Well toria what's your latest hair brain scheme?

 What do you mean hair brained scheme?  

Well you know what you are like you get an idea and it either, takes up all your time or you give up at the first hurdle.  

Well, I kinda guess that's fair.

 It is, but you still haven't told me what you plan to do

 

I plan to read some award long lists/ short lists;  including the locus recommended reading list,  the BSFA ,  the Andre Norton, the Ditmars, the international Mann booker, and a few more  

Have you hit your head on something?  Do I need to call 999?  Whhhy?

 

Well, firstly, many of these are genre and I didn't read much of this last year, which is a problem given that that is the kind of book that I am supposed to be reviewing.  Secondly, when I looked at the already available lists, I found that I had many of the works sitting, unread on my Kindle or on my shelve.  I thought that reading the lists might be the incentive I need to clear some of that TBR.  

So let’s look at the lists

NOVELS – SCIENCE FICTION
The Water Knife, Paolo Bacigalupi (Borzoi; Orbit UK)
Clade, James Bradley (Penguin Australia)
The Darkside War, Zachary Brown (Saga)
Corsair, James L. Cambias (Tor)
Tracker, C.J. Cherryh (DAW)
Nemesis Games, James S.A. Corey (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
Dark Orbit, Carolyn Ives Gilman (Tor)
Weighing Shadows, Lisa Goldstein (Night Shade)
Europe at Midnight, Dave Hutchinson (Solaris)
Ancillary Mercy, Ann Leckie (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
The Dark Forest, Cixin Liu (Tor)
Luna: New Moon, Ian McDonald (Tor; Gollancz)
Galapagos Regained, James Morrow (St. Martin’s)
Going Dark, Linda Nagata (Saga)
Planetfall, Emma Newman (Roc)
The Book of Phoenix, Nnedi Okorafor (DAW; Hodder & Stoughton)
Where, Kit Reed (Tor)
Poseidon’s Wake, Alastair Reynolds (Gollancz; Ace 2016)
The Thing Itself, Adam Roberts (Gollancz)
Aurora, Kim Stanley Robinson (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
Glorious Angels, Justina Robson (Gollancz)
Regeneration, Stephanie Saulter (Quercus; Jo Fletcher 2016)
The End of All Things, John Scalzi (Tor)
Seveneves, Neal Stephenson (Morrow)
Chasing the Phoenix, Michael Swanwick (Tor)
Radiance, Catherynne M. Valente (Tor)
Persona, Genevieve Valentine (Saga)
A Borrowed Man, Gene Wolfe (Tor)

NOVELS – FANTASY
Foxglove Summer, Ben Aaronovitch (Gollancz 2014; DAW)
A God in Ruins, Kate Atkinson (Little, Brown; Doubleday UK)
Karen Memory, Elizabeth Bear (Tor)
Nightwise, R.S. Belcher (Tor)
Beneath London, James P. Blaylock (Titan)
The House of Shattered Wings, Aliette de Bodard (Roc; Gollancz)
Prodigies, Angelica Gorodischer (Small Beer)
Wylding Hall, Elizabeth Hand (PS; Open Road)
Empire Ascendant, Kameron Hurley (Angry Robot US; Angry Robot UK)
The Buried Giant, Kazuo Ishiguro (Knopf)
The Liminal War, Ayize Jama-Everett (Small Beer)
The Fifth Season, N.K. Jemisin (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
Killing Pretty, Richard Kadrey (Harper Voyager US; Harper Voyager UK)
Finders Keepers, Stephen King (Scribner)
Archivist Wasp, Nicole Kornher-Stace (Big Mouth House)
Slade House, David Mitchell (Random House; Sceptre UK)
Uprooted, Naomi Novik (Del Rey)
Savages, K.J. Parker (Subterranean)
The Annihilation Score, Charles Stross (Ace)
Pacific Fire, Greg Van Eekhout (Tor)
The Philosopher Kings, Jo Walton (Tor)

YOUNG ADULT NOVELS
Half a War, Joe Abercrombie (Del Rey; Harper Voyager UK)
Half the World, Joe Abercrombie (Del Rey)
Six of Crows, Leigh Bardugo (Holt; Indigo UK)
Wonders of the Invisible World, Christopher Barzak (Knopf)
The Darkest Part of the Forest, Holly Black (Little, Brown)
Lair of Dreams, Libba Bray (Little, Brown; Atom UK)
Harrison Squared, Daryl Gregory (Tor)
The Lie Tree, Francis Hardinge (Macmillan Children’s; Amulet 2016)
Magonia, Maria Dahvana Headley (Harper)
Shadowshaper, Daniel José Older (Levine)
The Shepherd’s Crown, Terry Pratchett (Harper; Doubleday UK)
The Deep Woods, Tim Pratt (PS)
Railhead, Phillip Reeve (Oxford University Press; Switch 2016)
Carry On, Rainbow Rowell (St. Martin’s Griffin)
Bone Gap, Laura Ruby (Balzer + Bray)
Nimona, Noelle Stevenson (HarperTeen)
The Walls Around Us, Nova Ren Suma (Algonquin Young Readers)
Zeroes, Scott Westerfeld, Margo Lanagan & Deborah Biancotti (Simon Pulse)
Hollowgirl, Sean Williams (Allen & Unwin as Fall; Balzer + Bray; Electric Monkey UK)

FIRST NOVELS
Sorcerer to the Crown, Zen Cho (Ace; Macmillan UK)
The Devourers, Indra Das (Penguin India; Del Rey 2016)
The Traitor Baru Cormorant, Seth Dickinson (Tor)
Flesh & Wires, Jackie Hatton (Aqueduct)
The Grace of Kings, Ken Liu (Saga)
The Weave, Nancy Jane Moore (Aqueduct)
Signal to Noise, Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Solaris)
Last Song Before Night, Ilana C. Myer (Tor)
The Watchmaker of Filigree Street, Natasha Pulley (Bloomsbury US; Bloomsbury UK)
Archangel, Marguerite Reed (Arche)
Vermilion, Molly Tanzer (Word Horde)
Abomination, Gary Whitta (Inkshares)
The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps, Kai Ashante Wilson (Tor.com)

- See more at: http://www.locusmag.com/News/2016/02/2015-locus-recommended-reading-list/#sthash.64QhrZAw.dpuf

The Nebulas

 

• Ancillary Mercy, Ann Leckie (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
• Barsk: The Elephants' Graveyard, Lawrence M. Schoen (Tor)
• The Fifth Season, N. K. Jemisin (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
• The Grace of Kings, Ken Liu (Saga)
• Raising Caine, Charles E. Gannon (Baen)
• Updraft, Fran Wilde (Tor)
• Uprooted, Naomi Novik (Del Rey)

 

The Andre Norton

Finalists

• Archivist Wasp, Nicole Kornher-Stace (Big Mouth House)
• Bone Gap, Laura Ruby (Balzer + Bray)
• Court of Fives, Kate Elliott (Little, Brown)
• Cuckoo Song, Frances Hardinge (Macmillan UK May 2014; Amulet)
• Nimona, Noelle Stevenson (HarperTeen)
• Seriously Wicked, Tina Connolly (Tor Teen)
• Shadowshaper, Daniel José Older (Levine)
• Updraft, Fran Wilde (Tor)
• Zeroboxer, Fonda Lee (Flux)

 

The BSFA

 

Novel

• Europe at Midnight, Dave Hutchinson (Solaris)
• Glorious Angels, Justina Robson (Gollancz)
• The House of Shattered Wings, Aliette de Bodard (Gollancz)
• Luna: New Moon, Ian McDonald (Gollancz)
• Mother of Eden, Chris Beckett (Corvus)

 

2016 Norma K Hemming Award Shortlist

Posted on February 22, 2016

The 2016 Norma K. Hemming Award finalists have been announced. The award is given by the Australian Science Fiction Foundation for thought-provoking approaches to race, gender, sexuality, class and disability in Australian speculative fiction.

• Novel: The Hush by Skye Melki-Wegner, published by Penguin Random House
• Novel: The Fire Sermon by Francesca Haig, published by HarperVoyager
• Novel: Theophilus Grey And the Demon Thief by Catherine Jinks, published by Allen & Unwin
• Novel: The Orchid Nursery by Louise Katz, published by Lacuna Publishing
• Novella: “The Pyramids of London” by Andrea K Höst, self published
• Novella: “Formaldehyde” by Jane Rawson, published by Seizure Books
• Novel: Welcome to Orphancorp by Marlee Jane Ward, published by Seizure Books

 

 

2015 Aurealis Awards Shortlists

 

BEST YOUNG ADULT NOVEL

In The Skin of a Monster, Kathryn Barker (Allen & Unwin)

Lady Helen and the Dark Days Club, Alison Goodman (HarperCollins)

The Fire Sermon, Francesca Haig (HarperVoyager)

Day Boy,Trent Jamieson (Text Publishing)

Illuminae, Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff (Allen & Unwin)

The Hush, Skye Melki-Wagner (Penguin Random House Australia)

BEST FANTASY NOVEL

In The Skin of a Monster, Kathryn Barker (Allen & Unwin)

Lady Helen and the Dark Days Club, Alison Goodman (HarperCollins)

Day Boy,Trent Jamieson (Text Publishing)

The Dagger’s Path, Glenda Larke (Hachette Australia)

Tower Of Thorns, Juliet Marillier (Pan Macmillan Australia)

Skin, Ilka Tampke (Text Publishing)

BEST SCIENCE FICTION NOVEL

Crossed, Evelyn Blackwell (self-published)

Clade, James Bradley (Penguin)

Illuminae, Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff (Allen & Unwin)

Their Fractured Light, Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner (Allen & Unwin)

Renegade, Joel Shepherd (Kindle Direct)

Twinmaker: Fall, Sean Williams (Allen & Unwin)

 

 

 

 

See all that yellow.  There would be even more if I included the Locus list

                               

 

Four Paws - Ben Ditmars, Scott Morgan, A... A wonderfully written book of poetry that I could actually understand and relate to. This combined with the wonderful cause the proceeds go toward made me love this this book. great job!!

Gnomes of Coyul: The Crystal Staff - Ben... I was very curious about this book since the very first time I heard about it. Having read other books by the same writer, and having loved all of them, I hoped and expected to love this one as well. I got a bit disappointed. The story is really good, but I think that this story would have worked better if it had been made into a short story or short novella.

The story of a gnome whose life gets way more interesting when he meets a human. Together with other gnomes, they all will live some adventures in their quest for the evil queen who is making the gnomes' lives miserable.

There are a lot of topics in this book, and I think it is a very clever way of criticising things that happen in our contemporary world. Love, war, death, and more are the topics that will keep you thinking while you read this book. It is an enjoyable read, but at some points I got confused. Add to that many typos, missing words, and left-aligned text (if a text is not justified, it distracts me, for some reason).

So an overall good book that just needs some editing polish.

Four Paws: A Poetry Anthology by The Qui... *As an author of this book, I don't add a rating*

Along with myself, 3 other great poets have gotten together on this anthology to raise money for a great cause. There's a variety of great pieces in here that I hope any poetry lover will check out.

With 100% of the profits from this book going toward a great cause, it's a win-win in my mind. The reader gets great poetry and a no-kill animal shelter gets a little help for the puppies and kitties in need.

The Zeppelin Chronicles - Ben Ditmars This wonderful story has really surprised me. Talking about the terrible events that happened during the Nazi domination in Germany is not an easy task, but Ben Ditmars manages to write a delicious sweet story about that. How? By presenting the events through the innocence of children's eyes.

When a mysterious and magical zeppelin appears in their lives, Susan, Millie, and Kip know that things won't ever be the same. Mixing history with magical elements and even sci-fi, this story makes us look at the Holocaust in a different way.

Surprising story, very well written, that will make you experience different feelings, despite its brevity. A must-read, for sure. Well done!