This week’s word for Wednesday is the noun aquatile. An aquatile is a creature that lives in water. I’m guessing it can also be used as an adjective. Can one have “an aquatile lifestyle?”

Books and Writing:

Likhain is an artist, currently on the shortlist for a Hugo in 2017. File 770 printed the Artist Guest of Honor speech she gave at Continuum 13.

The New York Times has a story about Books of Wonder, a famed children’s bookstore, that is opening a second location as a contingency against a possible lease hike in 2019.

Foul language in the headline, but an interesting if brief article about worldbuilding and politics in SFF.

Have you all heard of this magazine, Persistent Visions? I had not, but it sounds worth checking out.

Locus Online shared a few tidbits from its interview with Ellen Klages, whose book Wicked Wonders we  recently reviewed here.

Are you up to date on your zombie reading? Barnes and Nobel wants to help with that.

Waterfall, RAinbow Falls, Hawai'i, Hawaii

Wonder Woman opened week before last to great box office, and it is, mostly, beloved by critics. You know what isn’t beloved by critics? Tom Cruise’s remake of The Mummy. And the box office? Domestic receipts for the opening weekend were about $32 mil. For context, the production budget was about $125 mil. Bear in mind that this does not include foreign box office.

Speaking of Wonder Woman, Screen Rant’s review is interesting for its take on the way Diana embraces and uses her powers.

Fans mounted a passionate and spirited defense against Netflix’s cancellation of Sense8, but it was to no avail. The show was cancelled at the end of the second season. This article focuses on the fact that the season ended on a cliffhanger. Wouldn’t you think, with all the new ways to see content, like a webseries, etc, Netflix could have wrapped up the plot?

Orca

Orca

Adam West, best known as Batman in the campy TV comedy version of Batman in the 1960s, passed away. There are lots of articles about him, and a lot of tweets. What emerges is an image of a man with a generous spirit and a gentle sense of humor.

Ars Technica devotes its Decrypted podcast to American Gods, the Vulcan episode. Warning; Spoilers. Second warning; there is a little bit of foul language in the Orlando Jones (Mr. Nancy) segment. (I mention it because it’s a little startling.) Also, the Ricky Whittle (Shadow Moon) interview ends sharply (in mid-word) at about 1:17.00.

Boingboing provides a trailer to an SF film called Quadrant. It’s intriguing, weird, campy and gory. So… enjoy?

Space:
NASA salutes its new class of astronauts.

Science:

Two new papers on fossils founds in Morocco add new pieces to the dynamic puzzle of the evolution of modern humans… and brings controversy as scientists argue over whether these fossils are the “oldest examples” or whether anyone should even be using the word “oldest.” Still, these human-like fossil date to 300,000 years ago.

Pictures:

To the extent that there is a theme for today’s pictures, it’s water.

Author

  • Marion Deeds

    Marion Deeds, with us since March, 2011, is the author of the fantasy novella ALUMINUM LEAVES. Her short fiction has appeared in the anthologies BEYOND THE STARS, THE WAND THAT ROCKS THE CRADLE, STRANGE CALIFORNIA, and in Podcastle, The Noyo River Review, Daily Science Fiction and Flash Fiction Online. She’s retired from 35 years in county government, and spends some of her free time volunteering at a second-hand bookstore in her home town.