To HBO, at least. Fans of A Song of Ice and Fire who are eagerly awaiting the fifth book in George R.R. Martin's popular fantasy series, will have to continue to wait for A Dance with Dragons.

Martin announced the news recently, that HBO has greenlighted A Game of Thrones for a full ten episode first season, due to air next spring. The plan is to adapt one book in the series per season. The cast includes Lord of the Rings alumni, Sean Bean in the role of Eddard (Ned) Stark, Lord of Winterfell and the King's new Hand.

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The Prix Aurora Awards have announced their shortlists in all categories. This year the prizes will be awarded in Winnipeg as part of Manitoba's local Science Fiction and Fantasy convention, KeyCon, now in its 27th year.

Voting for the Auroras is open to Canadian citizens and permanent residents, and may be done at the Prix Aurora website, here. For those who plan on attending KeyCon, there will be onsite voting as well.

The nominees for best novel in English:

• The Amulet of Amon-Ra-Leslie Carmichael
• Druids-Barbara Galler-Smith and Josh Langston
• Wake-Robert J. Sawyer
• Steel Whispers-Hayden Trenholm
• Terra Insegura-Edward Willett

A complete list of nominees may be found here:

 

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Charlaine Harris, best known for her Sookie Stackhouse novels which form the basis for HBO's True Blood series, will be venturing into another medium. Dynamite Entertainment will be adapting her Harper Connelly books, starting with Grave Sight, into a comic series.

From the back cover copy of Grave Sight:

Harper Connelly has what you might call a strange job: she finds dead people. She can sense the final location of a person who's passed, and share their very last moment. The way Harper sees it, she's providing a service to the dead while bringing some closure to the living - but she's used to most people treating her like a blood-sucking leech. Traveling with her step-brother Tolliver as manager and sometime-bodyguard, she's become an expert at getting in, getting paid, and getting out fast. Because for the living it's always urgent - even if the dead can wait forever.

The Bram Stoker Awards for Superior Achievement in Horror have announced their shortlists in all categories. The Stokers are awarded for Superior Achievement rather than "best of year" and its rules are deliberately designed to make ties probable.

Here are the finalists for Superior Achievement in a Novel:

• Audrey's Door - Sarah Langan
• Patient Zero - Jonathan Maberry
• Quarantined - Joe McKinney
• Cursed - Jeremy Shipp

A complete list of the nominees may be found here: