WWWednesday: December 10, 2014

On this day in 1968, the famous 300 million yen robbery took place in Tokyo, Japan. It remains unsolved to this day.

Hedgehog and Rabbit Fancy Dress

Writing, Editing, and Publishing:

At Suvudu, Robert Jackson Bennett talks about the various influences (George Smiley! The Third Man! The DISCWORLD series!) on his recent novel, City of Stairs. And in *incredibly exciting news,* it looks like RJB might be writing a sequel. What!?!

Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy recently hosted an interview with Ellen Datlow, Cat Rambo, and John Joseph Adams to discuss the role of women (as authors and characters) in fantasy and horror.

Seems like J.K. Rowling isn’t done with Harry after all. She’s going to continue her recent trend of sharing short stories set in the world of the HARRY POTTER series by releasing one story a day for the 12 days leading up to Christmas.

Here at FanLit, we’re composing our comprehensive “Best of 2014” list and one name that is on several of our individual lists is Jeff VanderMeer, the author of the recent SOUTHERN REACH series. Here you can read VanderMeer’s own Best of 2014 reading list.

In 2008, Patrick Rothfuss started Worldbuilders, a charity that raises money for Heifer International, an organization that combats hunger in third-world countries. The Worldbuilders Team has garnered a lot of support from people across the industry: Tor, Daw, DelRey, and Subterreanean Press, Neil Gaiman, Brandon Sanderson, and Catherynne Valente are just some of the supporters of Worldbuilders who donate their time and books and memorabilia to the cause. This year, Worldbuilders hit their 500,000 stretch goal, which means that the Brothers Chaps are going to create a new Strong Bad video for the world. Check all the Worldbuilders news (and amazing prizes and auctions, like favor rings from Pat) out here, on Pat’s blog, and please consider giving to this worthy cause.

A man with a deer head

While trolling the Internet looking for fun things for you all, I ran across this entry in Midori Snyder‘s blog, In the Labyrinth. I love the alternate taxonomy of animals she provides here, from an ancient Chinese encyclopedia, and updated with a few entries of her own.

This Tor.com essay about Peter Pan explodes the idea that Peter is a “good” character, but maintains that he is still fascinating to us because of what his cruel innocence says about our own escape from responsibility and adulthood.

Movies and Television:

Speaking of Peter Pan, check out this trailer for a new Peter Pan movie, which shows us not only Pan’s origins but also Captain Hook’s as well.

Remember how a few weeks ago I was excited about Strange Magic, an animated film coming out about the fairies in A Midsummer Night’s Dream? Well, I’m no longer excited.

But I am excited about this: The Little Prince film, coming out in 2015. The trailer is gorgeous. Enjoy.

Child dressed as cat with dog

Internet Stuff:

The Oxford Dictionaries Blog is a place where I could waste hours of my day. Here is an article about invented words from children’s literature, from Lewis Carroll to JK Rowling.

A couple articles for you today about interesting dwellings that humans have created. First, a man called Ra Paulette carves amazing caves into hills in Northern New Mexico. (Watch the video; it is incredible!) And this secret underwater ballroom, guarded by a statue of Neptune, was built in the 1800s. It must have been incredible in its time; now it looks less like a place where festivities occurred and more like a place you’d find a creepy haunted doll.

This io9 article about ancient Mars posits that it may have been habitable at some point. I enjoyed the graphs and visualizations of how Mars’ surface has changed over time.

Finally, a fan artist has created these beautiful images of what Batman might have looked like had he lived in different ages or worlds. My favorite by far is Ottoman Batman, although Batman of the Underworld has an appealing Sauron-esque quality to him.

Featured Art:

‘Tis the season to have parties, so I thought I’d share some of these vintage photos of people in fancy-dress costumes.