February News

* Overheard in the Store:

"Our benevolent, yet hapless, geek empire will span the galaxy."

"PLEASE go away. I am completely out of patience for mumbled glossolalia today."

"Thank you kindly, but I don't need anything else that could potentially cause awkward questions from the TSA."

"I don't need to watch the game. I can track it from the screaming outside."

"She kills all the plants, right?"
"Yeah, she's _definitely_ more of a mineral person."

[angrily, on the phone]: "Well obviously there's a ton of uncertainty here. We have no idea what we're doing, but that's never stopped us before!"

"Our team-building activity is to not talk to each other.”

"I told her that I REALLY needed a cocktail. Or a lobotomy."

"I like it when the aliens are weird enough to be recognizably alien but still human enough to be hot."

* "In partnership with SF in SF, Borderlands Books, Locus magazine, Tachyon Publications, Consonance and other organizations, SF by the Bay at the San Francisco Public Library, February 1 – April 30, presents over two dozen programs, including film screenings, author talks, live dramas, lectures, panel discussions, a filk music concert, book displays, a costume contest, and an exhibit of rare books, magazines and art drawn from the Main Library's J. Francis McComas Fantasy and Science Fiction Collection, a reference collection of more than 3000 books and magazines. With a focus on local authors and culture, the SF by the Bay exhibit and programs highlight the San Francisco Bay Area's important contributions to the history of fantasy and science fiction and celebrate this ongoing history in relation to its international and multimedia contexts." https://tachyonpublications.com/experience-sf-by-the-bay-a-grand-celebration-of-the-san-francisco-bay-area-science-fiction-and-fantasy/

* The Wall Street Journal talks to Kim Stanley Robinson about surviving climate change and his amazing novel NEW YORK 2140: https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-sci-fi-authors-boldest-vision-of-climate-change-surviving-it-11581004678

* How science fiction pictured the 2020's: https://onezero.medium.com/how-science-fiction-imagined-the-2020s-f8e98a5bc729

* William Gibson's new novel AGENCY is fantastic (and it starts literally on Valencia Street, directly across from Borderlands!). Here's a couple of articles on Gibson: (a review) https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/jan/22/agency-william-gibson-review, and (an interview) https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/tracking-realitys-fuckedness-quotient-an-interview-with-william-gibson/

* Nova Scotia bookstore entices cat lovers with adoptable kittens!  https://coleandmarmalade.com/2020/01/30/bookstore-entices-cat-lovers-with-adoptable-kittens/

* This is AMAZING.  Actual pulp cover treatments of classic novels: https://lithub.com/50-pulp-cover-treatments-of-classic-works-of-literature/

* Christopher Tolkien, editor and tireless keeper of his father's legacy, has died at age 95: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/16/books/christopher-tolkien-dead.html . (Christopher Tolkien was not just his father's editor, but also the cartographer of those iconic maps of Middle-Earth that set the standard for fantasy ever after: https://www.tor.com/2020/01/22/celebrating-christopher-tolkiens-cartographic-legacy/ )

* If you happen to be in Atlanta, there's a "Dark Crystal" exhibition at the Center for Puppetry! https://www.gpbnews.org/post/dark-crystal-exhibit-center-puppetry-arts-showcases-iconic-cult-film

* It may not be _where_ we are, it may be _when_: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/alone-in-a-crowded-milky-way/

* Scott says "I knew I was cooler than my ancestors."  He pointed us to this interesting article that claims human body temperature has decreased in the US since the 19th century: https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-01-human-body-temperature-decreased-19th.html

* Richard Stanley's "Dunwich Horror" will expand his Lovecraft universe and feature the Necronomicon: https://bloody-disgusting.com/movie/3601424/richard-stanleys-dunwich-horror-will-expand-lovecraft-universe-feature-necronomicon/

* Five books that will leave you with hope for humanity: https://www.tor.com/2020/01/20/5-books-that-leave-you-with-hope-for-humanity/

* If your language had no words to describe "the future," would you still stress over it?  Here are five languages that could change the way you see the world: http://nautil.us/blog/5-languages-that-could-change-the-way-you-see-the-world

* Similarly, English is the world's dominant scientific language, yet it has no word for the distinctive smell of cockroaches. What happens though, if you have no words for basic scientific terms? https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200116-what-happens-when-you-have-no-word-for-dinosaur

* For the music of nightmares. . . you need the Apprehension Engine: http://www.openculture.com/2020/01/the-apprehension-engine.html

* N. K. Jemisin talks about the dreams that led to her worlds: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/01/27/nk-jemisins-dream-worlds

* Amazing historic scenes you won't believe are actually miniatures. . . . https://mymodernmet.com/chris-toledo-miniature-interiors/

* Judith Schaechter draws on Catholic iconography, contemporary culture, and Greek mythology to create stained glass works of art that recall Hieronymus Bosch's chaotic hellscapes: https://hifructose.com/2019/12/06/judith-schaechters-stained-glass-work-part-of-major-survey/

* How Animals Behave When We Aren't Looking by artist Julien Tabet.  This is equally cool and just a bit distressing. https://www.demilked.com/animal-photo-manipulations-julien-tabet/