WWWednesday: November 11, 2015

November 11 is the day we remember and honor all of those who have served in our armed forces. Woodrow Wilson declared the first “Armistice Day” in 1919, to commemorate the end of the Great War. In 1947 President Eisenhower expanded the acknowledgement to all veterans. Thank you, former armed forces members, for your service. We may not always agree with the reasons our leaders give for deploying American troops, but we always acknowledge your courage and your sacrifice.

Awards

Locus reports David Mitchell’s novel The Bone Clocks won the World Fantasy Award, presented at last weekend’s World Fantasy Convention in Saratoga Springs, New York. Daryl Gregory won for Best Novella with his excellent “We Are All Completely Fine,” and “Do You Like to Look at Monsters?” by Scott Nicolay won for best short fiction. The entire list of winners (and short-listed candidates) can be seen here.

13Needles (c) Frank Wu, poster for the Seattle bid for WorldCon

Books and Writing

In honor of its upcoming stage production of Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House, Hammer Films asks if you’ve read these ten horror novels.  I thought The Exorcist was more gross than scary, and I’m not sure that Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire is truly horror, but it’s still an interesting list.

On her blog, Mary Robinette Kowal asks Lila Bowen, aka Delilah S Dawson, her “favorite bit” in her new Weird West fantasy book Wake of Vultures. Dawson’s favorite bit is getting punched in the face. Wait, what? Well, not exactly, and it all makes sense in context.

At Tor.com, T. Frohock tries to answer a question, “How does grimdark differ from horror?” Actually, my question has been, “What the heck is grimdark anyway?” This article addresses that too. Her conclusion is that in horror, supernatural elements are not passive resources in the hands of mortals; they have their own agency. It’s an informative, thought-provoking essay.

This Tokyo-based business is interesting. Is it a bookstore that lets you sleep-over, or a hotel with a really good library? Whichever, it’s pretty fascinating. Those are some small beds by our standards, but it still makes “curling up with a good book” sound attractive.

Cory Doctorow shares a truth we’ve all known and just not admitted, that the internet will always suck. Unlike many of us, though, Doctorow has thought about why.

Suvudu shares a video on the changing landscape of the novelist, as Terry Brooks and Robin Hobb discuss the role of the novelist with Shawn Speakman moderating, at Jet City Comic Show in Tacoma, Washington. Hobbs mentions writing science material for grade schools when she first started out, and some of them are still in use!

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt has started a new SF line that will be edited by John Joseph Adams. They’re calling it John Joseph Adams Books. Adams is an award winning editor when it comes to short fiction; it’ll be interesting to see if he can make the magic happen with longer works.

FanLit’s own Kat Hooper was featured in SF Signal’s Mind Meld. The topic, audio books.

Cometary Bliss (c) Frank Wu

Movies and Television

The international trailer for Star Wars; The Force Awakens has some new footage in it, since they have to keep us entertained until December 17, right?

Classic FM Listeners have voted the soundtrack for Lord of the Rings the best soundtrack, for the six year running. While John Williams regularly places highly on this list, with ten wins, Howard Shore’s score still takes top honors. The article contains a link to the main theme for your listening pleasure. (H/t to Ryan.)

Everyone talks about The Walking Dead, but the CW’s iZombie, in its second season, is smart, funny zombie fun. This interview with the show’s creator, Rob Thomas of Veronica Mars fame, took place in October, but I didn’t want to create spoilers. Enjoy!

Here’s the trailer for Mockingjay, Part Two which opens on November 20, and here’s an early review, courtesy of Den of Geek.

Syfy plans to launch its adaptation of Lev Grossman’s MAGICIAN’S TRILOGY in January, 2016. The casting looks right, and there are production values!  Here’s a sneak peak.

Bruce Campbell is back as Ash on Starz series, Ash vs The Evil Dead, and he’s back on Reddit, being his usual sardonic self. (H/t to Ryan.)

Space

If you’re looking for a career change, NASA is hiring for the next class of astronauts, preparing for a human staffed trip to Mars as part of the Orion project. Fortune Magazine reported the MQs (at least a bachelor’s degree in a science or in mathematics, plus at least 1,000 hours as a jet pilot-in-command), and sadly, I am unqualified, and that’s before we get to the physical.

Earth

In the northeast United States and southern Canada, wolves have begun to breed with coyotes creating a hybrid some people are calling a coywolf. Other than just being kind of cool, the existence of the hybrid raises some profound questions about our current definition of species. Coywolf DNA also includes some domestic canine DNA… even more interesting.

This article discusses the two magma chambers in Washington State’s Mount St. Helens, and walks us through the volcano’s eruption in 1980.

Amazing Stories Cover Reboot (c) Frank Wu

Giveaways

Next week we announce our ten winners of Robert Jackson Bennett’s City of Blades winners. That giveaway is still open and you have lots of chances to win other books. We are giving away ten copies of Matt Kaplan’s The Science of the Magical, and the following giveaways are still active: The Bradley Beaulieu Interview and Thoughtful Thursday.

Art

Frank Wu’s art has appeared inside and on the cover of magazines and other venues (especially works for cities bidding for WorldCon). He is inspired by the work of Frank R Paul and maintains an archive of Paul’s work. You can browse Wu’s work here.