Labyrinth at Dawn, Earthrise, Petaluma, CA. Image by Marion Deeds

Labyrinth at Dawn, Earthrise, Petaluma, CA. Image by Marion Deeds

2020 is nearly out the door. Vaccines are on their way, and positive change is in the air as the days grow (infinitesimally) longer. Wishing you all a joyous 2021 and a safe, healthy New Year’s Day to those who celebrate.

The city of Nashville experienced a shocking bombing on Christmas Day. Here is one site that helps direct donations to the residents of that city.

In 2020, people who never imagined they would need a food bank found themselves depending on one. The crisis is not over. If you are looking for a last-minute 2020 donation for your taxes, this site identifies food bank in the USA.

It’s a short column today. 

Books and Writing:

Here’s NPR’s Best Of list for speculative Fiction.

Rocket Stack Rank shares 67 stories by writers of color in 2020.

A long article about the evolution of J.K. Rowling and the Potterverse.

Charlie Jane Anders is starting the #booktide tradition, where in the final week of December/early January we go to our local bookstores and buy the books we wanted and didn’t get for the holidays… or just buy some more books for our friends.

This story about a phishing scam that steals unpublished manuscripts (including ones already bought by a publisher or under negotiation), combing the recent hack of NetGalley, raises lots of questions, and not many answers.

Deer, Earthrise, Petaluma, CA. Image by Marion Deeds

Deer, Earthrise, Petaluma, CA. Image by Marion Deeds

Streaming, Movies and TV:

Wonder Woman 1984 is not getting good reviews. Leonard Maltin didn’t like it very much either.

Ars Technica provides their binge-watching favorites of 2020.

Following the success of Netflix’s romance series Bridgerton, Entertainment Weekly offers up a bunch more frothy romantic properties ripe for adaptation.

World:

Pompei had fast food, and food booths, according to a relatively new discovery. And good advertising, if the murals are anything to go by.

The day before solstice, the Hawaiian volcano Kilauea came to life, filling up the Halimaumau crater once again with lava.

And, to ring out 2020 and usher in a new year, here’s an article on tree-climbing goats.

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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