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Hugo Award Nominees Announced!

Saturday March 30, 2024

Best Novel (1,420 ballots cast for 576 nominees.)

  • The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi, Shannon Chakraborty (Harper Voyager; Harper Voyager UK)
  • The Saint of Bright Doors, Vajra Chandrasekera (Tordotcom)
  • Translation State, Ann Leckie (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
  • Starter Villain, John Scalzi (Tor US; Tor UK)
  • Some Desperate Glory, Emily Tesh (Tordotcom; Orbit UK)
  • Witch King, Martha Wells (Tordotcom)

Best Novella (962 ballots cast for 187 nominees.)

  • Seeds of Mercury, Wang Jinkang / 水星播种, 王晋康, translated by Alex Woodend (Adventures in Space: New Short stories by Chinese & English Science Fiction Writers)
  • Thornhedge, T. Kingfisher (Tor; Titan UK)
  • Rose/House, Arkady Martine (Subterranean)
  • The Mimicking of Known Successes, Malka...

TRANSLATION STATE by Ann Leckie

Thursday March 21, 2024

Review by Abe Ziesing

This standalone offshoot of the Ancillary Universe is a page-turning SF thriller. Even if you're like me and only moderately acquainted with Ann Leckie's highly acclaimed Ancillary series- having only read ANCILLARY JUSTICE - you'll have no trouble keeping up and understanding the storyline or references to things having taken place in previous works.

In a universe that includes some very inhuman aliens communication can be challenging to say the least. One very different and very dangerous species uses a human/alien hybrid that they've "developed" to translate communications with other members of an intergalactic peace treaty...

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 -...