Posts Tagged: Science Fiction

Feature Article

Best of ’13 — Roundup of Hugo Nominations & Recommendations around the ‘Net

By Aidan Moher March 10th, 2014
Best of '13 — Roundup of Hugo Nominations & Recommendations around the 'Net
By Aidan Moher on March 10th, 2014
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It’s no secret that I believe we need to do a better job at engaging in positive discussion about genre’s best works in relation to award season. We’re really good at getting annoyed, upset and frothy at the mouth about some things (as Abigail Nussbuam recently wrote about with much finer words, and more hands, than I could ever hope for), and it’s important to also apply that passion and energy to screaming loudly enthusiastically about the books, films, and people we love.

Over the past six months, I’ve discussed my own ever-evolving list of recommendations for Hugo nomination. I’ll do so once more before the close of the nomination period on March 31st, 2014. However, those posts are very distinctly one person’s opinion, and the genre fanscape is much larger than one opinion (no matter how highly I think of it.) In fact, the reason that I’ve decided to post various versions of my ever changing nomination ballot is because the good people of the Internet (they do exist, we’re not all bad!) have alerted me to so much cool stuff that I’ve had no choice but to revise my ballot several times.

So, here I’m curating a collection of publishing Hugo Award recommendations, in the hopes that you (like me) might find something of value in there that makes it onto your final ballot (if you’re a Hugo voter), or just makes you smile. Read More »

News

The Sword & Laser Anthology revealed: Cover, Contributors, and a discussion with Veronica Belmont

By Aidan Moher March 7th, 2014
The Sword & Laser Anthology, edited by Veronica Belmont and Tom Merritt

The Sword & Laser book club, spearheaded by fantasy geek Veronica Belmont and science fiction geek Tom Merritt, is one of the most vibrant and enthusiastic fan communities on the ‘net. In addition to the book club, Belmont and Merritt also host a podcast and a weekly video show, which feature discussion about all the hooplah (good and bad) in fandom, book club discussion, and interviews with some of the genres’ most popular authors.

As if that wasn’t enough, the busy duo saw an opportunity afforded to them by their loving community of fans: an anthology of new writers. I reached out to Veronica Belmont to discuss the anthology, which is just a few weeks away from release, and features some pretty great stories (including one from me!).

“The Sword & Laser Anthology is almost two years in the making, at this point,” Belmont explained when I asked her about the origins of the anthology. “We’d been planning it for a long time, but we officially started accepting submissions in March of 2013. Building this community, which has existed since 2007, we realized very early that we had many talented writers among our listeners, and we wanted to give them an opportunity have their voices heard as well. That’s basically where the idea came from.” Read More »

News

Daniel Abraham on Cibola Burn, the future of The Expanse, and The Spider’s War

By Aidan Moher March 6th, 2014
Cibola Burn by James S.A. Corey

Buy Cibola Burn by James S.A. Corey: Book/eBook

In a recent blog post, Daniel Abraham pulled back the curtain on several of his projects, including news about his fan favourite series, The Dagger and the Coin and The Expanse.

Abraham discussed the upcoming additions to The Expanse series, which he writes alongside Ty Franck under the name James S.A. Corey, beginning with some hints of what readers can expect from the fourth volume in the series, Cibola Burn. “There are some things about [Cibola Burn] that made me *very* *nervous*,” he said. “But all our beta readers said we got away with it.”

The next Expanse novella, which “used to be called ‘Beloved of Broken Things’, will be released as ‘The Churn'” sometime before the release of Cibola Burn.

Abraham expressed excitement for the announced television adaptation of The Expanse, calling the first script “effing AWSOME.” He admits, however, that Hollywood is a fickle beast and that there is not much tangible value to be taken from a first script and some concept art (besides the goosebump factor, of course.) The show is still a long way from appearing on television screens.

The fifth volume, tentatively titled Nemesis Games, “is well under way,” confirmed Abraham.

He also had news for fans of his fantasy series, The Dagger and the Coin. Page proofs of The Widow’s House, a final stage of the editing process, have been submitted to his publisher, Orbit Books, and he’s currently working on the final volume, currently titled The Spider’s War. “I’m already feeling a little wispy about ending my time with these characters,” Abraham said of the series finale. “I shall be bloody bold and resolute. And there are some scenes coming up soon that I’ve been waiting five or six years to write.”

Busy guy, that Daniel Abraham.

Review

Review of Conservation of Shadows by Yoon Ha Lee

By Foz Meadows March 4th, 2014

Conservation of Shadows by Yoon Ha Lee

Publisher: Prime Books - Pages: 288 - Buy: Book/eBook
Conservation of Shadows by Yoon Ha Lee

Up until recently, short stories, as a medium, were largely off my radar. Though I read them avidly and voraciously as a child, at some point during my mid to late teens, I just sort of… stopped. It wasn’t so much a conscious decision as a consequence of the fact that, for whatever reason – their length, presumably – short stories are frequently marketed to kids, but less so to teenagers (or at least, that used to be the case), and once they were no longer being thrust upon me, I didn’t seek them out. I kept writing them, of course, but not very well or often, because it’s extremely hard to develop any proficiency at an art form you aren’t actively exposed to. But ever since I bought a subscription to Clarkesworld for my Kindle and remembered, somewhat belatedly, how amazing good short stories are, I’ve been ravenous for them.

Conservation of Shadows is, to put it bluntly, breathtaking.

Enter Conservation of Shadows by Yoon Ha Lee – a collection I heard about via Aliette de Bodard, who wrote the introduction – which has well and truly reminded me that, if you’re not reading short stories, you’re missing out on something vital. With settings that range from the fantastic to the science fictional – and including plenty which blur the lines between them – Conservation of Shadows is, to put it bluntly, breathtaking. Lee writes with extraordinary power and beauty: her worldbuilding, which frequently draws its influences from Korean culture and history, is compulsively original and detailed, but without being overwhelming (except on the level of sheer professional envy). Thematically, her stories deal with empire, colonialism, warfare and its aftermath, and the many ways in which all these elements impact on people, history, language and culture. Read More »

News

Ann Leckie discusses Ancillary Sword, and the success of Ancillary Justice

By Aidan Moher March 3rd, 2014
Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie

Buy Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie: Book/eBook

To say that Ann Leckie’s debut novel, Ancillary Justice (REVIEW), was last year’s most surprising critical darling wouldn’t be far from the truth, but anyone with knowledge of Leckie’s previous short fiction should not have been shocked to see the bold space opera make so many waves. Ancillary Justice recently won the Kitschies’ Golden Tentacle, and found nominations for the 2013 Philip K. Dick Award, the 2013 Nebula Award and the 2013 BSFA Award for Best Novel. It is expected by many (myself included) to make the Hugo list for Best Novel when nominations are tallied next month.

Ancillary Sword does not have the luxury of obscurity, as Leckie was quick to point out when I reached out to her to discuss the sequel. “I wrote Ancillary Justice in a sort of isolation — only my friends knew I was working on it,” she said. “Some of them had opinions on the work, but mostly it was just me, writing and thinking about it. Ancillary Sword, though — now Ancillary Justice is out, I’ve been seeing reactions to it, and speculations about Ancillary Sword, and it’s kind of odd, to see people tweet about where they hope or assume the book or its characters might go.”

Fans have a lot to look forward to, and the back cover blurb for Ancillary Sword gives a good idea of what they’re in for.

The Lord of the Radch has given Breq command of the ship Mercy of Kalr and sent her to the only place she would have agreed to go — to Athoek Station, where Lieutenant Awn’s sister works in Horticulture.

Athoek was annexed some six hundred years ago, and by now everyone is fully civilized — or should be. But everything is not as tranquil as it appears. Old divisions are still troublesome, Athoek Station’s AI is unhappy with the situation, and it looks like the alien Presger might have taken an interest in what’s going on. With no guarantees that interest is benevolent.

“When I wrote Ancillary Justice,” Leckie explained, “I knew that the story wanted to be a trilogy — it’s funny, isn’t it, how you just think of things in familiar forms, as though there’s some universal reason a story should be a hundred thousand words long, or else three chunks of a hundred thousand each, and not some other length or structure. It just goes to show how strong some expectations are.

“Anyway. I felt from the start that the story wanted to be a trilogy, but I also had no way of knowing if I could even sell one book, let alone three. So I decided to write Ancillary Justice as though there would only be the one book–but I also tried to leave some options open in case I would actually get to continue.”

Breq is facing somewhat different problems, now she’s gotten what there is to get of her revenge and is still alive to face new problems.

The critical success of Ancillary Justice opened many doors for Leckie and her trilogy. Breq’s journey through the the first novel left readers with an empire on the verge of civil war and utter collapse, and Ancillary Sword promises to deliver questions to some of the trilogy’s most pressing questions, though not in exactly the same way that Ancillary Justice first asked them.

“Of necessity, the settings of Ancillary Sword aren’t quite so far-flung as Ancillary Justice,” she explained “[and it] isn’t exactly the same sort of book as Ancillary Justice. Breq is facing somewhat different problems, now she’s gotten what there is to get of her revenge and is still alive to face new problems. Regardless, I do hope that readers enjoy it.”