Camestros Felapton
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camestrosf.bsky.social
Camestros Felapton
@camestrosf.bsky.social
Two-time Hugo Award Finalist
Author of Debarkle: a history of the Sad Puppies https://camestrosfelapton.wordpress.com/debarkle/
And The Hugosauriad: an analysis of the Hugo Award via dinosaurs https://camestrosfelapton.wordpress.com/hugosauriad/
Reposted by Camestros Felapton
This was a fun one to write
The NSW government claims everyone 'lacks context', so we spoke to an officer hear his story. chaser.com.au/general-news...
February 10, 2026 at 6:46 AM
While I stand by my bold claims that I would establish a base on Mars by 2025, I feel that it would be more practical and serve our shared goal of improving humanity if I focus on the more limited (but still ambitious) goal of getting out of bed.
February 9, 2026 at 11:09 PM
Trek Tuesday: Starfleet Academy s1e5: Series Acclimation Mil

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…
Trek Tuesday: Starfleet Academy s1e5: Series Acclimation Mil
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.
camestrosfelapton.wordpress.com
February 9, 2026 at 6:05 PM
Reposted by Camestros Felapton
I made a map of 3.4 million Bluesky users - see if you can find yourself!

bluesky-map.theo.io

I've seen some similar projects, but IMO this seems to better capture some of the fine-grained detail
Bluesky Map
Interactive map of 3.4 million Bluesky users, visualised by their follower pattern.
bluesky-map.theo.io
February 8, 2026 at 10:59 PM
Susan’s Salon:♒️↗️↘️ 8-9 February 2026

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…
Susan’s Salon:♒️↗️↘️ 8-9 February 2026
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.
camestrosfelapton.wordpress.com
February 8, 2026 at 2:23 PM
There are actual Outback Steakhouses in Australia that do the whole fake US version of Australia but with Australian customers and staff because Australia loves importing US culture
aussie friend coming to visit for the first time on Monday so gonna help him feel at home with lunch at Outback
February 8, 2026 at 9:59 AM
There is Cold Equations discourse going on. There is a place in science fiction from trolley/lifeboat stories & Cold Equation happens to be the (flawed) type-example.

I prefer (& also sort of dislike) Think Like a Dinosaur by James Patrick Kelly camestrosfelapton.wordpress.com/2019/08/09/h...
Hugosauriad 3.7: Think Like a Dinosaur by James Patrick Kelly
The winner of the 2018 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation (Short Form) was an episode of the fantastical sit-com The Good Place. Entitled The Trolley Problem it took as its premise the attem…
camestrosfelapton.wordpress.com
February 7, 2026 at 10:20 PM
RF:Ph03:Ch50:Danger Will Robinson! (Lost in Space)

Both Doctor Who and Star Trek were a big part of my childhood and shaped my understanding of science fiction – Doctor Who more than Trek, because there was more of it, and also because of the yards of Doctor Who novelisations. Lost in Space had…
RF:Ph03:Ch50:Danger Will Robinson! (Lost in Space)
Both Doctor Who and Star Trek were a big part of my childhood and shaped my understanding of science fiction – Doctor Who more than Trek, because there was more of it, and also because of the yards of Doctor Who novelisations. Lost in Space had less impact in the UK. It did, apparently, get shown on ITV in the late 1960s but I didn't see it until (I think) Channel 4 started showing the old Irwin Allen sci-fi shows in the 1980s1. What I had seen as a kid was any vaguely science fiction movie shown on TV before my bedtime.
camestrosfelapton.wordpress.com
February 7, 2026 at 7:42 PM
I'm going to wait until Tuesday to review it but episode 5 of Starfleet Academy was very good. Absolutely embraced the premise of the show & did its own thing throughout but with a lot of humour & large chunk of nostalgia. It would have been easy for this episode to fail but it pulled it altogether.
February 6, 2026 at 5:50 AM
Reposted by Camestros Felapton
Organically inclusive reader? Fan of speculative fiction? Want to judge the 2026 Ignyte Awards? Judges compose our longlist before we open up to public voting. Applications are currently open thru 2/14.
ignyteawards.fiyahlitmag.com/wanna-judge/
Wanna Judge? - The Ignyte Awards
For the 2026 cycle, we are opening up our longlist judging cohort to folks who may be a good fit (interested, available, organically well-read in a diverse and inclusive titles in sffh whether profess...
ignyteawards.fiyahlitmag.com
February 5, 2026 at 9:31 PM
Reposted by Camestros Felapton
Asimov's actions, and the tolerance-up-to-celebration of it, absolutely drove women out of field and out of fandom, and made it easier for others in the field, writers, editors and fans, to follow his lead for decades. Asimov pinching asses was not about his work. It kept women and their work out.
February 5, 2026 at 9:54 PM
RF:Ph03:Ch49:The Androids (and otherwise) of Star Trek

The history of science fiction is intimately tied to shifts in mass media. By the 1960s, television had become the medium of the moment and in the USA colour television was becoming increasingly popular. Science fiction was already an…
RF:Ph03:Ch49:The Androids (and otherwise) of Star Trek
The history of science fiction is intimately tied to shifts in mass media. By the 1960s, television had become the medium of the moment and in the USA colour television was becoming increasingly popular. Science fiction was already an established genre on US television from the 1950s primarily from shows that replicated the kind of adventure serials from cinema and radio. Anthology shows such as Science Fiction Theatre were aimed at a more adult audience and drew on the short fiction tradition from magazines. Star Trek was not the first ongoing drama science fiction drama series (we will discuss a slightly earlier example…
camestrosfelapton.wordpress.com
February 5, 2026 at 6:55 PM
Reposted by Camestros Felapton
I find the entire genre of "tens of thousands of words minutely refuting every point of an abuse clam" intrinsically unpersuasive. If any of the evidence were actually damning they'd just highlight that instead of doing a tedious Gish Gallop.
I haven't read that massive Substack thing that Gaiman linked to in his whinge, and nor am I going to. If you need tens of thousands of words of rant and innuendo to embed your "shocking evidence" in, you don't have shocking evidence, you have a conspiracy manifesto.
February 2, 2026 at 9:15 PM
Nobody is entitled to be a successful writer. Nobody is entitled to be both famous & well liked. For every famous writer, there is a multitude of talented people who are just as deserving (or more deserving).
February 3, 2026 at 1:59 AM
I demand historical accuracy and that Helen's role be played by that Goose from Untitled Goose Game
Um...sorry for your confusion, but Helen was *not from Troy.* She was Spartan: the daughter of the Aetolian princess Leda, (wife of the Spartan king Tyndareus) and (supposedly) Zeus. Homer says she was taken from her husband Menelaos's house to Troy by the very junior Trojan prince Paris.
February 2, 2026 at 6:52 PM
Trek Tuesday: Starfleet Academy s1e4: Vox in Excelso

This is the strongest episode yet of the new Trek show. It retains the core flaw in the show i.e. the whole genre of kids at wizarding school but as that is the core premise of the show it is likely complaining about their being aliens in it. By…
Trek Tuesday: Starfleet Academy s1e4: Vox in Excelso
This is the strongest episode yet of the new Trek show. It retains the core flaw in the show i.e. the whole genre of kids at wizarding school but as that is the core premise of the show it is likely complaining about their being aliens in it. By way of example of the inherent-flaws, we have that annoying thing where a supposedly large school revolves around a small social circle of students. Last week Caleb and his acquaintances (not quite a friendship group yet) where key members of the school's sports team.
camestrosfelapton.wordpress.com
February 2, 2026 at 6:42 PM
Reposted by Camestros Felapton
New blog post: completely unexpectedly, Wonder Man is not only a good show, but one that has inspired me to write about the MCU again. Its success, however, is rooted in avoiding the things that the rest of the franchise is chasing, to its detriment. wrongquestions.blogspot.com/2026/02/wond...
Wonder Man
For those of us who follow pop culture, January 2026 marked a significant anniversary. It was five years ago last month that Disney and Marv...
wrongquestions.blogspot.com
February 2, 2026 at 4:55 PM
Reposted by Camestros Felapton
CHOTINER: and when you're in water you

PARTICLE MAN: don't get wet, that's right.

CHOTINER: And this is because

PARTICLE MAN: the water gets me instead. It becomes particle-manish

CHOTINER: There's been some debate on this point. Triangle Man, for example

PARTICLE MAN: I think we're done here
December 23, 2025 at 3:24 AM
Reposted by Camestros Felapton
Never Mind the News – File 770’s Best Feature Articles of 2025
file770.com/never-mind-t...
February 1, 2026 at 9:28 PM
Susan’s Salon:♒️🈷️🈚️ 1-2 February 2026

Welcome to Susan's Salon. This post has 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…
Susan’s Salon:♒️🈷️🈚️ 1-2 February 2026
Welcome to Susan's Salon. This post has 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.
camestrosfelapton.wordpress.com
February 1, 2026 at 2:39 PM
Reposted by Camestros Felapton
8. Weiss's project is creating an Operation Paperclip for Epstein's cronies. Taking a group of discredited men and rehabilitating them as necessary pillars of system. Dershowitz and Peter Attia are the Wernher von Brauns of reactionary centrism.
January 31, 2026 at 9:30 PM
Reposted by Camestros Felapton
Hugo eligibility post!

“The Cuddled Little Vice,” my book-length essay on the poison legacy of Sandman, is eligible for Best Related Work.
The Cuddled Little Vice (Sandman)
Previously in The Last War in Albion: Alan Moore wrote Watchmen, which, for complicated reasons involving William S. Burroughs and the weak nuclear force, ended the Cold War and replaced it with a mag...
www.eruditorumpress.com
January 31, 2026 at 4:58 AM
Well that's enough writing about Vox Day for awhile. Now let me see what's next on to-do list for posts...Ah episode 4 of Star Fleet Academy. Hmmm "Vox in Excelso"

The fates are taunting me
January 31, 2026 at 12:40 AM
I might submit an application for my cat. As he is my muse I can claim he hits the "hugo finalist" criteria.

[Weird that there are 3 references to scifi writing in the ad? Clarkesworld, Hugo, Nebula - no equivalents in other genres]
just an absolutely unhinged job listing... literally seeking award-winning, multi-book authors to annotate AI text starting at $40/hour

job-boards.greenhouse.io/xai/jobs/501...
January 30, 2026 at 9:26 PM