fantasy – Page 8 – Wis[s]e Words

2013 Nebula Award winners

Published on May 18, 20142 Comments

Locus has the winners of the 2013 Nebula Awards up:

Ancillary Justice, Ann Leckie
“The Weight of the Sunrise”, Vylar Kaftan
“The Waiting Stars”, Aliette de Bodard
If You Were a Dinosaur, My Love, Rachel Swirsky

Which makes for a clean female sweep of the main awards; has that ever happened before?

As for special awards:

Damon Knight Grand Master Award: Samuel R. Delany
Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy Book: Sister Mine, Nalo Hopkinson
Kevin O’Donnell Jr. Service to SFWA Award: Michael Armstrong
Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation: Gravity

Great to see Ancillary Justice has won, I still think it should win the Hugo too despite all the shenanigans this year. What it has in its favour is that it combines traditional science fiction values (worldbuilding! infodumps! action! adventure!) with a bit of intellectual heft.

That’s my reading sorted for this year

Published on February 26, 2014Leave a comment

This is an awesome list of science fiction/fantasy novels coming out this year and I like Mahvesh Murad’s reasoning here:

There is a great deal of potentially excellent writing and brilliant storytelling to look forward to this year, especially from women writers of speculative fiction. A number of titles that I am looking forward to are from writers of colour, many with stories set outside of the usual Eurocentric/American diaspora.

Sure, you can make up any culture you like as a writer – as long as your worldbuilding is authentic and strong, we’ll buy it. But when you’re not from the mainstream, when you’re not a white, heteronormative writer from the UK or US, you’ll probably be bringing your own cultural background, your own myths, beliefs and baggage to your work and it will probably be a whole lot richer and more interesting for it.

By way of contrast, James Nicoll linked to what NASA thinks makes for good science fiction, fighting the cutting edge battles of the seventies.

Silver Princess, Golden Knight — Sharon Green

Published on September 15, 2013Leave a comment

Cover of Silver Princess, Golden Knight

Silver Princess, Golden Knight
Sharon Green
342 pages
published in 1993

When I saw Silver Princess, Golden Knight in a second hand bookshop, it looked like a fun fantasy adventure romp, spiced up with a bit of romance to make it interesting. A quick scan of the first few pages seemed to confirm that impression. I’d never heard of Sharon Green, but it was on the strenght of this that I decided to buy this novel. It was only after I started reading it in earnest that I discovered what a piece of sexist crap it was. I can’t think of any other novel I’ve ever read which spends so much time undermining its own heroine, all but calling her a bitch at times for being so unreasonable as wanting to decide how to live her own life.

Princess Alexia (Alex for friends) has always been a disappointment to her parents. Strongwilled and disdainful of traditional womanly virtues, she instead has spent most of years out on the streets, having been taught how to fight by her father’s royal guard. After one ill thought out attempt to help those less fortunate than her, has landed herself in prison for horse theft, her exasperated father decides enough is enough and decides that she needs a man to keep her on the straight and narrow. What she thinks about this is immaterial, there’s going to be a contest for all unmarried individuals in the kingdom and she is going the prize for the winner. Alex however discovers a loophole in the competition rules and enters herself, to make sure she remains a free womam. Now had Sharon Green chosen to tell the story of how Alex out fought and out smarted her would be suitors that would’ve been awesome. But this isn’t that story.

Can’t judge these books by their covers

Published on August 24, 20132 Comments

Books wrapped in brown wrappers ready for a blind date at ABC

Here’s an interesting gimmick, from my local science fiction bookstore: books wrapped in brown paper, with only a couple of keywords to keep you guessing. Can you guess which books are hidden behind thes descriptions?

Fantasy, paranormal, suspense, Prague. Could be anything
Science-fiction, planet spanning shield, Earth is doomed, teleological engineering. Perhaps Robert Charles Wilson’s Spin?
Fantasy, Low Countries 1421, deluge of Biblical proportions, three conspirators. Dunno, but sounds interesting.
Fantasy, clash of civilisations, holy war, divided loyalties. Could be any epic fantasy novel
Fantasy, poker tournament, monsters and demons, underdog. ?
Fantasy, Mississippi, riverboat, pale gentleman. This could be George R. R. Martin’s Fevre Dream.

The Magician’s Guild — Trudi Canavan

Published on August 1, 2013Leave a comment

Cover of The Magician's Guild

The Magician’s Guild
Trudi Canavan
465 pages
published in 2001

Trudi Canavan is an Austrialian fantasy writer who has been mostly writing epic fantasy trilogies and has become rather popular as a result. According to Wikipedia, her first series, The Black Magician Trilogy was ” the most successful debut fantasy series of the last 10 years”. The Magician’s Guildin the first book in that series as well as her debut novel, which I didn’t know when I picked it from the library to read. It was just that this was the only of her novels available that wasn’t part two or three of a trilogy when I decided to try and see if I would like her writing.

What also made me pick up this book in particular when skipping past seemingly similar fantasy books by other writers was the backcover blurb, which made it sounds like it was something more than the usual fantasy cliches in the usual medievaloid setting:

Each year the magicians of Imardin gather to purge the city streets of vagrants, urchins and miscreants. Masters of the disciplines of magic, they know nobody can oppose them. But their protective shield is not as impenetrable as they believe.