Humble Book Bundle: Martha Wells' Murderbot and More by TOR (pay what you want and help charity):

This multi-Hugo Award-winning series includes standout titles like All Systems Red and Artificial Condition. Plus, a portion of your purchase helps support World Central Kitchen.

The full bundle includes all of the Murderbot novellas and novels plus two short stories, the two stand-alone fantasy novels, Witch King, the first two Ile-Rien novels, and the middle-grade adventure novels. Doesn't include any Raksura novels or the Ile-Rien trilogy (which I guess Tor doesn't have the rights to yet?). Obviously doesn't include the tie in novels.

I already own all of these, but it's a good deal if you don't!

Should be available for the next three weeks.

Works in the US and Canada, not sure where else.

These go all the way back to May, and I've yeeted the time sensitive ones. Some of the politics ones might be a little dated, but I think their points still stand, even if the news cycle has moved on.

WorldCon Fuck Ups:
(Why does this have to be a category nearly every year?)

Grigory Lukin: When People Giggle at Your Name, or the 2025 Hugo Awards Incident.
Lyrical description of the harm caused by othering, with receipts.

Cora Buhlert: Some Comments on the 2025 Hugo Winners – with Bonus Tall Ship Photos.
More chronological account of events. Also, tall ship pictures.

ETA: Miri Baker: On the Perennial Embarrassment of Worldcon.
Most conventions, even those run by imperfect humans, do not have a widely-accepted 'Days since the Con Embarrassed Itself' counter.

Weyodi OldBear (on BlueSky): Next year's WorldCon is in Los Angeles, and the theme appears to be Westward Expansion or possibly Manifest Destiny.
There's also a picture of a Spanish Mission involved.

LAcon V: Statement from LAcon V Chair.
An apology.

*sighs*

I always have so much fun at these cons, and then they always seem to do shit like this. I find it exhausting. It's obviously much worse for the people who got their names mangled, etc.

It's worth mentioning that in the fall out of George R. R. Martin fucking up everyone's names, someone mentioned that the 2018 host, John Picacio, went around before the ceremony and personally made sure he was getting everyone's names right. So like, not fucking this up is a known thing. And yet.


United States and Canadian Politics: ( Go behind a cut! )


Fandom-Related Stuff!
magnavox_23: Multifandomonium Icons.
Including: Stargate (Various), Doctor Who, Good Omens, Our Flag Means Death, Sherlock (BBC), The Mandalorian, The Last Of Us, Star Trek (TOS), What We Do In The Shadows, Pikachu, The X Files, and related actors, misc actors & misc animals.

CultureSlate: Did The Marvels Deserve The Hate It Got?.
Answer: No. No, it did not.

CBC: 14 books to read for National Indigenous History Month.
Which was in June, but the list is still good.

Javier Grillo-Marxuach (on BlueSky): hey everyone, wanna watch my tv show the middleman on streaming with no added charges?
If you do, it's up on Archive.org. If you don't, you should.

Aranock: The Author's Not Dead (58min).
Death of the author and separate the art from the artist have been increasingly used as thought terminating cliches, I want to examine why, as well as how we should engage with art made by people who've acted heinously. Deals with JKR and Orson Scott Card, among others.

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* based on current rate of posting links lists.

† Also the first links list of the summer.

After the 1030 panel on Thursday, all the streams worked fine! There was one room that was cursed, and the volume was often very low, but all of the others were great as long as the panellists used the mic, and some were on Zoom so people from other countries could attend. It looks like many of them will be re-playable, also, so I can check out panels I missed.

My sister-in-law came to stay with us so we could watch panels together. It's been really fun, and I'm glad we did it.

Some highlight panels were:
Worldbuilding Through Geography and Environments
with Martha Wells, Marshall Ryan Maresca, Nicola Griffith & Paolo Bacigalupi

Diasporic Caribbean Science Fiction
with E.G. Condé, Alex V Cruz, Fabrice Guerrier, Malka Older, Suzan Palumbo, Tonya Liburd, Tonya R. Moore & Premee Mohamed

Reading by Guest of Honor Martha Wells
with previews of both Queen Demon and the Murderbot coming out next year, plus a great Q&A.

Navigating AI as an Author or Editor
with Jason Sanford, Cassie Alexander, Dr. Corey Frazier, Emily M. Bender & Neil Clarke

Feminist Futurism Versus Project 2025: An Empowering Speculative Salon
with Isis Asare, Ada Palmer, Andrea Hairston, Annalee Newitz & Charlie Jane Anders

SFF's Role in Revolution on the African Continent
with Naomi Eselojor, Gabrielle Emem Harry, Khaya Maseko, Ngozi Anuoluwa, Nkereuwem Albert & Soila Kenya

Making It Gay… or Trans, Neurodivergent, BIPOC, and More
with Atlin Merrick, Clara Ward, Hana Lee, Maeve MacLysaght & Sarah Rees Brennan

Sifting Through History
with Remy Nakamura (M), Leigh Bardugo, Natania Barron, Nisi Shawl & Paul Weimer.

I didn't take notes on anything, but could relay any impressions I have, if people want?

I did at most 1/4 of the Hugo reading/watching, and then July was such a wash that I didn't even vote, but I was pretty happy with the results. The only category I was invested in was best series, and I was delighted that Rebecca Roanhorse won for Between Earth and Sky.

Otherwise: the novella I thought was the best of the bunch won, and the novel I hated lost. I'm still cross Blackheart man wasn't shortlisted, and the nomination stats aren't out yet, so I haven't seen how far down the list it was. I'm going to be even more cross if it was just one off, and Adrian Tchaikovsky getting two slots kept it out. (I always think it's nice when an established author who already has awards declines a spot if they have two titles in the same category, since that gives a new person a chance a lot of the time, but I'm less enamoured of the idea if it turns out that it's only women declining award nominations.)

I'm also very happy for Moniquill Blackgoose, who won the Astounding (not a Hugo), and Darcie Little Badger for her Lodestar (not a Hugo).