The Great SF/F Novels of the Post-Millenium?
There have been a lot of lists recently of SF/F books everyone should read from *insert older decade here.* While I enjoy these lists — occasionally you discover something new or unusual — I’m always driven to annoyance by the endless nostalgia for the “good ole days.” Don’t get me wrong here. I don’t hate […]
A Mock Conversation with the SF Community
SF Community: “WER IS ALL THE ADVENTURE AND FUNN IN SF!!! ITZ SO DEPRESSERING!” Me: “How about +Tobias Buckell? Have you read him?” SF: “WHOOOOOO? DAT AUTHER ECKZISTS? WUT? HAHAHA!” That’s the intellectual quality of the SF community right now. 14-year-olds writing text messages. This is not to suggest that Tobias Buckell’s space opera novels […]
The Literary Establishment’s Tolkien Problem?
L. B. Gale recently wrote a post detailing five ways J. R. R. Tolkien defies arguments over his simplicity as a writer. What I find interesting about this post are the numerous inaccurate or false arguments provided by Gale in defense of Tolkien as a writer, all given in an attempt to support her claim […]
Your Orientalist Genre Anthology of Exoticism (or, WTF, Ticonderoga?)
Ticonderoga Publications is currently reading for an anthology called Dreaming of Djinn. All well and good, right? Things get rather strange, however, when you read the description: This anthology, with the working title Dreaming of Djinn, will look at romantic Orientalism through a speculative fiction lens. You might find lost cities, magical lamps, mummies, thieves, […]
The Hugo Awards: Mission Fanzine
A few folks have raised some interesting questions/ideas over on my post about the nominees for the Hugo Awards. I suspect I will explore these topics again in the future. The one thing I did want to remedy about my comments is my dismissive nature of the fanzines. It seems rather silly of me to […]
2012 Hugo Awards Nominations: Preliminary Thoughts
Last year, I ranted about the Hugo Awards (here and here) after they were announced. This year, I’m switching things up to offer some preliminary thoughts before they are announced, and after. If you’d like to put me in my place, the comments are yours. These are preliminary thoughts, so I expect to be proven […]