* Overheard in the Store:
"I have done things with ladders that make bystanders shriek with horror."
"The last person not bleeding wins."
<shouting at repetitive busker outside> "Hey Joey Ramone! Pretty PLEASE learn another chord!"
"In general, I try not to microwave sour cream."
"Sometimes we bear seemingly unbearable things, because the alternative is so much worse."
"Does anything ever get described as a 'low-octane thriller'?"
"The fact that it's tactless doesn't make it untrue."
"I'd be a really Casual Assassin, like 'You're gonna die, no doubt about that, but meantime would you like a coffee or a soda?'"
"Someone had an Emotional Support chicken on the bus today."
"What I really thought was that I had ordered a goat when I was drunk and forgot."
“Trust me, absolutely nothing good starts with burned garlic.”
"Thanks, Car Insurance Company. There couldn't possibly be more perfect hold music than an endless instrumental loop of 'Danger Zone'."
"I don’t remember what I ate for lunch, but I remember the plot to every one of these books."
* R.I.P. to Vonda N. McIntyre, who passed away on April 1st from pancreatic cancer. McIntyre was a multiple award winner, brilliant author, one of the founders of the Clarion West Writers Workshop, founder of Book View Cafe, and the person who gave Hikaru Sulu his first name, among many other accomplishments. She managed to finish her final novel a few weeks before her death. https://www.geekwire.com/2019/vonda-n-mcintyre-1948-2019-seattle-science-fiction-star-dies-cancer/
* Freethink Media created an awesome video on Borderlands' and Mission Comics and Arts' respective sponsorship programs and our survival models for unconventional retail! https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=mQD1y2yORPQ
* Wow, so, we're not sure how we managed to miss linking to this months ago when it came out, but we did -- Alan was interviewed for "The Muni Diaries" podcast, and he tells the story of the "The Secret in the Basement of the Store" (actually the basement of the Cafe, but it's an interesting story either way) https://www.munidiaries.com/2018/10/30/the-secret-about-the-basement-at-borderlands-books/! Also check out "The Muni Diaries" talk with Pete Mulvihill, owner of Green Apple Books: https://www.munidiaries.com/?s=green+apple+books
* How can you NOT want to watch the opening credits to "Game of Thrones" re-created with a couple thousand Oreo cookies?! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmf-6TYjGuQ
* Congratulations to Seanan McGuire! Her series Wayward Children is going to be coming to TV. More details here: https://www.tor.com/2019/03/18/seanan-mcguires-wayward-children-series-coming-to-television/
* Ohmigosh does the trailer for "Good Omens" look awesome! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUJoR4vlIIs
* San Francisco literary icon Lawrence Ferlinghetti is celebrating his 100th birthday, and the NY Times did a retrospective on old San Francisco, and they mention Borderlands to boot! https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/11/travel/lawrence-ferlinghettis-enduring-san-francisco.html This article from Medium contains alternate photos to illustrate the Times article, including one quite old one taken at Borderlands Cafe! https://medium.com/@mark_20745/lawrence-ferlinghettis-enduring-san-francisco-696caa078a0b
* According to some (probably pretty dubious) Yelp statistics, Borderlands is number 35 on the list of America's top 50 bookstores: https://hoodline.com/2018/10/bibliophiles-take-heed-here-are-america-s-50-favorite-bookstores
* Local author Nick Mamatas is teaching another Fabulist Fiction course at WeWork starting May 4th. Details and sign up here: https://sfwriting.institute/portfolio/fabulist_fiction/
* As fans of speculative fiction we tend to obsess over worlds, big and small. Well here are some worlds that fit in old pocket watches. https://mymodernmet.com/miniature-worlds-antique-jewelry-gregory-grozos/
* An extremely rare discovery of fossils that were the direct victims of the KT extinction event will keep scientists busy for decades. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/04/08/the-day-the-dinosaurs-died
* When people think of Cyptids, they tend to go to Bigfoot, Chupacabra, or the Loch Ness Monster, but the fact is there are rumors about unusual creatures all around the world, from dogmen to frogmen to extinct species, some known only to locals. Here are 24 of those lesser known ones: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/great-local-cryptids
* Self-publishing has helped a lot of marginalized authors find their audience, but there's a dark side of plagiarism, book-stuffing, and scammers on the rise, making sometimes as much as $100K a month. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/mar/28/plagiarism-book-stuffing-clickfarms-the-rotten-side-of-self-publishing
* An article on how the end of "Game of Thrones" (the television series) should not be the end of our respect for fantasy as a vehicle for story telling. https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-et-game-of-thrones-fantasy-20190403-story.html
* "The Twilight Zone" is returning for the third time, and as Jordan Peele's take on the classic franchise premieres, it's a great time to look back at the history of the series. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-twilight-zone-rod-serling-jordan-peele/
* Thrillist has a list of their favorite SF/F shows of 2019 so far, some of which have gotten universal acclaim, some of which are a little more controversial in their inclusion. https://www.thrillist.com/entertainment/nation/best-sci-fi-shows-2019
* One of the Hugo nominees this year is a fan fiction archive; Samantha Cole over at Motherboard talked to some of the authors who have fiction on AO3. https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/vbw9eb/internet-fan-fiction-archive-ao3-hugo-award
* On the political bent of much of current science fiction, and how the writers are trying to create a path back to normality. https://www.wired.com/2019/03/geeks-guide-sci-fi-future/
* It might be time to get cautiously excited about the new "Dune" film -- (hyped is probably pushing it). https://www.superherohype.com/movies/441631-5-reasons-to-get-hyped-about-the-dune-remake
* Apple has released the line-up for their Apple Plus TV service and quite a few of the original programs are of interest to science-fiction and fantasy fans, including "Amazing Stories". https://www.polygon.com/2019/3/25/18277261/apple-tv-plus-streaming-shows-movies
* "The Matrix" came out 20 years ago (!), and while some people continue to discover and enjoy the film (the first more than the second or third,) there are many who look back and don't think the film series has gotten better with age. http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20190319-the-matrixs-male-power-fantasy-has-dated-badly
* An opinion piece on "What tech hasn't learned from science fiction": https://www.ft.com/content/1b8ef552-554b-11e9-91f9-b6515a54c5b1
* When science fiction does come true? It's not necessarily a good thing. For every good use of a development, there can be a much darker application. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/12/books/review/namwali-serpell.html
* For example! The search for a death ray and all the other inventions that have come out of this goal. https://slate.com/technology/2019/04/death-ray-history-jeff-hecht-excerpt.html
* The upcoming "Godzilla: King of Monsters" has promised us a slew of monsters and a line in the new trailer says they've found 17 creatures and counting. We might not see all of them in the film, but fingers crossed. https://sciencefiction.com/2019/04/03/monarch-has-found-17-and-counting-titans-in-godzilla-king-of-the-monsters/
* Sometimes all you need to hear is the title of something to know you're going to be interested. Two words: "Warrior Nun." https://sciencefiction.com/2019/04/03/netflixs-warrior-nun-gains-sylvia-de-fanti-as-mother-superior/
------------------
Award News
------------------
* In sad news, after a decade the Gemmell Awards have announced that they are being disbanded. Check out the full statement here: http://www.gemmellawards.com/
* The finalists for the 2019 Hugo Awards have been announced and it's a pretty great list. https://bookriot.com/2019/04/03/2019-hugo-award-finalists/
* Check out the winners of Spectrum 26 over on the Spectrum Awards blog.
http://spectrumfantasticart.com/blog/2019/03/31/spectrum-26-awards-recipients/
* The International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts Awards have been announced as well. Check out the list of winners at Locus: https://locusmag.com/2019/03/iafa-awards-winners/
* Gabriela Damian Miravete has won the 2018 Tiptree Award for the short story "They Will Dream In the Garden". You can both read the announcement and find a link to the story here: https://tiptree.org/2019/03/gabriela-damian-miravete-wins-2018-tiptree-award-honor-and-long-list-announced
* Uncanny Magazine has released the results of their Reader's Poll - check out the list and read the winners here: https://uncannymagazine.com/uncanny-magazine-2018-favorite-fiction-reader-poll-results/
* Check out the short list for the 2018 Sara Douglass Series Award - especially if you don't like to start series until they finish. https://aurealisawards.org/2019/03/03/2018-sara-douglass-book-series-award-shortlist/
* And finally, Locus Magazine has the short list for this year's Sturgeon Award. https://locusmag.com/2019/03/sturgeon-finalists-announced/
No comments:
Post a Comment