Francesca T Barbini

https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/bsfa-award-best-non-fiction/

Collection of essays on various aspects of world-building as applied to SF and fantasy, some of them about authors I don’t know or don’t like, some about authors who I do know and like such as Tolkien. The standout for me was Cheryl Morgan’s piece on sex, which had me googling for information about hyena clitorises.… (meer)

The BSFA's annual showcase of the best fiction and non-fiction of the year, as shortlisted by their members. It's a mixed bag, as tastes vary, but a few pieces stood out for me. Maria Spada's cover for [[The Year's Best Africa Speculative Fiction]] is great. Of the nominees for Novel For Younger Readers the one that jumped out for me is Philip Reeve's [[Utterly Dark and the Face of the Deep]], a deeply gothick kind of folk horror piece that really drew me in. For Short Fiction, I really enjoyed [[Light Chaser]] by Peter F. Hamilton and Gareth L. Powell. It is exactly the sort of far future speculation adventure that does it for me. The Non-Fiction category is especially fruitful. Anna McFarlane's [[Cyberpunk Culture and Psychology: Seeing Through The Mirrorshades]] is a smart reading, if a little academic for the casual farty. Joy Sanchez Taylor's [[Diverse Futures: Science Fiction And Authors Of Color]] is broad, knowledgable, serious, and readable. I added a dozen or more titles to my Wishlist based on the introduction printed here! Mark Bould's [[The Anthropocene Unconscious: Climate Catastrophe Culture]] sounds like playful academicia, but could be so pretentious that it comes across as having a laugh. Sharknado ffs!… (meer)

https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/3644975.html

This is a really good value book, £13.89 for eleven essays about aspects of love in science fiction, of which several are really outstanding: “Polyamory in Space: New Frontiers of Romantic Relationships in Science Fiction” by Josephine Maria Yanasak-Leszczynski, “Robot Love is Queer” by Cheryl Morgan, “Falling in Love with an Artificial Being: E. T. A Hoffmann’s The Sandman in relation to Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and the Blade Runner film series” by Tatiana Fajardo and “Gormenghast and the Groans” by Barbara Stevenson (this last particularly useful as I was simultaneously struggling towards the end of the trilogy when I read it). Marked down slightly because I am not familiar with all of the works covered, but I enjoyed what I read about what I knew.… (meer)