WWwednesday: December 8, 2021

Conventions go on, or try to, at least. File770 posts some information about bids for future WorldCons. And then, speaking of conventions, here’s what happens when a new variant emerges. It looks like people were quick to get tested and notify each other.

Itzak Perlman is featured in this instrumental version of Abraham Goldfaden’s lullaby “Raisins and Almonds.” There is no real video, so my recommendation is to leave it playing in the background.

The UK Guardian offers up the five best SF novels of 2021.

It’s Best Of Time, obviously, and it’s also Eligible for Awards Next Year Time. Authors and publishers are putting their works out there. Here is Tor.com’s and Tordotcom’s, and if you’re confused, you are not alone.

I don’t think of Daily Kos as a science site, but this article theorizing why earth has as much water as it does is pretty fascinating.

AV Club is not thrilled with the English version of the graphic The History of Science Fiction.

Northampton is now home to Britain’s first comic book gallery, the Panel Gallery.

To help you with your holiday shopping, Ars Technica unveils its ginormous board game gift guide.

As he does every year, John Scalzi opened his blog to ideas for charities during this giving season.

SFWA is reprinting a number of thought-provoking articles, and in this one, Sarah Gailey writes about trauma and the fiction of closure.

LitHub takes a long look at David Foster Wallace, how his behavior informed his fiction, and how we discuss both.

Here is a video you do want to watch. The Doubleclicks perform “A Normal Human Party” from the play “Teaching a Robot to Love.” It’s nearly five minutes along.