I wish I could say that this has been a week of recharging and plan-making and getting ready to turn over a new leaf, you know, productivity-wise. And it has been. A little bit. I’ve been trying to relax and plan and focus on happy things and stuff, but, honestly, the highlight of my week was finally getting the Nightfallen fox mount in World of Warcraft, and it feels pretty sad for anything about World of Warcraft to be a highlight of a week in 2017. So. You know. I wouldn’t say I’m doing great.

Drunken Game of Thrones watching went well tonight, though. I’ll have a post ready tomorrow once I sober up and put myself through that horror show again.

I didn’t read as much this week as I did last week, though I watched The Incredible Jessica James on Netflix (it was nice) and I just cracked open an ARC of the first of JY Yang’s Tensorate duology and I can already tell I’m going to love it.

HBO announced a new show in production from Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss. Confederate is an alternate history in which the Confederacy didn’t fail and where chattel slavery persists as the law of [some of] the land. It’s obviously going to be a fucking disaster. Roxane Gay perfectly explains why she doesn’t (and we shouldn’t) want to watch slavery fan fiction. And you can chase that with this piece “On ‘Confederate’ and the Limits of White Creativity.”

I have written some here about my love for FIYAH Literary Magazine, and part of that love is for its cover art. FIYAH cover artist Geneva Benton is Kickstarting and art book, and it looks beautiful.

The boy who plays Hot Pie in Game of Thrones has an IRL bakery. It’s adorable.

McSweeney’s literary would-you-rathers just about killed me with laughter.

The Millions reminded me that short books are a thing that is good in the world. I know I read a lot of novellas, but there are enough recs in this piece to make me feel like I definitely ought to branch out a little more, genre-wise.

In actually good TV series development news, AMC has announced that Victor LaValle’s The Ballad of Black Tom is in early production as a series.

Electric Literature looks at some of the history of the rise of dystopian fiction.

This talk with Tor’s Irene Gallo and artist Tommy Arnold about illustrating Fran Wilde’s Bone Universe is excellent.

This year’s World Fantasy Award nominees have been announced.

Read an excerpt from the introduction to Iraq + 100.

I definitely need to live to be at least 132 years old so I can read the Future Library. You know. If there’s still a future in ninety-eight-ish years.

Renay at Lady Business has some books you should add to your TBR.

Book Riot collects 100 Must-Read SFF Short Story Collections.

There’s a new Cassandra Khaw story at Tor.com, “These Deathless Bones.”

I haven’t drawn much in years, but I would love to illustrate this Hexarchate Tarot.

Uncanny Magazine‘s Year Four Kickstarter is live, and it includes a Disabled People Destroy Science Fiction issue. $25 gets you a subscription. Highly recommend.