Views of Bremen at Springtime

Posted on March 12, 2014 by Cora

I had to take my Mom to Bremen today, because it turned out that our local suburban bank cannot procure Malaysian ringgits within four days (which is when my Dad is supposed to fly to Malaysia to oversee the repairs of a crane), so we tried a bigger bank in the city centre, which was able to procure Malaysian ringgits within four days, but only for a minimum sum of 1000 Euros. Apparently, I was mistaken in thinking this was 2014, since the banks still seem to be stuck in 1984.

Mom and I also had lunch at the Übersee Restaurant. We both had spicy African lentil soup, then Mom had some kind of fish with cabbage and gnocchi, while I had curry of beetroot and Swiss chard.

Since the weather has been unseasonably warm and sunny this past week, I also took along my camera for some springtime views of Bremen, so enjoy: Continue reading →

Posted in General, Personal | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

A Tale of Two Scandals

Posted on March 8, 2014 by Cora

March 8 is International Women’s Day. Time to talk about awesome women, even though at least the SFF community is still stuck talking about a man.

International Women’s Day has never been a big deal in Germany, even though the day was initiated by an awesome German woman, Clara Zetkin. Celebrating it was always more of an East European thing, whereas the West celebrates Mother’s Day. Because all women are mothers obviously and popping out babies is the only important thing women do – sigh.

Therefore, I was quite surprised to see a poster outside a local Real store. At first glance, it looked like a leftover Valentine’s Day poster – a man presenting a bouquet of flowers to a smiling woman. However, the slogan on the poster said “Remember: March 8 is International Women’s Day.” So Germany is finally recognizing International Women’s Day, only to use it as an excuse for florists to advertise their wares.

On the the Jonathan Ross affair: My last post about the UK mainstream media rewriting what really happened got a lot of online attention. And I really wish we could stop talking about Jonathan Ross now, because there’s a half-finished post about the Avengers waiting to be written and another about unexpected links between Mad Men and Jerry Cotton, and besides it’s been a week since Ross’ eight hour stint as Hugo host.

Alas, we’re still talking about Jonathan Ross and about how a privileged guy with a history of problematic jokes aimed at women and minorities has suddenly become the victim, while those who objected to his appointment – many of them women – have suddenly become the bullies here.Besides, there have been some more really important posts made: Continue reading →

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New Romantic Suspense Novelette Available: New York City’s Finest

Posted on March 8, 2014 by Cora

It’s new release time again. This time around, I have a new crime novelette to announce, first in a possible romantic suspense series.

I’m a big fan of using online generator for story ideas and writing prompts. One of my favourites was the They Fight Crime! generator for creating unlikely buddy cop duos, since I’ve always been a sucker for crime dramas with oddles of sexual tension, unresolved or otherwise. Unfortunately, the original generator is gone, but a copy can still be found here.

Some time ago, I played with the They Fight Crime! generator looking for story ideas and got the following:

He’s a world-famous devious cop plagued by the memory of his family’s brutal murder. She’s a pregnant junkie cab driver who hides her beauty behind a pair of thick-framed spectacles. They fight crime!

The prompt immediately intrigued me and so Jo Grayson and Ray McCormick were born. And here is their first adventure together:

New York City’s Finest
New York City's Finest by Cora BuhlertJo Grayson had a dark past. Ex con-artist, ex-junkie, complete and utter screw-up. However, she left all that behind her when she became pregnant. And now, six months later, Jo has a dingy one-room apartment and a crappy but steady job as a cab driver. Things are looking up.
But then one day, her past catches up with Jo in the form of a mysterious stranger getting into her cab. The stranger is Detective Ray McCormick, a cop on a mission to hunt down the criminal mastermind known only as the Kraken. McCormick wants information, information only Jo can provide, for Jo used to work for the Kraken and is one of the few people ever to walk out on him and live to tell the tale.
Jo is as eager as anyone to see the Kraken go down. But helping McCormick could put both Jo’s life and that of her unborn child at risk.

For more information, visit the dedicated New York City’s Finest page.
Buy it for the low price of 2.99 USD, EUR or 1.99 GBP at Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon Germany, Amazon France, Amazon Spain, Amazon Italy, Amazon Canada, Amazon Australia, Amazon Brazil, Amazon Japan, Amazon India, Amazon Mexico, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, Apple iTunes, Casa del Libro, Thalia, Weltbild, Hugendubel, Der Club, Libiro, Nook UK, DriveThruFiction, OmniLit/AllRomance e-books, Flipkart, e-Sentral and XinXii.

Posted in Books, Writing | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

The media spin machine at full power or This is totally not what happened

Posted on March 7, 2014 by Cora

We’re still talking about the eight hour stint of Jonathan Ross as Hugo host and indeed the debate about the whole issue has now lasted much longer than Jonathan Ross ever was the official Hugo host (for my previous posts on this issue see here and here).

The reason why the debate is still going on is that the British mainstream media has now jumped into the fray, only that the story they are reporting a very different story from the one that actually happened. Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Links, TV | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 34 Comments

Reflections on the 2014 Oscars

Posted on March 3, 2014 by Cora

As usual, I wasn’t sure whether I was going to watch this year’s Oscars, since this year’s highly lauded list of best picture nominees largely leave me cold. I already talked about my lack of interest in the two SFnal nominees in my post about the Nebula awards. And while Twelve Years a Slave, Philomena and Dallas Buyers’ Club are undoubtedly important films and either of them would be a good choice as examples of other countries coming to terms with the darker parts of their history. Ditto for The Wolf of Wall Street, only that I don’t think it would be a good choice. Captain Phillips – well, Americans probably think it’s important. As for American Hustle, I have no idea why this is even nominated – and I’m usually a sucker for stories about good-guy thieves and con-artists. Besides, did it win anything at all, even in a side category? Finally, there’s also Nebraska, which I’d never heard about until today.

The full list of winners is here BTW.

As for Ellen DeGeneres (whom I usually like), the good news is that she’s not Seth MacFarlane. The bad news is that she isn’t much better. In the first ten minutes or so, she made a joke about the nationality of a Somali nominee for best supporting actor, an ageist joke about an elderly actress nominated for the best supporting actress award as well as not one but two transphobic jokes. At least, she hasn’t sung about anybody’s boobs… yet.

To be fair, she did get less offensive as the show went on and I actually liked the bit where she served pizza to the audience. Not sure what to make of the star-studded selfie.

Regarding the make-up category, couldn’t they have scrapped that altogether this year or just given it to Dallas Buyers’ Club by default rather than nominate The Lone Ranger – a film that was widely and rightly criticized for its use of Redface – and a bloody Jackass film?

Again, they should just rename the Best animated feature film category “Best Pixar film” and be done with it (even though I would have preferred the Miyazaki). Besides, if you have a presentation about “Great animated films”, maybe a bit less CGI and a bit more traditional animation (and any sort of non-western animation at all, since there was none) might be in order.

Loved the woman who sang during the acceptance speech for the best longform documentary BTW. I actually liked her better than some of the people nominated for best song. Okay, the “Happy” guy was great (and got several Oscar nominated actresses to dance with him in the aisles) and U2 was U2, but the Her song was just insipid and the Frozen one not much better. I’m not happy it won either, though Disney/Pixar film songs often win Oscars.

Loved Bill Murray’s unscheduled tribute to Harold Ramis, though he was of course included in the official memorial as well. Meanwhile, the German cultural TV program kulturzeit completely ignored the death of Harold Ramis, though they did honour an East German film director who happened to die the same day.

And for those who were playing “Spot the Avengers” at the Oscars, we got Hawkeye on the red carpet, Thor, Captain America and Nick Fury on stage and all of them in clips.

Two great choices for best supporting actor. Loved Jared Leto’s acceptance speech and his tribute to his Mom and Lupita Nyong’o is simply lovely (great acceptance speech, too) plus it’s always great to see people of colour winning Oscars (also great seeing more people of colour presenting Oscars). Though I feel sorry for her that she had to kiss Christoph Waltz. Blame Tarantino for bringing him to Hollywood – German speakers would have been happy to continue to ignore him.

Surprised that Cate Blanchett won best actress after the current debate about Woody Allen. I would have preferred Judy Dench to win, though I loved Cate Blanchett’s shout-out to the fact that films focussed on women can and do draw audiences. Matthew McConaughey was widely picked as the favourite to win best actor and I can’t really argue, though personally I had hoped for Chiwetel Ejiofor to win. Plus, McConaughey really did go on and on and on in his acceptance speech, didn’t he?

There sure is a lot of love for Gravity this year. Now I don’t begrudge it the various technical wins, but Alfonso Cuarón for best director? I would have preferred Steve McQueen.

Finally, Twelve Years a Slave won a well deserved Oscar for best picture. Definitely the best choice, though I wouldn’t have minded Philomena or Dallas Buyers’ Club either. Great acceptance speech from Steve McQueen as well.

BTW, here is the New York Times article that was the base for Twelve Years a Slave.

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More on Jonathan Ross and the Hugos

Posted on March 3, 2014 by Cora

The debate about Jonathan Ross and his brief reign as Hugo Awards presenter is still going on and has in fact lasted longer now than Ross has actually had the job. Still, while I’m waiting for the Oscars to begin (and debating whether I’m going to watch at all), here are the latest links.

Seanan McGuire’s tweets following the announcement of Jonathan Ross as Hugo presenter have been storified by Jim Hines.

At TwitLonger, Lis Mitchell reiterates her problems with the appointment of Jonathan Ross.

Part of Farah Mendlesohn’s letter of resignation has just appeared at The Passive Voice. Just don’t make the mistake of reading the comments.

File 770 has a summary of the events from an American perspective. Teleread also offers a summary.

Rich Johnston at the comics site Bleeding Cool offers a pro-Jonathan Ross perspective by pointing out that Jonathan Ross has written comics and presented both the Eisner and National Comics Awards (scroll down past a lot of Twitter screenshots for a clip of Ross presenting the Eisners). Rich Johnston makes an important point by reminding us that Jonathan Ross is not a genre-outsider (and indeed the whole “He’s not a true fan” bit left something of a sour taste in my mouth) and has indeed hosted genre awards before, though he dismisses those who criticised the decision a bit too blithely as haters, since there were genuine concerns about Jonathan Ross and his brand of humour.

Finally, Foz Meadows echoes my own post of yesterday and points out that the Loncon organisers could have prevented this whole unpleasantness by preparing Jonathan Ross beforehand for the fact that his appointment would draw criticism due to the ongoing debate about sexism, racism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, etc… within fandom. This would have given Jonathan Ross either the chance to decline privately or respond to his critics by reassuring them that he wasn’t going to be a jerk and that he loves SFF as much as anybody else at Worldcon. Instead, Jonathan Ross ended up doing his version of “Hollywood star makes an arse of himself on German cultural programme”* on Twitter, because he had no idea he would be criticised.

What is more, the Loncon organisers also bungled the announcement, because they might have prevented at least the whole “He’s not a true fan” debate by pointing out that Mr. Ross is a fan, that he has written comics and presented other genre awards, that he is friends with Neil Gaiman, that his wife is a screenwriter who has worked on genre films and a Hugo winner. Because a lot of people, including me, didn’t know these things. I mostly knew Jonathan Ross as “that BBC chat show host who always causes controversies” without knowing anything about the man himself and judging by the Twitter reaction, it seems I wasn’t the only one.

There are a few people who come out of this uproar looking bad, but – and this is something of a surprise to me – Jonathan Ross is not one of them. I still don’t think he would have been suitable as a Hugo host, particularly during such a politically sensitive time for the genre, but who knows? He might have surprised everyone. After all, it wouldn’t have been the first time that I would have had to revise my opinion of a TV personality after seeing them live, as my experience seeing Thomas Gottschalk and Günther Jauch live attests.

*It happens quite frequently that Hollywood stars who are interviewed on cultural programmes on German TV manage to behave like jerks, because they have no idea what kind of programme it is (namely serious cultural programming instead of gossip shows blindly fawning about celebrities – though we have those, too), and thus react stunned or downright snappy, when faced with critical questions and interviewers who refuse to fawn about them.

Posted in Comics, Links, TV | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

The eight-hour Hugo host

Posted on March 2, 2014 by Cora

It’s certainly hard to be an SFF fan these days, since the genre can’t seem to go two weeks without a major uproar.

This latest go-around started around noon on Saturday. I’d just had lunch and went onto the Internet for some midday mail checking. Then I logged into Twitter and spotted an announcement on the official Loncon3 Twitter feed that British comedian, radio and TV presenter Jonathan Ross would be hosting this year’s Hugo Awards ceremony.

“Uh oh”, I thought, “That’s going to be a problem.” Continue reading →

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Indie Speculative Fiction of the Month: February 2014

Posted on February 28, 2014 by Cora

Indie Speculative Fiction of the MonthIt’s that time of the month again, time for “Indie Speculative Fiction of the Month”.

So what is “Indie Speculative Fiction of the Month”? It’s a round-up of speculative fiction by indie authors (plus one small press book) newly published this month, though some January books I missed the last time around snuck in as well. The books are arranged in alphabetical order by author. So far, all the links only go to Amazon.com, though I may add other retailer for future editions.

Again, we have a broad spectrum of books, ranging from epic fantasy via paranormal romance and urban fantasy all the way to space opera and hard science fiction. There are books for all age ranges, from YA to some very dark and adult works. I know all of the authors at least vaguely and have read other works by several of them. However, I haven’t read the books themselves, so Caveat emptor.

And now on to the books:

Ascension by Stacy ClaflinAscension by Stacy Claflin
Two hot guys want to marry Alexis. One is Alrekur, a three thousand year old vampire who has waited his entire life for her. The other is the love she has waited for, Cliff.

The prophecies say she’ll choose the ancient vampire, and they are never wrong, but Alexis is determined to find a loophole. When she is forced to spend time with Alrekur and begins to see his charm, she is torn. Her heart still belongs to Cliff, but would it be so awful if the prophecies were fulfilled?

Other books in the series:
Deception (#1), Betrayal (#2), Forgotten (#3), Silent Bite (#3.5), Fallen (Prequel), A Long Time Coming (Short Story)

Death Defying by Nina CroftDeath Defying by Nina Croft
Captain Tannis of the starship El Cazador is part snake, part human, and—according to some—all bitch. She is one job away from her lifelong goal—to achieve the immortality she craves. The assignment: protecting the most powerful man in the Universe.

After five hundred years, Callum Meridian, founding member of the Collective, is bored out of his mind. Until he realizes he’s physically changing—into what, he isn’t sure. Callum is determined to discover the truth, but his own people will stop at nothing to prevent it from coming out.

With a coup brewing and the crew of El Cazador close to tossing him off the ship, Callum turns to Tannis. Sparks fly as they work together to make it out alive. But can Callum really trust the one woman hell bent on using him? Defying death has never been more dangerous, more sexy, or more fun.

Come back by Cian GarrettCome Back by Cian Garrett
Come Back is a single-author speculative fiction short story collection.

* A long-haul trucker has to deal with a small town sheriff’s sudden interest and attention. Come Back is a 2700-word speculative fiction short story with a dash of hillbilly horror and language.

* A poor teenager finally convinces his mom to buy him the latest in HUD contacts. Contacts is a 3300-word speculative fiction short story with a dash of high school and language.

* A weary traveler just wants a good night’s rest but instead faces the garage band from hell. Garage Band is a 2000-word speculative fiction short story with a dash of cosmic horror and language.

* Two jaded detectives have to investigate a murder but the body has gone missing. Body Men is a 4400-word speculative fiction short story with a dash of comic mystery and language.

Lump of Flesh by Cian GarrettLump of Flesh by Cian Garrett
Lump of Flesh is a single-author speculative fiction short story collection.

* A college student tries to convince her classmates that the cysts behind their ears serve a sinister purpose. Lump of Flesh is a 3900-word speculative fiction short story with a bit of blood and language.

* Two good old boys decide to make a little extra money robbing graves. Resurrectionists is a 4600-word speculative fiction short story with a bit of black humor and language.

* A man too lazy to exercise is “motivated” by his talking shoes. Running Shoes is a 3300-word speculative fiction short story with a bit of humor and language.

NightmarZ Squid Row by Irma GeddonNightmarZ: Squid Row by Irma Geddon
You could say Gabrielle has had a hard time the past few days: she’s been committed to a psychiatric hospital, beaten, abused, but mostly she’s been thrown around and hurt by her own nightmares.

Thanks to Parfait, a handsome young lawyer who has taken her under his wing, Gabrielle is now free to learn more about her curse, and her ability to fight her nightmares has increased dramatically.

But when Parfait, who has already risked his life to rescue her, takes the blame for her injuries, what heart-wrenching decision will she have to take?

NIGHTMARZ: SQUID ROW is episode 3 of the Z Series, and is about 11,000 words long (around 44 pages).
For new readers, the first episode is NIGHTMARZ: ASYLUM, part 2 is NIGHTMARZ: PARFAIT, both of which are free right now. Please make sure you read them in order.
The whole series is intended for an adult audience. It contains foul language, disturbing scenes of sex or violence, and may trigger panic attacks.

814VwCMDqIL._SL1500_Dark Expanse by Theresa Kay
In a world of military space stations, planetary jumps and alien offensives, Eva Braebel’s life has never been easy. She’s small. She’s female. And she earned the ire of a powerful General at a young age. With hard work and the support of her friends, she achieves more than she ever dreamed possible: A position as flight squadron leader and the man that she loves by her side.

Eva just got everything she’s ever wanted, but how long can she keep it?

This is a short story of approximately 10,500 words. Contains some foul language, mild violence and non-explicit sex scenes.

A Changeling's Tale by Morgan KeganA Changeling’s Tale by Morgan Kegan
Being the new girl in high school is hard enough. What if you had to hide being a faerie, too?

I’m Siobhan Miller. I’m the new sophomore in my Tennessee hill-country high school—and a faerie changeling. The normal changes a girl goes through on her way to becoming a woman are awkward enough. Try adding developing golden eyes, pointed ears, and feet like a wolf’s paws to that. Yeah, pretty awkward. I blame my Irish ancestors. The faerie ones.

After centuries, the veil separating our world from Faerie is thinning again, and magic is returning. Having magical powers is pretty cool, particularly when they let me hide my differences behind illusion and have an actual life.

My best friend and heart sister, Katie, helps to keep my secret. I need her help, what with dealing with first love, a jealous rival, and the mean senior girls clique at school.

And if that’s not enough to worry about, creatures are crossing over from Faerie, and I’m not talking cute, harmless Tinker Bell here. I have to stop them, and fast, before they reveal my secret to the world.

A Changeling’s Tale is a Young Adult Urban Fantasy. It contains a moderate amount of the realistic language teens hear in high school, even though we might wish they didn’t.

Echoes by Therin KniteEchoes by Therin Knite
Washington
District of Columbia
United Republic of Earth
2712

Twenty-three-year-old Adem Adamend has it rough. His name is ludicrous. His friends are few. And the only thing his “kid genius” status has gotten him at the Interdistrict Bureau of Intelligence is a boatload of extra work with no credit in sight.

Then hotshot lawyer Victor Manson is burned to death in his own back yard, and Adem finds himself using his unique skills to piece together the strangest crime he’s ever seen. Strange because the only possible suspect Adem can pin the murder on…is a mythical beast. A dragon.

Before Adem can unravel the mystery of Manson’s death, the Bureau loses jurisdiction to the secretive EDPA, an organization that investigates weird and deadly events. But Adem isn’t one for giving up, so he takes it upon himself to delve deeper into EDPA’s machinations, into the series of unfortunate events that led to Manson’s demise.

And what he finds may change the way he views the world — and himself — forever.

What do you do when a killer can hide behind his dreams?

What do you do when a murder weapon ceases to exist?

And how do you stop a villain who can conjure up nightmares and burn you from the Earth in the blink of an eye?

Adem Adamend is about to find out.

Oranje by Jack LustedOranje by Jack Lusted
The fate of billions will rest in the hands of a few.

In the region of September, the planet Oranje has been devastated, its population wiped out in a merciless attack.

The rest of September is distracted by the imminent war between the Arausio Republic and the Union of Nine, blind to everything else. Only the Curators, reclusive protectors of the Net that connects all of humanity, know the truth. Oranje is just the prelude to a full-scale invasion.

There is only one option: they must send out the Three to warn September, if people will listen. Few trust the Curators, but there are some, tired of the wars between the Union and the Republic, who can help stop this threat.

If the Three fail, all planets will suffer the same fate as Oranje. The future of September is in their hands.

81QINuSGRwL._SL1500_Flameseeker by R.M. Prioleau
At the aurorium of the Firelord, Ignis, Kaijin Sora finally feels a sense of belonging for the first time in many years. But when a conspiracy befalls the clergy, Kaijin is once again tasked with making things right.

His journey will take him throughout his homeland of Aransiya, across the sea, and into the harsh desertlands of Ankhram, where he must find and stop the traitor.
Faced with choices, darkness, and even death, Kaijin assumes the role of his master’s chosen and realizes that the fire that burns in his heart will become the true purveyor of justice.

Flameseeker is the conclusion of an epic fantasy adventure of thrills, mystery, and love.

Book 3 of The Pyromancer Trilogy, following Firebrand and Enflamed.

Drawing down the Shades by Juli D. RevezzoDrawing Down the Shades by Juli D. Revezzo
Business can be hell…

Life is good at Starfort Collectibles until the owners, Caitlin and Trevor Fulmer, acquire a beautiful statuette with a murky past. Shortly thereafter, mysterious hauntings wreak havoc on the couple when a ghost in the attic threatens retribution. Caitlin presses her coven for help before the ghost succeeds in meting out deadly punishment—on Trevor.

Part Three of the Antique Magic series, following The Artist’s Inheritance and Caitlin’s Book of Shadows.

Against the Rising Force by Endi WebbAgainst the Rising Force by Endi Webb
40 years ago, the Corsican Empire invaded Earth, just in time for Emperor Justinian’s Golden Jubilee.

Now, in 2675, the Resistance rises again, but the enemy strikes first, taking fighter pilot Lieutenant Jacob Mercer by surprise. As he flies out to meet the enemy, he learns of the existence of a secret that could change the course of the war.

A secret that might mean a quick end to the fighting, or a quick death for them all.

.

Darkness Defied by Endi WebbDarkness Defied by Endi Webb
The Terran uprising against the Corsican Empire has gone far better than expected. But now, as the Resistance turns its sights on Mars, Lieutenant Jacob Mercer discovers a deadly battlestation in orbit around the red planet, preventing any approach by the Resistance cruisers. Jake and his fellow fighter pilots will have to assault the Imperial Strike force alone, without cruiser support, while under constant heavy fire from the gargantuan station.

Against the Rising Force and Darkness Defied are the first two parts in short story trilogy Prelude to Resistance, which paves the way for The Pax Humana Saga, a ten part series of novels set for release in March 2014.

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Some Thoughts on the 2013 Nebula Nominees

Posted on February 27, 2014 by Cora

The nominees for the 2013 Nebula Awards have been announced. Once again, it looks like a good and pleasantly diverse shortlist with lots of women and writers of colour included. But then, the Nebulas have generally been better with regards to diversity than the Hugos.

The best novel slate looks very good. Not a lot of surprises here, since all of the novels have gotten a lot of positive buzz. I’m happy to see Sofia Samatar, Ann Leckie, Nicola Griffith and Helene Wecker nominated. The Red: First Light by Linda Nagata is something of a surprise, since it was self-published, which makes this the first self-published novel ever to be nominated for a Nebula Award. But at least for me, the real only WTH? nomination in the novel category is Charles E. Gannon’s Fire with Fire, since I’ve never heard of either the book or the author. Or at least, neither ever pinged on my radar, though I may have just overlooked the book, since Baen covers tend to look all the same – unless they are eye-searingly awful, that is.

The shortlist for the Andre Norton Award looks pretty good as well and – most importantly – several of the nominated books are the sort of books that actual young adults are reading rather than the sort of books adults wish they were reading. This is a big change from previous years where we have frequently seen YA novels nominated for genre awards that appealed far more to adult readers than to the actual target demographic. The only two “Huh?” nominees in this category are A Corner of White by Jaclyn Moriarty, an author I completely managed to miss in spite of a lengthy backlist, and September Girls by Bennett Madison, a mermaid novel narrated from the POV of a teenage boy, which should be a refreshing change, if nothing else. Some of the reviews complain about sexist language. I can’t comment on that point, because I haven’t read the book. But given the narrator is a teenage boy, the language used might be a case of too much realism for comfort. At any rate, people who don’t work with teens every day are frequently shocked, when I talk about my students and the things they do and say.

The short fiction categories look pretty good as well and include several stories, which are also on my personal list (since I have Hugo nominating rights, I have made an effort to read more current short fiction). Again, I’m happy to see “Selkie Stories Are for Losers” by Sofia Samatar nominated. Ditto for “The Waiting Stars” by Aliette de Bodard, “The Litigation Master and the Monkey King” by Ken Liu and “Wakulla Springs” by Andy Duncan and Ellen Klages.

The only category which leaves me baffled is “Best dramatic presentation”, since I agree with hardly any of the nominees. But then I have seen neither Her nor Europa Report, though I’ve heard good things about both films. In fact, I’m not even sure if they have been released in Germany at all. Upon checking it turns out neither film has had a theatrical release in Germany yet. Europa Report went straight to DVD and Her isn’t coming out until March. Though we did get Only Lovers Left Alive, which the US is still waiting for. I found Gravity rather dull in the way that serious and worthy science fiction films a la 2001 tend to be dull. The Hunger Games films are okay, but not really outstanding, though my issues with the films are probably due to the fact that Jennifer Lawrence just rubs me the wrong way for some reason. Pacific Rim is good fun, though not exactly deep. Doctor Who is – well – Doctor Who and besides, I did like The Day of the Doctor, though I’m largely over Doctor Who otherwise. Still hardly any overlap with my personal list.

Finally, here is a good post by Polenth Blake about the hidden costs of nominating for the major genre awards. There are some very good points here, since getting hold of the latest releases can cost quite a bit of money, particularly if novels aren’t yet available in paperback or an affordable e-book edition.

Availability can be an even bigger issue, since in some parts of the world it’s not possible to legally acquire many works at all. For example, unless I subscribe, I cannot acquire Analog or Asimov’s here in Germany, since no store carries them, not even the big newsstand at the train station. This means I won’t be nominating any stories from either magazine, unless I have read them on the author’s site or in e-book form somewhere. Films and TV shows often don’t come out in a timely manner overseas, if at all, hence the fact that I still haven’t seen either Her or Europa Report. And if I’d waited for German TV, I still wouldn’t have seen season 3 of Game of Thrones (I think it starts this weekend, almost a year after the US run) and I wouldn’t have seen The Day of the Doctor at all, since Doctor Who is not shown on German free TV, only on a subscription cable channel.

Posted in Books, Film, TV | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

SFWA me, baby, one more time

Posted on February 17, 2014 by Cora

The SFWA drama (see previous posts here, here and here) is still going on, so here are the latest links, under the cut for those who don’t want to scroll through 1500 words on the SFWA controversy: Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Links | Tagged , , , , , , , | 274 Comments