Speculative Fiction

WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS SHAMELESS BEHAVIOUR.

So, anyway, there’s this thing called Speculative Fiction 2012: The Year’s Best Online Reviews & Commentary. I think it’s a great idea, there’s a lot of awesome stuff out there – really insightful, interesting, beautifully written stuff, but it can be hard to find in the mix. And a lot of the time people are doing it for free and for the love, and some of the most interesting stuff is not necessarily what ends up on the most popular blogs. I think it’s a fabulous idea to collect together the best online reviews and online commentary of the year, and even more awesome that they’re accepting nominations from anyone who makes the time to paste a link or two into their page. I imagine there will be some rigorous examination going on after that, but once the posts are in the pile, then if they’re good, they have a chance.

Here comes the shameless bit: vote for me? I’ve written the odd thing or two I’m sort of proud of, this year, and if you liked any of it and want to help me spread the word, this would be a marvellous way of doing so. I’ve never been paid for any of my non-fiction work – for the most part, I like just putting it out there – but it would be nice to be. More importantly, it’d be nice to have a larger reception for my work.

If you’re so inclined, the link to details of the collection and submission page is here. It’s a really simple form – you don’t need to give oodles of personal info or whatever, just your name, an email address, and a link to the review or commentary you liked.

I think it’s limited to books, which is a shame, as I haven’t reviewed as many books as last year, but if you’d like to look over any of my reviews or book commentaries, they’re listed below:

Meditations on Death – an essay on the theme of death as a release in science fiction and fantasy; many works cited, but focus is on The Dark Tower: The Drawing of the Three.

Reviewing Through the Time Machine: Remembering Margaret Cavendish – An essay arguing for consideration of Margaret Cavendish as the first science fiction writer, and reviewing her work, The Blazing World.

Review: Romanitas, by Sophia McDougall

Review: Rome Burning, by Sophia McDougall

Review: Kraken, by China Miéville

Read Along With Rhube, #25, #26, and #27. (Not that I would really expect any of these to be picked, being merely part of a vast collection of essays.)

Anyway, if you fancy it, I’d be grateful.