Awards:
The Parsec Awards for excellence in speculative fiction podcasts have been announced.
Conventions:
NewCon, a convention held in Portland, Oregon, has been cancelled.
Fireworks in Montreal, Yves Marcoux Getty
Books and Writing:
I don’t know if these articles always comfort new writers, or if it’s schadenfreude, but these articles always make me feel better. Lit Hub reviews the most rejected famous books of all time.
It’s a new year, time to start planning all those fantasy trips I want to take. Here’s one: Fifty bookstores from six continents.
The 2018 Odyssey Workshop is open for registration. I wish I could do this program, (it’s right below Clarion on my wish-list). (H/T to Kat for the link.)
The Harry Ransom Center from the University of Texas has put some of its Gabriel Garcia Marquez archive online, available for free.
Tuesday was National Science Fiction Day, chosen because it was also the birthday of Isaac Asimov. Did you do anything special to commemorate the day?
I’m linking to this short story in Daily Science Fiction, because it is a time-travel love story told in a series of haiku. I may not be right about the haiku thing because I didn’t count syllables, but it is original and fun. Poetry experts, feel free to weigh in. Everyone, enjoy the story.
What do you think of John Scalzi’s 2018 resolutions?
Publishers Weekly offers a nostalgic look back at the books-n-writing news of 2017. Sigh, so long ago…
The comic book arm of the Marvel empire had a very bad PR year last year. Hollywood Reporter lays out a timeline. I was shocked by the confession of the employee who had worked as an editor and simultaneously created a fake identity so he could “freelance” for Marvel. Here is a little more detail on that story.
Thanks to Ars Technica for introducing me and thus all of you to The Woman Who Smashed Codes, a love story and spy tale about a woman cryptologist that’s nonfiction.
San Francisco Fireworks, courtesy of ABC7 News
TV and Movies:
Entertainment Weekly has put together the Best and Worst 2017 movies. Several of the Best are genre films.
SyFy Fan Girls analyze the power of the feminine in the CW superhero series Supergirl.
Out from Netflix is Bright, the newest Will Smith vehicle. Variety liked it. Black Girl Nerds didn’t. Variety recognizes that other didn’t like it. And here’s a review from Vulture. People are in agreement that Joel Egerton is a really good thing in this film.
The next installment of The X-Files starts tonight. How close are Scully and Mulder? Inquiring minds may get to find out whether they want to know or not.
The Economist has an article about the documentary Kedi, which follows street cats in Istanbul.
Tech:
While looking for a “year in review” article I stumbled across the year’s worst tech innovations. I remember a couple of these (the suicidal robot and the juicer), but many were new to me. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.
Fireworks over Miami, Florida, courtesy of Amazon
The Internet:
Kat sent me this link before the holidays, and I don’t think I’ve shared it. Here is Nnedi Okorafor’s TED talk, an excerpt from the first BINTI novella. After she reads a few pages, Okorafor talks about Binti and Afrofuturism.
The WorldCon 76 Committee has converted Jon Del Arroz’s membership from attending to supporting and he will not be allowed to attend the convention. The committee says that he has stated he intended to violate their code of conduct. No doubt there will be more about this one…
World:
Here are fireworks from all over, as people rang in 2018.
Atlas Obscura shares 2017, the year in discoveries. If you need to waste a little time, I recommend this.
Here is how to have fun with marine mammals, and how to completely lose control of your dogs. (And yes, I am a little obsessed with otters.)
we just watched Bright last night. If you turn your brain off, it’s amusing thanks to the interaction between the two leads and some fun lines. If your brain is on, then you’ve got a rabbit warren of of issues too numerous to list (a few include slack world building, offensive stereotyping, muddy themes, even muddier visuals, and the overall derivative nature of the story), some of which could probably have been solved by making it a mini-series and having a better writer tackle the premise
I loved ALIEN NATION when it was on, but I don’t feel a burning need for an urban fantasy re-make.
BTW, I got THE TELESCOPE IN THE ICE because of your review. I’m really enjoying it, so thanks!
Glad you’re liking it! And yep, Alien Nation was clearly one of the (superior) sources for the derivative nature of Bright . . . .
The author of the DSF haiku piece is clearly following the more expansive definition of haiku (i.e., not counting syllables at all), but it was a fun read. Thanks for the link!
Definitely not haiku in the traditional sense, but a fun read, to be sure.
I thought it was cleverly done.