From World History Encyclopedia, a painting of the Cahokia Mound, green, with steps carved up to the top. Blue sky in backgroundLocus awards were announced last Saturday. Best Science Fiction Novel: The Man Who Saw Seconds, by Alesander Boldizar; Best Fantasy Novel: A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher; Best Horror Novel: Bury Your Gays by Chuck Tingle.

Surfing around, I found this piece of short fiction from Garth Nix from last month on Reactor.

They also feature an excerpt from The Enchanted Greenhouse by Sarah Beth Durst.

Canada’s Sunburst Award longlist is out. I was disappointed by the absence of Preemee Mohamad in the novel category.

CYBILS (Children’s and Young Adults Literary) Awards are taking a hiatus in 2025, instead choosing to take steps to promote books, stories and reading. Read their statement here; it’s blunt.

The U.K. Guardian shares breathtaking photos from the Vera C. Rubin observatory
. (Thanks to File 770.)

Helen Marshall discusses six books with Nerds of a Feather. I stopped at this one because she was currently reading Cahokia Jazz, which I loved.

And so here’s an article about Cahokia. These folks drank a coffee-analog and played competitive sports. How we’ve grown!

In space news—or, not really—the Space X Starship 36 blew up or experienced a “sudden major anomaly” on the launch pad last week. Guess my vacation to Mars will be delayed.

Now that summer’s here, sites are offering warm-weather, fruit-forward cocktails. Here’s a list from Oprah Daily. (Some of these look yummy.)

Author

  • Marion Deeds

    Marion Deeds, with us since March, 2011, is the author of the fantasy novella ALUMINUM LEAVES. Her short fiction has appeared in the anthologies BEYOND THE STARS, THE WAND THAT ROCKS THE CRADLE, STRANGE CALIFORNIA, and in Podcastle, The Noyo River Review, Daily Science Fiction and Flash Fiction Online. She’s retired from 35 years in county government, and spends some of her free time volunteering at a second-hand bookstore in her home town.

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