Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

Author: Marion Deeds

WWWednesday: May 13, 2020

Conventions:

San Diego ComiCon has cancelled its live event for this year as you know. They are working on alternatives. And, they offer this humorous ad for “ComiCon Home.” (Thanks to File770.)

Awards:

The Gollancz and Rivers of London BAME (Black, Asian and minority ethnic people) inaugural awards announced its shortlist. This new award acknowledges excellence in under-represented voices in speculative fiction.

The 2020 Leo Awards celebrate works of excellence featuring furry characters published in 2019.

May 13th, 2020. Marion Deeds | World Wide Wednesday | 2 comments |

Here are 10 simple and fun science experiments you can do at home with young children, once you buy a gallon jug of distilled white vinegar. We’re in our sixties; we do not have kids or grandkids, and I’m thinking of doing a few of these myself.

Awards and Conventions:

For inquiring minds everywhere, File 770 has provided a chart of when the Hugo voting packets and ballots usually come out.

WisCon 2020 has been cancelled. They are working on an online event,

May 6th, 2020. Marion Deeds | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |

WWWednesday: April 29, 2020

Word for Wednesday: Succedaeneum, a noun meaning a substitute. Pronounced “Suk-si-day-ne um.”

The Hummingbird Spot offers a live feed of a feeder cluster. It might brighten your day.

Awards:

I didn’t know there was a Pulp Factory Award, but there is, and the winners were announced on April 20.

Books and Writing:

John van Stry prevailed in his lawsuit against Travis McCrea, who is literally an international pirate, for copyright infringement.

April 29th, 2020. Marion Deeds | World Wide Wednesday | 5 comments |

The City & The City: Dumbing down & Fridging hamper this adaptation

The City & The City (TV Adaptation)

The City & The City is one of my favorite China Miéville books. I love the conceit of the nested cities, Beszel and Ul Qoma, and I love the voice of our narrator, the smart, world-weary and not-always-so-honest Tyador Borlu.

Amazon Prime offers a four-part adaptation of the book. All four episodes are directed by Tom Shankland, with Tony Grisoni, who was also credited as a writer, as one of the producers.

WWWednesday: April 22, 2020

It’s wonderful how many talented people out there are willing to educate us during these difficult times. In this video, Kay shows us that anyone can sew a simple facial covering. Stay with it, trust me.

Awards:

The Tolkien Society Awards are announced for 2020.

The International Thriller Award finalists have been announced too.

The Bram Stoker Award winners were announced via livestream April 18, 2020.

San Diego ComiCon is cancelled, but the Eisner Awards will go forward.

April 22nd, 2020. Marion Deeds | Giveaway!, World Wide Wednesday | 11 comments |

Curious Toys: Dark, scary and twisty, like a good dark ride should be

Curious Toys by Elizabeth Hand

Pin Maffucci wanders the midway and aisles of Chicago’s Riverview Amusement Park, running errands and delivering dope for Max, the carnival’s She-Male performer. At nearly fourteen, Pin is considered small for his age. That’s partly because Pin, with his trousers, cropped curls and cap, is really a girl in disguise. When a young woman from the nearby Essenay Film Studio is found murdered in one of the dark rides, Pin investigates, putting her own life at risk, and she has no idea who to trust.

Elizabeth Hand’s 2019 novel Curious Toys is an historical mystery set in 1915.

WWWednesday: April 15, 2020

A sea lion is mesmerized by a lizard’s tongue. No, seriously.

Many of you have probably seen this British family’s lockdown take on “One Day More” from Les Miserables.

Books and Writing:

Free or cheap digital comics!

Rick Riordan interviews Rebecca Roanhorse about her middle grade story Race to the Sun.

One of the mainstays of MAD Magazine passed away.

Comic artists share five ways to spark creativity during the shelter in place orders.

April 15th, 2020. Marion Deeds | Giveaway!, World Wide Wednesday | 9 comments |

The Hanged Man: Rune confronts the Arcanum and his own doubts

The Hanged Man by K.D. Edwards

The Hanged Man, published in 2019, is the second book in K.D. Edwards’s fantasy series THE TAROT SEQUENCE. In the first book, The Last Sun, we men Rune Sun, last of the Sun Court, in New Atlantis. New Atlantis is the former island of Nantucket and exists because of a truce between humans and the Atlanteans, at the end of a devastating war. The New Atlanteans value power only,

April 14th, 2020. Marion Deeds´s rating: 3.5 | K.D. Edwards | SFF Reviews | no comments |

The Twisted Ones: A modern twist on an old horror classic

The Twisted Ones by T. Kingfisher

The Twisted Ones (2019) begins with mild consternation: Melissa, who goes by “Mouse,” has the thankless task of taking a trip to backwoods North Carolina, with her loyal redbone coonhound Bongo for company, to clean out her late grandmother’s home. “It’ll be a mess,” her father says, in a massive understatement. Consternation shifts to deep dismay: Grandma was a hoarder. It’s even worse than normal, since her grandmother was a cruel and vicious person, and something of her evil still infuses her house,

WWednesday: April 8, 2020

If your sequestered cat is in need of some video, let me recommend the Bird Library livestream.

Books and Writing:

The Hugo finalist list is out.

James Davis Nicholl laments books that are not easily acquired in the USA.

Bertelsmann completed its purchase of Penguin Random House and now owns the whole thing.

I looked in on this controversy via Twitter while it was happening. The Internet Archive announced they’d created a free “online library” to give homebound folks access to books.

April 8th, 2020. Marion Deeds | World Wide Wednesday | 3 comments |

Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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Author: Marion Deeds

WWWednesday: May 13, 2020

WWWednesday: May 6, 2020

WWWednesday: April 29, 2020

The City & The City: Dumbing down & Fridging hamper this adaptation

WWWednesday: April 22, 2020

Curious Toys: Dark, scary and twisty, like a good dark ride should be

WWWednesday: April 15, 2020

The Hanged Man: Rune confronts the Arcanum and his own doubts

The Twisted Ones: A modern twist on an old horror classic

WWednesday: April 8, 2020

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