The Hugo Initiative: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2001, Best Novel)

Dossier: Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire  [Scholastic, 2000]


Filetype: Novel

Executive Summary: There are two main plotlines of the fourth Harry Potter from J.K. Rowling. The first is that of the Tri-Wizard Tournament - an occasional magical competition which brings together champions from several of the world's magical schools. Harry isn't old enough to enter or be selected, but since this is a Harry Potter novel he ends up as a fourth champion and representing Hogwarts along side of Cedric Diggory, an older Hufflepuff. Much of the novel is centered around the various challenges Harry must face - technically on his own, but really with the help of Ron and Hermione. There's mortal danger, of course, but it's also a whole lot of fun.

The second is that of the potential return of Voldemort, "He Who Shall Not Be Named", the big bad looming over the entire series as well as being the reason Harry lost his parents when he was a baby. Voldemort's former disciples, the Death Eaters, are making ready for their Dark Lord's return and the edge of fear is returning to the magical community. Harry is a target, but so is everyone who doesn't stand with Voldemort. There are hints of just how nasty things might get.

There are moments big and small: Hermione's fight for the rights of house elves, Harry's infatuation with Cho Chang, the Quidditch World Cup, Mad Eye Moody, Snape being cruel, and the revelation (to the other students) that Hermione is an actual girl and not just a friendly book who wears glasses. 

Legacy: I remember working an overnight shift at a gas station and seeing a front page feature of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and that was the first time I had heard of Harry Potter. I had no idea and then it seemed to be the biggest thing in the world. It's what brought me to Harry Potter in the first place. 

If memory serves, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is also the first novel in the series where death comes so close to home - spoilers, but the novel is nearly twenty years old and is part of an enormously popular series - though "enormously popular" seems a vast understatement of the level of popularity enjoyed by the Harry Potter series.

Rowling Hugo Award win was her second time on the ballot, having been a finalist the previous year for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

The popularity and the legacy of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is completely independent of the Hugo Award - Rowling may not have known she was a finalist as it has been reported that she did not send a representative to accept in the event that she won. Harry Potter is one of the most successful franchises of all time, has inspired a generation of readers, and has stoked the imagination of millions. 

 
In Retrospect: Rowling's Hugo Award is very likely one of the most controversial in the history of the award - while beloved, the Harry Potter novels have never quite received their due as literature. They are books for children and the series is wildly popular, a combination which is great for success and less great for earning respect (such that it truly matters). 

The main thing working against Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire for its place in Hugo Award history, though, is that it won the award over A Storm of Swords, by George R.R. Martin (as well as novels from Ken MacLeod, Robert Sawyer, and Nalo Hopkinson). A Storm of Swords is, notably, the third novel in his A Song of Ice and Fire sequence and widely considered the finest novel in not only that series but in Martin's acclaimed career. To those who care about such things, Martin is considered "core genre", writing epic fantasy and being a lifetime part of the Worldcon community. Rowling was an outsider who writes children's books. I'm sure there is a segment of the old guard Worldcon crowd who still has not gotten over Rowling's win and Martin's loss. 

It's been almost twenty years since Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was published. It still holds up. I went into re-reading the novel for the Hugo Initiative without first re-reading Books 1-3 in the Harry Potter series, which was an interesting way to go into the novel because it had been more than ten years since I've read any of the Harry Potter novels and I didn't know how it would stand on its own. 

To a point, it does not because The Goblet of Fire is naturally an integral middle volume of a series and not a standalone. The backstory is contained in three previous books and the conclusion is ultimately the next three books. And yet.

Rowling does a very good job in the beginning of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in recapping prior events for new readers. Readers might miss nuance, but there is more than enough there to not feel lost. Of course, I can say that as someone who is very familiar with the series as a whole. It's impossible for me to truly go in blind, but the beginning of Goblet of Fire is just so smooth and I believe very accessible for new readers. 

The novel holds up for long time fans of the series dipping back in and it's still a favorite in a series full of favorites. There's so much to love here, and one of my new appreciations is seeing Ron's father running towards danger time and time again. Mr. Weasley is generally presented as this goof who is far to obsessed about muggles and seems to be a bit of a putz - but that's also seen from the perspective of the kids and occasionally noted by the more disagreeable (and villanous) adults. When there is actual trouble, though, when the Dark Mark is in the air and people are scared - Arthur Weasely runs to help. I don't know that I picked up on that before, and I like it. The big story is obviously Harry and Voldemort and Dumbledore and the Tri-Wizard Tournament and all of that stuff the series is known for - but sometimes I'm interested in the small bits that resonate at different times in my life.

Was Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire the right winner in 2001? That's a different question. In retrospect, A Storm of Swords would have been the more popular pick within significant parts of the genre. Martin was a previous Hugo Award winner for "Blood of the Dragon", a novella based on the Daenerys chapters from Game of Thrones. This is a bad way to look at things, but Martin has been recognized for A Song of Ice and Fire through that novella win in 1997 but given that there was no Young Adult Not-A-Hugo for Rowling to dominate at that time nor a Best Series award available to her - the only opportunity for Worldcon to recognize Harry Potter through the Hugo Awards were the two times Rowling was on the ballot (well, that and the next three novels).

It is not truly fair to say that a series is being honored when the question at hand is "is this the best novel of the year?" rather than "is this the most popular novel of the year?" because the two do not necessarily go hand in hand. 

I'm not nearly as bothered by Rowling's Hugo win as some. In retrospect, it does still feel like a horse race between Rowling and Martin - though I would love to be writing this essay on Nalo Hopkinson's Midnight Robber instead. That would have been a worthy and important win. 

A Storm of Swords was the more significant novel and would also have been a worthy win - both for Martin's career, he has never won for Best Novel, as well as for the novel itself. But Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was a solid, if unspectacular, Hugo Award win. It might not say nearly as much about the state of the genre at that time as a win for another might, but then again - maybe it does. The ballot itself is a statement and Goblet of Fire's win is a statement about just how significant Harry Potter was at the time, just how popular and beloved it was. 

For a bit of statistics fun, here is a link to the voting breakdown and some nominating stats for the 2001 Hugo Awards. To get a look at what some of the other notable novels of 2000 were, here is a link to the Locus Recommended Reading list.


Analytics

For its time: 5/5
Read today: 4/5.
Gernsback Quotient: 9/10

POSTED BY: Joe Sherry - Co-editor of Nerds of a Feather, 3x Hugo Award Finalist for Best Fanzine. Minnesotan.

The Hugo Initiative: The Novels of 1999: A Retrospective: A Preview of My Genre Future (2000, Best Novel)

1999 was a banner year for me. A couple of years (at the age of 28) into starting to read “seriously” in science fiction, I had been subscribed to Locus for a couple of years now, I was reading past and current Hugo nominees and Nebula nominees and winners for a couple of years, and I had decided, in that fateful year, to do something I had not done previously: Vote in the Hugo Awards. I was pretty disconnected from any sort of organized fandom, I had only been to one con, but I dutifully became a member of the 2000 Worldcon (held in Chicago, but I didn’t have the temerity to actually attend), and proceeded to vote in the Hugo awards for books in 1999.

The Hugo nominees for the 2000 Worldcon were as follows:

A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge [Tor, 1999]
A Civil Campaign by Lois McMaster Bujold [Baen, 1999]
Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson [Avon, 1999]
Darwin’s Radio by Greg Bear [HarperCollins UK, 1999; Ballantine Del Rey, 1999]
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J. K. Rowling [Bloomsbury, 1999; Scholastic, 1999]

At the time that Hugo voting had ended, I had read four of them, and voted on that basis. (I had not yet read any Harry Potter and did not feel inclined to read through the series, I would feel different several years later) 2000 was about the first time I started to dip my toes into getting review copies, but it would be many more years before I got my “break” in that regard. I fondly remember getting an ARC of Darwin’s Radio, it was quite the surprise and delight.

So without further ado, let’s look at the Hugo Finalists (called Hugo Nominees then) for the year 1999.

A Deepness in the Sky, by Vernor Vinge

At the time I was just so delighted to have another novel in the “zones” verse of A Fire Upon the Deep, even if it was a very loose prequel, just having Pham as the only link between the two novels. Still, the ideas of the Zones from an outside perspective, thanks to the conceit of a solar system right on the edge of the boundary, and the idea of  a three way first contact situation, this was the kind of SF I ate up with a spoon. A Deepness in the Sky was exactly what I thought that modern science fiction should be about, this was fueled by at the time of a renaissance of space opera after a fallow period for the subgenre.

Now, looking back, like its predecessor , some of the technology and assumptions feel a bit dated. There are some interesting conceits here, and the weird high concept of Unix versus Windows except expressed as polities and their operating parameters was something I just didn’t get, then, but I sure see now. Those frameworks do not hold up quite as well for me in 2019 as they did in 1999. Technology and the modes of computers are a very different beast in this day and age. The computing world was a smaller place, then, and now, for many people, operating systems and their fundamental principles just aren’t relevant. I also think, now, in this day and age, the Spiders could have been handled a bit better. Perhaps I have been spoiled by writers like Adrian Tchaikovsky, but Vinge’s spiders do not seem alien *enough*, and the revelation that they have been secretly in on a lot of the communications and spying on both sides could have been foreshadowed or flagged earlier in the narrative for best effect.

A Civil Campaign by Lois McMaster Bujold

Deep within the Vorkosigan series, A Civil Campaign is the “Romance novel” of the set, as the plot revolves around Miles Vorkosigan trying to win the heart of Ekaterin, who met Miles, and  in the course of events became widowed, in the previous novel, Komarr. Miles fell head over heels for Ekaterin, and while Barrayaran customs mean that she should not be openly courted so soon after her husband’s death. And since Ekaterin’s husband’s death is tied to Miles’ investigation, there are all sorts of political and social landmines in Miles way. Meantime, Barrayar is a changing, with a sex change to make a woman eligible to inherit an estate, and another putative heir to another estate may have Cetagandan ancestry.

And then there are the butterbugs, the most fun part of the plot. So this novel is relatively light on the sciences, and strong on the manners and courtship. There was a movement in novels back there, particularly in fantasy, called “mannerpunk”, where works by writers like Sherwood Smith were a noticeable theme in Fantasy. At the time, I saw ACC being an SFnal version of the same. So, I didn’t think too much of the novel at the time. I wanted more Miles as Lord Auditor, not Miles as moonstruck young man (disclaimer, I was in a rough place, relationship speaking, at the time)

Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson

By this point, I had read Stephenson’s Snow Crash, because it seemed to be the thing to do. I had really really liked The Diamond Age, because I felt I kinda understood the basics of computing thanks to the primer within the novel. At the time of Cryptonomicon, I was also somewhat interested in codes and cyphers and always have been, really. So when Cryptonomicon dropped into my lap in 1999, it was very much a dive into delight. Paralleling time frames, lots of historical characters, a ton of detail and research that comes out onto the page, I think then and now, it’s clear to me that the novel is the first “modern” Stephenson--a big sprawling book that reflects the author’s desire to go down deep deep rabbit holes and take willing readers with him. At the time, I definitely was a willing reader.

Today? I’ve cooled quite a bit on Stephenson’s work and it doesn’t quite excite me to the level it once did. Oftentimes thee days, I want something more than the rabbit hole, and frankly, reading Stephenson these days is a big investment in time and effort that for me doesn’t always pay off as it once did. The digressions sometimes are “get to the POINT” rather than “oh nice, here we go down a mini rabbit hole within the rabbit hole. In Cryptonomicon itself, I am thinking particularly of the erotica side story within the novel.

Sometimes you need an stronger hand from the editor.

Darwin’s Radio by Greg Bear

Back in the 80’s the Eon sequence brought Greg Bear to my attention (Blood Music came later). Novels like that sequence, Songs of Earth and Power, Moving Mars, Slant...I didn’t get a good sense of his real range until a couple of years before Darwin’s Radio, when he popped up with an alternate history YA novel, Dinosaur Summer. I began to see that Bear had a wide range indeed to his pen.

 But even so, when I dived into Darwin’s Radio, I read it with the wrong protocols, at the time. I kept expecting this to be a science fiction novel, or a hard science fiction novel, in any event. I was underprepared at the time and kept waiting for the hard SF to kick in. I didn’t quite realize until relatively late in the novel’s narrative (which involves “junk DNA” turning out to be not so much junk and instead a mechanism for speciation of Humans into a new species) is really a technothriller with a lot of biology, rather than a science fiction novel. I was expecting something far more akin to Nancy Kress’ Beggars in Spain and didn’t get it in the book, which was confusing to me at the time.

These days, having read more technothrillers and understanding and grokking the form and style, I can see what Darwin’s Radio is and what it’s trying to do much better now. It is a technothriller with an extra dollop of SFNal setting and backmatter, something that I have decided since is not usually to my taste. Bear’s writing, and Darwin’s Radio are an exemplar of the form, however. If you were an SF fan who wanted to step into Technothriller waters, The book would be a good choice. (Coincidentally, the more recent and unrelated The Darwin Elevator by Jason Hough also would qualify in that regard).. Whether a novel that is mostly Technothriller something that should be nominated, or win the Hugo award--I am in favor of a big, broad tent. But I can see how some people might demur.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling

At the time of the 2000 Hugos,as  mentioned above, I had not read any of the Harry Potter series. I had seen the first three movies, and enjoyed them, but my feelings about MG and YA novels had not evolved to the point that I had felt inclined to pick up the books for myself. (This would eventually change with the release of Half Blood Prince, whereupon I decided I would dive into the series). I did find Prisoner as a movie to be intriguing because of Cuaron’s directorial style.

As far as the novel, when I did read the book, I felt that the movie was the first where they really started to have to excise whole rafts of the novel in order to fit the plot into a 2 hour movie. When I read the book, and then rewatched the movie after, I was impressed how much the movie captured the overall spirit of the book, even as I realized how rich the book was. I began to see how much young teenage readers were in having the series at hand, Books of Gold for readers to try genre fiction. I may not see it as the best book of 2000 but I can see why it broke through the nomination list and became a finalist.

In the end, A Deepness in the Sky won the 2000 Hugo. Did Hugo voters get it right? Did I get it right for myself? I think that it really did. Even with the nits above, its head and shoulders better than the other nominees.

What I voted then:
1. A Deepness in the Sky
2. Darwin’s Radio
3. Cryptonomicon
4. A Civil Campaign
5. Left Blank

(I didn’t understand the real nuances of No Award, I just stopped my list at four. What I probably meant at the time was to put No Award as my fifth.)

What I would vote today:
1. A Deepness in the Sky
2. A Civil Campaign
3. Darwin’s Radio
4. Cryptonomicon
5. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban 


What other books in 1999 did the Hugo voters miss? That I missed?

Walter Jon Williams’ catastrophe novel, The Rift, came out in 1999 and sank without a trace. Pat Murphy’s retelling of The Hobbit in space, There and Back Again, also came out, and I missed that one for years, too. Judith Tarr teamed up with Harry Turtledove for their novel Household Gods, a time travel novel in the tradition of Lest Darkness Fall, but with a female protagonist. I read that one at the time and liked it. I think it’s even stronger today. Dragonshadow, by Barbara Hambly, was also a strong novel. But in that day and age, fantasy was rarely on the Hugo ballot, Harry Potter being an outlier in that regard.

Did I keep voting and nominating in the Hugo Awards? Well, reader, sadly life sort of got in the way. I voted in 2001, but then 9/11 and its aftermath led me to a path that caused me to leave New York, forestall my nascent reviewing chops for a while, and I would not get myself settled in that regard and begin reviewing, or voting in the Hugos, for several more years. But in retrospect, the 2000 Awards, and the year 1999, was a preview of my genre future.


POSTED BY: Paul Weimer. Ubiquitous in Shadow, but I’m just this guy, you know? @princejvstin.

Holiday Gift Guide: Books

Welcome to our annual Holiday Gift Guide where the flock takes a break from talking about all the awesome and not so awesome things to, well, talk about some more of the awesome things that you might want to consider for your Holiday shopping this year. Today we'll talk about books and comics, but throughout the week you'll have any number of things to consider (games, apps, movies, and more). 


Joe: For the epic fantasy reader in your life

 
The Fifth Season, by N.K. Jemisin
The Obelisk Gate, by N.K. Jemisin
The Stone Sky, by N.K. Jemisin

Okay, so this one is a little bit of a cheat because I'm listing three books instead of just one in this slot, but listen. I've been raving about Jemisin's Broken Earth trilogy since The Fifth Season (my review) was published and each volume has not just been among the best of science fiction and fantasy published that year, it has been THE best speculative fiction published that year. Spoilers for my Best of 2017 list coming next month, but The Stone Sky (my review) is going to top that list, too.

The Stone Sky caps off a stunning epic fantasy trilogy, one which began with the threaded narrative of three orogenes and concludes with the story of a woman and daughter finally coming back together. The Broken Earth is a monumental achievement in fantasy fiction. The Stone Sky is the culmination of the best fantasy trilogy written today and that might be an understatement.



Brian: For the sci-fi horror fan in your life

Dark Intelligence, by Neal Asher
War Factory, by Neal Asher
Infinity Engine, by Neal Asher

2017 saw the conclusion of Neal Asher's Transformation trilogy, the latest in his line of Polity books. Following a war between AI-empowered humans and the violent crab-like Prador, members of each species find themselves as pawns in a rogue AI's strange mission of atonement. It's a romp through an established galaxy of post-humans, aliens, and technology that approaches magic, with a dash of some David Cronenberg-esque body horror.



Tia: For the Harry Potter fan in your life.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Illustrated Edition, by J.K. Rowling

Each year Bloomsbury and Scholastic release a stunning, fully illustrated (by Jim Kay) edition of the Harry Potter series. These books make the perfect gift for the current (or aspiring) Harry Potter fan on your list, and because it’s only the third year and they are reasonably priced for what you get (about 30 USD or less) it’s not too late to start a great gift giving tradition. I’ve recommended these books for the last three years and they never fail to dissapoint.

Zhaoyun: For the reader living in a dystopian reality in your life

The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood

The Handmaid's Tale--because it's sounding more and more horrifyingly prescient with every day that goes by! Plus, all that doom and gloom makes for a very entertaining story (and you can even get the recipient either the feature film and/or the new(ish) TV series, as well!).

Vance: For the Twin Peaks fan in your life

Twin Peaks: The Final Dossier, by Mark Frost

I'm sure there's an appropriate, Black Lodgian analogy for what Mark Frost is to David Lynch in the story of unfolding the Twin Peaks saga, but I'll just be literal: David Lynch is widely hailed as *the* creative force behind Twin Peaks, while series co-creator and co-writer Mark Frost's influence is largely unsung. It's weird. Maybe Frost doesn't like giving interviews as much, but who knows? Throughout his filmography, Lynch has been famously ambivalent about whether or not audiences "get it" in a conscious, academic sense, and more concerned if people are moved by his work on an emotional level. I went on the ride for Twin Peaks: The Return, and I thought it was great. That said, yes, it totally would've been nice to have actually known what was up with Audrey Horne. Or what happened to Becky. Or...well, lots of stuff. I mean, there are loose ends. Lots. Admittedly. Twin Peaks: The Final Dossier doesn't promise to tie them all up, but it does promise to answer questions! Some questions, definitely get answered. And that's good enough for me. This feels like a must for the Twin Peaks fan in your life.

Mike: For the horror fan in your life:

Strange Weather, by Joe Hill

 

Featuring four short novels, Joe Hill delivers some truly shocking stories that will be sure to delight the horror/supernatural fan in your life. My personal favorite was Snapshot, which made me nostalgic for Locke and Key due to the Polaroid-esque camera forged from whispering iron. Each story is unique, with Loaded hitting a little too close to home and by far the most disturbing of the group. 

POSTED BY: Joe Sherry - Co-editor of Nerds of a Feather, 2017 Hugo Award Finalist for Best Fanzine. Writer / Editor of the mostly defunct Adventures in Reading since 2004. Minnesotan.

Summer Reading List 2017: brian

Harry Potter 1 - 7 by J.K. Rowling

This is the Summer of Harry Potter for me. I never read the books when they were new (I felt like I was a bit old for them at the time), and now I'm going back to see what I've missed. I'm reading each book consecutively, with the movies inserted as I finish each book. Definitely reading each of the canonical seven books, maybe adding on other Potterverse novels or media when I'm done. I'm excited about the Summer of Harry Potter because that world has been a big blank spot for me, and these novels mean a lot to people I know.

Well, that's it for my summer reading. Seven plus novels, that's about all I can handle if I even finish them before the end of the season. But it doesn't really fill out this post, so let's shift gears.

Summer Video Gaming List 2017

Tyranny by Obsidian Entertainment (developer)

This one is something I've kept an eye on for a while, but was recently encouraged to play sooner rather than later by a recommendation from our very own The G. I've played an awful lot of enormous CRPGs, and I don't think I've finished a single one, but Tyranny interests me for its developer, Obsidian, and its premise. It's a game world where the bad guys won. It's reportedly shorter than most CRPGs, which appeals to me because many of those other CRPGs I've never finished are because I lost interest before reaching the conclusion.

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands by Ubisoft (developer)

I liked Tom Clancy's The Division, and Wildlands is kind of like The Division combined with Just Cause. It makes for a sort of uneven tone, because it's about the serious topic of taking down a drug cartel, but so far the cutscenes have been very Hollywood action movie. My initial assessment of the structure makes the game look enormous, so here's hoping it has enough variety in action to keep me playing.

Tacoma by Fullbright (developer)

As a long time Idle Thumbs fan, I simply cannot pass up a game that's a product of that group of people. I loved Gone Home and Firewatch, and I don't care what Tacoma ends up being. I'm going to play it. And I'm in luck because Tacoma combines a few things that I like a lot; strong narrative, environmental storytelling, and space!

***

POSTED BY: brian, sci-fi/fantasy/video game dork and contributor since 2014

Holiday Gift Guide: Books and Comics

Welcome to our annual Holiday Gift Guide where the flock takes a break from talking about all the awesome and not so awesome things to, well, talk about some more of the awesome things that you might want to consider for your Holiday shopping this year. Today we'll talk about books and comics, but throughout the week you'll have any number of things to consider (games, apps, movies, and more). 

And, as you can see from the first item on this list, you still can't avoid hearing about Hamilton. I'm not sorry.


Joe: for the Hamilton obsessed in your life

Hamilton: The Revolution

by Jeremy McCarter and Lin Manuel-Miranda

I'm not sure there is anything so ingrained in nerd culture (for whatever that means today) as Hamilton. It's a musical, it's a soundtrack that has become the soundtrack of our lives, there's a star studded mixtape out now, and there's also this book. It is stunningly good. Hamilton: The Revolution is two things. First, it is a behind the scenes making of the show from inspiration all the way through making it big on Broadway and turning into the phenomenon it became. The second part of the book, and just as good is  Lin-Manuel Miranda annotated his lyrics. He writes about some of the things he was trying to accomplish, hip hop references, and more. My only wish is that Miranda would have gone full on genius annotating every line and small detail of the show - but that's a small and selfish quibble. This is a can't miss book for fans of the show and also for those still trying to figure out what's going on with this Hamilton thing.


The G: For the Vikings fan in your life

The Long Ships (New York Review Books Classics)

by Frans G. Bengtsson (trans. Michael Meyer)

I have a love/hate (mostly hate) relationship with History Channel's series Vikings, namely because it isn't nearly as historical as I want it to be. But I do appreciate that it is making more people interested in actual Viking history and culture. Now, granted--The Long Ships is neither history nor Saga, but it's a gateway to reading the Sagas, as it captures their feel, relativistic worldview and dark humor quite well. Only, The Long Ships also gives you modern prose with narrative structure. In other words, this is the closest you're going to get to the Sagas without actually reading the Sagas. And you should really read the Sagas, but The Long Ships is a good way to see if you're up for that. Plus it's just a very good story, told well.


Tia: For the Harry Potter Fan in your life

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets: The Illustrated Edition (Harry Potter, Book 2)

by J.K. Rowling and Jim Kay (Illustrator)

The Harry Potter Illustrated series is a must have for any Harry Potter fan. The Chamber of Secrets doesn't feel quite as heavily illustrated as the first in the series, probably because the text is a bit longer, but that doesn't detract from the magnitude of the beauty of the book. You can catch a preview of some of the illustrations from Book 2 on Pottermore. The books themselves are almost coffee-table size, the construction is sturdy and the pages are heavy and glossed. The plan is to release one illustrated book per year, starting last year, so it is not too late to make this a holiday giving tradition.


Vance: for lover of the best science fiction has to offer

The Big Book of Science Fiction

by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer (editors)

I kid you not, the introduction alone is worth the price of this book. Written by the editors, the intro lays out the entire evolution of science fiction, from Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Jules Verne, and H.G. Wells through today. But it doesn't just tell the story of Western science fiction, which is almost exclusively what I'm familiar with, it also explores how sci-fi developed in other parts of the world, too, often cut off from the Western tradition, and how it matured in response to the social conditions present in those countries and cultures. The stories collected in the book, collected methodically and purposefully, then demonstrate that history and evolution. I love vintage sci-fi -- in my gift guide entry last year, I highlighted the Fantagraphics EC Comics collections, and I have been known to wander into my local used books shop and buy sci-fi anthologies from the 50s and 60s pretty much at random. In most of those cases and with the EC collections, there are standout gems, and a bunch of junk that gets skipped, or after I scratch the pulp sci-fi or horror itch, I put the books aside until next time. But this is not to be the fate of The Big Book of Science Fiction. It's long, and I have not made my way through it fully yet, but the variety and consistently stellar (see that?) quality of the stories really do set this apart as, in my mind, *the* premier anthology of short science fiction. A must-have.



Mike: For the nostalgic comic book lover in your life

Paper Girls Volume 1

by Brian K. Vaughan

As I contemplate what an amazing year of comics it has been, I struggled to find one book that was truly a must read.  In my opinion, a lot of the titles that have come out this year are not to be missed, but as I pondered my stack of comics I reached the conclusion that that one title in 2016 was Paper Girls.  Brian K. Vaughan is no stranger to writing amazing books (Saga, Y: The Last Man, Ex Machina) and Paper Girls is as good as any of them.  In a similar vein to Stranger Things, Paper Girls had an 80's nostalgia to it that was expertly crafted.  It didn't feel forced, and reminded me of The Goonies, Stand By Me, and others.  It brings me visions of riding my bike around the neighborhood ready for anything the world could throw at me.  In the case of the characters in this title, the paper girls are confronted with mysterious aliens and mayhem and never miss a beat.  Featuring a cast of strong female characters, Paper Girls is just the title for someone on your list looking for a bit of nostalgia and fun.


Shana: for the lover of the best short fiction being written today

The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories

by Ken Liu

In Ken Liu's first short story collection, The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories, the reader is met with some of Ken's most awarded and award-nominated short stories with one never before published, 15 in all. This speculative fiction collection is one of the most moving and awe-inspiring I've ever read with many of the stories centering around themes such as family, identity, and politics. Liu's ability to strike the reader to the core with his poetic prose is unparalleled and any recipient of this collection will be rewarded with a gut-punch of a read.


POSTED BY: Joe Sherry - Writer / Editor at Adventures in Reading since 2004. Nerds of a Feather contributor since 2015, editor since 2016. Minnesotan.  

Microreview [film]: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is the latest installment in J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World. Written and produced by her, it follows Newt Scamander (author of the textbook of the same name) as he travels to New York City in the 1920s with a case full of magical creatures. In America, like in Britain, wizards are in hiding under the Statute of Secrecy, but here they fear persecution from groups like the Second Salemers, who believe witches should be burned or flogged. Magical beasts are banned in NYC but when Newt arrives something magical is already terrorizing the city. As you can imagine, bringing a suitcase full of magical creatures into a big city could be a recipe for disaster and as expected, some of the creatures escape.

The character development in the film is quite good, for the main characters at least. I think credit in this right goes equally to Rowling and the actors who play these characters. Eddie Redmayne in particular is wonderful as Newt Scamander. He is humble and funny and caring, and fierce when he needs to be. Queenie is my second favorite, and she fits into Rowling’s m.o. of having ‘beautiful’ female characters be more complex than traditional media usually allow.

All that said, there is a certain magic missing from the film. The sense of wonder and awe is just not the same with the Harry Potter series, and I think a lot of that is due to the fact that this is a story told only through film. I read (and listen to) the Harry Potter series very frequently and that sense of wonder and magic is always there, no matter if it’s the first or hundredth iteration. Rowling's writing in Harry Potter proper is so charming and much care is given to minutia. A lot of that is lost in this film translation. For example, there are a few glaring continuity issues. Newt spends the first quarter of the film trying to catch a niffler, which is cute and fun and all, but he could have easily caught it in three seconds with a summoning charm. And also, I’m pretty sure you need to have a wand to apparate, even side-along, and I can't believe that it’s possible to apparate with a muggle. 

The overall story is also quite contrived. That’s not to say that the Harry Potter series didn’t follow known story telling tropes, but Fantastic Beasts is highly predictable throughout and the climax and resolution feel like an afterthought.

There is one thing though that really makes you appreciate film as the medium for this story, and that is Newt's case. I was a bit disgruntled up to this point, missing the magic and feeling a bit bored by the story, despite Redmayne’s stellar performance, but then we get to see inside Newt’s case.

The case reminds me a lot of Hermione’s purse, and Newt reminds me a lot of Hagrid, and there is an erumpent, which makes me think longingly of Luna and her father and that all makes my heart smile. But I miss reading about the wizarding world in book format. I just do. While there are some writers and filmmakers who can bring that wonder and hidden detail alive in film, Fantastic Beasts just isn't there. I’m sure there are hidden treasures to be discovered upon multiple viewings, but the problem is, I have no desire to see this film again. While it was entertaining for sure, nothing about it grabbed ahold of me or left me wanting more.

The Math

Baseline assessment: 7/10

Bonuses: +1 for Redmayne’s performance, +1 for the case

Negatives: -1 for the uninspiring ending, -1 for the lack of wonder

Nerd Coefficient: 7/10 - an enjoyable experience, but not without its flaws

----

POSTED BY: Tia  Harry Potter fanatic first, everything else second, and nerds of a feather contributor since 2014

Reference: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. dir David Yates. written by J.K.Rowling

SFF Essentials: Books you should totally be reading out loud to your kids

Lists like this are always a disaster: the books on them are either so obvious it hardly bears mentioning (The Hobbit, for instance) or "completely inappropriate for my sensitive/flighty/etc. kids". I'm sure many readers will disagree/object strenuously to some of these selections. And it's true, I've only read a few of them to my own kids so far (we're currently halfway through Taran Wanderer). But I remain convinced that, despite the sometimes archaic language and confusing situations in some of these books, they're doing my kids good. Do I have any evidence for that? Not a bit. But then, when has that ever stopped me before?

The below list is in ascending order of seriousness/target age (from 3 or so up to about 10, assuming my kids are still speaking to me then!)

Where the Wild Things Are, by Maurice Sendak     

I don't really remember much about this book, to be honest, except the strange certainty that it was my favorite book as a preliterate kid. I loved having it read to me--like candy for my ears. The more serious question is, should we be showing the movie adaptation to our young kids? My answer is "probably not", because the only other thing I remember about the book was that it was a bit frightening, and the movie is bound to up the fright ante...

The Chronicles of Prydain, by Lloyd Alexander

   The Book of Three

   The Black Cauldron  

         The Princess of Llyr

         Taran Wanderer (we’re halfway through right now!)

         The High King

I loved these tales as a child, enough to attempt reading them to my own little ones. They seem moderately taken with it, especially the almost-six year old, but I find myself changing the story a bit as a I read it, so needlessly archaic is the language at times. We'll see if their interest survives to the end of book five. The older kid has also seen the movie "adaptation", the Black Cauldron, which is thoroughly mediocre and even a bit scary at times, but seemed to think it was okay.

Hey, I never got a poster map! That would've been great...

 The Ice Dragon, by George R.R. Martin

I was pleasantly surprised by this for-kids book by GRRM, who after all is not known for his kid-friendly themes. I immediately began reading this to my kids, with mixed results: they loved it (because of the illustrations), and thus were spoiled for non-illustrated books for all time :(

The Earthsea Trilogy, by Ursula K. LeGuin 

A Wizard of Earthsea

The Tombs of Atuan

The Farthest Shore

This one's a no-brainer. Despite being rather sexist (a surprise considering LeGuin's later career!) all three of these books, especially the first, are excellent, if a bit dark (and thus their place in the ascending order of seriousness/target age is a bit higher). Tehanu I disliked as a child, but like now as an adult; the same goes for the fifth book. But should you show the movie adaptations (Earthsea, a live action adaptation, or Tales from Earthsea, the animated adaptation)? A firm "no" to the first, a "meh" to the second.

The Dark Is Rising Series, by Susan Cooper             

Over Sea, Under Stone

The Dark is Rising

Greenwitch

The Grey King

Silver on the Tree

I haven't started reading these to my kids yet, and thus haven't re-read them myself for decades, but I have high hopes that my rosy memory of this series is not a mere illusion: I loved them! The film version, on the other hand, is all kinds of awful, in my opinion. What's with the gratuitous blowing up of stuff scene?

 The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien

"And not for the last time!" The periodic intonation of this line (or something like it) made a powerful impression on me, for some reason, and I loved having this read to me. So much so, my parents (unwisely?) just gave me the Lord of the Rings books and said "do your best." There's nothing objectionable in the content, really, aside from some rather comical violence. But then there's the schizophrenic movies, which can't decide whether to be for kids or some sort of weird LOTR 2.0 wannabes. Should you show your kids (any of) the movies? No.

The Hero and the Crown, by Robin McKinley

As a child (and as an adult, come to think of it) I adored books about intrepid heroines (not that it was easy to find them!), and this was one of my favorites. I can't remember anything particularly problematic about it, so it should be fair game for reading to my kids once we get through all the material above!

A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L’Engle

Of course you should be reading your kids this book: it'll teach them the word 'tesseract'! True, I still don't understand what that is, but I sure liked reading about it as a kid! And unusually for this list, I actually have re-read this book as a quasi-adult (~20), and found it "still good", just like the Dead Sea Tupperware from Aladdin!

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll          

If you want to blow your kids' minds, a) read them this, but b) wait until they're a bit older (that's why this book is in the middle of this list, rather than at the light-and-fluffy top). Glowing eyes in the shadows, queens who chop off nigh everybody's heads--it's not for the faint of heart! Nor are the many movie adaptations, in general: screen them with care, if at all. Nightmares may logically result.

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (but not the rest), by C.S. Lewis 

Note that I haven't included any of the six sequels in this list, and yes, that's intentional. I vividly remember many details from this book, and virtually nothing from the other six. I guess you could read them to your kids if you're desperately in search of something to fill up hundreds of hours of reading-time, but otherwise, I'd leave it at book one and tell them to read the rest themselves if they want. Not coincidentally, the same advice holds for the movies, which started rather mediocrely with LWW and then nosedived quickly. 

The Princess Bride, by William Goldman             

Holy crap, I think I've just found a book that's better than its movie adaptation! Can such a thing truly exist? But in all seriousness, the book is a lot better, mostly because of the awesome, sassy Princess Buttercup (as opposed to the Robin Wright push-over damsel-in-distress oxygen waster in the movie). Don't believe me? Go back and re-watch this film, then re-read the book, and you'll see what I mean. Yikes! How did I love this movie so much, when it's such a pale (not to mention sexist) echo of the book? On the plus side, content-wise both are totally okay for kids (in fact, they should probably be higher on this list, as below we get into some dark-ish stuff).

Howl’s Moving Castle, by Diana Wynne Jones

This is one of the only books on this list that I never read as a child (I got around to it as an adult). I sure wish someone had loved me enough to read it to me, though. What a great story! The Ghibli adaptation is quite good also, though it takes the story in a decidedly darker, war-torn direction, and it's partly for this reason that the book appears so far down the list (indicating the seriousness of its topic). It's unfair to judge a book by its movie adaptation, you say? No, it's just practicality: your kids will totally wear you down into showing you the movie, and there's some rather haunting stuff in this film that might make it unsuitable for very young children.

The Neverending Story, by Michael Ende                 

And this book is in fact the only one on this list that I still haven't ever read. The movie made a deep (in fact, a terrifying) impression on me, and I guess I never dared read the source material for fear of deepening the scars. This is by way of saying that some might believe this book is less serious and should therefore be higher on the list, but my traumatic experience watching the movie at a very young age has convinced me that concepts like The Nothing are too much for a __-year old to handle...yet also quite memorable and fascinating stuff if the child is ready to hear it!

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, by J.K. Rowling                 

"Why isn't this higher on the list? It's for kids!" Yes, the first three or so books are light-hearted enough, but good luck getting your kids to stop at book one. If you dare read this one to them, be prepared to suffer the consequences (not least, having a few solid years of reading material that grows increasingly more upsetting). Same goes for the movies, only more so. Actually, the first two movies are kind of crappy from a technical point of view (sloppy, Chris Columbus-esque sequential reaction shots of all the kids, poorly paced editing, etc.), but they're the only two that you can show your (young) kids without rocking the foundations of their world, and once you start reading book one, you're committing to having them hear/read/see the rest, in short order no less.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets            

Hah! If you're reading this, it means you ignored my advice and started reading Harry Potter to your kids when they were like six. Now they're catatonic on the floor at age 6.5, having watched all the movies already and suffering permanent damage in the process. You'll curse yourself for not having cast expelliarmus on your own hand when it was reaching for the Prisoner of Azkaban, so let me reiterate: read HP books to your kids at your own peril, and try mightily to 'pause' here, after book two (which, unlike #1, didn't have a patronizing dumbed-down title for the "Yanks"), to give your kids time to beef up their psychological defenses before the onslaught of the rest!

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (manga), by Miyazaki Hayao

The movie is awesome, and while shockingly violent in some ways, is still okay to show kids of a certain baseline age (maybe 10+?). But did you know that Miyazaki actually wrote the manga himself--and wrote it first, before his seminal film? Manga are actually a great choice for bedtime reading material, since they come with pictures, but most manga are way too sexualized/violent/adult-themed for pleasant dreams; Nausicaa is something of a (potential) exception. I can't promise the God Warriors won't cause a nightmare or two, of course!

Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card

In some ways this is a natural choice for a list like this, but in others its subtly though deeply disturbing subject matter might perhaps disqualify it altogether as bedtime reading material. Who wants to read their kids a story of inter-species genocide, after all? But on the other hand, it's one of the most intriguing novels of the last several decades (unlike its sequels, which I found underwhelming as a child), and as long as your kid(s) is(are) old enough to handle the content, might as well show them the solid movie adaptation while you're at it!

Magician, by Raymond Feist 

(but probably not the rest of them, as they get 'heavy' quickly)

This is a book that could easily be higher on the list, but I remember it as being rather long and more of an adolescent coming-of-age tale than a 'for kids' sort of story. Still, I used to ride my bike down to the local library in a tizzy over the chance to re-read it when I was like nine, so it can't have been all bad, right? (Judging from Feist's recent "novels", I'm inclined to think Magician might secretly be really bad, and I was just too young/dumb to notice it at the time, however.)

Coraline, by Neil Gaiman      

What a cool, creepy story! And the movie even more so, if anything! That's the good news. The bad news: do not, under any circumstances, show your five-year-olds or under any part of this terrifying movie, and for good measure, best steer clear of the book too until they're old enough to weather the emotional turmoil of imagining their Other Mommy as a spidery monster...but what an awesome bedtime story, if they can handle it!

Fellowship of the Ring, by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Two Towers

The Return of the King

I've saved the best (?) but also the longest, most archaic, and downright most boring for last. Gasp--boring? Yeah, the whole Tom Bombadill digression in Fellowship of the Ring is uber-boring! I hate to trample on the bible of you Tolkien worshipers out there, but the series doesn't really get good until the very end of the FOTR, and more properly the beginning of TTT. That's why they're here at the end of the list: not because they're too scary (though there are certainly scary parts), but because they're too boring for younger kids to suffer through and not start to hate. And you can't raise a new generation of Nerds of a Feather if you ruin Tolkien for them by exposing them to it too early, now can you?

And thus, we have 24 books (actually over 30) that are indispensable reading materials when bedtime rolls around in your house. Your kids will probably love all these books, but take care about when to introduce them to this precious material, or your earnest efforts to proselytize your kids might backfire!

This list was constructed by Zhaoyun, Nerds of a Feather contributor since 2013, SFF lover since the snot-nosed age of five and fervent believer in a cautious approach to starting kids on a course of bedtime SFF.