They’ve always been there, your Masters the ogres. The start of Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Hugo-nominated novella has all the makings of a Robin Hood-style adventure. The beloved but mischievous son of the village headman befriends the merry band of outlaws who live in the woods (away from the control of the wealthy Landlords) and who dream
After twenty-two years of adventuring, Viv had reached her limit of blood and mud and bullshit. An orc’s life was strength and violence and a sudden, sharp end – but she’d be damned if she’d let hers finish that way. It was time for something new. Once upon a time, in the long-ago era known
Rationalization is one of man’s most clever and most dangerous inventions. Night Vale has a vampire in town. Well, had, anyway. In this week’s episode Cecil talks about Luca and his long, long life. It’s a story about mistaking “comfortable” for “happy”. It’s about being okay with getting older, and learning to love the life
It’s an interesting situation with this year’s fiction nominations. We’ve already seen that one of the nominated novelettes isn’t available in English. It turns out that four of the nominated short stories are also only available in Chinese. I haven’t been able to find a reason why these either weren’t released in English or weren’t
God had entrusted her father with the labor of perfecting creation and delivering us all from sin, and thus the doctor had created the hybrids. Dr. Moreau was therefore a prophet, a holy man. Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s Hugo-nominated book takes a new look at H.G. Wells’s classic. The island setting has now been moved to a
There was a car crash on Buellton Avenue… Okay, you know what? We’re not exactly sure who this week’s recap is for. If you want a twisty, creepy, very-close-to-horror story with a sting in its tail then you really need to go listen to the latest Night Vale episode so we don’t give away the
The last three Hugo-nominated novelettes for 2023 are something of a mixed bag. You’ve got a real-life problem that’s almost guaranteed to get worse, a future technology that highlights the very best that humanity has to offer to its descendants, and one more that I can’t actually describe because no one knows how to find
Hooray, everything’s back to “normal” in Night Vale! Science is legal again, the Weather is back, Dr. Janet Lubelle is…not technically gone from the city, but it’s fine. Since so many people are thinking about celebrating with a vacation, Night Vale has now opened their first international airport, the Randy Newman Memorial Terminal! (Yes, Randy
“I need you to find the White City Vampire…” It was supposed to be a quick job. All Helen Brandt had to do was examine the crime scene, maybe take some photos (after performing an augury and casting a spell to make the blood traces visible during the moon’s Chaldean hour. You know, the usual).