WWWednesday: March 1, 2017

Awards:

The Bram Stoker short list is announced. I am jazzed to see that John Langan’s The Fisherman is on there, but as usual there are several fine books in the mix.

In case you missed the Academy Awards, here is this list of winners. Moonlight took Best Picture, even if another film literally walked off with their Oscar.

Cat. (c) 2017 by Tracy J. Butler

The Hugo nominations close at midnight March 17, 2017. You must be a WorldCon member, either full or associate, to nominate. If, like me, you can’t always remember what came out in 2016, our column here might help you.  We also have our 5-star reviews here. And, by the way, Fantasy Literature is eligible in the Best Fanzine category.

Conventions:

I know what you’ve been saying. You’ve been saying, “It’s just too comfortable and relaxed around here these days. Everyone’s on the same page and we’re all in agreement How I long for some good old-fashioned controversy!” Well, here’s one I never expected, courtesy of File 770: Which nation had the first real science fiction convention, the U.K. or the U.S.A.?

Books and Writing:

Cat Rambo is re-reading Doc Savage. You must read this blog post. It is hilarious.

Lit Hub imagines books as Academy Awards categories and created a short list for 2017. (Actor and Actress categories are filled by authors or editors. It’s nice to see editors represented.) To my pleasant surprise, a couple of genre books made it to the short list.

Check out our New Releases section. There are some good ones coming out in March: Book Two of Gail Carriger’s CUSTARD PROTOCOL series, Imprudence, will be released. So will Scott Lynch’s The Bastards and the Knives, a GENTLEMEN BASTARDS prequel, a Brian McClellan book Sins of Empire, and a couple of Tanith Lee reprints; Night’s Master and Delusion’s Master.

Susan Hill muses on the nature of being a writer. She is 75 years old; she’s published 59 books. There’s a lot here to inspire and a lot here that made me grind my teeth in repressed envy. In other words, it’s a good essay.

Mind Meld lives on in B&Ns Science Fiction and Fantasy Blog, and this week’s question was, “Tell us about a book, or books, that flipped SF/F/H on its head, approaching a common trope from such a fresh perspective you couldn’t stop thinking about it: What fresh methods did the book(s) use to look at the world anew?”

Publisher’s Weekly shares its most anticipated spring releases here.

Man and Dragon (c) 2017 Tracy J. Butler

Angel Island, in the San Francisco Bay, in California, was used as a processing center for immigrants. Unlike Ellis Island, the purpose of the Angel Island center was to keep Chinese and other Asian immigrants out, since once their labor had built the western part of the Transcontinental Railroad they were no longer welcome. Immigrants scratched notes and poems into the walls of the center. Some were information and clues for those coming after about what treatment they could expect Teow Lim Goh, writer and poet, has published a book of poems inspired by the poetry on the walls of the center.

File 770 highlights the Horror Writers of America posting celebrating women horror writers.

This is our own Kate Lechler, February, 2017, English Professor of the Month at Ole Miss. I love that the university does these profiles!

This week, Papercuts asked people to Judge the Book, The Hearts of Men, simply from the cover. Stay to the end to get a comment from the author on what his novel is about.

Obituary:

We will miss Bill Paxton, who appeared in many of the field’s best-known movies. Storm chasers across the USA paid tribute to him by using their GPS coordinates to put his initials, literally, on the map.

Movies and TV:

SyfyWire interviewed Grimm’s Bree Turner (Rosalee) as the series heads for its close. Turner has some wonderful things to say about Portland, Oregon, and some funny observations about the show.

This short film takes a sideways view of the role of princess. What do you think of it?

Vulture reviews the race-conscious, satirical and deeply scary horror movie Get Out.

The Washington Post had some thoughts on the film Arrival. This article was written before the Academy Awards were announced.

It’s been several hours since I’ve mentioned Doctor Who, I’m sure, so here is the latest trailer for the upcoming season, Peter Capaldi’s final.

Internet:

Nouveau (c) 2017 by Tracy J. Butler

Ars Technica tours a plant in Colorado where robots disarm WWII-era chemical weapons.

Tor.com provides a list of medieval warrior women, some of whom may be new to you. One of these fearsome fighters might be fictional, but I agree with the writer when he says, “I hope she was real!”

Space:

Not everyone is thrilled with the discovery of exosolar planets that might support human life, as The Onion points out.

Art:

Today’s art is from the Lackadaisy Gallery, all copyrighted by Tracy J Butler. You can see more here.