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Nebula Award Nominees Announced!

Saturday March 16, 2024

Nebula Award for Novel

  • The Saint of Bright Doors, Vajra Chandrasekera (Tordotcom)
  • The Water Outlaws, S.L. Huang (Tordotcom; Solaris UK)
  • Translation State, Ann Leckie (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
  • The Terraformers, Annalee Newitz (Tor; Orbit UK)
  • Shigidi and the Brass Head of Obalufon, Wole Talabi (DAW, Gollancz)
  • Witch King, Martha Wells (Tordotcom)

Nebula Award for Novella

  • The Crane Husband,  Kelly Barnhill (Tordotcom)
  • “Linghun”,  Ai Jiang (Linghun)
  • Thornhedge, T. Kingfisher (Tor; Titan UK)
  • Untethered Sky,  Fonda Lee (Tordotcom)
  • The Mimicking of Known Successes,  Malka Older (Tordotcom)
  • Mammoths at the Gates,  Nghi Vo (Tordotcom)

Nebula Award for Novelette

  • “A Short Biography of a Conscious Chair“, Renan Bernardo (Samovar 2/23)
  • I Am AI, Ai Jiang (Shortwave)
  • The Year Without SunshineNaomi Kritzer (Uncanny 11-12/23) 
  • “Imagine: Purple-Haired Girl Shooting Down...

BSFA Short List Announced!

Sunday March 10, 2024

The shortlist for the 2023 British Science Fiction Association (BSFA) Awards has been announced, with newly revised and expanded categories.

Best Novel

  • The Green Man’s Quarry, Juliet McKenna (Wizard Tower)
  • Descendant Machine, Gareth L. Powell (Titan)
  • Airside, Christopher Priest (Gollancz)
  • HIM, Geoff Ryman (Angry Robot)
  • Shigidi and the Brass Head of Obalufon, Wole Talabi (Gollancz)

Best Shorter Fiction (for novelettes and novellas)

  • Broken Paradise, Eugen Bacon (Luna)
  • I Am AI, Ai Jiang (Shortwave)
  • Europa, Allen Stroud (Flame Tree)
  • “Knotted Thorn” Kari Sperring (The Book of Gaheris)
  • And Put Away Childish Things, Adrian Tchaikovsky (Rebellion)

Best Short Fiction

  • “How to Raise a Kraken in...

THE EXPLOSION OF A CHANDELIER by Damian Murphy

Thursday February 15, 2024

Review by Abe Ziesing

This labyrinthine coming-of-age work of weird historical fiction will tickle the imagination while satisfying any desires for top-shelf verse and vocabulary.  Comprising of an unusual combination of adolescent exploits and sophisticated humor, this gem transports you to early twentieth century Spain during King Alfonso’s attempts to subdue Morocco, where protagonist Héctor and his pal Vito turn the mundane into high adventure, and the obvious into the convoluted as they journey down a bizarre rabbit hole of compounding mysteries and surreal experiences.

Whimsically cryptic passages throughout gift the reader with infinite possibility and endless interpretive entertainment, analogous Salvador...

THE SURVIVING SKY by Kritika H. Rao

Sunday January 14, 2024

Review by Abe Ziesing

"Trippy" is the word that comes to mind to describe this botanical space-opera that's as far-out as the psychedelic sixties.

Shuffling between the viewpoints of a married couple whose relationship is sometimes toxic, sometimes complementary and passionate, we are thrown full-force into a world that might be far-future post-apocalyptic Earth, but it's almost unrecognizable.

Some of the population have the ability to rapidly shape and grow plant life with a mysterious mental ability that seems to have been a product of evolution. Those without this ability find themselves on a lower rung of the social and...

SYSTEM COLLAPSE by Martha Wells

Wednesday January 10, 2024

Review by Abe Ziesing

This seventh instalment of our favorite cyborg's exploits is every bit as good as the rest of the series. It's impressive that Martha Wells manages to maintain such a high bar, combining the customary elements of the series' success - cyberpunk, suspense/thriller, humor - and injecting fresh ideas and plotlines that allow this stand-alone episode to shine.

In this latest adventure, murderbot finds himself planet-side in a world going through its third attempt at being terraformed. Ancient aliens have left behind some foundations of habitat that come with some deadly surprises. Can he rescue all of...

HE WHO DROWNED THE WORLD by Shelley Parker-Chan

Friday January 5, 2024

Right on par with the first half of this duology, so if you enjoyed SHE WHO BECAME THE SUN then I'd definitely recommend this book.

I loved the pacing - despite being longer than the first half, it's an easy breeze of a read, with awesome fight/battle passages, intriguing and intense drama, and twists that you may not see coming.  Each of the three parts that this book is broken into has its own intense climaxes.

The settings and descriptive passages in HE WHO DROWNED THE WORLD are just as amazing as in book 1.  I don't read a lot...

BOOKSHOPS & BONEDUST by Travis Baldree

Tuesday January 2, 2024

Review by Abe Ziesing

If you enjoyed LEGENDS & LATTES, you're sure to have fun with this book as well.  This is actually the prequel to L & L despite being listed as book 2 at the time that I'm writing this.  The books can be read independently or in either order without missing much.  There are a couple of tie-ins that you'll recognize regardless of the reading order.  

It pains me to use the phrase "cozy read", but in this case it cannot be avoided because... well, because it makes you feel all cozy inside as you read it...

Favorite Reads of 2023

Monday January 1, 2024

by Abe Ziesing

Of the 50 novels that I read in 2023, I came up with a top 10 list that includes some books old, some books new, some borrowed and, well, there weren't any blue books but you get the idea.  I had to cheat a little on number ten, which is actually two novels.  Let us know what your favorite reads of 2023 were!

1) NETTLE & BONE - T. Kingfisher
2) SYSTEM COLLAPSE - Martha Wells
3) COLD MOON OVER BABYLON - Michael McDowell
4) SPEAR - Nicola Griffith
5) IN THE NIGHT WOOD - Dale Bailey
6) THE EXTRACTIONIST - Kimberly Unger
7) THE MOUNTAIN IN THE SEA -...

OGRES by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Wednesday August 23, 2023

Review by Abe Ziesing

This wonderfully paced, steampunk-ish novella, written in the second-person singular point-of-view, places you, a human, directly into the driver’s seat, on a collision course against the oppressive rulers of this dystopian world - the ogres.

I’ve heard it said about some of Adrian Tchaikovsky’s lengthier works, that pacing can be a drawback, such as in the second and third volumes of the CHILDREN OF TIME series.  Mundane world-building and long narrative backstories that st in which heep away from the action, seem to be common criticisms.  With this book, Tchaikovsky scarcely gives you an opportunity to take a....

SILVER NITRATE by Silvia Garcia-Moreno

Tuesday August 22, 2023

Review by Abe Ziesing

Part suspense/thriller and part supernatural horror, with a cinematic theme and a Mexico City twist.

Montserrat and Tristan are lifelong codependent friends working on the fringes of the early 1990's Mexican movie scene, doing small-time sound editing, acting and voice-overs. As their working hours and opportunities dwindle, they become more and more desperate. When a once prominent, now obscure, horror film director's mail accidentally gets delivered to Tristan's address, they have an idea of how they can use this to their advantage and decide to make an attempt at creating a documentary about this enigmatic man...