Category Archives: Books

The Obligatory Birthday Post 2024 – with Bonus Skeletor

Posted on April 20, 2024 by Cora

April 18 was my birthday. And it was a somewhat weird birthday this year, because last year for my birthday I had lunch with my Dad at a local restaurant and then visited my Mom at the care home where … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Personal, Toy Photo Stories | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Some Thoughts on the 2024 Hugo Finalists

Posted on March 31, 2024 by Cora

The 2024 Hugo finalists were announced today – on Good Friday, which is a really terrible time to do this. I thought that John Scalzi had persuaded the powers that be that announcing Hugo finalists on a long holiday weekend … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Comics, Fanzine Spotlight, Film, Non-Fiction Spotlight, Semiprozine Spotlight, TV | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 31 Comments

Some Comments on the 2023 Nebula Finalists

Posted on March 15, 2024 by Cora

The finalists for the 2023 Nebula Awards were announced today. The video of the live announcement may be found here. Normally, the Nebula finalists are announced shortly before Hugo nominations close, giving people the chance to catch up with works … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Film, TV | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

A Conan by Any Other Name…

Posted on March 12, 2024 by Cora

In episode 5 of Masters of the Universe: Revelation, Teela and friends visit Preternia a.k.a. Eternia’s equivalent of Valhalla, where fallen heroes and heroines spend eternity riding dinosaurs, going on pretend hunts and telling stories by the side of a … Continue reading →

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An Open Letter to the 2024 Hugo Finalists, Whoever They May Be

Posted on March 10, 2024 by Cora

This is an updated repost of this post from 2021, this post from 2022 and this post from last year, which a lot of people found helpful. There also a Chinese translation of the 2024 post to be found in … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, General | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

The 2023 Hugo Nomination Scandal Gets Worse

Posted on February 15, 2024 by Cora

I already spent thousands of words writing about the 2023 Hugo nomination scandal and frankly I don’t want to deal with this anymore at all. For starters, this is the time when we should be talking about the 2024 Hugo … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, TV | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 28 Comments

Return of the Son of the Bride of the Grimdark Debate

Posted on February 7, 2024 by Cora

In the early days of this relaunched blog, I wrote several times about the debate about grimdark fantasy, then one of the hottest subgenres on the market, which also attracted its share of criticism both from the left for its … Continue reading →

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The 2023 Hugo nomination statistics have finally been released – and we have questions

Posted on January 21, 2024 by Cora

The long-awaited nomination statistics for the 2023 Hugo Awards have finally been published – at the last possible moment according to the WSFS constitution (and at a point when I really don’t have time for Hugo neepery). The voting statistics … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Comics, Fanzine Spotlight, Film, Non-Fiction Spotlight, TV | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 100 Comments

Magic under the Mistletoe 2023 – A Round-up of the Best Indie Holiday Speculative Fiction

Posted on December 25, 2023 by Cora

Our monthly round-ups of new speculative fiction and new crime fiction releases by indie authors are a perennially popular feature. Therefore, we now offer you a round-up of our favourite holiday science fiction, fantasy and horror by indie authors. These … Continue reading →

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Murder under the Mistletoe 2023 – A Round-up of the Best Indie Holiday Mysteries and Crime Fiction

Posted on December 24, 2023 by Cora

Our monthly round-ups of new speculative fiction and new crime fiction releases by indie authors are a perennially popular feature. Therefore, we now offer you a round-up of our favourite holiday mysteries by indie authors. The holiday mysteries cover the … Continue reading →

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