Veterans Day:

From 2010, then Vice-President Joe Biden honors veterans at Arlington National Cemetery.

Books and Writing:With Respect, Honor and Gratitude, Thank You Veterans

C.C. Finlay is retiring from editing The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction to direct his energy toward his own writing. With the March/Apr, 2021 issue, Sheree Renee Thomas will take the reins.

To no one’s surprise, the Odyssey writers workshop will be online in 2021. It looks like they have some good offerings. The registration deadline is December 7, 2020 and cost varies depending on the workshop. (Thanks to File770.)

Guests of honor at 2021’s StokerCon include Joe R. Lansdale, Seanan McGuire and Silvia Moreno-Garcia. The convention takes place in May, 2021, in Denver, Colorado.

Is Patreon right for you? Emily Hare delivers a long, detailed list questions to ask yourself before you launch one. She includes her personal experiences. If you are considering a Patreon page, you’ll find this useful.

If you want to buy a publishing company, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt has one for sale. Here’s a bit more from Publishers Weekly.

Check out the Locus list of forthcoming books .

Locus took a moment to shine its friendly spotlight on the revitalized Fantasy Magazine, now publishing again.

Stacey Abrams is also an established author under the pseudonym Selena Montgormery. Romance was her genre. The book prices skyrocketed Saturday night for some reason, but here’s a page. (And they’re reasonable on Kindle.)

Nerds of a Feather reviews Legacy of Ash by Matthew Ward.

John Scalzi talks about twenty years in the writing business, starting with his first, failed (nonfiction) book.

Ruby, by Nina Allan, sounds like the perfect book for me. On Mary Robinette Kowal’s blog, Allan explains the book’s history.

Film, TV and Streaming:

Here’s the trailer for Midnight Sky from Netflix, starring George Clooney. This might be a case of the film being more satisfying than the book.

Warner Brothers has released Johnny Depp from the Fantastic Beasts film franchise, where he played Grindlewald, a dark wizard. I judge in the U.K. ruled against Depp in his defamation case against a newpaper that called him a “wife beater” following revelations of his relationship with ex-wife Amber Heard. Apparently, the facts presented, which included Depp’s own texts, helped the judge determine that “wife beater” was not an inaccurate representation of the actor. The Mary Sue sums up the difficulty of this case, celebrity, and our desire to excuse men we life for bad behavior, in this article.

Internet:

I heard about composting of human remains as an option over a year ago, but this article goes into more detail. Practical! (Readers of Becky Chambers have my permission to feel smug.)

File770 shares the 2020 inductees into the National Toy Hall of Fame. Jenga and Baby Nancy made the cut.

Thirty seconds of dancing mailboxes in Pennsylvania.

I thought this was a political post at first, but Justice Washington is a voice actor! Here’s a nice video about voices behind the characters in Overwatch.

There is a Baby Yoda cocktail. I just thought you all should know.

Gaming:

Kotaku previews the remastered Mass Effect trilogy, due out next spring.

Ars Technica reviews the Miles Morales Spiderman game.

Earth:

Dismantling a whale skeleton is not simple.

A final video:

After last week and the months leading up to it, I figure we can all use some sleep. In the video, just over five minutes long, Voces8 performs Eric Whiteacre’s “Sleep.”

 

 

 

 

 

Author

  • Marion Deeds

    Marion Deeds, with us since March, 2011, is the author of the fantasy novella ALUMINUM LEAVES. Her short fiction has appeared in the anthologies BEYOND THE STARS, THE WAND THAT ROCKS THE CRADLE, STRANGE CALIFORNIA, and in Podcastle, The Noyo River Review, Daily Science Fiction and Flash Fiction Online. She’s retired from 35 years in county government, and spends some of her free time volunteering at a second-hand bookstore in her home town.