The Weeks that Were
Monday, April 02, 2012
A quick recap of the last two weeks, plus a reminder of what's ahead.
First, the reviews:
- Christa Faust's Money Shot (2008) (and sex and power)
- Donald Hamilton's The Steel Mirror (1948) (and the quest for acceptance)
- Robert Silverberg's Blood on the Mink (1962/2012) (and expense account noir)
That's a short list, but, as a challenge, we also reviewed thirty books in thirty words each (including, with slight prescience, Christopher Priest's The Islanders).
Monsters and Mullets also looked at the jimmerslammer bulltardery of Predator (1987), and found it (surprisingly) awesome...
On the feature front, Anne looked into the life and legacy of Sir Richard Owen, a great man who happened to pick a fight with an even greater one. Kaaron Warren joined us for a Friday Five, and shared the weirdest non-fiction from her shelves. We also had a quick look at the Arthur C. Clarke Award shortlist.
Next week begins a literary silly season.
It all kicks off this Wednesday, we'll be celebrating the launch of Pandemonium: Stories of the Smoke. Even if you can't make it, you can still take part in the charity auction of Gary Northfield's (amazing) original art (but get your bid in before noon on 4 April). All proceeds go to a good cause - English PEN - so please spread the word. (Plus, a portion of all Smoke sales go to English PEN as well!)
We're also less than a week away from EasterCon (you'll love our Friday Five guest) and a Steampunk Soiree featuring the (cough) peerless presence of Gail Carriger. Plus, as we wade through the ashes of the sadly-defunct Clarke Awards, we get the BSFA Awards (give up now, Encyclopedia chum!), the Hugo Award shortlist (huzzah for American profanpodcastazines!), the DGLA shortlist (crush your enemies & see them driven before you!), and the BFS shortlist (juried democracy genre splitting goodness!). Pfew.
Well, one of the perks of going early? We'll be announcing 2012 Kitschies news midway through April. Honestly, we're so science fictional, we're practically from the future, yo.
Thanks to the lovely people at Tor for highlighting Anne's tips for sewing your own Tentacle trophy. And cheers to Neth Space to hosting a really enjoyable discussion of "Who is KJ Parker?" (the debate carries on in the comments).