Elizabeth Fitzgerald's Blog: Earl Grey Editing, page 14

Loose-leaf Links #61

Loose-leaf Links is a feature where I gather together the interesting bits and pieces on sci-fi, fantasy and romance I’ve come across and share them with you over tea. Today’s tea is Whittard’s 1886 Blend. This plain black tea is nice and strong without being too harsh on the tannins.

Announcements

My hazing welcome to the Skiffy and Fanty team was finally completed with my first appearance on their Torture Cinema segment. I joined Jen, Paul and Alex to discuss the 1998 film Lost in Space. While the film itself may have been torture, the podcast was a lot of fun to record.

Awards News

The winners of the 2017 Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice and Career Achievement Awards have been announced.

Likewise, the 2017 Australian Romance Readers Association Awards were presented last weekend.

The middle-grade speculative fiction How to Bee by Bren MacDibble won the Patricia Wrightson Prize for Children’s Literature.

The shortlist for the Norma K. Hemming Award has been released. The award recognises excellence in the exploration of themes of race, gender, sexuality, class or disability in published Australian speculative fiction. Congratulations to the nominees!

The finalists for a number of other awards have also been announced, including the 2017 Australian Shadows Awards, the 2017 Bisexual Book Awards, the 2018 Locus Awards and the 2018 Arthur C. Clark Award.

The Hugos (and associated awards) are now open for voting by those who are eligible. It’s still not too late to buy a supporting membership to WorldCon 76, if you’d like to join in the fun (or just get your hands on the voting packet, which is due out any day now).

Over at File 770, JJ breaks down the stats on waiting periods between the announcement of the Hugo nominees, the opening of voting and the availability of the voting packet over the last decade.

Australia has gained a new award for tabletop games. 2018 will see the inaugural presentation of The Kanga Awards.

Community and Conventions

Via File 770, WorldCon 77 (aka Dublin 2019) has an important announcement regarding accommodation.

Maurice Broaddus joins Apex Magazine as their nonfiction editor.

In the wake of concerns around Writers of the Future and the Church of Scientology, Jim C. Hines chimes in with his concerns as a past WotF winner.

On Equity

Not only is it more difficult for women to be published, but a new study shows that their books are priced 45% lower on average.

Ann Aguirre shares a couple of her more humiliating experiences of being a woman on an SFF con panel.

The Overprepared GM writes about unconscious bias and how she defaulted to writing all her NPCs as male.

More Seats at the Table is a newsletter devoted to promoting games made by designers who are marginalised–particularly in regard to gender. You can support this project at Patreon.

Pop Culture Uncovered takes a look at tabletop RPGs designed by women.

For Writers

Ticonderoga Publications are looking for stories for The Year’s Best Australian Fantasy and Horror, Volume 7

ELIGIBILITY GUIDELINES FOR VOLUME 7

Stories should have a listed author who is a citizen, resident or otherwise be recognised as having significant ties to Australia and/or New Zealand.

Stories must have been published between 1 January and 31 December 2016.

Stories should be no longer than 8,500 words in length.

The editors will accept photocopies of eligible stories, and electronic copies. If you have any queries please contact the relevant editor via the email address provided.

Stories should be available in electronic format to be selected for inclusion.

Decisions made by editors are final and no correspondence shall be entered into.

Please note that while the editors do read widely, they are relying on writers to assist them by sending copies of their stories. This is the best way to ensure that stories do not get overlooked.

ELECTRONIC SUBMISSIONS PREFERRED. (Word, Docx, PDF, RTF, ePub and Mobi formats accepted.)

Please include a word count for each story and details of where it was published in the following format:

Story Title / Word count / Publication Title / Publication Month and Year / Publisher / Editor.

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America’s contracts committee warn writers to be on the lookout for an “all derivative rights” clause in any new contracts.

Over at the SFWA blog, Gargi Mehra suggests a list of things to write when you’re not writing.

Melissa Hartfiel gives five tips for undertaking a daily creativity challenge. This is primarily focused on visual arts but can also apply to writing.

For Readers

Readings are taking applications for their Teen Advisory Board until 15 June.

George R.R. Martin isn’t yet done with the next instalment of A Song of Ice and Fire, but his history of Westeros, Fire and Blood, will be out 20 November.

The cover has been released for In An Absent Dream, the next book in Seanan McGuire’s Waward Children series.

Lois McMaster Bujold has announced a new Vorkosigan novella.

Gin Jenny of Reading the End and Maureen of By Singing Light chat about the war between literature and genre.

Over at Strange Horizons, Claudie Arsenault writes about constructing a kinder future.

Life is too short to finish terrible books.

In the Dark Spaces by Cally Black

This week I’m over at the Skiffy and Fanty Show with a review of In the Dark Spaces by Cally Black. This is a very dark YA sci-fi horror that explores the myth of Terra Nullius and the flaws in capitalism in a way that’s accessible for young readers.

Mt TBR Report: April 2018

Um, so I did a lot of reading this month. In fact, I don’t think I’ve read this much since I last judged the Aurealis Awards. I might have been a bit excited about the Hugo Awards. Or doing some heavy-duty procrastination. Or maybe both.

I gave myself a free pass on acquisitions this month, partly because I’d been anticipating the release of the voting packet for the Hugos. Which hasn’t come out yet. I managed to pick up a lot of shortlisted stuff from my library anyway. And I probably went a little overboard on the non-Hugo-related stuff, picking up another Book Bundle–this time Lavie Tidhar’s bundle of World SF.

Mt TBR Status

Mt TBR @ 1 January 2018: 351

Mt TBR @ 31 March 2018: 343

Mt TBR @ 30 April 2018: 363

Books Read

34. Murder on the Titania and Other Steam-powered Stories by Alex Acks. Reviewed here.

35. Gemina by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff. Second in The Illuminae Files. Reread in preparation for Obsidio.

36. Obsidio by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff. Last in The Illuminae Files. With their only way out of the system destroyed, Kady, Ezra, Hanna and Nik return to Kerenza where Kady’s cousin Asha fights with the resistance. A bit of a different beast to the two previous books. The horror elements are toned down (or at least manifest in a different way) and the new couple get much less airtime in order to make space for the adventures of those we’ve already been introduced to. Still, a page-turning read and a satisfying conclusion to the series.

37. The Black Tides of Heaven by JY Yang. Shortlisted for the Hugos. First book in the Tensorate series. Akeha and their twin Mokoya are the gifted children of the Protector. Together they must find a way to survive their mother’s harsh rule. The worldbuilding was fascinating, with a number of interesting elements–including the culture’s treatment of gender. However, I was left with the feeling of gaps in the narrative and wonder whether this novella and its companion The Red Threads of Fortune might have worked better as a novel.

38. Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee. First book in The Machineries of Empire. Read as part of the Hugos, since the sequel is shortlisted for Best Novel. A disgraced captain must ally with a brilliant but mad undead tactician in order to recapture a fortress and redeem herself. A fascinating world and I loved the intrigue, but I found it a bit vague in places and it was a bit slow to give the information needed to put the pieces together.

39. The Red Threads of Fortune by JY Yang. Second book in the Tensorate series. Well, this wasn’t at all what I was expecting–which was the telling of Mokoya’s story in parallel with what was happening in The Black Tides of Heaven. Instead, it proved to be a proper sequel, following on from events in the first book. There’s no skipping around in time, either, which made me like it rather better.

40. Bitch Planet, Volume 1 written by Kelly Sue DeConnick. Read as part of the Hugos, since the next volume was shortlisted for Best Graphic Story. A graphic novel about a planet where “difficult” and “non-compliant” women are sentenced to serve prison time. A potential way out presents itself when the prison owner agrees to form a sports team in the hopes of boosting ratings for the ruling council. It’s a violent and angry story, which suits the themes. It also firmly centres women of colour.

41. The Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi. Shortlisted for the Hugos. A space opera in which humanity has come to rely on a natural phenomenon called the Flow to travel between planets. When the Flow begins to fail, some seek to capitalise on the disaster while others are focused on saving humanity. I really enjoyed the cast of characters. There was also some interesting parallels between the collapse of the Flow and current issues of global warming, making some of the reactions in the novel all too plausible.

42. All Systems Red by Martha Wells. Shortlisted for the Hugos. First in The Murderbot Diaries. A security android who has hacked its programming to enable free will just wants to be left alone so it can watch its beloved soap operas. However, someone is trying to kill the people renting it and it is reluctantly coming to like its charges. This was a delight to read. The awkwardness of Murderbot and its desire just to be left alone was very relateable. There was a nice balance between the action sequences and the social aspects.

43. Debts by Amanda Pillar. A short paranormal romance set in the Graced universe. A vampire child is scarred when his mother kills his human best friend. An interesting premise, but way too short to do it justice.

44. Uncanny Magazine, Issue 15 edited by Lynne & Michael Thomas. Mostly read because it contained the only Hugo-nominated novella not from Tor (and it has been on my TBR pile for too long). The issue was a good mix of stories and I particularly enjoyed the non-fiction essay about teaching fanfic. The novella I was interested in (And Then There Were (N-One) by Sarah Pinkser) was a lot of fun, about a world in which a version of the author discovers a way to bridge alternate timelines and uses it to host a convention for the different versions of herself.

45. Reptiles and Frogs of the Australian Capital Territory by Ross Bennett. An informative field guide from which I learned a lot. However, I felt there could have been a better selection of photos.

46. The Beast’s Heart by Leife Shallcross. Reviewed here.

47. Bitch Planet, Volume 2 written by Kelly Sue De Connick. Shortlisted for the Hugos. After the death of one of their members, plans are falling apart for the ladies of Bitch Planet. I enjoyed seeing a few trans characters be introduced.

48. In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan. Shortlisted for the Hugos. Elliot is a snarky, bisexual teen who is abducted to a training camp for defending the wall between our world and the magic Borderlands. Once there he meets Serene–elf and queen of his heart–and Luke, his rival for her affection. It satirises some of the tropes of high fantasy–both sexist and otherwise–while telling a gorgeous story of friendship and romance. I loved it to pieces.

49. River of Teeth by Sarah Gailey. Shortlisted for the Hugos. A novella set in an alternate history Louisiana. Feral hippos plague the Harriet river. Englishman Windslow Houndstooth assembles a posse to rid the government of this problem once and for all. It featured a cast of diverse and interesting characters and I enjoyed the Western vibe. However, I feel it had a few issues with pacing towards the end.

50. Crash Override: How Gamergate (Nearly) Destroyed My Life, and How We Can Win The Fight Against Online Hate by Zoe Quinn. Shortlisted for the Hugos. A fascinating piece of non-fiction. Quinn details the harassment she received from the movement that would become Gamergate. She does a great job of looking at the factors that made her an attractive target and touches on the wider cultural impact Gamergate has had, as well as delving into her own personal experiences. She also includes some education on information security and ways of combating online harassment.

51. The Red by Tiffany Reisz. Erotic speculative fiction. In order to save her dead mother’s art gallery, Mona agrees to sell herself to a wealthy stranger for a year. One of the more intense pieces of erotica I’ve read and the way the speculative elements played out was quite interesting.

52. City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett. Shortlisted for the Hugos. A foreign spy with an infamous past comes to an occupied city to investigate the death of an academic friend. An Eastern European-inspired fantasy with a complex political landscape, an interesting magic system and a protagonist who drinks as much tea as I do. Thoughtfully written and engaging.

53. My Favourite Thing is Monsters, Vol. 1 by Emil Ferris. Shortlisted for the Hugos. Set in Chicago in the 60s, this is a graphic novel about a young, mixed race girl who loves pulpy horror and who sets out to investigate the death of her neighbour. This is quite a dark tale, full of domestic horror and also touching on the plight of the Jews in Nazi Germany. The artwork is amazing. The book is so enormous I didn’t realise it was only the first volume and was outraged when none of the threads had wrapped up by the end.

Books Acquired

The Black Tides of Heaven by JY Yang

In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan

City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett

All Systems Red by Martha Wells

The Red Threads of Fortune by JY Yang

The Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi

The Beast’s Heart by Leife Shallcross

Debts by Amanda Pillar

You Don’t Want to Be Published by Peter M. Ball

Ash Princess by Laura Sebastian

Crash Override by Zoe Quinn

Bitch Planet, Vol. 1 by Kelly Sue DeConnick

Ignite the Stars by Maura Milan

New York 2140 by Kim Stanley Robinson

Baker Thief by Claudie Arsenault

The Alchemy of Fine by Tansy Rayner Roberts

Twice Dead by Caitlin Seal

River of Teeth by Sarah Gailey

Catching Captain Nash by Anna Campbell

City of Lies by Sam Hawke

The Red by Tiffany Reisz

Born to the Blade, Episode 1 by Michael R. Underwood

Uncanny Magazine, Issue 22 edited by Lynne and Michael Thomas

My Favourite Thing is Monsters by Emil Ferris

A Skinful of Shadows by Francis Hardinge

Penric’s Mission by Lois McMaster Bujold

The Secret History of Moscow by Ekaterina Sedia

Servant of the Underworld by Aliette de Bodard

The Apex Book of World SF, Vols 1-3 edited by Lavie Tidhar

The Apex Book of World SF, Vol. 4 edited by Mahvesh Murand

A Small Charred Face by Kazuki Sakuraba

Spirits Abroad by Zen Cho

Prime Meridian by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Rupert Wong, Cannibal Chef by Cassandra Khaw

Castles in Spain by Mariano Villarreal

Azanian Bridges by Nick Wood

Dewey’s Read-a-thon, April 2018

Dewey’s 24-hour Read-a-thon took place on Sunday, Australian time. For those who have somehow managed to miss my incessant posting about it, the event is basically a chance for book geeks across the world to get together and read as much as possible. It is also held in honour of its founder, a book blogger who went by the name Dewey, who passed away several years ago. I participated in my very first read-a-thon in April 2011 and haven’t looked back since.

The event kicked off on Saturday at 10PM, local time. Which was about the time I was getting to bed. Back pain had me up at 6 AM, though, so I got an early start. I’ve been very focussed on the Hugo Award nominees lately and had a few of them on loan from the library. My aim was to get through as many of them as possible.

I started out with City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett. It’s the first book in The Divine Cities, which has been nominated for Best Series and came highly recommended by Sam Hawke. It’s a fantastic story with an Eastern European vibe, a complex political landscape and a protagonist who drinks as much tea as I do. Despite the great plot, I got off to a slow start as I tried to wrap my fatigued mind around all the different names.

I perked up a little after toast and tea at 9:30. However, I had to stop again at 11 AM to co-host the read-a-thon blog and Twitter account. This was my third time co-hosting and I felt a little underprepared this time around. The Read-a-thon had close to 2000 participants this round (it gets bigger every time) and the Twitter community is very active. It’s also very friendly and supportive, so I had a lovely time. But by the end my mouse arm was a bit sore and I was feeling the beginning of eyestrain. Lunch made a welcome break.

After that, I dug solidly into my reading. The weather was cool and wet, so my dogs took great delight in cuddling with me under a blanket on the couch. Fatigue continued to be a struggle. It was 8 PM by the time I finished City of Stairs. I read a few pages of My Favourite Thing is Monsters by Emil Ferris (nominated for Best Graphic Story), but eye strain continued to be a problem and I called it an early night.

All up, I read around 500 pages, which is significantly less than usual for me. However, I’m pleased with the progress I made towards conquering the Hugo shortlist.

Once again, a big thank you to Andi at Estella’s Revenge and Heather of Capricious Reader for the tireless effort they put into organising the read-a-thon. It is my favourite reading event of the year and they work so hard to make it happen.

The next read-a-thon will be taking place on 20-21 October 2018. Don’t forget to mark it on your calendar. It has a great sense of community that keeps me coming back. I do hope you’ll join us next October.

The Beast’s Heart by Leife Shallcross

Published: April 2018 by Hodder & Stoughton

Format reviewed: Paperback ARC, 339 pages

Genres: Fairytale retelling, fantasy

Source: Author

Reading Challenges: Australian Women Writers Challenge 2018

Available: Abbey’s ~ Amazon ~Book Depository ~ Booktopia ~ Dymocks ~ Kobo

Disclaimer: I was provided with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The author is a friend. I have done my best to give an unbiased review.

I am neither monster nor man… yet I am both.

I am the Beast.

The day I was cursed to this wretched existence was the day I was savedalthough it did not feel so at the time.

My redemption sprung from contemptible roots; I am not proud of what I did the day her father happened upon my crumbling, isolated chateau. But if loneliness breeds desperation then I was desperate indeed, and I did what I felt I must. My shameful behaviour was unjustly rewarded.

My Isabeau. She opened my eyes, my mind and my heart; she taught me how to be human again.

And now I might lose her forever.

I am a sucker for Beauty and the Beast retellings, so I was delighted to get my hands on a copy of this book. The Beast’s Heart manages to walk the line between honouring many of the traditional elements of the story and bringing some fresh twists.

The fairytale of Beauty and the Beast is one that comes with problematic elements, particularly around the issue of consent. The Beast’s Heart does its best to mitigate these. As indicated by the title, the story is told in first-person from the Beast’s perspective. It opens in the years after the curse has been laid upon him, skimming through decades of living as a wild monster in the forest and then clawing his way back to humanity. His attempt to live as a human once more is still fresh when Isabeau’s father stumbles upon the chateau, needing shelter from the wicked weather of midwinter. It has been a long time since he has seen another human being and he is self-conscious and socially awkward. The story doesn’t try to excuse his actions in blackmailing Isabeau’s father into bringing her back to the chateau, but it does put his deeds in a somewhat more sympathetic context. Indeed, the Beast is quick to reproach himself, and when Isabeau does arrive he offers the chance to leave. Instead, she agrees to keep him company for a year, easily seeing his profound loneliness.

Although the story comes from the Beast’s perspective, it is equally Isabeau’s story. The story does a wonderful job of conveying her moods and implying what’s going on with her even when the Beast doesn’t fully understand. We also get to see what happens to her as the Beast watches her through his magic mirror. Although this usually only takes place in sequences while Isabeau is absent from the chateau and is presented in a way that avoids sexualising Isabeau, it nevertheless creates a new issue with consent that perhaps wasn’t addressed as thoroughly as necessary.

The conceit of the mirror could also have rendered the Beast rather passive throughout sections of the novel, but manages to neatly sidestep through its use of magic.

The mirror also enables a couple of subplots involving Isabeau’s family. This was a nod back to the fairytale’s earlier incarnations in which our Beauty is the youngest of three sisters. Fairytales rarely show siblings in a positive light, and, indeed, Isabeau’s sisters start off in a way that doesn’t show their best side. It was therefore a delight to see them rally and support each other, to see them miss Isabeau and express affection for her. Her absence becomes a catalyst for their growth, which in turn inspires the Beast to take action in relation to his own situation.

Another aspect I very much enjoyed was the chateau itself. The magic of the curse reflects the status of the Beast’s relationship with Isabeau in the condition of the mansion, becoming dilapidated when things aren’t going well, and restoring itself as the two grow closer. Although the magic often responds to the Beast’s wishes and commands, it’s sometimes capricious, giving the location a personality of its own.

The story tries hard to evoke a fairytale feel and I found the style to be a bit overwrought in places–notably the beginning and ending. However, the characters carried it through, and the Beast’s genuine concern for Isabeau was touching.

Despite one or two flaws, I found The Beast’s Heart a charming retelling of the classic tale.

Loose-leaf Links #60

Loose-leaf Links is a feature where I gather together the interesting bits and pieces on sci-fi, fantasy and romance I’ve come across and share them with you over tea. Today’s tea is Cherry Lane from Adore Tea. The tea brews lighter than I expected, but the cherry flavour is strong.

Announcements

My podcasting adventures with Skiffy and Fanty continue. This time I had the great delight of chatting with Brandon O’Brian and Trish Mason about the Nebula short story shortlist.

Awards News

The African Speculative Fiction Society has released the shortlists for the 2018 Nommo Awards.

Community and Conventions

Peggy Bright Books have announced a split with author Simon Petrie. This comes right as PBB was expected to have released Petrie’s sci-fi collection Wide Brown Land and the author has been left searching for an explanation.

Jason Stanford investigates some questionable numbers around the sale of Writers of the Future anthologies. The Writers of the Future contest is run by the Church of Scientology.

Jon Del Arroz has filed a civil suit against WorldCon. File 770 takes a look at the official documents. His lawyer also sounds like an interesting fellow.

The Organisation for Transformative Works (the group behind Archive of Our Own) is having a membership drive to help with their work in preserving fannish history.

On Equity

Emma Newman discusses living with anxiety as her most recent book Before Mars is launched.

KJ Charles takes aim at casual bigotry in historical fiction.

Over at Fantasy Cafe, R. F. Kuang writes about portrayals of ambition in Chinese girls and Azula from Avatar: the Last Airbender.

Seanan McGuire discusses how fanfic is devalued because of the way it usually decentres the default: white, straight, cisgender male.

For Writers

Hugo-nominated fanzine Nerds of a Feather are looking for new contributors.

Queen of Swords Press is taking submissions for their book Scourge of the Seas of Time (and Space): A Pirate Anthology. Word count max 7.5K, deadline 15 May.

Fireside Magazine are open for submissions on 23-27 April. Word count max 4K.

Don’t forget to check out April’s Writers Report from the Science Fiction Writers of America for more markets.

Melissa Caruso expands on her popular thread of tweets on fighting in ballgowns as part of Fantasy Cafe’s Women of SFF Month.

Marie Brennan discusses collaboration, with particular reference to her consultation work for the gaming franchise Legend of the Five Rings.

Luna Press Publishing has announced they’ll be publishing Gareth Powell’s About Writing: A field guide for aspiring authors in 2019.

For Readers

Exciting news! Orbit Books have announced a forthcoming fantasy novel from Ann Leckie. Titled The Raven Tower, it’s due out next February.

Fans of Jacqueline Carey’s book Kushiel’s Dart may be delighted to know she has a companion book in the works. Cassiel’s Servant tells the story from the perspective of Phedre’s bodyguard, Joscelin.

Laura Sackton muses on what all her five-star reads have in common.

Preparation for Dewey’s Read-a-thon, April 2018

Dewey’s read-a-thon is my favourite reading challenge and runs twice a year–in April and October. It runs for 24 hours, but participation for the full length is optional. Which is a good thing, because this round will be kicking off at 10 PM on Saturday 28 April for the east coast of Australia. As usual, I plan to be going to bed around then, but will be up early to cram as much reading as possible into my waking hours.

I’m on top of my review reading at the moment, which leaves my schedule clear to continue powering through the shortlists of the Hugo Awards. I have quite a few of the nominated works out from the library, as you can see:

My goal is simply to get through as many as I can. Not sure how far I’m going to get, considering the size of some of them. It’s a shame I’ve already finished up the novella category–that would have been perfect for the read-a-thon. Fortunately, I still have plenty of back issues of Uncanny Magazine for shorter stuff.

If you need to tame your own Mt TBR or are looking to connect with a great community of book bloggers, I do hope you’ll join me. It’s not too late! You can sign up, follow on Twitter, join the Goodreads group or any combination of the three. If you’ve already signed up, I’d love to hear about what you’ll be reading.

Murder on the Titania by Alex Acks

Published: April 2018 by Queen of Swords Press

Format reviewed: E-book (mobi)

Series: The Adventures of Captain Ramos and Her Valiant Crew #1

Genres: Mystery, science fiction, alternate history, steampunk

Source: Publisher

Available:Amazon ~ Barnes & Noble ~ Book Depository ~ Booktopia~ Kobo ~ Smashwords

Disclaimer: I was provided with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Captain Marta Ramos, the most notorious pirate in the Duchy of Denver, has her hands full between fascinating murder mysteries, the delectable and devious Delilah Nimowitz, Colonel Geoffrey Douglas (the Duke of Denvers new head of security), a spot of airship engineering and her usual activities: piracy, banditry and burglary. Not to mention the horror of high society tea parties. In contrast, Simms, her second in command, longs only for a quiet life, filled with tasty sausages and fewer explosions. Or does he? Join Captain Ramos, Simms and their crew as they negotiate the perils of air, land and drawing room in a series of fast-paced adventures in a North America that never was.

Murder on the Titania and Other Steam-Powered Adventures includes 4 novellas and a short story about piracy, banditry, burglary, jail-breaking, several brilliant bits of detective work and all manner of otherwise lawless hijinks performed by the valiant Captain Ramos and her crew.

Take Sherlock Holmes. Make him a Latina railcar pirate in a steampunk Denver where the dead are at risk of rising again and you have Murder on the Titania.

The work of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie is often peppered with bigoted stereotypes. Murder on the Titania subverts those elements in a way that’s delightful to read. This is probably most in evidence in the first (and titular) story of the collection. In this story, Colonel Geoffrey Douglas is charged with transporting some valuable jewellery from the Duchy of New York to home in the Duchy of Denver. A murder takes place while the airship is en route and the Colonel is called upon to investigate. It’s a bit of an oblique introduction to Captain Ramos, but one that works through contrast. Geoff is by no means stupid–his intelligence was one of the things I enjoyed about the character. However, his biased assumptions blind him to investigative possibilities. The racism of Holmes is absent–indeed, PoC are present and an unremarked upon part of the world–but the characters share some similar biases regarding women and class.

Captain Ramos is more open-minded. On the surface, she doesn’t have much in common with the famous detective. However, she does share a few of his other traits, such as a horror of boredom and an apparent disregard for personal safety. Much like Holmes, she remains a fairly enigmatic character; while we do get some scenes from her perspective, the third-person viewpoint keeps some distance. More of the story is told from the perspective of her Watson, a red-headed man from the working classes by the name of Simms. He plays the long-suffering sidekick who claims a desire for a quiet life, but not-so-secretly enjoys the thrill of an adventure.

The structure of the book works well. The first two novellas and the short story are each self-contained episodes about a discrete mystery. The third novella brings back a couple of characters and advances the worldbuilding in a way I found particularly satisfying. It’s in this story that we get to see Ramos with her crew, an experience made all the more delightful by seeing them do what they do best–robbing trains. It would have been nice to see more of the team and I have hopes for future books. The last novella brings us full circle back to the airship Titania, making it a nice way to round out the collection.

I’m not much of a mystery reader, more for lack of time than lack of desire. So, I might not be the best judge in relation to the mystery elements of the story. However, I found some aspects a bit predictable. This didn’t in any way detract from my enjoyment of the book, especially since it took place in such an interesting setting.

All in all, I found Murder on the Titania to be a fun read that does a wonderful job of paying homage to Sherlock Holmes while simultaneously subverting its problematic elements. I very much hope to see more in the future.

Loose-leaf Links #59

Loose-leaf Links is a feature where I gather together the interesting bits and pieces on sci-fi, fantasy and romance I’ve come across and share them with you over tea. Today’s tea is Lavender Tea from Lyndock Lavender Farm. The black tea is largely hidden under the strong musk of lavender and a short brewing time is recommended.

Announcements

I continue to take great delight in being part of the Skiffy and Fanty team. Most recently, I had the pleasure of chatting with Tonya Moore on a recent Signal Boost episode. We geeked out over anime.

I also had a very lovely chat with Thoraiya Dyer on her favourite eucalypt and the mythic influences on Echoes of Understorey.

Awards News

There were so many awards out over the Easter weekend that I missed a few. In addition to the Aurealis Awards and the Ditmars, SwanCon hosted the Tin Ducks–Western Australia’s award for speculative fiction. Best Professional Short Writing Work went to Stephanie Gunn, who posted about the journey behind the story.

Alongside the abovementioned awards, the A. Bertram Chandler Award for service to Australian SFF fandom was also presented to Edwina Harvey. The citation is now available online.

Looking beyond Australia, the 2017 British Science Fiction Awards were presented the same weekend.

And, as previously reported, the Hugo shortlists were also announced. However, not everyone was happy with the timing, as reported by File 770 (see item 13). WorldCon 76 chair Kevin Roche responded but it would be generous to call it an apology to the Orthodox Jewish community, and no solid commitment was given to ensuring it doesn’t happen again.

More recently, the Kitschies were presented on 9 April. Particular congratulations to Alex Wells who won the Golden Tentacle for Hunger Makes the Wolf.

The Science Fiction Poetry Association has released the candidates for the 2018 Rhysling Award (though a warning the website is a bit hard on the eyes).

And it’s never too early to be thinking about next year’s awards! The Aurealis Awards have put out a call for judges.

Community and Conventions

The results are in for the Down Under Fan Fund race. Marlee Jane Ward will be sent to represent Australian fandom at WorldCon 76. Congratulations, Marlee Jane!

Meanwhile, Australia will be welcoming Polish fan Marcin Klak to Continuum as the winner of the Going Under Fan Fund race.

Speaking of Continuum, the con organisers have a list of potential panels up and are seeking panelists.

Kat Clay reports on SwanCon. And Cat Sparks has photos of the 2018 Aurealis Awards.

On Equity

NPR reports on the lack of black women represented in romance and the RITAs… without actually interviewing a black woman. Courtney Milan apologised for giving them a loophole when she was asked to recommend interview subjects.

Women in SFF Month has kicked off at Fantasy Cafe.

Bogi Takacs has a new column at Tor.com about QUILTBAG classics of speculative fiction.

For Writers

A reminder that Galli Books also has a call out for fiction, non-fiction and poetry for a new anthology called Speculative Masculinities. Deadline is 15 April.

Marie Brennan has had an excellent column on worldbuilding over at Book View Cafe. The essays have now been collected and are available as an e-book.

For Readers

Harry Hartog’s book store are hosting a launch for Leife Shallcross’s forthcoming book The Beast’s Heart on 26 April. Tickets are free but Canberra locals should RSVP.

Last month it was Cat Rambo’s Feminist SFF book bundle. This month Lavie Tidar has curated a World SF book bundle designed to take your Mt TBR to ever greater heights.

Fortunately, Dewey’s 24-hour readathon is right around the corner! Reader sign-ups are now open.

Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

This week I’m over at the Skiffy and Fanty Show with a review of Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi. If you are looking for an Afrofuturistic spin on Avatar: The Last Airbender, this book is for you.