Well, I seriously overestimated my ability to accomplish anything in the first week of this new job. Waking up at 4 am and spending my days on my feet has really taken its toll on me so that I’ve barely had the energy to shower and feed myself, much less write anything. I haven’t even been reading much, to be honest, because I’ve just been too exhausted to concentrate. All that said, after a relatively restful Saturday off and with just a short shift this afternoon, I’ve been relatively productive today, and I’m hopeful that this coming week will find me settling into my new schedule and (likely slowly) getting back on track with things here at the blog.

My mood this week wasn’t helped by the news on Tuesday that Ursula K. LeGuin has passed away.

Read Ursula K. LeGuin on “Spare Time” at Brain Pickings.

Chuck Wendig has collected a bunch of Ursula K. LeGuin’s advice on writing.

Meanwhile, Literary Hub lists Ursula K. LeGuin’s best life advice.

This week saw the release of Brooke Bolander’s first novella, The Only Harmless Great Thing, from Tor.com. You can read her Big Idea over at Whatever.

Brooke Bolander was also interviewed by Alasdair Stuart for the Barnes & Noble Sci-fi and Fantasy Blog.

There’s also coverage at Tor.com of a great discussion between Bolander, Maria Dahvana Headley and Amal El-Mohtar, in which they talk writing, history and The Only Harmless Great Thing.

The other must-read roundtable of the week is at Fireside Fiction, where Layla Al-Bedawi, Millie Ho, and Maya Kanwal sat down with Julia Rios to discuss Immigrant Experiences in Fiction and In Real Life.

The Book Smugglers revealed the cover of a new anthology, The Underwater Ballroom Society edited by Stephanie Burgis and Tiffany Trent. If you sign up to receive updates about the book (which is due out on April 30), you could win an e-ARC of it.

Mari Ness takes a look at the story of Snow-White and Rose-Red.

Skiffy and Fanty’s Month of Joy has continued to be a pleasant read.

There’s an interview with Fonda Lee in Lighspeed Magazine. Also, have I mentioned lately that you owe it to yourself to read Lee’s most recent book, Jade City? Because you definitely do.

Also in Lightspeed, new fiction by Sarah Pinsker, “The Court Magician.” And an Author Spotlight.

Apex Magazine’s Story of the Year for 2017 is “Welcome to Your Authentic Indian Experience” by Rebecca Roanhorse.

Also at Apex, my favorite story from the most recent issue, “Origin Story” by T. Kingfisher, is free to read now.

I am getting really hyped for Annihilation. This featurette showing more of the “shimmer” phenomenon is fab:

Still, the movie I am most hyped for so far this year is Ava DuVernay’s A Wrinkle in Time adaptation. This new trailer has a bunch of new footage from the film: