Thursday, July 1, 2021

Astounding Award for Best New Writer

 So, I have been in North Carolina...and was able to get quite a bit of Hugo reading done.

This year, I started with the Astounding Award for Best New Writer, and here are my thoughts.

Jenn Lyons, in her second year of eligibility, appears to be determined to be the spiritual successor of Brandon Sanderson. This is not a criticism - Jenn is a brilliant writer - but she writes tomes, not books, as it were.

A.K. Larkwood provided only an excerpt of The Unspoken Name, and I sadly found it kind of forgettable.

Emily Tesh's Silver In The Wood was a story I was already familiar with, and should appeal to anyone who is interested in stories based off of British folklore.

Lindsay Ellis provided her science fiction/first contact novel Axioms End. I have to admit that I struggled with it, and the authors note revealed some clues as to why. (Anything else would be spoilery)

Micaiah Johnson is a definite talent. I didn't read the full book of The Space Between Worlds, but it's a fascinating exploration of a similar concept to Connie Willis' time traveling historian books applied to the multiverse. With more Black people.

Finally, Simon Jimenez offered an excerpt of The Vanished Birds, which I also found a bit forgettable. Maybe it's just that I did too much reading this week?

I do still think they all deserved to be there, though.

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