Monthly Archives: October 2023

June 2023 books

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This is the latest post in a series I started in late 2019, anticipating the twentieth anniversary of my bookblogging at the end of October 2023. Every six-ish days, I’ve been revisiting a month from my recent past, noting work and family developments as well as the books I read in that month. I’ve found it a pleasantly cathartic process, especially in recent circumstances. If you want to look back at previous entries, they are all tagged under bookblog nostalgia.

I had three trips outside Brussels this month, the first to Zagreb for a conference commemorating the tenth anniversary of their EU membership:

https://twitter.com/nwbrux/status/1668253687326679043

The middle of the month saw B’s birthday:

I then had a business trip to Paris, and a combined business / Clarke tip to London, taking the day in between to catch up with my cousin in Dover.

We ended the month with a work outing swinging from trees in Wavre, which I had done a couple of times before. My actual swinging was not so effective but I am good at waiting for my turn on an elevated platform.

Non-fiction 8 (YTD 40)
A Brief History of Stonehenge, by Aubrey Burl
Twelve Caesars: Images of Power from the Ancient World to the Modern, by Mary Beard
The Shape of Irish History, by A.T.Q. Stewart
The Robots of Death, by Fiona Moore
City of Soldiers, by Kate Fearon
The Pandorica Opens / The Big Bang, by Philip Bates
Franco-Irish Relations, 1500-1610: Politics, Migration and Trade, by Mary Ann Lyons
Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century, by Jessica Bruder 

Non-genre 3 (YTD 7)
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, by Gabrielle Zevin
The Rebecca Rioter, by Amy Dillwyn
Chloe Arguelle, by Amy Dillwyn

SF 10 (YTD 110)
The Revolution Trade, by Charles Stross
Plutoshine, by Lucy Kissick
Metronome, by Tom Watson
Venomous Lumpsucker, by Ned Beauman
The Red Scholar’s Wake, by Aliette de Bodard
The Anomaly, by Hervé le Tellier
World’s Fair 1992, by Robert Silverberg
“Bears Discover Fire”, by Terry Bisson
Aurora: Beyond Equality, eds Vonda N. McIntyre and Susan Anderson
The Hemingway Hoax, by Joe Haldeman

Doctor Who 3 (YTD 19)
K9 Megabytes, by Bob Baker
Doctor Who and the Robots of Death, by Terrance Dicks
Corpse Marker, by Chris Boucher

Comics 1 (YTD 10)
The Endless Song, by Nick Abadzis et al

7,200 pages (YTD 46,900)
12/26 (YTD 78/191) by non-male writers (Beard, Moore, Fearon, Lyons, Bruder, Zevin, Dillwyn x2, Kissick, de Bodard, McIntyre / Anderson, Endless Song illustrators)
2/26 (YTD 28/191) by a non-white writer (Zevin, de Bodard)

I really liked all five of the Clarke shortlistees that I reread this month – Plutoshine, by Lucy Kissick (get it here); Metronome, by Tom Watson (get it here); Venomous Lumpsucker, by Ned Beauman (get it here); The Red Scholar’s Wake, by Aliette de Bodard (get it here); and The Anomaly, by Hervé le Tellier (get it here).

I also really liked Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, by Gabrielle Zevin, which was a Clarke submission but not actually sf (get it here); and Nomadland, by Jessica Bruder, on which the Oscar-winning film was based (get it here).

However you can skip World’s Fair 1992, by Robert Silverberg. (Or get it here.)

The Cartographers, by Peng Shepherd

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Second paragraph of third chapter:

The rest of the day had been nothing short of torture. Nell had spent hours answering Lieutenant Cabe’s endless questions and accepting Swann’s comfort, the whole time not daring to open her bag to take out her spare granola bar, or phone, or even her lip balm, lest she draw attention to what was also inside. After Lieutenant Cabe had finally let her go, she’d had to return to Classic, where Humphrey had told her she was now on bereavement leave for the rest of the week. She’d argued that she didn’t need it, but family was family, he’d said, and refused to believe she was fine. He was from a gigantic one, several generations all crammed together in the same ancient house on Long Island.

One of the books submitted for the Clarke Award which was clearly not science fiction; a New York map specialist discovers the magical effects of a map owned by her father, also a map specialist who dies mysteriously at the start of the book. It has sold massively well, but I didn’t think it was all that special – implausibly kept family secrets don’t often convince me; maybe it appeals more to people who haven’t read much liminal fantasy before. You can get it here.

This hit the top of four of my lists simultaneously: top unread book acquired this year, top unread book by a woman; top unread book by a non-white writer; and top unread sf book. (All as measured by number of owners on LibraryThing). Next on those piles respectively are Tristram Shandy, by Laurence Sterne; Winter, by Ali Smith; Life Ceremony, by Sayaka Murata; and Cart and Cwidder, by Diana Wynne Jones.

Letters from Klara, by Tove Jansson

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Second paragraph of third story (“In August”):

— Gick det bra? frågade Ina. De var för många. Och varför skulle de ha småbarna med sig, det var ju en minneshögtid? Vi glömde salladen.“Did it go well?” Ina asked. “There were too many of them. And why did they bring the younger children? I mean, it was a memorial service. We forgot the salad.”
translated by Thomas Teal

A short book of great short stories by Tove Jansson, written in her seventies, reflecting on age, art, nature, gender, sexuality and life in general. None of these is long and they are all digestible; none has a sneaky twist but all are humane and insightful. Recommended. You can get it here.

This was both the shortest book acquired in 2017 which I had not yet read, and the non-genre book that had lingered longest on my shelves. Next on those piles respectively are 2024, by Robert Durward, and No, But I Saw the Movie, ed. David Wheeler.

Keats and Chapman Wryed Again, by Steven A. Jent

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Third joke in full, with footnote:

Chapman had been in Harrod’s recently when a salesperson asked him to try a cologne just introduced by Armani. The advertisements made much of the fact that this new fragrance, simply named Amore, combined the most striking elements of other famous Armani scents: a trace of Code, a hint of Mania, overtones of Acqua di Gio, and plenty of Attitude. Chapman thought it quite manly, but to Keats it sounded like nothing but a mélange of incompatible odors. “So”, he sniffed dismissively, “what they’re telling us is Love is Armani’s blended thing.”3

3 Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing
Title of a 1955 movie, and the theme song by Paul Francis Webster and Sammy Fain

A fannish tribute to Flann O’Brien’s Keats and Chapman stories, though I am not super convinced that it was worth the effort. You can get it here. The shortest unread book on my shelves that I had acquired in 2017; next on that pile is Letters from Klara, by Tove Jansson.

War of Gods, by Nick Abadzis et al

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Second frame from third part:

Really good climax to a multi-volume Tenth Doctor story, involving the Osirans and all the recurring characters from the previous installments of this sequence. Also includes a less impressive story bringing the Tenth Doctor to London to meet his previous companions (or are they). You can get it here.

May 2023 books

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This is the latest post in a series I started in late 2019, anticipating the twentieth anniversary of my bookblogging at the end of October 2023. Every six-ish days, I’ve been revisiting a month from my recent past, noting work and family developments as well as the books I read in that month. I’ve found it a pleasantly cathartic process, especially in recent circumstances. If you want to look back at previous entries, they are all tagged under bookblog nostalgia.

We started the month in France, for a lovely 24-hour trip to a neglected corner across the border for my birthday. We found many things there including the grave of Wilfred Owen.

The oldest church in Belgium and the arrondissement of Avesnes-sur-Helpe – menhirs; donkeys; forest; Wilfred Owen; Henri Matisse; August Bergin; the forum at Bavay

I found myself at the British Ambassador’s residence twice in a week, once for the Coronation reception and once for Eurovision.

Closer to home, our mayor commemorated the RAF men killed in a wartime crash in the next village to ours, eighty years before.

Back home in Northern Ireland, the local government elections took place and for the first time Nationalist parties got more votes than Unionist parties; I managed to get this data out before anyone else did.

https://twitter.com/nwbrux/status/1659946274487955456

Anne and I had another trip at the end of the month, to Amsterdam:

A weekend up north: Amsterdam, Haarlem, Nijmegen and Kleve
Amsterdam church tour

And I blogged about the age of the Meuse valley, and my grandmother’s reading habits.

I read 23 books that month, relaxing a bit after the Clarke frenzy.

Non-fiction 5 (YTD 32)
Johnson at 10: the Inside Story, by Anthony Seldon and Raymond Newell
The John Nathan-Turner Doctor Who Production Diary, 1979-90, by Richard Molesworth
American Gridlock, eds. James Thurber and Antoine Yoshinaka
Vengeance on Varos, by Jonathan Dennis
The Rings of Akhaten, by William Shaw

Poetry 1 (YTD 3)
Deep Wheel Orcadia, by Harry Josephine Giles

SF 13 (YTD 100)
Creation Machine, by Andrew Bannister
Love And Other Human Errors, by Bethany Clift
The Hunt – For Allies, by David Geoffrey Adams (did not finish)
Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett
The Violence, by Delilah S. Dawson (did not finish)
Where it Rains in Color, by Denise Crittendon
The Race, by Nina Allan
A Marvellous Light, by Freya Marske
The Shape of Sex to Come, ed. Douglas Hill
The Old Drift, by Namwali Serpell
The Animals in That Country, by Laura Jean McKay
The Coral Bones, by E.J. Swift
The Second ‘If’ Reader, ed. Fredrik Pohl

Doctor Who 3 (YTD 16)
Home Fires Burn, by Gareth Madgwick
Doctor Who – Vengeance on Varos, by Philip Martin
Sil and the Devil Seeds of Arodor, by Philip Martin

Comics 1 (YTD 9)
The Fountains of Forever, by Nick Abadzis et al

7,000 pages (YTD 39,700)
9/23 (YTD 66/165) by non-male writers (Giles, Clift, Dawson, Crittenden, Allan, Marske, Serpell, McKay, Swift, Casagrande/Florean)
3/23 (YTD 26/165) by a non-white writer (Yoshinaka, Crittenden, Serpell)

I had not previously read the three most recent Clarke Award winners, but I thought they were all fantastic: The Old Drift, by Namwali Serpell, which you can get here, The Animals in That Country, by Laura Jean McKay, which you can get here, and Deep Wheel Orcadia, by Harry Josephine Giles, which you can get here. As homework for this year’s award I also reread The Coral Bones, by E.J. Swift, which you can get here.

Even completist Doctor Who fans can skip Sil and the Devil Seeds of Arodor, by Philip Martin, but you can get it here.

Sunday reading

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Current
Nine Black Doves – Volume 5: The Collected Stories of Roger Zelazny
Living with the Gods, by Neil MacGregor
A Life of My Own, by Claire Tomalin
Facing Fate: Breakfast at Tyranny’s, by Nick Abadzis et al
Locklands, by Robert Jackson Bennett

Last books finished
Shorefall, by Robert Jackson Bennett
What Not: A Prophetic Comedy, by Rose Macaulay
Leave Me Alone, by Murong Xuecun

Next books
About Time 9, by Tat Wood
2024, by Robert Durward
A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived, by Adam Rutherford

2023 Hugos: Best Series – why I voted No Award

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I voted No Award for this year’s Hugo Award for Best Series. I think the category is a bad idea in principle which is now showing its limitations in practice. My objections are as follows:

  1. The Hugos ought to celebrate the best activity of the previous year, and only the previous year. For some of the other categories (Semiprozine, Fanzine, Fancast), earlier work is taken into account to determine eligibility, but the award is clearly for achievements of the previous calendar year. Best Series is inevitably an award for a multi-year set of activities.
  2. It is impossible for the diligent reader to read all of the work nominated for Best Series in a given year. By giving the award we are deliberately engineering a situation where voters cast their votes based on imperfect knowledge of the finalists.
  3. We are now seeing repeat nominations for series that have been unsuccessful finalists before. I feel sympathy for authors who must feel that they are waiting for their turn, but that’s not the way an awards system should run.

The arguments made in favour of creating the category are now out of date. (See the Minutes of the 2016 WSFS Business Meeting, pages 136-140. I align myself completely with the minority report of Mark Olson at the end.) The proposers in 2016 said:

Looking at Best Novel finalists over the past decade or so, series novels represent a majority of the nominees, yet only a handful of the winners, with later installments particularly disadvantaged. Clearly, the Hugo nominators feel that high quality work is being done in series novels, yet the Hugo voters have a taste for standalone novels, or at least novels that can be approached without any background. This represents a change from earlier eras, when the publishing field was smaller and readers tended to be able to consume a higher proportion of it. In decades past, series novels managed to hold their own against standalones, even dominating the Best Novel category at times.

That was in 2016, the year the first volume of N.K. Jemisin’s Broken Earth trilogy won Best Novel. Every winner of Best Novel since then has been part of a series. Four of the six have been later installments rather than the first book – to name them, Jemisin’s own The Obelisk Gate (2017) and The Stone Sky (2018), Martha Wells’ Network Effect (2021) and Arkady Martine’s A Desolation Called Peace (2022). So the taste of Hugo voters appears to have changed again. If anything, it is the standalone novels that could complain of being discriminated against. (Having said that, five of this year’s six finalists appear to be standalones.)

A weaker argument, though one that is sometimes made, for having a Best Series category is that it supposedly reflects the publishing market. The Hugos cannot, do not and should not cover everything that goes on in the genre. They should and usually do celebrate the achievements of the previous calendar year, and that should be as determined by fans, not the real or imagined wishes of the publishing industry.

I voted against ratifying Best Series in Helsinki in 2017, and I would have voted to sunset it if I’d been in Washington DC in 2021. At least the awful amendments proposed in Chicago last year, which would have excluded popular and long-running series and created many headaches for administrators, were rejected. But if there’s ever a move to scrap the category again, I’ll support it. And if there is one thing I can do this year to accelerate the abolition of the category in a future year, it’s to vote No Award.

So, on to my vote in this year’s category.

7) October Daye, by Seanan McGuire. I have rehearsed previously why I bounced off this and don’t need to do so again here.

6) The Locked Tomb, by Tamsyn Muir. I really bounced off the first two books of this series, but surprised myself by liking the first part of the third book, until the action returned to the setting of the previous two and I got lost again.

5) The Scholomance, by Naomi Novik. Other way round here; I really liked the first two books, and found the third a crashing disappointment.

4) The Founders Trilogy, by Robert Jackson Bennett. The publisher kindly made all three volumes available to voters, and I had time to read two of them before the deadline. Well put together fantasy with a complex magical system, but I preferred his previous trilogy.

3) Rivers of London, by Ben Aaronovich. I didn’t read or reread any of these before voting closed, but I really enjoyed the books of the series that I have previously read.

2) Children of Time Trilogy, by Adrian Tchaikovsky. I read all three of theses and thought that they were brilliant. Fantastic aliens, good grasp of inter-species and intra-species politics, superb world-building. I hope it wins. (I don’t have strong expectations for No Award.)

1 ) No Award, as explained above.

On the latest Octothorpe, John Coxon makes the point (at 21:30) that this year’s Best Series ballot contains some items – he specifies the Children of Time trilogy, and the first volume of the Founders trilogy – that are better than anything on the Best Novel list. I think that’s true, but it doesn’t change my view about keeping Best Novel and deleting Best Series.

2023 Hugos:
Best Novel | Best Novella | Best Novelette | Best Short Story | Best Series | Best Graphic Story or Comic | Best Related Work | Best Dramatic Presentation (Short Form) | Best Professional Artist and Best Fan Artist | Lodestar Award for Best YA Book | Astounding Award for Best New Writer