Per Locus, it’s official that F&SF has gone quarterly. I don’t know what this means for the magazine, but I don’t think it’s good.
Locus also reviewed Abigail Nussbaum’s new collection of reviews.
One of the smartest and most thoughtful writers in the SF field is Ted Chiang, and in the New Yorker he writes with intelligence and thought about AI as a maker of art.
Continuing with the intelligent and thoughtful writer theme, here’s Richard Powers being interviewed by the U.K. Guardian about his new book.
Autumn is here. This article from 2022 lists ten autumnal festivals. (It’s not deep, but it’s interesting.) I want you all to note that Oktoberfest is first.
I think I’ve been waiting for years for one of Lilith Saintcrow’s titles to reach out and grab me, and that may have happened. Nerds of a Feather reviews the Salt-Black Tree, and now I want to read it and the first book (not in that order).
Timely in more than one way: Last Sunday was the 20th anniversary of the show I love to critique, Lost—and Entertainment Weekly ran an article defending the show’s finale. It is a humorous and, frankly, lukewarm defense, but still. Warning, spoilers.
Teacup is a new series on Peacock, inspired by Robert McCammon’s 1988 novel Stinger. The show looks creepy in a good way.
Finally, an autumn cocktail, the bramble. I don’t know where you find crème de mure, unless you want to make your own, but this looks… fun. And I like blackberries, so there’s that.
ReacTor asked 18 well-known (or well-publicized, at least) authors two questions: what’s the best development in SFF recently, and what would you like to see more of in SFF? The answers were not encouraging. About half the authors said the best thing recently was more books about people like me (or words to that effect) and that what they wanted to see more of was more books about people like me! And some other trends mentioned positively were romantasy and cozy fantasy. Grim prognosis for the field based on that. I’m not sure how popular what these authors favor is with readers. It seems like the SFF best seller lists are swamped with Sarah J. Maas and Rebecca Yarros books, which some people call romantasy. Books featuring romance and books with teenaged protagonists (and the intersection of those two categories) seem to dominate what’s being published, judging by the Locus New Book lists.