WWWednesday: October 6, 2021 (Giveaway!)

On Monday, Facebook and its associated applications went offline for six hours, leaving businesses cut off, people unable to easily contact family members, and some folks unable to control the thermostat or laundry settings in their homes. Mark Zuckerberg offered a terse apology on his platform. The Verge discusses the probable reason,  a coding error released in an automatic upgrade.

The shortlist for the National Book Award is out now.

The Deep Cuts in a Lovecraft Vein blog takes a look at correspondence between C.L. Moore and Robert E. Howard.

From last month, LitHub shares the letter Ray Bradbury sent to the Kennedy White House (along with some books) asking what he could do to help advance the space race… and President Kennedy’s brief, which was gracious and did not address Bradbury’s offer.

Speaking of Bradbury, in an interview with The Guardian, poet Amanda Gorman cites Dandelion Wine as an early influence in her career. (Thanks to File770.)

THE EXPANSE series is coming to an end, and Publishers Weekly interviewed its two authors, Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck.

Casting choices for the adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s Sandman, particularly the casting of a Black actor in the role of Death, have set off reactions from some people who apparently 1) don’t have enough to do or 2) never read the comic. Neil Gaiman demonstrates little patience with them. (NSFW language—after all, it’s Gaiman on Twitter.) Syfy Wire captured most of it. Here’s the earlier casting announcement.

October is officially spooky season, so here are some spooky cryptids who make their homes in Ohio, to entertain you.

Another excuse for a vacation picture. California’s favorite cryptid.

In honor of cryptids, here is a global map of sightings of apelike cryptids. Continuing the theme, here, from 2018, is a list of popular California habitats for sasquatch, or Bigfoot. To my pleasant surprise Yosemite Valley is prime “sighting” territory.

Giveaway: one commenter with a USA mailing address will get a copy of Veronica G. Henry’s Bacchanal. The commenter will be chosen at random.

A note about Giveaways: Many of you are multiple winners. Please note that for privacy purposes, I do not keep addresses in any kind of a document or database. When you contact me to let me know you’ve won, please include the mailing address you want used. (This is true for any giveaway.) Thank you.

If you have $1.5 million, you can buy the two-bedroom San Francisco house where Frank Herbert is rumored to have written the first Dune book.

Daniel Craig waves good-bye to the James Bond franchise in No Time to Die. Entertainment Weekly has an article about the upcoming film.

If in these times, you’re thinking of entertaining in-person for the spooky holiday, here is a list of Halloween cocktails. Glancing at the recipes, I think only one of these, the punch, would be good as a non-alcoholic beverage (unless you like tomato juice, in which case the bloody mary would too). The dry ice adds drama. For mocktails, this Town and Country article is a roundup of links to fun nonalcoholic beverages.