Page 7 - Samit Basu News Today

Ian Mond Several things kept me sane over the last 12 months. My family, the privilege of having a job while in lockdown, the Backlisted and Coode Street podcasts (particularly Coode Street‘s “10 minutes with” series), and the books I read. Yes, there were times in 2020 where I struggled to read more than a handful of pages, but the novels, novel­las, and collections I did complete (47 of which I reviewed for Locus) were some of the best books I’ve read in the last decade. My favou...

Jonathan Strahan (by Francesca Myman) I started the year with good intentions. I intended to read every piece of short fiction that I could lay my hands on, every major novel, every exciting debut or anthology or short story collection and more. I would read all the things. This is the story of how I did not read all the things. I did not even read most of the things. Way back in January, everything seemed simple. I hadn’t heard of a growing problem in China; I’d just delivered my Year’...

Masterstroke Against China: Twitter Has a Field Day as Gujarat CM Renames Dragon Fruit The name dragon fruit is not proper, and due to its name one thinks of China. So we have given it the name kamalam." Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani and dragon fruits. Photos: Twitter and Wikimedia Commons Politics20/Jan/2021 New Delhi: Twitter greeted Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani’s announcement of renaming the dragon fruit as it brings up associations with China with a characteristic outburst of memes an...

Reading recommendations from a pandemic year Poets and politicians, sportsmen and theatre personalities look back at 2020 through the books they read Updated: December 20, 2020 12:12:44 pm Here are the books authors read this year. (Source: Getty Images) Aruni Kashyap writer I think everyone in India should read Samit Basu’s Chosen Spirits (2020, Simon and Schuster) — it is an urgent and topical book set in an India of the future, a work of speculative ...

The inaugural FIYAHCON took place online October 17-18, 2020, held via Zoom and Dacast, and hosted by FIYAH magazine. Guests of honor were Yasser Bahjatt, Cassie Hart, and Rebecca Roanhorse. Accord­ing to convention director L.D. Lewis, the event was conceived mid-year, in the midst of protests, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the trend of conventions switching to virtual events; it was “for­mally launched” July 7, 2020, and the Ignyte awards were conceived following the 2020 Hugo Awards cere...

You write under Dave Wolverton for science fiction stories and David Farland for fantasy stories. How did you decide on using two names for your fiction? When would you advise writers to use pseudonyms? “Wolverton” is a cool enough name for a writer, but so often my books ended up on the bottom shelf. I thought only garden gnomes walking through the store were likely to find them. In fact, research done by Campbell’s Soups showed that 92% of people won’t stoop over to get their favorite...

New clues have emerged in the mystery surrounding the creation of Dr. Antik Bose — the fake doctor with an elaborate social media profile full of fancy cars and ostentatious homes who purported to be the author of scientific research connected to Penumbra, the controversial medical device company.   Short seller Gabriel Grego of Quintessential Capital Management launched a short attack on Penumbra more than a month ago, claiming the catheters it produces for stroke patients were not safe. �...

You write under Dave Wolverton for science fiction stories and David Farland for fantasy stories. How did you decide on using two names for your fiction? When would you advise writers to use pseudonyms? “Wolverton” is a cool enough name for a writer, but so often my books ended up on the bottom shelf. I thought only garden gnomes walking through the store were likely to find them. In fact, research done by Campbell’s Soups showed that 92% of people won’t stoop over to get their favorite...