After my brief detour through Charles Bukowski‘s Pulp, I am back into Raymond Chandler‘s anthology, The Simple Art of Murder.  Specifically, the short story “Pickup On Noon Street.”  Lots of archaic racial stereotypes, so I am waiting to see if the story rolls into some redeeming qualities.

In science news, Jupiter’s moon Europa is believed to have shallow subsurface lakes that connect to the deeper moon-wide ocean.  Hard sci-fi writers … On your mark! Get set!

On the writing front:

• Juliette Wade tells us about a discussion she had on gender in speculative fiction. (See the BEST QUOTE below for another perspective.)
• Anne R. Allen lets us know what writing advice to ignore. (And it’s about time someone did!)
• Catie Murphy talks about the good and bad of NaNoWriMo. (I’m still in the “it’s a NoNo” camp)

BEST QUOTE OF THE DAY: From Mark Reads The Hobbit when, in the penultimate chapter of the book, Mark has a sudden realization.

On a completely unfunny note, it took me until this moment to realize that…jesus, there’s not a single woman in this entire book. I don’t even think there’s a feminine pronoun used once in the whole thing. YEAH WHAT THE FUCK TOLKIEN. I mean…what? How is that even possible? I AM SIDE-EYEING THIS MANFEST SO HARD.