With 2016 almost done, the SFF community is already gearing up for the 2017 awards season. To assist with the nominating process, I thought I’d share a list of works I’ve reviewed that are eligible. Ditmar Awards The Ditmars are Australia’s popularly-voted award for SFF. Traditionally, they’re presented at NatCon. In 2017 that will be […]
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Reading for Comfort and Defiance
The US election left many of my friends feeling frightened and angry. It left me worried for their safety and livelihoods. At first, I felt helpless all the way over here in Australia. But I’m a big believer in the power of small things. So I started tweeting book recommendations. Since it seemed to help […]
Happy blogiversary!
Today marks the second anniversary of Earl Grey Editing’s blog. I was very disappointed that Jazz Apple–the makers of the cupcake featured in my first anniversary post–had shut down sometime over the last year. I consoled myself with chocolates from Koko Black instead. The heart at the front is their dark chocolate Sienna Strawberry, a […]
Australian SFF book bloggers
One thing I find interesting about being involved with both the writing community and the reading community is noting where these groups intersect–and where they should intersect but don’t. Last month’s meeting of the Canberra Speculative Fiction Guild discussed marketing books. Naturally, the topic of reviewing arose. With paid reviewers rapidly disappearing from news outlets, connecting […]
2016 mid-year check-in
While 2016 has been a bit of a rough year for most, it has been rather kind to me so far. It afforded me the chance to attend Contact2016, as well as participate in voting for the Hugo Awards and judging the Aurealis Awards for the very first time. It has been challenging in the […]
Tabletop Games for Storytellers
Back in April, I had the opportunity to run a meeting for the Canberra Speculative Fiction Guild on tabletop games for storytellers. Players ranged from first-timers to players who’ve had decades of experience. I had great fun introducing them to some of my favourite games, so I figured why stop there? If you are a gaming […]
13 Bookish Witches
Today is Friday 13th, a time for black cats, superstition and (of course) witches. I might have a streak of practicality a mile wide, but I have a soft spot for witches in my reading material. Perhaps it’s because they often share that streak of practicality, along with a fierce sense of independence and a […]
Romance for Speculative Fiction Readers: Part 1
This month I’ve been running Read My Valentine: a reading challenge that focuses on romance novels for the duration of February. There are a lot of misconceptions out there about the romance genre and, like any genre, there’s a lot of less than stellar material. If you’re a speculative fiction reader new to romance or […]
A portrait of Mt TBR
My very first post to this blog mentions that Mt TBR was reaching perilous new heights after I became involved with the book blogging community. The post sounds naive to me now, particularly as I wrote it before I started accepting review books. I thought Mt TBR was high back then, but it has grown […]
Rat Queens and Dungeon World
In my review of Rat Queens, I mentioned that I’m a tabletop RPG geek. So I was absolutely thrilled when I saw this last month: Yes, it’s true, I’m writing a Rat Queens RPG with the assistance of @skinnyghost and the guts of @Dungeon_World. — Kurtis Wiebe (@kurtisjwiebe) July 7, 2015 Let me tell you […]
