Always.
Posts Tagged ‘science fiction’
This Is How We Win
Posted in Holidays, Likes, tagged #ThingsILike, hope, inspiration, science fiction, Thoughts on May 4, 2020| Leave a Comment »
The 2019 Nebula Award Finalists!
Posted in Likes, Writing, tagged #freefiction, #ThingsILike, Fiction, genre fiction, science fiction, sff, short stories, speculative fiction on February 22, 2020| Leave a Comment »
Oh hey, just when I was running out of high-quality sci-fi, the universe gives me (drum roll please)… The 2019 Nebula Award Finalists!
Free links where available. Enjoy!
Novel
- Marque of Caine, Charles E. Gannon (Baen)
- The Ten Thousand Doors of January, Alix E. Harrow (Redhook; Orbit UK)
- A Memory Called Empire, Arkady Martine (Tor)
- Gods of Jade and Shadow, Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Del Rey; Jo Fletcher)
- Gideon the Ninth, Tamsyn Muir (Tor.com Publishing)
- A Song for a New Day, Sarah Pinsker (Berkley)
Novella
- “Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom”, Ted Chiang (Exhalation)
- The Haunting of Tram Car 015, P. Djèlí Clark (Tor.com Publishing)
- This Is How You Lose the Time War, Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone (Saga; Jo Fletcher)
- Her Silhouette, Drawn in Water, Vylar Kaftan (Tor.com Publishing)
- The Deep, Rivers Solomon, with Daveed Diggs, William Hutson & Jonathan Snipes (Saga)
- Catfish Lullaby, A.C. Wise (Broken Eye)
Novelette
- “A Strange Uncertain Light”, G.V. Anderson (F&SF 7-8/19)
- “For He Can Creep”, Siobhan Carroll (Tor.com 7/10/19)
- “His Footsteps, Through Darkness and Light”, Mimi Mondal (Tor.com 1/23/19)
- “The Blur in the Corner of Your Eye”, Sarah Pinsker (Uncanny 7-8/19)
- Carpe Glitter, Cat Rambo (Meerkat)
- “The Archronology of Love”, Caroline M. Yoachim (Lightspeed 4/19)
Short Story
- “Give the Family My Love”, A.T. Greenblatt (Clarkesworld 2/19)
- “The Dead, In Their Uncontrollable Power”, Karen Osborne (Uncanny 3-4/19)
- “And Now His Lordship Is Laughing”, Shiv Ramdas (Strange Horizons 9/9/19)
- “Ten Excerpts from an Annotated Bibliography on the Cannibal Women of Ratnabar Island”, Nibedita Sen (Nightmare 5/19)
- “A Catalog of Storms”, Fran Wilde (Uncanny 1-2/19)
- “How the Trick Is Done”, A.C. Wise (Uncanny 7-8/19)
The Andre Norton Award for Outstanding Young Adult Science Fiction or Fantasy Book
- Sal and Gabi Break the Universe, Carlos Hernandez (Disney Hyperion)
- Catfishing on CatNet, Naomi Kritzer (Tor Teen)
- Dragon Pearl, Yoon Ha Lee (Disney Hyperion)
- Peasprout Chen: Battle of Champions, Henry Lien (Holt)
- Cog, Greg van Eekhout (Harper)
- Riverland, Fran Wilde (Amulet)
Game Writing
- Outer Wilds, Kelsey Beachum (Mobius Digital)
- The Outer Worlds, Leonard Boyarsky, Megan Starks, Kate Dollarhyde, Chris L’Etoile (Obsidian Entertainment)
- The Magician’s Workshop, Kate Heartfield (Choice of Games)
- Disco Elysium, Robert Kurvitz (ZA/UM)
- Fate Accessibility Toolkit, Elsa Sjunneson-Henry (Evil Hat Productions)
The Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation
- Avengers: Endgame, Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely (Marvel Studios)
- Captain Marvel, Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck & Geneva Robertson-Dworet (Marvel Studios)
- Good Omens: “Hard Times”, Neil Gaiman (Amazon Studios/BBC Studios)
- The Mandalorian: “The Child”, Jon Favreau (Disney+)
- Russian Doll: “The Way Out”, Allison Silverman and Leslye Headland (Netflix)
- Watchmen: “A God Walks into Abar”, Jeff Jensen & Damon Lindelof (HBO)
*** pew pew! ***
Photo by Nathan Duck on Unsplash
The 2019 Hugo Award Winners
Posted in Writing, tagged arts, awesome, books, creativity, Fiction, genre fiction, Hugo Awards, Hugos, inspiration, Murderbot, science fiction, sff, speculative fiction, writing, yay on August 19, 2019| Leave a Comment »
The folks over at Boing Boing have listed last night’s 2019 Hugo award winners, complete with links:
Best Novel: The Calculating Stars, by Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor)
Best Novella: Artificial Condition, by Martha Wells (Tor.com publishing)
Best Novelette: “If at First You Don’t Succeed, Try, Try Again,” by Zen Cho (B&N Sci-Fi and Fantasy Blog, 29 November 2018)
Best Short Story: “A Witch’s Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies,” by Alix E. Harrow (Apex Magazine, February 2018)
Best Series: Wayfarers, by Becky Chambers (Hodder & Stoughton / Harper Voyager)
Best Related Work: Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Best Graphic Story: Monstress, Volume 3: Haven, written by Marjorie Liu, art by Sana Takeda (Image Comics)
Best Professional Editor (Short Form): Gardner Dozois
Best Professional Editor, Long Form: Navah Wolfe
Best Professional Artist: Charles Vess
Best Semiprozine: Uncanny Magazine
Best Fanzine: Lady Business
Best Fancast: Our Opinions Are Correct
Best Fan Writer: Foz Meadows
Best Fan Artist: Likhain (Mia Sereno)
Best Art Book: The Books of Earthsea: The Complete Illustrated Edition, illustrated by Charles Vess, written by Ursula K. Le Guin (Saga Press / Gollancz)
Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book: Children of Blood and Bone, by Tomi Adeyemi (Henry Holt / Macmillan Children’s Books)
John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer: Jeannette Ng
Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, screenplay by Phil Lord and Rodney Rothman, directed by Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey and Rodney Rothman (Sony)
Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form: The Good Place: “Janet(s),” written by Josh Siegal & Dylan Morgan, directed by Morgan Sackett (NBC)
So excited to see my favorite Murderbot and the Wayfarers series get some love, and I’m looking forward to checking out some of the others on the roster. For more reading material, check out Tor.com’s full list of nominees. Enjoy!
The 2018 Nebula Award Finalists
Posted in Entertainment, Likes, Writing, tagged #ThingsILike, Fiction, free, genre fiction, Nebula Awards, science fiction, sff, short stories, speculative fiction, writing on March 5, 2019| Leave a Comment »
Looking for new reading material? Good news! The Nebula Award finalists have been announced, so it’s time to pad those To Read lists, people. Here is the complete list, some with links to reviews, previews, and full text where available (and I felt like it:).
What looks interesting to you?
***
2018 Nebula Award Finalists
Novel
The Calculating Stars, Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor) [review]
The Poppy War, R.F. Kuang (Harper Voyager US; Harper Voyager UK)
Blackfish City, Sam J. Miller (Ecco; Orbit UK)
Spinning Silver, Naomi Novik (Del Rey; Macmillan)
Witchmark, C.L. Polk (Tor.com Publishing)
Trail of Lightning, Rebecca Roanhorse (Saga) [review]
Novella
Fire Ant, Jonathan P. Brazee (Semper Fi) [preview]
The Black God’s Drums, P. Djèlí Clark (Tor.com Publishing) [review]
The Tea Master and the Detective, Aliette de Bodard (Subterranean) [preview and review]
Alice Payne Arrives, Kate Heartfield (Tor.com Publishing) [excerpt]
Gods, Monsters, and the Lucky Peach, Kelly Robson (Tor.com Publishing) [review and review]
Artificial Condition, Martha Wells (Tor.com Publishing) [excerpt]
Novelette
“The Only Harmless Great Thing”, Brooke Bolander (Tor.com Publishing)
“The Last Banquet of Temporal Confections”, Tina Connolly (Tor.com 7/11/18)
“An Agent of Utopia”, Andy Duncan (An Agent of Utopia)
“The Substance of My Lives, the Accidents of Our Births”, José Pablo Iriarte (Lightspeed 1/18)
“The Rule of Three”, Lawrence M. Schoen (Future Science Fiction Digest 12/18)
“Messenger”, Yudhanjaya Wijeratne and R.R. Virdi (Expanding Universe, Volume 4)
Short Story
“Interview for the End of the World”, Rhett C. Bruno (Bridge Across the Stars)
“The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Teeth of George Washington”, Phenderson Djèlí Clark (Fireside 2/18)
“Going Dark”, Richard Fox (Backblast Area Clear)
“And Yet”, A.T. Greenblatt (Uncanny 3-4/18)
“A Witch’s Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies”, Alix E. Harrow (Apex 2/6/18)
“The Court Magician”, Sarah Pinsker (Lightspeed 1/18)
Game Writing
Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, Charlie Brooker (House of Tomorrow & Netflix)
The Road to Canterbury, Kate Heartfield (Choice of Games)
God of War, Matt Sophos, Richard Zangrande Gaubert, Cory Barlog, Orion Walker, and Adam Dolin (Santa Monica Studio/Sony/Interactive Entertainment)
Rent-A-Vice, Natalia Theodoridou (Choice of Games)
The Martian Job, M. Darusha Wehm (Choice of Games)
The Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation
The Good Place: “Jeremy Bearimy”, Written by: Megan Amram
Black Panther, Written by: Ryan Coogler and Joe Robert Cole
A Quiet Place, Screenplay by: John Krasinski and Bryan Woods & Scott Beck
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Screenplay by: Phil Lord and Rodney Rothman
Dirty Computer, Written by: Janelle Monáe and Chuck Lightning
Sorry to Bother You, Written by: Boots Riley
The Andre Norton Award for Outstanding Young Adult Science Fiction or Fantasy Book
Children of Blood and Bone, Tomi Adeyemi (Henry Holt; Macmillan)
Aru Shah and the End of Time, Roshani Chokshi (Rick Riordan Presents)
A Light in the Dark, A.K. DuBoff (BDL)
Tess of the Road, Rachel Hartman (Random House)
Dread Nation, Justina Ireland (Balzer + Bray)
Peasprout Chen: Future Legend of Skate and Sword, Henry Lien (Henry Holt)
***
Let’s see if embedding my Goodreads list works here… Why yes, I believe it does. If the list isn’t showing for you, find it here.
***
Bye Bye Birdies?
Posted in Other, Writing, tagged #yearofthebird, genre fiction, home, inspiration, Motivation, quotes, science fiction, sff, speculative fiction, Thoughts, writing on April 12, 2018| 1 Comment »
My bird feeder is half full.
It’s an extra large “squirrel proof” version that almost lives up to its name. It’s tall and has a red metal cap and four weight-sensitive perches designed to give smaller birds a chance against the jays and cardinals and squirrels in the neighborhood, and mostly it works. Watching birds come into the yard is fun and satisfying for both humans and felines. Except that there’s a lot less to watch these days.
I haven’t refilled the feeder since last year. And it’s still half full. Where are the birds?
I’ve been wondering this every time Mr. Man and I are out and about. We live in an established suburb and when we first moved into our house the yard hosted raccoons and rabbits and groundhogs and once, a fluffy orange fox. Now only the squirrels and a few birds remain. The city is going through a burst of expansion, so perhaps it’s no surprise that the decline in surrounding farmland is taking a toll on the wildlife. Still, this shift feels new.
* * *
A New York Times article* brought this to a head for me. It’s not the first report I’ve seen on the topic, unfortunately, but we do (with apologies to The Day After Tomorrow) appear to be reaching a critical de-avian-ization point. Agricultural practices in particular have done a number on the insect population. Is it any surprise that birds will follow?
Insects and birds are all part of that delightful staple of elementary school classrooms, the food web. The next obvious questions are, “What’s next?” and “How long until it affects us?”
Public policy is one way to improve the situation. For example, the Farm Bill helps preserve habitat on private lands and provides an often much-needed economic buffer for farmers and other land owners. Don’t have acreage at your disposal? You can still make a difference by creating bird-friendly (and pollinator-friendly) yards.
But before we can make a better world, we need to envision that world.
* * *
“We’ve all got both light and dark inside us. What matters is the part we choose to act on. That’s who we really are.”
― J.K. Rowling
One of the best things about speculative fiction is that it allows us to test drive ideas, to spin them into the future, to weigh the potential positives and negatives without actually having to live through that AI or medical or environmental apocalypse.
It reminds me of something I said to a friend facing a life-changing decision: “Whatever you decide, do it on purpose.”
* * *
“We are our choices.”
― Jean-Paul Sartre
Some of the most terrifying words in the English language are “unintended consequences.” Fiction, particularly of the speculative variety, can help steer us through those dangerous waters, between Scylla and Charybdis.
Have a goal, consider the consequences. Then act on purpose.
Making sure that we aren’t on the list of species in decline by protecting the species around us? That seems like a terrific goal.
And maybe next year I’ll have to refill my bird feeder more often.
. . . . .
* tl;dr: Bird populations in France are experiencing “precipitous declines in agricultural regions, even among common birds well adapted to human activity” and scientists point to “the loss of insects, the major food source for many birds, as a likely result of pesticide use.” And before American and Canadian readers breathe a sigh of relief, “A report two years ago said that the problems for about a third of North American birds were urgent.” Ruh-ro!
Here’s to November!
Posted in Writing, tagged #ThingsILike, books, creativity, Fiction, fun, genre fiction, Motivation, nanowrimo, persistence, science fiction, sff, speculative fiction, Thoughts, work, Writers, writing on November 6, 2017| Leave a Comment »
It’s November. Days are cold and nights are frosty. The cat wants in. And out. And back in again. It’s also the time of year for NaNoWriMo.
Yep, I’m doing it! My plan is to win (because of course) but most importantly, my goal is to get back on the regular-everyday-seriously-stop messing around writing train, and to practice a select number of specific writing skills. I haven’t gotten around to updating my official NaNo information, but I am working industriously away, so double handful of yay there.
Right now it looks as though the story I’m working on will involve superheroes and science fiction, but you just never know when a story will take a left turn. Will there be elves in the closet? Magic cotton candy machines? Or a secret bio lab planning to doom us all?!? One never knows:)
As I’ve mentioned in years past, I tend to be a pantser who heads to the keyboard and tackles the project head on, but I’m mixing it up this year.
Now I’m off to do some planning, some pantsing, and lots of writing:)
