The Horror Writers Association has announced its scholarship winners.
Bruce Sterling was, and still is, an influential writer in the field of SF, most notably in the days of futurism and cyberpunk. What’s he doing now? This interview with Worldbuilding Agency gives us an idea.
Gamergate lurches on, this time in a lawsuit reaching the Brooklyn, New York courts last week. A woman who was forced to resign from game-review site Kotaku is suing a self-styled “gamergate” gamer in California. She alleges he led a concerted hate campaign against her and made false statements. His response is that her suit isn’t against him, it’s against all gamers.” (Note: the suit is against him.)
Nerds of a Feather review Sophie Burnham’s novel Sargassa.
Drones over New Jersey? Mystery of the Week. I’ll wait to see if we get some explanation, or the story just fades away in the wake of newer scandals and speculations.
Hurray for small presses! Molly Templeton champions them over at Reactor.
A “lost” Doctor Who story from 1966 has been reanimated, literally, and is available from BBC.
I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about cows, but this article on aurochs pulled me right in.
The film adaptation of Wicked (Part One) got mixed reviews. The U.K. Guardian liked it a lot, and pointed out that its two stars, Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, both rise to the occasion.
For those of you who have yearned for a hippopotamus for Christmas, here is a kindred spirit.
To everyone who celebrates, have a happy solstice. To those who don’t, have a good Saturday.
Locus reports that John Marsden died early today. Marsden authored the 7 book series that started off with the novel Tomorrow, When the War Began. About a year ago, Mark Lawrence was asking if anyone could recommend a novel written by a man that had a female first person narrative done well. From my limited perspective this series would be a very good possibility for Larence to look at. I’m not sure if women reading the series would share that opinion or not. The narrator, Ellie, and her teenaged friends become, over the course of the series, murderous terrorists. Or courageous freedom fighters. Or maybe both, as their country (Australia) is invaded by an unnamed foreign power (Indonesia? Malaysia? India? Myanmar?) and they are not captured in the initial military occupation (as their parents and siblings are). From not knowing much more than that they want to fight back and free their families, they end up becoming highly adept at sabotage, ambushes, gun battles, bombings, and stealthy murders, which eventually all corrode their basic humanity and their relationships with each other. I believe there was a television series or made-for-TV movie produced from this, but I can’t imagine it doing the subject matter justice.