Quokkas, as this dreadful survey and campaign continues, and the equality campaign misteps (that text!), we have compiled a list of other things you can be doing other than voting, if you were even able to, and social mediaing, about which Steph has complicated feelings.
Continue reading “activism for aussies: after voting yes”
There’s a Kickstarter for a Miss Fisher movie, and No Award has … Liz was going to say “mixed feelings”, but it would be more accurate to say we have strongly negative feelings we’re having trouble articulating. And what is a blog for, if not to unpack that reaction?
Continue reading “Why we’re not supporting the “Miss Fisher” the Movie Kickstarter”
This is not a cheerful post. Sorry.
Continue reading “what has your government done to you: August edition”
Today, a review of Top of the Lake: China Girl by Amy, an Australian who has actually seen it, with some background feelings from Stephanie and Liz.
Continue reading “Australian Noir; or, Top of the Lake is not a great example of it”
I super loved George, okay? Katie Noonan ❤
(Liz: I once saw Katie Noonan doing her groceries in the Brisbane CBD, and I wanted to tell her how much I love her music, but I didn’t want to interrupt her while she looked at frozen peas, so I just flailed silently at my companion. GOOD TIMES.)
Okay new series here at No Award: Once a month (or so) we’re going to review short stories written by non-white SFF authors. Short stories because they’re easier to fit into our schedules, and also we’ll make sure they’re accessible online so you can read them.
This month, These Constellations Will Be Yours, by Elaine Cuyegkeng. Strange Horizons, 7 August. 5000 words of a space opera fairy tale about Filipino oracles and the galleon trade.
Disclaimer: Stephanie totally adores Elaine and got pushy about this being our first review. (Liz also adores Elaine and didn’t have to be pushed very hard.)
Continue reading “book club: these constellations will be yours”
Quokkas, I really enjoyed The Handmaid’s Tale. Both book and (2017) adaptation. (The ’80s movie is streaming on Stan – do we need a liveblog? Maybe we need a liveblog. But we’ll also need wine. I mean, I’ll need wine.)
One of the things I enjoyed is that, like a lot of Canadian science fiction — sorry, Margaret Atwood, speculative fiction — it leaves space in its worldbuilding for the rest of the world to exist. Even within the narrow confines of book!Offred’s perspective, we know that Japanese tourism and gender relations maintain the current status quo, or something close to it, and the wider perspective of the Hulu series gives us glimpses of Canada and Mexico.
Sometimes I wonder what that kind of extreme patriarchal dystopia would look like in Australia, given that we were colonised by Georgians and Victorians instead of Puritans.
And other times I wonder, well, while the USA has collapsed and Gilead has formed out of its ashes, what’s happening back home?
