Goodbyes, Realizations, and A Thing Somewhat Unrelated to the First Two Things

Hello, readers. Today I said goodbye to many dear friends: human, robot, and otherwise. There was wine, some tears, and a few questions as to the groovyness of jiving automatons. I'm speaking, of course, of the final episode of Battlestar Galactica, which reminded me, at different points, of Ulysses, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and Out of Africa. It was that kind of show. And one day it may be nominated for a Hugo, as was this year's mid-season finale, "Revelations."

Other things nominated for a Hugo this year: (nominations being announced yesterday)

Best Novel:

• Anathem by Neal Stephenson (Morrow; Atlantic UK)
• The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (HarperCollins; Bloomsbury UK)
• Little Brother by Cory Doctorow (Tor Teen; HarperVoyager UK)
• Saturn’s Children by Charles Stross (Ace; Orbit UK)
• Zoe’s Tale by John Scalzi (Tor)

A very interesting list. Several Brits, a couple of young adult books, and a single pair of homonyms.

Best Novellette (All available online):

• “Alastair Baffle’s Emporium of Wonders” by Mike Resnick (Asimov’s Jan 2008)
• “The Gambler” by Paolo Bacigalupi (Fast Forward 2)
• “Pride and Prometheus” by John Kessel (F&SF Jan 2008)
• “The Ray-Gun: A Love Story” by James Alan Gardner (Asimov’s Feb 2008)
• “Shoggoths in Bloom” by Elizabeth Bear (Asimov’s Mar 2008)

Little to say here except that this category may feature my favorite title ever. I'll leave it to your imagination as to which, though. I'm having trouble picking between the two of them.

Check out SF Signal for the rest of the categories and nominees, including links to those which are online and free. Also, for further discussion of said nominees, generally considered to be a talented bunch, check out Wired, as well as John Scalzi himself on what it feels like to be nominated among such illustrious foes.

Happy Friday, readers. Remember: Instead of saying all of your goodbyes, let them know you realize that life goes fast. It's hard to make the good things last. You realize that the sun doesn't go down. It's just an illusion caused by the world spinning round.

ttfn.

A Meme

From Shaken & Stirred, I've learned of an end of the year meme--memes being questionnaires or activities (or other units of cultural transmission) passed along from blog to blog--in which a blog reprints the first sentences from the first posts of each month.

Welcome to the Yalobusha Review blog, a place to check back for YR updates, literary oddities, and the occasional rant, or song of praise, from the editors about whatever it is that editors get excited about. What a day yesterday. The World Fantasy Awards have been announced over at Science Fiction Awards Watch. Hello, readers, it has been far too long.

It is a short paragraph of first sentences this year, this year being the first year in which this blog existed. Next year, hopefully, will see many more sentences. Sentences are such lovely things, after all, quite capable of being as alluring and terrifying as any Cylon female*.

Happy Sunday-That-Was, readers.


*Battlestar Galactica's last ten episodes begin airing January 16th, and at the moment, I'm experiencing the peculiar sort of anticipation and dread which accompanies the ends of most of my favorite stories. As such, the occasional frak or Adama reference, may filter into this blog over the coming weeks. So say we all.