WWWednesday: April 8, 2015

I’ll be subbing this week and next, because Kate and her beau Wil are getting married! Congratulations, Kate and Wil!

The Meeting of Oberon and Titania, by Arthur Rackham, 1905

Awards:

Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (AWFA) announced that Joanna Russ and Stanley Schmidt are the winners of the 2015 Solstice Award. The award, created in 2008, is given to “those individuals, living or dead… who had a significant impact on the science fiction or fantasy landscape.”

The Hugo Nominations were announced on Saturday. Take a look. Like last year’s slate, this one is a tad controverisal. Charlie Jane Anders at IO9 has some definite opinions about it.

Matthew David Surridge of  the website Black Gate gives a long and organized explanation for why he declined a Hugo nomination this year.

Now the voting, which is slightly less complicated than quantum physics, begins. The winners will be announced at WorldCon in Spokane, Washington, the weekend of August 19, 2015.

And, just to beat the topic to death, sometimes a little distance gives perspective. Damien Walter of The Guardian UK weighs on in the Hugo and the state of speculative fiction.

Jo Walton and Monica Bryne share the win for the Tipree Award, announced on April 4th. The Tiptree, named after gender-bending writer Mary Alice Sheldon who used the pseudonym James Tipree Jr, is awarded to works that explore and expand gender roles.

Writing, Editing and Publishing:

In homage to basketball’s March Madness, the Morning News Tournament of Books matches Emily St. John Mandel’s Station Eleven with Anthony Doerr’s All the Light We Cannot See. Which one will be taught in literature classes in ten years?

It’s National Poetry Month! This year’s poster was designed by New York Times best-selling graphic novelist Roz Chast.

TV and Movies:

In February of this year the cast and crew of NBC’s paranormal thriller Grimm participated in a fund raiser for Portland Oregon’s children’s hospital. The show is set and films in Portland. The cast members were so inspired they took to Facebook after the event to encourage continuing donations to the Doernbecher Children’s Hospital Foundation. They named the Grimmster Endowment after their fans. This is a nice gesture to both the show’s fans and its home town, although I don’t know if the hospital treats wessen children.

Over at IO9, they share the reveal of a new character from this summer’s Marvel Universe movie Avengers II: Age of Ultron.

Science, Technology and Industry:

Google plans to take over the historic Mountain View, California airbase Moffett Field, which closed in 2003. The tech giant plans to re-skin the giant Hangar One and use the space for exploration into space travel and robotics. I think Google has a better chance of getting me to Mars than Mars One.

Hangar One was the home of the Macon, a rigid dur-aluminum airship that provided scouting for the Pacific Fleet in the 1930s and 40s. The 785-foot long vessel used helium to stay airborne. The hangar itself is so large that, when covered, it created its own weather, including fog and precipitation.

Forbes Magazine thinks driverless cars are not coming as soon as we thought. Okay, then, can we have jet-packs while we’re waiting? I’m not unreasonable.

Today’s art is courtesy of Arthur Rackham (1867-1939) a British book illustrator most closely associated with fairy tales and several editions of Alice in Wonderland. I think we have seen his pictures here before, but I wanted a wedding-themed picture for Kate.