August News

* Overheard in the Bookstore:

"I'm sorry, but you need to leave RIGHT NOW, because you're not actually wearing pants."

"He looks like Arnold Schwarzenegger, as possessed by the spirit of Ernest Hemingway."

"She's a library."
"She works in a library?"
"No, she IS a library."

"What is the duck for?"
"I think it's just a Breast Cancer Awareness duck."

"You _can't_ just go to the bathroom at Jurassic Park in the rain."

"Schadenfreude isn't just a river in Egypt."
"Right. [pause] Wait; what?"

"It's the best pop-culture writing of the last 30 years -- it's got a zombie ska band!"

"Tom Waits is mid-life crisis music for goths."

* A decent article about the creative things San Francisco comic stores have done to survive, with a dire headline: https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/SF-comic-book-sellers-hang-on-hoping-each-laugh-14092674.php

* Speaking of doing creative things to survive. . . Probably because we had just announced that we were closing the Cafe and people were understandably distracted, a bunch of folks missed this link when we first posted it.  Freethink Media created an awesome video on Borderlands' and Mission Comics and Arts' respective sponsorship programs and our survival models for unconventional retail!  Watch it (among other excellent reasons) to see Alan looking Very Serious Indeed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=mQD1y2yORPQ

* A really lovely post by Jud Meyers (of North Hollywood's Blast Off Comics, which sadly closed at the end of July) about the rewards of being able to give the gift of books (and comic books), and secondarily about why there were never any posters obscuring Blast Off's windows: http://www.blastoffcomics.com/2019/07/four-letter-words/

* Beloved author James A. Moore could use some financial help for medical expenses, if you can assist: https://www.gofundme.com/f/please-help-author-james-a-moore

* There's going to be a Broken Earth Trilogy role-playing game! https://greenronin.com/blog/2019/08/02/green-ronin-to-publish-the-fifth-season-roleplaying-game/

* Taking a late-summer trip? SF FY Wire has ten geeky hotels around the world for you! https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/geek-road-trip-10-nerdy-hotels-thatll-turn-vacation-into-a-fandom-pilgrimage

* Want to visit Winterfell?  Historic Castle Ward welcomes you! https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/castle-ward

* Sheffield is not _that_ far from Dublin. . . why not hit the UK's National Videogame Museum on your way back from WorldCon?  https://www.thenvm.org/

* Designer and writer Dinah Fried has created an incredibly cool book of meals from famous fiction, called FICTITIOUS DISHES. https://www.brainpickings.org/2014/04/16/fictitous-dishes-dinah-fried-book/

* The Independent suggests a pretty pedestrian list of science fiction television shows to check out now that "Westworld" is drawing to a close; which ones would you suggest? https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/westword-season-2-best-sci-fi-shows-star-trek-doctor-who-x-files-a8408031.html

* Scientists are seeking materials that defy or retard friction at the atomic level: https://www.sciencenews.org/article/scientists-seek-materials-defy-friction-atomic-level?tgt=nr

* Courtesy of Tor.com, you can read Joe Abercrombie's introduction to The (GORGEOUS) Folio Society edition of A GAME OF THRONES: https://www.tor.com/2019/07/16/read-joe-abercrombies-introduction-to-the-folio-society-edition-of-a-game-of-thrones/ (Seriously, this edition is an amazing work of art. They _illustrated the inside of the slipcase_! Who does that?! https://www.foliosociety.com/usa/a-game-of-thrones.html)

* i09 has a list of great genre books coming out in August: https://io9.gizmodo.com/summer-is-fading-but-there-are-tons-of-new-sci-fi-and-1836697702

* A nine-year-old Chinese boy has now lived my childhood dream -- he found a nest of 66-million-year-old dinosaur eggs while playing on the banks of a river: https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/child-discovers-nest-of-66-million-year-old-dinosaur-eggs

* A massive asteroid is expected to pass close to Earth on August 10th: https://www.geek.com/news/enormous-asteroid-is-expected-to-zoom-by-earth-on-aug-10-1798427/

* "First Human-Monkey Chimera Raises Concern Among Scientists" -- what could possibly go wrong? https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/aug/03/first-human-monkey-chimera-raises-concern-among-scientists

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Awards News
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* Huge congratulations to 2019's World Fantasy Award finalists!  Check out the whole list here: http://www.worldfantasy.org/world-fantasy-awards%e2%84%a0-2019/

* The shortlists for the 2019 Sunburst Awards for Excellence in Canadian Literature of the Fantastic have been announced! Congratulations to all the nominees: http://www.sunburstaward.org/2019-shortlist

* The 58th Japan Science Fiction Convention has announced the 2019 Seiun Awards winners, which honor the best original and translated works published last year in Japan. (The Seiun Awards are the Japanese equivalent to the Hugo Awards.)  Check out all the nominees and winners here: https://locusmag.com/2019/07/2019-seiun-awards-winners/

* The 2019 Booker Prize Longlist has been announced, and of the 13 titles on the list, quite a few will be of interest to genre fans: https://thebookerprizes.com/booker-prize/news/2019-booker-prize-longlist-announced

* The 2019 Eisner Awards were presented at ComicCon in San Diego.  Nominees and winners here: https://io9.gizmodo.com/here-are-your-2019-eisner-awards-winners-1836392844

* Congratulations to Tade Thompson, whose novel ROSEWATER won the 2019 Arthur C. Clarke Award! The other nominees (and previous years' winners) are here: https://clarkeaward.com/#about

* The Chesley Award winners have been announced!  https://locusmag.com/2019/07/2019-chesley-awards-winners/