Well, it’s been another week of watching the American experiment fail in increasingly less slow motion, but I’m feeling pretty good, all things considered. It’s been a fairly productive week for me, though (as always) not as productive as I’d like. Still, I feel as if I’m picking up steam as the year goes on rather than otherwise, and that’s encouraging after what a shit show 2016 was for me.

February, of course, is Black History Month in the United States, and this year I’m celebrating (and suggesting everyone celebrate) by supporting black writers and artists. On February 1, I started a Twitter thread to which I’ll be adding a recommendation (or several) every day throughout the month. I’ve storified it, and I’ll be updating this weekly if you’d rather follow along that way.

Locus Magazine released their 2016 Recommended Reading List.

Uncanny Magazine shared the results of their 2016 Favorite Fiction Reader Poll. Surprising no one, Brooke Bolander’s “Our Talons Can Crush Galaxies” came out on top.

nerds of a feather, flock together posted their Hugo Award Longlist in four parts: Fiction Categories, Visual Work Categories, Individual Categories (I’m on this one! Which basically made my week.), and Institutional Categories.

The newest Book Smugglers Quarterly Almanac is now available.

Nnedi Okorafor’s Binti: Home (I liked it) was released on Tuesday. You can read interviews with the author at Clarkesworld and Wired.

Earlier this week, I reviewed Crossroads of Canopy by Thoraiya Dyer. I highly recommend checking out her guest post at Tor.com about the tendency of fantasy to focus on the restoration of monarchy and her Big Idea post over at John Scalzi’s blog.

I just finished Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty this weekend, so I’ll be reviewing it early this week. In the meantime, be sure to read Mur’s Big Idea.

Mari Ness’s fairy tale series continues with a great post on Little Red Riding Hood.

I love these literary constellations by artist Nick Rougeux.

It’s been a while since an SMBC comic made me feel so sad.

Literary Hub shared some weird/cool Victorian illustrations for Shakespeare’s plays. There are more at Fine Books & Collections, or you can just view the whole archive online.