Books Read: May 2017

1. The Lamb Will Slaughter the Lion, by Margaret Killjoy
2. Version Control, by Dexter Palmer
3. Ill Will, by Dan Chaon
4. Penric and the Shaman, by Lois McMaster Bujold
5. A Closed and Common Orbit, by Becky Chambers
6. The Princess Diarist, by Carrie Fisher
7. Two Serpents Rise, by Max Gladstone
8. Borne, by Jeff VanderMeer
9. City of Miracles, by Robert Jackson Bennett
10. Starfire: A Red Peace, by Spencer Ellsworth
11. Death's End, by Cixin Liu (translated by Ken Liu)
12. Exit West, by Mohsin Hamid
13. The Geek Feminist Revolution, by Kameron Hurley
14. Brothers in Arms, by Lois McMaster Bujold
15. Ninefox Gambit, by Yoon Ha Lee

Books Read: April 2017

Much delayed and without the normal commentary. Here's April.

1. Behind Her Eyes, by Sarah Pinborough
2. The Collapsing Empire, by John Scalzi
3. Chalk, by Paul Cornell
4. The Ghost Line, by Andrew Neil Gray and J.S. Herbison
5. Certain Dark Things, by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
6. Mapping the Interior, by Stephen Graham Jones
7. Final Girls, by Mira Grant
8. Blood of Tyrants, by Naomi Novik
9. The Woman Who Rides Like a Man, by Tamora Pierce
10. All That Outer Space Allows, by Ian Sales
11. The Harrowing of Gwynedd, by Katherine Kurtz
12. Madness in Solidar, by LE. Modesitt, Jr
13. Bridging Infinity, by Jonathan Strahan (editor)
14. The Photo Ark, by Joel Sartore
15. The Nix, by Nathan Hill
16. The Stranger in the Woods, by Michael Finkel
17. This Census-Taker, by China Mieville

Books Read: March 2017

Now that another month has come and gone, let's take a look at the books I read last month.

1. Empire Games, by Charles Stross
2. Greedy Pigs, by Matt Wallace
3. The Sport of Kings, by C.E. Morgan
4. Killing Gravity, by Corey J. White
5. All Systems Red, by Martha Wells
6. Grantville Gazette: Volume II, by Eric Flint (editor)
7. Down Among the Sticks and Bones, by Seanan McGuire
8. Feedback, by Mira Grant
9. Earth and Space: Photographs from the Archives of NASA
10. Much Loved, by Mark Nixon
11. Impersonations, by Walter Jon Williams
12. Otherworlds: Visions of Our Solar System
13. Proof of Concept, by Gwyneth Jones
14. Amberlough, by Lara Elena Donnelly


Best Book of the Month: Amberlough.

Disappointment of the Month: Proof of Concept.

Discovery of the Month: Still Amberlough. Holy crap it's good.

Worth Noting: If you're a fan of astronomy, I'd recommend checking of the Otherworlds photography book.

Gender Breakdown: 6 of the 14 books I read in March were written by women. This brings my total for the year to 23 of 44, or 52.27%.


Previous Reads:
January 
February

Books Read: February 2017

Now that another month has come and gone, let's take a look at the books I read last month.

1. My Name is Lucy Barton, by Elizabeth Strout
2. Lightning in the Blood, by Marie Brennan
3. Sweet Lamb of Heaven, by Lydia Millet
4. The Stars Are Legion, by Kameron Hurley
5. We Love You, Charlie Freeman, by Kaitlyn Greenidge
6. River of Teeth, by Sarah Gailey
7. LaRose, by Louise Erdrich
8. Sudden Death, by Alvaro Enrique
9. Buffalo Soldier, by Maurice Broaddus
10. Homegoing, by Yaa Gyasi
11. The Complete Peanuts: Vol 26, by Charles M. Schulz
12. Mister Monkey, by Francine Prose
13. The Girl Who Drank the Moon, by Kelly Barnhill
14. The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe, by Kij Johnson


Best Book of the Month: The Stars Are Legion is fucking amazing.

Disappointment of the Month: I would say that My Name is Lucy Barton was a disappointment (because it was), but I also didn't have any sort of positive expectations for a novel from Elizabeth Strout. I'd previously read her Pulitzer Prize winning novel, now this one is in the Tournament of Books. It's a miss for me.

Discovery of the Month: Damn close for me in the running of best book is Yaa Gyasi's Homegoing.

Worth Noting: For years I've referenced a book that I read as one of the crazier titles / concepts for a novel, which would be George Bush, Dark Prince of Love (written about the first President Bush, this is a real book). Well, Lydia Millet wrote it and now I've read a second one of her books

Gender Breakdown: 11 of the 14 books I read in February were written by women. This brings my total for the year to 17/30, or 56.66%.


Previous Reads:
January

Books Read: January 2017

Now that another month has come and gone (and then yet another has come and gone because I'm so late in getting this up) let's take a look at the books I read in January

1. Standard Hollywood Depravity, by Adam Christopher
2. Order to Kill, by Kyle Mills
3. The Sun is Also a Star, by Nicola Yoon
4. Agents of Dreamland, by Caitlin R. Kiernan
5. The Last Days of New Paris, by China Mieville
6. Scrappy Little Nobody, by Anna Kendrick
7. Grief is the Thing With Feathers, by Max Porter
8. The Warren, by Brian Evenson
9. Arcanum Unbounded, by Brandon Sanderson
10. Fool Moon, by Jim Butcher
11. Black Wave, by Michelle Tea
12. The Magicians, by Lev Grossman
13. Miniatures, by John Scalzi
14. A Time of Omens, by Katharine Kerr
15. Brother's Ruin, by Emma Newman
16. The Autumn Republic, by Brian McClellan

Best Book of the Month: It's always a delight to read more Deverry.

Disappointment of the Month: I'm reading through the short list of the Tournament of Books and Grief is the Thing With Feathers did not hit with me. It's a weird combination of prose and poetry and it's not for me.

Discovery of the Month: There's a part of me that thinks I could potentially be friends with Anna Kendrick. Independent of that, I really enjoyed her memoir.

Worth Noting: My wife has told me that I need to read The Magicians for several years now and I finally broke down and read the book. It's not that I don't trust her, it's more that I keep having other things out from the library to read or review,

Gender Breakdown: 6 out of the 16 books I read in January were written by women, which is a huge step back from the last two years of finishing over 50%, but it is only one month and the first of the year and since I'm posting this so late, I can tell you that February was much stronger and flipped almost entirely the other way.

2016 Nebula Award Finalists

From the press release:

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America is pleased to announce the nominees for the 51^st Annual Nebula Awards, the Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation, and the Andre Norton Award for Outstanding Young Adult Science Fiction or Fantasy Book.
 
Novel

• All the Birds in the Sky, Charlie Jane Anders (Tor; Titan)
• Borderline, Mishell Baker (Saga)
• The Obelisk Gate, N.K. Jemisin (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
• Ninefox Gambit,Yoon Ha Lee (Solaris US; Solaris UK)
  
• Everfair, Nisi Shawl (Tor)

Novella

• Runtime, S.B. Divya (Tor.com Publishing)
• The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe, Kij Johnson (Tor.com Publishing)
• The Ballad of Black Tom, Victor LaValle (Tor.com Publishing)
• Every Heart a Doorway, Seanan McGuire (Tor.com Publishing)
• “The Liar”, John P. Murphy (F&SF)
• A Taste of Honey, Kai Ashante Wilson (Tor.com Publishing)

Novelette      

• “The Long Fall Up”, William Ledbetter (F&SF)
• “Sooner or Later Everything Falls Into the Sea”, Sarah Pinsker (Lightspeed)
• “The Orangery", Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam (Beneath Ceaseless Skies)
• “Blood Grains Speak Through Memories”, Jason Sanford (Beneath Ceaseless Skies)
• The Jewel and Her Lapidary, Fran Wilde (Tor.com Publishing)
• “You’ll Surely Drown Here If You Stay”, Alyssa Wong (Uncanny)

Short Story

• “Our Talons Can Crush Galaxies”, Brooke Bolander (Uncanny)
• “Seasons of Glass and Iron”, Amal El-Mohtar (The Starlit Wood)
• “Sabbath Wine”, Barbara Krasnoff (Clockwork Phoenix 5)
• “Things With Beards”, Sam J. Miller (Clarkesworld)
• “This Is Not a Wardrobe Door”, A. Merc Rustad (Fireside Magazine)
• “A Fist of Permutations in Lightning and Wildflowers”, Alyssa Wong (Tor.com)
• “Welcome to the Medical Clinic at the Interplanetary Relay Station│Hours Since the Last Patient Death: 0”, Caroline M. Yoachim (Lightspeed)

Bradbury

• Arrival, Directed by Denis Villeneuve, Screenplay by Eric Heisserer, 21 Laps Entertainment/FilmNation Entertainment/Lava Bear Films/Xenolinguistics
• Doctor Strange, Directed by Scott Derrickson, Screenplay by Scott Derrickson & C. Robert Cargill, Marvel Studios/Walt Disney Studio Motion Pictures
• Kubo and the Two Strings, Directed by Travis Knight, Screenplay by Mark Haimes & Chris Butler; Laika Entertainment
• Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Directed by Gareth Edwards, Written by Chris Weitz & Tony Gilroy; Lucusfilm/ Walt Disney Studio Motion Pictures
• Westworld: ‘‘The Bicameral Mind’’, Directed by Jonathan Nolan, Written by Lisa Joy & Jonathan Nolan; HBO
• Zootopia, Directed by Byron Howard, Rich Moore, & Jared Bush, Screenplay by Jared Bush & Phil Johnston; Walt Disney Pictures/Walt Disney Animation Studios 

Norton

• The Girl Who Drank the Moon, Kelly Barnhill (Algonquin Young Readers)
• The Star-Touched Queen, Roshani Chokshi (St. Martin’s)
• The Lie Tree, Frances Hardinge (Macmillan UK; Abrams)
• Arabella of Mars, David D. Levine (Tor)
• Railhead, Philip Reeve (Oxford University Press; Switch) 
• Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies, Lindsay Ribar (Kathy Dawson Books)
• The Evil Wizard Smallbone, Delia Sherman (Candlewick)

Books Read: December 2016

Now that another month has come and gone, let's take a look at the books I read last month.

1. The Rise of Io, by Wesley Chu
2. The Underground Railroad, by Colson Whitehead
3. Everything Belongs to the Future, by Laurie Penny
4.The Four Thousand, The Eight Hundred, by Greg Egan
5. News of the World, by Paulette Jiles
6. You'll Grow Out of It, by Jessie Klein
7. Barkskins, by Annie Proulx
8. Three Parts Dead, by Max Gladstone

9. Cold-Forged Flame, by Maria Brennan

10. Talking As Fast as I Can, by Lauren Graham

11. Today Will Be Different, by Maria Semple

12. After the Crown, by K.B. Wagers
13. Swing Time, by Zadie Smith
14. The Mothers, by Brit Bennett

Best Book of the Month: The Mothers is excellent. You probably come here for genre recommendations, but go read The Mothers. So good.

Disappointment of the Month: None, really.

Discovery of the Month: Whhhhhyyyyy have I never read Max Gladstone before. Three Parts Dead is his debut novel and it's fantastic. I love the setting, I love the characaters, I love how smart it is, and I can't wait to see how he grows as a writer.

Worth Noting: If you were concerned about how Wesley Chu would pull off a Tao-verse novel without actually featuring Tao and a Tan, rest assured that The Rise of Io is excellent.

Gender Breakdown: 10 out of the 14 books I read in December were written by women. This brings my final total for 2016 to 95 out of 169, or 56.21%. This is the second consecutive (and possibly second ever) year with at least half of the books I've read written by women.



Previous Reads
January
February 
March
April  
May 
June 
July
August
September 
October  
November

Books Read: November 2016

Now that another month has come and gone, let's take a look at the books I read last month.

1. City of Wolves, by Willow Palacek
2. Nightshades, by Melissa F. Olson
3. The Association of Small Bombs, by Karan Mahajan
4. Winter Tide, by Ruthanna Emrys
5. Ceteganda, by Lois McMaster Bujold
6. The Ghoul King, by Guy Haley
7. A City Dreaming, by Daniel Polansky
8. Passing Strange, by Ellen Klages
9. Binti: Home, by Nnedi Okorafor
10. The Fortress at the End of Time, by Joe M. McDermott
11. Elysium, by Jennifer Marie Brissett
12. Hammers on Bone, by Cassandra Khaw
13. Cold Counsel, by Chris Sharp
14. Another Brooklyn, by Jaqueline Woodson
15. Ethan of Athos, by Lois McMaster Bujold
16. Babylon's Ashes, by James S.A. Corey
17. Idle Ingredients, by Matt Wallace
18. Heroes of the Frontier, by Dave Eggers


Best Book of the Month: Any month I can read a Matt Wallace novella is a good month. I love his Sin du Jour and Wallace's forthcoming Idle Ingredients is one to wait for.

Disappointment of the Month: As much as I loved Daniel Polansky's novella The Builders, I hated his novel A City Dreaming. It was so disjointed and reminiscent in some ways of A Confederacy of Dunces - which many people would think is a complement, but I HATE A Confederacy of Dunces.

Discovery of the Month: So, I'm not a Lovecraft reader and generally don't care about anything that touches on Lovecraftian mythos - but Ruthanna Emrys' Winter Tide is a beautiful and wonderful and fantastic novel. Check it out this coming March.

Worth Noting: November was a very heavy month on Tor.com novellas. I don't know how many more months I expect to get through 18 books.

Gender Breakdown: 10 of the 18 books I read in November were written by women. This brings my total to 85 out of 155 and sneaks the percentage up to 54.83%. With one month left in the year I expect to end a second year with at least half the books I've read written by women.


Previous Reads
January
February 
March
April  
May 
June 
July
August
September 
October

Books Read: October 2016

Now that another month has come and gone, let's take a look at the books I read last month.

1. Heartless, by Gail Carriger
2. The Jewel and Her Lapidary, by Fran Wilde
3. Lions, by Bonnie Nadzam
4. The Maze Runner, by James Dashner
5. Girls of Fire, by Robin Wasserman
6. The Wolf Road, by Beth Lewis
7. The Vegetarian, by Han Kang
8. The Vor Game, by Lois McMaster Bujold
9. The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry, by Gabrielle Zevin
10. Commonwealth, by Ann Patchett
11. A Thousand Words for Stranger, by Julie Czerneda
12. Infomocracy, by Malka Older
13. Spiderlight, by Adrian Tchaikovsky
14. Signs Preceding the End of the World, by Yuri Herrera

Best Book of the Month: One of my most anticipated novels of the year was Malka Older's Infomocracy and I am happy to report that it did not disappoint. I don't think it was quite was I expected, not that I'm at all sure what I did expect, but I couldn't stop thinking about Infomocracy any time I had to put the book down. It's also interesting reading the book during the closing days of this election cycle in the United States, but Older's look at how information and elections are traded at manipulated at both a global and a micro scale is friggin fascinating and intense. More, please.

Disappointment of the Month: Having heard such good things about Fran Wilde's Updraft, I was looking forward to reading this novella of hers - and somehow, I didn't care. I don't know that there was anything particularly wrong with it, but somehow it didn't grab me. I've noticed that other people who loved Updraft didn't connect with the Jewel and her Lapidary, so I'll still give Updraft a shot one day. It's just farther down my to-read list now.

Discovery of the Month: I've somehow never read Adrian Tchaivosky before despite having a few of his novels (Shadows of the Apt) on my bookshelf for years as review copies. Tor.com Publishing's release of Spiderlight was a more bite sized opportunity to jump into a standalone and - it's compelling with a cast of really distasteful characters, the heroes I mean. It's very Tolkien-esque / standard epic fantasy feeling as the core of the novel, with heroes of the Light questing out to serve a prophecy and defeat the Dark Lord - except the heroes are collectively all assholes and not in the charming asshole sort of way. They're pretty shitty people. Despite that, Thchaivoksy's storytelling is compelling.

Worth Noting: The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry was a complete charmer. My wife read it, immediately handed it to me and I read the first chapter. I didn't want to put the book down. I'm not sure what, specifically, I loved about it so much that I could put into words, but it was a friggin delightful book.

Gender Breakdown: 11 of the 14 books I read in October were written by women, which is likely my strongest month of the year. This brings my total to 75 out of 137 and increases the percentage to 54.74%. With two months left in the year, I feel good about ending the year with at least half the books I've read being written by women.



Previous Reads
January
February 
March
April  
May 
June 
July
August
September

Books Read: September 2016

Now that another month has come and gone (and we're halfway through yet another), let's take a look at the books I read last month.

1. Everything's Eventual, by Stephen King
2. The Best Team Money Can Buy, by Molly Knight
3. The Lost Child of Lychford, by Paul Cornell
4. Dusk or Dark or Dawn or Day, by Seanan McGuire
5. Tripwire, by Lee Child
6. Behind the Throne, by K.B. Wagers
7. The Girls, by Emma Cline
8. Poisoned Blade, by Kate Elliott
9. Sweetbitter, by Stephanie Danler
10. The Obelisk Gate, by N.K. Jemisin
11. War Porn, by Roy Scranton
12. Fates and Furies, by Lauren Groff
13. Dark Matter, by Blake Crouch
14. Pieces of Hate, by Tim Lebbon
15. The Turner House, by Angela Flournoy

Best Book of the Month: The review is pending, but The Obelisk Gate is the best book I've read so far this year, let alone this month.

Disappointment of the Month: Depends how you want to look at this. As a whole, I've thoroughly enjoyed the Tor.com Novella line, so finding even one that doesn't quite hit is a disappointment (most recently Pieces of Hate), but I think the real disappointment has to be Roy Scranton's War Porn - a novel which was very well received on publication and I found it too disjointed to actually tell a coherent story. As three discrete novellas, I think I would have appreciated the novel far more. Perhaps the overlap of the stories was meant to be more to show the shape of the war and how people back home / soldiers / Iraqis interacted and dealt with the war, but Scranton's novel never quite came together for me.

Discovery of the Month: I expect to read much more from K.B. Wagers. I didn't review Behind the Throne because one of our other Nerds of a Feather reviewers already took the novel on. I found that I would have given the same exact score (7/10), but the review would have read much more positively. I thought Behind the Throne was delightful and fast paced and an overall kick ass novel. Loved the setting, loved the voice, loved Hail as a lead character and a source of introduction to that world - I want to see more. Good thing, there's going to be at least one more book.

Worth Noting: It won't be published until January, but keep an eye out for Dusk or Dark or Dawn or Day from Seanan McGuire. It's really friggin good.

Gender Breakdown: 9 of the 15 books I read in August were written by women, which brings my total to 64 out of 123. The percentage continues to climb back to 52.03% through nine months.



Previous Reads
January
February 
March
April  
May 
June 
July
August

Books Read: August 2016

Now that another month has come and gone (and we're halfway through yet another), let's take a look at the books I read last month.

1. Pride's Spell, by Matt Wallace
2. Borderline, by Mishell Baker
3. Hamilton: A Revolution, by Lin Manuel Miranda & Jeremy McCarter
4. The Heart, by Maylis de Kerangal
5. Deep South, by Nevada Barr
6. The Core of the Sun, by Johanna Sinisalo
7. A Darker Shade of Magic, by V.E. Schwab
8. A Taste of Honey, by Kai Ashante Wilson
9. The Race, by Nina Allan
10. The Girl With the Lower Back Tattoo, by Amy Schumer

Best Book of the Month: I don't know how to write about this novel featuring chili peppers as a controlled narcotic in a intensely policed Sweden, but The Core of the Sun was amazing.

Disappointment of the Month: None.

Discovery of the Month: After not really appreciating Kai Ashante Wilson's Sorcerer of the Wildeeps, I very much enjoyed his A Taste of Honey, a story which is so much more a tighter romance than the swords and sorcery of the previous novella.

Worth Noting: You're all reading Matt Wallace's Sin du Jour novellas from Tor.com, right? They are so freaking good and Pride's Spell is no exception.

Gender Breakdown: 7 of the 10 books I read in August were written by women, which brings my total to 55 out of 108 for the year. The percentage has now pushed back over 50% to 50.92% through eight months.





Previous Reads
January
February 
March
April  
May 
June 
July

Books Read: July 2016

Wow, folks, I'm really late on this. But - Now that another month has come and gone, let's take a look at the books I read last month.


1. The Complete Peanuts: 1999-2000, by Charles M. Schulz
2. Flesh and Wires, by Jackie Hatton
3. Consequence, by Eric Fair
4. A Time of Exile, by Katharine Kerr
5. The Sorcerer's Daughter, by Terry Brooks
6. Red Rising, by Pierce Brown
7. Hit, by Delilah S. Dawson
8. Blameless, by Gail Carriger
9. The Operators, by Michael Hastings
10. Dark Run, by Mike Brooks
11. Storm Front, by Jim Butcher
12. Roses and Rot, by Kat Howard

Best Book of the Month: Flesh and Wires. I could read another hundred pages of this and only hope that Jackie Hatton plans to write more - whether in this particular setting or elsewhere.

Disappointment of the Month: None

Discovery of the Month: The only previous Dresden Files novel I had read was last year's Hugo nominated Skin Job. Since I enjoyed that book, I decided to go back and start the series from the beginning. I had heard the first several novels were noticeably weaker, but I did very much enjoy Storm Front, though there was a bit of an odd quiet sexism running through Harry Dresden that I didn't remember from book 15 in the series.

Worth Noting: I don't remember a time in my life when I wasn't reading Charles Schulz's Peanuts comic strips. Fantagraphics have collected the full 50 year run of Peanuts and have been releasing them in volumes collecting two years at a time, two volumes per year. So, I've been re-reading (and discovering strips I had never seen before) these collections for the last 13 years. And now...I'm done. Charles Schulz passed away in early 2000, so there haven't been any new strips for the last 16 years, but now there is also no more new Peanuts for me to discover either. Once again, I am sad.

Gender Breakdown: 5 of the 12 books I read in July were written by women, which brings my total to 48 out of 98 for the year. That's 48.98% and is down from the perfect 50% the first six months of the year brought me. If I keep bouncing on either side of the 50/50 line, I'll be content, but I'll be happiest if I land on the 50%+ side.


Previous Reads
January
February 
March
April  
May 
June

Hugo Awards 2016: My Final Ballot

Now that the deadline has passed and I have done all the Hugo reading and consuming that I am going to do this year, the final ballot I submitted is below.  The full list of nominees can be found here.

Best Novel (my thoughts)
1. The Fifth Season, by N.K. Jemisin
2. Uprooted, by Naomi Novik
3. Ancillary Mercy, by Ann Leckie
4. Seveneves, by Neal Stephenson
5. The Aeronaut's Windlass, by Jim Butcher

Best Novella (my thoughts)
1. Binti, by Nnedi Okorafor
2. The Builders, by Daniel Polansky
3. Penric's Demon, by Lois McMaster Bujold
4. Slow Bullets, by Alastair Reynolds
5. Perfect State, by Brandon Sanderson

Best Novelette (my thoughts)
1. "Obits", by Stephen King
2. "And You Shall Know Her by the Trail of the Dead", by Brooke Bolander
3. "Folding Beijing", by Hao Jingfang
4. "Flashpoint: Titan", by Cheah Kai Wai
5. "What Price Humanity?", by David VanDyke

Best Short Story (my thoughts)
1. "Cat Pictures Please", by Naomi Kritzer
2. "Seven Kill Tiger", by Charles Shao
3. "Asymmetrical Warefare", by S.R. Algernon
4. No Award

Best Related Work
No Vote

Best Graphic Story (my thoughts)
1. Invisible Republic: Vol 1
2. Erin Dies Alone
3. The Divine
4. Sandman: Overture
5. No Award

Best Dramatic Presentation: Long Form (my thoughts)
1. The Martian
2. Mad Max: Fury Road
3. Star Wars: The Force Awakens
4. Ex Machina
5. Avengers: Age of Ultron

Best Dramatic Presentation: Short Form
No Vote

Best Editor: Short Form
1. Neil Clarke
2. John Joseph Adams
3. Ellen Datlow
4. Sheila Williams
5. Jerry Pournelle

Best Editor: Long Form
1. Liz Gorinksky
2. Sheila Gilbert
3. Toni Weisskopf
4. No Award

Best Professional Artist
1. Abigail Larson
2. Michal Karcz
3. Larry Rostant
4. Larry Elmore
5. No Award

Best Semiprozine
1. Uncanny Magazine
2. Beneath Ceaseless Skies
3. Strange Horizons
4. Daily Science Fiction
5. Sci Phi Journal

Best Fanzine (my thoughts)
1. Lady Business
2. File 770
3. Subversive SF
4. Castalia House Blog
5. Tangent Online

Best Fancast (my thoughts)
1. Cane and Rinse
2. HelloGreedo
3. The Rageaholic
4. 8-4 Play
5. Tales to Terrify

Best Fan Writer
No Vote

Best Fan Artist
1. Matthew Callahan
2. disse86
3. Christian Quinot
4. No Award

John W Campbell Award for Best New Writer
1. Andy Weir
2. Alyssa Wong
3. Pierce Brown
4. Sebastiel de Castell
5. Brian Neiemeier

2016 World Fantasy Award Nominees

(Via Tor.com)

Below are the nominees for the 2016 World Fantasy Awards. Congratulations to all of the finalists!

Novel

• Kazuo Ishiguro, The Buried Giant (Knopf/Faber & Faber)
• N. K. Jemisin, The Fifth Season (Orbit)
• Naomi Novik, Uprooted (Del Rey Books/Macmillan UK)
• K. J. Parker, Savages (Subterranean Press)
• Anna Smaill, The Chimes (Sceptre)
• Paul Tremblay, A Head Full of Ghosts (William Morrow & Co.)

Long Fiction

• Kelly Barnhill, The Unlicensed Magician (PS Publishing)
• Usman T. Malik, “The Pauper Prince and the Eucalyptus Jinn” (Tor.com, Apr. 22, 2015)
• Kim Newman, “Guignol” (Horrorology, edited by Stephen Jones, Jo Fletcher Books)
• Kelly Robson, “Waters of Versailles” (Tor.com, June 10, 2015)
• Bud Webster, “Farewell Blues” (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Jan./Feb. 2015)

Short Fiction

• Selena Chambers, “The Neurastheniac” (Cassilda’s Song, ed. Joseph S. Pulver, Sr. Chaosium Inc)
• Amal El-Mohtar, “Pockets” (Uncanny Magazine, Jan.-Feb. 2015)
• Sam J. Miller, “The Heat of Us: Notes Toward an Oral History” (Uncanny Magazine, Jan.-Feb. 2015)
• Tamsyn Muir, “The Deepwater Bride” (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, July/Aug. 2015)
• Alyssa Wong, “Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers” (Nightmare magazine, Oct. 2015)

Anthology

• Ellen Datlow, ed., The Doll Collection (Tor Books)
• S. T. Joshi, ed., Black Wings IV: New Tales of Lovecraftian Horror (PS Publishing)
• Silvia Moreno-Garcia and Paula R. Stiles, eds., She Walks in Shadows (Innsmouth Free Press)
• Joseph S. Pulver, Sr., ed., Cassilda’s Song: Tales Inspired by Robert W. Chambers’ King in Yellow Mythos (Chaosium Inc.)
• Simon Strantzas, ed., Aickman’s Heirs (Undertow Publications)

Collection

• C. S. E. Cooney, Bone Swans (Mythic Delirium Books)
• Leena Krohn, Leena Krohn: Collected Fiction (Cheeky Frawg Books)
• V. H. Leslie, Skein and Bone (Undertow Publications)
• Kelly Link, Get in Trouble (Random House)
• James Morrow, Reality by Other Means: The Best Short Fiction of James Morrow (Wesleyan University Press)
• Mary Rickert, You Have Never Been Here (Small Beer Press)

Artist

• Richard Anderson
• Galen Dara
• Julie Dillon
• Kathleen Jennings
• Thomas S. Kuebler

Special Award – Professional

• Neil Gaiman, Dave Stewart, and J. H. Williams III, The Sandman: Overture (Vertigo)
• Stephen Jones, for The Art of Horror (Applause Theatre Book & Cinema Book Publishers)
• Robert Jordan, Harriet McDougal, Alan Romanczuk, and Maria Simons, The Wheel of Time Companion: The People, Places and History of the Bestselling Series (Tor Books)
• Joe Monti, for contributions to the genre
• Heather J. Wood, for Gods, Memes and Monsters: A 21st Century Bestiary (Stone Skin Press)

Special Award – Nonprofessional

• Scott H. Andrews, for Beneath Ceaseless Skies: Literary Adventure Fantasy
• Jedediah Berry and Eben Kling, for The Family Arcana: A Story in Cards (Ninepin Press)
• John O’Neill, for Black Gate: Adventures in Fantasy Literature
• Alexandra Pierce and Alisa Krasnostein, for Letters to Tiptree (Twelfth Planet Press)
• Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas, for Uncanny Magazine
• Helen Young, for Tales After Tolkien Society

Books Read: June 2016

Now that another month has come and gone, let's take a look at the books I read last month.

1. The Unlicensed Magician, by Kelly Barnhill
2. Child of Flame, by Kate Elliott
3. A Song for No Man's Land, by Andy Remic
4. In the Hand of the Goddess, by Tamora Pierce
5. Penric's Demon, by Lois McMaster Bujold
6. There Will Be War: Volume X, by Jerry Pournelle (editor)
7. Zero K, by Don DeLillo
8. East Side Stories, by Joseph Rodriguez
9. The Emperor's Railroad, by Guy Haley
10. The Fireman, by Joe Hill
11. I Know What I'm Doing, by Jen Kirkman
12. End of Watch, by Stephen King
13. Rise of the Rocket Girls, by Nathalia Holt

Best Book of the Month: Have you read the new Joe Hill novel? I didn't want The Fireman to end.

Disappointment of the Month: I've generally been a huge fan of Tor.com Publishing's novella line, and even the misses were solid efforts, but I just could not get into A Song for No Man's Land. WWI set trench warfare with werewolves should be something I'd dig into, but not this one. Despite my desire to read the entire line, I might be passing on Remic's forthcoming sequels.

Discovery of the Month: Nathalia Holt's look at the women who were doing the work of computers before there were actually computers at Jet Propulsion Labs before NASA was even a glimmer and rocketry was almost fringe science is something I want more of. I loved reading the stories of these women who helped build the space program through their work.

Worth Noting: Though he is noted for finishing otherwise great novels with endings that sort of fizzle out, Stephen King nailed a fairly note perfect conclusion to both End of Watch the novel as well as the overall Bill Hodges trilogy.

Gender Breakdown:  6 of the 13 books I read in June were written by women, which brings me to a perfectly even 43 out of 86 for the year. That sticks me right at 50%, which is a nice percentage to have. Since the only real goal that I have is to keep the number near a 50/50 split, I have finished the first six months of the year holding that line.


Previous Reads
January
February 
March
April  
May

Books Read: May 2016

Now that another month has come and gone, let's take a look at the books I read last month.


1. The Art of Rube Goldberg, by Jessica George
2. The Devil in the White City, by Erik Larson
3. Camber the Heretic, by Katherine Kurtz
4. Every Heart a Doorway, by Seanan McGuire
5. This Is Mars, by Xavier Barral
6. The Ballad of Black Tom, by Victor LaValle
7. Playground, by James Mollison
8. Dorothea Lange: Grab a Hunk of Lightning, by Elizabeth Partridge
9. The Devil You Know, by K.J. Parker
10. A Criminal Magic, by Lee Kelly
11. An Apprentice to Elves, by Sarah Monette and Elizabeth Bear
12. Wylding Hall, by Elizabeth Hand
13. Changeless, by Gail Carriger
14. Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS, by Joby Warrick
15. 1634: The Ram Rebellion, by Eric Flint and Virginia DeMarce (editors)
16. The Aeronaut's Windlass, by Jim Butcher
17. Then Will the Great Ocean Wash Deep Above, by Ian Sales


Best Book of the Month: Every Heart a Doorway is everything I didn't know I wanted from a book. Read it. Then, read it again.

Disappointment of the Month: I've enjoyed all of Eric Flint's 1632 universe novels / stories I've read so far, but 1634: The Ram Rebellion was a bit of a slog. It's not a proper novel, but it is also not quite an anthology. It's more like a mosaic novel (like George R. R. Martin's Wild Cards series), where there is mostly a single storyline running through (the titular rebellion) - but the writing is generally weaker and the stories are much less interesting than anything that has come before.

Discovery of the Month: We're probably all familiar with Dorothea Lange's famous Migrant Mother photograph, but Patridge's part biography / part photo collection is an essential look at both the life and life work of a excellent and important photographer.

Worth Noting: Erik Larson's The Devil in the White City is every bit as good as everyone has said it was, and I really should have read it years ago. But, at least I did read it just in time to visit Chicago over the Memorial Day weekend and sort of recognize a couple of locations mentioned in the book.

Gender Breakdown: After the relative paucity of April reading, I somehow exploded with a 17 book month in May. 9 of those were written by women, which brings my total to 37 / 73 for the year, or just a smidge over 50% (50.68%). Since the only real goal that I have is to keep the number near a 50/50 split, I am so far on track to accomplish that.



Previous Reads
January
February 
March
April

2015 Nebula Award Winners

Picked this up from Locus, but it was all over the internet.

Below are the winners of the 2015 Nebula Awards.  Congratulations to all the winners (an an extra congratulations to Sarah Pinsker and Nnedi Okorafor - I LOVED those stories)

Novel: Uprooted, by Naomi Novik (Del Rey)
Novella: Binti, by Nnedi Okorafor (Tor.com Publishing)
Novelette: "Our Lady of the Open Road", by Sarah Pinsker (Asimov's June 2015)
Short Story: "Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers", by Alyssa Wong (Nightmare Oct 2015)
Andre Norton Award: Updraft, by Fran Wilde (Tor)
Ray Bradbury Award: Mad Max: Fury Road
SFWA Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master: C.J. Cherryh

Hugo Award Updates: Naomi Kritzer, Lady Business

Since the original announcement of the Hugo Award finalists, both Black Gate and Thomas A. Mays declared their intention to decline their nomination / position on the final ballot.

MidAmeriConII has announced the new Hugo Award finalists taking those previously vacant spots.

Thomas A. Mays has withdrawn his short story "The Commuter". It will be replaced on the ballot by the story "Cat Pictures Please" by Naomi Kritzer (Clarkesworld, January 2015).

John O'Neill has withdrawn the fanzine Black Gate. It will be replaced on the ballot by Lady Business, edited by Clare, Ira, Jodie, KJ, Renay, and Susan.

Congratulations to both Naomi Kritzer and Lady Business. 

The list of the finalists has been updated to reflect theses changes.

2016 Locus Award Finalists

Locus announced the finalists for their annual Locus Award yesterday.

This is likely worth a longer discussion, but this year's Locus Awards are pretty close to what the Hugo Awards should have looked like in the absence of the Rabid Puppy participants voting a slate in apparent lockstep.

Granted, Locus splits Science Fiction and Fantasy, and from the best of my memory, if a book hits First Novel it will not also be in one of the two other categories (which allows Locus to spread the recognition around).

I've read nearly half of the fiction nominees, and they're almost all really darn good. I also seem to be in the minority on the the ones I didn't appreciate quite so much.

Now, there are things we can argue with because it isn't an awards list or a list of books at all if there isn't something to argue with. For example, the YA category features five books written by men even though a huuuuuuge number of YA novels are written by women. Further, Navah Wolfe points out that the nominees in this category are, across the board, writers best known for adult science fiction and fantasy.

In terms of the Locus Awards, I think this is a bug rather than a feature. Locus (and it's readers who voted / nominated), as a whole, is far more plugged into the adult SFF scene. Their nominees for Young Adult Book very strongly reflects this.

This isn't to say that these finalists are bad, because they very much are not, but they are also not reflective of the YA field.

If you want a good overview of what some of the best science fiction and fantasy is today, and what is happening and current in the genre, you can do far worse than reading the finalists for the 2016 Locus Awards.

SCIENCE FICTION NOVEL 
The Water Knife, Paolo Bacigalupi (Borzoi; Orbit UK)
Ancillary Mercy, Ann Leckie (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
Aurora, Kim Stanley Robinson (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
Seveneves, Neal Stephenson (Morrow)
A Borrowed Man, Gene Wolfe (Tor)

FANTASY NOVEL 
Karen Memory, Elizabeth Bear (Tor)
The House of Shattered Wings, Aliette de Bodard (Roc; Gollancz)
Wylding Hall, Elizabeth Hand (PS; Open Road)
The Fifth Season, N.K. Jemisin (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
Uprooted, Naomi Novik (Del Rey)

YOUNG ADULT BOOK 
Half a War, Joe Abercrombie (Del Rey; Harper Voyager UK)
Half the World, Joe Abercrombie (Del Rey)
Harrison Squared, Daryl Gregory (Tor)
Shadowshaper, Daniel José Older (Levine)
The Shepherd’s Crown, Terry Pratchett (Harper; Doubleday UK)

FIRST NOVEL 
Sorcerer to the Crown, Zen Cho (Ace; Macmillan UK)
The Grace of Kings, Ken Liu (Saga)
Signal to Noise, Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Solaris)
The Watchmaker of Filigree Street, Natasha Pulley (Bloomsbury US; Bloomsbury UK)
The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps, Kai Ashante Wilson (Tor.com)

NOVELLA 
Penric’s Demon, Lois McMaster Bujold (self-published)
‘‘The Citadel of Weeping Pearls’’, Aliette de Bodard (Asimov’s 10-11/15)
‘‘The Four Thousand, the Eight Hundred’’, Greg Egan (Asimov’s 12/15)
Binti, Nnedi Okorafor (Tor.com)
Slow Bullets, Alastair Reynolds (Tachyon)

NOVELETTE 
‘‘The Heart’s Filthy Lesson’’, Elizabeth Bear (Old Venus)
‘‘And You Shall Know Her by the Trail of Dead’’, Brooke Bolander (Lightspeed 2/15)
‘‘Black Dog’’, Neil Gaiman (Trigger Warning)
‘‘Folding Beijing’’, Hao Jingfang (Uncanny 1-2/15)
‘‘Another Word for World’’, Ann Leckie (Future Visions)

SHORT STORY 
‘‘Three Cups of Grief, by Starlight’’, Aliette de Bodard (Clarkesworld 1/15)
‘‘Madeleine’’, Amal El-Mohtar (Lightspeed 6/15)
‘‘Cat Pictures Please’’, Naomi Kritzer (Clarkesworld 1/15)
‘‘The Dowager of Bees’’, China Miéville (Three Moments of an Explosion)
‘‘Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers’’, Alyssa Wong (Nightmare 10/15)

ANTHOLOGY 
The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Thirty-second Annual Collection, Gardner Dozois, ed. (St. Martin’s Griffin)
Old Venus, George R.R. Martin & Gardner Dozois, eds. (Bantam)
Hanzai Japan: Fantastical, Futuristic Stories of Crime From and About Japan, Nick Mamatas & Masumi Washington, eds. (Haikasoru)
Stories for Chip: A Tribute to Samuel R. Delany, Nisi Shawl & Bill Campbell, eds. (Rosarium)
Meeting Infinity, Jonathan Strahan, ed. (Solaris US; Solaris UK)

COLLECTION
The Best of Gregory Benford, Gregory Benford (Subterranean)
Trigger Warning: Short Fictions and Disturbances, Neil Gaiman (Morrow)
The Best of Nancy Kress, Nancy Kress (Subterranean)
Dancing Through the Fire, Tanith Lee (Fantastic Books)
Three Moments of an Explosion, China Miéville (Macmillan UK; Del Rey 2016)

MAGAZINE 
Asimov’s
Clarkesworld
F&SF
File 770
Tor.com

PUBLISHER 
Baen
Gollancz
Orbit
Tor
Subterranean

EDITOR 
John Joseph Adams
Ellen Datlow
Gardner Dozois
David G. Hartwell
Jonathan Strahan

ARTIST 
Galen Dara
Julie Dillon
Bob Eggleton
John Picacio
Michael Whelan

NON-FICTION 
The Culture Series of Iain M. Banks, Simone Caroti (McFarland)
Lois McMaster Bujold, Edward James (University of Illinois Press)
Letters to Tiptree, Alisa Krasnostein & Alexandra Pierce, eds. (Twelfth Planet)
Frederik Pohl, Michael R. Page (University of Illinois Press)
Ray Bradbury, David Seed (University of Illinois Press)

ART BOOK
Julie Dillon’s Imagined Realms, Book 2: Earth and Sky, Julie Dillon (self-published)
Women of Wonder: Celebrating Women Creators of Fantastic Art, Cathy Fenner, ed. (Underwood)
Spectrum 22: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art, John Fleskes, ed. (Flesk)
Edward Gorey: His Book Cover Art & Design, Steven Heller, ed. (Pomegranate)
The Fantasy Illustration Library, Volume One: Lands & Legends, Malcolm R. Phifer & Michael C. Phifer (Michael Publishing)

Books Read: April 2016

Now that another month has come, let's take a look at the books I read last month.

1. Runtime, by SB Divya
2. The Tempering of Men, by Sarah Monette and Elizabeth Bear
3. Central Sation, by Lavie Tidhar
4. The Crimson Campaign, by Brian McClellan
5. Nemesis Games, by James S.A. Corey



Best Book of the Month: Because I take so long in between reading each volume, I forget just how good The Expanse is - both as a series and as individual volumes. Despite separating the crew of the Rocinate, Nemesis Games holds together and feels both broad and tight. And wonderful.

Disappointment of the Month: Despite reading the praise for years, I've not read Lavie Tidhar's work before. I had reasonably high expectations and despite the praise this particular book is receiving, I bounced off of Central Station. I expect this is a case of wrong book / wrong reader. Or right book, / wrong reader. Whichever is most appropriate for the situation.

Discovery of the Month: None. Having only read five books this month, it is difficult to discover much.

Worth Noting: In terms of reading, this was a very down month. Due to a temporary change in my work schedule, I didn't have my usual lunchtime reading hour. To add to that, we were doing some work to the family room, so I lost some time in the evenings after we put the kid to bed where I might be able to do some additional reading. I hope / expect that I'll get more done in May. Five books just seems extra disappointing.

Gender Breakdown: With such a small volume of books read, it is difficult to analyze much of what happened except to say that 2 out of the 5 books were written by women. This brings my total to 28 / 56, or an even 50%. Since the only real goal that I have is to keep the number near a 50/50 split, I am so far on track to accomplish that.



Previous Reads
January
February 
March