WWWednesday: February 7, 2024

Marvel’s Squirrel Girl will finally get her due when the comics release special covers of Marvel heroines. It won’t be until March, but still.

Last week the PBS Newshour did a segment on “romantasy,” the stories that feature magic or a fantastical setting but also have a romance story that is nearly as important. Now the U.K. Guardian has an article about it. I think two things; 1) this is not a new phenomenon, but the mainstream as “discovered” it, and 2) regardless of how I feel about it, “romantasy” as a term is sticking around.

Various people associated with the blow-up at last year’s Hugos have been censured by the WorldCon Intellectual Property Committee, basically, as I understand, for “cheapening he brand.) That’s my language, not theirs. There have also been questions about China’s newly announced Tianwen Award for science fiction. File770 addresses the press release itself here. I am in the minority that doesn’t necessarily see any connection between the balloting problems with the Hugos and WorldCon’s splashy announcement of its own award, but these two things show up in the same articles, so here’s the information I could find.

Siberia is filled with craters that have never been fully explained, although theories abound. Here is the latest one.

Nerds of a Feather is finding the most interesting novellas to review! This one sounds fun. They also review the dystopian film The Kitchen here.

According to Publishers Weekly, while Penguin Random House topped the picture book market in 2023, Scholastic held top place in fiction.

Reactormag, formerly Tor.com, shares seven delicious fantasy stories about food.

Carl Weathers, who was in Rocky and The Mandelorian, passed away last week.

Donald Glover says he is now officially too old to play Spiderman, but is sure he’ll stay part of the Spiderverse.

One commenter will get a trade paperback copy of Spark of Destiny by Gail Z. Martin and Larry N. Martin.