Hey!
It was a light reading-internet-time for me this week, as I’m taking seriously the fact that time to read/vote for the Hugo Awards is quickly running out. I finished Alien Clay, though! (Please clap.)
Onward to the happenings!
AI Is Eating The Internet Whole
This essay about how the internet used to be resonated with me. Years ago, I volunteered for an organization and we asked people to send in a survey response with their email as ID. We received over 1000 responses and the number of non-google emails was: 97. I'm part of the problem! I have so many Google emails that sometimes Google emails me notifications that one is about to be deleted because I haven't logged in for two years. I don't even remember making them. But! I agree with this essay that not all is lost. Newsletters are coming back and there are niche website communities still out there, waiting to be discovered. RSS adoption has some technical hurdles, but I will continue to believe that some part of the niche web will live on.
2025 Locus Awards Ceremony
The Locus Awards were handed out last weekend. The full list of winners is here. Based on these results, I suspect the Hugo Award results for fiction are already in the bag. I was surprised at the winner of Best Science Fiction Novel, The Man Who Saw Seconds by Alexander Boldizar, which I had never heard of before the Locus list. That’s what I want more of, but it is not to be this year! Notable moments during the show: Tochi Onyebuchi’s speech (transcribed here), Sarah Gailey’s speech, which they transcribed here, and the Ignyte Awards winning the Special Award, Celebrating Excellence in Genre.
A Brief History of the Ignyte Awards
L.D. Lewis outlines where the Ignyte Awards came from. What rings so true to me is that some of the coolest, most inclusive things exist because people who see the full humanity of others run them, often invisibily, and often while facing massive disrespect from the very people who say they want to make genre fandom more inclusive. I didn’t participate in FIYAHCON, but I know people who did and they were effusive in their praise during and after.
28 Years Later (Leah Schnelbach @ Reactor)
Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz (Unofficial Hugo Book Club Blog)
The Bewitching by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Tar Vol on)
Blood Over Bright Haven by M.L. Wang (the_bibliomaniac_nerd)
Circular Motion by Alex Foster (Abigail Nussbaum @ Locus)
Dengue Boy by Michel Nieva, translated by Rahul Bery (David Hebblethwaite @ Strange Horizons)
A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett (Chris Winkle @ Mythcreants)
Elio (Arturo Serrano @ nerds of a feather)
Faithbreaker by Hannah Kaner (Liz Bourke @ Reactor)
A Letter From the Lonesome Shore by Sylvie Cathrall (Abigail Nussbaum @ Locus)
Metallic Realms by Lincoln Michel (Niall Harrison @ Locus)
Navigational Entanglements by Aliette de Bodard (Tar Vol on)
Overgrowth by Mira Grant (Bonnie McDaniel @ Red Headed Femme)
The Potency of Ungovernable Impulses by Malka Older (Elias @ Bar Cart Bookshelf)
The Potency of Ungovernable Impulses by Malka Older (Narrated Podcast)
Private Rites by Julia Armfield (Womble @ Runalong the Shelves)
Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell (Tar Vol on)
The Witch Roads by Kate Elliott (Green Team of the Legendarium Pod) You can also listen to the spoiler-filled version here.
Annie Bot by Sierra Greer won the Clarke Award. There has been lots of discussion in the run up to the announcement, and now it can all be read knowing how things went! Roseanna Pendleberry and Emily Tesh did a discussion and included memes and also charts! My weaknesses. Runalong the Shelves did a breakdown of the finalists. Gautam Bhatia had an article about the finalists over at Strange Horizons. Nick Hubble wrote one analysis about the Clarke and went on so long there had to be a part two. MJ Hibbett also had a take. The chair of judges was over at Five Books to discuss the finalists.
In other award news, The 2025 Eugie Award finalists are out; there are some familiar names! The British Fantasy Awards finalists were announced to very little fanfare? Do we not sit with this award? Ignyte Awards voting closes August 15. Hugo voting closes July 23. Over at Skiffy and Fanty, Stephen Geigen-Miller posted the second part of a review round up of the Graphic Story finalists. Dina over at SFF Book Reviews also got in on the Graphic Story train, as well as the Lodestar finalists. (I love a ranking.)
This profile of Noma Dumezweni, who is a new actor to me, was compelling. Much different tonally, this interview with Noma Dumezweni & David Dastmalchian was fun. Via Rosewind, I learned that we’re on target for Season 2 of Murderbot. I need this, friends. Let’s all recommend the show to an Apple TV newbie today. You can tempt them with Severance, too! Alex Brown did their regular recap of Murderbot’s seventh episode over at Reactor.
To Ride a Rising Storm by Moniquill Blackgoose, the sequel to To Shape a Dragon’s Breath, is on Netgalley! The cover for An Arcane Inheritance by Kamilah Cole (2025 Lodestar finalist) is live. Malka Older was on the SFF Addicts Podcast to talk about her book, The Potency of Ungovernable Impulses. Kate Elliott was also on the SFF Addicts Podcast (they’re busy!), talking about infusing politics into SFF. Elliott was also on LeeReads for a convo about SFWA, writing, and The Witch Roads. The folks over at Mona Lisa Overpod talked with Melissa Scott about her novel, Trouble and Her Friends. There’s a giveaway for The Shattering Peace by John Scalzi on Goodreads. Mia Tsai did a playlist thread for her upcoming book, The Memory Hunters, over on Bluesky.
Paste Magazine has a list of new fantasy books out in June. Transfer Orbit did another collection of books out this month, too. Book Riot has a list of the ten most anticipated SFF books still to come in 2025. Literally every reader will make a different list, like this one by Annemieke over at A Dance with Books. This is why everyone should post one and send it to me, specifically. The Strange Horizons fund drive has half a month to go and is almost 75% funded! There’s a thing called the J.R.R. Tolkien Lecture on Fantasy Literature, and this year it was given by Zen Cho, on “The Uses of Fantasy.” Tar Valon or Bust Presents begins their read through and discussion of Mary Stewart’s Arthurian Saga.
Not content with bankrupting me over the Final Fantasy Magic cards, there will now be Avatar: The Last Airbender Magic cards. RIP my wallet. Although only SFF related in that the United States hates trains and they’re rare like unicorns outside population centers, I am a Train Fan. I love a train even though I never (literally) get to use them. This Amtrak promo video? Perfection. For people like me who can’t do theaters anymore, Sinners will be on HBO Max on July 4th.
Last week I didn’t really have an art rec section and was told it was missed. I had emotions about it (because I love art and also love when people love art). This week we have! cattle wrangler on her diamondback mount by Alexandria Neonakis. It Heckin' WIMDY! by Joy. Cute ducks by Adam. This hole was made for me by Cloudy. Summertine K.K. Slider by Celesse. Nature + Fiddle by gdbeeart. We know that it's probably magic! by Canary. Step on snek by Vilain. Parliament of Owls by Aled Thompson. Blending in by sunatsubu, which is a piece of Murderbot Diaries fanart with a very cool composition.
This is not SFF related at all! But a not-secret about me is that I’m a huge BTS fan and our long international nightmare is over, as BTS has completed their mandatory military service and will be back with new music after they have a (deserved) rest. I’ve had j-hope’s latest solo release on repeat to celebrate. It’s catchy if you like pop music!
Also, the book rec form lives in the newsletter footer now, in case anyone has a burning rec they must share for a future rec list.
See y’all next week!