WWWednesday: January 4, 2023

Happy 2023. I hope it goes well for all of you.

Brandon Sanderson ended last year with an update about his successful Kickstarter campaign, the state of his various series, and some new projects.

On New Year’s Day, Avengers and Hawkeye star Jeremy Renner was hospitalized, in critical but stable condition, after a snowplow accident.

Darusha Wehm, Nebula-nominated game developer, discusses six books with Nerds of a Feather.

Victor LaValle is releasing a new book, Lone Women, based on a little-known historical government program in the early 20^th century. This may be the book I’ve been waiting for without realizing it. Due out in March, 2023.

Friday is the Feast of the Epiphany, a Christian holiday associated with the visit of the three kings to the infant Jesus. In the United Kingdom, it seems to be primarily the deadline for putting away your holiday decorations; however, other rituals include candles, special food, and giving of gifts (which makes sense when you think about it.) The best-known King Cake is also served at Mardi Gras. In Europe, the King Cakes seem more like pastries or fruitcake.

Ars Technica highlights a new theory that the heir apparent to King Edward III, the Black Prince, didn’t die of chronic dysentery after all.

Tor.com reports that the Netflix mystery-ship series 1899 has been cancelled after one season.

When Elon Musk took over the social media platform Twitter, many users fled, and one popular safe harbor was Mastodon. Mastodon uses a different metaphor and a set of decentralized servers called “instances,” and believes in moderation. This article discusses what the Mastodon model could mean for the future of social media.

Atlas Obscura rounded up a collection of “weird and wonderful nature” articles from last year, for your perusal.

“Tuckerization” is the practice of putting a real person into a fictional work. Is there a comparable term for using a real person as a model for an SFF cover? Tor.com columnist James David Nicholl doesn’t know, but he shares a few fun examples here.