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Happy Friday, shipmates! It’s Alex, with a look at some award-nominated books (what can I say, it’s awards season) and some links to take you into the weekend. This week we’re trying something new–there are some ebook deals to check out as well, and I’ll be hunting up three (or more) for you every Friday. Today’s an exciting day for me–I’m getting my second dose of the Moderna vaccine! Things are looking up here, and I hope they are for you too. Stay safe out there, shipmates, and I’ll see you on Tuesday!
Thing that made me smile this week: Pedro Pascal and his Oscar
Let’s make 2021 better than 2020. A good place to start? The Okra Project and blacklivesmatter.carrd.co
News and Views
Interview with Suyi Davies Okungbowa
The winners of the 2020 Xingyun Awards have been announced
Chinaka Hodge will be the head writer for Marvel’s Ironheart Disney+ series
Idris Elba on being Bloodsport in James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad. I’m still mad that I actually want to see this.
Is Babylon 5 secretly the most influential TV show of the past 25 years?
This 2019 interview with astronaut Michael Collins is well worth reading. Rest with the stars, sir.
The new warp drive possibilities (video from PBS)
SFF Ebook Deals
Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho is available for $1.99
The End of the Ocean by Maja Lunde is available for $1.99
The Glamourist by Luanne G. Smith is available for $1.99
On Book Riot
This week’s SFFYeah! podcast is a bit of a grab-bag.
13 of the best middle grade science fiction books
Today is the final day 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
This week I want to highlight the 2021 Ignyte Awards finalists. While there is (unsurprisingly) a lot of overlap between the finalists for the Ignyte, Nebula, and Hugo finalists, there are some books being recognized for excellence by FIYAHCon that aren’t on the other shortlists, and they’re well worth a look!
The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones
Nominated for Best Novel – Adult. Four Native American men find themselves haunted by a deadly incident that happened in their youth–and now as adults, it threatens their families as well. Hunted by a vengeful entity, the only help for them might be the traditions they have long since left behind.
Stone and Steel by Eboni Dunbar
Nominated for Best Novella. Titus is a city ruled by Queen Odessa, who is also a stone mage. When General Aaliyah returns to her home in triumph, she finds not prosperity and peace, but an imbalance between ruler and ruled that she must figure out how to repair.
Vagabonds by Hao Jingfang, translated by Ken Liu
Nominated for Best Novel – Adult. In the wake of a civil war between Mars and Earth, humanity tries to rebuild peace. Mars sends a group of young people to live on Earth and try to rebuild bonds… but what they find there is no friends, no home, and no help but what they find in the community they struggle to build.
A Sky Beyond the Storm by Sabaa Tahir
Nominated for Best Novel – YA. The jinn, free of their long imprisonment, are on the attack. The Nightbringer is first seeking vengeance on the humans, but he has much greater plans; his ally, Commander Keris Veturia declares herself Empress and makes her first target the Blood Shrike and what little family she has left. An apocalypse is coming for the humans, and their only hope could damn them or save them.
A Song Below Water by Bethany Morrow
Nominated for Best Novel – YA. Tavia is a siren living among humans; she has no choice but to hide her powers at all times. Her best friend, Effie, is all-too-human, but has her own family problems and literal demons from her past nipping at her heels. But when a siren is murdered and Tavia accidentally reveals her powers at the worst possible moment, it’s these two best friends against the world.
Also, check out the full Anthology/Collection category for some awesome short fiction:
- A Phoenix First Must Burn: Sixteen Stories of Black Girl Magic, Resistance, and Hope edited by Patrice Caldwell
- Love After the End: An Anthology of Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer Speculative Fiction edited by Joshua Whitehead
- Nine Bar Blues by Sheree Renée Thomas
- Vampires Never Get Old: Tales With a Fresh Bite edited by Zoraida Cordova and Natalie C. Parker
- Glitter + Ashes: Queer Tales of a World That Wouldn’t Die edited by dave ring
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.