One year older

SF Mistressworks has now been up and running for just over a year. The first review was posted here on 3 June 2011 – it was Maureen F McHugh’s China Mountain Zhang. In the twelve months since then, SF Mistressworks has posted reviews by 24 reviewers of 96 books by 67 authors. It was also shortlisted for the BSFA Award for non-fiction (but lost out to the SF Encyclopedia). That’s a year to be proud of.

When I started SF Mistressworks, I had no idea how long it would run. I had no intention of doing it for a short while to prove a point, and then packing it in. I still plan to keep it going as long as there are eligible books to review. For the past six months, I’ve been posting two reviews a week, and I’d like to keep to that schedule. I have about a month’s worth in hand, but I need more. I always need more. If I can’t get them, I may have to drop to one review a week. I’d sooner not, of course. Reviews don’t have to be new or original to SF Mistressworks. I’m quite happy to reprint old reviews of suitable books, and link back to the original review. I’ve even posted some of my old reviews from Vector, the critical journal of the British Science Fiction Association. (And if anyone who reviews/reviewed for that magazine would like to pass on any reviews they did for eligible books…)

I’d like to thank all those who have contributed reviews – Cheryl Morgan, Joachim Boaz, Admiral Ironbombs, Martin Wisse, Niall Harrison, Kev Mcveigh, Martin Lewis, Jenni Scott, Richard Palmer, Shannon Turlington, Adam Roberts, Blue Tyson, Cara Murphy, Larry Nolen, Aishwarya Subramanian, Ian J Simpson, Kathryn Allen, Michaela Staton, Paul Charles Smith, Paul Graham Raven, Sam Kelly, Sandy M, Shaun Duke, SueCCCP – and I hope they’ll continue to contribute.

For those who would like to contribute but have only read books published this century there’s Daughters of Prometheus, a sister site of SF Mistressworks. It’s a shame nothing came of the Fantasy Masterworks site, but Daughters of Prometheus is definitely alive and kicking. If you can’t contribute here, by all means contribute there.

Finally, it’s been a good year for SF Mistressworks. Here’s hoping the next twelve months will be just as good (we’re still eligible for that award, you know…).

Eastercon Update

Sadly, SF Mistressworks didn’t win the BSFA Award for non-fiction. It went instead to the SF Encyclopedia. However, two things happened over the Eastercon weekend which more than made up for the disappointment.

First, Michaela Staton has set up Daughters of Prometheus, a blog dedicated to reviewing twenty-first century science fiction by women writers.

Second, Amanda Rutter is now running Fantasy Mistressworks, which reviews twentieth century, and earlier, fantasy by women writers. She’s already made a start on a Fantasy Mistressworks list, and is looking for suggested titles.

Both sites will need volunteers to provide reviews. I certainly intend to contribute.