WWWednesday: October 11, 2017

Awards:

Kazuo Ishiguro has been awarded the Nobel Prize for literature.

Somtow Sucharitkul received the 2017 European Award for Cultural Achievement. Somtow began his career as a science fiction writer and has gone on to compose, conduct and direct.

Beauty and the Beast cosplayers, New York ComicCon (c) Mashable.com

N.K. Jemisin won the Sputnik Award this year. Never heard of it? Neither had I, but I read the announcement, and then I read the FAQs and fell over laughing. I hope you will too.

I had never heard of the Booknest Fantasy Awards either before last Sunday, but… here they are, and here’s your chance to add to their long list. It could be fun. Public voting is open until October 14, 2017.

Books and Writing:

The Humble Bundle, Open Road Media and the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) have joined forces to offer this spectacular collection of Fiction. It will be available through Wednesday, October 18.

Periodical comic books are being threatened by “market disruptions” caused by collected editions and graphic novels, according to several people who made presentations at New York’s Comic-Con. Read the article and decide for yourself. In other news, I am really tired of the word “disruption.”

The third item in this Book Deals roundup from Publishers Weekly is about Teen Tor purchasing a two-book fantasy series by Charlotte Davis.

The Book Smugglers share what they’ve got on their radar. And, they’re looking for essayists and nonfiction writers, and they pay.

Nnedi Okorafor is profiled in the New York Times.

New York ComicCon cosplayer (c) Mashable.com

TV and Movies:

IndieWire reviews Fox’s new Marvel show The Gifted.

Women love horror. This will not be a surprise to women readers but apparently it still comes as a slight shock to some men. Over at SyfyWire, Kaliegh Donaldson shares some theories about why horror means what it does for women.

Trailer for the Pacific Rim sequel.

Kristen Chenowith sang the theme from Game of Thrones on Instagram. Jimmy Kimmel said he liked it, so Chenowith reprised in on his show, this time with a sword.

They’re making a TV show of The Runaways? I am very happy!

Internet:

Northrop Grumman, a munitions manufacturer, will no longer have a tie-in relationship with Marvel. Um, make your superhero dreams a reality by buying a drone and a high-speed assault rifle? Yes, I can see how that might be a mis-step.

For those of us who like mysteries, secret codes and conspiracies, Atlas Obscura offers an article about hidden figures in a Reformation painted owned by Yale University. A sharp-eyed art restorer saw some bright color between the cracks of grayish paint, and uncovered four other figures. The original message of the painting was strongly anti-Catholic, and at some point, that message was edited out. It is now back.

Games:

This board game sounds strange and wonderful. It’s already on my list as a Christmas gift for someone.

Earth:

A cosplay trio from New York ComicCon (c) mashable.com

Geneticists have identified two insects who look visibly different as being the same, and one of them is from the eighth continent of Zealandia, which… wait, what? Eighth continent? Apparently there was one.

From The Economist, yes, this is an obituary, but it’s a different one. Did you know we came this close to full-blown nuclear war in 1983? And the decision of this one man stopped it?

Space:

The Bad Astronomy column shares a bit more about gravitational waves, gravitational-wave detectors and black holes.

This looks fun; in honor of World Space Week, the Multicultural Kids’ blog features a new activity book that includes young space cadets from various cultures. The activities look pretty cool. (Yes, I did use “space cadets” on purpose.)

Photos:

Today’s  images of cosplayers at New York’s ComicCon come from mashable.com.