Month: March 2022

Rereading “Shattered Sidewalks of the Human Heart” by Sam J. Miller

I’m a big fan of Sam J. Miller’s work, particularly his short stories. They’re always poignant and something I find myself coming back to read more than once.

One story I really love is “Making Us Monsters”, which Miller co-wrote with Lara Elena Donnelly for Uncanny Magazine in 2017. It’s a heart-wrenching novelette about Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon during WWI, and is definitely worth a read.

However, a story I’ve come back to more than a few times is “Shattered Sidewalks of the Human Heart” which appeared in Clarkesworld Magazine in 2019. And I’d like to try and uncover why.

Some Context

“Shattered Sidewalks of the Human Heart” made its appearance in Clarkesworld Magazine’s 154 issue, and was later included in The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy and Horror.

The story takes place in New York City in the 1930s, and in this reality, King Kong is real. Or, was real.

The events and characters of the 1933 film King Kong are all factual and real in this world, running alongside the actual history of German aggression in Poland and the Great Depression in the US.

Aside from the fact that Kong was real—having climbed the Empire State Building, been shot, fallen, and died—the rest of the world is very similar to our own. The story revolves around the change in mindset of the American people after Kong’s death, and Miller contrasts that with the horrible history of the Third Reich across the Atlantic.

Why the Story Is So Compelling

The story starts with Solomon the taxi driver picking up Ann Darrow on a Friday night in downtown New York. This is the same Ann Darrow that ventures to Skull Island and befriends Kong. The same Ann Darrow who was in Kong’s grasp as he climbed the Empire State building.

We quickly become acquainted with the two characters. Solomon is a liminal space, as a Jew and a homosexual in the 1930s, and Darrow is disillusioned by all that surrounds her.

And right out of the gate, Miller makes it clear that there’s a connection between the American collective, Kong’s death, and the rise of fascism in Europe, but we’ll get to that in a bit.

Part of the reason I like this story so much is because it’s complex. On the surface, it’s might seem like it’s just a new take on a movie from a long time ago. But underneath, Miller really hints at the American mindset and succeeds in characterizing New York City in a way I’ve never seen done before.

Sure, we’ve all seen the movies where the gruff New Yorkers come together to defend their city or something like that, but in the wake of Kong’s demise, Miller’s New Yorkers release a collective wail.

At one point, Solomon thinks, “Which one of us wasn’t Kong, a king among ants even as they destroyed us?” Living in the Depression, embedded in a broken system, really solidified the togetherness of these people, and when an event like Kong took place, it solidified the community.

But in the same sense, Kong’s death and the subsequent events solidified both Solomon and Darrow’s hatred for the city.

1933 king kong movie

A Love/Hate Relationship

There’s a lot of polarizing emotions going on in this story. Solomon pinpoints the feeling when he agrees with Darrow about hating New York, but follows up by saying “even if I also love it.”

On the one side of the spectrum, people changed their ways after Kong’s death. A large portion of the population became vegetarians after Kong’s death and animal abuse legislation was fast-tracked. But at the same time, people “changed in bad ways too.” City officials refused to reimburse anyone for property damage caused by Kong and the new wave of vegetarianism put slaughterhouse employees out of work.

Toss that on top of the Depression era suffering, the whole scenario was a wash in emotions. Kong’s plight was in many ways representative of the millions of people who felt cheated and forgotten by the powers that be. And Kong’s death was yet another example of how the “rich men fucked up.”

But, in classic Miller style, it’s more than just a love/hate relationship with the city. Solomon and Darrow both run through the gamut of emotions.

Darrow, a once popular actress, was no longer able to put up with the glitz, glamour, or shallow nature of the New York elite. And Solomon, shunned in so many ways, sees himself as a monster and an outcast without a voice. His three grandparents are still in Poland, hiding from Hitler’s Nazi invasion while America stands by and watches.

I’m not really sure how I can express what all these things do when they’re pulled together on the same page. The parallelism between Kong, the city, and the dynamic between Solomon and Darrow all work together in a unique way. It’s eerie, and I’m still going to keep reading this story until I can pinpoint exactly what it is that makes it so interesting.

Conclusion

But what I do know is that today, more than ever, this story speaks out.

The fact that New Yorkers—well, most of them—can come together over this “act of God”, and see Kong as more than just a giant monster seems almost shallow compared to the genuine plea for help from Jews in Poland.

What does it take for Americans to join together and make a difference? Sure, animal rights are important, but why couldn’t they recognize that there were more important things to deal with across the ocean?

And the same goes for today. I look at the news and I think about the situation in Ukraine. What must happen for us to stand up and demand action? Must another King Kong climb the Empire State Building and be shot out of the sky for us to do something?

This is not so much a political question as it is a question over American ideals. What compels us to fight for certain things over others that seem far more pressing? Perhaps reading “Shattered Sidewalks of the Human Heart” again will give me a better idea.

A Short Story About Tequila, Bar Fights, and Candy

Top 5 Desert Fantasy Books With Sandy Cities

For a long time, the fantasy genre was dominated by stories about tall stone castles, misty forests, and knights in medieval armor. This intense focus on the medieval European landscape kind of defined fantasy as a genre. Just saying the word “fantasy” inspires thoughts of dragons, knights, and maidens in despair.

But there are plenty of other kinds of fantasy out there that don’t take such heavy inspiration from the Middle Ages. One of the most interesting fantasy genres is desert fantasy. Authors of desert fantasy replace the mountains and ancient forests with vast seas of sand and massive trade-center cities.

Here are the top 5 desert fantasy books that feature sandy dunes, complex cities, and a fresh take on the fantasy genre.

Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed

When this book first came out in 2012, it was a big hit. It was one of the most popular desert fantasy books by far, and it still stands as a great example of non-European fantasy.

But it was planned as a series—The Crescent Moon Kingdoms. But it’s been 10 years and we haven’t seen a second book released. It has a title and a description on Goodreads, but no official news about its publication date.

The story follows a number of interesting characters, including a ghul hunter, a holy warrior, and a shapeshifter. All the characters are investigating a series of murders that are all connected, and when they end up banding together, they realize there’s a plot much bigger than anyone realized. In the kingdom of Dhamsawaat, the Falcon Prince is brewing up a revolution, and it’s up to the ragtag band to stop him.

The author, Saladin Ahmed, is a quite prominent writer for Marvel, working on numerous Spider-Man comics.

We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal

We Hunt the Flame is part of the Sands of Arawiya series, and is succeeded by the book, We Free the Stars. This book was published in 2019 by Farrar, Straus, and Giroux. The kingdom of Arawiya was inspired by ancient Arabia,

The story follows Zafira, a hunter of rare artifacts. She disguises herself as a man to avoid scrutiny as she acts as a champion for her people. When she sets out to find a precious artifact that can heal her people, the Prince of Death, right hand of the sultan, is put onto her trail. During the course of their hunt, the two champions realize that something much bigger is stirring in the world, something neither of them can control.

We Hunt the Flame is often considered a young adult series, but it stands on the line between adult fantasy and young adult desert fantasy.

The Eyes of the Tamburah by Maria V. Snyder

The Eyes of the Tamburah is the first book in the Archives of the Invisible Sword series, and is often considered a young adult novel. The book was published in 2019, so it’s a fairly new addition to the desert fantasy genre.

The story follows Shyla, an 18-year-old outcast. Her sun-colored eyes maker her a sun-kissed, a child marked by the Sun Goddess as a sacrifice. But instead of meeting a gruesome death, Shyla was raised by monks.

Soon after leaving the monks, Shyla ventures into the underground desert city of Zirdai and starts working as a kind of Tomb-Raider-esque archaeologist. When a precious religious artifact is stolen, Shyla is blackmailed into finding it, but ends up getting caught in the middle of a deadly turf war.

Twelve Kings in Sharakhai by Bradley P. Beaulieu

As the first book in The Song of Shattered Sands series, Twelve Kings in Sharakhai sets up the whole desert environment. From the tallest spire of the desert city’s towers to the gnarled, magical trees that pepper the windswept plains outside the city walls.

In this book, we meet Ceda, a pit fighter and a rogue, trying to unravel the mysteries in her late mother’s diary. Little does she know; she holds the secrets that the Twelve Kings tried to purge from existence. Finding foes at almost every turn, Ceda must navigate the dark streets of Sharakhai to finish what her mother started and free the people of the desert from the kings’ tyranny.

This book is one of my favorites, and it has such rich lore and backstory. Many of the elements are inspired by Arabic folklore, specifically Egyptian. The Song of Shattered Sands includes 6 full-length novels, a prequel novella, and a handful of other novellas/short stories.

Post of Interest: Interview with Bradley P. Beaulieu

The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley

The Blue Sword is the oldest book on this list, having been first published in 1982. The book is first of the Damar series, which includes four other books.

The Blue Sword takes place in the desert land populated by Homelanders and Hillfolk. The protagonist, Angharad “Harry” Crewe, is captured by the Hillfolk King and taken deep into the desert. Harry is then trained to be a master warrior, and develops a keen sense of respect for the Hillfolk. As Northern invaders threaten their sovereignty, Harry must be the bridge that brings the Homelanders and the Hillfolk together.  

There are plenty of other desert fantasy books out there that we didn’t mention, and the genre is still growing! If you have a favorite book that wasn’t mentioned here, feel free to leave a comment below!

And if you liked this blog, consider checking out some of our other content:

Top 5 Books With Wierd Landscapes

The Tale of Two Sci Fi Cities

Just like there are multiple different genres of science fiction, there are also many imagined outcomes for the spaces where we live. In post-apocalyptic futures, survivors of nuclear fallout or deadly contagion hole up in abandoned buildings and underground bunkers.

For space opera sagas, people call space stations, colony ships, and mining rigs home. And cyberpunk cities are filled with smog, neon lights, and poverty. It’s clear that the spectrum of sci fi cities—or sci fi habitats, in general—are all dependent upon each individual value-set of the genre.

For example, cyberpunk has long been defined by end-game capitalism, where mega-corporations blatantly control governments and dictate the habits of the population. Any and all infrastructure projects are designed to benefit the corporations, and the everyday person ends up working longer hours for less pay, if they work a job at all.

The cyberpunk city reflects the high-tech, low-life motto of the genre. Tech isn’t used to create a better collective future, instead it’s the tool of authoritarian, capitalist regimes or the hobby of “punks” who see their individualism tied with technology.

Thinking about how political, economic, and social factors impact the kinds of cities we live in, I was interested to learn about the “real life” sci fi cities that pop up once and again in WIRED articles or news coverage.

More specifically, I am intrigued by the mindset that dictates the design choices for these cities. If we were living in a sci fi novel, what would our genre be? That’s how I wanted to look at the following sci fi cities.

Songdo IBD, South Korea

Songdo is one of the more popular sci fi cities you hear mentioned today, and it’s certainly on of the most complete. What started as a tidal flat home to a few fishermen, is now a “green” metropolis that houses around 170,000 people.

Songdo, and the Songdo International Business District, are located along the Incheon waterfront, an hour away from Seoul, South Korea. The city was designed to be a sustainable city, with green spaces and LEED-certifications galore.

In the past 20 years, multiple governments and investors have contributed $40 billion to Songdo city, making it one of the most expensive megastructures in the world.

The city, in keeping with the goal of environmental sustainability, features:

  • Pneumatic waste systems that sort garbage and recycling
  • A lofty 100 acres of park space
  • Multiple LEED-certified buildings and spaces (approximately 106 buildings, when construction is complete)
  • Bike lanes and accessible public transportation

Pictures of Songdo city might lure you into thinking it’s the future of urban living. The precursor to a solarpunk city, if you will.

However, under its bright green environmentalism, Songdo reveals the ideologies upon which urban life is built.

sci fi cities songdo
An overview of the Central Park in Songdo, seen from the Observatory on the 29th floor of G-Tower. 18.08.15

On an innocent level, sensors and built-in computers around the city monitor water flow, energy usage, and traffic patterns. This data is collected under the guise of advancement of green tech—gathering data to better perfect urban infrastructure.

But these auxiliary computer systems act as an appendage to the hand of authoritarianism. Throughout the city, government-funded cameras are mounted on light posts, street signs, traffic lights, and buildings, connecting back to the U-Life Center. What’s detailed as a precautionary measure to prevent crime and respond quickly to disasters can easily be equipped for intelligence-gathering and a demolition of any sense of privacy.

What’s more, Cisco, one of the developing partners, proposed that all children be equipped with GPS tracking chips in their bracelets. Albeit back in 2014, this tech is still just as haunting today, where it’s hard to find any kind of privacy from prying, online eyes.

Forest City, Malaysia

Just a six-hour plane ride from Songdo, another smart, green city is under development. Forest City is located in the Johor Bahru District in Malaysia, spanning around 3,400 acres. The project was meant to be an energy-efficient, low-waste city to help solve the growing population problem in Malaysia. Forest City was a collaborative effort between Johor People’s Infrastructure Group and Country Garden Holding Ltd.

sci fi cities forest city

Construction for the project began in 2006, but has stalled multiple times due to political, environmental, and economic factors. Environmentally, the construction project has compromised water hydrology, traditional fishing grounds, and mangrove orchards. And many experts are saying that the land is sinking, seen through cracks in new foundations and shifting buildings. The man-made islands weren’t given enough time to settle, and will create problems in the future.

Despite having raised over $100 billion for the project, Forest City remains one of the least populated cities in the world, with only about 500 full-time residents.

The idea for this sci fi city was sound—a metropolis filled with green spaces and next-level technology—but corruption and environmental oversight have landed Forest City in the margins of history.

A Capitalist Future

It’s clear that there are some strides being made toward sustainability and an environmentally-friendly future. However, there’s a difference between end-goal sustainability and continuous sustainability.

The land Songdo is built used to be a costal flat, with a few fishermen calling it home. Over the course of a few years, the whole landscape changed, with earthmovers bringing in tons of sand and soil to create the foundation for the city. And at one point, construction ground to a halt because it threatened local ecosystems.

And Forest City is no different. The man-made islands it sits upon were once an Environmentally Sensitive Area, which prohibited development that wasn’t related to low-impact tourism and research. Construction of Forest City began without the proper legal documents and eventually impacted coastal wetlands and traditional fishing families.

If these sustainable cities were more than a venture by capitalist well-doers, they would have taken the proper precautions to abide by local restrictions and environmental protection acts. In the pursuit of a “green city”, the developers have overlooked the biodiversity and importance of the coastal wetlands.

I think we can best sum up both Songdo and Forest City with a quote from Bruce Sterling, from his Manifesto of January 3rd, 2000. Talking about CO2 emissions—and largely about sustainable building practices—he says, “it’s not centrally a political or economic problem. It is a design and engineering problem. It is a cultural problem and a problem of artistic sensibility.”

Economically, these cities are possible. If not for capitalism, the Songdo and Forest City projects might not have raised billions of dollars from private and government investors. But culturally, the projects turned into vanity projects, and abide by the same autocratic policies that plague urban centers all over the world. Information privacy is thrown out the window, and the foundations for the cities were built using the same strategies as every other city.

The only way to truly create a green city, be it today or 10 years from today, is to start with a good foundation. That foundation is both a literal and a metaphorical thing.

You need to build in a place that’s not a protected environmental zone, obviously, but you also need to make the construction a collaborative effort between scientific and thought leaders in the field and local authorities. And under capitalism, that cannot happen. Corners will always be cut for the sake of profit, a focus will always be placed on recouping investment, and design elements will favor the needs of the state, or in this case, the developer.

If we learned anything from our deep dive into Solarpunk, it’s that the best places are built outside of the conventional sphere—with “punk” energy, if you will.

So, until those things happen, hopeful sci fi cities like Songdo and Forest City will only every be that: hopeful.

Will Near Future Sci Fi Lose Its Luster?

Understanding The Moon Knight Comics: Who Is Marc Spector?

As you’ve probably seen already, Disney and Marvel are releasing a new miniseries on Disney+ called Moon Knight. The show stars Oscar Isaac as the titular character, with a March 30th release date.

For many of us, the Super Bowl commercial for the Moon Knight show was the first time we’ve seen the Egyptian knight character, but there’s a rich history of Moon Knight comics that the show will be based on.

Here’s everything you need to know about Marc Spector, Moon Knight, and his origin story before you watch the show at the end of the month.

The Origins of Marc Spector

While the trailer for the show makes it seem like the Moon Knight has some kind of super powers, what with the glowing eyes and the suit that forms to his body, he actually is an ordinary human.

Marc Spector used to be a Marine, part of the CIA, and a mercenary for the highest bidder. When another merc brutally murders an archeologist in Sudan, Spector steps in to save the archeologist’s daughter. During the fight, the other merc, known as Bushman, kills Spector at the feet of a statue of the Egyptian god Khonshu.

Miraculously, Spector comes back to life, believing he’s been resurrected by Khonshu, the god of the moon, to be a protector of the innocent.

There’s been a few different iterations of the Moon Knight comics, but they are almost unanimously centered around Marc Spector’s dissociative identity disorder. Spector uses a few different identities which he created—Steven Grant, Jake Lockley, and Mr. Knight—to go about his day to day, gathering information from all levels of society.

But other comics detail the psychic connection Spector has to Khonshu, which causes Spector to shift between four different personalities of the moon god.

Generally, Moon Knight’s powers are all human in nature. Spector uses the wealth he amassed as a gun-for-hire to create a Batman-esque lair with advanced technology. The one thing that might be considered a superpower is Spector’s ability to avoid death. He’s died multiple times, but is always resurrected by Khonshu.

The First Moon Knight Comic

Moon Knight first appeared in the 1975 comic Werewolf by Night #32, and later received his first series in 1980. The series was headed up by Dough Moench, who has worked on Batman comics and is credited with the creation of the Deathlok character, and Bill Sienkiewicz, whose work appeared in New Mutants, The Mighty Thor, and Daredevil.

Since the first Moon Knight comic in 1980, there have been 9 official volumes alongside plenty of side-appearances with the Avengers and other notable heroes.

In 2021, a new Moon Knight comic was released under the name The Midnight Mission, and it was written by Jed Mackay with art by Alessandro Cappuccio and Steve McNiven. The six-issue series portrays Marc Spector as a priest of Khonshu’s congregation, as well as taking on the form of the “defender of those who travel at night”.

moon knight comic

And with the new show coming out later this month, Marvel plans to release an anthology series titled Moon Knight: Black, White, and Blood in April 2022.

Check out this resource if you’re interested in seeing all the Moon Knight comics in order.

Oscar Isaac as Moon Knight

From the looks of the two trailers for Marvel’s Moon Knight miniseries, there are some changes in store for Marc Spector. We see him as an insomniac, fighting to control his dreams and discern what’s imagined from reality.

For the show, they clearly exaggerated Spector’s D.I.D., to the point where he lives as Steven Grant almost exclusively. In one scene, he answers the phone and is confused by a woman calling him Marc.

It’s unclear how true to the Moon Knight comics the show will be, but it will be nice to see a new Marvel character prepare to join an Avengers lineup, as presumably that’s what the show is setting up.

We’ll keep you posted on the Moon Knight TV series, and we’re certainly excited to see where it goes!

In the meantime, check out some of our other comic book content:

Back in Blaze: Johnny Blaze Returns as Ghost Rider

We Are All Him: Rorschach by Tom King

Interview with Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki, Author of O2 Arena

“O2 Arena”, a novelette by Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki, was published in Galaxy’s Edge Magazine in 2021 and is a finalist for the British Science Fiction Award.

We got a chance to talk with Oghenechovwe about “O2 Arena”, his ambitions as a writer and editor, as well as what he has planned for the future!

If you would like to read “O2 Arena”, you can do so here. Please also consider nominating it for the Nebula and Hugo Awards!

IP: The world of “O2 Arena” takes place in 2030, not so far off from our own time and place. Is this grim future a warning or a prediction for the next 10 years?

ODE: It’s both a warning and a prediction. “O2 Arena” is not exactly a wild sci fi story. There’s no terraforming on Mars, the elements in “O2 Arena” are things we live with daily.

There are people dying of all these illnesses because of capitalism and a lack of a system that cares for the people’s health. Instead, companies focus on how much money they can take from the African continent. There’s capitalism on toxic levels, and neo-colonizing loan firms that are offering money to the continent at rates that are exploitative.

70% of what’s in “O2 Arena” are already happening and 20% is on the same trajectory if we do nothing. The remaining 10% is a little out of the way, the hope that things can get better.

So “O2 Arena” is both a warning and a prediction of what will happen if we don’t move from current path. The underground O2 arena is where you have to fight for your right to breathe, taking that right from someone else. That’s the endgame of toxic capitalism.

It’s a very close reality that could actualize itself if we don’t do anything about it. 

IP: I know that you’ve been working on a lot of projects as an editor, including the upcoming anthology Africa Risen. For you, how is being an editor different than being a writer, and which do you prefer doing more?

ODE: They serve different purposes, but I’ll say that writing is definitely my first love. I always wanted to be a writer and tell stories. It just so happens that editing is a part of writing that you cannot escape, especially when you come from certain demographics. When you come from an underrepresented group, writing without editing is like trying to have a child without a partner.

There’s not enough representation for black people, especially for Africans on the continent, that it becomes a necessity to embark on projects like editing and publishing. Editing is like an appendage. Both are like the seed and the flower, or flower and the branch; they depend on each other.

Like I said, writing is my first love, but editing is just as important to me. My writing might not have survived without my editing. For example, my biggest writing project, my novella Ife-Iyoku, Tale of Imadeyunuagbon, I had to publish it myself in an anthology that I co-edited.

IP: Did you start out as a writer and move into editing, or have those two things always lived together?

ODE: I definitely started out as a writer, but my writing was coming along really slowly. Editing was a way to fast-track that.

My first collaboration was the Dominion anthology, and Zelda Knight reached out to me asking if I wanted to contribute a piece or be a co-editor. I said I wanted to do both, because I saw the advantage of having both a writing credit and an editing credit.

From there, I leapt into many different projects in writing, editing, and publishing. Like I said, they all go together like seed and flower.

IP: Your work has gained a lot of attention, what with the Otherwise Award, BSFA, and others. For you as a writer, what was your biggest achievement?

ODE: People talk about achieving their dreams, but I think for me, the biggest flex is that a lot of the things I’ve done, I never dared to dream of. They aren’t things that I thought were feasible, or even possible.

You dream about getting a good job, buying a nice car and a house. You don’t dream about winning a Nebula award, you know?

But I guess for me, my biggest achievement is to be on the same platform with some of the people whose work I grew up reading. While other kids were out playing football, I was reading.

I’m not crazy about Michael Jackson or Halle Berry; I’m crazy about Patrick Rothfuss, GRRM, Brandon Sanderson. Those are people that I’ve gotten to be on the platform with, and I’ve gotten to interact with them on a personal level. I’ve been able to share my views on art, writing, editing, and craft with them and take part in an intellectual conversation with them.

I was on a panel with Patrick Rothfuss, and as far as I’m concerned, that’s the most impressive thing I’ve achieved. Rothfuss was one of the most important authors at a point in my life, and I spent a long time living off his writing—reading and dreaming.

And these people were so far away. They’re far away for the average American, so you can imagine how far away they are for somebody in Nigeria. For me, it was like meeting Michael Jackson.

IP: What happens next? You’ve achieved these things you never imagined were possible, so what’s next for you?

ODE: Well, now I’ve started dreaming, and I have some ambitions. I want to reinvent pop culture and center it around Black and African narratives. The world has suppressed Blackness and African-ness for a long time, while still using its resources to build and boost its own cultures.

I want to give us our rightful place in art and history. There was slavery, colonization, and we know that a lot of the resources from the continent have built things around the world. Our art is still hanging in museums in Germany and Britain. It’s only fair that we have a place in the current pop and entertainment structures.

African artists should have a place and a chance to benefit off the systems that were built using their blood and the resources of their ancestors.

That’s my dream.

IP: That’s very inspiring, I certainly hope it comes true. Speaking of the futures, what kind of projects are you working on currently?

ODE: I’m working on everything. I’m writing a novel. I’m pitching a novella and a novella series. I have editing projects currently underway. Africa Risen is coming out later this year, I have an editing project I’m working on with the editor of Galaxy’s Edge.

I have several awards, ceremonies, and events planned for this year. Plus, I have a publishing imprint in the works.

Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki’s novelette “O2 Arena” was nominated for the Nebula Awards this year. It is the first novelette by an African writer—diaspora or continental—to be nominated for the award. It’s also eligible for the Hugo Award for Best Novelette. 

“O2 Arena” is also Galaxy’s Edge’s first nomination for a Nebula award in this category. 

To learn more about Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki’s writing and editing projects, please visit his website!

A big thanks goes out to Oghenechovwe for sitting down for this chat!

Nebula Award 2021 Nominations

It’s that time of year again! SFWA just announced all the nominations for the Nebula Award 2021.

All finalists had their science fiction, horror, or fantasy work published in 2021, and the winners for each category will be announced on Saturday, May 21, 2022 during a virtual ceremony. Eligible SFWA members will be able to start voting on March 14th, 2022.

We are super excited to share that Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki’s story, “O2 Arena”, that was published in Galaxy’s Edge issue 53 last year is a finalist for the Nebula Award for Novelette!

If you would like to read his novelette, you can do so here.

We also provided links to read all of the work that has been published online. Without further ado, here are all the Nebula Award Finalists for 2021:

Best Novel

  • The Unbroken, C.L. Clark (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
  • A Master of Djinn, P. Djèlí Clark (Tordotcom; Orbit UK)
  • Machinehood, S.B. Divya (Saga)
  • A Desolation Called Peace, Arkady Martine (Tor; Tor UK)
  • Plague Birds, Jason Sanford (Apex)

Best Novella

  • A Psalm for the Wild-Built, Becky Chambers (Tordotcom)
  • Fireheart Tiger, Aliette de Bodard (Tordotcom)
  • And What Can We Offer You Tonight, Premee Mohamed (Neon Hemlock)
  • Sun-Daughters, Sea-Daughters, Aimee Ogden (Tordotcom)
  • Flowers for the Sea, Zin E. Rocklyn (Tordotcom)
  • The Necessity of Stars, E. Catherine Tobler (Neon Hemlock)
  • “The Giants of the Violet Sea“, Eugenia Triantafyllou (Uncanny 9–10/21)

Best Novelette

Best Short Story

Andre Norton Nebula Award for Middle Grade & Young Adult Fiction

  • Victories Greater Than Death, Charlie Jane Anders (Tor Teen; Titan)
  • Thornwood, Leah Cypess (Delacorte)
  • Redemptor, Jordan Ifueko (Amulet; Hot Key)
  • A Snake Falls to Earth, Darcie Little Badger (Levine Querido)
  • Root Magic, Eden Royce (Walden Pond)
  • Iron Widow, Xiran Jay Zhao (Penguin Teen; Rock the Boat)

Ray Bradbury Nebula Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation

  • Encanto, Charise Castro Smith, Jared Bush, Byron Howard, Jason Hand, Nancy Kruse, Lin-Manuel Miranda (Walt Disney Animation Studios, Walt Disney Pictures)
  • The Green Knight, David Lowery (Sailor Bear, BRON Studios, A24)
  • Loki: Season 1, Bisha K. Ali, Elissa Karasik, Eric Martin, Michael Waldron, Tom Kauffman, Jess Dweck (Marvel Studios)
  • Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Dave Callaham, Destin Daniel Cretton, Andrew Lanham (Walt Disney Pictures, Marvel Studios)
  • Space Sweepers, Jo Sung-hee 조성희 (Bidangil Pictures)
  • WandaVision: Season 1, Peter Cameron, Mackenzie Dohr, Laura Donney, Bobak Esfarjani, Megan McDonnell, Jac Schaeffer, Cameron Squires, Gretchen Enders, Chuck Hayward (Marvel Studios)
  • What We Do in the Shadows: Season 3, Jake Bender, Zach Dunn, Shana Gohd, Sam Johnson, Chris Marcil, William Meny, Sarah Naftalis, Stefani Robinson, Marika Sawyer, Paul Simms, Lauren Wells (FX Productions, Two Canoes Pictures, 343 Incorporated, FX Network)

Nebula Award for Game Writing

  • Coyote & Crow, Connor Alexander, William McKay, Weyodi Oldbear, Derek Pounds, Nico Albert, Riana Elliott, Diogo Nogueira, William Thompson (Coyote & Crow, LLC.)
  • Gramma’s Hand, Balogun Ojetade (Balogun Ojetade, Roaring Lion Productions)
  • Thirsty Sword Lesbians, April Kit Walsh, Whitney Delagio, Dominique Dickey, Jonaya Kemper, Alexis Sara, Rae Nedjadi (Evil Hat Games)
  • Wanderhome, Jay Dragon (Possum Creek Games)
  • Wildermyth, Nate Austin, Anne Austin (Worldwalker Games, LLC, Whisper Games)

Congratulations to all of the finalists! 2021 was truly a great year for science fiction, fantasy, and horror. We’re looking forward to seeing the results in May!

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How Solarpunk Strives To Rectify Our Future

Every day there’s a new environmental disaster on the news, or a new forecast for when climate change will reach critical mass. All of the impending doom features can leave you feeling down and out, hopeless in a stark grey world.

But not everything has to be so grim. Solarpunk, a relatively new branch of science fiction, aims to bring some light to the otherwise dark future. Solarpunk technology and ideologies paint a picture of sustainability and equality, a future where art, science, and nature coexist in the same spaces.  

What Is Solarpunk?

We talked about solarpunk a bit in a different blog post where we discussed the punk sci fi subgenres, but we’ll elaborate a bit more here.

Where genres like cyberpunk are characterized by an overarching pessimism about our futures, solarpunk seeks to instill some hope into those visions of the future. Cyberpunk is about how technology impacts the human existence, with a focus on hardware modifications. And biopunk is all about how biology can improve the human condition, with a focus on genetic editing.

In both of those genres, the idea of the ‘punk’ is someone who is culturally or ideologically deviant from a perceived norm. Where ‘punks’ as we know them today are stereotyped as people who skateboard, die their hair, and pierce their nose, the punk of the cyberpunk/biopunk world takes body modification to the next level.

This kind of punk breaks the conventional norms of the body. The solarpunk cares a lot less about rebelling against a system that impacts them as an individual, but instead takes a more environmental approach. They are eco-activists who aim to right the wrongs of the past with technology that is sustainable and renewable.

Solarpunk, perhaps more than any other genre, can act as a political mindset. Because of the environmental focus, it almost inherently comes off as an anti-capitalist—sometimes anarchist—genre.

In essence, solarpunk as a genre is a realistic, hopeful glimpse into a future that’s powered by sustainable practices and inclusivity.

The Solarpunk Mission: Reach Eutopia

So, we know that solarpunks want to improve our futures by using technology that’s available to them, but are also eco-conscious and deviant from the societal norms. This means that we can see a lot of off-the-wall, genius ideas coming from people who ascribe to the solarpunk mentality.

Many people who have a semi-proficient understanding of how solarpunk works might say that the common aim is to create a utopian world.

In many ways, yes, that’s true. But we’ve come to know utopia as one step away from totalitarianism and dictatorship, and that’s not the place we want. The term utopia is actually from old Latin, and it can be “‘no-place’ (ou-topia) but also ‘good-place’ (eu-topia); implying a place so good it couldn’t exist”.

The goal then isn’t to create a place that’s perfect in every regard, it’s to create a good place, the eutopia of our dreams. A place where there is still sadness and heartache, but it’s not supplemented with suffering and despair. A good place is where people have food, water, shelter, and opportunity, and the solarpunk world will provide this with an environmentally-aware solution.

Birthing a Genre

Solarpunk started out as a concept that bounced back and forth between various thinkers. The first recorded use of the term was on a blog post “From Steampunk to Solarpunk” in 2008. After that, a number of writers, artists, and sci-fi enthusiasts developed the idea of solarpunk into the genre it is today.

In 2019, A Solarpunk Manifesto was published online, and it combined ideas from various other solarpunk tenets, but was by far the most solid definition of the genre. Among the fundamentals, A Solarpunk Manifesto states that “the genre provides a valuable new perspective, a paradigm and a vocabulary through which to describe one possible future. Instead of embracing retrofuturism, solarpunk looks completely to the future. Not an alternative future, but a possible future.”

In this way, solarpunk differs from all other sci fi genres we’ve talked about. They aren’t concerned with the far future of space travel, or the technology of 100 years from now. Instead, solarpunks are dedicated in the near future, and the present. Solarpunk is less science fiction and more science possibility. Sure, not everything in solarpunk literature is factual, but it’s attainable at some point in the near future, which is more than we can say of a genre like space opera or biopunk.

List of Solarpunk Books

There are plenty of novels that fit into this niche now, despite being published thirty or forty years ago. Think of books like:

  • The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin
  • Ecotopia by Ernest Callenbach
  • Orion Shall Rise by Poul Anderson
  • Three California Trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson

And then of course, we have a few different anthologies that really work to define the solarpunk genre and use the name as a banner for the future of sci fi.

  • Sunvault: Stories of Solarpunk and Eco-Speculation edited by Phoebe Wagner and Brontë Christopher Wieland
  • Glass and Gardens: Solarpunk Summers edited by Sarena Ulibarri
  • Multispecies Cities: Solarpunk Urban Futures edited by Christoph Rupprecht, Debora Cleland, Norie Tamura, Rajat Chauchuri, and Sarena Ulibarri
  • Wings of Renewal: A Solarpunk Dragon Anthology edited by Claudie Arsenault and Brenda J. Pierson

Of course, other stand-alone books also fit the bill, stuff like:

  • Foxhunt by Rem Wigmore
  • The Summer Prince by Alaya Dawn Johnson
  • The Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers

Films too can fall into the solarpunk basket, most notably including the work of Studio Ghibli with Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind and the representation of Wakanda in Black Panther.

All-in-all, I’d say that the solarpunk future that has been outlined in the Manifesto is attainable. It’s a goal that everyone should work toward, not just sci fi writers and scientists. More than any other genre, solarpunk seeks to create a time-bound, reasonable pathway for our sustainable future, and I think that is very admirable. After all, as stated in the manifesto, the genre “recognizes science fiction as not just entertainment but as a form of activism.”

If you liked this post, consider checking out some of our other posts about prominent sci fi subgenres.

Splice and Dice: The Biopunk Code

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Back in Blaze: Ghost Rider 2022 Comics Start Off Hot

Ghost Rider fans certainly haven’t been lacking any new content in recent years. Every one or two years, there’s a new Ghost Rider appearance, mostly in comic books, including limited series like Revenge of the Cosmic Ghost Rider, and Mother of Demons. We even got to see a new live action Ghost Rider in the form of Robbie Reyes on the Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D TV show. And now, there’s confirmation Robbie Reyes will become a part of a new Avengers team in Avengers Forever #3, coming out March 2nd.

But it’s certainly been a hot minute since we’ve seen a clean slate Johnny Blaze, which comes to us as Ghost Rider Vol 10 by Benjamin Percy. As the first Ghost Rider 2022 comic book, “Breakdown” brings us back to old times with an eerie return to ‘normalcy’. Plus, this year marks the 50th anniversary of Ghost Rider, so bringing the story back to one of the original character was only fitting!

New Ghost Rider Volume in 2022

On February 23, the Ghost Rider issue 1 “Breakdown” was released, officially kicking off a new Johnny Blaze timeline. The tenth volume is headed up by Benjamin Percy, who has reached renown both inside and outside of the comic book scene.

He started off as an essayist, short fiction writer, and novelist. Some of his work includes The Ninth Metal and Red Moon. He’s had pieces published in many professional reputable journals, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Esquire, Time, Men’s Journal, and The Paris Review.

In 2014, Percy broke into the comic book scene with a Batman story, and soon came to write for Nightwing, Green Arrow, Wolverine, and X-Force.

This Ghost Rider volume is his first try at the supernatural motorcyclist, but with the help of artist Cory Smith and colorist Bryan Valenza, it starts off with a bang.

Ghost Rider 2022’s Blaze Character

As one of the fan favorite hosts for the Spirit of Vengeance, Johnny Blaze comes back to the page. When last we’d seen him, he was vying for the throne of Hell, but now he’s been transported to the sleepy town of Hayden’s Falls.

With a wife, kids, and a white picket fence, Blaze thinks that his life should be normal. At least, it seems normal to anyone looking in. But in the wake of a terrible motorcycle accident, his nightmares and hallucinations get worse, drawing him ever closer to the darkness he feels in his head.

This first issue of Ghost Rider is the perfect introduction for the fraught past of Johnny Blaze’s character. The whole first issue is a struggle for Blaze to find out what’s going on. We see the insomnia turn into psychosis into catharsis, coming full circle by the end.

And for readers that aren’t acquainted with the Ghost Rider story arc, “Breakdown” gives us a simple callback/summarization of Blaze’s past. The motorcycle wreck, the supernatural visions, all of it is reminiscent of the origins of Johnny Blaze.

Set Up For a New Jaunt Through Hell

It’s clear by the end of the first issue of Ghost Rider Vol. 10 that Blazes character is set to be pitted against some pretty terrible enemies, including the Night Magicians. These nasty guys have the power to brainwash whole towns for dark purposes, as we see in the very end of issue #1.

But even though we get a sense of the villain, there’s still no real confirmation. It wouldn’t be a Ghost Rider comic without a questionable performance from our anti-hero!

After reading the first issue, I wasn’t sure whether to pity or loathe Johnny Blaze. His predilection for violence and his poor coping mechanisms stand out, mainly as alcohol abuse. We find out by the end of the comic that most of Blaze’s memories are based on a lie, but his actions are still questionable at best.

Pick Up the New Ghost Rider Comic

All-in-all, I thought that Percy’s first attempt at Johnny Blaze’s Ghost Rider was admirable. He managed to capture the essence of the character while still giving us a unique take on him. I’ll definitely be looking out for the rest of the tenth volume, with the nest three issues already slated for release:

  • Ghost Rider Vol. 10, issue #2 – March 16th
  • Ghost Rider Vol. 10, issue #3 – April 27th
  • Ghost Rider Vol. 10, issue #4 – May 25th

Ghost Rider certainly represents something special in the Marvel universe, as it’s a mix of the mainstream superhero leagues, but it shows the dark side of power. Not many characters can handle the Spirit of Vengeance, and it shows that even though you might be influenced by evil, you can still put your power to use for the greater good. Morally, Ghost Rider might be one of the strongest characters, even though it feels weird to say that.

I hope that Percy can pinpoint that balance between good and evil in his new Ghost Rider comics, because that’s perhaps even more vital to the character than the flames and the chains!

If you liked this spec fic comic book review, check out some of our other comic book content!