Around the Web: Profiles of Sarah J. Maas and Stanislaw Lem; Reviews by Amal El-Mohtar, Sophie Mackintosh, Gabino Iglesias, and Charlie Jane Anders; Recalling the book Poor Things; Scott Edelman Dines

» Vox, Constance Grady, 27 Feb 2024: Why half the people you know are obsessed with this book series, subtitled “With A Court of Thorns and Roses, Sarah J. Maas has established herself as the reigning queen of romantasy.”

» The New Yorker, Rivka Galchen, 27 Feb 2024: Thinking About A.I. with Stanisław Lem, subtitled “The science-fiction writer didn’t live to see ChatGPT, but he foresaw so much ...Read More

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Around the Web: Kelly Link Reviewed and Interviewed; Sarah J. Maas profiled; Reviews by Gabino Iglesias, Charlie Jane Anders, and Lisa Tuttle; Scott Edelman Dines

» NY Times: Amal El-Mohtar reviews Kelly Link’s The Book of Love

» Washington Post: Ron Charles reviews Kelly Link’s The Book of Love

» Esquire: Adam Morgan interviews Kelly Link

» Business Insider: Inside the rise of Sarah J. Maas, the best-selling author who’s taking the “romantasy” genre to the next level

» NY Times: Gabino Iglesias reviews Emily Ruth Verona, Jenny Kiefer, Christopher Golden, and Tlotlo Tsamaase ...Read More

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Around the Web: Lisa Tuttle Reviews; Scott Edelman Dines; George Bass Recalls Octavia Butler

The Guardian: Lisa Tuttle reviews Aliya Whiteley, Alice McIlroy, Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson, Emma Hinds, and Maud Woolf

Scott Edelman dines with Nina Kiriki Hoffman and Pat Murphy

Washington Post, 13 Jan 2024: A 1993 dystopian novel imagined the world in 2024. It’s eerily accurate. — George Bass on Octavia Butler’s ‘Parable of the Sower’ ...Read More

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Around the Web: Best of Year Lists; Eating the Fantastic

» The Guardian, Adam Roberts: Five of the best science fiction and fantasy books of 2023 are by Allan, Ryman, Tesh, MacInnes, and Tidhar

» NY Times, Amal El-Mohtar: The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of 2023 are by Chandrasekera, Törzs, Carey, Hardinge, Fawcett, Lee, Harkaway, Link, Wells, and Taub

» NY Times, Gabino Iglesias: The Best Horror Books of 2023 are by Moreno-Garcia, LaValle, Ampuero, Khaw, ...Read More

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Around the Web: WaPo’s Best SF/F of 2023; Essay by Kelly Barnhill; Profile of Christopher Paolini; Reviews by Michael Dirda and of Naomi Alderman

» Washington Post, 14 Nov, Charlie Jane Anders: The 10 best science fiction and fantasy novels of 2023 by Kitasei, Moreno-Garcia, Awad, Link, Huang, Googins, Talabi, Kaner, Parker-Chan, and Blackgoose

» NY Times, 22 Nov 2023: Essay by Kelly Barnhill since experiencing a traumatic brain injury in 2021

» Washington Post, Sophie Nguyen, 24 Nov 2023: Christopher Paolini wrote ‘Eragon’ as a teen. Now 40, he’s still ...Read More

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Around the Web: Rebecca Yarros Reviewed and Profiled

» Slate, 7 Nov 2023: Laura Miller reviews Rebecca Yarros’ Fourth Wing: “I’ve Been Yours for Longer Than You Could Ever Imagine”, subtitled “Is the dragon-school ‘romantasy’ series that’s dominating the bestseller lists actually any good?”

Excerpt:

What’s Fourth Wing like? A more pertinent question would ask what it isn’t like. Seemingly every single sentence in its 528 pages includes at least one cliché, and you can spend hours ...Read More

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Around the Web: PW’s Best of 2023; Reviews and Essays in NY Times, The Atlantic, Washington Post

» Publishers Weekly‘s Best Books 2023 includes SF/Fantasy/Horror titles by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, Lavie Tidhar, Yukimi Ogawa, Marina Enriquez, Emily Tesh, Ann Leckie, and S.L. Huang

» NY Times, Rick Yancey, 3 Nov 2023: 3 New Middle Grade Science Fiction Novels Disturb and Delight, subtitled “Jeanne DuPrau’s ‘Project F,’ Patricia Forde’s ‘The Girl Who Fell to Earth’ and Donna Barba Higuera’s ‘Alebrijes’ answer the question, Could this be ...Read More

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Around the Web: Profiles of N.K. Jemisin and Elizabeth Hand; Reviews of Molly McGhee, Malon Edwards, Melinda Taub, Karen Lord, and Lisa Tuttle

» NY Times “Inside the Best-Seller List”, posted 19 Oct 2023: For N.K. Jemisin, Reality Inspired Horror Fiction, subtitled “She didn’t think she was going to contribute a short story to a new anthology. A stressful vacation changed her mind.” About her story in the Jordan Peele/John Joseph Adams anthology Out There Screaming.

» The New Yorker, Kristen Roupenian, 16 Oct 2023: When a Novelist Carries On What Another ...Read More

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Around the Web: New Yorker Profiles Terry Bisson; Annalee Newitz Reviews Joanna Russ; Review of Terry Pratchett; Interview of Alix E. Harrow

» The New Yorker, 7 Oct 2023: Terry Bisson’s History of the Future, subtitled “For more than two decades, one of pulp sci-fi’s masters has delivered headlines from a time line defined by the absurd.” Focusing on Bisson’s long-running “This Month in History” series in Locus, the “Bay Area sci-fi trade magazine”.

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» NY Times, Annalee Newitz, 8 Oct 2023: Joanna Russ Showed Us the Future: Female, ...Read More

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Around the Web: Lester del Rey, Elizabeth Hand, Justin C. Key, SF books in schools

» Slate, Dan Sinykin, 1 Oct: The Man Who Invented Fantasy, subtitled “All those wizards, ogres, and barely-clad elf queens in the bookstore? You have Lester del Rey to thank.” (An excerpt from the writer’s new book about the publishing industry)

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» NY Times, 1 Oct: Emily C. Hughes reviews Elizabeth Hand’s A Haunting on the Hill

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» People, 27 Sep: Meet Justin C. Key: One of ...Read More

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Around the Web: Niall Harrison on Year’s Bests; Gary Westfahl on Living in Space; Reviews of C Pam Zhang, John Scalzi, and Lavie Tidhar

» Los Angeles Review of Books: Niall Harrison: The Year’s Best Is Dead, Long Live the Year’s Best: On the 2023 Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award Finalists, with some attention to Locus Magazine‘s Recommended Reading lists, and the Science Fiction Awards Database

» Gary Westfahl is quoted in this Scientific American article, Why We’ll Never Live in Space

» NPR: Maureen Corrigan reviews C Pam Zhang’s Land of Milk ...Read More

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Around the Web: Martin MacInnes Interview; Reviews by Adam Roberts, Liz Braswell, Charlie Jane Anders, and Lisa Tuttle

» The Booker Prizes: Martin MacInnes interview: “An SF novel can be as high-brow as any other genre”

» The Guardian: Adam Roberts reviews Prophet by Helen Macdonald & Sin Blaché

» Wall Street Journal: Liz Braswell reviews Sin Blaché & Helen Macdonald, Keith Rosson, S.L. Coney

» Washington Post: Charlie Jane Anders reviews Mona Awad, Hannah Kaner, Wole Talabi, Nghi Vo

» The Guardian: Lisa Tuttle reviews Lavie Tidhar, ...Read More

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Around the Web: Essential Le Guin; Essay by Temi Oh; Reviews by Charlie Jane Anders and Lisa Tuttle

» NY Times, Shreya Chattopadhyay: The Essential Ursula K. Le Guin

» Lit Hub, Temi Oh, 18 Aug 2023: “The molecular weight of loneliness”: On Writing Fiction Influenced by Neuroscience: Temi Oh on Identity, Consciousness, and Free-Will in Science Fiction

» Wa Po: Charlie Jane Anders reviews Temi Oh, Nick Fuller Googins, Kiersten White, S.L. Huang, T. Kingfisher

» The Guardian: Lisa Tuttle reviews Lauren Beukes, John Ajvide Lindqvist, Kiersten ...Read More

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Around the Web: Reviews of Silvia Moreno-Garcia; Reviews by Charlie Jane Anders; Gary Westfahl’s modest proposal

Reviews of Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s new novel Silver Nitrate:

» By Miguel Salazar in New York Times » By Elizabeth Hand in Washington Post » By Paula L. Woods in Los Angeles Times

» Washington Post: Charlie Jane Anders reviews Yume Kitasei, Vajra Chandrasekera, C.M. Alongi, Djuna

» File 770: Gary Westfahl’s modest proposal: Announcing the Westfahl Award (And Other Insignificant Science Fiction Awards) ...Read More

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Around the Web: Samuel R. Delany; John Scalzi; Reviews by Higgins, Barnett, Tuttle, and Kunzru of books by Leckie, Djuna, Atalla, Siddiqi, and others; “The Lottery” 75 years on; Cosmic horror and science fiction

» The New Yorker, profile by Julian Lucas: How Samuel R. Delany Reimagined Sci-Fi, Sex, and the City, subtitled “A visionary novelist and a revolutionary chronicler of gay life, he’s taken American letters to uncharted realms.” (Print title: “Galaxy Brain: How Samuel R. Delany reimagined science fiction.”)

» John Scalzi, blog post: How Awards Work: A Quick Primer

» Los Angeles Review of Books, review by David M. Higgins: Your ...Read More

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Blinks: Connie Willis, Ken Liu, Ted Chiang, Madeleine L’Engle, Iain Banks, Cormac McCarthy; Old magazines, Latin American SF, Arrival

» Lit Hub: In Praise of Sci-Fi Legend Connie Willis’s Cinematic Universe, “Joel Cuthbertson Looks at Willis’s Oeuvre and Her Latest, The Road to Roswell”

» Slate, Ken Liu: The Imitation Game (about chatbots and writing fiction)

» Vanity Fair: “We Have Built a Giant Treadmill That We Can’t Get Off”: Sci-Fi Prophet Ted Chiang on How to Best Think About About AI

» Salon, Meaghan Mulholland: Grief is a ...Read More

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Blinks: Reviews by Norman Spinrad and Lisa Tuttle

» Asimov’s, Norman Spinrad, The Future of Humanity, the Humanity of the Future covers Gregory Benford, Paul McAuley, Augustina Bazterrica, James L. Cambias [not a permalink; content at the link changes with each issue]

» Guardian, Lisa Tuttle’s The best recent science fiction and fantasy – reviews roundup covers Paul McAuley, Christopher Priest, Peter S Beagle, and others ...Read More

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Blinks: NYT and Guardian reviews; Becky Chambers and KSR; and three guides to SF&F

» NYT, 21 Sept: Amal El-Mohtar reviews Lincoln Michel, Ryka Aoki, Cadwell Turnbull

» Guardian, 10 Sept: Lisa Tuttle reviews James Kennedy, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Rian Hughes, Guy Morpuss, and Kai-Fu Lee & Chen Qiufan

» Wired, 16 Sept: Is Becky Chambers the Ultimate Hope for Science Fiction?, subtitled, “Her gentle, heartwarming stories seek to soothe our troubled souls. They also aim to blow up the entire genre.”

» The New ...Read More

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Blinks: Stanislaw Lem; Ursula K. Le Guin; Reviews in NYT, Guardian, WSJ

» NYT: A Century in Stanislaw Lem’s Cosmos

» NYT: When a Fictional Utopia Offers a Pathway Home, by Amy Kurzweil: “Reading Ursula K. Le Guin’s ‘Always Coming Home’ after a cross country move to California.”

» NYT: Amal El-Mohtar reviews books by Marissa Levien, Nghi Vo, and editors Swapna Krishna & Jenn Northington

» Guardian: Lisa Tuttle reviews Catling, Hendrix, Murphy, Clark, Grant

» Wall Street Journal: Tom Shippey ...Read More

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Blinks: Two by Ted Chiang

» New York Times: Ezra Klein: The Author Behind ‘Arrival’ Doesn’t Fear AI. ‘Look at How We Treat Animals.’, subtitled, “The award-winning author and Ezra Klein discuss A.I. suffering, free will, Superman’s failures and more.

» The New Yorker: Ted Chiang: Why Computers Won’t Make Themselves Smarter, subtitled, “We fear and yearn for ‘the singularity.’ But it will probably never come.” ...Read More

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Blinks: Indian sf/f novels; Slate on DeLillo, Lethem, and Forster; Zoologist’s Guide to the Galaxy

» Washington Post: Silvia Moreno-Garcia and Lavie Tidhar: Let’s talk about wonderful Indian science-fiction and fantasy novels

» Slate: COVID-19 Isn’t the Apocalypse We Expected—or the One Some Wanted, subtitled “Recent novels from Don DeLillo and Jonathan Lethem fantasized about turning off screens forever,” beginning with a look back at E.M. Forster’s “The Machine Stops”

» NYT: Kermit Pattison reviews associational book THE ZOOLOGIST’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY: What Animals ...Read More

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Blinks: Octavia E. Butler; Chen Qiufan; Elizabeth Hand; Lisa Tuttle’s Guardian reviews

» The New Yorker: Julian Lucas on How Octavia E. Butler Reimagines Sex and Survival, subtitled, The parasites, hybrids, and vampires of her science fiction make the price of persisting viscerally real.

» Wired: Sci-Fi Writer or Prophet? The Hyperreal Life of Chen Qiufan, subtitled, As China’s science fiction authors are elevated to the status of oracles, Qiufan’s career—and his genre’s place in society—have gone through the looking glass.

» ...Read More

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Blinks: Jonathan Lethem in The New Yorker, with a tribute to Robert A. Heinlein; NPR’s Fran Wilde reviews S.B. Divya; Wired’s Jason Kehe on R.A. Lafferty

» The New Yorker: Jonathan Lethem’s story The Crooked House, with an interview with Jonathan Lethem on Robert Heinlein and Other Influences

» Another review of Ishiguro’s Klara and the Sun, by NPR’s Annalisa Quinn

» Also at NPR, Fran Wilde reviews S.B. Divya: ‘Machinehood’ Upgrades Asimov’s 3 Laws Of Robotics

» Wired’s Jason Kehe asks, Who Is R. A. Lafferty? And Is He the Best Sci-Fi Writer Ever?, ...Read More

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Blinks: Kazuo Ishiguro; reviews of his new novel; new laws or robotics; Shippey reviews Weber & Kenney

» NYT Magazine: Kazuo Ishiguro Sees What the Future Is Doing to Us, by Giles Harvey

» Reviews of Ishiguro’s new novel Klara and the Sun at NYT, by Radhika Jones; Slate, by Laura Miller; Guardian, by Anne Enright; and Wall Street Journal, by Sam Sacks

» Boston Globe: Frank Pasquale suggests Now that science fiction is reality, it’s time for new laws of robotics

» Wall Street Journal: Tom ...Read More

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Blinks: Lisa Tuttle at Guardian; Bill McKibben cites KSR; Greg Bear’s life story

» Guardian: Lisa Tuttle takes over from Eric Brown: The best recent science fiction and fantasy – review roundup covering titles by Samantha Shannon, Adrian Tchaikovsky, Adam Roberts, Marian Womack, and Tim Pratt

» The New Yorker: Bill McKibben’s The Enormous Risk of Atmospheric Hacking cites Kim Stanley Robinson’s “masterly new novel” “The Ministry for the Future”.

» Seattle Times: Lynnwood’s Greg Bear, stalwart of modern science fiction, starts writing ...Read More

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Blinks: Bloom on Le Guin; LARB on Dune; WaPo’s Best SF/F/H Books of 2020

» The New Yorker: Harold Bloom on The Strange Friendships of Ursula K. Le Guin’s “The Left Hand of Darkness”

» Los Angeles Review of Books: Daniel Immerwahr on Heresies of “Dune”

» Washington Post: Silvia Moreno-Garcia and Lavie Tidhar select Best science fiction, fantasy and horror books of 2020; they’re by Stephen Graham Jones, Zen Cho, Tlotlo Tsamaase, Agustina Bazterrica, translated from the Spanish by Sarah Moses, and Paul ...Read More

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