Posted by dolorosa12 in linkpost.
Tags: amal el-mohtar, asnc, cambridge, kaleidotrope, ken liu, lackington's, ladybusiness, laura mixon, leonard nimoy, likhain, m sereno, medieval literature, medieval welsh manuscripts, myriah williams, paul russell, rhonda eikamp, rochita loenen-ruiz, sf signal, short stories, terry pratchett, uncanny magazine, under the 'bridge, ursula le guin, zen cho
I was going to devote this week’s post to the Hugo Awards situation, but to be honest, I thought better of it. Why waste my energy on the emotionally draining behaviour of a bunch of immature, selfish, cruel, destructive people? I’d rather talk about people who build, create, nurture and share.
At Safe, Rochita Loenen-Ruiz talks about words, actions, and using power for good. It’s a post filled with hope and compassion. (Content note for discussion of abusive behaviour.)
Rochita’s post refers to this one by Laura Mixon, which comes with a similar content note.
I absolutely adore M Sereno’s poetry. Her latest, ‘The Eaters, published in Uncanny Magazine, is gorgeous. Amal El-Mohtar reads it aloud here.
BBC Radio 4 is doing a programme featuring extensive interviews with Ursula Le Guin, Ursula Le Guin at 85.
Short stories I read and enjoyed this week include ‘Monkey King, Faerie Queen’ by Zen Cho (published at Kaleidotrope) and ‘Ambergris, or the Sea-Sacrifice’ by Rhonda Eikamp (published at Lackington’s, illustrated by Likhain).
Over at SF Signal, authors pay tribute to Terry Pratchett and Leonard Nimoy.
Ken Liu discusses his new novel The Grace of Kings at SF Signal.
This round-up post at Ladybusiness has some fabulous short story recommendations.
It’s always disorienting for me to see real-life friends and former academic colleagues getting discussed in SF publications.
This is the most Cambridge story ever.
Please spend your weekends being lovely to each other.
Posted by dolorosa12 in books, linkpost.
Tags: abi sutherland, jo walton, julie beck, kindness not fear, linkpost, nymeth, terry pratchett, xkcd
This week’s linkpost is all Terry Pratchett. I came to his writing later than most, as I was in my early twenties before I read a single word of his. A good friend of mine and I had made a deal: he would watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and I would read Pratchett. I think it was a good deal for both of us. I started with Guards! Guards!, and never looked back. My favourite Pratchett book is Small Gods, for all the qualities that made Pratchett such a powerful writer: warm humour, a perceptive understanding of human nature, an intelligent way with words that included rather than excluded, and a patience with human frailty.
This is a Storify of Pratchett’s last tweets. (Warning: bring tissues.)
Here Nymeth provides her reminiscences at Things Mean A Lot.
Jo Walton recalls her first meeting with Pratchett over at Tor.com.
I also liked this piece by Julie Beck at the Atlantic.
The obituary at the BBC is here.
As usual, xkcd says in a few words what would take me several thousand.
I think, however, that Abi Sutherland says it best:
He saw the monstrosities of our world: economic inequality, racism, sexism, religious bigotry, the abuses of narrative and myth. And he made them irresistibly ludicrous, laying them relentlessly out until their inner absurdity smothered them, until the least bizzare and most reasonable thing in the story was that it took place on a disc resting on the backs of four elephants standing on the shell of a giant space turtle.
He was both wise and kind.
The world could do with a bit more wisdom accompanied by kindness.
Geata Póeg na Déanainn 