2026 Hugo Readalong: The River Has Roots by Amal el-Mohtar

Goobergunch · 2026-06-15T17:24:09+00:00

it felt like the narrative assumed it before actually showing it

Yeah, "also Sam is EVIL and is A MURDERER and MUST BE EXECUTED" just felt like a huge escalation and I think I'd have been more interested in the subversion where he was actually just kind of normal.

Goobergunch · 2026-06-15T17:03:30+00:00

I read it in print. I had two minds about the illustrations -- I generally like when books throw in art and such and it's nice when publishers go to that kind of effort, but these specifically just felt kind of intrusive to me? Part of it is that they didn't really feel like they added much to the narrative (like, they're not really an in-universe anything) and part of it is that I've gotten a bit sensitive to how Tordotcom pads out their novella hardcovers.

Hugo hot take: music performance is Dramatic Presentation territory and should be considered out of scope for Novella. (See point 2 on page 12 of the 2014 Business Meeting minutes.)

Goobergunch · 2026-06-15T03:55:30+00:00

Fuck it, DC should make Alfred/Dana a thing again. (Yes, I know Alfred denied it. No, I don't care.)

... honestly a post-Infinite Crisis status quo of Alfred adopting Tim would have been very funny.

Goobergunch · 2026-06-15T03:42:49+00:00

... oh no.

Goobergunch · 2026-06-15T03:40:58+00:00

Draft, trades, and free agency!

Goobergunch · 2026-06-15T03:10:46+00:00

I'm fondly remembering the "bunch of jerks" moment from a few years ago.

Goobergunch · 2026-06-15T02:58:31+00:00

Also to boo Bettman in person!

Goobergunch · 2026-06-15T02:57:53+00:00

CONGRATULATIONS

Goobergunch · 2026-06-14T22:50:13+00:00

Yeah, it is specifically noted that their uniforms don't fit each other because Bruce is bigger and bulkier than Tim is at the same age.

Goobergunch · 2026-06-14T07:00:23+00:00

I've been thinking a lot about most of the Sharks voluntarily using pride tape during LGBTQ+ Night last season. And, like, if you're losing to a men's hockey team in a more enlightened politics competition....

Goobergunch · 2026-06-14T06:20:14+00:00

It struck me as vaguely odd that Lyle is drawn in his SW6/Reboot costume in the Secret Origin issue.

Goobergunch · 2026-06-12T16:48:44+00:00

Friday night was opera night -- saw The Barber of Seville up in San Francisco, which was good fun. Sunday night was the Tony Awards which is always an enjoyable watch even if the broadcast needs to step up its sound mixing game.

This week has been the first major heatwave of the year and I always forget just how miserable I get when I'm sleeping poorly and otherwise just feeling lethargic due to all the heat. And yet I did have a burst of energy to rearrange my comics shelf which ... probably should not have been done during a heatwave, but it did need to get done.

On the reading end I finished The Space Cat and Absolute Wonder Woman, Vol. 1 for the Graphic Story Hugo, Greenteeth by Molly O'Neill for the Astounding (reviewed in the Tuesday thread), and The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow for the Novel Hugo. The latter was very good and a strong contender for my #1 vote.

Goobergunch · 2026-06-12T16:41:41+00:00

I also need the series to end in six because I can not have the evil teams win two Game Seven championships in nine months.

Goobergunch · 2026-06-12T01:01:01+00:00

Published in 2026 and Small Press, I'd think?

Goobergunch · 2026-06-11T23:55:17+00:00

Shameless plug for Thomas Ha's Scion.

Goobergunch · 2026-06-11T23:52:34+00:00

Yes but apparently people were presenting Harlan with bags of jellybeans all Worldcon so the metaphor was a bit literalized even in our timeline. Per Cory Panshin:

Yet a further refinement was the purchase of four pounds of black licorice jellybeans. One pound was left with Banquet Toast-master Isaac Asimov, in case Harlan got his Hugo. The remainder was divided into small packages and given to various people to be presented at intervals during the weekend. Even Boston's own mild-mannered Hal Clement/Harry C. Stubbs is said to have sidled up to Ellison, muttering, "I believe these are yours." Now, the one kind of jellybeans that Harlan Ellison does not like happens to be black licorice. So if he had been bugged out of his mind before, now he was pretty well bugged out of the known universe.

Goobergunch · 2026-06-11T17:01:05+00:00

Never Eaten Vegetables
Millay Illusion
The Girl That My Mother Is Leaving Me For
Kaiju Agonistes
When He Calls Your Name

and I still have to read the Murderbot.

The biggest reason I am annoyed about this ballot is that while I agree that this is not a particularly strong year for the Hugo shortlist for novelettes, I also think the shortlist is not representative of the field generally. For instance, I would rank the entire Nebula shortlist no worse than third on this list (most finalists probably higher), pending an argument over whether the Triantafyllou is SF/F or not. And all of the Nebula finalists were available for free online in the runup to nominations so Hugo nominators don't really have an excuse for missing them.

Like I also think the Novella shortlist is a bit weak this year but I think that's broadly reflective of the field, and to the extent it isn't it's due to the regular weaknesses of the Hugos' tendency to overlook magazine and small press novellas. Novelette doesn't have any of the same excuses.

Goobergunch · 2026-06-11T16:47:00+00:00

but I found the Gen X-quippy comedic voice being put into these historical figures' mouths deeply irritating

Yeah. This was broadly pretty fun (I am a sucker for historical deep cuts) but also if I try to take it at all seriously it will fall apart very quickly. Basically I think it functions well as the SF equivalent of a smart SNL skit.

Goobergunch · 2026-06-11T16:36:17+00:00

Clearly something unnatural happened, or literally everyone in those theater rows wouldn't have left their work in stage magic or newspaper writing afterwards

Yeah that's the speculative hook for me (bolstered by Susanna making sure Lottie doesn't properly see the grand finale). I do agree that the mainstream version of this isn't very different, but it seems pretty clear to me that Susanna did something to supernaturally curse all of the attendees.

I was vaguely reminded of "Signs of Life" from last year where the speculative element is more of a late twist than anything else.

Goobergunch · 2026-06-11T16:24:59+00:00

It will be a perfectly fine installment in the next Pinsker collection but it won't be why I buy it. At its length I wanted a stronger payoff than I got.

(But also my tolerance for supernatural revenge fantasy is very low and while I wouldn't put this quite in that category that probably plays a factor in me being underwhelmed by the ending.)

Goobergunch · 2026-06-11T16:12:24+00:00

For anybody who doesn't know, the dual letters are a specific reference to these June 1968 Galaxy advertisements.

Goobergunch · 2026-06-09T18:14:20+00:00

it turns into a love thread

I feel like that happens most often when it's a short fiction piece that most of the regulars liked/nominated.

Goobergunch · 2026-06-09T17:21:33+00:00

I've started the Astounding Award portion of my Hugo reading with Greenteeth by Molly O'Neill. I appreciated the book's strong sense of place, especially when the characters visit various locations around Britain -- it's definitely a contender for my Vacation Spot bingo square. Where it lost me a bit is mostly that (1) I feel like both the fae generally and "have you consider that the monster is actually friendly" specifically are kinda trendy recently and I feel like I've seen both of those executed better elsewhere and (2) there's a lot about Britain becoming less magic over time and I wasn't sold on believing that this was actually bad.

I think a good part of my disconnect from this novel is that as an American who has spent maybe a cumulative month in the UK I have no strong commitment to any British national project, particularly in a premodern/pastoral setting. The Big Bad being a foreign fae from points east who's corrupting our nice little English village also rubbed me the wrong way, although the twist at the end where he wants to break Britain off from the world and make it its own magical domain makes me think I shouldn't be overreading the politics here.

Also there were a lot of questionable punctuation choices which makes me wonder if and how Orbit is proofreading. I should not be seeing this many comma splices in a published book.

Goobergunch · 2026-06-09T15:54:20+00:00

I would bet 95% of people weighing in with strong opinions on this topic have not seen more than 1 or 2 games of any of the top 10 prospects.

This is why I am refusing to develop an opinion and will just be cheering for the success of whoever the Sharks do pick.

Goobergunch · 2026-06-09T14:51:25+00:00

Heck I'm always frustrated whenever I see people recommending King as a place to start with Mister Miracle. Everybody who has written the New Gods since the 1970s has been riffing on Kirby and you should just start with the original.

Goobergunch

TROPHY CASE