We’re going to have another go at looking for the best Novella. Here are the Hugo nominees for best novella:
Come Tumbling Down, Seanan McGuire (Tordotcom)
The Empress of Salt and Fortune, Nghi Vo (Tordotcom)
Finna, Nino Cipri (Tordotcom)
Ring Shout, P. Djèlí Clark (Tordotcom)
Riot Baby, Tochi Onyebuchi (Tordotcom)
Upright Women Wanted, Sarah Gailey (Tordotcom)
We’re going to discuss them over the next few meetings, so please read Come Tumbling Down and The Empress of Salt and Fortune in time for discussion at the May meeting.
As usual, the meeting will start at 7pm Adelaide time, May 19th. If you wish to attend in person, come along to Kappys — doors open at 6:45. Zoom details follow for those who prefer to join us that way.
Zoom: Critical Mass: a look at the hugo Nominees for Best Novella Time: May 19, 2021 7:00pm Adelaide, 7:30 Melbourne
With the recent release of Netflix’s Shadow and Bone, hordes of viewers are falling in love with the series based on Leigh Bargudo’s Grishaverse. This isn’t Leigh’s only universe. She’s written the DC Icon’s novel about the legendary Amazon, Wonder Woman: Warbringer, as well as the adult dark academia hit, Ninth House. But, newcomers may not know where to begin when it comes to the Grishaverse books. Zoraida Córdova has written a guide to the Grishaverse, and the two series which form the basis of the netflix series. See Beyond Shadow and Bone: Your Guide to Leigh Bardugo’s Grishaverse at tor.com:
The Shadow and Bone adaptation is incredibly faithful to the books, even with the addition of a new timeline. Season one follows the events of the first book: Ravka is a country at war, landlocked between two enemy nations to the north and south. To its west is the Shadow Fold, a sea of darkness full of monsters that splits Ravka from its coast line and ports. It was created by a Grisha, a class of elite warriors who can manipulate the elements, hundreds of years before and nothing has been able to destroy it. During a crossing of the Shadow Fold, Alina Starkov—an orphan and a cartographer in the Ravkan army—and her BFF, Malyen Oretsev, are attacked by one of the monsters, and Alina discovers her awesome power to summon sunlight. As the legendary Sun Summoner, she might be the only chance to save her war-torn country.
Our guest this coming Wednesday night is best-selling science fiction author and commentator John Birmingham. Prepare your questions now!
After years of successfully working with publishers John is now going it alone with an internet-based direct sale and subscriptions model.
John won the 2005 Locus Award for best first novel for his “Weapons of Choice”, the first in his Axis of Time trilogy of alternative history novels based on a modern fleet of warships going back in time to World War Two. A later trilogy, Stalin’s Hammer, addresses the legacy of the fall of the Axis of Time as Stalin’s USSR seeks to reshape the world. The James Kipper series asks, “what would happen if the USA just suddenly disappeared?” and the Dave Hooper series is a monster apocalypse thriller gorefest. Of course, John first came to fame with He Died with a Felafel in his Hand and is known for his commentary on modern Australian politics. As Penguin put it: “John Birmingham has written for Rolling Stone, Playboy, Long Bay Prison News, Quarterly Essay and The Monthly. His published works include He Died With A Falafel In His Hand and Leviathan: The unauthorised biography of Sydney. He started writing airport novels because they were more fun.”
John’s most recent releases are the ebook of Zero Day Code and the audio of American Kill Switch, which closes out the End of Days series, a very plausible scenario for bringing down the American civilisation.
We’ve worked through the setup problems of March 2021 by keeping it simple. This is a Zoom only meeting.
This pattern of sometimes Zoom-only and sometimes face to face will continue for the foreseeable future. John Birmingham – Reality? What price our reality?
Wednesday May 5th
8.00pm – 9.30 pm or so, Melbourne time, 7:30 – 9pm Adelaide time login after 7.50pm Melbourne, 7:20pm Adelaide time
Esteemed critic John Clute will be joining the Nova Mob from London England for a fireside chat for our June 2 meeting. Zoom again!
Lovely to have you with us, John. May I ask, what are you working on at the moment? —I’m finishing a difficult edit (difficult because I am increasingly fussy about quality control) of a new collection, Sticking to the End, due to come out this year. And continuing to work on the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, partly writing and editing, partly calculating the move from Gollancz (that contract ends October) into the autonomous improved clone David Langford has developed and is ready to go; we’d like a new sponsor, too, as that will ease finances, but that would be in conjunction with David’s ongoing site.
How would you like the “John Clute – at the fireside” discussion to work? —Send me questions you’re interested in asking. It might be interesting to ask about the relationship of Fantastika to the End of the World, but that’s only for laughs. ha.
The 2021 Sir Julius Vogel Award finalists have been announced. The awards recognize excellence in science fiction, fantasy, or horror works created by New Zealanders and New Zealand residents.
Best Novel
Gad’s Army by Drew Bryenton (Sci Fi Cafe)
The Stone Weta by Octavia Cade (Paper Road Press)
Transference by B.T. Keaton (Ingleside Avenue Press)
The Court of Mortals by A.J. Lancaster (Camberion Press)
Blood of the Sun by Dan Rabarts and Lee Murray (Raw Dog Screaming Press)
Signature Entertainment has unveiled the official UK trailer for an Australian sci-fi action thriller titled Occupation: Rainfall, from filmmaker Luke Sparke. Two years after aliens land on Earth, survivors from Sydney fight in a desperate war as the number of casualties continue to grow. It’s described as “Avatar meets Star Wars meets Independence Day,”
From the VFX team behind The Last Jedi and Blade Runner 2049, Sparke’s Occupation: Rainfall is a new “sci-fi action epic with an all star cast.” Temuera Morrison co-stars with Ken Jeong, Jet Tranter, Dan Ewing, Lawrence Makoare, Daniel Gillies, Dena Kaplan, and Jason Isaacs. This does have some massive VFX sequences, which is quite impressive, but the mash-up of unoriginal sci-fi ideas seems to be its biggest drawback.
Here’s the official UK trailer for Luke Sparke’s Occupation: Rainfall, direct from YouTube:
Our guest this month is Narrelle M Harris, who is talking about her new anthology of Sherlock Holmes stories. She will be joined by some of the authors, including Katya de Becerra, Lucy Sussex, LJM Owen, Jason Franks, and LisaFessler (Germany).
In the middle of the year that went nowhere, I asked writers from around the world to interpret what Holmes and/or Watson might be like if one or both came from a cultural background different from Conan Doyle’s London-centred Victorian/Edwardian England, in stories where they also did not have to be white upper-class men.
The characters could change in any and many ways to suit the story, so that readers could explore the Great Detective and his biographer from new and different angles.
Fourteen splendid writers took part in The Only One in the World, including:
Greg Herren, Atlin Merrick, Jack Fennell, Jason Franks, Natalie Conyer, Kerry Greenwood and David Greagg, Lisa Fessler, Lucy Sussex, Katya de Becerra, Jayantika Ganguly, LJM Owen, Raymond Gates, and JM Redmann
All of these authors rose to the challenge of finding diverse ways to bring the crime-solving partnership of Holmes and Watson to life in thirteen adventures.
This baker’s dozen take us on adventures in Ancient Egypt, Viking Iceland, and 17th century England; in 19th century Ireland, Germany, and Poland; in South Africa of the 1970s and New Orleans of the 1920s; and in contemporary Australia, USA, Russia, India and as a global citizen.
Clan Destine Press is delighted to reveal the beautiful cover, featuring portals into these different worlds, created by award-winning author-illustrator Judith Rossell.
In addition, beautiful internal illustrations have been created by Andrea L Farley (Altocello Art) to enhance each tale.
A stunning new series from Joss Whedon, written by Jane Espenson and Douglas Petrie. If the first episode is any indication, it will be a very interesting series. Set in Victorian England, where a strange incident endows various people with talents. Will the gifted (as they are known) be allowed to continue their lives? Or are they too much of a threat to the established order. It doesn’t help that one of them has become a serial killer.
Another riff on the Sherlock Holmes canon, this TV series focuses on a team of young friends who are initially hired by Watson to investigate a case. Unlike the original, this is a series about the supernatural, as monsters cross a dimensional rift to terrorise London. As I recall, the hell-hound was the only supernatural element in the original canon.
The (Baker St) Irregulars, plus Watson in the grey coat
It’s an interesting Netflix series, focussed on the inter-relationships between our young protagonists. A satisfying ending to series one seems to end the problem of the rift. It seems to be aimed at the YA market.Filming has apparently already begun on a second season. ❦
The Adelaide Fan Review 
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