It’s been a while, hasn’t it? My vacation seems a world away now and I’ve come back to discover that the ‘w’ key on my keyboard is sticking which is unfortunate when you’re writing a post entitled World Wide Wednesday! Anyway, let’s see what the Internet kicked up over the last week or so…

1) Pat’s Retiring?

Okay, the most recent kerfuffle concerns Pat of Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist, who has stated his intention to possibly retire. Mark Charan Newton blogs in reply regarding the general state of the blogosphere compared to when Pat started — and Larry from OF Blog of the Fallen snarks.

2) More Blogging – BBAW

Book Blogger Appreciation Week is going strong all this week — visit the website to see articles, awards and links to many new blogs!

fantasy and science fiction book reviews3) Zombie Week on Tor.com

Not quite the same as BBAW, this week the Tor.com are celebrating everything zombie – with short stories, competitions, artwork and much more. Also check out their Twitter feed @tordotcom for plentiful discussion points.

4) Post Modernism

Brandon Sanderson wrote an essay on post modernism in fantasy, which was promptly shot down by Jeff VanderMeer. Speaking of Mr Sanderson, he and Brent Weeks are sharing the load over at Babel Clash this week.

5) Game of Thrones news hots up!

The Wertzone was once again ahead of the rest of us in bringing the latest Game of Thrones shots. Those over at Westeros dissected the trailer released, showing who each of the characters might be and in what scenes.

6) Inferior Fantasy?

Another post that created all manner of hoo-ha on the Internet was The Speculative Scotsman‘s discussion concerning fantasy vs. literary fiction, and whether fantasy came out as inferior. The post led to a feverish number of comments, some in favour and some not in favour, causing Niall to set out his position once again.

7) Finishing Books

Our friendly Book Smugglers did a fine post on finishing books — whether you finish every book you start, and the reasons for not being able to finish them. Some lovely comments as well that further the discussion.

8) The Allure of the Short Story

Over on Speculative Book Review, Cara has taken some time to examine short stories — what sorts are available and where we might find them. It is well worth a read if you enjoy speculative fiction in the shorter form.fantasy and science fiction book reviews

9) To Whitewash or Not to Whitewash

We at Fantasy Literature decry whitewashing, and were very interested in a recent post over at Stomping on Yeti. Patrick raised the idea that a forthcoming cover by Angry Robot might have been whitewashed — to his credit, when Patrick was approached by Angry Robot he corrected his comments to reflect the information he had been given.

10) Best Female Characters in SFF?

The most recent Mind Meld over on SF Signal asks various authors who their favourite SFF female characters are.

Author

  • Amanda Rutter (guest)

    AMANDA RUTTER, one of our guest reviewers, used to be an accountant in the UK but she escaped the world of numbers and is now living in a fantasy world she creates. She runs Angry Robot's YA imprint, Strange Chemistry. And we knew her when....