Author: Marion Deeds

As we noted in an earlier column, fantasy author Patricia McKillip passed away on May 6, 2022. This column is not an obituary; it contains some of my thoughts about her work, mostly THE RIDDLE-MASTER TRILOGY.

Many people mentioned that McKillip was their gateway to fantasy, sometimes the first fantasy book they read (in some cases, even before THE LORD OF THE RINGS). The Riddle-Master of Hed was not the first fantasy book I’d read, but it created an alchemical reaction in me—it inspired me.

SFWA announced the Nebula winners on Saturday, May 21, at the Nebula Conference. P.Djeli Clark won Best Novel for  A Master of Djinn; Premee Mohamad won Best Novella for And What Can We Offer You Tonight; Sarah Pinsker won Best Short Story for “Where Oaken Hearts do Gather.” See all the winners here.

Mercedes Lackey was inducted as SFWA’s most recent grandmaster at the same event. Later, Lackey was expelled from the conference for using a term considered an ethnic slur in describing fellow author Samuel Delany.

Writer David B. Coe blogs about clueless writing advice. There’s not any actual writing advice but it’s an entertaining column, and I’m pretty sure we’ve all had some version of this experience.

You can be famous a number of ways. YA SFF writer Kass Morgan, (aka Mallory Kass) author of The 100, competed on Jeopardy last week.

From last week, fantasy writer Patricia A. McKillip passed away at the age of 74. This was a big loss for me.

The podcast Tales From the Trunk hosted me last week on a Book Tour segment. I had a lot of fun; Hilary, the host of Tales from the Trunk, is a witty and welcoming host.

File 770 rounds up Hugo nominees and other anime in this article.

SWFA’s silent auction, fundraising in partnership with Worldbuilders, continues through next week.

John Palisano discusses Jewish heritage in horror.

Nerds of a Feather takes a look at the finalists for the Ignyte awards,

Marshal Zeringue has several blogs, and one of them is the “Page 69 Test.” The premise is this; would a reader, opening a book at random and reading page 69, have an understanding of what the book’s about? Interesting test! Here’s a recent column.

File 770 offers an excerpt from Tear Down the Throne by Jennifer Estep.

J.D. Evans’s Reign and Ruin is the winner of the Seventh Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off , in what I’d describe as a photo finish (just one-tenth of a point ahead of the runner-up).

Don’t forget about FOGCon’s reading April 30, 2022, with Nisi Shawl and Karen Joy Fowler. The signup for the link is in the article.

File770 shares news about Martha Jones and the Tenth Doctor in comics.

Uncanny Magazine will open submissions for novellas from May 1 thru May 15, and short fiction from May 16 through May 30. Haven’t they won a Hugo? Maybe your story will be the next winner.

The Frankfurt Book Fair raises money for Ukraine. In a similarly-themed article,