Tag Archives: N.K. Jemisin

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

Posted on December 14, 2022 by Brenton Dickieson

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 | 5 Comments

How Long ’til Black Future Month? by N.K. Jemisin (a review)

Posted on April 6, 2022 by Brenton Dickieson

How Long ’til Black Future Month? by N.K. Jemisin My rating: 4 of 5 stars When I say that N.K. Jemisin is one of the most powerful writers in contemporary speculative fiction, I am making a claim of both influence … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged Broken Earth Trilogy, CliFi, climate fiction, Hugo Awards, James Blish, N.K. Jemisin, Nalo Hopkinson, Nisi Shawl, Nnedi Okorafor, Octavia Butler, Rebecca Roanhorse, Tananarive Due, Terry Pratchett, The City We Became, The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas, Ursula K. Le Guin | 4 Comments

2021: A Year of Reading: The Nerd Bit, with Charts

Posted on January 17, 2022 by Brenton Dickieson

“… in reading great literature I become a thousand men and yet remain myself. Like the night sky in the Greek poem, I see with a myriad eyes, but it is still I who see. Here, as in worship, in … Continue reading →

Posted in Original Research, Reflections | Tagged C.S. Lewis, Goodreads, Hugo Awards, J.R.R. Tolkien, L.M. Montgomery, Marilynne Robinson, N.K. Jemisin, Narnia, Reading, Stephen King, Susanna Clarke, Ursula K. Le Guin | 1 Comment

Hugo Award 2021: Best Novel Signum Roundtable (Sat, Dec 18th, 6pm Eastern)

Posted on December 13, 2021 by Brenton Dickieson

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)

Posted on December 9, 2021 by Brenton Dickieson

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)

Posted on December 7, 2021 by Brenton Dickieson

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 | 7 Comments

Mary Robinette Kowal’s The Relentless Moon and the Lady Astronaut Universe (Blogging the Hugos 2021)

Posted on November 10, 2021 by Brenton Dickieson

If the history of Mary Robinette Kowal’s Lady Astronaut Universe were the same as the one that you and I share, I would be writing to you as a dead man. I suppose, even in terms of timeline, I might … Continue reading →

Posted in Blogging the Hugos, Reviews | Tagged Black Sun, Hugo Awards, Lady Astronaut Universe, Martha Wells, Mary Robinette Kowal, N.K. Jemisin, Network Effect, owen barfield, Piranesi, Rebecca Roanhorse, Susanna Clarke, Tamsyn Muir, The City We Became, The Relentless Moon | 16 Comments

Blogging the Hugos 2021 (Series Launch)

Posted on November 8, 2021 by Brenton Dickieson

It isn’t often that I get a popular novel as it first finds its way into the world. I’m usually years behind in my TBR and motivated to find new books by book clubs and upcoming classes and film adaptations. … Continue reading →

Posted in Blogging the Hugos, Fictional Worlds, News & Links, Reviews | Tagged Black Sun, Canadian literature, Eye of the World, George R.R. Martin, Gideon the Ninth, Harrow The Ninth, Lady Astronaut Universe, Margaret Atwood, Mark Sampson, Martha Wells, Mary Robinette Kowal, N.K. Jemisin, Neil Gaiman, Network Effect, Piranesi, Rebecca Roanhorse, Rebecca Rosenblum, Robert Jordan, Science Fiction, Susanna Clarke, Tamsyn Muir, The City We Became, The Handmaid's Tale, The Testaments, Wheel of Time | 4 Comments

Three Myths Retold: Madeline Miller’s Song of Achilles, Margaret Atwood’s Penelopiad, and C.S. Lewis’ Till We Have Faces

Posted on July 20, 2021 by Brenton Dickieson

While I love the Odyssey, I always dread returning to The Iliad. I just find all the war and posturing and characters to be ash and dust and thorn for me, just weariness and work and pain. The moments of greatness within … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, Thoughtful Essays | Tagged C.S. Lewis, feminism, Hélène Cixous, Homer, Madeline Miller, Margaret Atwood, N.K. Jemisin, Nalo Hopkinson, Narnia, Nnedi Okorafor, Percy Jackson, Perelandra, The Four Loves, The Iliad, The Laugh of the Medusa, The Odyssey, The Penelopiad, The Song of Achilles, The Weight of Glory, Till We Have Faces | 33 Comments

2019: A Year of Reading: The Nerd Bit, with Charts

Posted on January 1, 2020 by Brenton Dickieson

“With such wishes for the New Year as still seem possible” ~ C.S. Lewis to his father from the WWI trenches in France “Except at my job—where the machine seems to run on much as usual—I loathe the slightest effort. … Continue reading →