Books

I read…a lot. Here’s where I ramble about books and printed media.

2020 Hugo Nominees

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This year’s Hugo award nominees were announced today. For the most part, they’re all unknown to me, save the following:

Looks like of the textual nominees, the only one(s) I’ve read is Best Series nominee Tade Thompson’s The Wormwood Trilogy, courtesy of the final book’s nomination for the P.K. Dick award. I really enjoyed those, though!

I’ve seen 2/3 of the long form dramatic presentations, missing only Russian Doll S1 (the first couple episodes were fun, but didn’t get further through, for no particular reason) and Jordan Peele’s Us (which is on my “to watch” list).

Only seen one of the short form nominees, The Mandalorian‘s “Redemption”, but I couldn’t tell you which episode that was, so…🤷‍♂️.

Congratulations to all the nominees, and I look forward to finding out which book will be added to my Hugo Best Novel reading project!

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📚 award announcement: This year’s Philip K. Dick Award ceremony is moving online! Join us this Friday, April 10, at 7 p.m. to hear readings from the nominated works and find out who wins this year’s award and special citation for best original paperback SF publication.

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Book eighteen of 2020: Fantastic Voyage by Isaac Asimov ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Sure, the miniaturization process is basically magic, and the only woman in the story is treated abysmally, even for Asimov. But if you can cope with those, the concept and adventure is still a lot of fun.

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📚 seventeen of 2020: The Andromeda Strain, by Michael Crichton ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A fun, quick read; amusingly thematically appropriate for the moment. Only this has the advantage of being fictional with a satisfactory resolution. If only COVID-19 could be dealt with in five days.

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📚 sixteen of 2020: This Immortal by Roger Zelazny ⭐️⭐️ 1966 Hugo Best Novel

Meh. Maybe it’s a combination of mid-60s SF and the current pandemic stress, and I might have been more receptive at another time, but this was a slog.

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📚 fifteen of 2020: *batteries not included by Wayland Drew ⭐️⭐️⭐️

I had vague memories of the film, but as it turns out, very vague: other than the tiny flying saucers, none of this was familiar. A pleasant enough bit of fluff to distract myself with, but not much more.

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📚 fourteen of 2020: The Last Best Hope by Una McCormack ⭐️⭐️⭐️

A direct prequel to the Picard series, detailing the struggles, triumphs, and travesties of the Romulan relief effort. Also the most politically & socially currently relevant Trek novel I’ve ever read. 🖖

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📚 thirteen of 2020: Velocity Weapon by Megan E. O’Keefe ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ #PKDickAward nominee

Good grand scope space opera, with neat questions on consciousness and the psychology of AI as used in ships of war. Figured out many of the reveals quickly, but still quite good.

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📚 twelve of 2020: Sooner or Later Everything Falls Into the Sea by Sarah Pinsker ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ #PKDickAward nominee

Really enjoyed this collection. Hopeful themes, and music winds its way through nearly every story in neat ways.