So, tomorrow is the big day, when we find out once and for all if we’re really going to be stuck with Donald Trump for the next four-to-eight years. I don’t know what’s going to happen, and there are several convincing scenarios for how this shit show could go down in the days, weeks and years to come, so I am doing my damnedest today to be kind to myself and not worry about it. Sadly, I did not have the foresight to stock up on rum, but I’ll be okay. At this point, I’m more concerned with the monster cold I’m coming down with the night before I need to start holiday baking. Also, I’ve still got no fewer than half a dozen books I’d like to finish reading by the end of the year.

So, basically, my plan is to pretty much go no-internet this coming week. In between baking French macarons tomorrow, I will be checking the news, but other than that, I’m planning on a week of total internet avoidance. My hope is that this will allow me to nurse this cold, get all my baking done by Wednesday-ish, and finish several books. With next weekend being taken up with Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, I don’t expect to do a Weekend Links post, but on the 26-30 I will be posting my year-end wrap-up posts, full of my favorite books, short fiction, TV, movies and so on from 2016. The first full week of January will likely be a light posting week as I work on settling into a new and hopefully more tranquil and productive routine, but there should be a couple of looking-forward-to-in-2017 posts in there. After that, my plan is to get back into a solid rhythm of reading/watching and reviewing, and I’ve got a couple of longer-term project ideas that I’m excited to get into more after the holidays.

In the meantime, here’s the neat stuff I’ve found on the internet this week.

If you’re looking for a fast read to finish out the year (instead of stupidly saving like five 600+ page behemoths til last like I did), Tor.com has you covered. Their full list of 2016 novels and novellas has some great stuff on it, and if you’re looking for something free to read you can check out their 2016 novelettes and short stories, which come with convenient links.

Ann Leckie and Daniel José Older talked about Why Sci-fi and Fantasy Matter on MPR.

Star Trek: Discovery has found its lead: Sonequa Martin-Green from The Walking Dead.

The next Studio Ghibli movie has a title, synopsis, and short trailer.

N.K. Jemisin answered “So what would you do if a Fifth Season happened for real?”

I was never more than moderately interested in Passengers to begin with, but I was nonetheless disappointed to find out that it’s actually gross sexist garbage.

Over at Apex, you can (and should) read Keffy R.M. Kehrli’s piece, “Tropes as Erasers: A Transgender Perspective.” This essay also appears in the collection Upside Down: Inverted Tropes in Storytelling, which is now on sale in print and ebook formats. Editor Jaym Gates wrote this week about her favorite thing about the project to celebrate its release.

After a fraught year, Chuck Wendig’s advice on How to Create Art and Make Cool Stuff in a Time of Trouble was welcome, useful, and as reassuring as anything can be these days. I expect that it will be advice that I will come back to again and again in the coming months.

Finally, here’s a video of Neil Gaiman reading “The Raven” by candle- and fire-light: