Abigail Nussbaum
@abigailnussbaum.bsky.social
Blogger, critic, 2017 and 2025 best fan writer Hugo winner.
Blogs at wrongquestions.blogspot.com and www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com
Review collection TRACK CHANGES available at briardenebooks.uk/shop/
Blogs at wrongquestions.blogspot.com and www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com
Review collection TRACK CHANGES available at briardenebooks.uk/shop/
Pinned
<i>House of Open Wounds</i>, <i>Days of Shattered Faith</i>, <i>Lives of Bitter Rain</i> by Adrian Tchaikovsky
After I published my effusive review of Adrian Tchaikovsky's City of Last Chances , I received a comment from Tchaikovsky on twitter notin...
wrongquestions.blogspot.com
New blog post: in which I discuss books 2, 3, and 3.5 in @aptshadow.bsky.social Tyrant Philosophers series, "the richest and most complete exploration of the theme of totalitarianism and its inherent contradictions in all of Tchaikovsky's recent work." wrongquestions.blogspot.com/2025/10/hous...
Reposted by Abigail Nussbaum
For Strange Horizons, I've been working on a review of A Granite Silence, Nina Allan's fascinating examination of a historical crime as a network of jostling stories. The review went online yesterday: strangehorizons.com/wordpress/no...
A Granite Silence by Nina Allan
In her latest novel, Allan steps in a different direction again.
strangehorizons.com
November 27, 2025 at 2:54 PM
For Strange Horizons, I've been working on a review of A Granite Silence, Nina Allan's fascinating examination of a historical crime as a network of jostling stories. The review went online yesterday: strangehorizons.com/wordpress/no...
I was very charmed by this story as a child, and it's somewhat saddening - though also a bit predictable - to learn from this article that the person who claimed the hare hadn't actually solved the riddle, and just had an inside track on the solution. Probably a life lesson there.
One of the most beautiful bits of english eccentricity and glorious design is coming back to Sotheby’s and should be bought by a musuem (or me) for THE NATION. www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home...
Jewelled golden hare that sparked national treasure hunt set for auction
Artist and author Kit Williams hid a golden hare with clues to its precise location given in his 1979 book
www.independent.co.uk
November 27, 2025 at 11:26 AM
I was very charmed by this story as a child, and it's somewhat saddening - though also a bit predictable - to learn from this article that the person who claimed the hare hadn't actually solved the riddle, and just had an inside track on the solution. Probably a life lesson there.
abigailnussbaum posted on tumblr:
For reasons that will become clear in the fullness of time, I have spent the last few days looking at Lord of the Rings fan art....
https://abigailnussbaum.tumblr.com/post/801289920439255041/for-reasons-that-will-become-clear-in-the-fullness
For reasons that will become clear in the fullness of time, I have spent the last few days looking at Lord of the Rings fan art....
https://abigailnussbaum.tumblr.com/post/801289920439255041/for-reasons-that-will-become-clear-in-the-fullness
November 26, 2025 at 3:07 PM
abigailnussbaum posted on tumblr:
For reasons that will become clear in the fullness of time, I have spent the last few days looking at Lord of the Rings fan art....
https://abigailnussbaum.tumblr.com/post/801289920439255041/for-reasons-that-will-become-clear-in-the-fullness
For reasons that will become clear in the fullness of time, I have spent the last few days looking at Lord of the Rings fan art....
https://abigailnussbaum.tumblr.com/post/801289920439255041/for-reasons-that-will-become-clear-in-the-fullness
abigailnussbaum posted on tumblr: In retrospect, one thing I kinda like in ATLA is how Zuko never tells the gaang how he got his scar.
It would have been cool to...
https://abigailnussbaum.tumblr.com/post/800470946942189568/the-reason-for-this-of-course-is-that-for-all
It would have been cool to...
https://abigailnussbaum.tumblr.com/post/800470946942189568/the-reason-for-this-of-course-is-that-for-all
November 26, 2025 at 1:26 PM
abigailnussbaum posted on tumblr: In retrospect, one thing I kinda like in ATLA is how Zuko never tells the gaang how he got his scar.
It would have been cool to...
https://abigailnussbaum.tumblr.com/post/800470946942189568/the-reason-for-this-of-course-is-that-for-all
It would have been cool to...
https://abigailnussbaum.tumblr.com/post/800470946942189568/the-reason-for-this-of-course-is-that-for-all
In retrospect, one thing I kinda like in ATLA is how Zuko never tells the gaang how he got his scar.
It would have been cool to...
https://abigailnussbaum.tumblr.com/post/800470946942189568/the-reason-for-this-of-course-is-that-for-all
It would have been cool to...
https://abigailnussbaum.tumblr.com/post/800470946942189568/the-reason-for-this-of-course-is-that-for-all
November 26, 2025 at 1:24 PM
In retrospect, one thing I kinda like in ATLA is how Zuko never tells the gaang how he got his scar.
It would have been cool to...
https://abigailnussbaum.tumblr.com/post/800470946942189568/the-reason-for-this-of-course-is-that-for-all
It would have been cool to...
https://abigailnussbaum.tumblr.com/post/800470946942189568/the-reason-for-this-of-course-is-that-for-all
It has arrived: that day every five years or so when I remember to play around with my blog template.
November 26, 2025 at 11:29 AM
It has arrived: that day every five years or so when I remember to play around with my blog template.
So, Weapons: this is about school shootings, right?
Specifically, the way that authority figures - parents, teachers, cops - have completely abdicated responsibility for children's safety, leaving the kids to rescue themselves.
Specifically, the way that authority figures - parents, teachers, cops - have completely abdicated responsibility for children's safety, leaving the kids to rescue themselves.
November 17, 2025 at 11:14 PM
So, Weapons: this is about school shootings, right?
Specifically, the way that authority figures - parents, teachers, cops - have completely abdicated responsibility for children's safety, leaving the kids to rescue themselves.
Specifically, the way that authority figures - parents, teachers, cops - have completely abdicated responsibility for children's safety, leaving the kids to rescue themselves.
Hmm, restricting solely to books I have copies of:
Notes From a Regicide by Isaac Fellman
Transmentation | Transience by Darkly Lem
Portalmania by Debbie Urbanski
Uncertain Sons and Other Stories by Thomas Ha
Letters From An Imaginary Country by Theodora Goss
(cont.)
Notes From a Regicide by Isaac Fellman
Transmentation | Transience by Darkly Lem
Portalmania by Debbie Urbanski
Uncertain Sons and Other Stories by Thomas Ha
Letters From An Imaginary Country by Theodora Goss
(cont.)
It's the time of year where Tiktok starts on "ten before the end". I don't think lists like that actually do much for making me read things, but I like making lists so here's my attempt at the ten books I'd like to get to before the end of the year.
The metric is "feel v bad I've not read it yet".
The metric is "feel v bad I've not read it yet".
November 17, 2025 at 2:46 PM
Hmm, restricting solely to books I have copies of:
Notes From a Regicide by Isaac Fellman
Transmentation | Transience by Darkly Lem
Portalmania by Debbie Urbanski
Uncertain Sons and Other Stories by Thomas Ha
Letters From An Imaginary Country by Theodora Goss
(cont.)
Notes From a Regicide by Isaac Fellman
Transmentation | Transience by Darkly Lem
Portalmania by Debbie Urbanski
Uncertain Sons and Other Stories by Thomas Ha
Letters From An Imaginary Country by Theodora Goss
(cont.)
Another Pluribus thought: feels like I'm meant to see Carol as quite flawed, and it's true that her baseline is pretty misanthropic. But in three episodes:
1. her wife died
2. the world ended
3. she can't get mad about this or millions will die
So I think in context she's doing pretty well!
1. her wife died
2. the world ended
3. she can't get mad about this or millions will die
So I think in context she's doing pretty well!
November 16, 2025 at 1:31 PM
Another Pluribus thought: feels like I'm meant to see Carol as quite flawed, and it's true that her baseline is pretty misanthropic. But in three episodes:
1. her wife died
2. the world ended
3. she can't get mad about this or millions will die
So I think in context she's doing pretty well!
1. her wife died
2. the world ended
3. she can't get mad about this or millions will die
So I think in context she's doing pretty well!
This is my core problem with Pluribus. It's a show that wants you to think a lot about its premise, to engage deeply with the mystery it's teasing. But at the same time there are vast parts of its worldbuilding where its attitude is clearly "don't think about it too hard or the story won't work".
Ok so re: Pluribus, if I was working in a Biosafety Level 4 or ABSL-4 lab and my colleague got bit by a rat infected with a mysterious alien virus I would simply not immediately drag them out of the containment chamber and into the open air but that’s just me.
Watched the first five minutes of Pluribus and oh hi it’s the Very Large Array! I haven’t seen it show up in media in a while. You may remember it from Contact, which had essentially the same “we found a pattern” plot. It’s 27 dishes (radio antennas) in a Y shape across 22 miles. A very cool place!
November 16, 2025 at 9:49 AM
This is my core problem with Pluribus. It's a show that wants you to think a lot about its premise, to engage deeply with the mystery it's teasing. But at the same time there are vast parts of its worldbuilding where its attitude is clearly "don't think about it too hard or the story won't work".
Feels a bit like the 19th century, when men with middle class jobs had to learn to write like a clerk, while gentlemen were expected to have unreadable handwriting.
Every office has an executive tier whose emails are like:
saw on news , , can we replce complianc dept with web 3
and a worker tier whose emails are like:
Dear Jim,
First of all, I *love* this idea! Unfortunately, I spoke with Legal and identified a few issues with this approach. For starters…
saw on news , , can we replce complianc dept with web 3
and a worker tier whose emails are like:
Dear Jim,
First of all, I *love* this idea! Unfortunately, I spoke with Legal and identified a few issues with this approach. For starters…
Well, it's a little clearer now why billionaires are so invested in technology that produces better written emails.
November 13, 2025 at 9:28 AM
Feels a bit like the 19th century, when men with middle class jobs had to learn to write like a clerk, while gentlemen were expected to have unreadable handwriting.
Reposted by Abigail Nussbaum
The far right is obsessed with Lord of the Rings and Musk keeps posting about "hobbits" because modern scientific racism owes more to fantasy worlds and gaming systems than genetic science, and they see both as effective mediums for right-wing propaganda www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
Why Elon Musk Needs Dungeons and Dragons to Be Racist
The fantastical roots of “scientific racism”
www.theatlantic.com
November 11, 2025 at 2:42 PM
The far right is obsessed with Lord of the Rings and Musk keeps posting about "hobbits" because modern scientific racism owes more to fantasy worlds and gaming systems than genetic science, and they see both as effective mediums for right-wing propaganda www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
Spoiler: it’s because he died. The writers of a franchise whose main character has been played by seven actors across sixty years think they have to come up with a plot explanation for the character coming back after dying in the previous movie. radaronline.com/p/james-bond...
EXCLUSIVE: James Bond Writers Reveal Twist That Has Left New Creators With 'Huge Headache' When It Comes to Resurrecting the Super-Spy for Amazon
Bond writers are now racking their brain, trying to move forward with the franchise after the last film's wild twist.
radaronline.com
November 11, 2025 at 10:38 AM
Spoiler: it’s because he died. The writers of a franchise whose main character has been played by seven actors across sixty years think they have to come up with a plot explanation for the character coming back after dying in the previous movie. radaronline.com/p/james-bond...
Reposted by Abigail Nussbaum
Let's make it official:
SHELVED BY GENRE's next unit, spanning ALL of 2026, will be a delve into the depths of modern genre with J.R.R. Tolkien's THE HOBBIT, THE LORD OF THE RINGS, and THE SILMARILLION.
If you don't have those, you can grab them through our Bookshop:
bookshop.org/lists/shelve...
SHELVED BY GENRE's next unit, spanning ALL of 2026, will be a delve into the depths of modern genre with J.R.R. Tolkien's THE HOBBIT, THE LORD OF THE RINGS, and THE SILMARILLION.
If you don't have those, you can grab them through our Bookshop:
bookshop.org/lists/shelve...
Shelved By Genre
These are books discussed on the podcast Shelved by Genre!
bookshop.org
November 7, 2025 at 8:29 PM
Let's make it official:
SHELVED BY GENRE's next unit, spanning ALL of 2026, will be a delve into the depths of modern genre with J.R.R. Tolkien's THE HOBBIT, THE LORD OF THE RINGS, and THE SILMARILLION.
If you don't have those, you can grab them through our Bookshop:
bookshop.org/lists/shelve...
SHELVED BY GENRE's next unit, spanning ALL of 2026, will be a delve into the depths of modern genre with J.R.R. Tolkien's THE HOBBIT, THE LORD OF THE RINGS, and THE SILMARILLION.
If you don't have those, you can grab them through our Bookshop:
bookshop.org/lists/shelve...
Two episodes in, Pluribus feels like a pretty classic case of "is this actually good, or is it just expensive?"
November 7, 2025 at 10:06 PM
Two episodes in, Pluribus feels like a pretty classic case of "is this actually good, or is it just expensive?"
Reposted by Abigail Nussbaum
Good morning! Dick Cheney is dead and I have an obituary that I wrote all the way back in 2017 about this monster!
www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2025/11/cheney
www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2025/11/cheney
Cheney - Lawyers, Guns & Money
Dick Cheney, one of America’s worst war criminals, is dead. Born in 1941 in Lincoln, Nebraska, which amazingly makes University of Nebraska football only the second most grotesque American cultural ph...
www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com
November 4, 2025 at 12:11 PM
Good morning! Dick Cheney is dead and I have an obituary that I wrote all the way back in 2017 about this monster!
www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2025/11/cheney
www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2025/11/cheney
It's not exactly the same thing, but finding out that Jerry Orbach - who I knew as Lenny Briscoe from watching Law & Order with my mom - was also the voice of Lumiere from Beauty and the Beast broke my pre-adolescent brain.
I think everybody has a “Wallace Shawn from Young Sheldon” — my first one would probably be “Vincent Price, the guy who did the voice of Ratigan in The Great Mouse Detective”
November 3, 2025 at 6:56 AM
It's not exactly the same thing, but finding out that Jerry Orbach - who I knew as Lenny Briscoe from watching Law & Order with my mom - was also the voice of Lumiere from Beauty and the Beast broke my pre-adolescent brain.
Going by the first two episodes of The Witcher S4, Liam Hemsworth seems to have chosen to play Geralt without what, to me, is his defining trait, a constant state of annoyance.
October 30, 2025 at 9:27 PM
Going by the first two episodes of The Witcher S4, Liam Hemsworth seems to have chosen to play Geralt without what, to me, is his defining trait, a constant state of annoyance.
Look, there's pettiness, and then there's Netflix cutting the "previously on The Witcher" superclip so that it contains zero Geralt dialogue and only shows him from behind.
October 30, 2025 at 7:25 PM
Look, there's pettiness, and then there's Netflix cutting the "previously on The Witcher" superclip so that it contains zero Geralt dialogue and only shows him from behind.
Reposted by Abigail Nussbaum
New blog post: in which I discuss books 2, 3, and 3.5 in @aptshadow.bsky.social Tyrant Philosophers series, "the richest and most complete exploration of the theme of totalitarianism and its inherent contradictions in all of Tchaikovsky's recent work." wrongquestions.blogspot.com/2025/10/hous...
<i>House of Open Wounds</i>, <i>Days of Shattered Faith</i>, <i>Lives of Bitter Rain</i> by Adrian Tchaikovsky
After I published my effusive review of Adrian Tchaikovsky's City of Last Chances , I received a comment from Tchaikovsky on twitter notin...
wrongquestions.blogspot.com
October 29, 2025 at 4:23 PM
New blog post: in which I discuss books 2, 3, and 3.5 in @aptshadow.bsky.social Tyrant Philosophers series, "the richest and most complete exploration of the theme of totalitarianism and its inherent contradictions in all of Tchaikovsky's recent work." wrongquestions.blogspot.com/2025/10/hous...
Reposted by Abigail Nussbaum
An extremely pleasant review of the Tyrant Philosophers series to date.
New blog post: in which I discuss books 2, 3, and 3.5 in @aptshadow.bsky.social Tyrant Philosophers series, "the richest and most complete exploration of the theme of totalitarianism and its inherent contradictions in all of Tchaikovsky's recent work." wrongquestions.blogspot.com/2025/10/hous...
<i>House of Open Wounds</i>, <i>Days of Shattered Faith</i>, <i>Lives of Bitter Rain</i> by Adrian Tchaikovsky
After I published my effusive review of Adrian Tchaikovsky's City of Last Chances , I received a comment from Tchaikovsky on twitter notin...
wrongquestions.blogspot.com
October 29, 2025 at 5:01 PM
An extremely pleasant review of the Tyrant Philosophers series to date.
New blog post: in which I discuss books 2, 3, and 3.5 in @aptshadow.bsky.social Tyrant Philosophers series, "the richest and most complete exploration of the theme of totalitarianism and its inherent contradictions in all of Tchaikovsky's recent work." wrongquestions.blogspot.com/2025/10/hous...
<i>House of Open Wounds</i>, <i>Days of Shattered Faith</i>, <i>Lives of Bitter Rain</i> by Adrian Tchaikovsky
After I published my effusive review of Adrian Tchaikovsky's City of Last Chances , I received a comment from Tchaikovsky on twitter notin...
wrongquestions.blogspot.com
October 29, 2025 at 4:23 PM
New blog post: in which I discuss books 2, 3, and 3.5 in @aptshadow.bsky.social Tyrant Philosophers series, "the richest and most complete exploration of the theme of totalitarianism and its inherent contradictions in all of Tchaikovsky's recent work." wrongquestions.blogspot.com/2025/10/hous...
Reposted by Abigail Nussbaum
Stainless by Todd Grimson is a 1996 vampire novel reprinted by McNally Editions, and more than worthy of rediscovery. A washed up rocker becomes a vampire's familiar in seedy 90s LA. Disturbing, sexy, funny, and sometimes even romantic, this is a great vampire story, but also a great LA story.
Stainless — McNALLY EDITIONS
Todd Grimson A bloody, erotic love story from “the greatest horror writer you’ve never read . . . In Stainless , Todd Grimson set out to write ‘the Ultimate, Final Vampire Novel’—and succeede...
www.mcnallyeditions.com
October 28, 2025 at 5:20 PM
Stainless by Todd Grimson is a 1996 vampire novel reprinted by McNally Editions, and more than worthy of rediscovery. A washed up rocker becomes a vampire's familiar in seedy 90s LA. Disturbing, sexy, funny, and sometimes even romantic, this is a great vampire story, but also a great LA story.
Stainless by Todd Grimson is a 1996 vampire novel reprinted by McNally Editions, and more than worthy of rediscovery. A washed up rocker becomes a vampire's familiar in seedy 90s LA. Disturbing, sexy, funny, and sometimes even romantic, this is a great vampire story, but also a great LA story.
Stainless — McNALLY EDITIONS
Todd Grimson A bloody, erotic love story from “the greatest horror writer you’ve never read . . . In Stainless , Todd Grimson set out to write ‘the Ultimate, Final Vampire Novel’—and succeede...
www.mcnallyeditions.com
October 28, 2025 at 5:20 PM
Stainless by Todd Grimson is a 1996 vampire novel reprinted by McNally Editions, and more than worthy of rediscovery. A washed up rocker becomes a vampire's familiar in seedy 90s LA. Disturbing, sexy, funny, and sometimes even romantic, this is a great vampire story, but also a great LA story.
Now that we know Doctor Who is coming back, can we all just agree to pretend the Billie Piper regeneration didn't happen and Ncuti Gatwa is still the Doctor? I get that he didn't want to be in employment limbo, but two seasons with him was nowhere near enough. www.denofgeek.com/tv/doctor-wh...
It's Official: Doctor Who Is Returning But Without Disney
As expected, Disney is pulling out of its BBC partnership - freeing up a fresh future for Doctor Who.
www.denofgeek.com
October 28, 2025 at 4:47 PM
Now that we know Doctor Who is coming back, can we all just agree to pretend the Billie Piper regeneration didn't happen and Ncuti Gatwa is still the Doctor? I get that he didn't want to be in employment limbo, but two seasons with him was nowhere near enough. www.denofgeek.com/tv/doctor-wh...