(1) JOHN M. FORD RETURNING TO PRINT. Isaac Butler’s research for “The Disappearance of John M. Ford” at Slate led to an unexpected benefit: “I wanted to learn why a beloved science fiction writer fell into obscurity after his death. … Continue reading
(1) SPACEWALKING, STEP-BY-STEP. Mary Robinette Kowal livetweets a spacewalk. Thread starts here. (2) TICKET TO RIDE. In the Washington Post, Christian Davenport looks at the people who have been waiting to go to space on SpaceShipTwo for a decade. He … Continue reading
(1) A CLASSIC. Deadline reports Clifford D. Simak’s novel Way Station, a 1964 Hugo winner, will be developed for Netflix: “Matt Reeves’ 6th & Idaho To Turn Sci-Fi Tale ‘Way Station’ Into Netflix Movie”. In years gone by this was … Continue reading
By John Hertz: (reprinted from No Direction Home 5) Fred Waitzkin’s Mortal Games (1993) is about Garry Kasparov (1963- ), particularly his 1990 World Championship match with Anatoly Karpov (1951- ) – their fifth and last – which Kasparov won … Continue reading
The Horror Writers Association (HWA) and Poisoned Pen Press, an imprint of Sourcebooks, will be publishing the Haunted Library of Horror Classics, a new reprint series. Now some of the genre’s seminal titles will be easily available to modern readers. … Continue reading
(1) STOP BREAKING THE RULES, DAMMIT. Thanks to Doctor Science, I discovered “Jonathan Franzen’s 10 Rules for Writing Novels” (at LitHub) and the mirth he’s inspired in many of our friends. (Links take you to the thread.) Chuck Wendig https://twitter.com/ChuckWendig/status/1063111890463809541 … Continue reading
By Martin Morse Wooster: Those of us who read Gregory Benford’s 1980 novel Timescape will recall that he foresaw a world in 1998 that largely didn’t happen. Oxygen-sucking algae did not nearly destroy the Atlantic. The British didn’t randomly die … Continue reading
(1) Oscar handicappers have The Martian running second for Best Picture says Variety. In the Oscar race for best picture, “The Martian” has taken off like a rocket among the predictions by media experts at Gold Derby. One month ago, it … Continue reading
(1) Just finished Ancillary Mercy tonight. What a cast of characters! “Ohg, lbh xabj, lbh’er nyy bhg bs svfu fnhpr. Naq V qba’g guvax V’ir rire frra n jne orsber!” “V’z tbvat gbb,” fnvq Fcurar. “Rkpryyrag!” ercyvrq Genafyngbe Mrvng. “V’yy … Continue reading
(1) Today in History — 1846 – Eighth planet discovered — “German astronomer Johann Gottfriend Galle discovers the planet Neptune at the Berlin Observatory”. Neptune, generally the eighth planet from the sun, was postulated by the French astronomer Urbain-Jean-Joseph Le … Continue reading