Nov 28 2025
And now for a little counter-programming… (she says, having already bought a huge stack of gifts online.) Subtitled Fantasy and Science Fiction from a Powerful African Voice (and with a foreword by Eugen Bacon,) this collection definitely functions as both a critique of capitalism and other exploitative systems, as well as a celebration of Ghana …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/11/28/black-friday-short-stories-from-africa-by-cheryl-s-ntumy/
Sep 08 2025
I have recently remarked on how my reading brain seems to have pivoted away from classic/cozy murder mysteries to punchy short horror stories as a sort of mental palate cleanser between books, likely due to the shift of my literary consumption to a minimum of three mystery novels per week. So Eric LaRocca’s This Skin …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/09/08/this-skin-was-once-mine-and-other-disturbances-by-eric-larocca/
Jul 20 2025
Officially, I’m taking a break from reading for the Hugo Awards this year. I’ve found participating in the Hugo process as a reader and voter wonderfully rewarding, not least because it has introduced me to authors I would have completely missed otherwise, but I’m also a conscientious voter, and that means I try to read …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/07/20/hugo-awards-2025-best-short-story/
Jul 16 2025
I have become even more time blind than usual lately, and am woefully behind on any emails that may be reminding me of voting deadlines. Nevertheless, I’m glad that I’m finally getting a chance to look at this year’s Hugo nominees, beginning, as is tradition, with Best Short Story! And, as is tradition, let’s start …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/07/16/hugo-awards-2025-best-short-story-nominees/
Feb 20 2025
I deeply appreciate what Michael Toledo is trying to do with this collection of short stories, interspersed with several illuminating autobiographical entries. The parts that were written with young readers in mind are trying hard to reach them at their level, especially the at-risk kids like Cielo in Grandfather To Granddaughter and Gracie in Heart. …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/02/20/be-limitless-be-love-by-michael-toledo/
Oct 06 2024
And Go Like This collects nine works of Crowley’s shorter fiction that were originally published between 2002 and 2018, plus the final story “Anosognosia” — when a person cannot recognize that they have a disability because of an underlying condition — which was published for the first time in this volume. They range in length from …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2024/10/06/and-go-like-this-by-john-crowley/
Aug 28 2024
I am genuinely vexed that this is the first time that I, a pop culture maximalist, have ever heard of Iain McCaig. Ofc, as I was just discussing with another Learned League Llama yesterday, my mind dwells more on story than on details, but it still seems bizarre to me that this name has never …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2024/08/28/smalltown-tales-by-iain-mccaig/
Jun 20 2024
Hunh, I didn’t realize that almost all of the novelette nominees in this year’s Hugo Awards category have their own entries on Goodreads. I’ll have to populate my shelves there accordingly. Anyway, my favorite novelette this year by a country mile was C. L. Polk’s Ivy, Angelica, Bay. She’s long been one of the authors …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2024/06/20/hugo-awards-2024-best-novelette-nominees/
Jun 08 2024
I was glad to see that enough Chinese fans nominated works for this year’s Hugos that a fair number of works and people from China made it to the list of finalists. There are two short stories, one novelette, and two novellas in the long-established fiction categories, plus one in best graphic story, two in …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2024/06/08/hugo-awards-2024-best-short-story/
Jun 06 2024
And we’re back! After the registration debacle in Chengdu last year — never mind all the subsequent scandals — it was a relief to be able to sign up quickly and easily for Glasgow and get my voting packet for the 2024 Hugo Awards. I begin my coverage, as always, with the Best Short Story …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2024/06/06/hugo-awards-2024-best-short-story-nominees/
Al Singh
Doug Merrill
Doreen Sheridan
Emily Lauer
John Pitzel
Lars N. Goldschlager
Laura Eilers
Professor X
Robert Maedgen
Sylvere Ap Leanan
The Shire