August 2, 2020 – Cathy's Reading Bonanza

The HUGO AWARDS have been announced and I managed to miss the live stream of the ceremony. Bummer. Here is the list of the winners.

I am pleased about these category winners, as I read and liked them:

BEST NOVEL — A Memory Called Empire, by Arkady Martine — looking forward to the sequel!

BEST NOVELETTE — Emergency Skin, by N.K. Jemisin — she‘s been hit and miss for me so far.

BEST SHORT STORY — “As the Last I May Know”, by S.L. Huang

BEST SERIES — The Expanse, by James S. A. Corey — this makes me want to re-read them or at least some of my favourites.

BEST RELATED WORK — “2019 John W. Campbell Award Acceptance Speech”, by Jeannette Ng — great to see that individual people can make a difference!

BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION, LONG FORM — Good Omens, written by Neil Gaiman, directed by Douglas Mackinnon (Amazon Studios/BBC Studios/Narrativia/The Blank Corporation) — loved it! Michael Sheen and David Tennant were brilliant. This was so much fun to watch!

https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/2020-hugo-award-winners

GRR Martin was the Master of Ceremony for the proceedings and apparently made a mess of it. It ran overly long, he mispronounced many of the winners’ names and seems to have come across as racist and misogynistic. I am refraining from linking more stuff in this post. But google it and you find a ton of blog posts about it. I can‘t really say yay or nay about it, as I haven‘t watched it. Dang it.

Link to my entry about the finalists

Link to my entry about the short stories

My July 2020:

BR novels:
– Limit, BR with Dennis, TBR challenge, ongoing & carry-over into August
– The Traitor Baru Cormorant, BR, ongoing & carry-over into August

– Dragonflight, as part of The Dragonriders of Pern, ★★★★☆, in the beginning there was a queen‘s dragon egg… Who wants to continue with this series?
– The City We Became, June SF GR, audible, ★★☆☆☆, not for me.

Solo reads:
– Lullaby for a Lost World, short, ★★★★★, magic comes at a high price. Vengeance!
– Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, HarryPotterAtHome, read by various actors (https://www.wizardingworld.com/chapters), TBR challenge (most reviews/highest ratings), ★★★★☆, #HarryPotterAtHome
– Dwarf Stars 2020, poetry, ★★★★☆, SF poems of 10 lines or less.
– Grace Immaculate, short, ★★★★☆, first contact via SETI, alien aliens…
– Wohllebens Waldführer: Tiere & Pflanzen bestimmen, das Ökosystem entdecken, nonfiction, ★★★★☆, easy guide about 250 species of plants and animals in central Europe.
– David‘s Head, in Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue 156, ★★★★☆, short story about a roadtrip with an AI
– 2389, ★★★☆☆, space horror brain candy.
– Das Seelenleben der Tiere: Liebe, Trauer, Mitgefühl – erstaunliche Einblicke in eine verborgene Welt, nonfiction, ★★★☆☆, the inner life of animals, pop science.

Comics, aka my guilty pleasure:
– Skyward #13, ★★★☆☆
– Skyward #14, ★★★☆☆
– Skyward #15, ★★★½☆, the end!
– Ascender #6, ★★★★☆
– Ascender #7, ★★★★½
– Sea of Stars #1, ★★★½☆
– Black Science #1, ★★☆☆☆, Lost in Space, travelling other dimensions.

Wanted to read, but didn‘t:
– Unconquerable Sun, BR, wasn‘t that interested anymore
– Ascender, Vol. 2: The Dead Sea, #8, 9 & 10, plan to read it eventually…

Plans for August:
I am in the middle of several things that I need to finish. Plus there is a vague committment to read Shark Week related stuff… 😝