Monthly Archives: August 2019

New Books and ARCs, 8/30/19

As we roll into the final weekend of summer*, here’s a hefty stack of new books and ARCs for your consideration. What’s in this stack you’d like to see summer off with? Tell us all in the comments!   (*Northern Hemisphere only. Statement inaccurate in terms of equinoxes. Your mileage may vary. Consult a doctor […]

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View From a Hotel Window, 8/30/19: Washington DC

This view is very similar to another view around this time a couple of years ago, for the reason that I’m in the same city with the same purpose — I’m in Washington DC for the National Book Festival. My particular event is tomorrow at 1pm, and I’ll also be signing books right after. If […]

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Some News About the Campbell Award for Best New Writer

It’s undergoing a name change, to the Astounding Award for Best New Writer. All the details are here. I don’t know if the name change is retroactive, but I gotta say I wouldn’t mind being known as an Astounding Award winner. It was Jeannette Ng who made this happen by speaking up, and also the […]

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The Big Idea: Michael Mammay

It’s easy to be a hero — sometimes. In Spaceside, author Michael Mammay examines the other side of being seen as heroic, and what it can do to a character (and the story they’re currently in). MICHAEL MAMMAY: Spaceside is a sequel. It stands alone, but it takes place after the events of Planetside, and […]

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An Evening With Iron Maiden

When I was in high school, Kevin Stampfl, one of my best friends, was a huuuuuuuge fan of Iron Maiden, and through his good graces I was introduced to the band, and its repertoire of delightfully aggressive new wave of British heavy metal. I became a fan myself — Maiden was, and is, in the […]

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The Big Idea: Susan Forest

In today’s Big Idea, Susan Forest is an author with a mission — a real-world mission that reveals itself in a fantastical way in her novel Bursts of Fire. SUSAN FOREST: I love traditional fantasy. I love the magic and the quest. I love the perils, the monsters, and the politics. So when I set […]

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My 2019 Worldcon Experience

It was great! Okay, that’s it, thank you for coming. Oh, wait, you wanted details? Well, I mean, okay, I guess I can do that. In no particular order: * Krissy and I actually started our trip a few days before the Worldcon started. This year the Worldcon was in Dublin, Ireland, and neither of […]

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Jeannette Ng, John W. Campbell, and What Should Be Said By Whom and When

In the aftermath of the Hugo Award ceremony this year, there’s been quite the harumph harumph about the fact that this year’s winner, Jeannette Ng, started her acceptance speech by offering up the opinion that John W. Campbell, the foundational science fiction editor for whom the award is named, was a fascist (you can read […]

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A Brief Note on Mary Robinette Kowal, On the Day After Her Hugo Best Novel Win

A number of years ago, and during one of those occasional mud-flinging spats that happen in science fiction, a person who I will mercifully not name now tried to dismiss and minimize Mary Robinette Kowal as “no one you should have heard of, and no one of consequence.” This was when Mary Robinette had already […]

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The Big Idea: Sophia McDougall

Sophia McDougall’s Romanitas series was written a number of years ago, but only this month is being released in the US for the first time. Today, McDougall recounts the where, when and why this alternate history series was created… and what it’s like looking back on that creation today. SOPHIA McDOUGALL: It was early autumn, […]

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The Big Idea: Reese Hogan

In fantasy worlds, we’re used to the idea of “secondary worlds” — worlds not unlike our own, branched off in specific ways — and in Shrouded Loyalties, author Reese Hogan branches off from an unusual place indeed. REESE HOGAN: To try to figure out the big idea behind Shrouded Loyalties—and the wording here is something […]

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The Big Idea: Keren Landsmann

Today’s Big Idea, for Israeli author Keren Landsmann’s new book The Heart of the Circle, is heartbreaking. KEREN LANDSMANN: I had a big idea. I was going to write about the murder of Shira Banki in Pride in Jerusalem in 2015, and how it affected writing The Heart of the Circle. It was supposed to […]

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Checking in From Dublin, 8/13/19

It’s lovely so far. There are flowers everywhere. We’ve seen the Book of Kells and Christchurch Cathedral and had dinner with friends and been to pubs. It’s a whole thing and we’re here for it. Hope your week is going well, too. More updates when I can remember to do them.

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