BlogOfTheMoon

Tuesday, 11 July 2023

Links to the Hugo Awards 2023 short fiction

Once again, I’m pulling together a list of the freely available short fiction nominated for this year’s Hugo Awards since I can’t find one that exists already. This year the WorldCon is going to be in Chengdu, China, which means there were a lot more Chinese fans eligible to both nominate and vote in the Hugos.  This has led to a number of untranslated Chinese works being nominated, which will make for an interesting awards – I think this is the first time that it’s happened, and it’ll be interesting to see how it pans out, and if there will be any translations (in both directions) made available in the Hugo packet (if there is a Hugo packet).  Anyway, the list, with links, where I could find them, is below.

Best Short Story

These are Chinese-language only and I can’t find English translations.

  • The White Cliff, Lu Ban
  • On the Razor’s Edge, Jiang Bo
  • Resurrection, Ren Qing
  • Zhurong on Mars, Regina Kanyu Wang

Best Novelette

This story is Chinese-language only and I can’t find an English translation.

  • The Space-Time Painter, Hai Ya

Wednesday, 31 May 2023

Satellite 8 report addendum: Covid policy

In my Satellite 8 con report I completely forgot to talk about the con’s Covid policy.  In outline, they expected everyone to be vaccinated; to take an LFT before the con started; and masks should be worn in convention spaces when not actively eating or drinking.  I took my LFT the morning of the con and took a photo as requested which was duly checked at registration.  Technically,  I guess you could have taken a photo of some other test, but that seems like going to a lot of effort for something that’s really not hard.  If people forgot, the con had a stack of tests there and you could do one before registering.  I don’t know if anyone actually tested positive or stayed away because of it.

Masking during the con itself was intermittent at best.  In programme items, eyeballing the room (and obviously limited to the events I went to), I’d guess maybe around 50% of people were masked.  Probably less in the corridors and dealers room.  I tried to wear my mask where I could, but I ended up unmasked in the con bar, and for evening events.  The riskiest event was probably the ceilidh on the Friday evening, where we were dancing in very close proximity and nobody was masked (except Red the Wizard, who I was so impressed with remaining masked and hatted the whole event!  Must have been exhausting!).

I guess everyone has their own personal risk profile – and when I went on the Govan stones tour, we were taken by taxi, and someone did ask if we would prefer if everyone was masked or not (we didn’t mind remaining unmasked), but that’s the sort of new etiquette that will take some time to get used to.

All in all, I didn’t feel unsafe at the con.  Having everyone be vaccinated (although they didn’t actually check vaccination status at registration) and taking a test to show that you’re not contagious at the start gave me confidence.  And there was enough masking throughout to suggest that people were taking it seriously. I don’t know if they’re tracking any Covid infections from the con, but I’ve not heard of any so far.  I’ve taken a couple of tests in the days after the con, but I’m still coming out negative (which is positive, if you know what I mean 🙂  ).

Monday, 29 May 2023

Satellite 8 – my first SF con since the Before Times

I’ve spent the last weekend at Satellite 8, the latest in the long-running Glasgow SF convention series. This isn’t actually the first post-Covid Satellite con, but although I had my membership and was excited about Satellite 7 last year, I ended up coming down with Covid the day before it started, so had to miss out on the whole thing. Although Satellite tends to run every couple of years, on that schedule, the next one would have been in the same year as the Glasgow 2024 WorldCon, so they decided to run two cons in as many years and then take a break. I signed up as soon as I heard about it, but, in a first, my usual con-going buddies ended up not going this year, as did a couple of other regulars that I would usually hang out with when I wasn’t doing anything else. So this my was my first congoing experience where I didn’t have close friends who were also along. I was worrying about this right up to the wire, but as it was, everything worked out okay.

On the Friday night, I went for dinner with a friend, hung out for a few hours and came back in time for the ceilidh. I was also worried that I might struggle with finding a dance partner, if I wasn’t there with people I knew, but it turned out that that wasn’t a problem. I am, unfortunately, terrible with names, but I definitely danced with The Red Wizard, Ila and someone who I discovered several days later was Meg, the friend of a friend. There were several others too, but I didn’t get their names. This was my first ceilidh since Satellite 6 in 2018, I think, and I was quite out of practice. I thought I know the Gay Gordons, the traditional starting dance, but Red definitely needed to keep me right there – it took quite a while to find my rhythm (well, what little rhythm I ever have). I definitely warmed up after that and threw myself into it with my old abandon. The band could have done with a dedicated caller, someone who would have called during the first few iterations of the dances, as there were a few times when we pretty much all lost the plot a bit, but everyone had fun. I had to leave before the second half though, to get my train home. But while I was there, I still managed to dance every (formal) dance. I did skip the slow waltz that didn’t have any formal steps – one of the things I love about ceilidhs is that someone tells you what to do, and not having that, I was happy to sit that out!

I took an early night on the Saturday, heading home after the end of programming and had planned to do the same on the Sunday, when I was forced (forced, I tell you!) to stay right until the end of the Dead Laika Party by Naveed asking me if I wanted to come with him and his group for dinner. I had a box full of food waiting for me on my doorstep, but, what the hell, it’ll keep! So I went along, had some very interesting conversations with Ila (who turns out to be Naveed’s child), Brian and Caroline amongst others. There were discussions around bookshops and stories about cons past, and sleeping ten people in a twin room, which they say was a lot of fun, but to me sounds like the opposite. I do like my luxury though, and it was a different time.  After dinner we came back for the quiz which was already well underway.  Ila and I joined an existing team, while others sat and chatted, or had to leave at that point.

I’m really grateful to Naveed for including me in his group for this. I’m perfectly happy to go to programming on my own and even chat to people in the bar, but I would never have asked to tag along to a dinner group, or asked people I didn’t know well to come with me.

And right at the end of the con, at the closing ceremony, Meg introduced me to John Coxon, of Octothorpe podcast fame. I’ve been a fan, and regular correspondent, of Octothorpe for some time now although I’ve never actually met any of the hosts. I didn’t think that John was going to be at Satellite, given some comments by him on a recent podcast, so wasn’t really looking out for him, but it turns out that he’s friends with Meg and she took the opportunity to introduce us. I didn’t get a chance for a proper conversation, but I’m glad to have turned a parasocial relationship into a (sort of) actual social one. I hope that I’ll be able to tag the other Octothrope-ers at my next con, but given that I almost failed to find John at a con of about 150 people, I don’t know how much chance I’d have at a WorldCon, which will be an order of magnitude larger!

It almost feels not worth talking about the programming at Satellite 8, but that would be to do the committee a disservice. Satellite cons always have a strong science theme running through them and this year was no different. I went to both the day guest talks, on the Saturday from Prof Yvonne Perrie on using nanoparticles for drug and vaccine delivery; and on the Sunday by Prof Colin McInnes on exploratory engineering on the edges of known physics. I’ve been to other lectures (at previous Satellites, in fact) by Prof McInnes and he’s always great, but Prof Perrie was also very engaging and informative. As well as that, I went to talks on the future of print (it ain’t dead, whatever the pundits would have you believe); the economics of generation starships; Meg’s excellent interview with author guest of honour Chris Priest; a panel on how to fuel our society in the future and several others.  And thanks to Satellite 8, I’ve finally been to see the Govan Stones!  Despite having lived in Glasgow for over a quarter of a century, I’ve never actually managed to see the Stones, so when I saw that there was a private tour available, I jumped at the chance!  And I’m glad I did, as I’ve been learning bits about the Viking influence on Britain and this was another set of connections to add there.

The dealers’ room was small but perfectly formed.  I found a few of my dance partners from the ceilidh were dealers by day, as well as enthusiastic dancers by night (again, apologies, but I can’t remember names).  My haul was small but, I hope, well curated.  The art show was lovely, but although were several pieces I might have wanted to buy, alas this month has been tighter than I would like (pay deductions from my taking part in the UCU Rising strike action amongst other things conspired against me bidding).

I will, of course, grumble a bit at con bar prices.  £3.25 for a lemonade at the con bar and for tea at the hotel bar, while £2.50 for tea at the con bar for a much smaller cup is taking the proverbial.  It would have been nice if the con could have afforded to subsidise tea, as they’ve done in previous Satellites, but I appreciate that there’s too many areas to spend money and not enough of it to go around.

Over the course of the weekend, I had a lot of fun, and met a bunch of really nice new people.  I’m always immensely grateful to the Satellite committee stalwarts who run themselves ragged every time and then come back a few years later and do it all again.  My thanks – your effort is very much appreciated!

As for me, I’ve already got my WorldCon membership, and I’m eyeing up the 2025 Eastercon, which is coming to Northern Ireland for the first time.  I’ve got to support a con in the Old Country, don’t I?  And, of course, I’ll be definitely going to Satellite 9, whenever it happens!

Sunday, 5 February 2023

Publishing links to book reviews on Mastodon

Some time ago I wrote a blog post about exporting my GoodReads reviews to WordPress.  At the end of that, I provided the script and bookmarklet that I use to do this myself.  GoodReads lets you automatically tweet your review, a feature that I’ve used for years, and now that Twitter seems to be on its last legs, I’d like to be able to continue to put out links to my reviews on social media, to Mastodon, which is where I’m spending more time.  So I spent some time this weekend updating my script so that it can now optionally toot a link to the review on your behalf.  The links to the script and bookmarklet haven’t changed, but you can find them below.

Resources

gr-import-reviews.php
bookmarklet

Tuesday, 3 January 2023

Happy New Year

Happy new year to everyone!  My annual retrospective is now up, as usual, on my website.

The old year comes to its end
We pause and reflect on what has been
And in the year to come
We continue to fight for a better future
Happy New Year

Wednesday, 26 October 2022

Happy centenary BBC

A couple of weeks ago, the BBC celebrated its 100th anniversary.  Its mission now, as it was in 1921, is to inform, educate, and entertain.  In its first hundred years, the BBC has achieved some stunning output, from The Goon Show and I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue to Eastenders, from Doctor Who to Blue Planet.  Its output is respected and admired throughout the world, and, through the World Service, has spread British “soft power” far and wide.  And, I fear, it’s no longer the powerhouse it once was.

While I think the BBC continues to educate and entertain, for several years now I’ve started to distrust its news output.  The UK news has been England-focussed forever, but I really started to notice it in the run-up to the 2014 IndyRef in Scotland.  We’d had a courteous and in-depth conversation over the course of a good two years, and then in the weeks leading up to the vote itself, the London media woke up to the fact that something was happening north of the Watford Gap.  The BBC sent its big hitters up, people who, until that point, had taken no interest and didn’t really bother to get up to speed on the situation.  Despite having a whole division based in Scotland, it wasn’t the BBC Scotland journalists who were asked to comment, but the names from London.

Since then, I’ve observed how the BBC treats the nations and regions, and it’s not great.  While the national and regional arms of the organisation are good at what they do, the “national” news output fails to leverage that insight, and provides reports that, from here, seem biased in the extreme.  It’s a joke amongst my circle now that whatever the news story, the BBC will try to blame Nicola Sturgeon.  That’s a bit unfair, but the sentiment stands.

Something they could do to encourage the various nations of the UK (*cough* England *cough*) to be aware of what’s happening elsewhere is by having something like the Radio 4 programmes Yesterday in Parliament or The Week in Westminster, but dedicated to the other Parliaments and Assemblies in the UK.  This would help make people aware of what’s happening elsewhere in the country and also raise the same awareness within the BBC itself so that when something does bubble up to the national news, it’s maybe not covered in such a superficial manner.

The BBC has always been in danger of capture by the government of the day, when the ten yearly renewal of the Charter comes around, and it feels like the Tories have leveraged that threat very well in order to neuter criticism of the government over the last decade, when they’ve done so much that’s deserved criticism.  While the World Service isn’t what it once was (the government cutting funding to something that is so respected worldwide seems an extraordinary decision based on short-term thinking), its news output is still what I find myself turning to, more often than not, instead of national news for something more balanced and less parochial.

But to inform is just one pillar of the BBC, albeit a hugely important one.  The BBC is still a massive force in the other two pillars (despite the Tories’ best attempts).  For me, Radio 4 and Doctor Who are, alone, enough to justify the licence fee and I’ve had many hours of entertainment from them over the years.  The breadth of that entertainment, from soaps like Eastenders, to sitcoms like the wonderful Ghosts and Only Fools and Horses, to family entertainment shows like Strictly and The Generation Game.  While I’m disappointed that they didn’t really build on it, would any other channel really have put money into Goodness Gracious Me?  Like so many in this country, I grew up with the BBC.  While my parents didn’t go so far as to stop me watching “the commercial channel”, there was a clear implication that the BBC provided the higher-class channels.  I can still remember the number to call for Live & Kicking on a Saturday morning (0181 811 8181, since you ask).

On top of that, you’ve got immense, well-researched documentaries like David Attenborough’s Blue Planet series and its follow-ups, long running science programmes like Horizon (aside: while I cringe at attempts to discuss science on news output, actual science programming on the BBC remains excellent), consumer affairs and self-reflection shows, and much, much more.

Whilst the BBC is, by no means, perfect – as I spent several paragraphs above discussing- it’s still a great institution that we should be proud of, and we should work to protect from those who want to neuter or destroy it.  Despite everything, I’m still proud of the BBC and wish it a very happy birthday and another hundred years and more!

Wednesday, 13 July 2022

The results of a bad idea in the shower

I was having a shower the other day and had an idea for a punchline that had me giggling to myself.  Then I found myself working through the story that would lead up to the punchline, and before I knew it I’d written a little flash piece, which I present for your enjoyment on my website.  I warn you, the whole thing is nothing but a (very short) shaggy dog story.  And for the record, I’m not even sorry.

Tuesday, 24 May 2022

Having Feelings About the Derry Girls Finale

I’ve loved Derry Girls since the moment very early on when Ma Mary complained that Strabane got wheelie bins before they did.  I both cheered a reference to my hometown and admired the ease with which creator and writer Lisa McGee painted the everyday life and concerns of a Derry family in a relatable (and very funny) way.  Since then I’ve come to adore it for its pitch-perfect representation of the North West of Northern Ireland in the late 90s, and, by extension, of my adolescence.  Not to mention its absolutely banging soundtrack.

Northern Ireland, and the North West in particular, doesn’t get very much traction in the media, outwith tired stereotypes of sectarianism and division, so this slice of life show, complete with ’90s nostalgia was a complete breath of fresh air.  And from the reception it got, not just in other parts of the UK, but worldwide, it seems that its appeal isn’t limited to the Province; it might seem superficially parochial, but its themes are universal.  If you’ve not already seen it, the first season is on Netflix (in the UK) and the whole thing is available on All 4.  You won’t regret it.

The final two episodes aired this week, and both were devastating in their own ways.  The penultimate episode, Halloween, was hilarious, right up to the final scenes.  The final episode, The Agreement, was a double-length special and I was crying solidly for the last ten minutes of it.  Set a year after the events of the previous episode, it leads up to the referendum on the Good Friday Agreement, and reflects on the arguments for and against it, particularly through an argument between Erin and Michelle over prisoner release.

I had already left Northern Ireland by this point (it’s to my everlasting regret that I didn’t get a postal vote organised soon enough to vote in the referendum), but I still remember the arguments for and against that this episode plays so well.  But particularly, the conversation that Erin has with her granddad where she worries about all the people killed or injured during the Troubles, and if letting the people who did that out of prison is worth it.  While he responds with hope and optimism for the future were so reflective of that time, and… I just lost it.  I didn’t stop crying until well after the episode ended.  Maybe it wouldn’t affect you as much if you weren’t there, if you don’t remember that time, and everything we poured into the Agreement back then, but it punched me repeatedly in the feels.  From there, to the shots of the various extended cast casting their votes, to that final, jaw-dropping, cameo.

It feels like this is a perfectly timed slice of media.  We’re nearly a quarter of a century beyond the Agreement and a whole generation have grown up never knowing what the Troubles were like, and taking the (imperfect) peace we have now for granted.  And even those of us who remember it can do with being reminded every so often.  Derry Girls did that, and it did it with humour and grace.  And goodness knows that there’s many people who need that reminder.

The Westminster elite rarely notices, never mind cares about, Northern Ireland, but I hope some of them watched that episode and paused for a moment to reflect on what they’re doing and what they’re potentially destroying.

Sunday, 27 February 2022

Favourite books of 2021

I’ve been reviewing the books I read for a very long time on GoodReads, and have recently started archiving them on my own website (separate to this, at BooksOfTheMoon).  While I generate my “year in books” on GR every year, I thought I’d do something a bit different and flag up the ones from last year that I enjoyed the most (yes, this is another list to make an easy blog post!).  The links are to my full reviews.  If any of them intrigue you, I’m sure you can find them yourself at the usual suspects (or your local bookshop, if you happen to have one).

  • Exhalation, by Ted Chiang
    An absolutely breathtaking collection of short stories – some of the best SF I’ve read this century!
  • The Galaxy, and the Ground Within, by Becky Chambers
    I love all the Wayfarers books, and this is no exception.  I’m sad that this is the last in the series, but it’s a beautiful way to finish it
  • Gunnerkrigg Court, vol 8, by Tom Siddell
    This is the latest collection of my favourite webcomic which is just so good
  • The Murderbot Diaries, by Martha Wells
    To date, this series consists of five novellas and a novel.  I grumble about the commercial pricing of novellas, but this series is worth every penny, they’re such good stories
  • A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking, by T. Kingfisher (aka Ursula Vernon)
    I’m a recent convert to Ursula Vernon and her alter ego T. Kingfisher.  This is a delightful story of creative uses of magic
  • Comet Weather, by Liz Williams
    I loved just how evocative this felt. Best read in the autumn.
  • The All Creatures Great and Small series, by James Herriot
    Not books I would have picked out for myself, but a friend bought me the boxset and it turns out I adore them (apart from when horrible things are happening to dogs)

So that’s your lot.  If you’ve read any of them, do tell me what you think, either in the comments for this post; in the comments for the reviews themselves; or on Twitter.

Monday, 3 January 2022

Happy New Year

Happy new year to everyone!  My annual retrospective is now up, as usual, on my website.

The darkest days of winter are behind us
May the lengthening days signify better times
As we look forward to the year to come
Happy New Year

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