* We are sorry to report the death of science fiction artist John Berkey, who passed away last week at the age of 76.  Tor Books' Art Director Irene Gallo provides this brief but moving notice: <http://igallo.blogspot.com/2008/04/john-berkey.html>

* Congratulations to the winners of this year's Nebula Awards, which were announced Saturday April 26, 2008, in Austin, Texas.  The winner for best novel was THE YIDDISH POLICEMEN'S UNION by Michael Chabon.  For the complete list of nominees and winners, see  <http://www.sfwa.org/news/2008/07nebwiners.htm>

* We are excited to pass on the following news from awesome local author Simon Wood: "I was made an "author laureate" of San Francisco Library.  And my 1st horror book under my horror pen name of Simon Janus, THE SCRUBS, will be coming out in May.  It's picked up some rave reviews already.  For details and to read an excerpt, go to <http://simonwood.net/scrubs.html>.

* More kudos to Lou Anders and everyone at Pyr Books, who sent along the following: Pyr Gets two Hugo Nominations plus two authors up for John W. Campbell Best New Writer Award!  Pyr, the highly acclaimed science fiction and fantasy imprint of Prometheus Books, is proud to announce that its Editorial Director, Lou Anders, and three of its authors have been nominated for highly esteemed awards in science fiction:  Lou Anders for Best Professional Editor, Long Form, Ian McDonald's BRASYL for Best Novel, and both Joe Abercrombie (THE BLADE ITSELF) and David Louis Edelman (INFOQUAKE) for John W. Campbell Best New Writer Award.  We are delighted at Pyr's accomplishments and wish them ongoing success!

* The always delightfully unconventional Gavin and Kelly at Small Beer Press want you to have free John Kessel and Maureen F. McHugh stories!  Two whole books of short stories have been licensed under Creative Commons, so go ahead and download 'em for free right here: <http://lcrw.net/>.  We hope you'll also decide to pick up a copy of the physical books, which, although not free, are much more attractive and substantially easier to read in the bath.

* Thanks to John Scalzi, if you are, or become, a member of this year's World Science Fiction Convention, you can get FREE electronic copies of several Best Novel nominees for the Hugo Award - Ian McDonald's BRASYL, Robert Sawyer's ROLLBACK, John Scalzi's THE LAST COLONY, and Charles Stross's HALTING STATE: <http://scalzi.com/whatever/?p=576>


* In the last of the "free book news" for this month, Mort Castle sends the following: "As you might know, I've been working the past few years to replace Howard Stern as King of All Media, and it seems my latest venture brings me closer to that goal.  You can now download six of my stories in mp3 audio format at <http://www.sniplits.com>".

*Thanks to Pat Murphy for the following notice about the Tiptree Awards: "The James Tiptree, Jr. Literary Award Council is pleased to announce that the winner of the 2007 Tiptree Award is THE CARHULLAN ARMY by Sarah Hall (published in the United States as DAUGHTERS OF THE NORTH). The British edition was published in 2007 by Faber & Faber; the American edition in 2008 by HarperCollins.  The Tiptree Award will be celebrated on May 25, 2008 at WisCon <http://www.wiscon.info> in Madison, Wisconsin.  The winner of the Tiptree Award receives $1000 in prize money, an original artwork created specifically for the winning novel or story, and (as always) chocolate . . . .  The James Tiptree Jr. Award is presented annually to a work or works that explore and expand gender roles in science fiction and fantasy. The award seeks out work that is thought-provoking, imaginative, and perhaps even infuriating. The Tiptree Award is intended to reward those women and men who are bold enough to contemplate shifts and changes in gender roles, a fundamental aspect of any society."  For more information on the Tiptrees, including the Tiptree Award Honor List, see: <http://www.tiptree.org>.