Hellllloooo Friday! It’s time for the Friday Link Pack. Some of these links I’ve mentioned on Twitter, if you’re not already following me there, please do! Do you have a link I should feature in the upcoming link pack? Click here to email me and let me know! (Include a website so I can link to you as well.) Let’s get to it…

WRITING:

Letting Go
I absolutely loved this post from Hugh Howey about the death of characters we love, the impact on readers, and how death is often cheapened by return after return after return. I’ve always struggled with media that treats death like that. (Looking at you comic books.)

How Podium Publishing Discovered The Martian Before Hollywood
A lot of folks aren’t aware that The Martian (soon to be a major motion picture) was initially an independently published novel. This article from Becky Robertson looks into the sci-fi novels rise though its audio book and a well-timed deal. [Thanks to Lola for sharing this with me.]

3 Million Judgements Of Books By Their Covers
Judgey allows users to judge books by only their covers and then compares those judgments to the Goodreads score. (It’s fun. Try it.) Anyway, this article reveals some interesting data collected after 3 million judgments. [Thanks to Ben for submitting this.]

Omby for iOS
Take one part Moby Dick, and one part word jumble and you have an addicting little puzzle game for iOS. Omby takes the entire text of Melville’s classic and turns it into a fun puzzler. It’s a lot more challenging than I expected. [Thanks to Steve for this submission]

On October 6th, It’s Time To Return To Lovat
Yesterday I announced the release date for my next novel, Red Litten World. I also released a sample chapter, which you can read here, and you can already preorder it on Amazon. Really looking forward to getting this out in the hands of my readers. I think you’ll love it.

ART:

Kari-Lise Alexander Paints Nordic Beauties In “A Lovelorn Theft”
Kari-Lise’s latest solo show opens next weekend at Modern Eden Gallery in San Francisco. The show runs September 12th through October 3rd. (We’ll, be there opening night. If you live in the area come on by and say hello.) In this post, High Fructose highlights many of the pieces from the upcoming show. After watching this series develop over the last six months, I’m excited to see it out in the wild. I’m really proud of her. I’m sure you’ll agree, this recent series is absolutely gorgeous.

What If Edward Gorey Illustrated Lovecraft?
John Kenn Mortensen is a Danish illustrator and children’s television producer whose illustrative style is reminiscent of Edward Gorey. Lovecraft eZine editor-in-chief Mike Davis looks at some of Mortensen’s more Lovecraftian illustrations.

Japanese Artist Places A Modern Spin On Old Woodblock Prints
I thought these animated gifs were pretty charming. Artist Segawa thirty-seven takes old woodblock prints and with the use of technology adds a bit of animation. They’re fun. You can see more work here.

RANDOM:

HD Civil War Maps
I am an enormous fan of Ken Burns. (Seriously. Ask Kari-Lise. It’s a problem.) Recently PBS has released an HD version of his The Civil War documentary series. (If you haven’t seen it, watch it, it’s incredible. I’ve watched it at least ten times.) Included with the HD update was an update to the wonderful maps used through the series, some of which you can view here.

What This Cruel War Was Over
I’ve been reflecting and researching the American Civil War a lot over the last few months. I thought this write-up from The Atlantic explaining the Confederate cause with their own words was poignant. Next time someone tries to tell you the war wasn’t about slavery, send them this.

Japan Just Created A Google Street View For Cats
Yep. Japan. Yep. Cats. I mean, are we really surprised anymore? [Thanks to Kayetlin for sending this my way.]

12 Lost American Slangisms From The 1800s
I’m not going to tell you a thumper and I hope this post isn’t too high for anyone’s nut, but the bottom fact is these old slang terms are some pumpkins. Heck, you could say the whole post is a lally-cooler.

WEIRD WIKIPEDIA:

Sedlec Ossuary
“The Sedlec Ossuary (Czech: Kostnice v Sedlci) is a small Roman Catholic chapel, located beneath the Cemetery Church of All Saints (Czech: Hřbitovní kostel Všech Svatých) in Sedlec, a suburb of Kutná Hora in the Czech Republic. It is one of twelve World Heritage Sites in the Czech Republic. The ossuary is estimated to contain the skeletons of between 40,000 and 70,000 people, whose bones have in many cases been artistically arranged to form decorations and furnishings for the chapel. The ossuary is among the most visited tourist attractions of the Czech Republic, attracting over 200,000 visitors annually.”

H.P. LOVECRAFT STORY OF THE WEEK:

The Music of Erich Zann
A student befriends a strange old musician who plays a viola da gamba and discovers that his otherworldly rhythms and melodies are more than they seem and could lead to some terrifying places.

GIF OF THE WEEK:

you say tomato...