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Category Archives: Fictional Worlds
Why Did Star Wars Stick? #MayThe4thBeWithYou #StarWarsDay
As much as we wonder about it, it’s a question that is not perfectly easy to answer. Long before technologically precise blockbuster films, Star Wars had cheesy lines, over-the-top acting, and zippers up the back of the monster’s costume. How … Continue reading
Thoughts on Classic and Contemporary SF vs. Fantasy Hugo Best Novel Award Winners while Failing to Write a Review of a Great Book that was not Nominated
Tamsyn Muir’s Locked Tomb Series is a discovery from my stint as a Hugo Award panellist in 2020 and 2021–the years that Gideon the Ninth (book 1) and Harrow the Ninth (book 2) were nominated. As much as I loved these books–and … Continue reading
Posted in Blogging the Hugos, Fictional Worlds, News & Links, Reviews
Tagged A Canticle for Leibowitz, Alix E. Harrow, allegory, apocalyptic literature, Arthur C. Clarke, Dune, Ender's Game, Gene Wolfe, Gideon the Ninth, Harrow The Ninth, Hugo Awards, Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, Mary Doria Russell, N.K. Jemisin, Nona the Ninth, Science Fiction, speculative fiction, Tamsyn Muir, Ursula K. Le Guin
6 Comments
L.M. Montgomery’s The Story Girl, “Such Stuff as Dreams are Made On”: Chapter Reading, the L.M. Montgomery Readathon, a Montgomery Conference, and Other Things I am Working On (Friday Feature)
I thought I would use today’s “Feature Friday” segment of A Pilgrim in Narnia to highlight some L.M. Montgomery adventures this spring and in the months ahead. My Chapter Reading for the L.M. Montgomery Readathon For the L.M. Montgomery Readathon … Continue reading
The Literary Magic of L.M. Montgomery’s Storied Domains: The King Orchard and The Story Girl
While Lucy Maud Montgomery was a prodigious journal-keeper, leaving us thousands of pages of material to study in the decades after her death, she was far less dedicated as a memoirist. Thus, it is sometimes hard to know how to … Continue reading
The Sloo/Slow/Sluff of Despond: Today’s Word of the Day and a Spiritual Truth in John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress
Today’s word of the day arrives as I am rereading John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress: I do not always find the Word of the Day terribly enlightening, in part because Merriam-Webster only gives a brief etymology. And it is the stories … Continue reading
The Heroic Gideon and Harrowing Features of Living in the Ninth: Thoughts on Tamsyn Muir’s Necromantic Dream Vision (Blogging the Hugos 2021)
In our 2020 Hugo Award roundtable, I was tasked with presenting Alix E. Harrow’s gorgeous gateway fantasy, The Ten Thousand Doors of January. Though I chose the book simply for its name and cover design, I came to love the … Continue reading
Posted in Blogging the Hugos, Fictional Worlds, News & Links, Reviews
Tagged Alix E. Harrow, allegory, apocalyptic literature, Gene Wolfe, Gideon the Ninth, Harrow The Ninth, Hugo Awards, Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, Science Fiction, speculative fiction, Tamsyn Muir, Ten Thousand Doors of January
4 Comments
Hugo Award 2021: Best Novel Signum Roundtable (Sat, Dec 18th, 6pm Eastern)
As I announced in my “Blogging the Hugos 2021” series launch, I am once again joining Signum University’s Hugo Award Best Novel Roundtable. In a gala zoom event that no doubt will rival the Worldcon ceremony in DC, I will … Continue reading
Posted in Blogging the Hugos, Fictional Worlds, News & Links, Reviews
Tagged Alix E. Harrow, allegory, apocalyptic literature, Gideon the Ninth, Harrow The Ninth, he Ten Thousand Doors of January, Hugo Awards, Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, Martha Wells, N.K. Jemisin, Network Effect, Science Fiction, speculative fiction, Susanna Clarke, Tamsyn Muir, The City We Became, urban fantasy, Ursula K. Le Guin
13 Comments
N.K. Jemisin’s Super Strange Urban Apocalypse in The City We Became: Part 2: The City I Can’t Become (Blogging the Hugos 2021)
N.K. Jemisin is clearly one of the science fiction greats of the generation. Time will tell if she will stand with the all-time greats, like H.G. Wells, Robert A. Heinlein, Ray Bradbury, Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, Frank Herbert, Ursula … Continue reading
Posted in Blogging the Hugos, Fictional Worlds, News & Links, Reviews
Tagged allegory, apocalyptic literature, Frank Herbert, H.G. Wells, Hugo Awards, Isaac Asimov, N.K. Jemisin, New York City, Octavia E. Butler, Philip K. Dick, Postcolonial literature, racism, Ray Bradbury, Robert A. Heinlein, Science Fiction, speculative fiction, The City We Became, urban fantasy, Ursula K. Le Guin, William Gibson
14 Comments
N.K. Jemisin’s Super Strange Urban Apocalypse in The City We Became: Part 1: The Allegory That is Born (Blogging the Hugos 2021)
I first encountered N.K. Jemisin’s “Great City” series in her bracing, breakneck-speed short story, “The City Born Great,” which (in an edited form) is the prologue to The City We Became. Jemisin is one of this generation’s great speculative fiction … Continue reading
Posted in Blogging the Hugos, Fictional Worlds, News & Links, Reviews
Tagged allegory, apocalypse, apocalyptic literature, Hugo Awards, N.K. Jemisin, New York City, Postcolonial literature, racism, Science Fiction, speculative fiction, The City Born Great, The City We Became, urban fantasy
8 Comments