"Jinkies!"

Passed in traffic on our way to Superstore yesterday - and we would have gotten away with it if it weren't for those meddling kids...

- Sid

P.S. A certain amount of soul searching - and research - was involved in this posting.  Initially, I wasn't certain that Scooby-Doo qualified for the blog. In my mind, there was no supernatural* element to the show, it was more of an ongoing cautionary tale that the villains in life are generally old white men disguised as monsters. However, some research into the team's 57-year history indicated that later iterations of Mystery Inc. did in fact deal with actual ghosts and phantoms.

* Research also revealed that there was also a Scooby-Doo crossover episode in Supernatural's 13th season: 

 I feel that they nailed Sam but Dean is a bit off.

May the 14th be with you.

Photo by Gage Skidmore*

Today we celebrate the 82nd birthday of George Lucas, a man who, as they say, needs no introduction - it is hard to think of anyone who has had such a massive impact on popular culture with the creation and evolution of the Star Wars franchise.

That being said, pop quiz: how many full-length movies has Lucas directed in his legendary career?

Six.

Yep, that's it, six:

• THX 1138
• American Graffiti
• Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope
• Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace
• Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones
• Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith 

To provide some perspective, Steven Spielberg's directorial feature film score is 34. 

I was amazed to discover this bit of trivia - it seems like such a low number, considering the man's stature in Hollywood. That being said, it's a deceptive statistic that ignores an epic resume of contributions to the industry in virtually every aspect of production in some form or another.  

Regardless, as far as I'm concerned, Mr. Lucas, you had done everything that you needed to do the first time I saw the words "A long time ago in a galaxy far far away..." on the screen at the Norwood Cinema in 1977.  Thank you for your service, George - and happy birthday!

- Sid

* This was not the photo of Mr. Lucas that I would have preferred to use, but apparently all the production photos from the first Star Wars movie are controlled by the mailed fist of Getty Images, and I have very little desire to be the victim of a cease and desist lawsuit.  (Which I've narrowly avoided in a small freelance project, so I speak from experience.)  My thanks to Wikipedia™and Gage Skidmore, whoever he may be, for the above image.  

2026 Aurora Award Nominees: Represent!

And now, some Canadian content to balance out the Hugo Awards coverage: the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association (CSFFA) has released the slate of nominees for the annual Aurora Awards, which recognize the best Canadian science fiction and fantasy works of the year.  In the past, the awards ceremony has been held in conjunction with Canvention, as with the Hugos and Worldcon, but in recent years the organizers have transitioned to an online ceremony in order to allow for a wider viewership.  The 2026 ceremony will be livestreamed on YouTube on August 9th - the link will be published closer to the event.

This year's nominees are:

BEST NOVEL

• The Bewitching, Silvia Moreno-Garcia
• Blight, Rachel A. Rosen
• Direct Descendant, Tanya Huff
• The Downloaded 2: Ghosts in the Machine, Robert J. Sawyer
• Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales, Heather Fawcett
• A Shift of Time, Julie E. Czerneda
• Written on the Dark, Guy Gavriel Kay

BEST YOUNG ADULT (YA) NOVEL

• Breath of the Dragon, Shannon Lee & Fonda Lee 
• Fireboy, Edward Willett 
• A Lion’s Head, D.M. De Alwis
• Minotaur, Jamieson Wolf
• One Morning Sun, Avi Silver
• Winging It, Jen Desmarais

BEST NOVELETTE/NOVELLA

• The First Thousand Trees, Premee Mohamed
• In the Gardener’s Service, Michèle Laframboise
• The Lure of Stone, Silvia Moreno-Garcia
• A Palace Near the Wind, Ai Jiang
• The River Has Roots, Amal El-Mohtar

BEST SHORT STORY

• Hunted To Extinction, Premee Mohamed
• I Ain’t Your Doll Face, Jacqueline Thorpe
• the love song of house and lake, Gillian Secord
• The Stone Played at Tengen, R.H. Wesley
• What If We Kissed While Sinking a Billionaire’s Yacht?, Rachel A. Rosen

BEST GRAPHIC NOVEL/COMIC

• Atana and the Jade Mermaid, Vivian Zhou
• Bonds of the Forest, Ally Rom Colthoff
• It Never Rains, Kari Maaren
• Questionable Content, Jeph Jacques
• Shark Girl, Kate Beaton

BEST POEM/SONG

• At the Spaceport Bar, Lisa Timpf
• Bigfoot Farewell, Carolyn Clink
• Dragon Karaoke, David Clink
• Explosive, Derek Newman-Stille
• flowers without meadow, Tiffany Morris
• From Dust, J. Y. Zhang

BEST RELATED WORK

• As the Earth Dreams: Black Canadian Speculative Stories, Terese Mason Pierre
• Augur Magazine, Issues 8.1-8.3, Kerry C. Byrne, Toria Liao, André Geleynse, Kelley Tai, and Azure Arther
• On Spec Magazine, Issues #131 – 134, Vol 35, Diane L. Walton, Managing Editor
• One Message Remains, Premee Mohamed
• Year’s Best Canadian Fantasy and Science Fiction: Volume Three, Stephen Kotowych, Editor

BEST COVER ART/INTERIOR ILLUSTRATION

• Dancing With the Holly King, Janice Blaine
• Seance, Alice M.
• Lunar Base, Dan O’Driscoll
• Starship Librarians, Lorna Antoniazzi
• Listen to Me and I’ll tell You a Story, Ejiwa “Edge” Ebenebe

BEST FAN WRITING AND PUBLICATION

• Amazing Stories online columns, Numbers 405-420, Steve Fahnestalk
• Book Reviews in The Ottawa Review of Books, Robert Runté
• Polar Starlight Magazine, Issues 17-20, Rhea E. Rose, editor
• Speculative Poetry and the Hugos, Lynne Sargen
• Young People Read Old Science Fiction, James Davis Nicoll

BEST FAN RELATED WORK

• Can*Con, Marie Bilodeau, chair and Brandon Crilly, vice-chair
• Scintillation, Jo Walton and Rene Walling, co-chairs
• Two Old Farts Talk Sci-Fi, Troy Harkin and David Clink
• Wizards & Spaceships, Rachel A. Rosen and David L. Clink
• The Worldshapers Podcast, Edward Willett 

I see that The Infinite Revolution has not received a nomination this year - obviously not a surprise, but can you imagine?  Joking aside, I suspect that my little hobby is a bit too casual for awards consideration - although, we are coming up on the 20th anniversary of this blog, perhaps I should be recognized for sheer persistence.

- Sid