Groundbreaking Writer Vonda McIntyre Has Died At 70

The Nebula and Hugo-award winning McIntyre was a good friend of Ursula LeGuin’s, and founder of the Clarion West writers’ workshop in Seattle. She wrote feminist science fiction, including about issues of birth control and consent in the future, and she long advocated for other women in the genre (oh, and she wrote five Star Trek novels, including The Wrath of Khan). She pushed to finish one final novel before her death of pancreatic cancer. – The New York Times

Instagram Seduces Booklovers With The ‘Seven Day Cover Challenge’

Bookstagram – that is, reviewers and other book people on Instagram – are addicted to book covers, and book cover posting challenges. One fashionista/book lover: “I got out all the books I had in closets. … I got the boxes out and found myself surrounded by books and thinking about all the feelings I have around books, that visceral connection to them, and not listening to Rachel Maddow for a change.” – The New York Times

LA County Museum’s $750M Contraction (Yes, You Read Right) Is A Travesty

Joseph Giovannini: “What we are witnessing is the systematic destruction of an institution whose history has been chaotic, whose architecture has been less than perfect, but that was at the same time on the verge of greatness, had a proper director been chosen to lead its rebirth,” said one prominent Los Angeles museum figure, who like virtually everyone I interviewed asked for anonymity. – LA Review of Books