Elsewhere

Some writing I’ve published recently on my blog and on other sites that might be of interest.

• I reviewed James Gray’s Ad Astra, which seems to have faded away rather quickly but which I found quite moving. Despite a not-inconsiderable degree of self-importance, Ad Astra felt to me like a direct response to a lot of recent Hollywood-A-Lister-In-Space movies, and the way that a lot of them embrace a certain vision of masculinity that could stand to be reexamined.
• I also finally got around to watching Hulu’s revival of Veronica Mars, and wrote about why the show has struggled to find itself past its first, transcendent season. Spoiler: the problem is not the mysteries, or the format, or Veronica’s love interests, but Veronica herself.
• Over at Strange Horizons, I reviewed Argentinian author Pola Oloixarac’s novella Dark Constellations (translated by Roy Kesey). It’s a strange, challenging book that stretches the definition of cyberpunk to its breaking point, but is definitely worth a look if that sounds even a little bit intriguing.
• Back at my blog, I’ve published several roundups of shorter reviews. Here are my thoughts on recently-read books (including Booker-longlistee My Sister, the Serial Killer, and Hugo nominee Spinning Silver), movies (including Parasite, Hustlers, and Midsommar), and TV (including Netflix’s Dark Crystal prequel series and Amazon’s stunning animated series Undone).
• And for those of you who happen to be in Israel next week (and speak Hebrew) I will be presenting a lecture at the annual ICon Festival for Science Fiction and Fantasy, based on our series A Political History of the Future. It’ll mostly be familiar stuff, but if any of you are around, come say hello.