Even Though I Knew the End by C.L. Polk Let me start with what I loved about C.L. Polk’s 2022 novella, Even Though I Knew the End. I loved the premise of the magical system at play here, and the story delivered a 1940s Chicago, Illinois, that was both familiar and convincingly strange. The Wink, […]
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I’ve done some short columns in the past couple of years. This is probably the shortest. My only offering is this video of Vocces 8 singing a medley of secular Christmas songs. Next week and probably the week after will be single-topic columns (but probably a little longer than this.) Enjoy the lovely voices.
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From 2020, National Geographic has put together an article tracing the origins of the Christmas tree. While many cultures used evergreen boughs and ornaments in their midwinter celebrations, the official ruling is that 16th century Germany is the point of origin for the tree tradition as it is now known. Good Housekeeping offers up a […]
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The Hourglass Throne by K.D. Edwards The Hourglass Throne, published in 2022, is the third book in K.D. Edwards’s THE TAROT SEQUENCE, following the adventures of Atlanteans transplanted to Nantucket Island. This review may contain spoilers for The Last Sun and The Hanged Man, the two previous books. I recommend reading both earlier books; at […]
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Lindsey Eagar serves up eight fantasy books featuring bread, bread-adjacent foods, and/or baking, on Tor.com. Giveaway: One commenter chosen at random will win a copy of Even Though I Knew the End by C.L. Polk. Vulture has an overview of the life of the amazing Octavia Butler, written by E. Alex Jung. We’re heading into […]
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Have a good day tomorrow everybody, if you celebrate the holiday or it you don’t. Giveaway: One commenter chosen at random will get a copy of Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi. Greg Bear, Nebula Award winner, passed away on November 20, 2022. Snoopy is part of Project Artemis. At least, a stuffed Snoopy dog […]
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The World We Make by N.K. Jemisin Book Two in N.K. Jemisin’s GREAT CITIES duology, 2022’s The World We Make is full of action, suspense, humor and good fun. That doesn’t mean the stakes aren’t serious (the continued existence of our reality), but as she did in The City We Became, Jemisin lets herself have […]
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Does anybody have a turkey stuffing recipe that doesn’t call for onions? Seriously. If you do, and you’re willing to share, please put the link in the comments. Thank you! Z-Library has been seized by the Feds for pirating and copyright infringement. While overall the election results seem to lean toward support of democracy, in […]
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Stonefish by Scott R. Jones 2020’s horror novel Stonefish by Scott R. Jones is not your basic horror novel. I tend to forget that, like every other genre, horror has an array of subgenres, styles, and tropes. Even so, it’s hard for me to “sum up” what kind of horror story Stonefish is. I’m settling […]
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The World Fantasy Awards were announced. The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri took home the Best Novel award while Premee Mohamed’s And What Can We Offer You Tonight snagged Best Novella, and “(emet)” by Lauren Ring Best Short Story. The convention was held in New Orleans this year. Neil Gaiman and Amanda Palmer are separating. […]
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The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno-Garcia It’s 1877, and on a decaying rancho deep in the Yucatán peninsula, Carlota Moreau’s sheltered life — and world — is about to change. Carlota’s father, Doctor Moreau, conducts experiments on human-animal hybrids, with a stated goal of improving humanity. When his patrons, the Lizalde family, threaten […]
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Single-topic column today. Amazon has adapted William Gibson’s The Peripheral to a streaming show. To my disappointment, after three episodes, the show is like one of the book’s eponymous creations, an unpiloted peripheral; glossy, elegant, smart even, but lacking any spark of life. The Peripheral takes place in two different timelines. One is set in […]
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The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina by Zoraida Córdova 2021’s The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina was practically a perfect book for me. It’s filled with fantastical magic that baffled me and thrilled me, and it brought to mind the early books of Isabel Allende. The Montoya family were complicated and realistic, in a real-world setting that […]
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File 770 shared the Asimov’s Annual Readers Awards. All of Us Villains by Amanda Foody and Christine Herman, and Leigh Bardugo’s Rule of Wolves, top the list of the Young Adult Library Services Association’s winners of best YA reads for 2022. Back to the Future, the Musical, is coming to the US. (This article may […]
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The Nectar of Nightmares by Craig Laurance Gidney It’s horror season for me, the time of year where I usually settle in with a cozy haunted house story, but sometimes branch out into the region of the genuinely horrifying or the truly weird. Craig Laurance Gidney’s short story collection The Nectar of Nightmares, published in […]
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Trick or Treat! One commenter selected at random gets a copy of Craig Laurance Gidney’s story collection The Nectar of Nightmares. Shehan Karunatilaka won the Booker Prize for The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida. Dame Carmen Callil, who founded the feminist Virago Press, passed away at the age of 84. Virago reissued classic works […]
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What Lives in the Woods by Lindsay Currie Ginny — or Gin — Anderson is looking forward to the summer writing workshop she’s going to attend with her best friend Erica, in their hometown of Chicago, until Dad upends the family’s plans because of a job. He’d going to restore a century-old house-turned-hotel, The Woodmoor […]
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Rest in peace, Angela Lansbury, who passed away October 11, 2022 at the age of 96. In honor of the season, Fangoria gives a critique of the Ray Bradbury classic Something Wicked This Way Comes. Melanie Walsh is a scientist, used to working with data, and like many of us, she discovered just how difficult […]
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Sequencing the Neanderthal genome was a winner (A Nobel prize for medicine winner) for Svante Paabo, the son of a previous Nobel prize winner. Baen Books’ annual adventure story contest is open for submissions, closing February 1, 2023. See the article and the site for details. File 770 shares the first Utopia Awards. Becky Chambers […]
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File770 discusses how the Chicago Worldcon Community Fund extended memberships and increased inclusion for people who would otherwise have been unable to participate. Teen writers in the Los Angeles area can submit their short fiction to the Tomorrow Prize science fiction contest. Details are in File 770’s article. Charles Payseur takes up the debate of […]
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Fiyah’s Ignyte awards were announced on Saturday. P.Djeli Clark took home Best Adult Novel for Master of Djinn; Best Young Adult Novel went to Darcie Littlebadger for A Snake Falls to Earth; Best Novella was awarded to Shingai Ngeri Kagunda for This is How to Stay Alive. View all the award winners here. (You can […]
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In honor of my birthday, one commenter will get a copy of T. Kingfisher‘s southern gothic horror novel, The Twisted Ones. In this column I discuss my reaction to a re-read of a classic 1990s fantasy novel. Published in 1998, Someplace to be Flying is not the first entry in Charles de Lint’s NEWFORD series. It’s […]
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The Hugo winners were announced on September 4. Arkady Martine took home Best Novel for A Desolation Called Peace, Becky Chambers gathered up the Best Novella award for A Psalm for the Wild-Built, and Sarah Pinsker won Best Short Story for “Where Oaken Hearts do Gather. Best Series went to Seanan McGuire for THE WAYWARD […]
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The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix The title of Grady Hendrix’s 2021 novel might make you think it’s a horror story in the slasher-movie style, and there are plenty of nods to horror here. Actually, the book is a thriller, and as a thriller it works pretty well. Hendrix intersperses the thriller with […]
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File 770 posted its Filers locations and meet-ups during ChiCon8, which is this year’s WorldCon. Casey Fiesler posted a thoughtful article about the internet and privacy. No innovations or new revelations here, just a considered look at fanfiction, emotional support and unintended consequences. Vanity publishers are still around and still predatory, as this column in […]
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