WWWednesday: April 21, 2021

Mars, image courtesy of NASA

Ingenuity:

On Monday, April 19, 2021, the Mars helicopter Ingenuity conducted a 39 second test flight, while Perseverance filmed it.

Here’s an article from NASA with detail about the helicopter.

Writers, Reading, Writing, Books:

Tor.com announced Comeuppance Served Cold an upcoming Jazz Era fantasy, written by me! It will be available in spring, 2022.

More about the Tor family of imprints: Devi Pillai has been promoted to President and Publisher of Tom Doherty Associates.

You’ve probably read “Bears Discover Fire” by Terry Bisson. If not, at least read about it here. Then go find it and reward yourself.

File770 has an update on Uncle Hugo’s bookstore in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and a link to where you can donate to reopen two historic genre bookstores.

On The Big Idea, James Fell explains where the idea for his latest book, On This Day in History, Sh!t Went Down, came from. Warning, f-bombs (because Fell provides a tally of them from the book at the end of the column.)

On LitHub, Lincoln Michel discusses the length of commercially viable fiction in 20-21^st century USA. Blithely ignoring genre, he bemoans the fact that the USA doesn’t publish novellas. (He’s wrong.) It’s a thought-provoking article though.

H/T to Kat for this New York Times interview with Jeff VanderMeer.

Goodreads shares some SFF recommendations.

Streaming, Film, TV:

I think we’ve all secretly yearned for the Soviet adaptation of Lord of the Rings, right? Well, here’s an article about it, complete with link. Yes, you are welcome.

Internet:

Here’s the VR headset some of you have always wanted.

Lifehacker offers meteor shower photography tips.

They also offer tips for dealing with the person in your life who is determined to undermine your memory or assessment of reality.

Terrific Comics does not look like a terrific place to work.

Earth:

The waves of population of the Pacific islands is more complex than we originally thought.