Tell me about the good SFF you’re reading/watching in 2017!


Voting for this year’s Hugo Awards closed last Saturday, so while we wait for the results, it’s time to start looking forward to next year!

What science fiction and fantasy have you read or watched, and loved, this year? What are you looking forward to, that isn’t out yet? I'm specifically looking for works that were first published or aired in 2017 and are eligible for nomination for the 2018 Hugo Awards. I'm especially hungry for good shorter-than-novel-length fiction since I have a hard time finding good shorter works. I want recommendations for novels, too, though, please.

This is all I have on my “might nominate” list so far:
·         Seven Surrenders, by Ada Palmer
·         Wonder Woman

And here is my “to-read/watch” list so far:
·         Artemis, by Andy Weir (expected November 2017 - chapter 1 available for free now)
·         Provenance, by Ann Leckie (expected September 2017 - excerpt from chapter 1 available for free now)
·         Mira’s Last Dance, by Lois McMaster Bujold
·         The House of Binding Thorns, by Aliette deBodard
·         The Space Between the Stars, by Anne Corlett
·         Binti: Home, by Nnedi Okorafor
·         The Stone in the Skull, by Elizabeth Bear (expected October 2017)
·         Autonomous, by Annalee Newitz (expected September 2017)
·         Pilot X, by Tom Merritt
·         Golden Age of the Solar Clipper, series by Nathan Lowell (latest in the series came out this year)
·         Star Wars: The Last Jedi (expected December 2017)
·         Star Trek: Discovery season 1 (expected September 2017)
·         Doctor Who season 10
·         Orphan Black season 5

Some anthologies I want to check out:
·        Seat 14c: available FREE online (edited by Kathryn Cramer) – stories by Gregory Benford, Kathleen Ann Goonan, Brenda Cooper, Bruce Sterling, Hannu Rajaniemi, James Smythe, Nancy Kress, Daniel H. Wilson, Hugh Howey, James Morrow, Chen Qiufan, Madeline Ashby & Margaret Atwood, Karl Schroeder, Paolo Bacigalupi, Mike Resnick, Justina Robson, Sheila Finch, Matt Hill, Charlie Jane Anders, Lee Konstantinou, Kevin J. Anderson, Mary Anne Mohanraj, James L.Cambias, Eileen Gunn, Charles Yu
·        Chasing Shadows: Visions of our ComingTransparent World (edited by David Brin) – stories by James Gunn, Jack Skillingstead, David Brin, Nancy Fulda, Robert J. Sawyer, R.C. FitzPatrick, James Morrow, William Gibson, Damon Knight, David Walton, Vylar Kaftan, Jack McDevitt, Vernor Vinge, Aliette de Bodard, David Ramirez, Neal Stephenson, John Perry Barlow, Gregory Benford, Brenda Cooper, Stephen W. Potts, Cat Rambo, Stephen Gaskell, Scott Sigler, Robert Silverberg, Ramez Naam, Karl Schroeder, Kathleen Ann Goonan, Bruce Sterling
·        Cosmic Powers: The Saga Anthology of Far-AwayGalaxies (edited by John Joseph Adams) - stories by Charlie Jane Anders, TobiasS. Buckell, Becky Chambers, Vylar Kaftan, Joseph Allen Hill, Adam-Troy Castro & Judi B. Castro, Caroline M. Yoachim, Alan Dean Foster, Karl Schroeder, A.Merc Rustad, Seanan McGuire, Aliette de Bodard, Linda Nagata, Yoon Ha Lee, Kat Howard, Jack Campbell, Kameron Hurley, Dan Abnett

Tell me about the new SFF you're loving! I want to read it! Also, please tell me what you love about it, if you can without spoilers!
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9 comments:

  1. EthanJuly 23, 2017 at 9:28 PM

    I haven't gotten to Seven Surrenders yet, but I loved the first one. So far I'll probably nominate Binti:Home and War for the Planet of the Apes.

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    1. ciaracatJuly 24, 2017 at 9:19 PM

      Cool - thanks! I enjoyed the first Binti, but haven't read the sequels yet. I definitely will.

      War for the Planet of the Apes was really good then? I'll be honest, it wasn't even on my list of things to see. But I'm certainly willing to reconsider!

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  2. MarkJuly 24, 2017 at 12:08 PM

    I haven't finished it yet, but I'm really enjoying The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O by Neal Stephenson and Nicole Galland. Interesting blend of fantasy and SF, with magic, quantum physics, and time travel all sorta mashed together. Not as dense or dark as Seveneves, but it's got some interesting ideas. Assuming it doesn't botch the final act, I'm guessing it will be on my nomination ballot next year.

    For movies, there's some obvious choices that will probably show up (Wonder Woman, Guardians, Star Wars VIII, Spider Man etc...). Less obvious would be something like Colossal. You might even be able to make a case for Get Out...

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    1. ciaracatJuly 24, 2017 at 9:23 PM

      Hey, thanks! I hadn't realized that Stephenson and Galland book was out yet. For some reason I had it in my head that it was coming out in 2018. It's on my list! I'm glad you gave a little description and comparison to Seveneves. I've enjoyed a couple of Stephenson novels, but Seveneves was too dark.

      Also, thank you for reminding me of Colossal! I had meant to see that before it left the theaters, but didn't manage to. I'll definitely give it a look.

      Is "Get Out" horror? It kindof looked like it from the previews.

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    2. MarkJuly 25, 2017 at 8:20 AM

      So far, so good on D.O.D.O! Colossal does get a little dark at points (and there's some interesting criticisms of the movie), but it's still very good. Get Out is definitely horror, but it's not particularly gory. More psychological, with some well-calibrated racial commentary thrown in for good measure. In all honesty, I don't see it striking a chord with the Hugo voters, but I love it (I was rooting for The Witch for this year's awards, but that was not to be). I am a fan of horror movies though...

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  3. ciaracatJuly 24, 2017 at 9:30 PM

    I already have a few more things to add to the list:

    'Alice Grove' web comic: http://www.alicegrove.com/page/220 - recommended by a friend: "from the guy who does "Questionable Content." I'm told it's Iain Banksian, but I enjoyed it more than the Banks I attempted to read some years ago."

    After On, by Rob Reid - just came up in my GoodReads feed with good reviews from some authors I like, and it looks interesting. Comes out August 1, 2017.

    Wilders, by Brenda Cooper - I've enjoyed her short fiction

    The Will to Battle, by Ada Palmer - third in the Terra Ignota series, expected publication date December 5, 2017. Two in the same year! Day-um! I'll definitely be nominating her for the Campbell again if she doesn't win it this year.

    SO MANY INTERESTING THINGS TO READ! I NEED MORE TIME IN MY DAY! OR TO NOT NEED SLEEP! (though not in the way they avoided sleep in that Doctor Who episode, no, thank you)

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  4. Andrew HickeyJuly 30, 2017 at 2:00 PM

    I was just coming here to recommend DODO as well. It doesn't really *have* a last act as such -- it's clearly setting up a series -- but it was good enough that I read it (1000 pages in ebook) in a day, and am most of the way through rereading it. It's *much* lighter than Stephenson's normal stuff (I'm not familiar with Galland) -- it's an out and out comedy. It builds on some of the ideas from Anathem, but it's fluffy enough that I could see it getting turned into a TV or film series aimed at the light adventure, Marvel film, style audience.

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    1. ciaracatJuly 30, 2017 at 3:32 PM

      Thanks Andrew - even better! I liked Anathem!

      I'm not familiar with Galland either - I looked her up, and saw that she's a historical novelist doing a little alternative universe stuff.

      Definitely going to pick this one up, based on y'all's comments. Thanks!

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  5. wearytravelerAugust 5, 2017 at 10:03 AM

    Some recs:

    TO READ:
    - Sacred Band by Joseph D. Carriker is an interesting twist on the superhero genre.
    - Spoonbenders by Daryl Gregory is great, witty mass-market fantasy.
    - Red Sister by Mark Lawrence is great hard fantasy.
    - Beren and Lúthien was finally completed and released this year if you want to nominate a Tolkien book.
    - Worldcon is debuting the YA category this year. On their spreadsheet, Lady Business has a large collection of titles to read in the genre under the "YA" tab if you're interested: http://bit.ly/2udNGUG

    TO WATCH:
    - 17776: To watch/read, really. A gonzo multimedia dramatic presentation that takes the concept of football in the future and concocts a gonzo, heartfelt examination of immortality and man's relationship with spectacle. Mind-blowing. https://www.sbnation.com/a/17776-football/
    - A Ghost Story: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt6265828/
    - A Handmaid's Tale (season 1): This one's gonna hurt. https://www.hulu.com/the-handmaids-tale

    (An aside: The continued love for Alice Grove expressed in Hugo circles sort of baffles me. Like Jeph Jacques' other work Questionable Content, it just strikes me as lazy, plot and art-wise. Also, I heard the ending was really bad?)

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