On the Hugo Awards: Two Scholarly-ish Projects to Come
As you may well be aware, I am currently working on two projects related to the Hugo Awards. I know I’ve mentioned both of these at some point, though the second is certainly the most visible of these projects. I’m also sure you know that the Hugo Awards have been enormously controversial this year, earning mainstream attention in major newspapers and entertainment sites such as The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, Entertainment Weekly, NPR, Boing Boing, and so on. That conversation is still happening; one need only look at File 770 to see it.
Why I’ve Quit Game of Thrones and Will Not Return
(Trigger warning: this post will involve discussion of sexual violence, homophobia, and related subjects. If you watch Game of Thrones, you probably already know what I’m talking about. I’m also releasing this post early because I can’t wait until Friday to drop it. I’m moving my Retro Nostalgia feature to Friday for this week only.)
Patreon Update: Ch-ch-ch-changes and a Question
My Patreon page has been updated to reflect the changes to my blogging/writing efforts. If you’d like to support what I do, please become a patron! On a related note: I’ve had some difficulty thinking about how to change the patron levels to better reflect what folks would want from such a thing. In principle, folks support a Patreon because they like what a person does, but I also like the idea of adding something additional to the pot. Thus far, that “addition” has been varying levels of voting ability and/or topic suggestion ability. Now, I wonder if it might make more sense to make topic suggestions and votes a public function and replace the current levels with something else. The question: what would I replace those things with? Some things I’ve considered: Quirky handwritten letters w/ handwritten maps and other weirdness (I love drawing maps) The Encyclopedia Obscura entries (absurd, quirky alternate history entries to an encyclopedia) Access to fiction (which some said I shouldn’t offer) No idea… I suppose what this comes down to is a confusion over what works for something like Patreon, especially when what you’re offering is written content that isn’t fiction. So if you have any ideas, do let me know. Otherwise, I’ll just leave the page as it is for the time being. Anywho! Thanks for the support!
On Black Widow and Marvel’s Gaps (or, Why We Need a Black Widow Movie)
On the recent Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) episode of The Skiffy and Fanty Show, I argued that part of what bothered me about the Black Widow scene wherein she reveals having been sterilized in the Red Room is that it clarified what was an obvious gap in Marvel’s Cinematic Universe. We need a Black Widow movie, I said — more so now than ever. This is a somewhat complicated position, and I’d like to explore that in-depth here. For those that don’t know, I’ll spoil the bit everyone is talking about:
The Reboot: New Schedule, the Focus, and New Beginnings
Here we go. I’ve been thinking about this for the past month. A number of people have offered their thoughts on what I should do about this blog and my various blogging efforts (thanks!). The following list is a far more compact set of regular (in italics) and irregular features, with the former having a set schedule. I think it’s more focused and better tuned to what I want to be doing in each space. Having a set (but reasonable) schedule is also good for me, since it gives me a structure that isn’t too cumbersome. Here it is:
Speculative Fiction 2014: It’s Here!
That’s right. The anthology of online reviews, media and fan criticism that I edited with Renee Williams has officially been released by The Book Smugglers. You can read all about it here. The collection includes works by a whole lot of amazing people,: Abigail Nussbaum, Adam Roberts, Aidan Moher, Aja Romano, Alex Dally MacFarlane, Amal El-Mohtar, Ana Grilo, Andrew Lapin, Annalee Newitz, Anne C. Perry, Bertha Chin, Betty, Charles Tan, Chinelo Onwualu, Clare McBride, Corinne Duyvis, Daniel José Older, Deborah Pless, Ebony Elizabeth Thomas, Erika Jelinek, Foz Meadows, Gavia Baker-Whitelaw, Joe Sherry, Jonathan McCalmont, Juliet Kahn, Justin Landon, Kameron Hurley, Kari Sperring, Ken Neth, Mahvesh Murad, Martin Petto, Matthew Cheney, Memory Scarlett, Mieneke van der Salm, N.K. Jemisin, Natalie Luhrs, Ng Suat Tong, Nina Allan, Olivia Waite, Paul Weimer, Rachael Acks, Rebecca Pahle, Renay, Rose Lemberg, Saathi Press, Sara L. Sumpter, Shaun Duke, Tade Thompson, Tasha Robinson, The G, thingswithwings, and Vandana Singh. The book is currently available in print via Amazon US and Amazon UK. An ebook version can be purchased on the The Book Smugglers announcement page (scroll down a bit); ebooks should become available on other sites soon. The Book Smugs are also running a giveaway for 5 copies of the book; the giveaway closes on May 9th. A big thanks goes to my co-editor, Renee Williams, for being so organized and putting in so much work on this anthology. I feel like we did an amazing job together, and I am truly proud and honored to have worked with you. Also: a huge thanks to The Book Smugglers (Ana and Thea) for their hard work, their prompt responses to our questions and concerns, and for keeping us (mostly) on track. Lastly, a huge thanks must go to the contributors, who brought so much to the community in 2014, to the fine folks on the Internet for suggesting essays and reviews for us to consider, many of which we might have otherwise missed, and to anyone else who helped me or Renee throughout this process. Now it’s official. I’m an editor person thing. Cool.