Award Season...
Horses for “tax”.
So, award season is well under way. I’m working through the Nebula finalists right now.
I’ve done Game Writing, as best I can; as usual, there are no Mac ports of any of the nominated video games. Have discovered that I prefer gameplay videos without side commentary. Ugh. Especially as it was a puzzle game and I wanted to shout at the screen anyway (Chants of Sennaar).
Probably going to pick the non-Wizards (Wizards is threatening to replace all their writers with AI so I’m mad with them right now) tabletop game, Yoon Ha Lee’s Machineries of Empire. He did the adaptation himself, albeit with help, which I’m impressed by.
Halfway through the Andre Norton. Naomi Kritzer is rapidly becoming one of my favorite living YA authors. She’s just got such a nice touch for books that feel like they are happening to teenagers. Liberty’s Daughter is also a fascinating exploration of libertarianism and how it can go wrong…without resorting to the classic “Well, without laws everyone becomes nasty.”
Instead it’s more, “How, without strong government, do we keep evil out?” A much more nuanced approach.
I’ve also read The Ghost Job by Greg Van Eekhout, which is a fun heist novel, and am working my way through J. Dianne Dotson’s The Inn at the Amethyst Lantern. There’s only four entrants, and I’m fairly sure I’m going with Liberty’s Daughter but, of course, Moniquill Blackgoose (whom I have never heard of) might impress me!
Going to stick my neck out. The Boy and the Heron is going to win the Bradbury because Hayao Miyazaki is such a genius. But Barbie is taking the Hugo.