Intersting mix of subjects here; kaiju, vampires, magic, and self-aware machines (the old term is too loaded and too intentially muddled by llm-hucksters to be of any use to me now). The machines take the biggest slice, but each story has a very different focus, so that’s nice. Top of my ballot will go to Never Eaten Vegetables by H. H. Pak, which was wonderfully well rounded, using its relatively short length to pack a short novel’s worth of world-building and characterisation, and also delivers on the feels.
Achoo!
Well, this should have been a con report, or more Hugo reading posts, but instead I caught a cold and then maybe another cold, or a sinus infection, or some damned thing and missed out on the convention and a few other things as well. Satellite 9 was over the Spring Bank Holiday/Memorial Day weekend, but I was in no shape for it. I sent John off on his own, train tickets and hotel non-refundable after all, and to be honest the weekend was not too bad – it was sunny and I spent a little time in the garden, …
Hugo Reading: Novella
This year I’m going to try to be a bit better about my Hugo reading, instead of trying to speedread three novels and the entire short story category on a train to the airport or something. I’m not going to review in any great detail, but figured doing some posts as I go along to keep track might help a bit. Novella is the first one done and dusted, and a pretty good lineup this year I think. Half of them are retellings of classic stories, which is kind of interesting, and top of my ballot with probably go to …
Hugo Finalist!
Belated post about the Hugo announcements, I am on the list for Fan Artist again this year – which is lovely. The other finalists are Sara Felix, Richard Man, Terri Ash, Geneva Bowers, and Yummei. Some new, some previous winners, some old friends and some folks I’ll hopefully meet for the first time in LA! This is the first year I haven’t submitted any folding fans to the packet, which I guess might be a surprise, but none of my 2025 fans were what I consider fan art. My personal criteria for what constitutes fan art in the Hugo sense …
Eastercon 2026: Iridescence
(It says last weekend, but I left this in drafts for two weeks, sigh) (Aaaaand I posted an incomplete draft. I’m a hot mess.) Last weekend we headed to the Hilton Birmingham Metropole for Eastercon! We opted for the full, relaxed experience this year an took the train down on Thursday and returned on Tuesday – which explains why I’m only just recovering enough to write my report now. As ever I promised myself I would take notes and write a proper report but did no such thing and and am relying on my frankly terrible memory, so expect a …
Dark Flood by Karon Alderman
Last month I was at the Ouseburn Trust waiting to go on their Brewery Tour (which was not as blokey as the photo on their website imples) and a time travel kids book in their gift shop, so of course I had to get it. Flipping through the first couple of pages there was a scene of the kids being skeptical about the importance of history, so I figured I knew what to expect, but I’m happy to report it’s much better and deeper than that. It’s the summer holidays, Archie’s grandfather is unwell, Deela’s father is over-protective and her …
BEAMISH
My birthday started on Thursday as far as I’m concerned, since it was First Thursday – and a busy one now that the weather is warmer and the daylight lasts past the end of the workday. I’ve managed to schedule other little things for every day through Tuesday the 10th, an unusually busy birthday celebration for me, but the big one was a visit to Beamish on Saturday. Everyone has recommended Beamish, including I kid you not, complete strangers at random pubs. I’ve been wanting to go, but was a bit skeptical it would live up to such universal praise. …
Lunar New Year
February is nearly done, its warmed enough to maybe put away the thermals, and the sun is still out when I close my work laptop at the end of the day. Eastercon is hovering on the horizon, whispering about deadlines. Last weekend I finally made the effort to watch the local Lunar New Year parade, I’d caught bits of it previously but since I had morning errands in town and the weather was (mostly) quite nice, I followed the crowds till I found a gap along the parade route and watched the whole thing. It was surprisingly chaotic from a …
The Bone Temple
After being disappointed by the wildly uneven 28 Years Later, I went into this cautiously optimistic based on word-of-mouth and the knowledge that at worst it would have more Ralph Fiennes. I knew it was a direct sequel, and I’d seen the poster/publicity stills, but that’s about it. And it was great! Gory, funny, touching, with depth if you’re looking for it, but solid horror action if that’s all you’re in it for. Although the rage zombies are still very much (full) front(al) and center, the 2YL series (they’re doing a third one) is maybe most interesting to me as …
Miniature Worlds
Miniature Worlds: Little Landscapes from Thomas Bewick to Beatrix Potter is lovely exhibition at the Laing, focused on tailpieces and other small vignettes. The emphasis on landscapes in the title feels a tiny (hah) bit misleading as many of the vignettes are of people and animals, obviously including the Beatrix Potters, and some Tenniel Alice illustrations, and Blake’s Virgil woodcuts. Thomas Bewick, a local artist, was entirely new to me – and a delightful discovery. His engravings are wonderfully made and seeing them up close is a treat, the exhibition provides a magnifying glass to get the full detail. But more …