Ida B. Wells was an influential journalist and educator. Born enslaved, as an adult Wells brought to light incidents of white mob violence, including lynching, and fought for equality and women’s suffrage.
Tim Waggoner tackles the “secret cabal of [genre of your choice]” in his blog post.
Baen’s 9th annual Fantasy Adventure Contest is open. The word length is 8,000 and they want fantasy adventure. Baen may not be my favorite publisher, but they love adventure, and this contest is fun. (Thanks to File 770.)
A school board in McMinn County Tennessee, removed the Pulitzer Prize winning Holocaust accounting Maus, written and drawn by Art Spiegelman, from its 8th grade curriculum. Spokespeople from the board say the reason is that there are 8 swear words, and nudity. The graphic novel portrays the Jewish victims of the concentration camps as mice, the Nazis as cats, and there are images of mice with no clothes. Another member said the graphic novel shows children being killed, which is bad. I agree. Murdering children is bad.
The action resulted in a number of Tennessee book and comics shops, churches and private individuals offering Maus for free to various students. The Nirvana Comics Store has already outstripped its Go Fund Me goal of $20,000.
Courtesy of File770, here is an essay about Maus, if you haven’t read it.
From Librarian Humor
Two upcoming cookbooks had their releases delayed after the containers holding the books washed off the ship during a big storm.
I roll my eyes at the “…You Must Read” lists, but the categories in this one are quirky, so I like it. Your mileage may vary, but it’s a good conversation piece.
Comeuppance Served Cold got a starred review from Booklist, and a great review from Grimdark Magazine (of all places).
Nerds of a Feather review A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes.
And… they posted the first part of their Recommended Reading from 2021.
Locus also posted its 2021 Recommended Reading List, which is not coincidentally connected to the opening of the nomination/voting season for the Locus awards.
The Newbery and Caldecott Awards for children’s literature were announced. Watercress by Andrea Chang, illustrated by Jason Chin, won the Caldecott, and The Last Cuentista by Donna Barba Higuera took the Newbery.
Publishers Weekly has an interview with Nnedi Okorafor.
Scientists—and chefs I guess—plan to bring back the extinct auroch. The pro-arguments leans on the fact that several existing breeds of domestic cattle have large portions of auroch DNA. What could possibly go wrong?
When I first saw this, I thought it was a joke or a hoax, but now it’s in the Smithsonian Magazine, so I guess not. This blue bowl is really dated at about 2,000 years old.
Speaking of jokes, Seattle has opened a museum of Nonfungible Tokens (NFTs). It looks like it’s in a bricks-and-mortal building at an actual address. I do think they’re serious, but maybe their missing the boat. I mean, it’s not like you actually have to go there, you could just say you did.
I looked at the Science Fiction Books You Must Read list and I don’t understand the category “Sci-Fi Fantasy”? Like, I thought SFF was an umbrella term for both things, is there a specific kind of fantasy that is sci-fi fantasy? Genuinely asking lol, I’m wondering if I missed something.