Author: Marion Deeds

I know we were all worried that the Glasgow WorldCon would go off with no scandals or dust-ups, but have no fear! George R.R. Martin has a complaint.

Tananarive Due, Laura Blackwell, Elizabeth Hand and others were honored at the Shirley Jackson Awards last weekend.

In the wake of last year’s disastrous Hugo candidate selection, this year’s WSFS business meeting faces 15 proposals that deal directly with the aftermath. Some attempt to remediate the damage done to eligible authors who were excluded for no known reason. Others attempt to prevent similar events in the future.

In my first post about Lost, I  casually referred to Jacob and his unnamed twin, two characters who appear in Seasons 5 and 6, as “demigods.” After I wrote that, I had some doubts. The traditional definition of “demigods” is the offspring of a deity and a mortal. (Hmmm… so it doesn’t have to be a human, just a “mortal.” There could be demigod rabbits or demigod earthworms or… Oh! Demigod trees!)

But I digress.

There is no mention in the lore of Lost that Jacob and his brother have a divine parent.

Babel by R.F. Huang won the 2024 Xingyun Award for best work in translation. You might remember this book. It was disqualified from the Hugo awards earlier this year for no known reason.

The Bram Stoker Awards were also announced.

Romance Writers of America filed for bankruptcy on May 29. Reasons included a dwindling membership—apparently down from 10,000 members in 2019 to about 2,000 members in 2023–and equally dwindling paid registrations at conventions. The organization itself, according to a Bloomberg headline, blames “DEI,” (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) for its problems.