The nominees for the 2009 Chesley Award were recently announced and the list is impressive. For those unaware of this award, the Chelseys are given for excellence in science fiction and fantasy art or illustration. The award began in 1985 and is run by the Association for Science Fiction and Fantasy Artists (ASFA). The award was named after the artist Chesley Bonestell after his death in 1986 and are present at the World Science Fiction Convention.

Best Cover Illustration: Hardback Book
• Dan Dos Santos: Stalking the Vampire: A Fable of Tonight by Mike Resnick (Pyr, August 2008)
• Scott Fischer: An Evil Guest by Gene Wolfe (Tor, September 2008)
• Donato Giancola: A Book of Wizards edited by Marvin Kaye (SFBC, April 2008)
• Stephen Hickman: Ghost Quartet edited by Marvin Kaye (Tor, September 2008)
• Todd Lockwood: Quofum by Alan Dean Foster (Del Rey, October 2008)
• Stephan Martiniere: The Dragons of Babel by Michael Swanwick (Tor, January 2008)
• John Picacio: Viewpoints Critical: Selected Stories by L.E. Modesitt Jr. (Tor, March 2008)

Best Cover Illustration: Paperback Book
• Dan Dos Santos: Cry Wolf by Patricia Briggs (Ace, July 2008)
• Michael Kormarck: Dragonforge by James Maxey (Solaris, June 2008)
• Todd Lockwood: The Stormcaller by Tom Lloyd (Pyr, November 2008)
• John Picacio: Fast Forward 2 edited by Lou Anders (Pyr, October 2008)
• J.P. Targete: The Turtle Moves! Discworld’s Story Unauthorized by Lawrence Watt Evans (Benbella Books, August 2008)
• Paul Youll: Hell and Earth by Elizabeth Bear (ROC, August 2008)

Best Cover Illustration: Magazine
• Bob Eggleton: Asimov’s, August 2008
• David Hardy: Fantasy & Science Fiction, June 2008
• Maurizio Manzieri: Fantasy & Science Fiction, April 2008
• Matts Minnhagen: Clarkesworld, April 2008
• John Picacio: Asimov’s, September 2008

Best Interior Illustration
• Donato Giancola: The Wraith by J. Robert Lennon (Playboy, November 2008)
• Alan Lee for Tales from the Perilous Realm by J.R.R. Tolkien (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, November 2008)
• John Picacio: Elric: The Stealer of Souls by Michael Moorcock (Del Rey, 2008)
• Adam Rex: Frankenstein Takes the Cake by Adam Rex (Harcourt, September 2008)
• Shaun Tan: Tales from Outer Suburbia by Shaun Tan (Allen & Unwin, May 2008)

Best Color Work: Unpublished
• Julie Bell: The Wave in Her Heart, Oil
• Simon Dominic: The Gift, Digital
• Donata Giancola: Progeny, Oil
• Omar Rayyan: Gizmo, Watercolor
• Raoul Vitale: Lorca’s Cave, Oil
• Michael Whelan: The Seawall, Acrylic

Best Monochrome Work: Unpublished
• A.L. Ashbaugh: Counterfeit, Graphite
• Simon Dominic: Kraken, Digital
• Rebecca Guay: Gweneuere, Pencil
• James Jean: Hare, Oil
• Kate Lebherz-Gelinas: Chiroptera, PencilBest Three-Dimensional Art
• Brian Chan: Wall-E, Paper/Origami
• Akihito Ikeda: Heart of Art, Mixed
• Laura Reynolds: The Mushroom Gatherer, Mixed
• Forest Rogers: Dark Harpy, Polyclay, Copper Foil & Gold Leaf
• Vincent Villafranca: The Celestial Itinerant, Bronze

Best Product Illustration
• Volkan Baga: The Name of The Rose game box & promotional art, Ravensburger Spielevelag
• James Christensen: False Magic LE Canvas Print, Greenwich Workshop
• Dan Dos Santos: Hellboy II promotional art, Dark Horse & Universal Pictures
• Patrick Jones: Cyber Angel poster, IlluXCon 2008
• Justin Sweet: The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian concept art, Walt Disney Studios

Best Gaming – Related Illustration
• Volkan Baga: Stoic Angel, Magic Card, Shards of Alara, WotC
• Tom Fleming: Firestorm, VS System, Upper Deck
• Michael Kormarck: Angelic Benediction, Magic Card, Shards of Alara, WotC
• David Palumbo: Cancel, Magic Card, Shards of Alara, WotC
• Matt Stewart: Invincible Hymm, Magic Card, Shards of Alara, WotC

Best Art Director
• Matt Adelsperger: Wizards of The Coast
• Scott Allie: Dark Horse Comics
• Lou Anders: Pyr Books
• Irene Gallo: Tor Books
• Jeremy Jarvis: Wizards of The Coast
• Bill Schafer: Subterranean Press
• David Stevenson: Del Rey Books

Award for Artistic Achievement
• Julie Bell
• Roger Dean
• Dan Dos Santos
• James Jean
• Stephan Martiniere
• Shaun Tan

Click Here to View the Works of Jay Lake at Amazon
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I’m tempted to call “Mainspring” by Jay Lake a young adult novel, but is that always the case just because the the protagonist is a young adult?

Mainspring is set in an alternate early 20th century London with a distinct Victorian steampunk feel to it. Now when most people think steampunk their mind quickly shifts to ideas of brass, gears, and basically a whole lot of metal. We don’t get that here, what we do get is a new kind of steampunk that infuses all aspects of the society the main character, Hethor, inhabits: science, religion, philosphy, government, every aspect of civilization is infused with steampunk. People don’t have pulses, they have springs; the Earth rotates on a rail and the northern and southern hemispheres are divided by the Equitorial Wall heading all the way into the stratosphere; and the brass Jesus was nailed to the Holy Horofix, dying for our sins.

Thus we begin with Hethor, a sixteen year-old Watchmaker’s apprentice, who’s visited at night in his attic bedroom by the Archangel Gabriel and indebted with the great task of retrieving the Key Perilous and resetting the Mainspring of Earth before the planet is destroyed.

Some things you should know about this novel that are not quite criticism but definitely need to be said, otherwise I’d be doing by readers a disservice. Firstly, it’s important to note that Mainspring is very much a road/journey novel and lends much of its success (and withdrawals) to that genre. As a result you are constantly meeting new characters every chapter but not given enough investment to actually care for any of them. Each time you think you do Hethor moves onto a new locale or that character dies. This novel also lends itself to the bildungsroman, a journey of a young man into adulthood, his journey becomes our journey, and that’s what makes Mainspring such an enjoyable read.

However, there are some shortcomings. Hethor is supposed to be sixteen but with a few exceptions peppered throughout the novel the prose comes off as someone akin to the age of thirteen, but perhaps I’m being too picky. There will be a point halfway through this novel in Heathor’s attempt to cross the Equitorial Wall from the northern hemisphere to the southern hemisphere where you as the reader will be completely and utterly lost, without a sense of place, and for a span of about twenty or thirty pages will ask yourself, “Where the fuck am I?”

Lake’s prose is florid and accessible, with a consistent feel that doesn’t stray in terms of style. However, it is his descriptions and world-building that take point. Lake creates a world that is defamiliar from our own but is also eerily realistic. He basically takes steampunk to a whole new level in this novel, with enough philosophical insight to question profound ideas of science and religion (in the book it’s actually between Christianity and the Rational Humanists) that really isn’t different from our own world.

While a great read I thought the end was a bit of a let down for such a long and arduous quest, but that is more my opinion than anything else. A few years ago I read Kenneth Oppel’s “Airborne” and the novel is comparable in both form, style, and genre. However, this is no children’s book, there’s enough here to satisfy both adults and youth, and enough adventure and drama to satisfy both. Overall, a great read.

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Did the Battlestar Galactica finale deliver on its promise or did it leave many of its fans disappointed? On the whole, I believe it pleased more people than it let down, and while not all of our questions were answered, in the end the show left audiences more than satisfied.

First let me touch upon the flashbacks to before the fall on Caprica (and the Twelve Colonies). I thought these were refreshing and original. For a show that has lost a lot of lives across the last four years since ‘the Fall’ it was a nice change of pace to add these moments every 15-20 minutes during the finale. Not only did we learn more background information on each character but it was a nice breather from a lot of the action that took place during the first half of the show. From here we learn a lot of the backstories for Roslin, Adama, Starbuck, and Lee, as well as some of the other minor characters as well. (What better way to start a finale than a Caprica strip club).

So what were some of the major plotholes that got resolved by the show’s end? Well, firstly I think it should be said that I believe Boomer redeemed herself by rescuing Hera in the end. And while it was no secret that she was going to die, it was nice to see her character come full circle in the end. Hera, it turns out, becomes the Mitochondrial Eve found in Tanzania once the remaining suvivors settle on at pre-historic Earth. It is discovered that Baltar and Caprica Six can see their respective angels and are destined to be together by God. The opera house sequence I think was one of the best filmed sequences of the show and tied up that plotline nicely. In the end, the Battlestar finds Earth with the help of Starbuck, the colony is destroyed and the Colonial Fleet no longer have to survive on algae. Laura Roslin survives long enough to see Earth, while Admiral Adama decides to leave the fleet behind and live out his days building a cabin.

Now the most contentious issues of this finale revolved around the idea that ‘God’ exists and he’s never really explained. The general consensus among viewers is that Kara Thrace is an angel, sent by God to complete her mission to help the Colonial Fleet find earth. I’ll accept this in the end, because it’s not like I have any other choice. Another issue, why did they send their ships full speed ahead into the sun? I know it’s because they didn’t want to repeat the actions of the past, but if they had any hope for survival from scratch just keep the damn ships, even for shelter.

The action sequneces, both out in space and inside the Colony, were some of the best of the show. Although, at times it didn’t leave you a second to breate and take it all in. This review doesn’t do the show justice but sufficed to say it was a fantastic finale. A show that will likely live for years onwards and what I hope will be the new standard for science fiction television.

Here’s to you Battlestar Galactica!

So Say We All!

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Click Here to View Battlestar Galactica Products at Amazon

Firstly, we get the true state of the Battlestar Galactica. Internally we get bulkheads at the point of collapse and micro-fissures too minute to be seen with the naked eye all along the ship’s exterior. The tension on the show is hightened when Tyrol (now promoted back to his position as Chief) warns that another FTL jump has the potential to rip the ship in two, killing everyone on board and leaving the Colonial Fleet defenseless. In the end, Adama gives in to having biologoical cylon resin used to repair the interior hull after observing a large crack in his cabin’s washroom. A decision that wasn’t made lightly.

Then we get the storyline of Ellen from the point where she’s resurrected on a basestar after dying on New Caprica. These scenes, both brilliantly acted by Dean Stockwell and Kate Vernon, play out over the eighteen months as we learn more about how the Cylons came to be. Among other things we learn that John (Cavil) is a little more than mentally unstable, and that he was first Cylon model created by the final five. Ellen confesses that she needs the other final four in order to recreate the resurrection technology. John doesn’t believe her and just as she’s being prepped for surgery, Boomer sneaks her off the baseship and they head for the Colonial fleet.

In the meantime, Anders is being prepped for surgery of his own to remove a bullet lodged in his brain from the attempted coup on the Battlestar Galactica. As a result, he sees everything that happend regarding Earth’s history and the Cylons clear as day. In the end, they manage to remove the bullet and Anders is alright. We also get a restructuring of the Colonial government. Instead of having twelve representatives from the Twelve Colonies, Roslin and Lee decide to have a delegate be elected from each ship, with Lee taking over when the president should meet her ultimate demise.

If this episode doesn’t get an Emmy nomination for best writing (other than the finale) I’ll be very surprised. There was absolutely no filler here. This is science fiction done right. Brilliantly written, superbly acted, and masterfully executed.