A MYSTERY!
Aug. 14th, 2025 11:15 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
In Women of Futures Past, Rusch quotes Willis:
"The field didn't just have women writers--it had really good women writers. These were wonderful stories, and I don't believe they were overlooked at the time, because when I read them, they were all in Year's Best collections."
Rusch speculates that Willis is referencing Merril's Best S-F. However, Rusch says she only did a spot check. I reread the whole of Merril's Best S-F in 2023. Her anthologies were mostly stories by men.
OK, so maybe it was one of the other Best SF series around back then? But I checked Bleiler and Dikty, Harrison & Aldiss, and Wollheim & Carr and it's not them.
Was there another 1950s-1960s Best SF series?
Or was Willis thinking of a magazine-specific annual like Analog 1?
Not literally Analog 1, obs. But something like it from another magazine.
My guess, having checked the early years, is Willis was reading The Best from Fantasy and Science Fiction. Specifically, Boucher's run.
(Guess two would have been something edited by Goldsmith but she does not appear to have edited anthologies)
"The field didn't just have women writers--it had really good women writers. These were wonderful stories, and I don't believe they were overlooked at the time, because when I read them, they were all in Year's Best collections."
Rusch speculates that Willis is referencing Merril's Best S-F. However, Rusch says she only did a spot check. I reread the whole of Merril's Best S-F in 2023. Her anthologies were mostly stories by men.
OK, so maybe it was one of the other Best SF series around back then? But I checked Bleiler and Dikty, Harrison & Aldiss, and Wollheim & Carr and it's not them.
Was there another 1950s-1960s Best SF series?
Or was Willis thinking of a magazine-specific annual like Analog 1?
Not literally Analog 1, obs. But something like it from another magazine.
My guess, having checked the early years, is Willis was reading The Best from Fantasy and Science Fiction. Specifically, Boucher's run.
(Guess two would have been something edited by Goldsmith but she does not appear to have edited anthologies)
The Adventure of the Demonic Ox (Penric & Desdemona, volume 14) by Lois McMaster Bujold
Aug. 14th, 2025 08:56 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)

What could possibly go wrong while transporting a possessed ox?
The Adventure of the Demonic Ox (Penric & Desdemona, volume 14) by Lois McMaster Bujold
Bundle of Holding: Girl Genius (from 2020) & Girl Genius 2 (from 2023)
Aug. 13th, 2025 03:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)

A zeppelin-full of digital graphic albums featuring Studio Foglio's Girl Genius, the "gaslamp fantasy" webcomic of adventure, romance, and mad science.
Bundle of Holding: Girl Genius (from 2020)

Even more Girl Genius, plus Buck Godot, Zap Gun for Hire.
Bundle of Holding: Girl Genius 2 (from 2023)
Women Have Always Written SFF — But It Wasn’t Always Easy to Find
Aug. 13th, 2025 10:09 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)

In the 1970s, many of the best new authors were women — the trick was finding their work.
Women Have Always Written SFF — But It Wasn’t Always Easy to Find
Yes, I know comments are not working. No, I have no control over that. Yes, I have mentioned the issue repeatedly. No, I don't know when it will be fixed.
RuriDragon, volume 6 by Masaoki Shindo
Aug. 13th, 2025 08:54 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)

Bathed in unquenchable fire, Ruri struggles to maintain her grade point average.
RuriDragon, volume 6 by Masaoki Shindo
The Four Wishes (Cheon of Weltanland, volume 1) By Charlotte Stone
Aug. 12th, 2025 08:56 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)

War crime survivor turned expert swordswoman and student sorcerer Cheon resolves to obliterate the nation responsible, make herself queen, and find a like-minded woman to court.
The Four Wishes (Cheon of Weltanland, volume 1) by Charlotte Stone
Bundle of Holding: Ironsworn-Starforged
Aug. 11th, 2025 02:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)

Ironsworn, Starforged, and Sundered Isles, tabletop roleplaying games of perilous fantasy, space opera, and seafaring adventure by Tomkin Press.
Bundle of Holding: Ironsworn-Starforged
Clarke Award Finalists 2009
Aug. 11th, 2025 11:18 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
2009: The Horrible Histories TV show debuts, Britons are treated to a Giles-worthy winter, and police decline to investigate the cash for influence incident so that they might better focus on the custard-tossing scandal rocking the nation.
Bold for have read, italic for intend to read, underline for never heard of it.
Which 2009 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?
Song of Time by Ian R. MacLeod
Anathem by Neal Stephenson
House of Suns by Alastair Reynolds
Martin Martin's on the Other Side by Mark Wernham
The Margarets by Sheri S. Tepper
The Quiet War by Paul J. McAuley
With an * on the McAuley because it was too grim and I didn't finish it.
Poll #33480 Clarke Award Finalists 2009
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 32
Which 2009 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?
View Answers
Song of Time by Ian R. MacLeod
1 (3.1%)
Anathem by Neal Stephenson
26 (81.2%)
House of Suns by Alastair Reynolds
9 (28.1%)
Martin Martin's on the Other Side by Mark Wernham
0 (0.0%)
The Margarets by Sheri S. Tepper
7 (21.9%)
The Quiet War by Paul J. McAuley
7 (21.9%)
Bold for have read, italic for intend to read, underline for never heard of it.
Which 2009 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?
Song of Time by Ian R. MacLeod
Anathem by Neal Stephenson
House of Suns by Alastair Reynolds
Martin Martin's on the Other Side by Mark Wernham
The Margarets by Sheri S. Tepper
The Quiet War by Paul J. McAuley
With an * on the McAuley because it was too grim and I didn't finish it.
Congratulations to the 2025 Aurora Award Winners!
Aug. 10th, 2025 10:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
The winners are:
Best Novel: The Siege of Burning Grass, Premee Mohamed, Solaris
Best YA Novel: Heavenly Tyrant, Xiran Jay Zhao, Tundra Books
Best Novelette/Novella: The Butcher of the Forest, Premee Mohamed, Tordotcom
Best Short Story: “Blood and Desert Dreams“, Y.M. Pang, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Issue 408
Best Graphic Novel: Star Trek Lower Decks: Warp Your Own Way, Ryan North, art by Chris Fenoglio, IDW Publishing
Best Poem/Song “Cthulhu on the Shores of Osaka“, Y.M. Pang, Invitation: A One-shot Anthology of Speculative Fiction
Best Related Work: Year’s Best Canadian Fantasy and Science Fiction: Volume Two
Stephen Kotowych, editor, Ansible Press
Best Cover Art/Interior Illustration: Augur Magazine, Issue 7.1, cover art, Martine Nguyen
Best Fan Writing and Publication: SF&F Book Reviews, Robert Runté, Ottawa Review of Books
Best Fan Related Work: murmurstations, Sonia Urlando, Augur Society, podcast
Best Novel: The Siege of Burning Grass, Premee Mohamed, Solaris
Best YA Novel: Heavenly Tyrant, Xiran Jay Zhao, Tundra Books
Best Novelette/Novella: The Butcher of the Forest, Premee Mohamed, Tordotcom
Best Short Story: “Blood and Desert Dreams“, Y.M. Pang, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Issue 408
Best Graphic Novel: Star Trek Lower Decks: Warp Your Own Way, Ryan North, art by Chris Fenoglio, IDW Publishing
Best Poem/Song “Cthulhu on the Shores of Osaka“, Y.M. Pang, Invitation: A One-shot Anthology of Speculative Fiction
Best Related Work: Year’s Best Canadian Fantasy and Science Fiction: Volume Two
Stephen Kotowych, editor, Ansible Press
Best Cover Art/Interior Illustration: Augur Magazine, Issue 7.1, cover art, Martine Nguyen
Best Fan Writing and Publication: SF&F Book Reviews, Robert Runté, Ottawa Review of Books
Best Fan Related Work: murmurstations, Sonia Urlando, Augur Society, podcast
Beyond Apollo by Barry N. Malzberg
Aug. 10th, 2025 09:03 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)

Two Americans set out for Venus. Only one returned. Where is the missing man? Evans knows but Evans is not a reliable witness.
Beyond Apollo by Barry N. Malzberg
I don't think any of my Old World players frequent DW
Aug. 9th, 2025 10:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
A book I'm thinking of having play an important role in the campaign is Heinrich and Moritz Tod's Morally Uplifting Tales for the Edification of Recalcitrant Children, the Tods being the Old World analog of the Brothers Grimm. Uplifting Tales is an important cultural artifact and also the sort of book you'd read to kids at bed time if you wanted them to cry themselves to sleep.
Sidewise Award Announcement
Aug. 8th, 2025 06:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
The Sidewise Award for Alternate History is looking for new judges to join the award committee.
This is the first time in the 30 year history of the award that they've made an open call for awards judges.
Apply here.
This is the first time in the 30 year history of the award that they've made an open call for awards judges.
Apply here.
Five User-Friendly Rulesets for Tabletop Roleplaying Games
Aug. 8th, 2025 10:22 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)

Not every gamer finds joy in wildly complicated, esoteric, hard-to-learn rules...
Five User-Friendly Rulesets for Tabletop Roleplaying Games
Aurora Award Livestream
Aug. 8th, 2025 09:48 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Hosted by Mark Leslie Lefebvre and Liz May Anderson.
Sunday August 10 at 5 PM: Livestream broadcast of the 2025 Aurora Awards, Canada’s annual English-language Science Fiction and Fantasy Awards.
Hearts of Wulin by Joyce Ch'ng & Lowell Francis
Aug. 8th, 2025 09:28 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)

Righteous characters pursue great justice in this wuxia TTRPG.
Hearts of Wulin by Joyce Ch'ng & Lowell Francis
The Old World Character Generation
Aug. 7th, 2025 09:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
More details later but it seems the group is essentially Don Quixote in the form of a Brettonian knight's bastard who has completely bought into chivalric ideals despite the fact no true knight considers him worthy to have such ideals, and an assortment of hangers-on who see him as a meal ticket.
Which is to say, the group is centred on someone who will seek out adventure.
Which is to say, the group is centred on someone who will seek out adventure.
The Integral Trees (Integral Trees, volume 1) by Larry Niven
Aug. 7th, 2025 08:47 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)

Climate change provides a tribal leader a pretext to dispatch his least favourite tribe members on an ill-fated expedition from which none will return.
The Integral Trees (Integral Trees, volume 1) by Larry Niven