I’ve been running this blog for the best part (and it really has been the best part) of seven years now, and if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it that if it starts feeling like work, you need to take it easy. Don’t worry, I won’t be stopping, or even scaling back, but I’m giving something new ago. I’m not going to spin every little idea into an aborted essay series like I have done in the past. There are a couple of reviews I’ve had in the works for a few months now, and they’re clearly never going to amount to anything. Likewise, I’ve had a few random thoughts lately that I might spin into a larger project, but most likely won’t. Think of today’s post as a dumping ground for all these half-formed ideas. I hope you enjoy them.

Dragon Awards

I’m currently in the process of spreadsheeting all the major SF literary awards I can find, and comparing them to see which has the closest match to my own tastes. Alongside the big names like Hugo, Nebula, and BSFA, there are some lesser-known awards that have nevertheless been going for several decades. The Prometheus Award is one such award. It’s somewhat unique among the awards I’ve found, in that it explicitly rewards books for their political outlook, specifically encouraging those books that espouse libertarian philosophies. As such, it’s interesting to see how much it digresses from the usual pool of award-winning writers, and which names crossover from more familiar lists. It’s also interesting to see that the Prometheus Award shortlist has become more heavily populated by self-published books in recent years.

The Immeasurable Heaven

A little while ago, I had Caspar Geon on the blog to talk about his new book The Immeasurable Heaven. Alongside that interview, I was given an e-ARC of said book. Now, reading ebooks is always a slow process for me, and given that I ended up reading the book over the course of several long train journeys and multiple months, I ended up with such a scattershot recollection of the book that I didn’t think it fair to give a full review to. This was not helped by the fact that it is an incredibly imaginative book, with no human characters or other familiar elements to latch onto. For my own personal records, I’ve given it a 3/5 rating, but as a reviewer, this is one I definitely suggest people read for themselves in as few sittings as possible. You’ll either love it, or be completely lost.

Murderbot

When I read Martha Wells All Systems Red a few years ago, I was solidly neutral in my reaction. It was reasonably entertaining, but not deserving of all the hype surrounding it. Nevertheless, I excited tuned in for the new adaptation. Apple TV+ is hands-down the best place for science fiction series right now, and Murderbot can comfortable stand alongside Severance, For All Mankind, and Foundation as some of the very best SF TV out there. Turning a novellas into a series of roughly twenty-minute episodes works a charm, and there’s a great balance of comedy and drama. Alexander Skarsgard is perfectly cast in the title role. An all-round great show, and I’m pleased to see it’s been renewed for a follow-up season.

Our Dust Earth

Another review copy I was given was off this original role-playing game, complete with an anthology of short stories set in the game universe. Again, I was reading this digitally, but short stories are much more digestible in this format. I have to thank Victoria Hayward for the review copy, and Todd Sanders for creating the project in the first place. The stories are all strong, if somewhat repetitive as they establish the setting, but I was really looking forward to playing the RPG that the project is built around. Naturally, 2025 was the year my regular gaming group sort of imploded, but I I have vague (and not at all desperate) plans to get something going again in the near future. If you’re a fan of indie RPGS, give Our Dust Earth a look.

Willful Child

I’ve been doing a lot of audiobook listening this year, and a fair bit of that has been listening to books I’ve already read but never given a proper rating to. I’m a completionist and beyond help, what else can I say? Willful Child is a Star Trek parody from Steven Erikson, the man best known for his epic fantasy Malazan Book of the Fallen. Whereas that series has its ups and downs, Willful Child only has downs. Narrator MacLeod Andrews does his best and puts on some great voices, but the book itself is appallingly unfunny. It’s near-ten hours of sexual harassment, cringe-inducing references, dad jokes, and sheer stupidity that seems somehow convinced of its own brilliance. Every character is insufferable, every joke falls flat, and every parody made me want to smash my face into a wall. I firmly believe that good parody’s should come from a place of love (Galaxy Quest, Lower Decks, The Orville) but this feels like it was written by a man who either has not seen Star Trek, or simply hates it. I don’t think this is is the case, because Erikson has somehow written a whole trilogy of these, but one was more than enough for me.

I’m actually in the middle of a proper Star Trek novel marathon right now, the results of which are a) infinitely more positive, and b) coming soon to this blog. I hope to speak again when I’ve had time to get some proper thoughts together.