Mary Robinette Kowal (c) Mary Robinette Kowal
Awards:
The Locus Awards were announced. Mary Robinette Kowal won for Best Science Fiction Novel with The Calculating Stars, Paul Tremblay for Best Horror with The Cabin at the End of the World, and Naomi Novik won Best Fantasy Novel for Spinning Silver.
Annalee Newitz won the Theodore Sturgeon award for her short story “When Robot and Crow Saved East St. Louis.”
Sam J. Miller won the Campbell Award for best novel with Blackfish City.
Cons:
Anime Milwaukee announced that they have banned Ryan Kopf from their convention permanently. Whatever happened in 2018, it was bad enough that the police were called and Kopf is banned not only from the event but from the hotel grounds. (Thanks to File 770.)
Giveaway:
One lucky commenter chosen at random will get a copy of Craig Laurance Gidney’s book A Spectral Hue.
Housekeeping:
Next Wednesday I’ll have a column, but it will not be links. Terry and I will be headed to ReaderCon in Boston, Massachusetts. On July 17, much of the column might be photos and highlights.
Books and Writing:
A California judge found in favor of Peter S. Beagle in his lawsuit against his former editor and publisher. If you have some time, read the article. It seems like the judge had a pretty clear picture of what was going on.
Underland Press is currently open to novel submissions.
Ah, Great Britain… you still manage to inspire the rest of the world. In this case, it’s Germany, and the category of inspiration is dystopian SF. Yes, “Post-Brexit British Dystopia” is a sub-sub-genre there, and doing rather well!
Isabella Allende’s new novel deals with immigration and seeking refuge. Publishers Weekly interviewed her. She shares some of her personal experiences including an encounter with Pablo Neruda.
Internet:
These quilled paper images are stunning. (Thanks to File 770.)
TV and Movies:
How many of you will watch the re-release of Avengers; Endgame for the new scenes embedded in the credits? Some people are not happy, calling one scene unfinished (in an interview on Syfy, the directors described that scene as “giving our audience a behind-the-scenes look”).
Starz aired the first episode of its new science fiction paranoid amnesia series The Rook, inspired by the book of the same name, which we reviewed here. Syfy Fangrrls provided an interview with Joely Richardson, who plays Linda Farrier, the King of the shadowy organization the main character works for.
Maybe there will be a new movie in the Matrix universe someday. May it won’t be a remake, a reboot or a continuation. Maybe Michael B. Jordan will be in it, or maybe Keanu Reeves will have a cameo. For all your questions answered with a decisive “maybe,” check out this article from Screenrant.
Like some of its characters, Wynona Earp has been rescued from purgatory – or Purgatory – and is due back in 2020.
Yesterday may be science fiction or it may be a romantic comedy, or both. The Guardian is a bit disappointed whatever it is.
Solar Eclipse. Photo by NASA.
Space:
NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) has discovered the smallest planet outside the solar system so far.
Ceres, our home system’s largest Kuiper Belt object, seems to be wrinkling as it is shrinking. Hey, is that a comment on aging?
Solar Eclipse:
There really are some good images of yesterday’s full solar eclipse in this article, although you have to weed through a lot of other stuff.
I’m so glad Peter Beagle won his case against that creep! My family and I were fortunate to get refunds for the nonexistent books we pre-ordered. And Mr. Beagle is a lovely man in person.
It’s hard to resist Peter Beagle’s charm. I’m glad you (and most others) got your money back from that ill-conceived venture.
Those paper sculptures truly are stunning!
I thought they were amazing. And they take a lot of work.
We were admiring some CGI at the end of the Women’s World Cup match today that was reminiscent of the paper images. My home country won!
And wasn’t that an upset? Good for them!
I bought a quilling book for our daughter a while back, but she hasn’t had much time to give it a try. I sent her this link – maybe it will provide some inspiration – beautiful images! And I enjoyed “The Rook”, read it last year – “We’re being invaded by evil Belgian fleshcrafters, and I have nothing to wear.” :)
Yes, now I’m going to have to read The Rook, definitely!
Quilling, like quilting, amazes me, and I know I lack the patience for it.
It will be interesting to see if the series The Rook manages to capture the book’s charm.
Love the quilled paper images. So beautiful.
Katharine, if you live in the USA, you win a copy of A SPECTRAL HUE
Please contact me (Marion) with your US address and I’ll have the book sent right away. Happy reading!