This post is coming in slightly later than planned. Partly due to work, but mostly because I’ve decided to shuffle up the format from the last two years. Rather than just recap everything I’ve don on the blog, I’m throwing my net a little further. Let me know what you think of the results.

Reading

I had a fantastic month for reading. Sixteen print books, half of which were Star Trek novels, and three audiobooks. I went a bit heavier on the Trek than I originally intended do, but being so short, they do make for addictive reading. That said, I’m definitely taking a bit of a break before heading into my TNG era reading in February. You can have too much of a good thing, after all.

Speaking off good things, I’ve already had my first two five-star reads of the year, meaning we are off to a flyer after last January’s drought. The first of these masterpieces was Christopher Paolini’s Fractal Noise. For reasons passing my understanding, but possibly linked to all the furore over the artificial intelligence employed in its cover design process, Fractal Noise has already shot up into my most viewed reviews of all time, and comfortably pushed January 2024 into the top slot in terms of monthly views. I doubt my upcoming review of the other five-star read, Ben Bova’s Death Wave, will have quite the same success, but one lives in hope.

In addition to all that, I’ve managed to wrap up a pair of series that have been on my schedule for years now. Brandon Sanderson’s Skyward and the Caladan trilogy by Messrs Herbert and Anderson both had slightly lacklustre final novels, but brought things to satisfying conclusions for both series.

My audiobook listening has been dominated by Warhammer, though I’m stocking up on the reviews for March. Currently I’m a third of the way into Walter Miller’s classic A Canticle for Liebowitz. This is the first ever buddy read for the Boundary’s Edge Discord server, and it’s a very interesting book to discuss.

Blogging

Just like every other book blogger out there, my January was heavy on plans for the year ahead. Some concrete TBR plans, and other more general goals and ambitions for the site. Perhaps the most exciting is my first ever Book Bingo challenge. I’m terrible at remembering to update my progress on this, but you are all more than welcome to join in.

In the News

For All Mankind – The best science fiction show on TV ended its fourth series on a magnificent high this month. I honestly don’t know how this show keeps going, changing things up, yet never dropping the quality. It’s a testament to all involved. I haven’t seen any word yet on a fifth season, but I’m hoping it gets the green light. I need to see what happens next.

Generative AI – The debate around ‘AI’ in the arts continues to rage, with much acrimony on both sides. Amid all the fearmongering and very genuine ethical and legal concerns, I’m finding myself largely happy to sit this one out. However, the thought did occur to me that art created by a machine is surely the ultimate litmus test for those who subscribe to the ‘death of the author’ philosophy. There might be a longer article in that thought, but not for a little while.

Hugo Awards – The voting data for last year’s Hugo Awards has now been made public, and it for sure looks like there are some irregularities, notably in books being declared illegible without any clear justification. Now, I’m by no means an expert in the field, but if the allegations of state-mandated censorship are accurate (and the odds are good that they played a part), then it poses an interesting puzzle for the Hugos. Clearly, these are, and should be, decided by a simple majority vote. However, if a Worldcon wishes to be truly global, does it perhaps have a duty to embrace even the less ideal parts of the world? China is, last time I checked, a part of the world. Perhaps there was interference in the voting, but maybe that is simply what it means to be a Chinese Worldcon. For certain, there are lessons to be learned here. All I know is that i don’t have any answers.

Updates

I’ve been spending a fair bit of my spare time this month cataloguing all my book ratings from the past seven years. This time I’m arranging everything by year of publication, in a bid to build a timeline of my library. Along the way, I’m hoping to find any chronological gaps in my collection, and perhaps determine which year was the best for science fiction.

Anyway, I must heading off now. I hear books calling my name.