This is the first of two WWWednesday columns that will be single-subject instead of a links roundup. Next week, November 27, I’ll give my reactions to the network TV show Evil.
Emergence
ABC, Tuesdays, 10:00 pm
Science Fiction
I watched the first two episodes of ABC’s Emergence wondering exactly what kind of show it was, and I wasn’t alone in that. Twitter filled up with people tweeting, “It’s just like Stranger Things,” “Is it Fringe?” and so on. By Episode Three of the new series,
November 20th, 2019. Marion Deeds | World Wide Wednesday | 1 comment |
Cool word for a Wednesday: gallimaufry (gall-uh-MAW-free); a noun meaning a jumble, a medley or a hodgepodge, or a spicy meat hash. (Isn’t that the planet Doctor Who came from?)
Housekeeping:
There will be no links columns on November 20 or November 27 because I will be out of town both weeks, but I will post a single-subject column on those dates.
Awards:
File 770 reported that the Sunburst Society, a Canadian society for the appreciation of science fiction, has suspended its Copper Cylinder award in 2019.
November 13th, 2019. Marion Deeds | World Wide Wednesday | no comments |
I don’t always agree with Nick Mamatas or his views on humanity, but I think he is one of the most interesting writers working right now, and Sabbath (2019), while it’s strange, is definitely interesting. The story behind the story is interesting and a little strange too. Sabbath (2019) is a novelization of a graphic novel called Sabbath: All Your Sins Reborn, by Matthew Tomao, which does not seem to be well known or much admired on the internet.
November 13th, 2019. Marion Deeds´s rating: 3 | Nick Mamatas | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
The Refrigerator Monologues by Catherynne M. Valente
In her Afterword, Catherynne M. Valente lays out the inspiration for 2017’s collection of linked short stories The Refrigerator Monologues. Valente was inspired partly by the work of comics writer Gail Simone, who created and popularized the term “Women in Refrigerators” as a way to describe women cape-and-mask heroes, and how they are treated in conventional comics. As for structure, Valente looked toward Eve Ensler’s groundbreaking theatrical work The Vagina Monologues.
November 8th, 2019. Marion Deeds and Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 4 | Catherynne M. Valente | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
You know what’s not fun? Throwing your go-bag into the trunk of your car at 4:00 in the morning, while law enforcement drives through your neighborhood with sirens and bullhorns, advising you that “This area is under an evacuation order; leave now.” We were in a town that got put under a precautionary evacuation order as CalFire fought the Kincade Fire, which has burned about 78,000 acres in my home county in California. In spite of the stress and anxiety caused by fleeing my house in a windy, smoke-filled morning, I am glad officials took the approach they did.
November 6th, 2019. Marion Deeds | World Wide Wednesday | 3 comments |
Midnight Riot (aka Rivers of London in the UK) by Ben Aaronovitch
Peter Grant is a constable-in-training in London’s police force. At the end of his probation period, it looks like he’s in line for a long career of boring desk work in the Case Progression Unit, but that all changes when he draws the luckless duty of guarding a crime scene overnight where, earlier that day, a headless body was found lying on the street. While Peter is freezing his heels off in the cold London night,
November 6th, 2019. Stefan Raets, Kelly Lasiter, Terry Weyna, Ray McKenzie and Marion Deeds´s rating: 4 | Ben Aaronovitch | SFF Reviews | 5 comments |
The Future of Another Timeline by Annalee Newitz
The Future of Another Timeline (2019) was a miss for me, which surprised me given how much I enjoy this writer. Many people on Amazon give it high ratings, so, as we say, your mileage may vary.
There are five-time machines embedded in the earth’s crust in Annalee Newitz’s 2019 novel. These objects, growing out of prehistoric rock, may be machines, or sentient entities, or some kind of strange natural occurrence, but they react to certain rhythmic sounds by sending a person back in time … and allowing them to return to their present.
November 4th, 2019. Marion Deeds´s rating: 2.5 | Annalee Newitz | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Today is the USA’s creepiest holiday, Halloween.
Oh, sure, there are cute costumes, pumpkin-spice everything, candy, harvest carnivals and bobbing for apples, but there also ghosties, ghoulies and scary noises. And, haunted places.
Houses, or interiors generally, can be haunted by entities, or they can absorb death, despair and evil themselves, radiating those back at hapless humans who enter the space.
One of my favorite haunted buildings in fiction is Hill House, in Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House. This mansion has both an evil ghost and evil oozing from its wainscoting and walls.
October 31st, 2019. Marion Deeds | Giveaway!, Thoughtful Thursday | 16 comments |
Ghostland: An American History in Haunted Places by Colin Dickey
If ghosts exist, we don’t know why, but ghost stories exist because the living make them up; and the living make them up because we need them. Colin Dickey’s book Ghostland: An American History in Haunted Places (2016) explores the US’s social conflicts and hidden histories as they play out in places that are publicly advertised as “haunted.” In the first chapter, Dickey says, “If you want to understand a place, ignore the boastful monuments and landmarks,
October 31st, 2019. Marion Deeds and Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 4 | Horror, Non-fiction | SFF Reviews | 7 comments |
Awards:
The 2019 Nommo Awards were announced. These awards are given to African speculative fiction writers. Thanks to File 770.
Books and Writing:
Science Fiction/Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) weighed in on the recent issue of Fireside cancelling book scheduled to be published, with very little notice and no compensation. The Contracts Committee reviewed the contract in question. They note that this was a non-advance contract and there was no compensation if the publisher could not fulfill their obligations. This puts all the risk on the writer – in this case,
October 30th, 2019. Marion Deeds | World Wide Wednesday | 1 comment |
What a fascinating exploration of Edwige Fenech's contributions to the giallo genre! I love how the post highlights her unique…
Pretty challenging book. Cut by half, speed up the cadence. Trying to figure out the plot, the main point of…
Thanks for the kind words, Marion! Coming as they are from a professional writer, they are much appreciated!
Wonderful review, Sandy.
The "body count" bothered me a bit less because being dead seemed more like an inconvenience than anything else... unlike…