Camestros Felapton

2022 Hugo Award Finalist

Month: Jan 2020

  • Review: Shadow Captain (Revenger #2) by Alastair Reynolds

    There is an image that crops up over and over on old sci-fi book covers and in more contemporary TV shows that I think evokes a particular strand within science fiction. The image is of a skull inside a space helmet or a skeleton within a space suit. It implies death and horror and age […]

  • I found a way to make the Dragon Awards marginally more interesting

    Meanwhile in other news, the Dragon Awards website is still exactly the same. Yes, nominations have been open since at least November 19 2019 (see http://file770.com/nominations-open-for-2020-dragon-awards/ ) but the website still says: I see you are all looking at me sceptically thinking “what is marginally more interesting about that?” Aha! Well, here is a competition […]

  • An inquiry

    I had an email the other day asking if I could summarise the role of Vox Day in the SFWA and the Hugo Awards for somebody not familiar with the background. So here is what I wrote. Corrections and adjustments welcome, of course. Vox wants to be a writer and wants legitimate respect as a […]

  • Doctor Who: Fugitive of the Judoon

    So many thinks to spoil but let’s launch into the episode a little way and then move into the realm of surprises. Promotions of this season of Doctor Who had touted the return of the Judoon as characters even while filming was still going on. They aren’t a particularly loved species but they do have […]

  • I’ll review Doctor Who tomorrow…

    I want to rewatch the episode with a different perspective but my over all impression was that I enjoyed it immensely. I was initially pleased with how what appeared to be a fairly bog-standard episode was going (seemed predictable but nicely done) and then it spiralled out of control…in a good way. I’m seeing some […]

  • Australian Honours System is Very Broken

    Today is a public holiday in Australia as Sunday was Australia Day aka Invasion Day. Yesterday was also when honours are announced following an Australian version of the British honours system. Notable among them was Bettina Arndt, a right-wing ‘men’s right’ advocate: “An Australia Day honour for controversial writer and sex therapist Bettina Arndt has […]

  • Watching Star Trek Nemesis so you didn’t have to

    There is no need to watch the final pre-reboot Star Trek movies to enjoy or make sense of the new Star Trek: Picard series, I can say this with some confidence having now watched both Picard and Nemesis in reverse order. However, it is also true that at least the one episode that is available […]

  • Picard: Episode 1 – Rememberance

    I thought this was a very strong start to the new series. The settings were all familiar (Picard’s vineyard, Star Fleet HQ in San Francisco) but cleverly the show avoids the familiar structure. It announces itself with a dream sequence as a sequel to The Next Generation and the movies that feature Picard but the […]

  • Missing Moments in Comic Book Art: Bob Kane’s Discarded Early Concept

    Reputedly, Bill Finger asked repeatedly why a giant purple cat was flying through the window until Kane agreed that a bat made more sense. Only after a further series of attempts with first a baseball bat, then a cricket bat, that a compromise was reached with a flying mammal bat, which had already been drawn […]

  • Missing Moments in Op Art: Bridget Riley’s Movement in Squares (1961)

    I remember it as just being black and white.

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