WWWednesday: November 15, 2017

Awards:

Mike Resnick won this year’s Galaxy Award, given in China, for favorite foreign author.

Conventions:
Jo Walton is using Kickstarter to fund an intimate convention in Montreal next year; Scintillation.

Books and Writing:

Danai Guria as Okoye
CR: Marvel Studios, Black Panther

Publishers Weekly gives its picks for the week. The Mannequin Makers sounds strangely intriguing.

Fans of Brandon Sanderson’s THE STORMLIGHT ARCHIVE series might enjoy this detailed blog post, which discusses dating and timekeeping for that world.

I have sent two books to President Donald Trump since last November. One was by Congressional Representative John Lewis, and one was a book on global warming. I have a friend who tells me I’m being a crank, and silly, but LitHub apparently had a similar idea and went to some of the best writers and thinkers of our time. Here is a list of books they recommend to the President. Warning: this article is partisan, and they are not pro-Trump.

It wasn’t easy to find a good inspiring link about National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), but Lindsay Cummings is pretty inspiring. Basic, but good reminders.  Perhaps there is a little too much information about her culinary choices. (And, “futuristic Everglades?” Hmmm.)

New Releases:

Speaking of Sanderson, Kevin is looking forward to the new book. He says, “I’m looking forward to learning more about Sanderson’s inventive world and magic system, in addition to seeing how Kaladin and Shallan develop in the next installment of THE STORMLIGHT ARCHIVE.” Check out upcoming books here.

This is neat! A travel-guide to Ridley Walker. There is really nothing in the article that Russell Hoban didn’t address in the afterword, but it’s nice to see this great book getting some attention.

Chadwick Boseman as T’Challah
CR: Marvel Studios, Black Panther

N.K. Jemisin reviews some new, and much-hyped, new books in her New York Times column here.

Space:

First contact. The US has turned away from it, and China is reaching for it.

Why call it a Pulsational Pair Instability Supernova when you can say “Zombie Star?” Apparently, this star has survived numerous “moments of supernova.”

Saturn’s moon Enceladus continues to tickle our imaginations.

Science and Tech:

Those darned dinosaurs kept us in the dark! Kinda, anyway… maybe. This is an interesting article about the evolution of mammalian eyes, and activity periods. (And you probably all know about “second sleep.”)

In “Farewell, Fourth Wall” The Economist explores varieties of immersive storytelling.

Lupita Nyong’o as Nakia
CR: Marvel Studios, Black Panther

Internet:

I curate a weekly “links” column, and I am woefully behind the times. It’s a paradox. I just found out about Mastodon, a “civil” alternative to Twitter. Here is an April, 2017 article from Wired. And here is the site’s own statement. It doesn’t seem to be growing at quite the explosive rate it was in the spring.

TV and Movies:

The avalanche of revelations of sexual harassment has caught the CW, as Andrew Kreisberg, Supergirl’s showrunner, was suspended pending an investigation of allegations by multiple men and women over several years. Kreisberg is associated with The Flash and Arrow.

Does The Shape of Water look absolutely fantastic?

“The revolution will be live.”  Here is the latest trailer for Marvel’s Black Panther.

And, Amazon is shelling out the big bucks in a bidding war for the rights to Lord of the Rings, so they can make a series. (H/T to Ryan.)

Earth:

There was a lot of hoopla about a frilled shark caught off the coast of Portugal last week. This article debunks many of the claims of the Newsweek article and subsequent ones, which is kind of sad, but these creatures are still interesting.