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Swords and Spaceships

Swords and Spaceships for April 23

Happy Friday, shipmates! It’s Alex, writing to you from another snowy April day (yes, that’s right, weather in Colorado is silly at times) to bring you some links and a look at the finalists for this year’s Sir Julius Vogel Awards. This has sure been a week, to say the least, and I hope you’re all as well as you can be and being kind to yourselves. Stay safe out there, space pirates, and I’ll see you on Tuesday!

Thing that made my day: LeVar Burton is going to guest host Jeopardy!!

Let’s make the world a better place, together. Here’s somewhere to start: https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/ and anti-asianviolenceresources.carrd.co


News and Views

Cover reveal for Zin E. Rocklyn’s debut novella Flowers for the Sea

Nino Cipri: How to create and/or destroy a corporate dystopia

Alyssa Collins was awarded the Huntington’s Octavia E. Butler Fellowship

Marvel Studios wished Simu Liu a happy birthday by dropping the trailer for Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

Refinery29 talked with Adepero Oduye about her role in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier

A very cool simulation of two supermassive black holes orbiting each other

Tyrannosaurs may have lived in packs similar to wolves, Colorado researchers digging in mass quarry site say

On Book Riot

The last Game of Thrones explainer you will ever need

Quiz: find out your Shadow and Bone character

This week’s SFF Yeah! podcast is about Hugo finalists and favorite SFF from this spring.

This month you can enter to win your own library cart, an iPad, a year of free books, and $100 to spend on comics.

Free Association Friday: Sir Julius Vogel Awards Finalists

Congratulations to all the finalists for the 2021 Sir Julius Vogel Awards! I’m sorry to admit I only became aware of these awards last year due to WorldCon virtually taking place in New Zealand, but I am on the train now and wanting my chance to showcase some NZ SFF! You can find the full list at the link, but here are the Best Novel and Best Youth Novel nominees.

Cover for The Stone Weta by Octavia Cade

The Stone Wētā by Octavia Cade

Climate scientists have been forced to go underground by science-denying world governments, passing data to each other through a tentative secret network. When the data preservation cold war goes hot, the scientists must decide what they will risk to preserve the truth and the future of Earth.

Gad’s Army by Drew Bryenton

During World War II, the occult forces of the Nazis are trying their best to get to Britain’s top-secret Section M, ready to deploy a terrifying array of witches, monsters, and dragons. Good thing the Brits have Squad 27, a hapless band of misfits that now includes Eddie Weatherfield, who may just win this war with the powers he’s mistakenly been given.

Cover of The Court of Mortals by AJ Lancaster

The Court of Mortals by A.J. Lancaster

Hetta’s beloved Wyn has revealed he’s not human after ten years of pretending, and her family is not having it. Worse, the human queen is worried the fae might be a threat, while the fae court wants Wyn back to be the king… but if he takes the throne, he and Hetta can never marry.

Transference by B.T. Keaton

Madzimure has been banished to the planet Eridania for thievery; his punishment is to mine eridanium endlessly for the benefit of a prophet named Jovian. But Madzimure has a secret–he carries another man’s consciousness and memories within him, and together they will take down Jovian.

Cover of Blood of the Sun by Dan Rabarts and Lee Murray

Blood of the Sun by Dan Rabarts annd Lee Murray

Scientific consultant Penny Yee gets called in to deal with a gang massacre in Auckland, and she has a bad feeling that her brother might be involved. Matiu knows that chaos is coming, but at least he’s got a new car and his sister’s been too busy to get on his case. A family reunion from hell is on the horizon…

Earthcore Book 4: High Tide by Grace Bridges

The team investigates a cluster of earthquakes with no known cause, leading them to an old World War II fortification that hides an 80-year-old mystery.

These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong

A blood feud between two gangs in 1920s Shanghai pits Juliette Cai of the Scarlet Gang against the first man she loved, who also betrayed her: Roma Montagov. There’s more at play than a grudge, however–evidence begins to pile that there are monsters in the streets, too.

Golden City by S.R. Manssen

Freya has outwitted the evil Master twice, but now she needs to secure all the pieces of the Armour if she wants to rescue her family–and everyone else trapped in the Golden City.

Cover of Follow Me In by Terri Sinclair

Follow Me In by Terri Sinclair

Concord is a town built to house evacuees after a nuclear meltdown. Cary can remember nothing from before the town, and she’s obsessed with finding out the truth of the meltdown and getting out of this town. Soon she ventures into the Zone and finds out a lot of people have been lying–including her own family.

The Rise of the Remarkables: Brasswitch and Bot by Gareth Ward

Wrench is forced to reveal her Brasswitch powers to save the occupants of a runaway tram. She’s quickly recruited into the sinister Regulators and tasked with hunting down people like her.


See you, space pirates. If you’d like to know more about my secret plans to dominate the seas and skies, you can catch me over at my personal site.