDAY) 9 avril
RECF 10h-11h
Atelier, Dessin 11h30-12h00
PROLOGUE 13h - 14h30
RECF 15h-16h
PROLOGUE 19h - 20h30
SAMEDI (SATURDAY) 10 avril
RECF 10h-11h
PROLOGUE 13h - 15h
RECF 16h-17h
DIMANCHE (SUNDAY) 11 avril
RECF 10-11 h
PROLOGUE 11h - 12h
L'espace fanzine is in stand 347
About one year ago, a Britannic webzine asked for short texts, one or three hundred words max, describing the future in one hundred years, and in the spirit of "mundane" SF.
I jotted a few ideas of a bleak future from which grew an embryo of text. I reworked it... and exceeded the word limit. So I left the text alone for a while.
One or tho months later, I took the text back and managed to fold it into a story, with a bird-eye point of view by an unlikely character.
As the Solaris Prize deadline approached, I decided to work on it again, and polish it. The story finally grew strong, and mature enough.
So, like a child that I am proud of, I let it go...
And received the good news last week. I'm a proud mother!
The official communiqué (in French) is there
The Prize includes a generous sum, plus the publication in the Solaris magazine.
******************************
J'ai gagné le prix Solaris 2010 !
L'année dernière, un webzine britannique avait fait une appel de textes illustrant le futur dans cent ans, dans un esprit de SF "mundane".
J'ai tout de suite noté des idées sur un futur écologiquement triste, desquelles J'ai tiré un embryon de texte. Hélas, j'avais dépassé la limite (très courte) de mots. J'ai laissé le texte en jachère et j'ai travaillé sur autre chose.
Un ou deux mois plus tard, j'ai repris le texte, et trouvé un point de vue spécial par un narrateur particulier.
Quand la tombée du concours pour le Prix Solaris approchait, j'ai retravaillé le texte, affiné le personnage et son environnement, ajusté le ton de l'histoire... et de la fin.
Le texte avait gagné en maturité,et comme un enfant dont on est fier, je l'ai laissé partir.
J'ai reçu la bonne nouvelle la semaine dernière. Ca me remplit de fierté toute maternelle!
On trouve le communiqué officiel
ici
La récompense, généreuse, inclut la publication du texte dans le prochain numéro de la revue.
I jotted a few ideas of a bleak future from which grew an embryo of text. I reworked it... and exceeded the word limit. So I left the text alone for a while.
One or tho months later, I took the text back and managed to fold it into a story, with a bird-eye point of view by an unlikely character.
As the Solaris Prize deadline approached, I decided to work on it again, and polish it. The story finally grew strong, and mature enough.
So, like a child that I am proud of, I let it go...
And received the good news last week. I'm a proud mother!
The official communiqué (in French) is there
The Prize includes a generous sum, plus the publication in the Solaris magazine.
******************************
J'ai gagné le prix Solaris 2010 !
L'année dernière, un webzine britannique avait fait une appel de textes illustrant le futur dans cent ans, dans un esprit de SF "mundane".
J'ai tout de suite noté des idées sur un futur écologiquement triste, desquelles J'ai tiré un embryon de texte. Hélas, j'avais dépassé la limite (très courte) de mots. J'ai laissé le texte en jachère et j'ai travaillé sur autre chose.
Un ou deux mois plus tard, j'ai repris le texte, et trouvé un point de vue spécial par un narrateur particulier.
Quand la tombée du concours pour le Prix Solaris approchait, j'ai retravaillé le texte, affiné le personnage et son environnement, ajusté le ton de l'histoire... et de la fin.
Le texte avait gagné en maturité,et comme un enfant dont on est fier, je l'ai laissé partir.
J'ai reçu la bonne nouvelle la semaine dernière. Ca me remplit de fierté toute maternelle!
On trouve le communiqué officiel
ici
La récompense, généreuse, inclut la publication du texte dans le prochain numéro de la revue.
Cette année, c'est peut-être la dernière occasion de voter pour les catégories francophones professionnelles des Prix Auror.
Selon Jean-Louis Trudel (son blog ici) une réforme d'envergure s'annonce, qui pourrait entraîner une fusion, un jumelage ou une association de ces catégories francophones et des Prix Boréal.
Ceux qui ne sont pas sur place au congrès Keycon à Winnipeg peuvent néanmoins encore voter en-ligne jusqu'à midi (heure manitobaine) le samedi 22 mai.
Dans la catégorie du meilleur roman en français, les finalistes sont :
Le protocole Reston, Mathieu Fortin (Coups de tête)
La Quête de Chaaas (3. L'axe de Koudriss), Michèle Laframboise (Médiaspaul)
Suprématie, Laurent McAllister (Bragelonne)
Un tour en Arkadie, Francine Pelletier (Alire)
Filles de lune (3. Le talisman de Maxandre), Élisabeth Tremblay (De Mortagne)
Dans la catégorie de la meilleure nouvelle en français, les finalistes sont :
« Ors blancs », Alain Bergeron (Solaris 171)
« De l'amour dans l'air », Claude Bolduc (Solaris 172)
« La vie des douze Jésus », Luc Dagenais (Solaris 172)
« Billet de faveur », Michèle Laframboise (Galaxies 41)
« Grains de silice », Mario Tessier (Solaris 170)
« La mort aux dés », Élisabeth Vonarburg (Solaris 171)
Dans la catégorie du meilleur autre travail en français, les finalistes sont :
Critiques : Jérôme-Olivier Allard (Solaris 169-172)
Revue : Solaris, Joël Champetier, éditeur (P.b.i.q.)
Manga : Le jardin du général, Michèle Laframboise (Montréal, Fichtre)
Article : "Rien à voir avec la fantasy", Thibaud Sallé (Solaris 169)
Chronique : « Les Carnets du Futurible », Mario Tessier (Solaris 169-171)
Donc, dernière chance pour mes fans fidèles!
Selon Jean-Louis Trudel (son blog ici) une réforme d'envergure s'annonce, qui pourrait entraîner une fusion, un jumelage ou une association de ces catégories francophones et des Prix Boréal.
Ceux qui ne sont pas sur place au congrès Keycon à Winnipeg peuvent néanmoins encore voter en-ligne jusqu'à midi (heure manitobaine) le samedi 22 mai.
Dans la catégorie du meilleur roman en français, les finalistes sont :
Le protocole Reston, Mathieu Fortin (Coups de tête)
La Quête de Chaaas (3. L'axe de Koudriss), Michèle Laframboise (Médiaspaul)
Suprématie, Laurent McAllister (Bragelonne)
Un tour en Arkadie, Francine Pelletier (Alire)
Filles de lune (3. Le talisman de Maxandre), Élisabeth Tremblay (De Mortagne)
Dans la catégorie de la meilleure nouvelle en français, les finalistes sont :
« Ors blancs », Alain Bergeron (Solaris 171)
« De l'amour dans l'air », Claude Bolduc (Solaris 172)
« La vie des douze Jésus », Luc Dagenais (Solaris 172)
« Billet de faveur », Michèle Laframboise (Galaxies 41)
« Grains de silice », Mario Tessier (Solaris 170)
« La mort aux dés », Élisabeth Vonarburg (Solaris 171)
Dans la catégorie du meilleur autre travail en français, les finalistes sont :
Critiques : Jérôme-Olivier Allard (Solaris 169-172)
Revue : Solaris, Joël Champetier, éditeur (P.b.i.q.)
Manga : Le jardin du général, Michèle Laframboise (Montréal, Fichtre)
Article : "Rien à voir avec la fantasy", Thibaud Sallé (Solaris 169)
Chronique : « Les Carnets du Futurible », Mario Tessier (Solaris 169-171)
Donc, dernière chance pour mes fans fidèles!
Author Alison Sinclair kindly gave me her permission to reprint a part of an interview, regarding her SF book Legacies (see my review of the book) because I think the advice she gives there is valid for many writers.
I keep struggling with the character's POV in my own novels, so talking about her work process is really interesting.
The "dumb" thing she refers, for the past-present interweaved, has been used by others, but it distracted me in Legacies, even if it is a good way to stretch the suspense!
The "good" thing, keeping to one POV, I concur with, even if I find it difficult.
****extract**** Alison Sinclair speaking!***********
In retrospect, I did two dumb things and two smart thing in my first novel.
Dumb things (ie, things I wasn't developed enough to do): writing a quest novel, and using that past-present interleaved; structure that Ursula Le Guin made work so beautifully in The Dispossessed. (which was her, what, sixth? seventh? novel. See what I mean about inadvertently overambitious). I didn't realize until a year or so after Legacies came out where I'd got it from, and why I was so wedded to it.
Smart things I did: keeping to a single viewpoint, and having a character I had deliberately written as attentive and highly perceptive. Sometimes, wrestling with the need to convey something essential via a viewpoint character for whom it's not in character to NOTICE that, I miss Lian.
Quest plots - frequently the first plot an SF&F writer tries - are not as easy as they look: certain choices have to be made to ensure the quest plot gets and keeps its narrative drive and doesn't become picaresque (an editorial comment about an early draft of Legacies) or degenerate into a travelogue.
I were writing a quest, even now, I'd make sure that what was being sought and who was seeking it were established in the first chapter, and not lose sight of that for a moment. I'm still not sure enough in my plotting to do the man/woman goes off all unknowing and finds his/her destiny on the way.
I was unwittingly smart enough to establish the quest in the beginning of Legacies' frontstory, interspersing it with the interleaved backstory in which Lian had to find his mission. Erien in Throne Price may have been lacking certain crucial information, but he knew exactly what he wanted to do when he arrived on Gelion. Which put him on a collision course with other peoples' agendas.
(...)
Again, writers have pulled off the reluctant, foot-dragging protagonist wonderfully, but I find life much easier if a character wants something and goes after it (even if it's the wrong thing for them - or maybe especially if so).
Lian climbing over the wall in Legacies, throwing himself into the path of the story, was a wonderfully liberating moment. Once he'd fallen in with the modern Burdanians, he was committed to deception, decision, and action. (...)
****************end of extract****************
Another interesting blog post from Alison about plot and editors can be followed here
I keep struggling with the character's POV in my own novels, so talking about her work process is really interesting.
The "dumb" thing she refers, for the past-present interweaved, has been used by others, but it distracted me in Legacies, even if it is a good way to stretch the suspense!
The "good" thing, keeping to one POV, I concur with, even if I find it difficult.
****extract**** Alison Sinclair speaking!***********
In retrospect, I did two dumb things and two smart thing in my first novel.
Dumb things (ie, things I wasn't developed enough to do): writing a quest novel, and using that past-present interleaved; structure that Ursula Le Guin made work so beautifully in The Dispossessed. (which was her, what, sixth? seventh? novel. See what I mean about inadvertently overambitious). I didn't realize until a year or so after Legacies came out where I'd got it from, and why I was so wedded to it.
Smart things I did: keeping to a single viewpoint, and having a character I had deliberately written as attentive and highly perceptive. Sometimes, wrestling with the need to convey something essential via a viewpoint character for whom it's not in character to NOTICE that, I miss Lian.
Quest plots - frequently the first plot an SF&F writer tries - are not as easy as they look: certain choices have to be made to ensure the quest plot gets and keeps its narrative drive and doesn't become picaresque (an editorial comment about an early draft of Legacies) or degenerate into a travelogue.
I were writing a quest, even now, I'd make sure that what was being sought and who was seeking it were established in the first chapter, and not lose sight of that for a moment. I'm still not sure enough in my plotting to do the man/woman goes off all unknowing and finds his/her destiny on the way.
I was unwittingly smart enough to establish the quest in the beginning of Legacies' frontstory, interspersing it with the interleaved backstory in which Lian had to find his mission. Erien in Throne Price may have been lacking certain crucial information, but he knew exactly what he wanted to do when he arrived on Gelion. Which put him on a collision course with other peoples' agendas.
(...)
Again, writers have pulled off the reluctant, foot-dragging protagonist wonderfully, but I find life much easier if a character wants something and goes after it (even if it's the wrong thing for them - or maybe especially if so).
Lian climbing over the wall in Legacies, throwing himself into the path of the story, was a wonderfully liberating moment. Once he'd fallen in with the modern Burdanians, he was committed to deception, decision, and action. (...)
****************end of extract****************
Another interesting blog post from Alison about plot and editors can be followed here
My new SF novel, La spirale de Lar Jubal, will be out in one month. (It will hit the book shops on February, just before the Outaouais Book Fair
On Lapsilis, a cylindrical habitat orbiting a devastated planet, young and old work hard to build a spiraling grain crop for their future world. If questor Sirius approves of this zeal which reduces the crime to almost nothing, Chaaas notices many people burning themselves out.
Then a strange disease is decimating the harvest. Who would benefit from destroying the dream of Lar Jubal, the brilliant visionary lost too soon?
Corom, a charismatic artist, tipped to succeed the debonair Ludrinn as the colony leader? Noalli, the embittered wife of Corom, overlooking the floating garden ? Or Eimer, a haughty scientific who doubts the merits of the project?
Chaaas must investigate without being distracted by the amber eyes of Lali kha Nakarli … and his warming friendship towards Corom. With the help of Kiumi, a girl acrobat, Chaaas will discover secrets that endanger more than a dream…
The novel is in French, and as it is coming soon. If you can read a little French, the book will be available from Prologue or Amazon websites. If you have read and liked the other novels of the Chaaas series, you may let it know, either by typing a review or rate it on Goodreads.com. If you hated it: do the same thing. There is no bad publicity… :^)
The full coordinates of the novel:
Michèle Laframboise, La spirale de Lar Jubal, Médiaspaul, (coll. Jeunesse-Plus no 16), 208 p.
ISBN 978-89420-852-6.
The cover art is from artist Sybiline. For once, you get to see the protagonist close, and Chaaas is quite handsome!
On Lapsilis, a cylindrical habitat orbiting a devastated planet, young and old work hard to build a spiraling grain crop for their future world. If questor Sirius approves of this zeal which reduces the crime to almost nothing, Chaaas notices many people burning themselves out.
Then a strange disease is decimating the harvest. Who would benefit from destroying the dream of Lar Jubal, the brilliant visionary lost too soon?
Corom, a charismatic artist, tipped to succeed the debonair Ludrinn as the colony leader? Noalli, the embittered wife of Corom, overlooking the floating garden ? Or Eimer, a haughty scientific who doubts the merits of the project?
Chaaas must investigate without being distracted by the amber eyes of Lali kha Nakarli … and his warming friendship towards Corom. With the help of Kiumi, a girl acrobat, Chaaas will discover secrets that endanger more than a dream…
The novel is in French, and as it is coming soon. If you can read a little French, the book will be available from Prologue or Amazon websites. If you have read and liked the other novels of the Chaaas series, you may let it know, either by typing a review or rate it on Goodreads.com. If you hated it: do the same thing. There is no bad publicity… :^)
The full coordinates of the novel:
Michèle Laframboise, La spirale de Lar Jubal, Médiaspaul, (coll. Jeunesse-Plus no 16), 208 p.
ISBN 978-89420-852-6.
The cover art is from artist Sybiline. For once, you get to see the protagonist close, and Chaaas is quite handsome!
The 2011 Whittaker Competition is over! It was educating to look at the fiction and poetry judge's notes, and sometimes my points were very low, an humbling experience, but we must not let other's vision cloud our own judgement. I was proud to participate, and it proved a great motivation to write.
Since the Clarion overlapped the end of the Whittaker contest, I worked harder and produced more new texts… and some new poetry!
I reached a modest tally on the Whittaker final tally (310 points) but was gratified by the production boost.
Here is my short fiction production during the 18 weeks Whittaker contest overlapping 6-weeks Clarion (not counting two weeks of family vacation!):
Eight SF&F short-stories in English
Nine poems
And here are my current works in progress:
- about 10 000 words on the last novel in the Chaaas series
- near 5000 words on my next SF YA novel (around 52 000 words) to be published next February if all goes well. I am in the final revision stage.
And did I mention my graphic novels projects?
Wind Mistress is currently published by parts, in a comic zine, Nexuz3.
Since the Clarion overlapped the end of the Whittaker contest, I worked harder and produced more new texts… and some new poetry!
I reached a modest tally on the Whittaker final tally (310 points) but was gratified by the production boost.
Here is my short fiction production during the 18 weeks Whittaker contest overlapping 6-weeks Clarion (not counting two weeks of family vacation!):
Eight SF&F short-stories in English
Nine poems
And here are my current works in progress:
- about 10 000 words on the last novel in the Chaaas series
- near 5000 words on my next SF YA novel (around 52 000 words) to be published next February if all goes well. I am in the final revision stage.
And did I mention my graphic novels projects?
Wind Mistress is currently published by parts, in a comic zine, Nexuz3.
