Hey!

It was a quiet week on my parts of the internet, probably because my muted words, phrases, and tags list to block out the worst of The Horrors is why Bluesky keeps crashing. Plus, I took a lot of time reading Slow Gods by Claire North on a rec from Roseanna, and I loved it. Robot pals! And also if anyone hurts Maw I will hide tiny Lego pieces in all their softest places.

Onward to the reviews, media commentary, and recs!

A-Side

The Queersar Not An Award 2023
Eddie Clark continues his not-an-award adventure. I love this project so much and I’m sad it’s almost over. More than the books listed, it’s the way that Eddie explains and contextualizes each one, placing it in conversation with the others as well as the rest of the field. I also appreciate that during this series he’s been highlighting the award attention each book received. It’s a great reminder that while reading from award shortlists can be fun, it’s absolutely possible to miss things.

Who Cares about Dungeons & Dragons Novels Anyway?
This long essay and short history of D&D franchise fiction was a fascinating read. I don’t know much about this type of genre literature, and even less about D&D. I cannot play or watch D&D because my social anxiety/secondhand embarassment dials up to 900% simply thinking about it. But I’ve always liked the story parts of it, which D&D friends used to share as they developed storylines and characters for their games. In a weird twist, I have a D&D novel on my most anticipated books list: The Feywild Job by C.L. Polk. Obviously I’m more interested in the C.L. Polk/queer fantasy aspects than the D&D ones! But I’m intriguied enough to give it a shot. I do agree with the thesis of this essay, which is that D&D novels are an important part of genre history and should be treated as such!

Reviews/Discussions

After the Fall by Edward Ashton (Gabino Iglesias @ Locus)
And Side by Side They Wander by Molly Tanzer (Marlene Harris @ Reading Reality)
And Side by Side They Wander by Molly Tanzer (Trish Matson @ Skiffy and Fanty)
And Side by Side They Wander by Molly Tanzer (Gary K. Wolfe @ Locus)
Breath and Bone by K.V. Johansen (Paul Weimer @ Nerds of a Feather)
Cabaret in Flames by Hache Pueyo (Ian Mond @ Locus)
Covenants by Lorna Freeman (Tar Vol on)
The Curve of the World by Vonda N. McIntyre (Kate Macdonald @ Strange Horizons)
Daggerspell by Katherine Kerr (Niko’s Book Reviews)
The Faith of Beasts by James S.A. Corey (Rachel @ Shades of Orange)
Fool's Errand, Golden Fool, and Fool's Fate by Robin Hobb (Bookborn)
Green & Deadly Things by Jenn Lyons (Bonnie McDaniel @ Red Headed Femme)
Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots (Amal El-Mohtar)
The Language of Liars by S.L. Huang (Bill Capossere @ FanLit)
The Midnight Shift by Cheon Seon-Ran, translated by Gene Png (Sneha Pathak @ Strange Horizons)
Moon Over Brendle by Jeff Noon (Eden Kupermintz @ Ancillary Review of Books)
The Mystery of the Bitten Peach by Cecilia Tan (Elias @ Bar Cart Bookshelf)
Ode to the Half-Broken by Suzanne Palmer (Christine D. Baker @ Nerds of a Feather)
The Poet Empress by Shen Tao (Liz Bourke @ Locus)
The Poet Empress by Shen Tao (Petrik Leo @ Novel Notions)
The Photonic Effect by Mike Chen (Womble @ Runalong the Shelves)
Pretenders to the Throne of God by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Christian P. Haines @ Ancillary Review of Books)
Radiant Star by Ann Leckie (Cameron Miguel @ Strange Horizons)
The Rainshadow Orphans by Naomi Ishiguro (Cat Treadwell @ The Fantasy Hive)
The Republic of Memory by Mahmud El Sayed (Melissa A. Watkins @ Lightspeed)
Seek the Traitor’s Son by Veronica Roth (Mark Yon @ SFF World)
The Tapestry of Fate by Shannon Chakraborty (Narrated Podcast)
The Tapestry of Fate by Shannon Chakraborty (Becky’s Book Reviews)
Thistlemarsh by Moorea Corrigan (Jenny Hamilton @ Reactor)
Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor (Fiction Fans Podcast)

B-Side

I recommended Finder by Suzanne Palmer in this thread asking for SFF recs, because I am both predictable and obsessed. (I have not yet started bribing people to read it, but who knows what the future may bring.) I also recced the Science Fiction Awards Database, too, because I can be greedy about my favorite books but also connect people with useful resources. If you’ve never checked out the database, it’s a fun place to browse. I salute you, Mark R. Kelly, whoever you are! Sia shared a list of moon-based book recs. I’ve been in a moon mood since Artemis II, so this rec list showed up at a great time (of course, now I also want the werewolf rec list she mentioned). Bailey shared a list of books that don’t have sequels, but should. For the record: I was late to A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark, but I’m lined up directly behind Bailey for more full length novels in this world. Someone who knows this man please place our humble petition in his hands.

The British Fantasy Awards short list dropped, and big congrats to Mixtape Pals Alasdair and Marguerite for the nomination for The Full Lid. Are you subscribed to the Lid? It’s fun! Someone made a randomizer for this year’s Clarke Award. It’s probably a good thing I didn’t learn how to code things because I would spend all my time on stuff like this and never sleep/read. After reading all the Clarke commentary I could find, here’s my guess for the Clarke shortlist, out June 4:

Rakesfall by Vajra Chandrasekera
Vanishing World by Sayaka Murata
Where the Axe Is Buried by Ray Nayler
Luminous by Sylvia Park
When There Are Wolves Again by E. J. Swift
Shroud by Adrian Tchaikovsky

If this list is giving “Welcome to Macrodata Refinement”, that would be accurate, because I absolutely looked at the long list and chose the things my brain liked the best. The UK field is such a mystery to me! If I get even one right I will be pleased. The Locus Awards will be given this week; I couldn’t find info about an online stream, but last year they had a livestream on their Youtube page. I hope they do so again.

Jayde Holmes looked at the short stories nominated for the Locus, Hugo, and Nebula Awards. At Pixelated Geek Kathryn Adams reviewed Hugo finalists The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar and Murder by Memory by Olivia Waite as well three of the novelettes. Bonnie at Red Headed Femme also reviewed The River Has Roots. Dina reviewed Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcett (Best Series, Hugo) and the Short Story finalists. Camestros Felapton ranked the BDP-LF finalists and the BDP-SF finalists. I’m jealous of everyone who knows immediately how they’re going to rank things, because I change my mind a minimum of 17,053 times before the voting deadline in every category.

Octothorpe dropped Episode #160, full of mailbag responses and Hugo Award commentary. Apparently, if you downloaded the voter packet early, check back, because there may be new codes/links for certain items. Sword & Laser had a new episode full of SF news and a short discussion of Slow Gods by Claire North; they made me want to reread the book alongside the audiobook. Angela at Literature Science Alliance put together a list of her favorite fantasy novels from the last five years. Kristen from Fantasy Cafe had another fantasy rec session with the Ashland Public Library. Shelved by Genre continued their readalong and discussion of The Two Towers, and will wrap up next episode.

Over in short fiction, khōréō is looking for a fiction editor. The crowdfunding campaign for Common Bonds 3 is live. Vale Solomon dropped their weekly Tuesday recs. In sad news, FIYAH is going on indefinite hiatus. I’ve been subscribed to FIYAH for a long time and I’ll definitely miss it. You can pick up a selection of back issues any time or preorder a copy of Forged in FIYAH, which comes out in September.

Alasdair reviewed Mortal Kombat II, a film I will certainly be watching soon as soon as my partner gets the urge. :P I did love the Ewok Adventures, so apparently I’ll be a big fan of The Mandalorian and Grogu, even if most of the reviews I’ve been seeing, like this one from Stewart Hotston, don’t think much of the film. Admittedly, the Ewok films were…bad. But bad doesn’t have to mean not fun! Ann Michelle Harris reviewed Exit 8, a video game adaptation I’m super pumped to see. I follow a lot of film critics on TikTok and several of them raved about Obsession, so now I must see it when it comes to streaming. I’m in my Horror Era and frankly, I feel spoiled for choice.

There were three excerpts at Reactor that I read this week: The Unicorn Hunters by Katherine Arden, Kill All Wizards by Jedediah Berry, and All We Hunger For by Anna Mercier. Ray Nayler will be in conversation with Max Gladstone at Brookline Booksmith on June 4. Octocon Presents chatted with Sarah Rees Brennan about All Hail Chaos (spoilers abound). Molly Tanzer, out and about for the release of her book, And Side by Side They Wander, has a short Q&A at The Nerdy Daily and a conversation with Jonathan and Gary on Coode Street. Fonda Lee has an interview on the pod, On Wednesdays We Read, about The Last Contract of Isako. John Chu, author of The Subtle Art of Folding Space, chatted with Shaun and Paul on the Skiffy and Fanty pod.

For a dive in another fun direction, don’t miss last week’s Wombling Along!

Art recs: making a new little friend in a big mysterious forest by Adam; The crow by Aled Thompson; it’s the witch hat atelier by Deb JJ Lee; The Old Ones by Mali, There’s Something in the House by Arlen

Outro

That’s it for this week! Drink some water, don’t forget your sunscreen, and get plenty of rest! — Renay

Recent Reading:

(Last) The Lies of the Ajungo by Moses Ose Utomi
(Now) Sweep of Stars by Maurice Broaddus
(Next) Ode to the Half-Broken by Suzanne Palmer (provided B&N gives me my very late preorder, sob)