Happy Friday, friends both Seelie and Unseelie. It’s Alex, with your news and some free association for this Friday. Since I’m a human being with a smart phone and a Twitter account, I will say this about Game of Thrones: If you were pleased with the finale, I’m happy for you; if you were upset, I’m really sorry to hear that; and as someone without a dog in the fight, I just want to say damn that was still one heck of an achievement, and here’s hoping that more awesome fantasy series get to ride onto the airwaves.
This newsletter is sponsored by Kingsbane by Claire Legrand.
The sequel to the instant New York Times bestseller Furyborn! Rielle Dardenne has been anointed Sun Queen, but her trials are far from over. The Gate keeping the angels at bay is falling. To repair it, Rielle must collect the seven hidden castings of the saints. Centuries later, Eliana Ferracora grapples with her new reality: She is the Sun Queen, humanity’s long-awaited savior. But fear of corruption—fear of becoming another Rielle—keeps Eliana’s power dangerous and unpredictable. Hunted by all, racing against time to save her dying friend Navi, Eliana must decide how to wear a crown she never wanted—by embracing her mother’s power, or rejecting it forever.
Belated New Releases
There are actually a couple of books I should have mentioned on Tuesday that I missed (shame! shame!), so I wanted to get them in front of your eyeballs now.
Do Not Go Quietly edited by Jason Sizemore and Lesley Conner – An anthology of sci-fi/fantasy short stories and poetry about resistance, and the people who resist.
The Dark Fantastic: Race and the Imagination from Harry Potter to the Hunger Games by Ebony Elizabeth Thomas – As you might guess from the title, it’s not fiction. It sounds really relevant to our interests at Book Riot, however; it’s an examination of race in some popular sci-fi/fantasy YA works–and the power of fanfiction.
(Non-Thrones) News and Views
An interview with Amy Rose Capetta and Cori McCarthy about queering King Arthur in Once & Future.
The first reviews for the Good Omens miniseries are coming in.
At Tor.com, a fun list of SFF duos that bring out the best and worst in each other.
If you ever wanted to know how many Lord of the Rings-themed wall calendars there have been, there’s a website for that.
Coca-Cola is reviving “New Coke” for Stranger Things.
NASA has put together a plan for returning to the moon after Vice President Pence kind of… sprang it on them. But this caught my eye because I just started reading The Fated Sky (an alternate history in which we’re on the moon in the 60s because Mary Robinette Kowal dropped an extinction-level event meteorite on the Earth in The Calculating Stars). Related, Wired has an interesting article about what an SOB lunar dust is to deal with.
Game of Thrones Stuff!
A video comprised of one second from every episode of the series.
Syfy Wire has a curated list of hot takes, if that’s your thing. And a selection from the Brienne the blogger meme.
Book Riot’s got a good wish list of what fantasy series deserve to get adapted for TV next. And a list of books for people who didn’t watch.
The final Gay of Thrones.
An oral history of Game of Thrones, told by its extras.
We all know who should really be on the Iron Throne.
Free Association Friday
I’m sorry if you’re already Eurovisioned out, but I found out that the first Eurovision was held on May 24, 1956, in Lugano, Switzerland. It’s probably due to my own ignorance as someone who’s only ever witnessed this event from the distance of “what the heck is even happening on Twitter?” that I didn’t realize it’s been going on almost long enough to qualify for Medicare. (Except it wouldn’t need Medicare, because Europe’s got it covered.)
Obviously, when we’re talking Eurovision, the first sci-fi that’s going to spring to mind is Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente, because that’s literally Eurovision in space. Crystal Singer by Anne McCaffrey also springs instantly to mind; in that book, people mine the crystals that basically power everything by singing to them. (There’s also a lot of singing in her Dragonriders of Pern series.) Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel is about keeping music (and other art) alive in a post-apocalypse dystopia. In Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie, there’s a former ship who sings quite a bit… even if she doesn’t have the voice for it. In a direct crossover from song, Rivers Solomon’s forthcoming novella The Deep flows from a clipping. song of the same name.
Sci-fi has had a close relationship with certain kinds of music from about the 60s onwards. Here’s an interesting look at what prog-rock owes to the genre. The BN blog did a cool list of songs that are basically sci-fi novels. Jimi Hendrix was apparently really into scifi and inspired by it. And then there’s this awesome non-fiction book by Jason Heller: Strange Stars: David Bowie, Pop Music, and the Decade Sci-Fi Exploded.
Though there’s a lot about science fiction and rock, rap and hip-hop are there, too! Jaenelle Monáe’s Dirty Computer film is nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form this year. Splendor & Misery by clipping. was nominated in the same category in 2017. And here’s a little overview from Vice about hip-hop’s relationship with Science fiction, as well as a Pop Matters list of 10 hip-hop artists who have made forays into the genre to add to your listen list.
See you, space pirates. You can find all of the books recommended in this newsletter on a handy Goodreads shelf. If you’d like to know more about my secret plans to dominate the seas and skies, you can catch me on the (Hugo-nominated!!!) Skiffy and Fanty Podcast or over at my personal site.
