An Unofficial Hugo Book Club Blog

This is a fascinating piece and very worth reading.

Should @awakaruk.bsky.social get a personalized “zardoz” license plate for our car?

A PRavetz IMKO-1 computer. Has a weird-looking keyboard, a bulbous monitor, and an audio-casette player hooked into it for data storage.

We celebrated our 10th anniversary of blogging back in February of last year. To mark the occasion, we posted one of the stupidest things we've ever written.

Some people didn't find it funny, but I'm still giggling about Pravetz IMKO computers and Billy Zane.

hugoclub.blogspot.com/2025/02/on-o...

Hot Take: The Abstraction of Science Fiction Discussion of Hugo Award nominees for best novel, other science fiction novels, and analysis of the awards. We read all the nominees before we vote.

Honestly, I thought this piece would get us more angry rebuttals than we got.

But I genuinely think that the anti-modernity aesthetic argument made by many arch-conservative SFF fans has roots in fascist thinking of the 1920s. I still love this piece.

hugoclub.blogspot.com/2025/08/hot-...

Worldcon In An Age Of American Truculence Discussion of Hugo Award nominees for best novel, other science fiction novels, and analysis of the awards. We read all the nominees before we vote.

"Worldcon In An Age Of American Truculence" is something we're still thinking about. Think we might end the blog post differently if we wrote it now, a year later.

But I think it's an important conversation to be having.

hugoclub.blogspot.com/2025/04/worl...

The Nukes Of Hazard Discussion of Hugo Award nominees for best novel, other science fiction novels, and analysis of the awards. We read all the nominees before we vote.

In September, we looked at the flourishing of atomic war depictions in cinema of the 1980s in a piece we called "The Nukes of Hazard."

Spent a lot of time watching depressing movies for this, but some of them were truly excellent. Threads stands up well today.

hugoclub.blogspot.com/2025/09/the-...

Marooned in the Undying Lands Discussion of Hugo Award nominees for best novel, other science fiction novels, and analysis of the awards. We read all the nominees before we vote.

We mused about the end of history, and the malaise of narratives with nothing left to achieve in a piece we called "Marooned in the Undying Lands."

I was particularly pleased with the quip calling the TV show Rings of Power "How Galadriel Got Her Groove Back."

hugoclub.blogspot.com/2025/01/maro...

Looking back at our posts from 2025, I sort of think it was a particularly good year for our blog.

Going to re-post links to five favourite pieces we published in this thread.

Would love your Hugo-nominating votes if you think we earned them this year.

Heaven 17 - Lets All Make A Bomb (Official Video) - 1981 YouTube video by ohral_tv

Or "Let's All Make A Bomb"?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-Sz...

Once again weirdly delighted that somehow I've developed a real side gig being a DJ for the nerds.

(And yes, I'll be doing a dance at this year's Worldcon as well)

Fuzzy the Channel Island Fox plush new launch by Makeship limited edition

Fuzzy the Channel Island Fox is the mascot of LAcon V, and now a plush version can come home with you!

A clean white library space across three floors.

The International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) is about to turn 100 ... so they're asking what the next 100 years hold for libraries and librarianship.

They're holding a short story competition (Judged by @maryrobinettekowal.com !!!!)

Details at the link: www.ifla.org/news/li-sci-...

a man in a suit is smiling in front of a sign that says hulu Alt: President Cal in the TV show Paradise saying "I Like That." It's one of the new entries on the list of labour unions in SFF.

Updated the list of labour unions in SFF with a ton of new entries. (Many found by @joachimboaz.bsky.social)

Everything from 19th Century utopian works to reactionary tomes from the 1970s.

List as HTML: hugoclub.blogspot.com/2018/12/orga...

List as Spreadsheet: docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

Fair.

Solo on Apple + featuring Rebecca Ferguson

The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills

Paradise on Hulu. With Sterling K. Brown

Fallout on Amazon Prome. With Ellie Purnell

Which is your favourite of the current TV shows about a privileged elite living in an enclave insulated from a world that is quickly descending into chaos?

When I say ACAB, I *especially* mean the Oans

ASCAB (all space cops are bastards)

the verb "spiraling" seems to be doing a lot of work in headlines these days. is that a good sign?

This is great. Reminded me strongly of Ben Winters' Last Policeman trilogy, which I loved. The same pervasive sense of a principled or disciplined despair that somehow becomes a sustaining integrity, a flashlight - for what it's worth - in the void. Hideous creatures and lovely sentences too!

Yes. Very much so. Will add it on our next update.

a man in a suit is smiling in front of a sign that says hulu Alt: President Cal in the TV show Paradise saying "I Like That." It's one of the new entries on the list of labour unions in SFF.

Updated the list of labour unions in SFF with a ton of new entries. (Many found by @joachimboaz.bsky.social)

Everything from 19th Century utopian works to reactionary tomes from the 1970s.

List as HTML: hugoclub.blogspot.com/2018/12/orga...

List as Spreadsheet: docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

Registration at Worldcon in 2025 - Photo by Brian Richardson.

Here are 10 reasons you should join us at LAcon V! (August 27-31, 2026 at the Anaheim Convention Center)

#10 - Aspiring authors, editors, and fans can meet industry professionals and fellow enthusiasts, making it the greatest networking event in speculative fiction.

www.lacon.org/register

This is great.

As I wrote in the Globe a few weeks ago, all public officials -- and municipalities, too -- should leave X.

Wonder what @tkingfisher.com has to say about slime molds...

This probably is the most fundamental difference between Canada and the United States.

Interestingly, I'd probably say that 53 per cent of Americans are actually incorrect in their assessment of their fellow citizens.

The Boys – Final Season Trailer | Prime Video YouTube video by Prime Video

I'm starting to wonder if Homelander isn't actually the good guy?

OK. I'm doing this.

One like = one opinion about either Trek or Zardoz!

The profile description on @ultralaser.bsky.social should be added to this thread.

A clean white library space across three floors.

The International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) is about to turn 100 ... so they're asking what the next 100 years hold for libraries and librarianship.

They're holding a short story competition (Judged by @maryrobinettekowal.com !!!!)

Details at the link: www.ifla.org/news/li-sci-...

PROSPER PLENTY WILL BE RETURNING IN AVENGERS: DOOMSDAY!