WWWednesday: June 20, 2018

Books and Writing:

President Barack Obama shares his late-spring reading list; in this case, it’s all non-fiction. There are some interesting books on here.

“The Skeleton Bridge” (c) Alia Yusuf for the short story Chinlap by Sunny Moraine

Sad news for readers and writers. Shimmer, known for publishing fantastical short stories that preferred poetic prose, is closing after thirteen years. I will miss their great stories by writers like Alix E. Harrow, and I’m glad we had the magazine around as long as we did. The November issue will be the last (and watch for Kate Lechler’s upcoming story before then.)

No niche too small – GeeklyInc puts out a catalog of witch/mermaid fiction due out this summer. Some of these look intriguing.

The Big Idea is a place on John Scalzi’s blog where he lets writers talk about their works. It’s always interesting, but the prose of this one by C.L. Polk grabbed my attention. If the book reads like this, then I want it!

Awards:

This is an award of fairly geographic specificity (to put it mildly) but N.K. Jemisin is the first speculative fiction writer to win the Best of Brooklyn (BoBi) award, bestowed by the Brooklyn Book Festival. The festival itself, held September 10-17, 2018, is the largest free book event in New York City.

The MTV Movie and TV Awards acknowledged several speculative works, and Black Panther was a heavy winner.

TV and Movies:

It’s summer movie season!

Yetide Bataki, who plays Bilquis on American Gods, is launching a new indie project, and seeking crowd-funding. Syfy Fangrrls report.

The Incredibles 2 is off to a fine box office start with $180 million domestically and $231.5 million worldwide.

“Life finds a way.” Jurassic World; Fallen Kingdom opens Saturday. Here’s the final trailer.

C.J. Obasi, a Nigerian director, adapted Nnedi Okorafor’s “Hello, Moto” story into a short film. The U.K. Guardian interviewed him.

Spoilers! A nice recap of this week’s Westworld episode.

Chris Hardwick’s TV show The Talking Dead has been suspended by AMC pending an investigation of sexual misconduct by the talk-show host. Hardwick will also chair no panels at San Diego Comic-Con this year.

Did last year’s creepy, brilliant Get Out open the door for horror movies to get their just desserts at Oscar time? Or will new Academy members make the difference?

Internet:

Prepare to have another childhood myth exploded; Roman gladiators were probably pudgy and almost completely vegetarian. Carbo-loading at its finest. Atlas Obscura weighs in.

Here’s a lukewarm review of CELLderWand, a plastic version of one of the Deadly Hallows from Harry Potter, that will charge your cell phone.

Games:

Build your very own Jurassic Park! Kotaku reviews Jurassic World Evolution.

Game addiction? Smartphone Addiction? What do you think? (H/T to File 770.)

Space:

President Trump is going forward with Space Force, or at least talking more about it.

Methane volumes on Mars increase during the planet’s summer and decrease in the winter.

Fog Harp moisture collector

Earth:

They had me at “fog harp,” an innovation of older tech, the mesh fog harvester. This one uses vertical lines only to encourage condensed moisture to roll more freely into the receptacle.