WWWednesday: August 21, 2019

Mary Robinette Kowal and other 2019 Hugo winners. Photo by John Scalzi

Hugos:

The Hugos were announced in Dublin, Ireland on Sunday evening. Winners include:

• Best Novel: Mary Robinette Kowal for The Calculating Stars
• Best Novella: Martha Wells for “Artificial Condition.”
• Best Novelette: Zen Cho for “If At First You Don’t Succeed, Try, Try Again.”
• Best Short Story: Alix E. Harrow for “A Witch’s Guide to Escape; a Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies.”

At 29, Alix E. Harrow becomes the youngest woman to win a Hugo.

John Scalzi, who has been friends with Mary Robinette Kowal for many years, rushed to congratulate her on his blog.

Cons:

The site selection committee for WorldCon announced that Washington DC will be the site for WorldCon 2021.

ConZealand has posted its first progress report. (Thanks to File770.)

Books and Writing:

Many independent bookstores are offering incentives to customers who preorder Margaret Atwood’s upcoming book, The Testaments, the sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale, locally. Incentives include donations to agencies that work with domestic violence victims, and customized tote bags. Other events associated with the book’s launch include livestreaming of an interview with Atwood in London, and various viewing events.

While I was reading the article above, I saw this one in a sidebar and I said, “What? Huh?” Well, some publishers, it seems, are picking a fight with libraries. Guys, guys, stop! You’ve got to work together!

Kate Marshall talks about reading the slush pile at Beneath Ceaseless Skies, and her own writing processes and challenges.

I did not know there were a lot of current books about time-traveling lesbians, so I’m glad for Amal El-Mohtar’s article in the Guardian, acquainting me with some of them.

This long article discusses fanfiction and the evolution of narrative structure.

TV and Movies:

A Chinese director apologized publicly for singlehandedly destroying China’s growing SF film industry. Okay, not quite that, but close. Publicly apologized. I don’t necessarily agree with this, but if we’re going to start doing that sort of thing, I’m sure among us we could come up with a list. Dark Phoenix? The Happytime Murders? As far as I’m concerned, Jared Leto should apologize for his role in Suicide Squad, but that may just be me.

Speaking of movies, the first trailer for Underwater came out this week. Enjoy the article and the thrills.

Calling you a troll is stating an opinion. Photo by Dreamtime

Internet:

According to this Ars Technica article, the state of Texas was the subject of a ransomware attack, although state officials are saying that no data was compromised. It’s an interesting article about ransomware in general. Maryland, Florida and Georgia have all been hit previously.

Automated Transactions LLC (ATL) lost its New Hampshire libel lawsuit against several banks when the state Supreme Court ruled that calling someone (like ATL) a “patent troll” was a matter of opinion. Since an opinion cannot be proven true or false, it doesn’t meet the definition of libel (to be libel the statement must be proven false.)

Other Icelandic glaciers. Photo by Glacier Guide Iceland

Earth:

Iceland not only has a good sense of science and sustainability, they understand ritual. They held a funeral for Okojokull, the first Icelandic glacier to disappear due to global warming, and posted a memorial plaque which is a “letter to the future.”

While there are many male-gender-only secret languages, Nushu is the one known female-specific one. Fascinating article from Atlas Obscura.