James Nicoll Reviews

Great Balls of Fire

Beowulf: A New Translation

By Maria Dahvana Headley

3 Jul, 2024

**Translation**

14 comments

Maria Dahvana Headley’s 2020’s Beowulf: A New Translation is… a new translation of Beowulf. This is fortuitous, as it would be terribly confusing if a book titled Beowulf: A New Translation were not a new translation of Beowulf.

Nor do the book’s positive qualities end with the title. But first, hark back to old Scandinavia.

Unto My Lot

Spec-Lit, # 1

Edited by Phyllis Eisenstein

2 Jul, 2024

**The End of History**

5 comments

The ISFDB says that Phyllis Eisenstein’s 1997 Spec-Lit is the first of two Spec-Lit anthologies. I’d argue they are closer to magazines. I base this on vibes and also because the copyright says, “This magazine is copyright © 1997 by Phyllis Eisenstein.” The two Spec-Lit books/magazines are, as far as I know, the only examples of Eisenstein’s editorial work.

But first! Background.