How I Would Vote Now: 2003 Hugo Awards (Best Novel)

The Nominees Kiln People by David Brin The Scar by China Mieville The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson Hominids by Robert J. Sawyer Bones of the Earth by Michael Swanwick The Actual Results How I Would Have Voted (Abstain) Explanation None of these books were so bad/woke that I felt No… Continue reading How I Would Vote Now: 2003 Hugo Awards (Best Novel)

How I would vote now: 2018 Hugo Award (Best Novel)

The Nominees The Stone Sky by N.K. Jemisin Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty Provenance by Ann Leckie Raven Strategem by Yoon Ha Lee New York 2140 by Kim Stanley Robinson The Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi The Actual Results How I Would Have Voted Explanation I liked Six Wakes. It was a fun murder mystery… Continue reading How I would vote now: 2018 Hugo Award (Best Novel)

Reading Resolution Update: April

My 2022 reading resolution: Read or DNF every novel that has won a Hugo or a Nebula award, and acquire all the good ones. In 2007, when I was a sophomore in college, I went up to Salt Lake City with some friends and was browsing the awesome (and fairly run down, even at the… Continue reading Reading Resolution Update: April

Reading Resolution Update: Before 2022

My 2022 Reading Resolution: Read or DNF every novel that has won a Hugo or a Nebula award, and acquire all the good ones. I was going to keep track of my reading resolution this year by mentioning each book and what I liked or didn’t like about it, why I DNFed it if I… Continue reading Reading Resolution Update: Before 2022

Extra Sci-Fi S3E7: Dune – Wandering in the Desert

So the problem I have with most “ecological science fiction” is that it draws almost exclusively on the ideas of Malthusian economics—essentially, the argument that Thanos was right. The problem with this is that Malthusian theory has been disproven by every generation of humans to live on this planet for the last 150 years. It’s… Continue reading Extra Sci-Fi S3E7: Dune – Wandering in the Desert

P is for Planets

Gliese 581 by ~arisechicken117 on deviantART One of the best things about a good science fiction story is that it can take you to another world–literally!  Well, not in the sense of actually physically taking you there, but if you want to experience the thrills of an alien world from the safety of your favorite… Continue reading P is for Planets

Trope Tuesday: Settling the (Final) Frontier

I love stories about colonization, especially when they’re set in space.  There’s just something about a small group of rugged pioneers striking out into the harsh, unforgiving wilderness to make a new life for themselves.  Maybe it’s just something about my American heritage, or all those 4x games I played as a kid, but I doubt… Continue reading Trope Tuesday: Settling the (Final) Frontier

Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson

For eons, sandstorms have swept the barren, desolate landscape of the red planet.  For centuries, Mars has beckoned to mankind to come and conquer its hostile climate.  Now, in the year 2026, a group of one hundred colonists is about to fulfill that destiny. I first picked up this book two and a half years… Continue reading Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson