Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno Garcia

Conventions:

DragonCon will convert to an online convention in 2020.

Books and Writing:

Verso and Feminist Press are turning 50.

Nerds of a Feather interviews Hugo fan artist nominee Iain J Clark.

Mary Robinette Kowal hosted Read More

The City in the Middle of the Night by Charlie Jane Anders, Locus Winner for Best SF Novel

Locus awards:

Here’s the list. Charlie Jane Anders’s The City in the Middle of the Night won the Locus Award for best science fiction novel. Best fantasy novel is Middlegame, by Seanan McGuire, best horror novel is Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon Ja... Read More

Cover for Pirate Stew, forthcoming from Neil Gaiman

Books and Writing:

The Catholic Culture site devoted a 1hour 40 minute podcast to Gene Wolfe, Catholic Sci-Fi Legend (Sci-Fi is their term, not mine). I’m posting this link having only read the outline and listened to a minute or two of it. Fascinating topic, though.

A positive story: DreamHaven, a comic book store that was vandalized during the protests and social unrest, has replaced its glass door and “really looks open” now! (Thanks  to File770.)

Camestros Felap... Read More

A Fire Story by Brian Fies

Giveaway:

One commenter chosen at random will get a copy of Brian Fies’s graphic novel A Fire Story.

Awards:

Finalists for the Shirley Jackson Awards have been announced. Pleased to see Elizabeth Hand’s Curious Toys on the list.

Books and Writing:

The troubles at literary agency Red Sofa began when the owner tweeted that, during the protests against police brutality and violence in New York City, she had called the police about some people she saw down the street at a gas station. She said they w... Read More

Stormblood by Jeremy Sza

Awards:

The Peabody Award finalists, for “the most compelling and empowering” digital media and broadcasting  stories of 2019, have been announced.

Books and Writing:

Nebula-winning author Cat Rambo  was profiled in her local paper, the Seattle Times.

Science Fiction Writers of America (SFWA) issued a statement in support of ... Read More

A Song for a New Day by Sarah Pinsker

The World Fantasy Convention is the latest con to announce it will be an online experience. The Con is scheduled for October 29 through November 1, 2020.

Awards:

Nebula winners announced. Sarah Pinsker won Best Novel for A Song for a New Day; Amal El-Mohtar and Read More

The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin

Gatherings, or Not:

SFWA’s Nebula Event starts Thursday. I think you can still register.

AmazingCon, held June 12-14, will also be an online experience (as most of this year’s conventions will be.) Thanks to File 770.

Giveaway:

One commenter chosen at random will win a hardcover edition of N.K. Jemisin’s The City We Became.

Books and Writing:

Nerds of a Feather posted a micro-review... Read More

Giveaway:

I ended up with two hardcover copies of Robert Jackson Bennett’s Shorefall. I am giving one away to a commenter chosen at random. Please note that it helps to have read Foundryside, which is Book One in the series, first. Here’s our review of it, and here’s Bill 's review of Shorefall.

Awards:

Premios Kelvin is awarded for excellence in works translated into Spanish. The finalists have been announced.

File770 Read More

Conventions:

San Diego ComiCon has cancelled its live event for this year as you know. They are working on alternatives. And, they offer this humorous ad for “ComiCon Home.” (Thanks to File770.)



Awards:

The Gollancz and Rivers of London BAME (Black, Asian and minority ethnic people) inaugural awards announced its shortlist. This new award acknowledges excellence in under-represented voices in speculative fiction.

The 2020 Leo Awards celebrate works of excellence featuring furry characters published in 2019. The short list ... Read More

California poppies. Photo by M. Deeds, 2015

Word for Wednesday: Succedaeneum, a noun meaning a substitute. Pronounced “Suk-si-day-ne um.”

The Hummingbird Spot offers a live feed of a feeder cluster. It might brighten your day.

Awards:

I didn’t know there was a Pulp Factory Award, but there is, and the winners were announced on April 20.

Books and Writing: 

John van Stry prevailed in his lawsuit against Travis McCrea, who is literally an international pirat... Read More

Orange Fish Kite, courtesy of Go Valley Kids.com

It’s wonderful how many talented people out there are willing to educate us during these difficult times. In this video, Kay shows us that anyone can sew a simple facial covering. Stay with it, trust me.

Awards:

The Tolkien Society Awards are announced for 2020.

The International Thriller Award finalists have been announced too.

Read More

A sea lion is mesmerized by a lizard’s tongue. No, seriously.

Many of you have probably seen this British family’s lockdown take on “One Day More” from Les Miserables.

Books and Writing:

Free or cheap digital comics!

Rick Riordan interviews Read More

If your sequestered cat is in need of some video, let me recommend the Bird Library livestream.

Books and Writing:

The Hugo finalist list is out.

James Davis Nicholl laments books that are not easily acquired in the USA.

Bertelsmann completed its purchase of Penguin Random House and now owns the whole thing. Read More

Videos:

Kid-focused: Easy crafts for young kids. I liked the cotton swabs and the fork! Despite the name, it’s about 10 minutes long.



Kid-Friendly: The Cincinnati Zoo has a series of videos from 2017/21018 featuring Fiona the baby hippo. This is the first one. It’s 8.14 minutes long. It does show a hippo giving birth



Kid-Friendly: Here’s a 14-minute travel video on Iceland.



No foul language, but more fun for adults. From a fundraised for the late Jay Lake, Mary Robinette Kowal reads passages from classic works like phone sex.



Smithsonian Magazine offers you virtua... Read More

This week, a few videos for you, including two that your sequestered kids might enjoy:

Kid-friendly! John Scalzi and Wil Wheaton perform a staged reading of a section from Redshirts, at Burbank Library, in 2012. It’s about 11 minutes long. At 5.30 minutes, Scalzi loses it.



Kid-friendly! From the Georgia Aquarium, a 6 minute video about a handler and an orphaned otter.



From January, 2019, here is Rebecca Roanhorse being interviewed at the San Francisco Public Library. It’s about 33 minutes long. Your teens might get a lot from this.



NSFW language, and a long commercial in the first minute (and at the end). Jenna Moreci lists 10 Science Fiction tropes that she is tired of. And I think she is unfair to Captain Kirk, but otherwise, the 11-minute video is fun.



Books and Writing: Read More

The Meal of Lord Candlestick by Leona Carrington

I hope you are all safe, healthy, and, if you live in the USA, you have toilet paper.

This is the CDC’s COVID-19 site. Much of the information is general, but it’s all in one place.

Books and Writing:

The Minecraft virtual “loophole” library holds works by banned and murdered journalists. An inspiring story.

LitHub shares indie booksellers’ recommendations.

Publish... Read More

Unnamed, by Jessie Arm Botke

Awards:

The Horror Writers Association (HWA) awarded its Specialty Press Award to Short, Scary Tales Publications. 

Books:

BBC Culture asked well-regarded writers to give their recommendations for overlooked novels. Here are the results. I was surprised at how many I had read. (Thanks to File 770.)

Nerds of a Feather discusses six books with K.B. Wagers.

Read More

Not genre at all, but interesting: The Washington Post explores the need for, and implications of, the “momcation.”

Awards:

File 770 is gathering information to help people vote on the Hugos. This column discusses those eligible for Best Editor, Long Form.

World:

The Centers for Disease Control have issued guidelines for Read More

Awards:

The Nebula finalists have been announced. Some interesting works on this list.

Katherine Johnson, shown here as President Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015.

Obituary:

Katherine Johnson, African American mathematician who worked for NASA and helped put people on the moon, died this week. She lived to be 101 years old, and an inspiration to many people. 

Books and Writing:

Read More

Bass Reeves, the first African American Deputy U.S. Marshall west of the Mississippi.

Conventions:

Walnut Creek, CA’s FOGCon conference will be held March 6-8 at the Walnut Creek Marriott. Mary Ann Mohanraj and Nisi Shawl are the Guests of Honor. I have heard both these writers before (at this conference and at ReaderCon) and both of them are wise, thought-provoking and lively. Other participants include Juliette Wade, Marie Brennan and Alyc Helms.

... Read More

Bessie Coleman, African American pilot who got her license in 1921. She was flying before Amelia Earhart was.

Science:

A scientist at Stanford has turned jellyfish bionic, with plans to turn them into living information-gathering devices. 

Awards:

File 770 shares the British Science Fiction Association shortlist.

Books and Writing:

In the New York Times, Brit Marling talks about Read More

The Gwen Ifill Forever Stamp is unveiled.

Inspiration:

Gwen Ifill is now on a first-class postage stamp. Since she was first-class, this is inspiring. PBS New Hours has video of the event.

Giveaway:

One commenter will get a paperback copy of Mark Lawrence’s novella One Word Kill.

Books and Writing:

At Polygon, Read More

White lion dancer costume for Lunar New Year.

Books and writing:

Imaginary Papers launched its first issue here.

Publishers Weekly gives a capsule review of N.K. Jemisin’s latest, The City We Became.

Cat Rambo hosted Jasmine’s Arch’s post on creating an online haven for writers.

Read More

Cons: 

Arisia 2020 went forward and File 770 provides some fun photos here. 

Books and Writing:

Via File 770, the Heinlein Scholarships program is open until April 1, 2020.

LitHub shares genuine pulp covers of classic literary works—at least they say they are genuine and, like Fox Mulder, I want to believe. I nearly fell over when I saw the Wuthering Heights cover, and then I got to Heart of Darkness.

Missouri has introduced legislation to create small groups of parents to Read More

Passing:

Mike Resnick passed away at the age of 77. His best-known book was probably Kirinyaga, but Wikipedia lists 69 books for him, including tie-ins and some mysteries. He won the Hugo and the Nebula in 1995 for his story “Seven Views of Olduvai Gorge” and a Hugo in 1991 for his novelette “The Monamouki.” Recently he edited Galaxy’s Edge. On Twitter, Tobias Buckell acknowledged Resnick as one of his Clarion teachers, a mentor and an inspiration.

File770 has an obituary.

Neil Peart, extraordinary drummer and the lyricist for Rush, passed away. John Scalzi added a Rush video to his blog in memoriam. Read More