Greetings to Tor.com from the wilds of Atlanta, where JordanCon Five is full steam ahead! As Toastmaster this year, I am currently running around like a chicken with its head cut off, but I wanted to pop in and give y’all one very important piece of news.

Which is: my Tor.com Re-read commenters are AWESOME.

Click the jump to see why!

[Seriously, you guys, hearts all across the land]

Welcome back to the British Genre Fiction Focus, Tor.com’s weekly column dedicated to news and new releases from the United Kingdom’s thriving speculative fiction industry.

With the death of Margaret Thatcher dominating every discussion, you’d be forgiven for thinking there was no other news in the UK this week. But you’d be wrong. Life goes on. The literary life, at least.

Amongst the stories we’ll touch on today: Gollancz has signed Joanne Harris for a novel inspired by Norse mythology, Joe Abercrombie recently revealed that The First Law comic book we talked about last time will be released gratis, the winners of a prize for Young Writers have been announced, and I wonder what they say about speculative fiction’s future, and we’ll also learn about Read Petite, an innovative short fiction initiative.

Gollancz also dominates the week in new releases, bringing standalone science fiction from Gavin Smith, a collection of stories to supplement Tom Lloyd’s epic quintet, plus Poison by Sarah Pinborough: the first in a series of three feisty fairy tales reimagined for a modern audience. In addition, we anticipate the debut of Deadlands by Lily Herne and a little thing called the Book of Sith.

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Welcome back to the British Genre Fiction Focus, Tor.com’s weekly column dedicated to news and new releases from the United Kingdom’s thriving speculative fiction industry.

In the spirit of the silly season, this edition begins with a not-news item that appears to have provoked a wide array of reactions. Space bunnies, anyone?

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In the last few years, Comic-Con has made it abundantly clear that they want to make attending their event as difficult as possible. As a result, my con companion and I decided to trade out the massive epicness of Comic-Con for the smaller and more convenient WonderCon. Ironically, even though I live in the San Francisco Bay Area, I didn’t attend WonderCon until it left the Moscone Center for the the one place I vowed never to return to: Anaheim. (My personal vendetta against the happiest place on earth has less to do with it being methodically quaint and depressingly suburban and everything to do with suffering through the worst concert experience of my life there.) Fortunately for me (and my bank account—the 3 day pass is only $40), WonderCon is a great alternative to the intense insanity that is Comic-Con San Diego. It’s big enough to attract a variety of celebs, artists, and sellers from a variety of mediums, yet small enough to be easily walkable and generally less crowded than you might think.

[“This is not the line you are looking for.”]

Welcome back to the British Genre Fiction Focus, Tor.com’s weekly column dedicated to news and new releases from the United Kingdom’s thriving speculative fiction industry.

It’s been a week of high and lows, I suppose. One the one hand, thousands of science fiction fans are gearing up for Eastercon 2013, AKA Eight Squared, which promises to provide a long weekend of genre-oriented excitement, including panels, music, art and hilarity. On the other, there was some very sad news last Wednesday: James Herbert, author of Ash and The Rats, has died.

We’ll touch on both of these stories in this week’s edition of the British Genre Fiction Focus, in addition to taking in the launch of a line of lavish speculative classics from HarperCollins Voyager, the unveiling of Hodder & Stoughton’s cover art for Stephen King’s Doctor Sleep—how can it possibly compete with the North American cover, I wonder?—and, last but not least, a flood of short fiction by Neil Gaiman and a number of other authors.

Meanwhile, the week in new releases includes a tremendous trio from PS Publishing, the latest from former rocket scientist Simon Morden, Will Hill’s third Department 19 novel and the conclusion of Greg Bear’s trilogy of Halo prequels. That isn’t even the half of it, either!

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In advance of a most excellent extended weekend for sci-fi fans from far and from wide, it’s time for another edition of the British Genre Fiction Focus, Tor.com’s weekly column dedicated to news and new releases from the United Kingdom’s thriving speculative fiction industry.

We have some especially exciting stories to talk about today, including an impassioned diatribe regarding the reach of the community revolving around genre fiction; a weird dream about another London, similar yet set apart from our own; and the reveal of a new monthly magazine which looks to reintroduce us to the slow burn satisfaction of serial storytelling. But if you ask me there’s no bigger news this week than the Sci-fi Weekender, which begins just a few short hours from now... and I’ve got the rundown on the best of the festival.

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The last day of the convention always serves up a cocktail of sadness at the need to return to the real world and slight relief at being able to emerge, blinking, into the bright light and fresh air of the outdoors. Or maybe that’s just conventions at the LAX Marriott, where just about everything is in the basement. The effect seems to be especially jarring at single-fandom conventions like Gallifrey One—for three days straight, you’ve been wallowing in Doctor Who, and when you finally venture out, it feels strange to not see an extra-long knitted scarf around every third neck, and you assume that anyone wearing a certain shade of blue must be a fan.

[Wrapping up with Mark Sheppard, dinosaur puppets, and a look ahead...]

My notes from Sylvester McCoy’s Q&A on Saturday are sparse to nonexistent, and the most notable feature therein is the sentence, “Nothing I write is going to get across the insanity that is this Q&A.”

After you’ve gone to enough conventions, you often find panels or Q&A sessions settling into a fairly predictable pattern, to the extent that you don’t really go into it expecting to be shocked. Oh, it’ll be enjoyable no matter what, if it’s work that you’re interested in, but usually, assuming a good moderator, you can be confident of considered questions, equally considered answers, and audience questions that range from predictable to predictably deranged.

What you don’t expect—unless you’ve been fortunate enough to see McCoy in action before, which I hadn't—is for the star to immediately bound off the stage and into the audience, personally walking up to the people with their hands up to hand them the mic.

[Sylvester McCoy, unleashed!]

Here’s the thing to remember about Gallifrey One: at its heart, it’s essentially a convention run for fans, by fans, with a certain “hey kids, let’s put on a show!” vibe that still hasn’t gone away—despite the fact that the show now completely takes over the LAX Marriott for the duration. It’s not usually the kind of convention where the show-changing, life-altering announcements are made; even with 3200 attendees, it’s still a big, cozy fan party.

That said, we got a pretty big party favor this evening: at the completion of the opening ceremonies, we got a first look at “Airlock”—part three of the First Doctor serial “Galaxy 4”. This serial was thought entirely lost until 2011, and it’s since been recovered and restored for inclusion on an upcoming special release of “The Aztecs”. The premiere of a lost piece of Doctor Who history is an event, and it was definitely a great way to kick off the first night of the twenty-fourth Gallifrey One, in the year of Doctor Who’s 50^th anniversary.

[Daleks, piracy, and Chumblies...]

2013 is the year to get ready for some pseudo-time-travelling, what-if wanderings, and speculative festivities of the dapper variety. I have a list of 39 steampunk and steam-friendly conventions and one-day events from around the world, gathered with help from Kevin Steil, the Airship Ambassador.

Since new steampunk cons spring out of the gearwork every so often, if I had missed yours, please drop a comment (and email me about featuring it for my monthly steampunk events roundup).

All descriptions taken from the convention website or Facebook page.

[Steampunk conventions worldwide]

Ever since the news broke a few weeks ago that Castle season 5 would include a convention episode with an emphasis on star Nathan Fillion’s cancelled sci-fi series Firefly—directed by Jonathan “Commander Riker” Frakes, no less—fans have eagerly been looking forward to “The Final Frontier.” The most intriguing element of the episode was that the producers were looking to cast someone to basically play Nathan Fillion, if he had succumbed to depression and alcohol abuse and faded into obscurity after his show got cancelled. How meta!

I’m sad to report that “The Final Frontier” fell short of my expectations of a total Firefly lovefest. The in-jokes weren’t as delightful as in years past, and many of the plot points resembled the kinds of murder-at-cons episodes we’ve seen from similar procedurals like Bones or one of the CSI offshoots. It was a valiant effort from the producers, but lacked the nuance and respect that Firefly fans deserve.

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If you attended the Geek Thoughts: Top Blogs Discuss Writing About Science Fiction, Fantasy and Fandom panel at New York Comic Con this past weekend then you discovered the terrible secret behind what makes sci-fi/fantasy blogs like io9, Blastr, Boing Boing, The Mary Sue, Bleeding Cool, and Tor.com so entertaining: We’re all complete goofballs.

Really smart total goofballs, that is. The panel, moderated by Tor.com’s Ryan Britt, went into both the practical and quirkier bits of what it’s like to fashion minute-to-minute sci-fi/fantasy/comics news and original content for a wide internet audience. And revealed the sharp, deeply terrified wit that drives it all forward.

[“If I have to look at another cat dressed like an Avenger I’m going to kill Batman!”]

New York Comic Con is nigh and while we've got your sci-fi and fantasy fix all handily listed out for you, this is where to get the scoop on what will appeal to comic lovers and the little ones!

[First Second Books' schedule]

If there’s one thing the geek community is good at doing, it’s laughing at ourselves. Not in a mean way, just in understanding, with feelings of camaraderie and warm fuzzies. So when we found this stupendous music video parodying “At The Gala,” populated by My Little Ponies and chock full of lyrics about why we all love conventions, we simply had to share. Revel in your cosplay, questionable content (that’s completely acceptable), and t-shirts of your favorite fanfic OC. It’s genius. Love it with us.

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The winners for the 2012 Hugo Awards have been announced. Congratulations to all the winners and nominees!

The Hugo Awards have been given since 1953, and every year since 1955, by the annual World Science Fiction Convention (the “Worldcon”). The first Worldcon occurred in New York City in 1939, and Worldcons have been held annually since then except during World War II. This year’s Worldcon is Chicon 7 and was held in Chicago from August 30 through September 3.

The Guests of Honor for this year’s awards were Mike Resnick, Story Musgrave, Rowena Morrill, Jane Frank, Peggy Rae Sapienza, Sy Ligergot, Peter Sagal, and toastmaster John Scalzi.

Hugo Award finalists are selected by members of the previous Worldcon and of the upcoming one; winners are selected by members of the upcoming one. For more information about voting in the Hugo Awards, please click here.

Tor Books and Tor.com are especially proud to announce the Hugo awards to Jo Walton’s Among Others for Best Novel and to Charlie Jane Anders’ “Six Months, Three Days” for Best Novelette.

[Winners and nominees below]

You’ve read the preview from A Memory of Light, but do you know what else Brandon Sanderson revealed on Sunday at DragonCon?

The question and answer portion during the packed Memory of Light preview yielded some stunning new facts, especially in regards to what portions of the final three Wheel of Time books Robert Jordan left for fans of the series. Do you know where Brandon cameos in the books? And what huge surprise is waiting for readers at the end of A Memory of Light?

Video and exact wordings from the Q&A is forthcoming later this week, but in the meantime, here’s a summary to tide you over!

[Just the facts]

Yesterday morning so many different realities merged and frothed, pouring like happy lava down the streets of downtown Atlanta. And we’ve got pictures!

Of course, we’re speaking of the inaugurating parade of DragonCon 2012, where all of the different tracks, science fiction/fantasy sub-genres, and more put on their best duds and strut to, well, whatever the filkers behind them are playing.

Continue below for the highlights. Vicious battles! Rock monsters! Rose and the Tenth Doctor and their babies! Adorable Wheel of Time fans! George R. R. Martin cosplay! Our furry Ghostbuster friend up top and... sorry, why are you still reading this and not looking at the pictures?

(Slow computer warning! There are nearly 40 pictures. Click any image to enlarge it.)

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Tor.com is at this year’s DragonCon! We’re most easily found in the Wheel of Time track (at the Westin) but you’ll find us haunting most everything in downtown Atlanta, eating in the same food courts you’re eating in, accidentally finding ourselves in elevators with Stan Lee, and marveling at that one hotel that thinks it’s a spaceship.

We’re also snapping pics of all the cosplay we like. Just like you! Maybe that should be our new slogan. Tor.com: We’re Just Like You. And So Tired.

Head below to find our favorite cosplayers from Friday, including a steampunk time machine, David Bowie cosplay, and a functional GLaDOS!

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Driving from L.A. to Seattle and back is hard. So hard, that I needed a couple of days to recuperate. (i.e. Totally pass out and nap for three days, then re-learn English.) Now that I’m back on solid foods and putting sentences together again, I’m happy to report that GeekGirlCon has done nothing but improve and thrive in its second year. Remember last year, when I told you that GeekGirlCon was the most important con of the year? Well, it still is, for many of the same reasons. Same warm, friendly, welcoming atmosphere. Same lack of judgement no matter how you identify, whom you’re dating/married to, or whether or not you have children. Same wonderful spotlight on female contributions to genre storytelling, the sciences, and fandom. But there have been some changes this year, too, which have improved the con immensely, expanding on its mission statement and offering attendees even more.

[“The default gender happens to not be male...”]