nominees for Nebula 2022 [reposted]

Books I had not read, although some are on my reading list…

Novel

• Legends & Lattes, Travis Baldree [to read]
• Spear, Nicola Griffith
• Nettle and Bone, T. Kingfisher [to read]
• Babel, Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution, R.F. Kuang [to read]
• Nona the Ninth, Tamsyn Muir [to read]
• The Mountain in the Sea, Ray Nayler

Novella

• A Prayer for the Crown-Shy, Becky Chambers [to read]
• “Bishop’s Opening,” R.S.A. Garcia
• I Never Liked You Anyway, Jordan Kurella
• Even Though I Knew the End, C.L. Polk
• High Times in the Low Parliament, Kelly Robson

Greg Bear (1951-2022)

Just heard that the science-fiction writer Greg Bear had passed away. I read [a French translation of] Blood Music in 1985 or 1986, and while I did not like the second half so much, I remember being impressed by the originality of the story when compared with classics like Asimov’s Foundation trilogy. (Little did I know that Bear would later contribute to the Foundation corpus by Foundation and Chaos, which I have not read to this day.) Later, much later, I read Hull Zero Three, again an original (if space-operatic) book, and Darwin’s Radio, which remains one of my favourite books in science fiction, if only because it is deeply grounded into science. Followed by Darwin’s Children this very summer. (I may have read Moving Mars as the story synopsis sounds familiar, but I am unsure…) A great writer, to whom I am grateful for all the gripping time spent on his page-turning books!

Hugo Awards 2022

Here are the results of the Hugo Awards this year, at least those connected with my reads:

Best Novel

• WINNER: A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine (Tor Books) [Not as good as the first volume!]
• The Galaxy, and the Ground Within by Becky Chambers (Harper Voyager / Hodder & Stoughton) [rather homey, but enjoyable]
• A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark (Tordotcom Publishing / Orbit UK) [Would have been my top choice]

Best Novella

• Elder Race by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Tordotcom Publishing) [to read]
• WINNER: A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers (Tordotcom Publishing) [the first volume was great]

Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book (not a Hugo)

• WINNER: The Last Graduate by Naomi Novik (Del Rey Books) [just finished this second volume, too YA by miles!]

Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form

• WINNER: Dune, screenplay by Jon Spaihts, Denis Villeneuve, and Eric Roth; directed by Denis Villeneuve; based on the novel Dune by Frank Herbert (Warner Bros / Legendary Entertainment) [to watch]
• Space Sweepers, written and directed by Jo Sung-hee (Bidangil Pictures) [funny but very light]

 

Hugo Awards finalists 2022

Here are the finalists of the Hugo Awards for different categories, with some read, somne watched, and some to-read:

Best Novel

• A Desolation Called Peace, by Arkady Martine (Tor)
• The Galaxy, and the Ground Within, by Becky Chambers (Harper Voyager / Hodder & Stoughton)
• Light From Uncommon Stars, by Ryka Aoki (Tor / St Martin’s Press)
• A Master of Djinn, by P. Djèlí Clark (Tordotcom / Orbit UK)
• Project Hail Mary, by Andy Weir (Ballantine / Del Rey)
• She Who Became the Sun, by Shelley Parker-Chan (Tor / Mantle)

Best Novella

• Across the Green Grass Fields, by Seanan McGuire (Tordotcom)
• Elder Race, by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Tordotcom)
• Fireheart Tiger, by Aliette de Bodard (Tordotcom)
• The Past Is Red, by Catherynne M. Valente (Tordotcom)
• A Psalm for the Wild-Built, by Becky Chambers (Tordotcom)
• A Spindle Splintered, by Alix E. Harrow (Tordotcom)

Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form

• Dune, screenplay by Jon Spaihts, Denis Villeneuve, and Eric Roth
• Encanto, screenplay by Charise Castro Smith and Jared Bush
• The Green Knight, written and directed by David Lowery
• Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, screenplay by Dave Callaham, et al.
• Space Sweepers, screenplay by Jo Sung-Hee, Yookang Seo-ae, and Yoon Seung-min
• WandaVision, screenplay by Peter Cameron et al.

Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form

• The Wheel of Time: The Flame of Tar Valon, written by Justine Juel Gillmer, directed by Salli Richardson-Whitfield,
• For All Mankind: The Grey, written by Matt Wolpert and Ben Nedivi; directed by Sergio Mimica-Gezzan
• Arcane: The Monster You Created, written by Christian Linke and Alex Yee; story by Christian Linke, Alex Yee, Conor Sheehy, and Ash Brannon; directed by Pascal Charrue and Arnaud Delord
• The Expanse: Nemesis Games, written by Daniel Abraham, Ty Franck, and Naren Shankar; directed by Breck Eisner
• Loki: The Nexus Event, written by Eric Martin, directed by Kate Herron, created for television by Michael Waldron
• Star Trek: Lower Decks: wej Duj, written by Kathryn Lyn, directed by Bob Suarez

Tierras Centro Americanas [journal of the NYC weekend]

Upon my arrival at JFK, Queens, Andrew took me to have unbelievable tortillas in this Guatemaltec restaurant, soft and yummy, almost like pancakes! Along with great food altogether. We also had a pleasant stroll walking through Queens’ lively Jamaica district. Including coming upon a just extinguished fire in a row of shops! On the opposite, I did not see much of New Brunswick, apart from walking by the Harvest Moon brewery where I got a beer (and a tee-shirt) on my earlier visit there.

Read Truthwitch, another disappointment in the series (of recent books), as the universe building could have been great (despite being heavily inspired from Western Europe geography and culture, and in particular of Venezia. Again, I presume I was missing the YA label when I first picked this book! Scenario is rather terrible, full of last second rescues, new and convenient forms of magical powers, while interactions about characters are artificial and predictable, definitely not recommended. (And there are five books in the series!)

Watched The Silent Sea a short Korean TV serie taking place mostly in a Korean infected base on the Moon. While trying to solve the water crisis on a drying Earth (looking red from the Moon). The ending is quite disappointing while the original idea was most appealing. The science (fiction) behind the story is however terrible. (E.g., never use guns in space! And why would astronauts rely on cheap, handheld, lamplights to explore dark tunnels?! And how can you hide stealthy visits to a Moon basis from Earth?! &tc.)