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. Smart Bitches, Trashy Books has some thoughts about that.
Liz Carey reviews “How to Raise a Kraken in your Bathtub” by P. Djeli Clark.
Nerds of a Feather review an “alternate history” novel from 1971: The Glory of Empire. What do you think of the review? I thought it was interesting.
Who introduced Schrodinger’s Cat into popular culture? Ursula K. LeGuin, at least according to this article. (Bonus; there is a Schrodinger’s Cat gin.)
Annabella Jenkins, a graduating senior, used her diploma walk to try to hand her school superintendent a copy of a book he had banned. The superintendent crossed his arms and refused to take it, so she set it at his feet.
I don’t know anything about Atlas Obscura’s online classes, but this looked interesting. I’m linking to it but this is not an endorsement—just an interesting post to read.
The James Webb telescope has discovered two of the oldest and most distant galaxies seen so far.
Next week’s column will feature a cover reveal and a Giveaway from Tachyon Press.
yet another reason to love LeGuin!
That’s what I thought, too.