What a month it’s been. May was a good month both for general reading and the blog more specifically. I’ve had a record amount of posts, and a record number of views. There’s a lot to talk about, so let’s get straight to it.

BOOK HAUL

I bought a couple of books this month, but thankfully not as many as I read. Here’s the haul:

• Moonrise, by Ben Bova
• Huron Blackheart: Master of the Maelstrom, by Mike Brooks
• Homecoming, the Farther Shore, and Old Wounds, all by Christie Golden
• Foundation’s Friends, edited by Martin H. Greenberg
• The Triumph of Saint Katherine, by Danie Ware

IN TRANSIT

No pre-orders this month, and everything I’ve bought has arrived.

READING

May was a mega-review in terms of books read, to the extent that it’s been a little tricky reviewing them all.

• Assassinorum: Kingmaker, by Robert Rath
• Last and First Men, by Olaf Stapledon
• The Deacon of Wounds, by David Annandale
• There Before the Chaos, by K. B. Wagers
• Down Among the Dead, by K. B. Wagers
• Out Past the Stars, by K. B. Wagers
• The Bridge, by Janine Ellen Young
• Chaos Rising, by Timothy Zahn
• Greater Good, by Timothy Zahn
• Lesser Evil, by Timothy Zahn
• Stolen Earth, by J. T. Nicholas

And in non-SF reading:

• Dawnshard, by Brandon Sanderson
• The Legion, by Simon Scarrow
• Praetorian, by Simon Scarrow

AUDIO

I spent a large part of this month listening to Gene Kranz’ autobiographical Failure Is Not An Option, and am now approaching the end of Justin D Hill’s Necromunda novel Terminal Overkill. The review of the latter will be along in a few days, but in this month I caught up on my audio drama backlog, with reviews of the following:

• Blake’s 7: Bayban the Butcher
• Blake’s 7: The Clone Masters
• Blake’s 7: The Terra Nostra
• Star Trek: Picard: No Man’s Land

TV

I’m not watching much SF TV at the moment, but I did make time for the (somewhat underwhelming) second season of Star Trek: Picard.

ARTICLES

My goal of increasing the number of articles I write is going rather swimmingly, as I managed four this month. I’m keeping the topics varied, so let me know if there’s something you think I should write about.

• How I Review Books
• HARD SF
• Online Communities: More Harm Than Good?
• Every Science Fiction Series I’m Currently Reading

SPSFC

It’s all hands on deck with the SPSFC as we hurtle towards finding our winner. As well as announcing the finalists (and reviewing two of them), we also caught up with the semi-finalists earlier in the month.

• Semi-Finalist: Resistance
• Semi-Finalist: All The Whys of Delilah’s Demise
• Semi-Finalist: The Dinosaur Four
• Semi-Finalist: Shadows of Mars
• Meet the Finalists
• Finalist: Duckett & Dyer: Dicks For Hire
• Finalist: A Star Named Vega

WRITING

This section of the roundup makes its triumphant return after too many months away. I’ve only managed a few thousand words in the past few days, but that’s already more than I’ve written in a long while.

SITE UPDATES

A record number of posts (27) has led to an equally record-breaking number of views. I’ve breezed past the three and a half thousands mark, and it feels pretty good at these lofty heights. Stay tuned in June for more of the same.