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Introduction
Greetings, Earthlings.
If it's a dream come true to be nominated for the Hugos, it's an ecstatic vision of paradise to have been nominated multiple times already, to have won a couple of the rocket statues, and to keep being nominated for yet another year. The only thing more satisfying than the weekly cycle of sharing our obsessions with our readers is to know that our readers share the same enthusiasm for the type of discussion we bring. Thank you for your votes, and for staying with us after all this time.
And what a time! As I write this, reality and imagination seem to have blended: we just watched a new team of astronauts make it safely back from lunar orbit, there are reports of newly developed vaccines that could fight broader varieties of flu and even cancer, and adoption of clean energies is growing eveywhere. At the same time, we’re witnessing a cartoonish revival of the worst authoritarian ideologies from the previous century, we’ve become inundated with digital garbage pretending to have consciousness, and corporate greed is making the planet unlivable for humans. To understand the real world, we need more and more to understand what speculation has to say.
I’m a fan of Elizabeth Bear’s term “Rainbow Age” to describe the current explosion in diversity across the speculative landscape. While much remains to be done to bring audiences in closer contact with the variety of stories out there, there has never been as good a moment as now for authors of every continent, every language and every gender to become known and valued. The online community that has formed around speculative fiction (by which I mean the entire ecosystem of writers, translators, editors, literary agents, scriptwriters, studio producers, reviewers, etc.) is a precious space that needs to be nurtured precisely as the dark forces of reactionary repression set their sights on the few progress that has been achieved.
Yes, I’m bringing up politics, but that’s because politics is already an inherent part of storytelling. Which worlds we imagine, who gets to imagine them, where they can be discussed, how they are perceived and interpreted—there’s a political dimension to any conversation about fiction. At Nerds of a Feather we feel it’s an honor and a heavy responsibility to have the chance to add our voices to the conversation.
Let’s keep imagining other worlds. Let’s keep imagining ways to transform this one. Let’s keep inspiring each other.
Arturo
Table of Contents
Section I: Literature Reviews
Book Review: Katabasis, by R. F. Kuang
Book Review: The Everlasting, by Alix E. Harrow
Book Review: Colourfields, by Paul Kincaid
Book Review: When the Moon Hits Your Eye, by John Scalzi
Book Review: Nobody's Baby, by Olivia Waite
Book Review: God’s Junk Drawer, by Peter Clines
Book Review: The Stardust Thief, by Chelsea Abdullah
Book Review: City in Chains, by Harry Turtledove
Section II: Media Reviews
Rebellions Are Built on Hope: Andor S2E8
Movie Review: The King Tide
Video Game Review: Metaphor ReFantazio
Movie Review: The Brutalist
Movie Review: Frankenstein
Video Game Review: Citizen Sleeper 2
TV Review: There’s no “I” in Plur1bus
Movie Review: Wicked: For Good
Graphic Novel Review: The One Hand and Six Fingers
Video Game Review: Hollow Knight Voidheart Edition
Festival View: The Ugly Chickens
Anime Review: Apothecary Diaries Season 2
Movie Review: The Naked Gun
Movie Review: Predator: Killer of Killers
Section III: Conversations & Commentary
The Sand in Our Lungs: The Desertification of Our Imaginations
Hollywood is Dead, Long Live Hollywood
Andor and the Reimagining of Star Wars
The Arthur C. Clarke Award 2025: A Shortlist Discussion
Interview with Emily Tesh
Book Sale Finds: Mental Hygiene
The October Daye Re-read: A Killing Frost
Realm of the Elderlings Project: Intro and Book 1: Assassin’s Apprentice
