On this day in 301, San Marino, the longest continuously existing republic, was founded by St. Marinus. The demonym is Sammarinese.

The Fisherman and His Wife

The Fisherman and His Wife by Anne Anderson

Writing, Editing, and Publishing:

Io9 has a list of books coming out in September that you can’t miss. I’m particularly excited for Maplecroft, Cherie Priest’s new book about Lizzie Borden. For more upcoming books, check out our new releases page.

Jack Heckel writes about fairy tale portrayals of female power for Tor.com. I especially like his analysis of the tale of the Fisherman and his Wife, a story that has always bugged me for exactly the reasons he points out.

We have a week to go until the Man Booker Prize for Fiction 2014 Shortlist comes out. Here’s a look at the longlist, which includes two books we’ve reviewed here: Karen Joy Fowler’s We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves, and David Mitchell’s The Bone Clocks.

Eliza Thompson writes a great interview with Jeff VanderMeer about his SOUTHERN REACH trilogy, the last volume of which came out yesterday. He talks a little bit about the movie (which I didn’t know was a thing until I heard him talk at the Decatur Book Festival . . . so pumped!) and about his upcoming projects, including a feminist sci-fi anthology co-edited with Ann VanderMeer.

Movies and Television:

The Tick TV series is getting a reboot on Amazon, with one episode being filmed and hosted for free, and then viewers voting on whether or not the series should continue.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts And Sciences is planning to award Hayao Miyazaki with a Lifetime Achievement Award.

Internet Stuff:

George R. R. Martin recently said that one of the popular fan theories about his SONG OF ICE AND FIRE series has correctly guessed the ending. Just in case you aren’t familiar with the theories, here’s a juicy article summarizing them: who begat whom, who’s playing dead, etc.

And if you just can’t get enough Game of Thrones stuff, ever, then you can “Hodor” your browser. Learn more here.

If you are a physics buff, you might want to check this out: Richard Feynman’s lectures collected here, online, for free.

To continue our WWW interest in medieval women, here is an article about female Viking warriors. Archaeologists have been revising their assumptions that most Viking warrior remains they study are male; in fact, almost half in this study are female.

Artist Feature:

I’m taking a break from the artist feature this week to get some other stuff done. However, next week I’ll pick it back up by featuring an artist I saw at Dragon*Con.

Author

  • Kate Lechler

    KATE LECHLER, on our staff from May 2014 to January 2017, resides in Oxford, MS, where she divides her time between teaching early British literature at the University of Mississippi, writing fiction, and throwing the tennis ball for her insatiable terrier, Sam. She loves speculative fiction because of what it tells us about our past, present, and future. She particularly enjoys re-imagined fairy tales and myths, fabulism, magical realism, urban fantasy, and the New Weird. Just as in real life, she has no time for melodramatic protagonists with no sense of humor. The movie she quotes most often is Jurassic Park, and the TV show she obsessively re-watches (much to the chagrin of her husband) is Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

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