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Here are the answers to the quiz I posted a couple of days ago. ( Here's the original quiz .) 1. One of the earliest women to hold major creative roles in television science fiction, D. C. Fontana followed the producer of The Lieutenant to a new franchise where she became a writer, story editor, and later associate producer, helping shape much of its early mythology. Name this franchise . STAR…
As I do many years, I created a quiz for the online trivia league I play in (Learned League.) This year the subject was "Early Women Science Fiction Writers" -- generally focussing on writers who started before 1950, but with a couple questions about editors, TV writers, and even fictional characters, and with a couple questions leaking into the 1950s and even 1960s. The format of the quiz is 12…
Making History, by K. J. Parker a review by Rich Horton K. J. Parker's latest novella is Making History , from 2025. Parker is a very enjoyable writer, either under his real name (Tom Holt) or Parker pseudonym. His work is almost always comic, but the tone varies, with the Tom Holt stories being rather lighter, even daffier; while the Parker stories are profoundly cynical, and often verge on…
Here are links to my reviews of all the Hugo nominated novellas. In what I think is not a terribly strong shortlist, I have a clear first place vote, a clear last place vote, and four stories in the middle. The list below is my current planned ballot. Each title is linked to my review. The River Has Roots , by Amal El-Mohtar Cinder House , by Freya Marske What Stalks the Deep , by T. Kingfisher…
Here are the my looks at the six novels on the shortlist for the 2026 Hugo for Best Novel. They are listed in my order of preference, and I will say that I consider the first on the list to be by far the best book on the shortlist. The others are all good novels, and to be honest my ordering of them is my best thoughts today -- but they are all close. The Everlasting, however, is on another level.…
Here's another review taken from SF Site. I wrote it in 2000. Retold Review: Travel Arrangements , by M. John Harrison by Rich Horton M. John Harrison recently won the Richard Evans Award (named after the near-legendary figure of UK publishing who died a couple of years ago), given to the author who has contributed significantly to the SF genre without concomitant commercial success. In other…
Here's another review that had been lost in the ether since SF Site disappeared. This one is from 2000. Remediated Review: Malignos , by Richard Calder Malignos is an entertaining and baroque work, with a wonderfully imagined "journey to the centre of the Earth" as its centrepiece. It is full of action, full of weird landscapes, full of unusual characters, and it is fast-moving to boot. Definitely…
Orson Scott Card's reputation has taken a rather well-deserved hit over the past few decades in great part because of his repellent views about homosexuality, but also because the quality of his writing has not quite held up in recent years. As for the first, well, his views are truly repellent. As for the latter -- all I can say is that has happened to many writers over the years, and it should…
This is another review I did for SF Site, and thus am recovering after that wonderful pioneering website went dark. As ever, I note that it's about a quarter century old, and I haven't updated the references within the review -- so I note for example that the "new English small press" Big Engine has, alas, long been defunct -- it was a brave effort (led by Ben Jeapes) but it's cruel world out…
Here's another review risen from the ashes of SF Site. The review itself didn't really need "repair" -- but I'm posting it in part to comfort (?) the author of Strange Trades , who will soon be in possession of a brand new hip. Get well quick, Paul! Repaired SF Site Review: Strange Trades , by Paul Di Filippo a review by Rich Horton Strange Trades , Paul Di Filippo's fifth collection of short…
