Nationally, scientists are gathering to determine how to publish the comprehensive Nature Assessment report, which was ready for publication earlier this month before the current administration stalled it.

The U.K. Guardian reports that Julianne Moore’s kids’ book Freckleface Strawberry, has been included in a wave of books censored due to an executive order signed by the president. The order bans certain books banned during a “compliance review” in schools that serve children of military families. The book is about a little girl who hates her freckles,

This American Medical Association site is a good resource for information on avian flu. Currently at least three reports scheduled for publication by the CDC are being stalled by the administration, and the Centers’ most recent weekly report had avian flu data removed from it.

Tongayi Charisa (Crispin) and Alyssa Jirells (Moira) talk about their characters in Mayfair Witches, Season Two, on AMC. Variety has some images from the new season.

Reactor offered a nice column on why we need fantasy forests.

Here are some downloadable datasets from NOAA.

File770 has an article about new Marvel variant covers which features the brand’s heroes in traditional Japanese clothing. I don’t know what I think about all of them, but Venom in a kimono is eye-catching.

Locus’s always-useful Recommended Reading list is out.

I’m getting ready to read Opacity by Sofia Samatar, so this article in Reactor about reading writing about writing was timely and interesting.

More fallout from the sexual abuse allegations against Neil Gaiman,

I will read two short fiction works on The Story Hour tonight, at 7 PM Pacific Time. The readings are store on the Facebook page, if you want to catch up later.

The Centers for Disease Control have downloadable data available to the public. Check their site here.

In Reactor’s List of Five column, James Driscoll shares five books about gods causing trouble for humans.

Award Season! Speculative fiction is well represented on the ALA’s Alex award list this year.

Reactormag shares a couple of forthcoming 2025 releases, among them the latest by Charlie Jane Anders and a dragon book by Cherie Radke.

They also shared an excerpt from T.J Klune’s latest, The Bones Beneath my Skin.

Best Of Lists, Recommended Reading lists, nomination suggestions… it’s that time of year. Nerds of a Feather starts with their recommended list of fiction and visual work categories.

John Scalzi announced completion of The Shattering Peace,

The New York Times profiles Nnedi Okorafor and her forthcoming autobiographical novel. (This article may be behind a paywall.)

Thanks, File770, for introducing me to yet another “—punk” category: Incensepunk. Also, you can click on their submission guidelines if this is a market where your short fiction would fit.

At Reactor, Molly Templeton takes a thoughtful look at the nature of “escapism” in fiction.

Speaking of thing I wish I could escape… because I do cover stories of genre interest, I’m including a link to this week’s Variety article about the allegations about Neil Gaiman.

John Scalzi announced some changes at Whatever, his venerable blog site.

Rosalind Franklin provided remarkable and invaluable data in the discovery of DNA, but Watson and Crick didn’t exactly steal her work—they were just clueless sexists. From 2015.

While reading The Spite House, I got interested and found a couple of interesting articles about the residences.  Here’s one.

The BAFTA longlist for 2025 is out, with Emelia Perez and Conclave at the top. Wicked and Dune II also drew nods.

The Unkillable Princess is the second book in a series, but it sounds fun and Nerds of a Feather’s review did it justice.

Ruthanna Emrys and Anne M. Pillsworth discuss E. Catherine Tobler’s moody story, “To Drive the Cold Winter Away,” over at Reactor.

File770 had this link to a Doc Savage; Man of Bronze action figure. A belated Christmas present for Sandy?

This is an idiosyncratic list but had some names that were new to me—and a preview of a new Heather Fawcett I didn’t know was coming!

Happy Christmas and Happy Hanukkah if you celebrate. Happy Wednesday if you do not.

The Prometheus Society narrowed the finalists for its 2024 award to four diverse works (and creators) who excellently modeled libertarianism. The short list includes Rudyard Kipling, Poul Anderson, Charles Stross and the musical group Rush.

The Christmas tree is an integral part of the Christmas season for many folks. It has its roots in the Yule celebration, from the Nordic lands.

This article in Reform Judaism discusses the origin of the holy day Hanukkah,

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.

Ruthana Amrys and Anne M. Pillsworth review “The Only Writing Advice You’ll Ever Need to Survive Eldritch Horrors.” This article is funny!

These “22 Chilling Winter Reads” are literally chilly, it turns out—books set during winter.

According to File770, Montreal is now the only contender for WorldCon 2027. Tel Aviv withdrew its id due to the situation in Isreal.

Dorothy’s ruby slippers recently sold at auction for $28 million. After all, they are the first known portkey.

The Guardian UK lists its candidates for Best Graphic Novel of 2024.

Here’s a McSweeney’s column, mocking Amazon and our attempts to order goods that are made sustainably. Enjoy.

Rupert Grint owes over $2 million in back taxes.

Clarion’s 2025 faculty list is stellar. (Thanks to File 770.)

Nerds of a Feather reviews Lavanya Lakshiminarayan’s Interstellar Chef.

The Walt Disney Company announced that Moana 2 broke box office records last weekend.

Over at Reactor, Judith Tarr examines the origins of “Canada’s Nessie,” named Nhaatik by the First Nations,

Reactor has an interview with Anna de Marcken, who won the Ursula K. LeGuin award with her novella It Lasts Forever and Then It’s Over, described as “not your usual zombie story.” She states she’s uncomfortable with metaphors.

Judith Tarr sometimes reviews older movies, especially ones with a speculative story element. Here she reviews 1996’s Loch Ness.

Readers won a victory against book-banning in Alaska.

In her newsletter, Charlie Jane Anders talks about first-draft revisions and making words count.

Films that flopped and then became classics: the Guardian has a list.

The 2024 World Fantasy Convention, held in Niagara Falls, NY, was a lot of fun. The World Fantasy Con on Sunday, October 20. They included The Reformatory by Tananarive Due for Best Novel, Half The House is Haunted by Josh Malerman for Best Novella, and “Silk and Cotton Awards were announced and Linen and Blood” by Nghi Vo for Best Short Fiction.

I am posting a picture of a black squirrel I saw at Niagara Falls park, because I had never seen that color variation before, and a picture of the waterfalls veiled in mist,

Yesterday, the second Tuesday of October, was officially Ada Lovelace Day, in honor of the mathematician who wrote formulae with Babbage, intended for use with his Analytical Engine.

World Fantasy Con starts next week, in Niagara Falls, NY. I’ll be there.

Freya Marske has Book One of a new series coming out, and Reactor has an excerpt.

Nerds of a Feather provides a review of The Principle of Moments. Clara Cohen’s review is harsh, but probably accurate.

File 770 offers a link to this radio interview with Susannah Clarke,

In Reactor, Molly Templeton stops to praise things that aren’t brilliant, awesome, amazing, or setting the genre on fire—they’re just good.

I loved The Fall when I first saw it, and then it disappeared. Nerds of a Feather rediscovered it and reviews it here.

Baen’s short story contest is open for submission until February 1, 2025. As I read the  summarized guidelines, it looks like they want science fiction.

Here is a list of local agencies providing relief in North Carolina after Hurricane Helene,

Per Locus, it’s official that F&SF has gone quarterly. I don’t know what this means for the magazine, but I don’t think it’s good.

Locus also reviewed Abigail Nussbaum’s new collection of reviews.

One of the smartest and most thoughtful writers in the SF field is Ted Chiang, and in the New Yorker he writes with intelligence and thought about AI as a maker of art.

Continuing with the intelligent and thoughtful writer theme, here’s Richard Powers being interviewed by the U.K.

Reactor reviews Suzan Palumbo’s newest, a space-opera retelling of The County of Monte Cristo. Sign me up.

And enjoy their review of an upcoming Netflix “Sci-fi movie with jokes,” It’s What’s Inside.

In honor of the anniversary of Star Trek: The Original Show (in Canada, where it aired first) Chris Barkley shares his 15 favorite episodes. How do they match up with yours?

Next year’s WorldCon, in Seattle, Washington, USA, will feature a film festival. Thanks to File 770 for this item.

File 770 shares the latest AI kerfuffle, as NaNoWriMo’s steering organization made an unpopular statement about use of AI in its Annual November write-a-thon. Their awkwardly worded statement implies seems to imply that disabled people couldn’t complete a book without  AI help. You can imagine how well this went over. It’s Item 1.

SFWA had a series of resignations and vacancies that came to a head last month. Jason Sanford covered it here on his Patreon. File 770 provides some updates. It looks like the organization is fundamentally sound and taking the right steps to correct the problems.