A Sense of Doubt blog post #2318 - 2021 Nebulas and Hugo Nominees and more SF writing stuff
Greetings readers,
Breaking N.K. Jemisin's dominance of the SF awards (and it's deserved dominance!), Martha Wells wins the best novel Nebula for 2021 for Network Effect (seen above), one of her MurderBot novels. I read the first one -- All Systems Red -- and have planned to read more, though I would have to re-read that one first. I rather liked it a lot. The concept intrigues. The security unit (or Murderbot) overrides its "governor module" to gain independence from the mandates of its programming, mainly to watch soap operas.
As usual, I aspire to check out other award winners, especially the best short story from a magazine I did not know.
I am also quite fond of P. Djèlí Clark who won the best Novella award as I loved his story, "The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Teeth of George Washington."
https://firesidefiction.com/the-secret-lives-of-the-nine-negro-teeth-of-george-washington
I posted David Brin sharing about the Nebulas and then he complains about criticism hurled his way, which I would probably complain about, too, if I were him.
Hugo Awards, first, and Clark's story, Wells' novel, and the Nebula winning short story are all nominees. I didn't check the others, but they probably are, too. This is not uncommon. The overlap is much the same as movie, music, or TV awards.
Next, a cool Levar Burton Master Class and a link to the N.K. Jemisin and Neil Gaiman classes. I may have to sign up! :-)
Next, a great article about LOST HOME WORLDS and books that feature such storylines, only one of which I have read, the Asimov.
And then the trailer for the new A24 movie The Green Knight, though I take issue with the pronunciation of Gawain (GOW-win not GAH_WANE).
But you know, I am told my pronunciations are pretentious.
http://davidbrin.blogspot.com/2021/06/science-fiction-thats-critical-and.html
Friday, June 11, 2021
Science Fiction
that's critical and diverse... and critical of the truly diverse!
First, before moving on to other science fiction news &
insights... the 2021 Nebula
Awards are announced.
Best Novel: Network Effect,
Martha Wells (Tor.com)
Best Novella: Ring Shout, P.
Djèlí Clark (Tor.com)
Best Novelette: “Two Truths and a
Lie”, Sarah Pinsker (Tor.com)
Best Short Story: “Open House on
Haunted Hill”, John Wiswell (Diabolical Plots)
The Andre Norton Nebula
Award for middle grade & young adult fiction - A Wizard’s Guide
to Defensive Baking, T. Kingfisher (Argyll)
Congratulations to all!
== Still (supposed to be) a realm of ideas! ==
Academics
in Science Fiction literature! McFarland is one of the top publishers of
erudite studies and tomes on the great, exploratory genre with the courage to
ask "what-if things might be different?" Here's their latest
catalogue of books on SF in its wide variety of forms. And yes, the titles have
somewhat higher cover prices, so? Not per page or per idea! And especially my
own item in their catalogue: VIVID TOMORROWS:
Science Fiction and Hollywood.
Therein you'll get ideas and "huh!" moments so
numerous they are pennies-per! Some will change how you view the genre, the
films, the books that helped to make you who you are!
Honoring their release of all six refreshed uplift novels, Open
Road's site publishes here the new
introduction I wrote for the updated Startide Rising...
offering insights into the whole Uplift Universe. My original Uplift Trilogy,
has recently been re-released on
Kindle.
The Martian
Dispatches -- a story collection focuses narrowly upon the
processes of developing and building the first settlement on Mars, including
overcoming initial problems getting life started there in self-supporting ways.
Huh. I've seen Toho films that romanticize the super-battleship
Yamato - e.g. turning it into a star cruiser saving the Earth - but this one
seems... unusual. In The Great War of
Archimedes, Admiral Yamamoto hires a young mathematician to show
that the Yamato design makes no sense! Of course we know the effort fails.
Yamato and Musashi are built... and calamitously prove futile. Though we also
know Yamamoto remained supreme daimyo of the IJN. So what's the point? Not
having seen the film... (here's the trailer)... I'd guess the implication is
"Yamamoto would have won the war, if only Yamato had NOT been built!"
A variation, indeed! Yet, still, a what-if that Yamamoto himself would surely
reject, if he were here.
== Finally... about “cancel”... ==
One fellow reminded me how he defended me at a convention, where
fools attacked me for 'having no black characters in The Postman."
Um? Do you ever (often!) wish you had been there in person to
demand a CASH WAGER from an ignoramus?
"No black characters" in The Postman? Except
that the ex-soldier Phil Bokuto, Gordon's crucial friend and hero, is all
over the 2nd half of the book and saves the world. I mean sure, except for
that. Oh, and Mrs. Horton... and...
And except for
the fact that it is a Southern Oregon Native
American tribe who I portray finally saving America from a plague of
"holnist" gun-nut militias who brought ruin on the nation.
Oh, but let's deal with
this crap, here and now. My first protagonist of ANY kind, in my first-ever
story/novel, Sundiver,
written in 1977, was half African and half Native American.
And jet-black Emerson
D'Anite in Startide Rising is
also one of the heroes of Brightness
Reef and Infinity's Shore.
And then there are admiring stories told about Native American traditions in Sundiver and Startide.
And Robert Oneagle, the
central heroic human in The Uplift War...
And when were those written? Back when Ursula LeGuin was barely starting to
switch from ortho male to female or 'other' leads? In fact, find any SF author,
of any kind, who has a better record at 'otherness',
so early - both in time and in their career - except of course for Chip
Delaney. Maybe Brunner. Yeah, Alice Sheldon. All right, I can think of others.
But Top-ten-percent-R-Us.
Except for all that, of course
they're right... not.
And one of you reminded me
of my Maori characters and scenes and portrayal of Gaia-worship and many types
of eco-activism, in Earth...
...and gay/bi characters
and numerous empowered "spectrum" neurodivergent folks in Existence...
(with a glowing blurb from Temple Grandin)... and sympathy for folks with brain
damage portrayed in seven different novels....
.... and the very concept of
a future with chimp and dolphins sitting on our highest councils and
contributing ultimate diversity to Earth civilization... and then there's
Gillian Baskin... and you won't find anyone more active vs. the world
oligarchic putsch...
A bit
prickly and defensive, Brin?
Yeah. Okay. Sorry.
But the damned,
lying-cowardly gossip never stops and pressure builds up. (Give a listen to the
pertinent and way-cool hip hop song “Rumors” by
Timex Social Club!) And always, always, always they backstab behind your
back, never confronting you face-to face.
Let's be clear on one
thing. Gossip is the most despicable evil that
"good" people engage in, regularly, without imagining they are
committing an evil act, and often drenched in the drug high of sanctimony.
Again, sorry. But no.
https://www.tor.com/2021/04/13/announcing-the-2021-hugo-award-finalists/
Announcing the 2021 Hugo Award Finalists
Tor.com
The finalists for the 2021 Hugo Awards, the Astounding Award for Best New Writer, and the Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult book have been announced! You can read the full list below.
There were 1249 valid nominating ballots (1246 electronic and 3 paper) received and counted from the members of the 2020 and 2021 World Science Fiction Conventions for the 2021 Hugo Awards. Voting on the final ballot will open later in April with a unique opportunity this year for voters to have more time as voting will close on November 19, 2021.
The Hugo Awards are the premier award in the science fiction genre, honouring science fiction literature and media as well as the genre’s fans. The Hugo Awards were first presented at the 1953 World Science Fiction Convention in Philadelphia (Philcon II), and they have continued to honour science fiction and fantasy notables for more than 60 years.
A video announcing all the finalists and hosted by Malka Older and Sheree Renée Thomas, hosts of the Hugo Award Ceremony to be held in December 2021 by DisCon III, is available to watch on DisCon III’s YouTube channel.
Only DisCon III members will be able to vote on the final ballot and choose the winners for the 2021 Awards. Information on becoming a member can be found at the DisCon III website.
2021 Hugo Awards Finalists
Best Novel
- Black Sun, Rebecca Roanhorse (Gallery / Saga Press / Solaris)
- The City We Became, N.K. Jemisin (Orbit)
- Harrow the Ninth, Tamsyn Muir (Tordotcom)
- Network Effect, Martha Wells (Tordotcom)
- Piranesi, Susanna Clarke (Bloomsbury)
- The Relentless Moon, Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor Books / Solaris)
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)
Best Novelette
- “Burn, or the Episodic Life of Sam Wells as a Super”, A.T. Greenblatt (Uncanny Magazine, May/June 2020)
- “Helicopter Story”, Isabel Fall (Clarkesworld, January 2020)
- “The Inaccessibility of Heaven”, Aliette de Bodard (Uncanny Magazine, July/August 2020)
- “Monster”, Naomi Kritzer (Clarkesworld, January 2020)
- “The Pill”, Meg Elison (from Big Girl, (PM Press))
- “Two Truths and a Lie”, Sarah Pinsker (Tor.com)
Best Short Story
- “Badass Moms in the Zombie Apocalypse”, Rae Carson (Uncanny Magazine, January/February 2020)
- “A Guide for Working Breeds”, Vina Jie-Min Prasad (Made to Order: Robots and Revolution, ed. Jonathan Strahan (Solaris))
- “Little Free Library”, Naomi Kritzer (Tor.com)
- “The Mermaid Astronaut”, Yoon Ha Lee (Beneath Ceaseless Skies, February 2020)
- “Metal Like Blood in the Dark”, T. Kingfisher (Uncanny Magazine, September/October 2020)
- “Open House on Haunted Hill”, John Wiswell (Diabolical Plots – 2020, ed. David Steffen)
Best Series
- The Daevabad Trilogy, S.A. Chakraborty (Harper Voyager)
- The Interdependency, John Scalzi (Tor Books)
- The Lady Astronaut Universe, Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor Books/Audible/Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction/Solaris)
- The Murderbot Diaries, Martha Wells (Tor.com)
- October Daye, Seanan McGuire (DAW)
- The Poppy War, R.F. Kuang (Harper Voyager)
Best Related Work
- Beowulf: A New Translation, Maria Dahvana Headley (FSG)
- CoNZealand Fringe, Claire Rousseau, C, Cassie Hart, Adri Joy, Marguerite Kenner, Cheryl Morgan, Alasdair Stuart.
- FIYAHCON, L.D. Lewis–Director, Brent Lambert–Senior Programming Coordinator, Iori Kusano–FIYAHCON Fringe Co-Director, Vida Cruz–FIYAHCON Fringe Co-Director, and the Incredible FIYAHCON team
- “George R.R. Martin Can Fuck Off Into the Sun, Or: The 2020 Hugo Awards Ceremony (Rageblog Edition)”, Natalie Luhrs (Pretty Terrible, August 2020)
- A Handful of Earth, A Handful of Sky: The World of Octavia E. Butler, Lynell George (Angel City Press)
- The Last Bronycon: a fandom autopsy, Jenny Nicholson (YouTube)
Best Graphic Story or Comic
- DIE, Volume 2: Split the Party, written by Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans, letters by Clayton Cowles (Image Comics)
- Ghost-Spider vol. 1: Dog Days Are Over, Author: Seanan McGuire, Artist: Takeshi Miyazawa and Rosi Kämpe (Marvel)
- Invisible Kingdom, vol 2: Edge of Everything, Author: G. Willow Wilson, Artist: Christian Ward (Dark Horse Comics)
- Monstress, vol. 5: Warchild, Author: Marjorie Liu, Artist: Sana Takeda (Image Comics)
- Once & Future vol. 1: The King Is Undead, written by Kieron Gillen, iIllustrated by Dan Mora, colored by Tamra Bonvillain, lettered by Ed Dukeshire (BOOM! Studios)
- Parable of the Sower: A Graphic Novel Adaptation, written by Octavia Butler, adapted by Damian Duffy, illustrated by John Jennings (Harry N. Abrams)
Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form
- Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn), written by Christina Hodson, directed by Cathy Yan (Warner Bros.)
- Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga, written by Will Ferrell, Andrew Steele, directed by David Dobkin (European Broadcasting Union/Netflix)
- The Old Guard, written by Greg Rucka, directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood (Netflix / Skydance Media)
- Palm Springs, written by Andy Siara, directed by Max Barbakow (Limelight / Sun Entertainment Culture / The Lonely Island / Culmination Productions / Neon / Hulu / Amazon Prime)
- Soul, screenplay by Pete Docter, Mike Jones and Kemp Powers, directed by Pete Docter, co-directed by Kemp Powers, produced by Dana Murray (Pixar Animation Studios/ Walt Disney Pictures)
- Tenet, written and directed by Christopher Nolan (Warner Bros./Syncopy)
Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form
- Doctor Who: Fugitive of the Judoon, written by Vinay Patel and Chris Chibnall, directed by Nida Manzoor (BBC)
- The Expanse: Gaugamela, written by Dan Nowak, directed by Nick Gomez (Alcon Entertainment / Alcon Television Group / Amazon Studios / Hivemind / Just So)
- She-Ra and the Princesses of Power: Heart (parts 1 and 2), written by Josie Campbell and Noelle Stevenson, directed by Jen Bennett and Kiki Manrique (DreamWorks Animation Television / Netflix)
- The Mandalorian: Chapter 13: The Jedi, written and directed by Dave Filoni (Golem Creations / Lucasfilm / Disney+)
- The Mandalorian: Chapter 16: The Rescue, written by Jon Favreau, directed by Peyton Reed (Golem Creations / Lucasfilm / Disney+)
- The Good Place: Whenever You’re Ready, written and directed by Michael Schur (Fremulon / 3 Arts Entertainment / Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group)
Best Editor, Short Form
- Neil Clarke
- Ellen Datlow
- C.C. Finlay
- Mur Lafferty and S.B. Divya
- Jonathan Strahan
- Sheila Williams
Best Editor, Long Form
- Nivia Evans
- Sheila E. Gilbert
- Sarah Guan
- Brit Hvide
- Diana M. Pho
- Navah Wolfe
Best Professional Artist
- Tommy Arnold
- Rovina Cai
- Galen Dara
- Maurizio Manzieri
- John Picacio
- Alyssa Winans
Best Semiprozine
- Beneath Ceaseless Skies, edotor Scott H. Andrews
- Escape Pod, editors Mur Lafferty and S.B. Divya, assistant editor Benjamin C. Kinney, hosts Tina Connolly and Alasdair Stuart, audio producers Summer Brooks and Adam Pracht and the entire Escape Pod team.
- FIYAH Magazine of Black Speculative Fiction, publisher Troy L. Wiggins, executive editor DaVaun Sanders, managing editor Eboni Dunbar, poetry editor Brandon O’Brien, reviews and social media Brent Lambert, art director L. D. Lewis, and the FIYAH Team.
- PodCastle, editors, C.L. Clark and Jen R. Albert, assistant editor and host, Setsu Uzumé, producer Peter Adrian Behravesh, and the entire PodCastle team.
- Uncanny Magazine, editors in chief: Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas, managing editor: Chimedum Ohaegbu, non-fiction editor: Elsa Sjunneson, podcast producers: Erika Ensign and Steven Schapansky
- Strange Horizons, Vanessa Aguirre, Joseph Aitken, Rachel Ayers, M H Ayinde, Tierney Bailey, Scott Beggs, Drew Matthew Beyer, Gautam Bhatia, S. K. Campbell, Zhui Ning Chang, Tania Chen, Joyce Chng, Liz Christman, Linda H. Codega, Kristian Wilson Colyard, Yelena Crane, Bruhad Dave, Sarah Davidson, Tahlia Day, Arinn Dembo, Nathaniel Eakman, Belen Edwards, George Tom Elavathingal, Rebecca Evans, Ciro Faienza, Courtney Floyd, Lila Garrott, Colette Grecco, Guananí Gómez-Van Cortright, Julia Gunnison, Dan Hartland, Sydney Hilton, Angela Hinck, Stephen Ira, Amanda Jean, Ai Jiang, Sean Joyce-Farley, Erika Kanda, Anna Krepinsky, Kat Kourbeti, Clayton Kroh, Maureen Kincaid Speller, Catherine Krahe, Natasha Leullier, A.Z. Louise, Dante Luiz, Gui Machiavelli, Cameron Mack, Samantha Manaktola, Marisa Manuel, Jean McConnell, Heather McDougal, Maria Morabe, Amelia Moriarty, Emory Noakes, Sara Noakes, Aidan Oatway, AJ Odasso, Joel Oliver-Cormier, Kristina Palmer, Karintha Parker, Anjali Patel, Vanessa Rose Phin, Nicasio Reed, Belicia Rhea, Endria Richardson, Natalie Ritter, Abbey Schlanz, Clark Seanor, Elijah Rain Smith, Hebe Stanton, Melody Steiner, Romie Stott, Yejin Suh, Kwan-Ann Tan, Luke Tolvaj, Ben Tyrrell, Renee Van Siclen, Kathryn Weaver, Liza Wemakor, Aigner Loren Wilson, E.M. Wright, Vicki Xu, Fred G. Yost, staff members who prefer not to be named, and guest editor Libia Brenda with guest first reader Raquel González-Franco Alva for the Mexicanx special issue
Best Fanzine
- The Full Lid, written by Alasdair Stuart, edited by Marguerite Kenner
- Journey Planet, edited by Michael Carroll, John Coxon, Sara Felix, Ann Gry, Sarah Gulde, Alissa McKersie, Errick Nunnally, Pádraig Ó Méalóid, Chuck Serface, Steven H Silver, Paul Trimble, Erin Underwood, James Bacon, and Chris Garcia.
- Lady Business, editors. Ira, Jodie, KJ, Renay, and Susan.
- nerds of a feather, flock together, ed. Adri Joy, Joe Sherry, The G, and Vance Kotrla
- Quick Sip Reviews, editor, Charles Payseur
- Unofficial Hugo Book Club Blog, ed. Amanda Wakaruk and Olav Rokne
Best Fancast
- Be The Serpent, presented by Alexandra Rowland, Freya Marske and Jennifer Mace
- Claire Rousseau’s YouTube channel, produced by Claire Rousseau
- The Coode Street Podcast, presented by Jonathan Strahan and Gary K. Wolfe, Jonathan Strahan, producer
- Kalanadi, produced and presented by Rachel
- The Skiffy and Fanty show, produced by Shaun Duke and Jen Zink, presented by Shaun Duke, Jen Zink, Alex Acks, Paul Weimer, and David Annandale.
- Worldbuilding for Masochists, presented by Rowenna Miller, Marshall Ryan Maresca and Cass Morris
Best Fan Writer
- Cora Buhlert
- Charles Payseur
- Jason Sanford
- Elsa Sjunneson
- Alasdair Stuart
- Paul Weimer
Best Fan Artist
- Iain J. Clark
- Cyan Daly
- Sara Felix
- Grace P. Fong
- Maya Hahto
- Laya Rose
Best Video Game
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Publisher and Developer: Nintendo)
- Blaseball (Publisher and Developer: The Game Band)
- Final Fantasy VII Remake (Publisher Square Enix)
- Hades (Publisher and Developer: Supergiant Games)
- The Last of Us: Part II (Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment / Developer: Naughty Dog)
- Spiritfarer (Publisher and Developer: Thunder Lotus)
Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book
- Cemetery Boys, Aiden Thomas (Swoon Reads)
- A Deadly Education, Naomi Novik (Del Rey)
- Elatsoe, Darcie Little Badger (Levine Querido)
- Legendborn, Tracy Deonn (Margaret K. McElderry/ Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing)
- Raybearer, Jordan Ifueko (Amulet / Hot Key)
- A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking, T. Kingfisher (Argyll Productions)
Astounding Award for Best New Writer
- Lindsay Ellis (1st year of eligibility)
- Simon Jimenez (1st year of eligibility)
- Micaiah Johnson (1st year of eligibility)
- A.K. Larkwood (1st year of eligibility)
- Jenn Lyons (2nd year of eligibility)
- Emily Tesh (2nd year of eligibility)
The latest brilliant person to join the ranks of MasterClass teachers is none other than LeVar Burton: actor, director, podcast host, Reading Rainbow icon, and upcoming Jeopardy host (for a week in July). Burton’s class, The Power of Storytelling, will “help you connect authentically with any audience.”
As Burton says in the promo video, “Storytelling is one of the primary building blocks of civilization. Everything that is important to us as a species has been contained in stories.”
Though “the power of storytelling” sounds like a class for writers, Burton’s casting a wider net, explaining that he will help people learn to tell their own stories, and to use storytelling to be better communicators. (He also talks—endearingly—about how it relates to nervousness about public speaking.) “Learn how to find intention, use your voice, and mine your experiences to be a more effective and dynamic storyteller,” is how it’s explained in the course description.
Burton is the latest SFF icon with a course on MasterClass’s streaming education platform; you can also learn about Fantasy & Science Fiction from N.K. Jemisin, and about The Art of Storytelling from Neil Gaiman. MasterClass hosts courses from luminaries across a wide range of fields, from Annie Leibovitz teaching photography to Serena Williams teaching tennis. The platform runs on a subscription model, so if you sign up for one, you can try ’em all.
| Fantasy & Science Fiction from N.K. Jemisin |
 |
| Artist's conception of a 10th planet in our solar system (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech) |
To quote Douglas Adams, “Space is big. You just won’t believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it’s a long way down the road to the chemist’s, but that’s just peanuts to space.” The Milky Way is ancient, a hundred thousand light-years wide, and contains four hundred billion stars, give or take. It would be easy to misplace a particular world in space and time; a number of SFF protagonists have done so. Consider these five vintage works in which home worlds have been lost.
The End of Eternity by Isaac Asimov (1955)
In one sense, Andrew Harlan knows exactly where Earth is. Although he and the other agents of Eternity live outside time, they can and do visit Earth almost any time they care to. Literally. The Eternals monitor and shape Earth’s history over a 70,000 century span. This paradoxically means Harlan can never return to the Earth he grew up on, because Eternity’s incessant tweaking of history to bring about a perfect, stable world means that version of Earth has long since been overwritten.
Harlan knows he can never go home. What he can do is allow himself to be drawn into an ill-fated romance with Noÿs Lambent, who is beautiful, irresistible, and as far as the skilled Eternal can ascertain, slated to be erased from history as an unintended but unavoidable side effect of Eternal tampering. Harlan is determined to save the woman he loves at any cost. Any cost may mean the very existence of Eternity itself…
***
Dumarest of Terra by E. C. Tubb
(The series has thirty-three volumes so I won’t list them all.)
As previously discussed, series protagonist Earl Dumarest finds himself in quite the pickle in the novel in which he makes his debut, The Winds of Gath. He wakes from cold sleep to discover that he has been delivered to the wrong planet. This is but the beginning of Dumarest’s adventures. He is a man driven to search for his lost home. Dumarest subjects himself to the dangers of Low Passage over and over, for it is the only way he knows to find the Earth he abandoned when he was but a young boy (stowing away on a passing starship).
Initially, his difficulty appeared to be entirely due to the scale of the galaxy and the fact Earth has a pretty stupid name (Who ever heard of a planet named “Dirt?”). But as Dumarest discovers over the course of thirty-three volumes, there is more to Earth’s curious obscurity than poor naming choices, dodgy star maps, and an over-abundance of settled worlds. Earth was hidden for a reason.
***
The Diadem Saga by Jo Clayton
Diadem From the Stars (1977), Lamarchos (1978), Irsud (1978), Maeve (1979), Star Hunters (1980), The Nowhere Hunt (1981), Ghosthunt (1983), The Snares of Ibex (1984), Quester’s Endgame (1986)
Aleytys misplaced her home world due to no fault of her own. The child of marooned off-worlder Shareem and a Jaydugaran barbarian, Aleytys was left behind when Shareem escaped backwater Jaydugar. Aleytys’ red hair marks her as Other on Jaydugar, as do her impressive psychic powers. Life on Jaydugar is nasty, brutish, and short, which are good reasons to leave as soon as one can.
Aleytys believes that she can find a better home elsewhere. Her mother was a Vrya. The Vrya are powerful but reclusive. If she can find their home world, perhaps she can join her mother’s people.
The Vrya have made sure that they cannot be found on any star map. This fact ensures Aleytys will have to survive many exciting adventures (at least nine!) if she is to locate her mother’s home planet.
***
The Faded Sun Trilogy by C. J. Cherryh
The Faded Sun: Kesrith (1978), The Faded Sun: Shon’jir (1978), The Faded Sun: Kutath (1979)
The mri mercenaries have served the regul for two thousand years, most recently fighting a losing war against humans that spanned two generations, leaving the mri close to extinction. One might think the regul would feel some degree of gratitude for this long service. Not so! The regul are very Bad Bosses indeed, inclined to blame the mri for military setbacks that were caused by regul’s own version of Dunning-Kruger syndrome. When the mri prove a minor embarrassment—Kesrith, the world they currently call home, is due to be handed over to the humans, which might mean that the surviving mri could ally with humans—the regul decide to tidy up by exterminating the thirteen remaining mri. Only Niun and his sister Melein survive.
Kesrith is a haven no more. Niun and Melein set off in the company of sympathetic human Sten Duncan. After all, Kesrith is only the latest world on which mri have settled. Their true home world may prove more hospitable. But millennia of mercenary service have obscured memories and records; the mri home world might well be lost. The quest to find it will consume years and uncover forgotten mri history, as bloody as it is disquieting.
(Yes, three of these series were published by DAW. Donald Wollheim must have loved this series-friendly trope)
***
The Hunted Earth by Roger McBride Allen
The Ring of Charon (1990), The Shattered Sphere (1994)
The bold visionaries of Pluto’s Gravitics Research Station had very high hopes for their space-time-manipulating Ring. Fame, professional adulation, perhaps even a nudge for human progress could well have been in the cards if their research had gone as planned. Inadvertently destroying the Earth was something of a setback, the kind of experimental error that could produce a sternly worded rebuke in one’s permanent file.
Closer examination revealed that the scientists had not just exterminated all life on Earth. Instead, their experiments woke…something. Ancient mechanisms relocated the Earth from the Solar System to elsewhere. All the scientists need do now is reverse engineer unfamiliar alien technology and they can plunk Earth back into its familiar orbit around the Sun. First step—deducing where the enigmatic alien mechanism dispatched our home world. Good news: it’s almost certainly somewhere in our native universe!
***
These are all works of a certain vintage. The Lost Earth (or Lost Home World) trope is alive and well. Feel free to mention more recent examples in the comments below.
In the words of Wikipedia editor TexasAndroid, prolific book reviewer and perennial Darwin Award nominee James Davis Nicoll is of “questionable notability.” His work has appeared in Publishers Weekly and Romantic Times as well as on his own websites, James Nicoll Reviews and the Aurora finalist Young People Read Old SFF (where he is assisted by editor Karen Lofstrom and web person Adrienne L. Travis). He is a four-time finalist for the Best Fan Writer Hugo Award and is surprisingly flammable.
A24 Offers Helpful Preface on the Legend Inspiring The Green Knight
Andrew LiptakA24’s film is inching closer to theaters, and ahead of that release, the studio has put together a short video about the history of the legend, narrated by the film’s very own Green Knight, Ralph Ineson.
The movie will be released at the end of July, and from the trailers, it looks like it will be a beautiful, tense take on the story. Directed by David Lowery (A Ghost Story), the film stars Dev Patel as Sir Gawain, who engages in combat with the titular Green Knight and has a year to defeat him.
This new video short provides viewers with a look into the history of the tale in just a couple of minutes. It recounts that the original poem is known as Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and describes it as a far-reaching morality tale. The video also tells us that J.R.R. Tolkien was particularly fascinated by the tale, seeing it as a window into the Middle Ages and the folks who lived at that time.
There are some other bits of trivia that are neat to learn: There’s only been a single copy of the poem ever found, and that single copy was almost destroyed in a fire in the 1700s.
From there, Ineson goes on to describe the story itself and some of its literary significance. Overall, it’s a solid overview of a tale that you might have only read years ago in school, helping you get ready for the film to hit theaters.
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- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2106.23 - 10:10
- Days ago = 2182 days ago
- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I plan to continue Hey Mom posts at least twice per week but will continue to post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.
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