* Whatever Comics in the Castro could use some support to recover from sales lost during the street "improvements" over the summer.  Like many businesses, their sales suffered considerably during the six months that the street and sidewalks were torn up and they could really use a boost this holiday season.  It's a great shop with lovely owners and well worth our help.  http://hoodline.com/2014/11/whatever-comics-hosts-sale-to-stay-in-business

* Overheard in the Store:
"How San Francisco! Don't get a stripper to show up; you get a nude unicyclist to ride around the living room. 'Glad yer gettin' hitched Amy!'"

* Spider Robinson, who lost his beloved wife Jeanne to cancer in 2010, is now on the verge of losing his daughter to the same disease.  If you can spare anything to help with the medical costs, please donate: http://boingboing.net/2014/11/27/help-spider-robinsons-daught.html

* LunaCon, New York's longest running science fiction and fantasy convention, has been canceled for 2015.  They plan to return in 2016. http://2015.lunacon.org/

* io9 reports that J.K. Rowling will be releasing twelve Harry Potter short stories during the month of December.  Not much is known of the stories except that one is supposed to center on Draco Malfoy.  http://io9.com/j-k-rowling-to-release-12-new-harry-potter-short-stori-1667496900

* The 2014 World Fantasy Awards were announced at the World Fantasy Convention, and store friends Sofia Samatar and Ellen Klages were among the winners.  Congratulations to them and to all the winners! http://worldfantasy2014.org/awards4.php

* Ursula LeGuin was awarded a medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters by the National Book Awards.  Watch her lovely speech here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Et9Nf-rsALk

* Congratulations to science fiction writer and critic John Clute, who was named an Honorary Visiting Fellow at Anglia Ruskin University. http://www.locusmag.com/News/2014/11/clute-named-fellow-at-anglia-ruskin/

* Noted popular mystery writer and author of the science fiction novel CHILDREN OF MEN, PD James passed away recently at the age of 94.  Here are five of her novels to check out: http://mashable.com/2014/11/27/four-pd-james-books-to-read/

* Vice has launched a weekly online science fiction magazine, Terraform, which has already published pieces by Bruce Sterling, Claire L. Evans, Cory Doctorow, Alison Wilgus, Paul Ford and others. http://motherboard.vice.com/read/terraform-home-online-fiction

* Ryan Reynolds has closed a deal for a "Deadpool" film.  We can only hope it will be a better representation of the "Merc with a Mouth" than the first time Reynolds played Deadpool.  http://deadline.com/2014/12/ryan-reynolds-deadpool-fox-x-men-1201309406/

* Hachette has finally won its battle with Amazon and are going to set their own prices for their e-books.  http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/14/technology/amazon-hachette-ebook-dispute.html?_r=1

* Yahoo reports that Ridley Scott may actually return to direct "Blade Runner 2," mostly because he thinks the script is that good.  We can only hope he didn't think the same about the "Prometheus" script . . . . https://uk.yahoo.com/movies/ridley-scott-i-could-still-direct-blade-runner-104242760001.html

* Check out a sneak peek of the newest Avenger to get a solo book, the fantastic Squirrel Girl!  The first issue of Unbeatable Squirrel Girl will be out next month.  http://sciencefiction.com/2014/12/04/kraven-hunter-vs-squirrels-first-look-unbeatable-squirrel-girl-1/    

* That season is almost upon us when Netflix offloads a bunch of its titles and picks up some new ones, and Slice of SciFi gave us a list of the titles we'll be gaining and losing. http://www.sliceofscifi.com/2014/11/28/goodbye-hello-from-netflix/

* Veronique Greenwood publishes a piece in the NY Times about her Great-Great-Aunt who worked with the Curies and discovered Francium.  http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/07/magazine/my-great-great-aunt-discovered-francium-and-it-killed-her.html?_r=1

* Peter Jackson explains why, without some sort of deal with the Tolkien estate, the third "Hobbit" movie will be the final film in Tolkien's world. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/peter-jackson-tolkien-estate-rights-753368

* Congratulations to Madhvi Ramani, who won both the inaugural Diverse Writers and the inaugural Diverse Worlds grants from the Speculative Literature Foundation.  http://www.locusmag.com/News/2014/11/slf-grants/

* The Guardian has listed some of the Science Fiction and Fantasy books they consider to be the best of 2014. http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/dec/05/best-science-fiction-books-2014

* We may finally have a Jessica Jones for Marvel's Netflix original series.  Apparently the role has been offered to Krysten Ritter.  As long-time Jessica Jones fans, we're nervous about the choice, having never seen Ritter in a non-party-girl, high-fashion role, which is the polar opposite of the gritty, practical and street-smart Jones.  However, Marvel has done well with its casting so far, so Ritter could end up being awesome, if she takes the role.  http://sciencefiction.com/2014/12/04/found-jessica-jones-leads/

* Flavorwire has a list of 25 genre novels that they believe should be classics: http://flavorwire.com/492187/25-genre-novels-that-should-be-classics/view-all

* "Star Trek 3" is again without a director.  Robert Orci, who stepped in after J.J. Abrams left to work on the new "Star Wars" film, is now out and no one seems to know why yet.  http://sciencefiction.com/2014/12/05/breaking-roberto-orci-beamed-star-trek-3/

* Two online petitions are floating about to rename the bay bridge after Emperor Norton, though neither seems to have much momentum: http://sfist.com/2013/08/06/effort_to_rename_bay_bridge_after_e.php

* Dean Devlin explains why his plans to film "Independence Day" 2 and 3 simultaneously have now changed and what sort of delay this puts on the reboot of the "Stargate" film franchise in a new interview. http://www.nerdreport.com/2014/12/04/independence-day-2-exclusive-why-theyre-not-doing-2-sequels-at-once/

* With as much as we think we know about the Marquis de Sade, Jonathon Sturgeon points out that we don't actually know that much. http://flavorwire.com/491906/200-years-later-we-still-do-not-know-the-marquis-de-sade

* Cheryl Eddy over at io9 explores the history and the myths of the famous ghost ship the Mary Celeste: http://io9.com/what-happened-aboard-historys-most-baffling-ghost-ship-1667518366

* Kickstarter to fund a full-length documentary about San Francisco's own beloved Emperor Norton!  Some of the interviews were filmed here at Borderlands; kick in a few dollars if you can: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2072206954/norton-the-first-americas-emperor

* Lastly, Patrick Rothfuss' charity Worldbuilders can use your support.  http://www.worldbuilders.org/  Pat says he'll probably kiss a llama for the charity: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/14/books/review/inside-the-list.html?ref=books&_r=1