Casella's 2017 SFF reflections

This past year has been like...submarines below their depth, and sinking further. Pressure creaking, unsure what hatches are safe to open, long tense moments listening, wondering what's next. I can't believe the piece I wrote after the election is over a year old—it feels like yesterday, and it feels like decades ago.

The political reality has had me one moment ready to write off all this genre fascination as escapism & trivialities, and then the next I'm convinced that it's exactly what we need right now: this cocktail of imagination, empathy, curiosity, silliness, willingness to dream but also to care deeply about reality, about the world and each other.

Also, as you may have seen from my reduced output here: I got busy otherwise, day job taking up a bit more time than previously, so I haven't had as much energy for Positron as I'd like.

But the books have been good. The discussions, the friends and fen, have been a bright spot.

What Jake Read in 2015

2015 was a pretty interesting reading year for me. My second year amidst the Chicago reading fandom, with lots of good discussions, as well as books I wouldn't otherwise have opened or finished.

The Hugo kerfuffle brought social justice & the culture wars within fandom into sudden focus, which is good thing overall. And thanks to all that weirdness, a Chinese SF novel won the Hugo for the first time.

I didn't read as much new SF/F as I had hoped this year, but a good smattering. Two very different but essentially complementary works loomed large for me-- Stephenson's "Seveneves" and KSR's "Aurora". I read even less new fantasy, but am SO glad I stumbled on a review leading me to Dickinson's "The Traitor Baru Cormorant".

This list doesn't include re-reads (unless they were for group), non-SF/F & non-fiction, or the reading surrounding my Wiscon presentation on cognitive diversity. Just in case, like me, you are a bit concerned about how short this list is. Seriously:

Windycon Panel notes- Species Creation

While at Windycon, I went to a pretty good panel on "Designing Species in SF &F". The panel included:

• Jonathan Sneed (astrogeologist/paleobiologist at University of Chicago; he had a nice post on Pluto on Ada Palmer's blog a little bit ago)
• Rachel Neumeier (fantasy/YA writer)
• Richard Garfinkle (SF/F writer)
• Katherine Wynter (fantasy writer)
• Susan Weiner (biologist at Roosevelt)

Pretty fun discussion, probably most interesting if you're looking for a good reading list full of non-humans. Notes below are mostly titles of works to check out and some comments:

io9's list of upcoming SF/F titles

That canny Charlie Jane Anders has put together a great list of genre books slated to come out this year over at io9.

2014 in Review!

2014 was my first year in Chicago, and the first year I've been able to join some SF/F book clubs--one of the coolest parts of moving here. A lot of good reads this year, and a lot of good discussions coming up in 2015:

Check out the Science Fiction Awards Database for all the award-winners last year. Their "Frequent Titles" page shows all the most-nominated works, a good way to see what people were talking about.

For best-of-year SF/F lists, check out Goodreads, io9, Kirkus, and the Guardian. Significant overlap, but they all had a few books I hadn't heard of.

I wrote up a blurb on a lot of the SF/F I read this year if you're interested:

• Book-Club Reads
• Wiscon Paper-Related
• New to Me
• Notable Re-Reads

There are already over 50 Chicagoland SF/F book discussions scheduled for 2015, with many more to come--check them out on the Upcoming Discussions page or Positron's Google Calendar.  There's also a host of conventions, conferences, and other gatherings coming up, some of which I have listed at the Cons & Cons page. You can keep up with Chicagoland geeky events with the Chicago Nerd Social Club (check their Facebook, too), and many of the other book groups host events as well--check out their various websites, Facebooks, and Meetups for more info.

Here's to a good 2015!

2014 Reads in Review, Part 4: Notable Re-Reads

I re-read quite a bit; thought I would make a plug for a few of these. A lot of book club selections were re-reads for me, which was lovely. Here's a bunch that didn't make the other lists.

2014 Reads in Review, Part 3: New Reads

Things that crossed my radar somehow or other. Most are fairly new but a few were older but New To Me:

2014 Reads in Review, Part 2: Wiscon-Related

Back in May, at the SFRA/Wiscon conference, I presented a paper on reproductive technology & material feminism in C.J. Cherryh's SF, particularly “Forty Thousand in Gehenna” and “Cyteen”. Along the way I revisited a lot of reproduction-related SF including:

2014 Reads in Review, Part 1: Book Club Selections

Possibly over-ambitious, but I wanted a record of the SF/F I read this year. A lot of great books I would press on you, and a few I would warn you off!

These are all the Chicagoland book club books I read this year (didn't always make it to the meetings) and some brief thoughts. Some re-reads, some new to me, all fun to discuss. This was my first year in SF/F book clubs (well, not counting a few discussions I organized back in Buffalo), which introduced me to a lot of things I wouldn't otherwise have read. In no particular order!