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Welcome to Today in Books, our daily round-up of literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more.
The 60th Annual Nebula Awards Finalists Are…
This year’s Nebula Awards finalists have been announced! The award, founded and organized by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA), celebrates the previous year’s best science fiction and fantasy writing of the year, as voted on by SFWA members. Highlights include Rakesfall by Vajra Chandrasekera (novel); one of my favorite 2024 reads, The Book of Love by Kelly Link (novel); Lost Ark Dreaming by Suyi Davies Okungbowa (novella); twice-nominated Eugenia Triantafyllou for “Joanna’s Bodies” and “Loneliness Universe” (novelette); “Why Don’t We Just Kill the Kid in the Omelas Hole” by Isabel J. Kim (short story); and, Moonstorm by Yoon Ha Lee (Middle Grade and Young Adult Fiction). You can find the full list, and plenty of great speculative fiction to catch up on, here.
The Case of the Disappearing Words
As readers, we understand the importance and power of words, so it’s no small thing that the Trump admin is flagging hundreds of words to avoid. “Diverse,” “pronounce,” “gender,” “mental health,” and “segregation” are included in this eye-watering list. According to The New York Times, this partial list was used to flag grant proposals and other materials for review, to find anything at odds with the vibes over at the White House–I don’t think I have to spell out what those are. You can see what a few of the changes on some of the at least hundreds of federal agency websites look like over at The Times, and this was a particularly choice quote from the article:
Indeed, the office of the presidency carries with it a tremendous power to drive the discourse. But the pattern of vanishing words established here suggests Mr. Trump and his administration may be more interested in chilling the national conversation — at least when it comes to their own disfavored topics — than in expanding it.
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This Broadway Othello Production is Breaking Records
What happens when you cast Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal in a Broadway production of Othello? It brings in close to $3 million–and that’s just in its second week of previews. Variety has your guide to buying tickets, which are miraculously still available, if you’re trying to see the magic of Washington as the titular Othello and Gyllenhaal as Iago for yourself. I mean, it has to be amazing, right? I can’t make a showing myself, but just for LOLs I went through the ticket search and discovered I could get a Rear Mezzanine Left seat for only $412… I do not doubt there are people who would fork over that cash for this rare opportunity, but whoof.
Where Have All the Non-Romance Fantasy Books Gone?
Everyone is talking about romantasy–it’s getting tons of marketing dollars, those books are being bought up and published at breakneck speed, they’re ubiquitous in book corners of every social platform. So, does that mean non-romance fantasy is getting short shrift? Are readers and publishers over these books? Dive into the question and see what you learn here.
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