Shaun Duke
Shaun Duke is an aspiring writer, a reviewer, and an academic. He is currently an Assistant Professor of Digital Rhetoric and Writing at Bemidji State University. He received his PhD in English from the University of Florida and studies science fiction, postcolonialism, digital fan cultures, and digital rhetoric.
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2014 Hugo Nominee Ballot: Best Novel
Reading Time
I feel like this is one of those categories where no matter what I do, I’ll always miss something. 2013 wasn’t a huge reading year for me, and that means there are just too many bloody novels I didn’t have time to get to. Thankfully, I got to read some exceptional books, even if they are only 1% of the things published in sf/f in 2013.
So without further delay, here’s what I’ve chosen:
The Best of All Possible Worlds by Karen Lord
If there’s one thing to be said about this book, it’s this: it sure doesn’t pull any punches with its central conceit. Right at the start, an entire people is nearly wiped off the proverbial map, with remnants of the population scrounging to figure out how to survive in a dwindling gene pool. What follows is a fascinating examination of genetics, cultural clash, and…love? I loved it. Paul Weimer loved it. You will, too (or else I’ll cry).
Our interview on The Skiffy and Fanty Show.
Sister Mine by Nalo Hopkinson
I’m biased. I know. But Sister Mine is the kind of urban fantasy that will keep me coming back for more every single time. Hopkinson’s characters are richly developed and beautiful in their eccentricities. I also loved her attempt to incorporate the orishas of African “myth” into a modern setting, particularly as it assigned semi-divine status to the main character and her sister.
Our interview on The Skiffy and Fanty Show.
The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes
Remember when Zoo City was the coolest thing Lauren Beukes had published? Then she released The Shining Girls and destroyed our minds forever. I loved Beukes’ use of time travel and the pov of a serial killer to explore mortality and psychosis; attentive readers will discover all kinds of unique connections between the various details, too. If you haven’t read it yet, then you’re missing out.
Our interview on The Skiffy and Fanty Show.
The Violent Century by Lavie Tidhar
In my humble opinion, this is the best sf/f book of 2013. Tidhar’s prose style, historical depth, and unique take on “superheroes” or “superpowers” absolutely blew me away when I read it earlier this year. There’s something haunting about this particular work, much like Osama (2011). If Tidhar keeps it up, I’m going to have to dedicate an entire college-level course to his work…
Our interview on The Skiffy and Fanty Show.
Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie
I imagine this is the one book everyone expects to make it to the final ballot. And it deserves to be there, too. While sf has previously played with gender in ways similar to Leckie’s take, there’s something refreshing about Ancillary Justice. Maybe it’s the unique take on empire or the protagonist’s past as part of a “collective” or simply the immediacy with which Leckie destabilizes the gender paradigms in the first chapter…whatever it is that makes this book so compelling, I loved it.
Our interview on The Skiffy and Fanty Show.
Now what am I missing?
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Book Review: Start Finishing by Charlie Gilkey (2022)
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A Reading List of Dystopian Fiction and Relevant Texts (Apropos of Nothing in Particular)
Why would someone make a list of important and interesting works of dystopian fiction? Or a suggested reading list of works that are relevant to those dystopian works? There is absolutely no reason other than raw interest. There’s nothing going on to compel this. There is nothing in particular one making such a list would hope you’d learn. The lists below are not an exhaustive list. There are bound to be texts I have forgotten or texts you think folks should read that are not listed. Feel free to make your own list and tell me about it OR leave a comment. I’ll add things I’ve missed! Anywhoodles. Here goes:
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Duke’s Best EDM Tracks of 2024
And so it came to pass that I finished up my annual Best of EDM [Insert Year Here] lists. I used to do these on Spotify before switching to Tidal, and I continued doing them on Tidal because I listen to an absurd amount of EDM and like keeping track of the tunes I love the most. Below, you will find a Tidal playlist that should be public. You can listen to the first 50 tracks right here, but the full playlist is available on Tidal proper (which has a free version just like Spotify does). For whatever reason, the embedded playlist breaks the page, and so I’ve opted to link to it here and at the bottom of this post. Embeds are weird. Or you can pull songs into your preferred listening app. It’s up to you. Some caveats before we begin:
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