It’s been another glorious SciFi Month – always a great way to brighten up November as the nights draw in and the clocks go back. Cold weather and wet days make good reading days, and with the state of the world knocking my concentration and peace of mind for six, it’s been wonderful to contrast it with some great stories, some geeky discussions and our very first guest post from Lesley Conner and the Apex slush team!

Reading and review round-up 

In honour of SciFi Month I intended to read and review only SF novels using a strict definition of scifi as space-based SF. Sadly, this resulted in 3 DNFs, which dented my enthusiasm (and put a hole in my schedule, tch), so I went back to a broader definition to finish the month. I love books set in space. The ones on my TBR just weren’t what I was looking for at the moment.

Read previously, but saved for SciFi Month:

• Weird Space: Star of the Sea – Una McCormack   
• Polar City Blues – Katharine Kerr     

This month’s reading:

• Fluency – Jennifer Foehner Wells   
• Europe at Midnight – Dave Hutchinson     
• Europe in Winter – Dave Hutchinson     
• A Love of UIQ – Felix Guattari  
• Jurassic Park – Michael Crichton     
• Echopraxia – Peter Watts    

DNFs: Radiance (Catherynne Valente), Way Down Dark (J P Smythe), The Last Day of Captain Lincoln (EXO)

 

SciFi Month celebration

• Top Ten Tuesday: first contact
• Bite-size Special: what makes an Apex story? [Guest post]
• Top Ten Tuesday: SF movies
• SciFi Month Movie Special: Arrival
• Confessions of a bad SF fan
• Top Ten Tuesday: best SF for gifting
• The Book Was Better (or was it?)

Because SciFi Month isn’t the only time we love to read books set in space, a group of us will be embarking on a closer read of A Closed and Common Orbit later this week, with weekly discussions through the month – you’re welcome to join us. Sign up here.

Tremontaine

My travels in Scotland and into scifi meant I fell off the TremonTEAM wagon this month, but I have at least caught up on my weekly reviews:

• Review: Episode 3 – Fireworks
• Review: Episode 4 – All That Glitters
• Review: Episode 5 – Alive, and Home Here
• Review: Episode 6 – Blood and Silk

Stacking the shelves

I have been picking up a few ARCs as January is looking very exciting, but otherwise trying to contain myself in the run up to Christmas. Needless to say, that went out the window when Dragons & Jetpacks picked Jurassic Park as the SciFi Month read and I realised I no longer owned a copy. Well, now I do. Again.

Conscious demographics

My challenge to myself is to read diversely and to love every book. This tracker is intended to help me stay mindful of how I’m doing with that.

• 28 male (42%) / 33 female (50%) / 3 trans, non-binary or genderfluid (5%) + 2 anthologies
• 9 (14%) – by people of colour
• 11 (17%) – by LGBTQIA people / 16 (24%) featuring LGBTQIA protagonists

Actual challenges

• 66 / 75 books (excl. short stories, DNFs and Tremontaine Season Two)
• 25 (38%) – towards the Backlist Challenge (excl. re-reads)