Starship Fonzie

  I had the great pleasure of introducing Emily St. John Mandel at the Milwaukee Public Library's Literary Luncheon, along with her interviewer, Marcella Kearns. It was my first time experiencing the Pabst Mansion, a.k.a. the Wisconsin City Club, and I loved every minute. But I was limited to only two pages and couldn't really go into much depth regarding Sea of Tranquility, or what a wonderful read it was. I also had to submit my first draft for the speech prior to the book's release, so I really didn't have much ability to go into any depth about it. So this is finally my opportunity to say all the things about St. John Mandel's new book I couldn't say then, starting with this: It's a fucking great book. Emily St. John Mandel is currently best known for her novel, Station Eleven, which has been made into a series on HBO Max. Her subsequent novel, The Glass Hotel, was also a hit, and is also being developed into an HBO series. The story begins with Edwin St...

I’m currently reading a book called Debarkle. It’s written by an Australian author named Camestros Felapton (not his real name). Debarkle is a historical recounting of the Sad Puppies and Rabid Puppies fiasco that ruined the Hugo Awards ceremony in 2015. And this book is really amazing. I’m enjoying it a lot, and I think Camestros Felapton deserves serious consideration for the Hugo category of Best Fan Writer. But going over the Sad Puppies fiasco again (and if you don’t know about the Sad Puppies slash Rabid Puppies kerfuffle, please look it up on Wikipedia, it’s fascinating), going over that has made me realize that the Hugos have been badly scarred. And those scars are preventing many in the sci fi community from considering Project Hail Mary. I mean, let’s be honest: Project Hail Mary has a white, male protagonist who saves all of humanity on his own and does so not only in spite of a strong female antagonist, but because of said female antagonist. But the Puppies travesty happ...

  It's that time of year again. Time for bloggers like me to name the books from 2021 that they feel are worthy of the Locus, Hugo, Nebula, and Dragon awards. I'm better prepared this year than in any year in the past, and I think that I can give a pretty good assessment of what's worthy out there vs. what isn't worthy. To save time, I'm focusing on the Hugos, since that's the grandaddy of them all. As always, I reserve the right to change my mind, based on later readings or additional information. But for now... Here's my list: Lodestar Award: I have the trickiest time with the Lodestars because I don't usually read YA fiction. Yet it's abundantly clear that one book stands out from the rest, and that's Victories Greater Than Death by Charlie Jane Anders. The amazing author of the Hugo-winning  All The Birds in the Sky is at the top of her game, and it shows. Other Lodestar candidates that caught my interest include Speculative Fiction for Dre...

It's that time of year again - time to select the best of the previous year and serve it up to be considered for a Hugo Award in 2022. Essential to the selection process is reading Locus Magazine's edition for February. If you don't subscribe to Locus (and if you're reading this blog, why aren't you?) you should at least understand that nearly every single Hugo Award winner makes the list on Locus Magazine first. There are always dizzying amounts of candidates to consider, and Locus helps to whittle down the huge, huge pile to a manageable size for people who do not review sci fi novels and short stories for a living. It's a vital service which helps to kick-start every Hugo candidate who makes that list. Except this year, there is a huge oversight major fuck-up. Ask any casual reader what the best novel of 2021 was and they'll tell you right away: Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. It was amazing. It was awesome. When I'd finished reading it, I felt privi...

If you're one of those people who is really bummed out about J.K. Rowling going off the rails, there is a new and wonderful alternative out there that you MUST read. And if you're one of those who is not bummed about Rowling, read this book anyway. It's called "A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking." And it's awesome. T. Kingfisher is the pen name of Ursula K. Vernon, a wonderful and relatively new writer (since about 2005, or so), who started out as an illustrator and then branched out into literature. She adapted the pen name of T. Kingfisher to distinguish her more adult literature from her children's literature, taking a page from Ursula K. LeGuin (who once joked that the "K" in her name stood for Kingfisher). Like Harry Potter, this is a YA novel, but it appeals to adults as well. It's about a young girl named Mona, a fourteen-year-old girl with what seems to be a minor-level magical talent. She can work magic with bread. It's a u...

  Warning: Mild spoilers ahead. Fans are lamenting the end of one of the best sci-fi TV shows to come along in a generation. When SyFy cancelled it after its third season, Amazon Prime picked it up and continued the series for three more seasons. Amazon did so after a huge fan base lobbied hard for the series to continue. Not since Star Trek has a fan revolt of this nature resulted in a show continuing - and this puts The Expanse in VERY good company! The final season was only six episodes, and that's a disappointment on so many levels. Nevertheless, fans are saluting a job well done. Except I don't think the series is done yet. The television series ends with the dramatization of book six, along with the novella, "Strange Dogs." But there are three novels and two novellas still remaining. The reason most don't think these will be incorporated into the television series is because they are set thirty years after the ending of "Babylon's Ashes" - the ...

  Well, lo and behold, I have a story out there! It's available on Purple Wall Stories. Anybody interested in reading it and voting for it (please, please do!) has until January 10th to do so. And, FYI, voting means doing so by sending an actual email. You need to set up an account, then you get an email link. But if you set up an account and send an email from whatever email server you use, that's also acceptable. So long as you have a (free!) account set up with Purple Wall Stories. Also, you can vote multiple days. We are down to 7 days left as of this posting, that means you can vote each day up to 7 times! It would mean a lot to me if you did! Thanks! Eric