Yes, I am ploughing my way through the Hugo 2014 nominated works, why do you ask?
SF
speculative fiction
2014 Tiptree Awards announced: Byrne and Walton winners
The James Tiptree Jr. literary prize for science fiction or fantasy published during 2014 that expands or explores our understanding of gender was announced over the Easter weekend. Congratulations to Monica Byrne and Jo Walton, this year’s winners, and congratulations also to those authors selected for the honour list and the long list.
Procedure Fail: WisCon, Feminism and Safe Spaces
Readers who are already part of SF fandom have probably seen a lot of this WisCon 38 fallout already, but since this sort of institutional memory-holing of relevant history regarding serial harassers is precisely the sort of social convention that serial harassers rely upon in order to keep getting away with what they do, alongside the fallacy that harassers are obvious deviants who could never be part of my well-ordered community (when in fact they are commonly those with the well-liked/respected status to be given the benefit of the doubt when/if reports are made against them), it’s worth reading about the mistakes of communities with which one isn’t familiar so that one can learn about patterns to watch out for and procedural standards which need to be known and practised by decision-makers.
Happy 100th, Galactic Suburbia!
Australian speculative fiction podcast Galactic Suburbia has just celebrated their 100th episode. I… found a picture of a cake! On the Internet!
The Church Of Bob
There are the beginnings of a promising SFF fandom TOD developing over at Scalzi’s joint, for those who have spare popcorn lying around.
Disability and Diversity in Young Adult Fiction
A couple of things have caught my eye lately, so I thought I’d share! Firstly, the Disability in Kidlit blog. This blog embraces a broad definition of disability, and discusses its representation in middle grade and YA literature from a… Read More ›
Gratuitous Awesome: Stone the crows! It’s Star Wars Down Under!
Trailer for Star Wars Downunder. Star Wars Downunder is a 30 minute Star Wars fan film which finally answers the age old question, that has confounded many a film buff before: What would happen if you crossed Star Wars with an Australian beer commercial. Answer? Star Wars Downunder: an epic tale of the good, the bad and the thirsty.
When nerdiverses collide
Cue your fansquee, SF telly geeks.
SF Question of the Day: Dune and Lawrence of Arabia
Would Frank Herbert’s Dune have been such a wide success if its publication in 1965 had not been preceded by David Lean’s masterful cinematography of windswept dunes in 1962’s Lawrence of Arabia?
How, more generally, does our experience of pictorial representations of landscapes and people (both still and moving pictures) influence our perceptions of other works of art, of the world and people around us, and even of our own self-awareness?
Soft targets
While I’m anticipating the new version of Total Recall with Colin Farrell with a certain degree of relish, I can’t help but note that so far as late-80s Arnie dystopic movie remakes go, TR aims at much softer (because interplanetary farther-future etc) targets than The Running Man ever did.