WWWednesday: June 21, 2017

The name for the sound a quail makes is called curkling. That’s this week’s word for Wednesday.

Solstice:

Solstice occurred at 04:24 UTC, and June 21^st will be the longest day of the year. Don’t forget sunblock. 

Awards:

Comics artist Jack Kirby is honored with a Disney award.

The horror community is creating a new award called The Splatterpunk Award. 2018 will be the inaugural year, and the jury includes David C. Schow, Monica J. O’Rourke, Mike Lombardo and others.

Margaret Atwood has been awarded the 2017 Peace Prize by the German Publishers and booksellers Association. The award will be given in Berlin on October 15 of this year.

Books and Writing:
I think I should start a category for bookstores. Berkeley’s fantasy and horror bookstore Dark Carnival is closing its doors after 41 years. If only a consortium of San Francisco Bay Area writers would band together and take this over! In another time and place, they probably would, but right now they’re probably too busy worrying about how they are going to pay for their health care.

Over on Whatever, Theodora Goss talks about her new book, and the fates of female monsters in classic monster literature. This was the genesis for her new book The Strange Case of the Alchemists Daughter, which Skye talks about in New Releases.

Mike Glyer of File 770 has a few things to say about the ongoing dust-up labeled “Puppies;” which flared up again recently due to a blog post by Larry Corriea. Several of the writers who adopted “Sad Puppies” as their name disliked File 770’s ongoing coverage of their repeated attempts to get Hugo awards. It’s safe to say that Corriea really doesn’t like Mike Glyer. Anyway, Glyer apparently decided he’s had enough. On another note, I was startled to discover that File770 is part of the “seedy underbelly of fandom.” My goodness! All these months I’ve been going there looking for links, I was really walking on the wild side. I feel retroactively adventurous.

“To me, karaoke is really at its absolute best when there’s a drag nun with a saucy pun name encouraging you to sing your heart out.” This Charlie Jane Anders essay is in this section because of the writing. She has a signature voice. And yes, it is about the vibrant, essential cultural experience that is karaoke.

The U.K. Guardian shares a children’s story in Travel Folktales for Children, about Portugal and almonds. Andrew Scott, who played Moriarty on the BBC series Sherlock, performs the story. It’s about eleven minutes long. Scott is over the top here, and his might be a fun story to share with a child.

New Releases:

[caption id=”attachment_86244″ align=”alignright” /> Princesa (c) Likain

Skye is looking forward to The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter by Theodora Goss.  Skye says, “I loved ‘Red and Blood and White as Bone’”  by the same author.

“The Tiger’s Daughter by K. Arsenault Rivera comes out this October and looks like it will include some interesting elements and characters. I’m excited to see what it has in store!”

Rebecca also sees some treats on the New Releases list.

“I’m very much looking forward to Leigh Bardugo‘s short story collection The Language of Thorns, a supplementary volume to her GRISHA TRILOGY, which scratches my itch for dark fairy tales. This promises to be even more unique considering her stories take place in a mythological Russia. Just check out that tagline: “midnight tales and dangerous magic.”

“On a similar note, Philip Pullman is finally returning to the world of HIS DARK MATERIALS with La Belle Sauvage, a prequel/sequel hybrid (or so the press releases have said) that sheds further insight into Lyra Belacqua’s life, both before and after her adventures in the original trilogy. I can’t wait.

“Finally, the long-awaited continuation of the Nickelodean series The Legend of Korra arrives in graphic-novel form, promising to further explore the spirit world and the burgeoning relationship between Korra and Asami. Since the show ended in 2014, it’s been a long time coming!”

Check out New Releases here.

Conventions:

This is an informative, easy-to-read article about cons, the costs associated with them, and who is really making money (spoiler alert; it’s usually not the Con-com). For those of you who have helped plan an event this will not be news but it’s a well-organized article.

TV and Movies:

Los Angeles lit up the Bat-Signal in memoriam for Adam West, who played Batman. West held the record for largest number of onscreen portrayal of Batmans (including voice acting for animation).

Science and Tech:

Really, Neil DeGrasse Tyson? You had to take time out of your busy sciencey life to explain why Godzilla can’t really exist? The article is right; we love you but you can be Captain Buzzkill sometimes.

BBC has a photo essay of the latest robot to be sent into Japan Fukshima reactor. I am such a sap that when I saw the cute name, “Little Sunfish” I was completely hooked.

CenturyLink is having some problems, including a lawsuit that alleges that ISP created additional accounts and services for customers without their knowledge or consent. I was going to make a reference to Wells Fargo, but the article did it for me.

Society:

Oregon plans to add a third gender choice on drivers licenses. An “X” will mean that you do not identify as male of female. I think Oregon is the first state to do this. Very practical.

Art:

This illustrator imagined what it might be like to have a pet octopus, in 10 images. Can you guess which one is my favorite?

Likhain is a Hugo-finalist artist whose work has graced book covers and magazines. You can see more of her art here.