This week’s word for Wednesday is courtesy of Dictionary.com, and it’s the noun gnashnab, which is a person who complains about everything. It sounds like it would be the name of a Dickensian character, doesn’t it?
Sandhill crane near Lake Helen, Florida
Nebula Awards Announced:
The Nebula awards were announced on Saturday. N.K. Jemisin took home Best Novel for The Stone Sky; Martha Wells’s “All Systems Red” won Best Novella; Kelly Robson won with “A Human Stain” for best novelette and Rebecca Roanhorse’s “Welcome to your Authentic Indian Experience ™” won for best short story. The Verge has all the winners here.
The Nebula Humble Bundle is available through today.
Books and Writing:
The Guardian reviews Stephen King’s new book The Outsider and comments that the master still manages to surprise us with a police-procedural thriller that has supernatural elements.
Locus provides their take on this month’s new and notable books. I can’t help noticing The Hunger, a book which looks like “The Terror on a wagon train.” What is up with cannibalism, anyway? Is it some kind of a comment on foodie culture? Seriously.
St. Augustine Lighthouse, seen through the live oaks.
I think I’ve mentioned this before, but Locus is one of the best resources for writers, readers and fans of speculative fiction. The magazine has been published for 50 years. The adjacent Locus Science Fiction Foundation exists to maintain editor/publisher Charles Brown’s extensive collection of speculative works, provide support for writers and coordinate the annual Locus weekend. You can subscribe to the magazine; you can also make a one-time or ongoing donation if you want. It’s a good cause.
Romantic Times was, in a way, the Locus of the romance field, a magazine that published for 37 years and provided news and reviews of romance novels. It also hosted an annual Romantic Times convention. The publishers are retiring and this venerable site is shuttering immediately, although the site itself will be available for a period of time. I don’t know who or what will step up to fill this niche.
Jimmy Kimmel shares a depressing (but funny) sampler of people in southern California who not only haven’t read a book recently… they can’t name a book. (h/t to File 770.) Don’t pound your head on the desk too hard. Remember that this is edited. At least half of those people would have read a HARRY POTTER book.
Television:
Last week was a bad TV week for me with the announced cancellations of Syfy’s The Expanse and Fox TV’s Lucifer. For The Expanse, the financial decision seems driver primarily by Syfy’s original deal with the producing company, which gave Syfy only the linear first-run rights. The evolution of streaming and on-demand content means that there’s been a definite change in revenue flow since the show’s premiere in 2015. The producers are confident that this smart, innovative show will find another home. UPDATE: It did.
Kat and I had a lovely sunset sail around Matanzas Strait on the Schooner Freedom
Fox states that the decision to cancel Lucifer was “ratings based;” but the fans are turning out in droves to persuade another network to pick up the snarky Gaiman-based fantasy about the Devil taking early retirement in Los Angeles to run a
dance club and solve crimes.
Space:
On Monday, NASA launched the Cygnus spacecraft to bring cargo to the International Space Station. Here is a photo from Saturday.
Earth (specifically Florida):
I warned you guys I’d bombard you with pictures! In early May I spent nearly a week in St. Augustine, Florida. I got to visit with our Editor in Chief Kat Hooper on a sunset cruise on the Schooner Freedom, and later we had pizza at Pizza Time Restaurant. That was some damn fine pizza. Of course, brilliant photographer that I am, I forgot to get a selfie.
Courtyard of the St Augustine City Hall and Lightner Museum, formerly the Ponce de Leon Hotel
I don’t what enchanted me more; glorious sunrises over the Atlantic, the beautiful historical buildings, or the plethora of waterfowl, but it was a great trip.
Finally, did you know the Tower of London’s ravens can be dismissed for cause?
I can not believe that Raven George was not satisfied with his blood-soaked biscuits.
I know. Seems like he has unrealistic expectations.