Bass Reeves, the first African American Deputy U.S. Marshall west of the Mississippi.
Conventions:
Walnut Creek, CA’s FOGCon conference will be held March 6-8 at the Walnut Creek Marriott. Mary Ann Mohanraj and Nisi Shawl are the Guests of Honor. I have heard both these writers before (at this conference and at ReaderCon) and both of them are wise, thought-provoking and lively. Other participants include Juliette Wade, Marie Brennan and Alyc Helms.
Books and Writing:
Peter Clines wants writers to think of underwear. I’m with him on this.
Kelly Braffet writes about the starving artist myth and how it led to her novel, The Unwilling.
From December, the Daily Dot introduces N.K. Jemisin’s and Jamal Campbell’s Green Lantern comic, and there’s an interview.
The British Book Awards provides a “30 from 30 list; 30 books from the past 30 years of awards.”
Publishers Weekly has an interview with Veronica Roth, best known for her YA trilogy starting with Divergent. Her current novel is aimed at the adult audience.
Gizmodo previews Zantanna and the House of Secrets, an upcoming DC graphic novel prequel.
From January, Larry Corriea wants you to know about Gunpowder and Embers.
Charles Darwin and his publisher had an interesting relationship, according to this article from Smithsonian Magazine.
Mural, Mission District, San Francisco, CA
I’m glad Audible, the audible-book arm of Amazon, reached a settlement with various publishers and writers after it announced it would provide captioning on its audible book without paying for the written rights. I’d sure like to know what the settlement was.
Scandals, an Update:
Updating the ongoing issues with Romance Writers of America, the entire Board of Directors announces its resignation, with new elections in March, 2020. This is a drastic move and is probably about the best thing the organization can to do begin restoring trust among its members.
TV and Movies:
“… the ultimate cinematic sin; it’s boring.” A review of Fantasy Island.
Neither TV nor film; UCLA offers a stage production of Octavia Butler’s The Parable of the Sower. (Thanks to File 770.)
Internet:
Smithsonian Magazine has a fun story about how two boys found a linen banner in a railroad ditch – and it turned out to be historically significant.
From Falstaff Books’s Book Babble, here is a relaxed, NSFW interview with historian and writer Michael Livingston. It is about fifteen minutes long.
Space:
If you live on the west coast of Canada, the US or Mexico, and you got up really early, you would have seen a waning moon eclipse Mars on Tuesday.
Mural, Mission District, San Francisco, CA
Images:
Bass Reeves was the first black law Deputy U.S. Marshall west of the Mississippi River, working mostly in the Oklahoma Territory. His character inspired characters in the HBO series Watchmen. The other two images are murals from the Mission District in San Francisco, CA.
His character inspired characters in the Netflix series Watchmen
I believe you meant the HBO series, not the Netflix series.
Fixed. Thanks.
Fun fact: Bass Reeves plays a very important role in Elizabeth Bear’s novel Karen Memory!
Which I haven’t read yet. He definitely engages the imagination.
If you haven’t yet, I recommend that you check out the episode of Drunk History that tells his life story. Such a fascinating person!