Chess pieces large in foreground, doorway in background. Image by PeepoNominations are open for the Ursula K. LeGuin prize.

The Tolkien Society Awards were announced on April 1, and apparently that isn’t a joke. These awards include visual arts.

Oh, no, I missed a scandal. I have failed you. Apparently, during the tallying of the SFWA Nebula Award nominees, an editor from Baen Books cast doubt on the counts, providing a screenshot of a list with a Baen book near the top. Strangely, the screenshot wasn’t from the nominating list at all, but a completely different SFWA list.

Tor.com isn’t the only site that does “Five…” or “Eight…” and a round-up of books with a certain theme. CrimeReads does it too. Here’s a list of best books with AI.

Vanity Fair has a nice article about a new Marvel series, Secret Invasion, which features Nick Fury and the Skrull, who are tired of waiting for the “home of their own” they were promised. Many familiar faces in this one!

I got introduced to this story this weekend. Saki is well-known; you may have read this is school. It’s actually… social commentary? Grim humor? A cautionary tale? Enjoy!

Is cyberpunk dead? No, says this article; it’s alive and doing great in South Asia.

Robot dogs can now open doors and let themselves in, just like your dog can with the bathroom door.

Nerds of a Feather reviews Peculiar Woods, which sounds like a charming graphic novel for young people.

I’ve commented in a couple of reviews lately that I’m growing tired of teen or twenty-something protagonists, and I’d like to see some different flavors of grownup. This middle-grade school librarian brings a different position to the argument. She wants to see more middle grade books with a specific age range. What do you think of her reasons?

Scary! Teens are sneaking away to… watch chess tournaments.

Ars Technica reviews the upcoming Dungeons and Dragons film, Honor Among Thieves, and likes it.

Author

  • Marion Deeds

    Marion Deeds, with us since March, 2011, is the author of the fantasy novella ALUMINUM LEAVES. Her short fiction has appeared in the anthologies BEYOND THE STARS, THE WAND THAT ROCKS THE CRADLE, STRANGE CALIFORNIA, and in Podcastle, The Noyo River Review, Daily Science Fiction and Flash Fiction Online. She’s retired from 35 years in county government, and spends some of her free time volunteering at a second-hand bookstore in her home town.