So, we’ve just come back from a family holiday in a fake Swiss village with very limited wifi, which means I’ve been completely out of touch about some of the more essential news this week. Still playing catch up, thanks to my friends.
Like for instance, I didn’t know that Bob Hoskins had died. So sad! I’ve always been terribly fond of him as an actor, and while I know he did a bunch of great stuff, Who Framed Roger Rabbit was the first movie I ever saw multiple times in a cinema and I love it to bits. (I still remember the lovely little cinema near the flat where I was living in York at the age of 10, which only charged £1 entry) Grant Watson wrote a great piece about his favourite Bob Hoskins films over at The Angriest.
I also didn’t realise (until I got an email from Tehani talking about it in conjunction with something else) that the Stella Prize had been awarded. I KNOW, RIGHT? Congratulations to Clare Wright for The Forgotten Rebels of Eureka.
And of course I also missed the post-Stellas controversy, but Sean the Blogonaut writes very well here about why Nicole Flint’s article in the Advertiser completely missed the mark.
Tehani, meanwhile, wrote a fantastic piece about the current state of SF and Fantasy in Australia right now – very sharp and comprehensive!
Erika Ensign blogs about something I think all devoted readers can empathise with – how finishing a wonderful book or series feels a bit like a small death, and how hard it can be to find the next book to love (after observing a suitable mourning period).
Now a few I collected before I went away:
Malindo Lo gives her answer to the regularly-heard question of “Should white people write characters and cultures other than their own?” An essential read for all writers, really – as Malinda’s answer shows how layered the question is, and how no answer is ever going to be as simple as we might want it to be.
Ladybusiness lists 15 SFF books coming out this year that she’s super excited about. Now I’m excited about them too!
And one late entry just before I hit ‘publish’ – Foz Meadows on why Politics Belongs in Science Fiction. A vital piece that sums up the most recent Hugo discussion with incisive commentary.