WWWednesday: February 15, 2017

Obituary:

Although Edward C Bryant is not well-known these days, he was a definite influence on the genre. Locus has his obituary. His short works were frequently on the Hugo and Nebula shortlist. In 2011, Ted Chiang wrote about what he learned from Bryant’s short story collection Particle Theory for Strange Horizons.

Edward C Bryant approaches the podium on his signature roller skates.

This is a personal memorial for me because my memories of Bryant are braided up with memories of a week-long writing workshop I took in the 1980s. He was one of the instructors. His humor, his honesty and his encouragement have stayed with me… as has his conversation about the difficulty he had with an editor over his story “Particle Theory,” a precise and honest story about the possibility of stars going super-nova and a man dealing with prostate cancer. Ed told us that one editor worried that the scene of the main character having his prostate checked by his female doctor might be read as “too erotic.” Ed also loved sharks, and thought they were unfairly maligned. He wrote several stories that had sharks at their center.

People talk about Bryant attending various conventions and how he frequently entered the room on roller skates. He knew how to make an entrance.

Bryant was also a contributor to George R.R. Martin’s WILD CARDS series, writing one the first gay Wild Cards. He died at home in his beloved Colorado, after a long illness.

(Have I mentioned how much I hate writing obituaries?)

Awards:

As you know, we enjoy reviewing audio books. The nominations for Best Audio work are announced, and speculative fiction is well represented, including a couple of our favorites.

Books and Writing:

File 770 has started posting more interviews, and here is a nice one with Cat Rambo. I have two from them this week.

Hank Garner interviews Larry Correia on his Podcast. This runs about an hour and I didn’t listen to the whole thing. It starts at about 6:04, after the commercials. I liked the part where Correia says he can learn from any writer, and that his editor is trying to get him to read Georgette Heyer. It’s also kind of sweet when he talks about falling in love with the American south.

People who enjoy reading or writing “hard” science fiction might enjoy this magazine, Compelling Science Fiction. File 770 interviews the editor.

I got to this writerly essay about realist novels and their failure to address climate change via a link from Locus. It’s interesting. I read through it thinking how sad it is that realist writers don’t broaden their horizons a tad and read something like, oh, I don’t know, The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi, and then, look! They mentioned Bacigalupi!

TV and Movies:

If you take all your meds you can have a hotdog.

FX has added to the Marvel superhero universe with Legion, which aired for the first time last week. I watched it. I loved it, but I was confused. Is it wise to use a high-gloss cherry-red conference table when you’re interviewing a dangerous mutant? And what’s with the circa-1965 retro-futurism? And the faux-disco dream-dance-sequence?  Why does the psychiatric institute look like a cross between the TARDIS and a Wienerschnitzel franchise? And why does that Dan Stevens guy look so familiar? The UK Telegraph provides a review with very few spoilers, and they even explain why the table was red, sort of.

And Dan Stevens is well-known to Downton Abbey watchers. Here’s an interview with him.

Gore Verbinski’s latest film The Cure for Wellness opens on Friday. Psychological horror, that’s just what we need right now. Here is a review.

The Guardian reviews the new Terry Pratchett docudrama, Back in Black.

Paula Hawkins, who wrote The Girl on the Train, plays “Three Real Books and one Fake.” She does pretty well! There are a couple of genre categories here.

IO9 reports that there is a lawsuit over the music used for the theme song of Fox’s hit show Lucifer. Stealing? Lying? Claiming credit? I wonder what the former warden of Hell would make of that.

These magicians aren’t just blowing smoke.

SPOILER WARNING: Don’t read this interview with Olivia Taylor Dudley if you have not already seen “Divine Eliminations,” the third episode of the season of The Magicians. If you have seen it, you might like Dudley’s take on a number of topics.

The Internet:

Has everyone seen this sorta-creepy-but-funny short film, Dust, starring Alan Rickman? Keep watching, because it isn’t what you might think from the start. It’s about eight minutes long and it’s safe for work.

Thanks to Ryan for this analysis of strong women characters in fiction and how they are revitalizing feminism in the current era. This is from Vox.

Ars Technica shares some entries from the architectural Fairy Tales competition. Architects let their imaginations take flight as they build structures meant for other worlds. (H/t to Kevin for this link!)