Being a speculative writer (although not exclusively a speculative one, I suppose) does weird things to one’s brain: one tends to walk around in a bit of a daze because either you’re trying to solve something in your work or observations of the world around you tend to be layered with, “I wonder what would happen if, instead of what I just witnessed…” This is great when one is alone; while in company, this is distracting.
This weekend though, that preoccupation was great since it helped me make progress on my first story and start the notes on a second story.
On to the speculative nuggets!
2021 Aurealis Award Winners
Australia has a couple of other Awards, namely the Ditmar Awards and the Australian Children’s Book Council Awards, but as they state on the website, those other awards don’t differentiate between speculative fiction. The Auralis Awards are answer to that, and they just released their 2021 winners. I’m most intrigued by Relics, Wrecks, & Ruins anthology. What strikes your fancy here?
Tochi Onyebuchi’s Newsletter
Last week I mentioned one of Onyebuchi’s books. I was happy to find that he’s got a newsletter he just started over on Substack. His last post is a thoughtful one on how getting paid to write changes your relationship to it. His reason for starting his own newsletter is one I’ve read from several other authors.
Blobs inside Earth
They’re bigger than continents, have a surprising and confusing composition, and why they’re there is a mystery. Although a curious theory includes and involves how our Moon came to be. Anyone heard from Theia lately?