With the passing of January (“Look! There it went!”) we come to the end of The 2014 Sci-Fi Experience. For those not in the know or who may have simply forgotten, I started setting aside a couple of months a year, several years back, to encourage a group experience of Science Fiction. My hope is always, of course, to impart the love of science fiction to those who have not been bitten by that particular love-bug, but it is also an opportunity to share genre reading time with those who like science fiction and read it all the time as well as those who like it but mix up their reading across genres throughout the year.

Really just a great big geeky SF love-fest!

This year I started it in December, instead of the traditional January start, which makes it all a bit weird to be saying our goodbyes to the event here on February 1st.

As the title implies, this isn’t reaaaaally the end. Not at Stainless Steel Droppings at any rate. You will continue to see science fiction book, film and art reviews throughout the year. Fantasy will begin to creep in again and the occasional mystery, but science fiction is my first love and I am far from ready to leave that experience behind.

Continue reading All Good Things Must End…sort of →

The Hugo Awards, presented annually since 1955, are the Oscars of the Science Fiction and Fantasy community. Every year awards are given in 15 categories which include awards for various fiction categories including novel, short story, novella, novelette, an award for editing, for best artist and many more. The Hugo Awards are open for participation for anyone who wants to nominate and/or vote, provided you choose to become a member of that year’s World Science Fiction Convention.

For the past several years I have entered the nomination season wishing I had been more successful in reading current works of short and long form fiction so that I could participate in the process. One of my goals last year was to do just that, which resulted in my year-long quest to read and review short fiction for SF Signal. I also put greater effort into reading novels released in 2013 and tried to keep up with podcasts that I feel are worthy of recognition by the nominations committee.

When the January 31st deadline for purchasing memberships (for nominating purposes) for this year’s World Science Fiction Convention, LonCon 3, were announced, I promptly paid for a Supporting Membership (42 bucks and change) and received my PIN and nominating instructions.

Your thoughts on this may trend towards the “who cares?” end of the spectrum and/or you may argue that these awards, or awards in general, are meaningless.  Perhaps they do not reflect the kind of fiction, art and nonfiction writing in the field that you are passionate about.  You may argue that these awards are merely a popularity contest and do not reflect the best the genre has to offer.

Continue reading I, Hugo →

(Image used under Flickr Creative Commons License, photo by Kreg Steppe)

There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them.
~Ray Bradbury

Reading is a basic tool in the living of a good life.
~Joseph Addison

2013 has been an interesting year of reading, in large part because of my choice to indulge in reading more current short genre fiction, which I reviewed on a regular basis for SF Signal. This meant that while the amount of reading I accomplished was consistent with recent years, if not greater, but the number of “books” read dropped significantly.

Don’t weep for me. While it occasionally happens that an otherwise great read will go pear-shaped in the end, the majority of the time I come away from a novel with the pleasure of having had a satisfying reading experience. It may not be profound to say it, but I read what I like and like what I read. If I start to read something and am not enjoying it, I quit reading it. Life is too short for me to invest my time in a book simply to say I finished it and a negative review is generally not something I want to give time too either.

So when it comes to looking over my reading for the year to choose favorites, brevity becomes an issue. Thus I generally wait until the very last minute to post my thoughts about books that have stuck with me, wanting to give a fair shake to all the books that guided me on reading adventures throughout the year.

Setting aside web-based short fiction and short fiction periodicals, for which I posted an annual review at SF Signal, I completed 34 books. Of those books, the following are the stand-outs as I look back over the year. Of those that did not make the cut, there is only one I did not enjoy, and even that worked out well because its sequel (which did make the list) showed that novel in an entirely different light.

Continue reading Favorite Books of 2013 →