WWWednesday: December 9, 2015

Indignata (c) Molly Crabapple

Awards

Is there some award or other every single week of the year? It sure seems like it. Here are some results from the Goodreads Best Of 2015. Trigger Warning by Neil Gaiman is Goodreads Best Fantasy of 2015. Golden Son by Pierce Brown is the best science fiction read, and Brian K. Vaughan’s SAGA won for best graphic novel.

Books and Writing

Kat mentioned that the audio-version of Lightspeed’s Women Destroy Science Fiction did not contain Kameron Hurley’s essay, “We Have Always Fought; Challenging the Women, Cattle and Slaves Narrative.” This is not audio, but here is the essay, courtesy of A Dribble of Ink.

Rocket Stack Rank looks at hard SF short stories in 2015, and come to the conclusion that it’s doing pretty well, thank you.

So many books, so many recommendations! Tor.com offers a new sort of recommendations list; the best recommendation sites.This list specializes in short fiction.

Here is a documentary about Arthur C. Clarke, in which he chooses his own seven wonders of the world. It’s not new, but it’s interesting! Thanks to Ryan.

Shell Game (c) Molly Crabapple

Gifts 

For some of us, the best thing after books is shoes. What a joy it is to find both! Bookriot introduces us to literary footwear. (Thanks to Terry.)

And Buzzfeed provides us some “spacy” gifts. (I love the tiny knitted planets!)

Wired suggests 23 best books and films for the SF initiate (or “noob” as they so elegantly put it). A wild list, guaranteed to start some discussions!

To round out our list which would not be complete without a gift from The Force, Star Wars-themed flatware (or, er, roundwear?) courtesty of Gizmodo.

Movies and Television

A little more on Jessica Jones from IO9, this time about David Tenant’s perfectly realized villain. With Grant Ward on Agents of SHIELD, and this guy, Marvel villains are rockin’ it.

Still more Doctor Who, a few tips on the upcoming Christmas Special.

Best animated Christmas ad ever? What do you think?

Here’s a trailer for In the Heart of the Sea, the movie coming out later this week starring Chris Hemsworth. The story is based on the experience of the whaling ship Essex, and inspired Herman Melville to write a novel about a ship captain obsessed with the great white whale that stove in his ship and took his leg. I think it was called Moby Dick.

Carrie Fisher does an interview about Star Wars; The Force Awakens, and completely cracks up the interviewer and the studio crew.

Reddit takes on Avatar; It’s the highest-grossing movie of all time, but did it make an impact in pop-culture? One commenter points out that there are no catch phrases from it and many of us don’t remember the characters’ names. And apparently, lots of people don’t like it. (H/T to Ryan.)

Supergirl’s rating have dropped slightly, possibly because it’s on opposite Monday night football, but Melissa Beloist is still an icon for empowered young women. Here is an interview with the show’s star from a couple of weeks ago.

Divide, cover art by Molly Crabapple.

Earth

IO9 provides us a pictorial list of palaces and mansions that are in ruins, because everyone wants to explore a decaying castle, am I right?

I know you’ve seen the fox diving head-first into the snow a hundred times, but it’s December! Time to see it again! And that whole bit about magnetic north and the fox’s success rate, that’s astounding. (And is Tom Selleck narrating?)

Giveaways

You can still win some books! The following Giveaways are active: Marion’s Interview with Greg Van Eekhout, and Thoughtful Thursday, the Best Book You Read in November.

Art

If you haunt bookstores you have seen Molly Crabapple’s work in both the Fiction and Non-Fiction sections. She provided the cover for John Scalzi’s Unlocked, and Matt Tiabbi’s Griftopia. Crabapple’s fine art work has a strong social message, whether it’s the line of women and children waiting for a prison’s visiting hours, covering the Syrian war,  or skewering the wealthy and privileged. Her memoir, Drawing Blood is available now. You can read about it here, in her own words.