The 2024 Hugo Awards Committee has disqualified 377 votes that were determined to have been not cast by “a natural person” as the WSFS constitution calls for. See the details here or watch the video below.
Charlie Jane Anders thinks there are plenty of Doctor Who stories left on the table, and she shares 11 story seeds in her newsletter.
The Sunday Morning Transport offers us a free story. (Thanks to File 770.)
Peruvian art installation/theme park Area 21 looks pretty cool.
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.
Tachyon Publications celebrates the 30-year anniversary of Patricia McKillip’s The Book of Atrix Wolfe with a beautiful new edition. McKillip, who passed away in May, 2022, wrote seductive fantasies, filled with engaging characters and prose that sang. Beginning in the 1970s, McKillip filled our lives with magic, mystery and beauty.
We’re happy to reveal the beautiful cover of the new book, and host a giveaway. One commenter will have a choice of a hardcopy ARC or an eARC of The Book of Atrix Wolfe.
“When the White Wolf descends upon the battlefield,
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.
In Season 2 of Lost, the showrunners hit both the zenith and nadir of characterization, with Ben Linus (Michael Emerson) and Ana Lucia Cortez (Michelle Rodriguez.) They succumbed to the Epic Fail technique of “fridging.” Pop-star character Charlie wrestled with addiction, as Locke did with faith. And as in Season One, lots of people run through the jungle. With Season 2, the show added the dramatic innovation, “running and falling down in the jungle.”
Starting in September, 2005, Season 2 led us through 24 episodes. Storylines include:
the Hatch
the Tail Section Survivors
Walt’s abduction
The Others
Courtesy of Lostpedia,
If you’re a WorldCon member, you know the Hugo Voting Packets are available.
Fiction magazine Small Wonders has initiated a Kickstarter to fund its second year.
ReactorMag reports that Sandman has now cast the rest of the Endless (the siblings of Dream) including Destruction.
They also review the latest Doctor Who episode.
Here’s a fun article about Season 2 of House of the Dragon.
Atlas Obscura shares an interesting article about the Maya and their use of mirrors.
4,8,15,16,23,42
Lost opens in the immediate aftermath of an airliner crash on a deserted jungle island. The first character we see is a wounded Jack Shepherd, a spinal surgeon with a Messiah complex, but very soon the canvas of the Survivors of Oceanic flight 815 will be spread out before us, and what a broad canvas it is.
Filmed entirely, or nearly so, in the state of Hawaii, mostly on Oahu, Lost was beautiful, but it required some conscious suspension of disbelief to accept Honolulu as every other single city represented in the show.
(Giveaway: One commenter will get the hardcover edition of Ghost Station by S.A. Barnes.)
Like the show itself, this is a very long column. Unlike the show, it’s only about one thing.
Lost aired on ABC from 2004-2010, six enigmatic seasons that left a vocal and devoted fanbase, and a larger audience whose reaction seemed to be more like, “Huh? What?” when they watched the final season—especially the final episode.
Lost can be purchased via Youtube or Amazon Prime. I stopped watching the show early in its original run,
Alan Brown reviews the collected short stories of Vernor Vinge.
Coincidence time: I’d never heard of From, but I’m currently re-watching an old ABC show called Lost which featured Harold Perrineau, and so does From, which includes staff talent from Lost… which means it could go any number of ways.
Since I have been watching Lost, I wondered where Matthew Fox got to, and here’s the answer.
I didn’t know The Lazarus Project was still on,
Primary endosymbiosis is rare, but it’s happening right now with an algae and a cyanobacterium, which are merging to form an organelle that can fix nitrogen directly from the air.
Among other events, BaltiCon will feature an SFF-themed short film festival. (Thanks to File 770.)
Fallout has been renewed for another season on Amazon.
Nerds of a Feather interview Cheryl Ntumy about Mothersound, a science-fantasy anthology based on African folklore, and the Sauutiverse collective.
Reactor offers an excerpt of James Logan’s new epic fantasy novel The Silverblood Promise.
The Tolkien Awards were announced on Saturday, April 13.
The Writers Guild announced their awards as well, and there are some genre-related winners here.
Here’s a fun article on an amateur, non-profit Doctor Who film being filmed in Wales (because where else?) (Thanks to File770.)
Molly Templeton asks the question; “Can a Book Really Be for Everyone?” and proceeds to answer it. I’m not sure I completely agree, but it’s a great essay.
I’m not disappointed in this article,
Oliver K. Langmead shares six books with Nerds of a Feather, including a collaboration between China Mieville and… Keanu Reeves, an adaptation of Reeves’s comic. Interesting.
Haruki Murakami has a new book coming out in November, The City and its Uncertain Walls.
Angry Robot has opened its submission window and is utilizing an AI sorting program. They have providing an FAQ page and are trying to get ahead of any concerns writers might have. (Thanks to File770.)
Reactor announced that Tor will be publishing a new “Gatsby” themed novella from Nghi Vo.
The Hugo finalist list is out. Any surprises? I’m pleased to see that fans of Chinese SFF didn’t let last year’s mess discourage them.
Not too surprisingly, several people declined nominations and a few of them gave statements. Here’s Camestos Felapton’s. Natasha Bardon, nominated for Best Editor, Long Form, declined. Bardon edited Babel, an award-winning book that was deemed ineligible for the Hugos last year for no discernible reason. Martha Wells declined a nomination for Best Novella for System Collapse.
A single-topic column today.
Fifteen years after Johannes Cabal the Necromancer came out, to acclaim, I finally read it, along with Johannes Cabal the Detective, the second book in Jonathan L. Howard’s series. While I’m not quite sure how I missed them the first time around, I thoroughly enjoyed these first two and the astringent wit with which they are written. I was completely entertained by Johannes Cabal, scientist, necromancer, intelligent and cold-blooded anti-hero who is just human enough to make really big,
March 17 is best known in the modern USA as St. Patrick’s Day. It is also the feast day of St. Getrude of Nivelles, an aristocratic woman who became a nun and an abbess, and might be the patron saint of cats. This older article is interesting, even though there is no formal documentation of a Patron Saint of Cats.
Short story writer and award winner John Wiswell shares six books with Nerds of a Feather.
Best five? Best six? Stubby the Robot says, “Hah!” to such paltry lists and gives us 13 selkie stories on Reactor.
Tom Doherty will be awarded the 2024 Robert Heinlein Award.
Reactor shares more casting news in the Murderbot adaptation. All the “good” characters appear to be cast.
File 770 recapped the Oscars in case you missed them.
Point Nemo is the most remote spot on the planet, it seems.
According to Beth Ann Malow, “springing forward” is not good for us—and yet we keep doing it. https:
This year’s Self-Published Fantasy Blog Off has identified its 10 finalists.
Apple TV has cast David Dastmalchian in the Murderbot adaptation. He’ll play Gurathin.
On his blog, Peter Clines writes about the temptation to complicate things for the sake of complication, and the risks involved.
Nerds of a Feather takes a close look at Dune, Part Two. They review The City of Marble and Blood by Howard Andrews Jones.
The Saint of Bright Doors won the 2024 Crawford Award, which is awarded to a writer whose first fantasy novel debuted the previous year.
I picked this site because they included Comeuppance Served Cold on one of their “favorite” lists, but the whole place looks pretty fun.
Uncanny Magazine, Issue 57, is available on March 5.
The Crime Writers Association announces its 2024 winners.
Victoria Strauss discusses productive ways to change your mindset when thinking about agent/writing scams. (Thanks to File 770.)
The U.K. Guardian has an obituary for Canadian actor Kenneth Mitchell,
The saga of the Hugos continues, and now there is documentation of obvious manipulation by the committee. Chris M. Barkley and Jason Sanford published this article which details most of the problems with the ballot process. They lay most of the blame on Dave McCarty, who has said publicly that he believes he did the right thing. Diane Lacey published a statement of apology when the article came out. Kat Jones released this statement. Glasgow WorldCon has released Kat Jones from all her assignments.
NBC interviewed Paul Weimer about the fracas.
Don't know how to answer that, Andrew; I've only read the long. But when it comes to REH, more is…
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