What I read in 2016
2 Jan, 2017
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Blog Posts
December 2016 and 2016 in general in review
31 Dec, 2016
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December 2016
21 books reviewed. 19.5 by women, 1.5 by men. F/T = 0.93
5 books by POC, or 24%
Year to date
255 books read. 161.5 by women (0.63), 91.5 by men (0.36), 2 by authors who identifies as neither (0.01). 62.5 by POC (0.25).
To put this in context:
Merry Christmas
25 Dec, 2016
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My third since I began this site.
A Merry Christmas and thank you to Karen Lofstrom for de-word-salading my prose, Adrienne L. Travis for creating and managing this site, and to all my readers and my patreon supporters, and everyone who has ever commissioned a review. And everyone who suggested an interesting book for me to try.
In honour of the season, please enjoy this audio production of Arthur C.Clarke’s “The Star”.
November 2016 in Review
30 Nov, 2016
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November 2016
21 books reviewed. 18 by women, 3 by men. F/T = 0.86
6.5 books by POC, or 31%
Year to date
234 books read. 142 by women (0.61), 90 by men (0.38), 2 by authors who identifies as neither (0.01). 57.5 by POC (0.25).
To put in context:
Key: WNB stands for “women and non-binary genders”, while POC stands for “person of colour”. R/R stands for “reviews/reviewers”. Figures in brackets are percentages; for R/R the percentage represents the site’s R/R over my 2015 R/R. SFX is actually called SFX; it is not short for anything. Same with io9. JNR is James Nicoll Reviews. F&SF is the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. SFS is
Science Fiction Studies. LARB is the Los Angeles Review of Books. CSZ is the Cascadia Subduction Zone.
At this point, Locus 2015 is far behind me where reviews of POC are concerned, but slightly ahead of me where books by women are concerned and they have an insurmountable lead for reviews in general. Nothing I can do to match them in the last category but I should be able at least match them for reviews of books by women, as long as no fewer than 19 of the books I review in December are by women. But 20 would be better.
| Review source | Total | WNB (%) | POC (%) | Reviewers | R/R (%) |
| James Nicoll Reviews 2015 | 329 | 195 (59) | 45 (14) | 1 | 329 (1) |
| Locus | 324 | 163 (50) | 22 (7) | 17 | 19 (5.7) |
| JNR 2016 | 234 | 144 (62) | 57.5 (25) | 1 | 234 (71) |
| SFX | 165 | 48 (29) | 10 (6) | 30 | 5.5 (1.5) |
| Romantic Times | 146 | 84 (57) | 14 (10) | (incorrect) | n/a (n/a) |
| Tor | 141 | 66 (47) | 18 (13) | 27 | 5.2 (1.6) |
| Strange Horizons | 139 | 66 (48) | 30 (22) | 80 | 1.7 (0.5) |
| Rising Shadows | 83 | 25 (30) | 1 (1) | 2 | 41.5 (12.6) |
| Interzone | 67 | 21 (31) | 7 (10) | 19 | 3.5 (1) |
| F&SF | 59 | 32 (54) | 5 (9) | 5 | 11.8 (3.6) |
| Analog | 58 | 10 (17) | 3 (4) | 1 | 58 (17.6) |
| Io9 | 56 | 17 (30) | 12 (21) | 10 | 5.6 (1.7) |
| Asimov's | 53 | 21 (23) | 3 (6) | 3 | 17.7 (5.4) |
| Vector | 52 | 18 (35) | 4 (8) | 26 | 2 (0.6) |
| SFS | 45 | 48 (21) | 2 (4) | 38 | 1.2 (0.3) |
| NYRSF | 42 | 11 (26) | 6 (13) | 24 | 1.8 (0.5) |
| Foundation | 38 | 9 (24) | 1 (3) | 27 | 1.4 (0.4) |
| LARB | 35 | 11 (31) | 7 (20) | 28 | 1.3 (0.4) |
| Lightspeed | 28 | 16? (57) | 14 (50) | 3 | 9.3 (2.8) |
| CSZ | 23 | 19 (80) | 8 (35) | 17 | 1.4 (0.4) |
October 2016 in review
31 Oct, 2016
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October 2016
22 books reviewed. 12 by women, 10 by men. F/T = 0.55
7 books by POC, or 32%.
Year to date
213 books read. 124 by women (0.58), 87 by men (0.41), 2 by authors who identifies as neither (0.01). 51 by POC (0.24).
To put in context:
Key: WNB stands for “women and non-binary genders”, while POC stands for “person of colour”. R/R stands for “reviews/reviewers”. Figures in brackets are percentages; for R/R the percentage represents the site’s R/R over my 2015 R/R. SFX is actually called SFX; it is not short for anything. Same with io9. JNR is James Nicoll Reviews. F&SF is the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. SFS is
Science Fiction Studies. LARB is the Los Angeles Review of Books. CSZ is the Cascadia Subduction Zone.
Not going to beat Locus in total numbers but I have thus far read 29 more books by authors of colour than their 17 reviewers did in 2015, and it's not impossible that I will review at least 38 books by women and non-binary authors between now and the end of the year. Although if I am reading 22 books a month, that means no more than three books by men each month.
| Review source | Total | WNB (%) | POC (%) | Reviewers | R/R (%) |
| James Nicoll Reviews 2015 | 329 | 195 (59) | 45 (14) | 1 | 329 (100) |
| Locus | 324 | 163 (50) | 22 (7) | 17 | 19 (5.7) |
| JNR 2016 | 213 | 126 (59) | 51 (24) | 1 | 213 (65) |
| SFX | 165 | 48 (29) | 10 (6) | 30 | 5.5 (1.5) |
| Romantic Times | 146 | 84 (57) | 14 (10) | (incorrect) | n/a (n/a) |
| Tor | 141 | 66 (47) | 18 (13) | 27 | 5.2 (1.6) |
| Strange Horizons | 139 | 66 (48) | 30 (22) | 80 | 1.7 (0.5) |
| Rising Shadows | 83 | 25 (30) | 1 (1) | 2 | 41.5 (12.6) |
| Interzone | 67 | 21 (31) | 7 (10) | 19 | 3.5 (1) |
| F&SF | 59 | 32 (54) | 5 (9) | 5 | 11.8 (3.6) |
| Analog | 58 | 10 (17) | 3 (4) | 1 | 58 (17.6) |
| Io9 | 56 | 17 (30) | 12 (21) | 10 | 5.6 (1.7) |
| Asimov's | 53 | 21 (23) | 3 (6) | 3 | 17.7 (5.4) |
| Vector | 52 | 18 (35) | 4 (8) | 26 | 2 (0.6) |
| SFS | 45 | 48 (21) | 2 (4) | 38 | 1.2 (0.3) |
| NYRSF | 42 | 11 (26) | 6 (13) | 24 | 1.8 (0.5) |
| Foundation | 38 | 9 (24) | 1 (3) | 27 | 1.4 (0.4) |
| LARB | 35 | 11 (31) | 7 (20) | 28 | 1.3 (0.4) |
| Lightspeed | 28 | 16? (57) | 14 (50) | 3 | 9.3 (2.8) |
| CSZ | 23 | 19 (80) | 8 (35) | 17 | 1.4 (0.4) |
September 2016 in Review
30 Sep, 2016
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22 books reviewed. 13 by women, 9 by men. F/T = 0.59
5 books by POC, or 23%.
Year to date
191 books read. 112 by women (0.59), 77 by men (0.40), 2 by authors who identifies as neither (0.01). 44 by POC (0.23). To put in context:
Key: WNB stands for “women and non-binary genders”, while POC standsfor “person of colour”. R/R stands for “reviews/reviewers”. Figures inbrackets are percentages; for R/R the percentage represents the site’s R/R over my 2015 R/R. SFX is actually called SFX; it is not short for anything. Same with io9. JNR is James Nicoll Reviews. F&SF is the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. SFS = Science Fiction Studies. LARB is the Los Angeles Review of Books. CSZ is the Cascadia Subduction Zone.
| Review source | Total | WNB (%) | POC (%) | Reviewers | R/R (%) |
| James Nicoll Reviews 2015 | 329 | 195 (59) | 45 (14) | 1 | 329 (1) |
| Locus | 324 | 163 (50) | 22 (7) | 17 | 19 (5.7) |
| JNR 2016 | 191 | 114 (60) | 44 (23) | 1 | 191 (58) |
| SFX | 165 | 48 (29) | 10 (6) | 30 | 5.5 (1.5) |
| Romantic Times | 146 | 84 (57) | 14 (10) | 23 | 6.3 (1.9) |
| Tor | 141 | 66 (47) | 18 (13) | 27 | 5.2 (1.7) |
| Strange Horizons | 139 | 66 (48) | 30 (22) | 80 | 1.7 (0.5) |
| Rising Shadows | 83 | 25 (30) | 1 (1) | 2 | 41.5 (12.6) |
| Interzone | 67 | 21 (31) | 7 (10) | 19 | 3.5 (1) |
| F&SF | 59 | 32 (54) | 5 (9) | 5 | 11.8 (3.6) |
| Analog | 58 | 10 (17) | 3 (4) | 1 | 58 (17.6) |
| Io9 | 56 | 17 (30) | 12 (21) | 10 | 5.6 (1.7) |
| Asimov's | 53 | 21 (23) | 3 (6) | 3 | 17.7 (5.4) |
| Vector | 52 | 18 (35) | 4 (8) | 26 | 2 (0.6) |
| SFS | 45 | 48 (21) | 2 (4) | 38 | 1.2 (0.3) |
| NYRSF | 42 | 11 (26) | 6 (13) | 24 | 1.8 (0.5) |
| Foundation | 38 | 9 (24) | 1 (3) | 27 | 1.4 (0.4) |
| LARB | 35 | 11 (31) | 7 (20) | 28 | 1.3 (0.4) |
| Lightspeed | 28 | 16? (57) | 14 (50) | 3 | 9.3 (2.8) |
| CSZ | 23 | 19 (80) | 8 (35) | 17 | 1.4 (0.4) |
August 2016 in Review
31 Aug, 2016
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22 books reviewed. 12 by women, 10 by men. F/T = 0.55
5 books by POC, or 23%.
Year to date
169 books read. 99 by women (0.59), 68 by men (0.40), 2 by authors who identifies as neither (0.01). 39 by POC (0.23). To put in context:
Key: WNB stands for “women and non-binary genders”, while POC stands for “person of colour”. R/R stands for “reviews/reviewers”. Figures in brackets are percentages; for R/R the percentage represents the site’s R/R over my 2015 R/R. SFX is actually called SFX; it is not short for anything. Same with io9. JNR is James Nicoll Reviews. F&SF is the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. SFS = Science Fiction Studies. LARB is the Los Angeles Review of Books. CSZ is the Cascadia Subduction Zone.
| Review source | Total | WNB (%) | POC (%) | Reviewers | R/R (%) |
| James Nicoll Reviews 2015 | 329 | 195 (59) | 45 (14) | 1 | 329 (1) |
| Locus | 324 | 163 (50) | 22 (7) | 17 | 19 (5.7) |
| JNR 2016 | 169 | 101 (60) | 39 (23) | 1 | 169 (51) |
| SFX | 165 | 48 (29) | 10 (6) | 30 | 5.5 (1.5) |
| Romantic Times | 146 | 84 (57) | 14 (10) | 23 | 6.3 (1.9) |
| Tor | 141 | 66 (47) | 18 (13) | 27 | 5.2 (1.7) |
| Strange Horizons | 139 | 66 (48) | 30 (22) | 80 | 1.7 (0.5) |
| Rising Shadows | 83 | 25 (30) | 1 (1) | 2 | 41.5 (12.6) |
| Interzone | 67 | 21 (31) | 7 (10) | 19 | 3.5 (1) |
| F&SF | 59 | 32 (54) | 5 (9) | 5 | 11.8 (3.6) |
| Analog | 58 | 10 (17) | 3 (4) | 1 | 58 (17.6) |
| Io9 | 56 | 17 (30) | 12 (21) | 10 | 5.6 (1.7) |
| Asimov's | 53 | 21 (23) | 3 (6) | 3 | 17.7 (5.4) |
| Vector | 52 | 18 (35) | 4 (8) | 26 | 2 (0.6) |
| SFS | 45 | 48 (21) | 2 (4) | 38 | 1.2 (0.3) |
| NYRSF | 42 | 11 (26) | 6 (13) | 24 | 1.8 (0.5) |
| Foundation | 38 | 9 (24) | 1 (3) | 27 | 1.4 (0.4) |
| LARB | 35 | 11 (31) | 7 (20) | 28 | 1.3 (0.4) |
| Lightspeed | 28 | 16? (57) | 14 (50) | 3 | 9.3 (2.8) |
| CSZ | 23 | 19 (80) | 8 (35) | 17 | 1.4 (0.4) |
July 2016 in Review
31 Jul, 2016
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22 books reviewed. 14 by women, 8 by men. F/T = 0.64
4 books by POC, or 18%.
Year to date
147 books read. 87 by women (0.59), 58 by men (0.39), 2 by authors who identifies as neither (0.01). 34 by POC (0.23). To put in context:
(I am not getting the same zing from ascending through the chart this year as I did in 2015, in part because I know I won't be able to outdo Locus' army of reviewers. Oh, well.)
Key: WNB stands for “women and non-binary genders”, while POC stands for “person of colour”. R/R stands for “reviews/reviewers”. Figures in brackets are percentages; for R/R the percentage represents the site’s R/R over my 2015 R/R.
| Review source | Total | WNB (%) | POC (%) | Reviewers | R/R (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| James Nicoll Reviews 2015 | 329 | 195 (59) | 45 (14) | 1 | 329 (1) |
| Locus | 324 | 163 (50) | 22 (7) | 17 | 19 (5.7) |
| SFX | 165 | 48 (29) | 10 (6) | 30 | 5.5 (1.5) |
| JNR 2016 | 147 | 89 (61) | 34 (23) | 1 | 147 (n/a) |
| Romantic Times | 146 | 84 (57) | 14 (10) | 23 | 6.3 (1.9) |
| Tor | 141 | 66 (47) | 18 (13) | 27 | 5.2 (1.7) |
| Strange Horizons | 139 | 66 (48) | 30 (22) | 80 | 1.7 (0.5) |
| Rising Shadows | 83 | 25 (30) | 1 (1) | 2 | 41.5 (12.6) |
| Interzone | 67 | 21 (31) | 7 (10) | 19 | 3.5 (1) |
| F&SF | 59 | 32 (54) | 5 (9) | 5 | 11.8 (3.6) |
| Analog | 58 | 10 (17) | 3 (4) | 1 | 58 (17.6) |
| Io9 | 56 | 17 (30) | 12 (21) | 10 | 5.6 (1.7) |
| Asimov's | 53 | 21 (23) | 3 (6) | 3 | 17.7 (5.4) |
| Vector | 52 | 18 (35) | 4 (8) | 26 | 2 (0.6) |
| SFS | 45 | 48 (21) | 2 (4) | 38 | 1.2 (0.3) |
| NYRSF | 42 | 11 (26) | 6 (13) | 24 | 1.8 (0.5) |
| Foundation | 38 | 9 (24) | 1 (3) | 27 | 1.4 (0.4) |
| LARB | 35 | 11 (31) | 7 (20) | 28 | 1.3 (0.4) |
| Lightspeed | 28 | 16? (57) | 14 (50) | 3 | 9.3 (2.8) |
| CSZ | 23 | 19 (80) | 8 (35) | 17 | 1.4 (0.4) |
Stephanie Clarkson fundraiser sale
21 Jul, 2016
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I’ve known Stephanie Clarkson since she was a young teen hanging around my game store. I saw her grow up and find her place as an adult. Recently, she struggled with major health problems. Just as she seemed to have turned the corner on that, she was diagnosed with cancer. Stephanie died on July 19th, 2016.
Patricia Washburn is raising funds for Stephanie’s final expenses. To help her in this, I am running a seventy-two hour sales: commissions are half off ($50 a review) and all funds raised from reviews commissioned between now and 10 AM, July 24rd will be forwarded to Patricia.
Aside from price, the usual terms apply.
June 2016 in Review
29 Jun, 2016
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This may seem like it is a day early but tomorrow is the day I set aside for the next Young People Review Old SFF post. I don’t want to dilute people’s attention so no JNR post tomorrow.
20 books reviewed. 10 by women, 10 by men. F/T = 0.5
5 books by POC, or 25%
My second least productive month this year and I am not entirely sure why, although reserving Thursday for YPROSFF is a factor. I didn’t feel like I was letting productive time slip away, like I did in February when I was dealing with the effects of incessant sabotage by FASS committee members I had thought were my friends and allies. May they have long, disappointing lives1. Anyway, doing stuff but not all of it shows up here.
F/T is a bit low while %POC is a bit higher than usual for related reasons: I have been chewing my way through YKK, which is written by a POC who is a guy. I neglected to take into account what devoting one fifth of my reviews to one man’s series would do to F/T while being mindful of how it would affect %POC. Since I made the same oversight regarding F/T back when I was reviewing The Great Heinlein Juveniles (Plus the Other Two), I probably will make the same mistake in the future.
Year to date
125 books read. 73 by women (0.58), 50 by men (0.4), 2 by authors who identifies as neither (0.02). 30 by POC (0.24). To put in context:
Key: WNB stands for “women and non-binary genders”, while POC stands for “person of colour”. R/R stands for “reviews/reviewers”. Figures in brackets are percentages; for R/R the percentage represents the site’s R/R over my 2015 R/R.
| Review source | Total | WNB (%) | POC (%) | Reviewers | R/R (%) |
| James Nicoll Reviews 2015 | 329 | 195 (59) | 45 (14) | 1 | 329 (100) |
| Locus | 324 | 163 (50) | 22 (7) | 17 | 19 (5.7) |
| SFX | 165 | 48 (29) | 10 (6) | 30 | 5.5 (1,5) |
| Romantic Times | 146 | 84 (57) | 14 (10) | 23 | 6.3 (1.9) |
| Tor | 141 | 66 (47) | 18 (13) | 27 | 5.2 (1.7) |
| Strange Horizons | 139 | 66 (48) | 30 (22) | 80 | 1.7 (0.5) |
| James Nicoll Reviews 2016 | 125 | 75 (60) | 30 (24) | 1 | 125 (38) |
| Rising Shadows | 83 | 25 (30) | 1 (1) | 2 | 41.5 (12.6) |
| Interzone | 67 | 21 (31) | 7 (10) | 19 | 3.5 (1) |
| F&SF | 59 | 32 (54) | 5 (9) | 5 | 11.8 (3.6) |
| Analog | 58 | 10 (17) | 3 (4) | 1 | 58 (17.6) |
| Io9 | 56 | 17 (30) | 12 (21) | 10 | 5.6 (1.7) |
| Asimov’s | 53 | 21 (23) | 3 (6) | 3 | 17.7 (5.4) |
| Vector | 52 | 18 (35) | 4 (8) | 26 | 2 (0.6) |
| SFS | 45 | 48 (21) | 2 (4) | 38 | 1.2 (0.3) |
| NYRSF | 42 | 11 (26) | 6 (13) | 24 | 1.8 (0.5) |
| Foundation | 38 | 9 (24) | 1 (3) | 27 | 1.4 (0.4) |
| LARB | 35 | 11 (31) | 7 (20) | 28 | 1.3 (0.4) |
| Lightspeed | 28 | 16? (57) | 14 (50) | 3 | 9.3 (2.8) |
| CSZ | 23 | 19 (80) | 8 (35) | 17 | 1.4 (0.4) |
As it is, it looks like I will have about 250 reviews this year. One way of looking at it is “much lower than in 2015” but another way of looking at it is “on a reviews per reviewer basis, roughly forty-five times as productive as the median reviewer who Strange Horizons deigns to notice.
Once I read one more book by a POC, I will have read more books by POC than any of the sites that made Strange Horizons annual round up, which once again my site did not. Not that I keep grudges. You ask anyone who knows what’s good for them and they will tell you I am a forgiving person.
1: There was at least the hilarity of the main ringleader and her minion being publicly compared to Hinz’s Paratwa by someone who was not me. Personally, I think the comparison is pretty harsh. The moral here is never accept seemingly complementary comparisons based on books you have not read. Or googled, apparently.