SF² Concatenation

Current state

Things are slowly (unfortunately only slowly) returning to how things were before the SARS-CoV-2/CoVID-19 lockdown.  After quiet spell, SF/F publishers are beginning to liaise as they used to.

Meanwhile, unable to get to the office, we have been in digital lockdown with no internet or e-mail. (The last seasonal edition, April, only got posted through some social distancing gymnastics and bubbling.)  However, we are back and do have some book reviews this edition (reviewers sent in their contributions on memory sticks via Royal Mail snail mail).

There is now some limited internet access but alas not enough time to surf the net for TV and film news, so these sections of our seasonal news page have gone (for now).  Fortunately subscriptions to print editions of key journals has enabled the news page's science sections to continue.

One surprise, the SARS-CoV-2, COVD-19 and the SF Community Briefing posted back in March has proved rather popular.  Six months on, and the (first?) SARS-CoV-2 peak passed, it has worn rather (possibly even surprisingly) well.  One thing though, in its section 'The science fiction and the pseudo-scientific' while it correctly noted that some disinformation was being circulated, it did not predict that some countries' national leaders would be so dismissive of the virus, and ignore the science, to the undeniable detriment of their own people.  Very shocking and unbelievable to the point of not seeing that coming.

New up...

Up mid-September 2020, our Autumnal edition*.  It has a smaller large seasonal news page but it is there.  There are also some articles on SF fandom and science. Plus we have one of our choices in the 'Best of' Nature 'Futures' one-page PDF short stories series.  Normally these appear between seasonal editions but we are rolling these into the seasonal editions due to limited internet access while partial lockdown continues.  (For details of the new edition see 'most recently added' below).
* 'Autumnal' here being the northern hemisphere, academic year summer.

Forthcoming

In December we will (hopefully, depending on our lock-down situation) have a pre-Christmas 'Best of' Nature 'Futures' one-page PDF short story.

January 2021, we had thought back in March (at the start of lockdown) that we would be putting SF² Concatenation into hiatus early in 2021, but publisher and stakeholder non-e-mail communication has worked better than thought and now, with internet access back (albeit very limited and intermittent), it looks like a seasonal edition in January may well be possible.  There might even be a return of the seasonal news page's lists of forthcoming SF, fantasy and non-fiction SF & science books from major UK publishers.

Of course, if there is a second spike and another hard lockdown then this might not happen.  So fingers crossed.

Meanwhile, hopefully you should find something below to tickle your fancy.  Also, why not have a snoop around our past material using the quick links on the short-cut column left of here.  There are plenty of articles and the past seasonal news pages have links to other items of interest including YouTube videos and film trailers.  Talking of film trailers, do check out our past annual film top tens and the 'other worthies' for ideas of films you might wish to download or stream.  There's also plenty of on the site to mine.  As a teaser we have included, in the current edition below, one from the archives.

Above all, during this difficult time, ensure that you and those close to you keep safe. We are not out of this yet.

Thank you for visiting us. (And thank those of you on social media for spreading the word that we are
still here. Appreciated.)

                ☺

Most recently added

v30(4) 2020.9.15 -- New Columns & Articles for the Autumn 2020

• Newscast for the Autumn 2020. This includes within it many key sections. See the master newscast link index that connects to all the news sub-sections.
   
• How Eastercon and Worldcon fandom survived lockdown -- Caroline Mullan
• Loncon 3 - The 2014 UK SF Worldcon. -- Mark Bilsborough A retrospective in light of the new UK, 2024 bid.
• Space exploration projects deploying in 2021 -- Ian Moss Forthcoming space missions.
• Keep Mars human free! - Jonathan Cowie  Keep Mars for the Martians.
• Ten years ago. One from the archives: Au Contraire - New Zealand's 2010 national convention - With the CoNZealand's 2020 Worldcon virtually now over, a look back at an earlier NZ natcon in Wellington that saw this year's Worldcon bid launched.
• 'Infringement: Brought down to Earth' (1-page PDF short story) by Timothy J. Gawne
  A new story from the 'Best of...' Nature Futures series.  Do you have the right to exist? Is your Earth's copyright valid...?
• The index to all of the Concatenation selection of Nature 'Futures' stories.
• The guidelines for prospective 'Futures' SF short stories authors.
  Autumnal edition Facebok alert, should you wish to promulgate/share or alternatively re-Tweet

v30(4) 2020.9.15 -- Science Fiction & Fantasy Book Reviews

• The Book of Koli - M. R. Carey
• The Faceless Old Woman Who Lives in Your Home - Joseph Fink & Jeffrey Candor
• The Peripheral - William Gibson
• The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires (2nd review) - Grady Hendrix
• Goldilocks - Laura Lam
• Octavia Gone - Jack McDevitt
• Slow Lightning - Jack McDevitt
• Howling Dark - Christopher Ruocchio
• The Last Emprox - John Scalzi
• Docile - K. M. Szpara
• Docile (2nd review) - K. M. Szpara
• Children of Ruin - Adrian Tchaikovsky
• The Doors of Eden - Adrian Tchaikovsky
• Making Wolf - Tade Thompson

v30(3) 2020.4.20 -- New Columns & Articles for the Summer 2020

• Newscast for the Summer 2020. This includes within it many key sections covering SF books, films and TV as well as science. See the master newscast link index that connects to all the news sub-sections.
   
• My Top Ten Scientists – Julie Novakova (SF author & biologist).  A number of SF authors are also scientists. But who are the scientists and the science that inspired these scientist authors?  This is part of an on-going series by SF authors with science qualifications.
• SARS-CoV-2, COVD-19 and the SF community: A briefing
• Wellington: for visiting SF folk 2020 – Jacqueline Brasfield et al.  OK, so this year's Worldcon that was scheduled for New Zealand will now not take place as a physical event.  But what might the tourism dimensions have been like? (This overview might perhaps encourage a future Worldcon bid and in any case there are NZ natcons every few years in Wellington well worth attending in combination with a holiday.)
• 2019/20 (12 months to Easter) SF Film Top Ten Chart and Other Worthies  (All archive annual film charts here)
• 'Please [Redacted] My Last E-mail' (1-page PDF short story) by Kurt Pankau
  A new story from the 'Best of...' Nature Futures series.  Any future e-mails you get from me are also really from me. Even if they completely contradict everything I’m saying right now…
• One from the archives: When the Children Read Fantasy - Terry Pratchett (1994)
• SF Convention go-er appeal.  At home in lockdown?  Do you have a favourite convention you go to time and again?  Want to make an SFnal mark?  How about giving them a promotional puff..?
• Gaia 2020 - Annual whimsical SF and/or science snippets and exotica
  (Previous years' Gaia columns here.)

v30(3) 2020.4.20 -- Science Fiction & Fantasy Book Reviews

• Providence - Max Barry
• Doctor Who: Star Tales - Trevor Baxendale et al
• World Engines: Destroyer - Stephen Baxter
• The Wise Friend - Ramsey Campbell
• Exhalation - Ted Chiang
• The Sky Weaver - Kristen Ciccarelli
• The Secret Chapter - Genevieve Cogman
• Vulcan's Forge - Robert Mitchell Evans
• The True Bastards - Jonathan French
• Agency - William Gibson
• The Deathworld Omnibus - Harry Harrison
• The Deathworld Omnibus (2nd review) - Harry Harrison
• The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires - Grady Hendrix
• The Nightjar - Deborah Hewitt
• Full Throttle - Joe Hill
• Elevation - Stephen King
• Elevation (2nd review) - Stephen King
• A Queen in Hiding - Sarah Kozloff
• Steel Crow Saga - Paul Krueger
• Battle Beyond the Dolestars - Chris McCrudden
• Bone Silence - Alastair Reynolds
• Bone Silence (2nd review) - Alastair Reynolds
• Revelation of the Daleks - Eric Saward
• The Infinite Noise - Lauren Shippen
• Dracul - Dacre Stoker & J. D. Barker
• The Sisters Grimm - Menna van Praag
• Doctor Who: The Target Storybook - Various
• The Forever House - Tim Waggoner

v30(3) 2020.4.20 -- Non-Fiction SF & Science Fact Book Reviews

• Conjuring the Universe: The origins of the laws of nature - Peter Atkins
• The Apollo Chronicles: Engineering America’s First Moon Missions - Brandon R. Brown
• Building A Resilient Tomorrow: How to prepare for the coming climate disruption - Alice C. Hill & Leonardo Martinez-Diaz
• Apocalypse Now: Technology and the threat of disaster - Oliver Letwin
• The Ankh-Morpork Archives: A Discworld Anthology Volume 1 - Terry Pratchett & Stephen Briggs
• Jet Stream: A journey through our changing climate - Tim Woolings

v30(2) 2020.3.15 -- A new story from the Nature Futures series

• The Tentacle and You – It's a whole new start (1-page PDF short story) - John Wiswell
  You’re probably one of the first people in your entire civilisation to get this gift, and we know how overwhelming that can feel. That’s why we’ve compiled a few tips to coach you.
  Like it? Share the love: Twitter / Facebook.
• The index to all of the Concatenation selection of Nature 'Futures' stories.
• The guidelines for prospective 'Futures' SF short stories authors.

v30(1) 2020.1.15 -- New Columns & Articles for the Spring 2020

• Newscast for the Spring 2020. This includes within it many key sections covering SF books, films and TV as well as science. See the master newscast link index that connects to all the news sub-sections.
   
• My Top Ten Scientists – Ian Irvine (marine environmental geochemist)
• 30th Festival of Fantastic Films 2019 – Great Britain – Darrel Buxton
• British Fantasycon 2019 – Ian Hunter
• Dublin – The 2019 World SF Convention – Marcin “Alqua” Klak
• SF Convention Listing & Film Diary
• From the archives: UK SF Publishing Snapshot 2002 – Top SF/F authors? Top titles?
  Interesting to compare this last with this season's news page's SF publishing news.
  (Twitter alert here and Facebook here for this edition should you want to support our seasonal distillation of SF & science news and reviews effort, have SF followers and wish to take a second to Facebook share / re-tweet.)

Full 'What's New' list