Help me find a new SF/F review site to read.
June 7, 2016 8:31 AM Subscribe
All my favorite science fiction and fantasy book review sites are dying, with two of the best (io9 and SF Signal), fading in the last month. I know there are still a few podcasts, but I would rather stick with something I can read. Are there any good sites left with news about new books (or audiobooks) and authors, as well as intelligent reviews? I'd also be willing to follow Twitter feeds that do the same.
I feel your pain. I enjoy the written reviews of The Speculative Scotsman, maybe you will too.
posted by bluecore at 8:58 AM on June 7, 2016
posted by bluecore at 8:58 AM on June 7, 2016
Strange Horizons.
I also enjoy the intermittent blogulation at Aqueduct Press and back issues of the Cascadian Subduction Zone (free after 6 months) may be of interest.
I cannot in any way vouch for The Black Gate except that they published what I thought a very intelligent introduction to M John Harrison. For all I know they are terrible or politically loathesome in other respects, but I was struck by that one article and want to check them out.
Wrong Questions is a blog and updates - well, as frequently as one can reasonably expect a well-written blog to update. Lately she's been blogging a lot about movies and television, which is not typical for the site - there are lots of useful links in the sidebar.
I also enjoy Marooned Off Vesta - it is more commentary than reviews, but if you poke around I think you'll find a bunch of things of interest.
posted by Frowner at 9:03 AM on June 7, 2016 [1 favorite]
I also enjoy the intermittent blogulation at Aqueduct Press and back issues of the Cascadian Subduction Zone (free after 6 months) may be of interest.
I cannot in any way vouch for The Black Gate except that they published what I thought a very intelligent introduction to M John Harrison. For all I know they are terrible or politically loathesome in other respects, but I was struck by that one article and want to check them out.
Wrong Questions is a blog and updates - well, as frequently as one can reasonably expect a well-written blog to update. Lately she's been blogging a lot about movies and television, which is not typical for the site - there are lots of useful links in the sidebar.
I also enjoy Marooned Off Vesta - it is more commentary than reviews, but if you poke around I think you'll find a bunch of things of interest.
posted by Frowner at 9:03 AM on June 7, 2016 [1 favorite]
Strange Horizons is a good 'un. Very intelligent reviews, albeit usually quite a bit later than everywhere else. They occasionally do round-table discussions on particular authors. You could do far worse than following up on some of the reviewers you like and checking out their twitter feeds or blogs. Same for Tor.com. Liz Bourke and Abigail Nussbaum are two critics worth following.
Not sure if comics are quite your thing but Women Write About Comics is good. Reviews sprinkled in with general geek news, with a feminist slant.
John Scalzi's blog has a nice feature called 'The Big Idea' where authors get to say a brief word about their upcoming book and what was the central thing that inspired them to write it.
Crooked Timber is much more of a general politics/culture blog but I really liked their roundtable discussions on SF/F books by Jo Walton and Felix Gilman. Other books pop up there occasionally.
posted by ocular shenanigans at 9:05 AM on June 7, 2016
Not sure if comics are quite your thing but Women Write About Comics is good. Reviews sprinkled in with general geek news, with a feminist slant.
John Scalzi's blog has a nice feature called 'The Big Idea' where authors get to say a brief word about their upcoming book and what was the central thing that inspired them to write it.
Crooked Timber is much more of a general politics/culture blog but I really liked their roundtable discussions on SF/F books by Jo Walton and Felix Gilman. Other books pop up there occasionally.
posted by ocular shenanigans at 9:05 AM on June 7, 2016
James Nicoll posts book reviews almost daily. They're rarely deep, but he has a nice snarky turn of phrase and a deep familiarity with the genre. (If you want conversation, his Livejournal can be pretty entertaining.)
posted by suelac at 9:29 AM on June 7, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by suelac at 9:29 AM on June 7, 2016 [1 favorite]
Lightspeed! They do reviews along with all their other SF goodness. It's an online magazine and if you like it I encourage you to subscribe or buy issues but most of the content is also readable for free.
Their June issue is People of Color Destroy Science Fiction! (following in the tradition of previous special issues that reacted against attempts to exclude women and minorities from the genre) and looks to be a treat!
posted by Wretch729 at 9:48 AM on June 7, 2016
Their June issue is People of Color Destroy Science Fiction! (following in the tradition of previous special issues that reacted against attempts to exclude women and minorities from the genre) and looks to be a treat!
posted by Wretch729 at 9:48 AM on June 7, 2016
If you don't already know of it, you might try File 770. It's a top-rated fan site whose owner does a really thorough job of assembling links to all sorts of things. The commenters are frequently worth reading(!).
posted by Weftage at 3:55 PM on June 7, 2016
posted by Weftage at 3:55 PM on June 7, 2016
Black Gate has some very nice ethics - they declined a Hugo nomination after discovering they'd been on the Rabid Puppy slate, and last year one of their most popular bloggers posted A Detailed Explanation why he was declining the Hugo nomination for best fan writer. (Warning: it's about 10k words long.)
I've only poked around on the site a bit--seems like they've got some good writing, but nothing hooked men enough to come back often--but I was very happy to put them in the mental category of "groups that refuse to benefit from bigotry in action."
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 10:48 PM on June 7, 2016
I've only poked around on the site a bit--seems like they've got some good writing, but nothing hooked men enough to come back often--but I was very happy to put them in the mental category of "groups that refuse to benefit from bigotry in action."
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 10:48 PM on June 7, 2016
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