WWWednesday: July 19, 2017

Music:

Electric cellist Tina Guo plays the theme from Game of Thrones. (Personal note; I had never heard this song except for a parody of it by Weird Al Yankovich, then I heard it twice in one day. This was the second one.)

Awards:

The British Fantasy Award finalists have been announced. While you’re there, check out their logo. That’s a nice take on a Celtic dragon!

This year’s Shirley Jackson awards for horror writing have been announced. The Girls, by Emma Cline, won Best Novel, and “The Ballad of Black Tom” by Victor LaValle, won for best novella.

Books and Writing:

A Wrinkle in Time

Madeline L’Engle’s book A Wrinkle in Time barely got published, because it was “too hard for children,” and had a girl main character. And, soon, it’s going to be a movie. IO9 talks about the enduring power of the book and the vision of the director.

What I loved the most about Tor.com’s round-up of Best Books of 2017 So Far is that none of the columnists could really limit themselves to just three books. Those are my kind of people. I’m pleased to see Victor LaValle’s Changeling on here; disappointed not to find Robert Jackson Bennett’s City of Miracles; and I guess it’s time to start reading more than just Aliette de Bodard’s Twitter feed.

Charles Stross takes a look back at the publishing history of THE LAUNDRY FILES. It’s an interesting story with a lot of good info about the publishing business.

Writer Sherman Alexie is cutting short the book tour in support of his new memoir You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me. Here, he explains why, in a beautifully told story of love, sadness, spirituality and family.

From Penguin Random House, Harry Turtledove answers a couple of questions for the curious.

The Literary Hub has a column about a writer’s experience at the Sylvia Beach hotel, a literary-themed hotel on the central Oregon coast. In the interest of being “fair and balanced” I will tell you that my stay there in the mid-1990s sounds like much more fun, but then, I stayed in the Dr. Zeuss room, so maybe that made a difference.

The Wall Street Journal takes a look at male thriller writers using gender-ambiguous pseudonyms. What do you think?

The Sylvia Beach Hotel, Newport, Oregon

New Releases:

Here’s what Terry Weyna has to say about upcoming releases.

“I am very much looking forward to reading The Best of Subterranean, edited by William Schafer. Subterranean Magazine was one of the best SF/F/H magazines ever, and this book promises the best of the best.”

Obituary:

Maryam Mirzakhani, Field Medal Winner

Maryam Mirzakhani was the first woman to win the Fields medal in mathematics. She died on Saturday, July 15, 2017. Mirzakhani had been living with breast cancer. She won the Fields Medal along with three others in 2014. She was a professor at Stanford, and she was forty years old.

Movies and TV:

The actor who will play the 13th Doctor on Doctor Who was announced on Saturday, July 15, and the discussions are swirling.

And here’s a little more information.

Speaking of A Wrinkle in Time, here is the first official trailer for next year’s film adaptation.

Giveaway:

We are current with our Giveaways through July 6. Check them out here. Be sure you’ve checked in to claim your winnings!

Ravens:

There were two great raven stories this week. Here’s one of them; ravens who were raised in captivity demonstrated the ability to do something that looks a lot like future planning. The sample size is very small, and the tests need to be replicated with wild ravens, but it’s suggestive. The article says that one test called for the ravens to delay gratification and forego a treat to get a better treat later, and that in doing this they surpassed four-year-old human children. If they passed on chocolate for the “superior treat,” they officially surpass me.

Here’s the other raven story; ravens were taught to spy on humans caching food, and then, when peepholes were left open and the ravens could hear other birds, the ravens acted as if they were being spied upon (just as they’d spied on the humans). When the peephole was closed, even though they heard other birdcalls their behavior became less urgent.

Gaming:

IO9 has a behind-the-scenes article on Star Wars Battlefront II. Is this a game? I guess it’s a game. They do use the word “game,” so…?

Space:

Phil Plait of Bad Astronomy rhapsodizes over the red spot of Jupiter, as well he should.

Tech:

It looks like we’re closer than ever to a human-made brain that can learn experientially.