Contratulations to our Bonnie Doran, who reports:

I just signed my first book contract! It's with Harbourlight, an imprint of Pelican Book Group, for my science thriller. Still in shock.

Here's hoping to many wonderful books to come!

Well, there's not much need to repeat them here, so I'm going to just link to them: 2012 Hugo Award Winners Announced.

Personally, the only one of the winners that I've encountered was the Doctor Who episode! I haven't read much recent fiction, I'm afraid.

Hey folks. The people who do Electric Velocipede are looking to get some money together to help keep the magazine going. They've published a bunch of good stories, and got a Hugo award in 2009, and they've launched a kickstarter for people to contribute to here. They only need $5,000, and they've already collected over a thousand.

Since we will be having the picnic this month, there is no program.

Looking back, the July meeting and program went well. Travis let us vote on which story he would read, and the leprechaun assassin (with accent) won. I enjoyed it, and hope he brings the character back for another appearance … maybe a prequel. The Dead Dog wasn’t huge, but Travis and Chanel joined us and there was lively conversation, pizza and cheese.

I attended the last part of Paul’s August alternate … pool, conversation and cheese.

The Denver County Fair (and the Geek Pavilion, which Rose is managing) is still signing up volunteers. A mere four hours gets you a free three-day pass. You also get free parking as a volunteer.

There's tons of fun stuff going on, so if you decide you'd like to check it out and lend a hand, visit www.denvercountyfair.org/volunteer

Our July program is author Travis Heerman. A freelance writer, poet, screenwriter, podcaster, English instructor, poker player, biker, and roustabout, Heerman is the author of two published novels (Heart of the Ronin and The Ivory Star) plus the upcoming Rogues of the Black Fury and a metric ton of role-playing game work. His short fiction pieces have appeared in Cemetery Dance, Historical Lovecraft, Library of Horror Press, Pulp Empire and others.

I love this song by Jonathan Coulton inspired by John Scalzi's new book "Redshirts". I will get this book. Spotted in Wired.

This isn't Scalzi's first book theme song. Last year Paul and Storm put out a power ballad for the book "Fuzzy Nation". (First saw this on boingboing)

For the June meeting, sharpen your brains and uncap those sharpies because it's time for SF Pictionary! Those of us who feel art-challenged will have the option to be guessers instead of drawers .. though we will need a few braver souls to take up the marker.

I am waiting for confirmation of a potential program for July but it’s not definite yet.

I expect some folks will be attending part/all of the Denver Comic Con this coming weekend at the Convention Center … if anyone goes how about a brief con report at the meeting?

The classic fanzine Ansible, which is available happily in an emailed edition, has just released it's 300th issue, which is available here. Have a look!

One of the coolest book trailers I have ever seen is for the book Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld. This is a simple video - all it does is show the amazing illustrations by Keith Thompson and add a little animation. It is interesting that the cover for Leviathan does not highlight the Thompson illustrations. Instead, like most YA covers, it uses a photoshopped mosaic of images that includes manipulated photos.