At Readercon I had the pleasure of serving on a panel with the delightful and brilliant Nicola Griffith, author of many acclaimed novels, most recently her fascinating, award-winning book Hild (2013), about the early life of the seventh-century saint Hilda of Whitby.  It was my second time meeting her; the first was at the 2014 Nebulas, where I ( Read more... )

The 2010 Hugo nominees include at least three stories that puzzle over the nature of love. This is nothing new for science fiction, but it is remarkable to me that they arose at about the same time, and that many people were reading them in tandem, as it were, in order to decide their votes.

The stories I mean are rachel_swirsky's "Eros, Philia, Agape," kijjohnson's "Spar ( Read more... )

In her blog Nicola Griffith explains, skillfully and convincingly, why she often (usually) portrays sex as an ecstatic, mind-blowing experience, rather than as embarrassing, awkward or disappointing, which is frequently the case in literature. I'll leave you to read her argument for yourselves, but I think it can be summarized this way: "That's the ( Read more... )

Samuel Johnson said, "No man but a blockhead ever wrote, except for money."

( Am I a blockhead? )