Monthly Archives: July 2020

So Much Love by Rebecca Rosenblum (A Review and 10-Minute Book Talk)

Posted on July 27, 2020 by Brenton Dickieson

So Much Love is an exquisitely crafted book. It is the story of a twentysomething mature student, Catherine, a lover of books who finds her life patterned after the creative and tragic story of a local poet who was killed … Continue reading →

Posted in 10 Minute Book Talk, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Hugo Award 2020: Best Novel Roundtable

Posted on July 21, 2020 by Brenton Dickieson

For more than 65 years, fans have been gathering at Worldcon and selecting what they think is the best science fiction or fantasy work of the year. Unlike other award programmes–like the Nebula awards, which are chosen by writers, or … Continue reading →

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Nnedi Okorafor Deep Future Story for the Moment, Binti

Posted on July 14, 2020 by Brenton Dickieson

What a discovery Binti has been for me! In Binti (2015), Home (2017), and The Night Masquerade (2018), Dr. Nnedi Okorafor has given us a living, vibrant, complex character in literary SF prose. Binti is the award-winning novella of a young African woman … Continue reading →

Posted in Fictional Worlds, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

Neil Gaiman on Discovering the Author in Narnia (and a note on beards)

Posted on July 9, 2020 by Brenton Dickieson

I love this little clip by Neil Gaiman about “the book that made me an author.” While Gaiman is one of the most important fantasy authors of our age and a great reader in his own right, there is a … Continue reading →

Posted in Feature Friday | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 17 Comments

L.M. Montgomery, the Radio, and Nostalgia in the Podcast Age

Posted on July 7, 2020 by Brenton Dickieson

This is a piece of writing I have been working on this spring. I even managed to pull in J.R.R. Tolkien on this reflection, and had to restrain myself there. The way writers of the post-WWI age both resisted technological … Continue reading →

Posted in Canadian literature, L.M. Montgomery, Reflections | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 22 Comments

Is L.M. Montgomery Canada’s Author?

Posted on July 1, 2020 by Brenton Dickieson

In the L.M. Montgomery feature in Penguin’s Extraordinary Canadians series, novelist Jane Urquhart describes how Montgomery’s novels created a literary legacy in her small-town family. Urquhart’s grandmother’s Anne books “electrified” her mother’s childhood, adding “meaning and intensity even to the … Continue reading →

Posted in Canadian literature, L.M. Montgomery | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 16 Comments