Reviews of speculative fiction, YA, middle grade, and graphic novels, along with stray thoughts, links, and pictures.
This is part of a series of posts reviewing categories in this year's Hugo ballot. I'll be discussing the entries, the voter packet, and my ballot. I've nominated and voted most years since 2011, when I figured out that all I had to do was join Worldcon to get to do so.
Two sequels and several set in space. The downside of this list is that Orbit tends to only include excerpts. The upside, there's only one Orbit title I didn't already own.
So, yeah, kind of an obvious top of ballot here in The Stone Sky. I really liked both Six Wakes and Raven Stratagem. It's a hard choice, but I think Raven Stratagem will go next on my ballot. Fourth with be Collapsing Empire, and I just won't include the two novels I didn't finish. Wow, this is usually not such an easy category for me.
This is part of a series of posts reviewing categories in this year's Hugo ballot. I'll be discussing the entries, the voter packet, and my ballot. I've nominated and voted most years since 2011, when I figured out that all I had to do was join Worldcon to get to do so.
Novella is a length I tend to struggle with as a reader. Often I find them either rushed, or stuffed with filler. This year has several I enjoyed, though.
So, obviously All Systems Red will be at the top. Followed by And Then . . and Sticks and Bones. Black Tides next, then Home, and River of Teeth. This is a very solid selection of novellas.
This is part of a series of posts reviewing categories in this year's Hugo ballot. I'll be discussing the entries, the voter packet, and my ballot. I've nominated and voted most years since 2011, when I figured out that all I had to do was join Worldcon to get to do so.
All available online for free, so I've included links.
So, I think A Series of Steaks is leading Small Changes by a sliver. And I'm not going to rank the rest on my ballot.
This is part of a series of posts reviewing categories in this year's Hugo ballot. I'll be discussing the entries, the voter packet, and my ballot. I've nominated and voted most years since 2011, when I figured out that all I had to do was join Worldcon to get to do so.
All of these are available online, so I've included links.
For me, Fandom for Robots is top of the ballot. The story just fires on all cylinders. Roanhorse's story is second, followed closely by Yoachim and Vernon. I'm not sure I'll list the remaining 2 on my ballot. I just didn't feel strongly about either one.
This is part of a series of posts reviewing categories in this year's Hugo ballot. I'll be discussing the entries, the voter packet, and my ballot. I've nominated and voted most years since 2011, when I figured out that all I had to do was join Worldcon to get to do so.
Best Series is a real award now. Last year's Worldcon included it as a special category in advance of voting to ratify it as a new category. Thank you to all the voters who did so.
So, Lady Trent at the top, followed by InCryptid, then Raksura. Weirdly, all of those are series I've done in audiobook format. After that, Divine Cities, but that will be the last on the ballot.
This is part of a series of posts reviewing categories in this year's Hugo ballot. I'll be discussing the entries, the voter packet, and my ballot. I've nominated and voted most years since 2011, when I figured out that all I had to do was join Worldcon to get to do so.
The John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer gets voted on by the same population and awarded at the same ceremony. Authors are only eligible if their first professional sale was in the last 2 years. Below are this year's finalists, listed in the order they appeared on the official announcement, with my notes on each.
5 really solid writers. Even the ones who's work I don't love, I can see are very talented. I think Solomon may be the strongest. Ng and Prasad are next, but I'm having trouble picking which to put first. Kuhn, Roanhorse, and Arden after that in that order. Tough call, and there are no wrong answers here.
This is part of a series of posts reviewing categories in this year's Hugo ballot. I'll be discussing the entries, the voter packet, and my ballot. I've nominated and voted most years since 2011, when I figured out that all I had to do was join Worldcon to get to do so.
This category should be fairly self explanatory. For a while, it could have been called "Best Doctor Who Episode, but this year it's The Good Place that has multiple entries.
So, I'm thinking "Michael's Gambit" at the top of the ballot, followed by the ST: Disco episode. The Deep in third, and nothing else on the ballot? Yeah, that feels like the best option.
This is part of a series of posts reviewing categories in this year's Hugo ballot. I'll be discussing the entries, the voter packet, and my ballot. I've nominated and voted most years since 2011, when I figured out that all I had to do was join Worldcon to get to do so.
At last, a category I'm prepared for. Thanks to my movie buddy, I've actually seen half of these in the theater. And the rest I'd rented before the ballot was even out.
So those top 3 are going to change places an infinite number of times before voting closes. Last year was a great year for scifi movies!
This is part of a series of posts reviewing categories in this year's Hugo ballot. I'll be discussing the entries, the voter packet, and my ballot. I've nominated and voted most years since 2011, when I figured out that all I had to do was join Worldcon to get to do so.
I'd only read 2 of these in advance of the finalist announcement. Two more are properties I'm familiar with from earlier volumes.
So Bitch Planet is definitely at the top, followed by Monstress and Black Bolt. The other three could go in any order, but maybe I'll just leave them off because I don't really feel strongly about them at all.
Great color palette and good story. I only knew this character as one of the Marvel Puzzle Quest options. One of my favorite parts of the writing in this volume is just how many times Ahmed manages to mention Black Bolt's full name, Blackagar Boltagon. Reader, I laughed every time.
The plot is a fairly straightforward story where the protagonist learns to see the world in less black and white terms, but where evil is still easily identified. A good diversion that I might read more of, but not something I'm running to the comic shop to follow up on.
This is a fun ride with a great protagonist and a ton of fantastic characters. Religious mice, ballroom dancing, ass kicking, and nerding out in a blender on a bar in a strip club called Dave's Fish and Strips. This series has a lot of potential, and I look forward to reading more in it.
This is part of a series of posts reviewing categories in this year's Hugo ballot. I'll be discussing the entries, the voter packet, and my ballot. I've nominated and voted most years since 2011, when I figured out that all I had to do was join Worldcon to get to do so.
YA is a new category this year. To which I can only say: IT IS ABOUT FUCKING TIME. This year's business meeting should give it a permanent name as well. " The World Science Fiction Society (WSFS) Award for Best Young Adult Book" is a bit unwieldy. The proposed name is Lodestar, but of course, no bit of progress can be made without some pushback.
The category was added as a separate award from the Hugos, which is how the Campbell was already classified. Of course, the Campbell's been treated just like a Hugo forever, with only the occasional footnote to point out that it isn't one. But now that there's a YA category, blogs feel the need to lead with it not being a Hugo. It's voted on by the same people as part of the same ballot and awarded at the same ceremony.
So my favorite two of these were originally serialized stories, which is not consistent with my usual view of serialized short fiction. Perhaps encountering them already collected into a continuous narrative makes them work better for me. In spite of my reservations about the categorization of Summer in Orcus, it will place second on my ballot after In Other Lands. Third will be Skinful of Shadows, and the rest I may just leave off the ballot.
I liked this one far more than the first and I am not even sure why. The art is just as gorgeous and the prose as high quality, but somehow this felt stronger than the first volume.
This is part of a series of posts reviewing categories in this year's Hugo ballot. I'll be discussing the entries, the voter packet, and my ballot. I've nominated and voted most years since 2011, when I figured out that all I had to do was join Worldcon to get to do so.
I'm relying heavily on the voter packet here as well to ensure I'm judging eligible works. Professional Artist tends to be dominated by cover artists, and it's nice to see someone from the graphic novel world on the list. Actually, the same someone as last year. Four of these 6 were on last year's ballot, and Galen Dara was on the top of my ballot.
So Dara and Takeda will be fighting it out for the top slot on my ballot. Followed by Deharme, Picacio, and Ngai, probably in that order. Jennings is in last place, but everyone in this category is talented.
Volume 6 was so amazing that I went back and purchased the two previous volumes I'd missed. 7, well, maybe not so much. It felt very thin on content. Very little happened and then lots of death, which was pretty much the only way the scenario could end.
I'm pretty much done with The Will, but apparently the narrative wasn't.
The art is still great. Maybe the next one will have some momentum.
I think this actually benefited from sitting on the shelf for like 8 months because of a lack of road trips long enough to bother starting it. Like, having to juggle paying attention with trying to remember how the hell we ended up in this cave party in the middle of a fight was actually engaging.