Things have been happening in Canberra. The Liberal (i.e. Conservative) Party dumped their leader, Susan Ley, for the more right-wing Angus Taylor. The new guy is unpleasant, but the Liberal Party has been doing poorly in the polls, despite the Labor1 government not being very popular. Ley was elected Liberal Party leader after the disastrous results in the last general election, when they were led by the potato-headed avatar of the concept of "cop from Queensland" Peter Dutton. This was a smart move because the electoral wisdom suggests the only route for the Liberal Party to get into government is by reclaiming affluent constituencies in the big cities.

I'm getting really odd bursts of traffic to the website. This is a quiet corner of the internet, and while there have been busy periods when things have been happening or somebody like John Scalzi linked to the blog, typically, the number of visits per hour can be measured in tens. On February 6, there was a sustained set of 300 visits per hour. Yesterday, there was another weird burst of activity, but with a more gradual rise initially: This morning, another surge has started (it drops down after 12 because that's the local time here - there's no data yet for the later hours).

Stanisław Lem was born in what is now the Ukrainian city of Lviv, but which at the time of his birth (1921) was under Polish control and known as Lwów 1. I probably should have anticipated that many of the writers I would end up discussing in a project about robots would end up being men from Central & Eastern Europe2 but obviously, there was a lot going on in that region at the time. Lem was raised as a Catholic, but with some education about Judaism because of his family's background.

The Ancillary Review of Books turned five this year! We’ve had an excellent year, and are very pleased to continue publishing criticism with an emphasis on the speculative and the utopian, thanks t…

Not me as I'm not entering the fray this year, but there are plenty of people to choose from. Hugo 2026 nominations are open, and you have until March 28 to pick your favourites. I'm going to shamelessly steal from the ever-useful Hugo Spreadsheet of Doom and list all of the Fan Writers suggested there (as of 12 Feb). Plenty of names I know and would recommend, as well as some people new to me, BUT it could be longer! Please make suggestions in the comment (and add to the Hugo Spreadsheet of Doom), but please no negativity about any of the individual suggestions below.

I discussed in recent chapters what a big influence Doctor Who and Star Trek were on my childhood. I did read books as well as watch TV, but a lot of those books were Doctor Who novelisations. In terms of fantasy, the books of Alan Garner were a big influence. Manchester, Cheshire, and North Wales were all relatively nearby places, and Garner imbued them with a sense of magic. The Earthsea trilogy was also a favourite, and then, when I was around twelve, Tolkien hit. Science fiction reasserted itself via Douglas Adams, and then I was introduced to the works of Philip K.

I have an idea for a quiz show. Not sure what the name should be. "Isn't That the Opposite of What You Think?", "The Edge of Epiphany"? "Unwitting Insight"? Maybe a pun like "The Irony Chef"? It would be quotes from notable people, but the quote would be wholly at odds with the person's personality and/or actual behaviour. Contestants would have to guess who it was by working backwards from the quote. A historical example from the 1940s: "If the whole world outside of Russia were to insist upon international control of atomic energy to the point of going to war on this issue, it is highly probable that the Soviet government would give way on this issue.

Neil Gaiman, Sandman and character.

This show is on an upward trajectory. I haven't done an episode ranking each week but if I had it would just be in descending order of the episode number i.e. episode 5 is the strongest episode yet, beating episode 4, which beat episode 3 etc. Once again, I will add the disclaimer! This is still very, very much YA Wizarding College In Space, and this episode absolutely indulges in what that genre implies. If that's not for you, then you might not enjoy this episode. BUT! What this also means is that this is a Trek show that is being its own thing rather than attempting to replicate the original or TNG.

Interactive map of 3.4 million Bluesky users, visualised by their follower pattern.

Welcome to Susan's Salon. This post has an open comment thread for people to discuss any topic they would like. Happy, sad, weird or just catching up with events. Yes, you can promote things in the comments if you want. The only rules are: nothing hateful and no cranky disputes/arguments. Susan's Salon is posted early Monday morning Sydney time, which is usually still Sunday in most places in the world. I'm sure I say "feb-u-rary" and not whatever "february" is supposed to sound like.