"The Bone Orchard" (American Gods S1E1) Discussion

Opening this up for a discussion of the first episode of American Gods so people can talk without fear of spoiling anyone else.

Initial thoughts:

1) Holy shit
2) They had better have cast carefully or Ian McShane will steal the show. Again.
3) I see Fuller provided Neil his Great Beast of London, er, Wyoming.

Link Salad

Chinese astronomers discover a spiral arm that encircles the Milky Way.

NASA and Nissan team up to build self driving cars.

The Gogoro Smartscooter will do until someone makes my Tesla Vespa.

Spinal cord implant helps rats to walk again.

Orichalcum has been recovered from a ship sunk 2600 years ago off the coast of Sicily.

Ancient Egyptian fortress unearthed in Sinai. The Wall of the Prince is the largest known fortess in Egypt and was used 3000 years ago.

New poetry by Mike Allen.

Links for the Beginning of Fimbulwinter 2015

Searching for "starivores," intelligent life that could eat the sun.

A mitochondrial DNA transplant could treat hundreds of diseases.

Newly discovered antibiotic could defeat superbugs.

Archaeologists have uncovered an ancient musical instrument, the se, in China.

The 1911 plan to build a Mega-Manhattan failed.

Researchers create quantum memory that's stable for six hours.

New fiction by Kat Howard and Peter Orullian,

Cat Rambo on StarShipSofa.

The January issues of Apex (includes fiction by Ursula Vernon), Clarkesworld (Jay Lake, Naomi Kritzer, Karl Schroeder, Kij Johnson, Catherynne M Valente, Damien Broderick, Aliette D Bodard, and more), Uncanny, and GigaNotaSaurus are up.

Opening 2015 Links

Vast 5000 year old underground city discovered in Turkey's Cappadocia region.

Meteorite from Mars reveals the planet has been losing carbon form its atmosphere since the Noachian Era. 

The Great Blue Hole of Belize may confirm that climate change did in the Mayan civilization.

Archaeologists have uncovered the tomb of an unknown Egyptian queen.

A microbiologist says that an image from Curiosity strongly suggests microbial life once existed on Mars.

Astronomers observed the largest x-ray flare ever seen erupting from a black hole at the center of our galaxy.

It seems the Utahraptors hunted in packs.

New short fiction by Daniel Jose Older, Sequoia Nagamatsu, and a reprint from Theodora Goss.

End of 2014 Links

An earthquake may have destroyed the Sanxingdui culture in China nearly 3000 years ago.

Bone marrow transplants have progressed past sticking a needle in your bones.

NYPD cop throws man to the ground after spotting him doing Ellen Degeneres' dance dare.

Chuck Wendig has a New Years' Resolution for writers. 

Fiction by Paul di Filippo,

Interview with Mary Robinette Kowal.

Quick Review: The Desert of Souls

The Desert of Souls by Howard Andrew Jones

In 8th Century Baghdad, the scholar Dabir and Captain Asim, two members of the court of the Caliph Haroun al-Rashid must contend with treachery, foul magics, and fight to protect immortal souls, their own and that of Immortal Baghdad.

This Silk Road/Arabian Nights fantasy is set during the time al-Rashid and Jaffar, and features swashbuckling action, court politics, walking dead, and decisions between love, duty, and survival. The Desert of Souls has characters you won't soon forget treating with matters that are important. I enjoyed this book and look forward to reading the sequel soon. Yes, there's more. Save the Caliphate once and you're expected to do it again.

Coldest Links

The Boomerang Nebula is the coldest place in the universe, recorded as being just one degree above absolute zero.

A planet in the "rotisserie" alignment could still support life.

Damien Walter hosts an interview between Monica Byrne and Rudy Rucker on transrealism and Rumpus hosts her interview with Jeff VanderMeer on his Southern Reach trilogy.

Marina Warner: How Fairy Tales Grew Up.

Viking women were most certainly not stay-at-home moms.

EU approves stem cell therapy to treat blindness.

Overview of Iain M. Banks' life, career, and Culture sf novels.