On this day in 1454, the Secret Council of the Prussian Confederation sends a formal act of disobedience to the Grand Master. I love it when history sounds like a fantasy novel.

fantasy book reviews science fiction book reviewsWriting, Editing, and Publishing

Publisher’s Weekly posted a great interview with Kelly Link, whose new collection of stories, Get in Trouble, is out now.

The 2015 Locus Recommended Reading list was recently released; check it out here.

There is also a lot of award news. First of all, the William L. Crawford award for Fantasy resulted in a tie this year, going to both Zen Cho for Spirits Abroad and Stephanie Feldman for The Angel of Losses. Jack McDevitt won this year’s Robert A. Heinlein Award. And the shortlist for the James Herbert Award for Horror has been announced, and it includes M.R. Carey‘s The Girl With All the Gifts.

It’s the 50th anniversary of Frank Herbert‘s Dune, and Damien Walter writes here for the Guardian on why the book is  a sci-fi masterpiece.

fantasy book reviews science fiction book reviewsSometimes no news is good news, and sometimes no news is just no news. Here’s a non-update on George R. R. Martin‘s The Winds of Winter. What this could mean, however, is that the HBO show will get ahead of Martin in the timeline of the ASOIAF story.

Movies and Television:

Speaking of Game of Thrones, the season 5 trailer was released and it is gorgeous and compelling.

And Matthew Stott gives us several reasons why Neil Gaiman‘s Neverwhere should be revived and become the next British SFF super-show, like Doctor Who.

fantasy book reviews science fiction book reviewsInternet Stuff:

A meteorite discovered a few years ago in Morocco might be a chunk of Mars’ crust.

A skeleton found in China in 2006 has been named a new species of dinosaur, with the longest neck ever.

And finally, some cosplay photos of the Arisia Masquerade, from the recent Arisia fan convention in Boston.

Featured Art: 

I decided to give you guys a break from the interminable diet of fairy tale illustrations. Instead, today, I’m featuring art from Golden Age of science fiction. Book and magazine covers, film posters, and illustration from science fiction in the 50s and 60s are gorgeous, full of color, menacing creatures, and lonely vistas.

Author

  • Kate Lechler

    KATE LECHLER, on our staff from May 2014 to January 2017, resides in Oxford, MS, where she divides her time between teaching early British literature at the University of Mississippi, writing fiction, and throwing the tennis ball for her insatiable terrier, Sam. She loves speculative fiction because of what it tells us about our past, present, and future. She particularly enjoys re-imagined fairy tales and myths, fabulism, magical realism, urban fantasy, and the New Weird. Just as in real life, she has no time for melodramatic protagonists with no sense of humor. The movie she quotes most often is Jurassic Park, and the TV show she obsessively re-watches (much to the chagrin of her husband) is Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

    View all posts