(1) FANTASY INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING. Stephen Granade recommends this ”AO3 fic in which Isaac Chotiner interviews the guy who runs the lottery in Shirley Jackson’s ‘The Lottery’”. “Why one small American town won’t stop stoning its residents to death” by Charlotte Stant at Archive of One’s Own. One reader compared it to “Why don’t we just kill the kid in the Omelas Hole” by Isabel J. Kim.

Clarence Summers has a day job in the energy industry, but he considers his vocation to be the administration of Buell’s prosperity lottery. The lottery sees one Buell resident stoned to death each summer, following a randomized selection process that Summers facilitates. Buell’s residents believe the lottery protects them from evil and confers good fortune upon the town. 

I recently spoke by phone with Summers. During our conversation, which has been edited for length and clarity, we discussed why he thinks the lottery is justified, evolving attitudes toward stoning, and what protections the state owes to children….

(2) THE MEAT IN A WESTEROS SANDWICH. Gizmodo’s Cheryl Eddy says “’A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’ Is an Absolute Triumph”.

 A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, which premieres January 18, is cut from a different cloth. A rougher, stinkier cloth. It’s an approach that perfectly suits the source material, George R.R. Martin’s Tales of Dunk and Egg novellas—and it makes for a wonderfully entertaining TV show that explores Westeros from an entirely new point of view….

…As A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms explores over its six episodes (all of which io9 was able to view for review), being a knight—sworn by oath to “protect the innocent”—and being an honorable man are not always the same thing. In fact, as the unintentionally blundering Ser Dunk discovers, there’s often a deep divide between the two. Even worse, the people with the most power can sometimes be the most despicable of them all, a timeless lesson that Dunk learns in the hardest way possible….

…But the stakes are still sky-high. They’re life or death both in the jousting ring, where men compete knowing the considerable risks, and also in the rowdy camp that springs up around the tourney. There, Duncan sees firsthand what an angry, impulsive, bratty Targaryen prince is capable of—bolstered by the confidence that comes with being above the law simply because of who his family is.

House of the Dragon fans are well familiar with that signature Targaryen trait, but you don’t need to have seen that show or even Game of Thrones to enjoy A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. Previous Westeros know-how is a bonus, since you’ll recognize certain names and have a working familiarity with the kingdom and its tumultuous history. But with Dunk—an unconventional, immediately likable protagonist—as its entry point, the perspective here is much more immediate and intimate….

(3) GALLIFREY ONE NEWS. After an absence of 13 years, Gallifrey One welcomes back Freema Agyeman (Martha Jones) as their final major guest confirmation for next month’s convention, February 6-8, 2026 in Los Angeles.

Ms. Agyeman will appear on Friday and Saturday this year, in an appearance sponsored by Showmasters Events. She joins Peter Davison, Millie Gibson, Jo Martin, Sarah Sutton, Mark Strickson, Matthew Waterhouse, Daphne Ashbrook, Yee Jee Tso, Frazer Hines and many more guests attending the event this year.

Full information at the Gallifrey One website.

(4) MARTINA RADWAN Q&A. “’Stranger Things’ Documentary Director Answers Burning Questions” for The Hollywood Reporter.

I learned a lot from watching Martina Radwan’s Stranger Things documentary, One Last Adventure: The Making of Stranger Things 5, which is currently streaming on Netflix. (OK, so I learned five things.) I learned even more from speaking with the filmmaker herself….

You’ve got super fans pausing and zooming in on individuals frames of your documentary. One allegedly shows one of the Duffers with a ChatGPT tab open on their computer. Did they use ChatGPT in your presence, and if so, what for?

I mean, are we even sure they had ChatGPT open?

I’m personally not, but the internet seems sure.

Well, there’s a lot of chatter where [social media users] are like, “We don’t really know, but we’re assuming.” But to me it’s like, doesn’t everybody have it open, to just do quick research?

I do.

How can you possibly write a storyline with 19 characters and use ChatGPT, I don’t even understand.

I don’t think many fans truly believe the Duffers had gen-AI write their scripts, I think it’s more of an aversion to the use of the technology in general in Hollywood.

Again, first of all, nobody has actually proved that it was open. That’s like having your iPhone next to your computer while you’re writing a story. We just use these tools … while multitasking. So there’s a lot going on all the time, every time. What I find heartbreaking is everybody loves the show, and suddenly we need to pick it apart.

So just to button-up the topic: You didn’t witness an unethical use of generative-AI in the writers room?

No, of course not. I witnessed creative exchanges. I witnessed conversation. People think “writers room” means people are sitting there writing. No, it’s a creative exchange. It’s story development. And, of course, you go places in your creative mind and then you come back [to the script]. I think being in the writers room is such a privilege and such a gift to be able to witness that.

(5) ALAN RICKMAN MEMORIES. [Item by Steven French.] Some lovely anecdotes here about Alan Rickman who died ten years ago, including Sigourney Weaver on proposing the sequel to Galaxy Quest and this one from Tom Felton who played Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter movies (in which Rickman was of course Severus Snape: “’I fell in love with him on the spot’: Alan Rickman remembered, 10 years after his death” in the Guardian.

…He could have had his food delivered to his trailer, like most of the cast (including me). Instead, he queued up for his own breakfast and lunch, head to toe in his Snape costume and wig, holding a plastic tray and waiting his turn in the usually very long line behind a carpenter, set decorator, burly cameraman and Gringotts goblin – an image I will never forget. I didn’t realise it then, but I think now Alan’s silent message was: “We’re all in this together. Equally.”…

(6) NERO BOOK AWARDS. The 2025 Nero Book Awards were announced today. The award is for the best books of the year from writers based in the UK and Ireland.  All the winners are non-genre works.

• Fiction winner – Seascraper by Benjamin Wood (Viking)
• Non-Fiction winner – Death of an Ordinary Man by Sarah Perry (Jonathan Cape)
• Debut Fiction winner – A Family Matter by Claire Lynch (Chatto & Windus)
• Children’s Fiction winner – My Soul, A Shining Tree by Jamila Gavin (Farshore) 

Each winner receives £5,000 and is now in the running for the Nero Gold Prize, Book of the Year 2025. The winner will be selected by a final judging panel led by bestselling author Nick Hornby, best known for his memoir, Fever Pitch and his novel, About a Boy, both of which were adapted into feature films. Hornby will be joined by BBC correspondent Reeta Chakrabarti, a regular presenter on BBC News. Completing the panel is the screenwriter Daisy Goodwin, the New York Times bestselling novelist and creator of the ITV show Victoria. They will decide the overall winner carrying a further £30,000, which will be announced at a ceremony hosted by Sarah Montague on 4^th March.

The Nero book awards, run by Caffè Nero, were launched in 2023 after Costa Coffee abruptly ended its book awards in June 2022.

(7) TODAY’S BIRTHDAY.

[Written by Cat Eldridge.]

Born January 14, 1949 — Lawrence Kasdan, 77.

Lawrence Kasdan did the screenplay for my favorite all-time genre film, Raiders of the Lost Ark which would win a Hugo at Chicon V. And no, the Suck Fairy had not had any impact upon my appreciation of it which if anything has strengthened down the decades. 

Speaking of being involved in my favorite films, his first work was as screenwriter (with the late Leigh Brackett, and George Lucas) for the oh so perfect The Empire Strikes Back which, yes, also won a Hugo, this time at Denvention Two. It and Star Wars are my go to Star Wars films for watching over and over. (I refuse to use the revisionist names for these films.) And he wrote the screenplay for Return of the Jedi.

He also wrote Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Solo: A Star Wars Story but I’ll confess that I stopped watching the Star Wars films after the original trilogy. There’s later material I like, say the animated series, but the later films just don’t interest me.

Finally Dreamcatcher is a horror SF film based on Stephen King’s novel of the same name. It’s directed by Lawrence Kasdan and co-written by him and screenwriter William Goldman of The Princess Bride fame.

Pinewood Studios, UK – Writer/Director/Producer J.J Abrams (top center right) at the cast read-through of Star Wars Episode VII at Pinewood Studios with (clockwise from right) Harrison Ford, Daisy Ridley, Carrie Fisher, Peter Mayhew, Producer Bryan Burk, Lucasfilm President and Producer Kathleen Kennedy, Domhnall Gleeson, Anthony Daniels, Mark Hamill, Andy Serkis, Oscar Isaac, John Boyega, Adam Driver and Writer Lawrence Kasdan. Copyright and Photo Credit: David James.

(8) COMICS SECTION.

• Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal contemplates an alternate history.
• Dinosaur Comics can count.  
• Rubes is about a revisionist dragon.  
• Wumo gives a film a less popular ending.   

(9) TIG NOTARO Q&A. From Jimmy Kimmel Live: “Tig Notaro on Telling Tom Cruise She Looks Like Him, Star Trek Float with George Takei & Documentary”.

Tig talks about her new tour, being on “Star Trek: Starfleet Academy,” being on a Star Trek float with George Takei in the Rose Parade, her new documentary Come See Me in the Good Light about her good friend Poet Laureate Andrea Gibson who had stage four ovarian cancer, and going up to Tom Cruise at the Governors Awards to tell him that she looks like him.

(10) STREAMING INDUSTRY MARKET REPORT. JustWatch  today released its latest report on the US streaming industry, following changes in the market throughout 2025.

Key Takeaways:

• New US market leader: Netflix (20%) overtook Prime Video (19%) in the last quarter of 2025, according to data released by JustWatch
• Increasing competition in the SVOD market: Netflix and Prime Video still lead the U.S. market, but both lost ground to mid-tier platforms in 2025. Netflix declined by 1 pp year-over-year, while Prime Video fell by 3 pp.
• Biggest winners of 2025: Disney+ (14%), Apple TV+ (9%), and other services (5%) each gained 2 pp over the year. Disney+ is now the third-largest SVOD platform by market share in the U.S., according to JustWatch data.

Market Development Snapshot

SVOD Market Shares in Q4 2025

The top two leaders in streaming this quarter are:

• Netflix – 20%
• Amazon Prime Video – 19%

Followed by Disney+ (14%), HBO Max (13%), and Hulu (12%), Apple TV+ (9%), Paramount+ (5%), Peacock Premium (2%), Starz (1%), and other services (5%).

Market Development Overview

Netflix (20%) and Prime Video (19%)

●       Quarterly development (Q3 → Q4 2025): Prime Video lost 1 pp this quarter, while Netflix gained 1 pp.

●       Annual development (Q4 2024 → Q4 2025): Both Netflix and Prime Video lost traction over the year (-1 pp and -3 pp respectively).

• Market context: Netflix had a strong quarter across both movies and series, with exclusives such as Frankenstein and Stranger Things topping the weekly JustWatch U.S. Streaming Charts. Competition from mid-market platforms also intensified, with Disney+ and Apple TV+ each gaining +2 pp in 2025. 

Disney+ (14%) and Hulu (12%)

• Quarterly development (Q3 → Q4 2025): Disney+ remained stable in Q4, while Hulu gained 1 pp with steady growth from October through December.
• Annual Development (Q4 2024 → Q4 2025): Disney+ grew 2 pp in 2025, one of the largest year-over-year increases, alongside Apple TV+. It surpassed HBO Max in March to become the third-largest streaming service in the US, according to JustWatch Data. Hulu gained 1 pp, making it fifth largest, trailing close behind HBO Max. 
• Market context: Disney+ and Hulu performed strongly in 2025 on the strength of exclusive series such as Alien: Earth and Andor, alongside major releases like Lilo & Stitch (2025). In Q4, both services appeared less frequently in the JustWatch Streaming Charts. Meanwhile, Disney’s theatrical slate gained momentum with Zootopia 2 and Avatar: Fire and Ash.

HBO Max (13%) and Apple TV+ (9%)

●       Quarterly development (Q3 → Q4 2025): HBO Max held its place this quarter and remained steady at 13%. Apple TV+ gained 1 pp.

●       Annual development (Q4 2024 → Q4 2025): HBO Max retained its base in 2025, however, it lost its top three position to Disney+ in Q2. Apple TV+ saw an increase of 2 pp, as the platform grew in mainstream popularity in 2025.

• Market context: Both Apple TV+ and HBO Max performed strongly in terms of title popularity in 2025, according to the JustWatch Streaming Charts. Apple TV+’s top-performing titles included Severance, and in Q4, Pluribus also ranked highly. HBO Max likewise saw strong engagement across both movies and series, led by The Last of Us as its most popular title of the year, alongside films such as Sinners.

Paramount+ (5%), Peacock Premium (2%), Starz (1%), and Other Platforms (5%)

• Quarterly development (Q3 → Q4 2025): Paramount+ lost 1 pp from Q3 to Q4, as some of its main competitors pulled ahead. Peacock Premium and Starz remained stable, while other platforms grew by 1 pp.
• Annual development (Q4 2024 → Q4 2025): Paramount+ saw an annual decrease of 4 pp from 2024 to 2025. Peacock Premium grew 1 pp, while Starz remained stable. Other platforms saw a decrease of 2 pp in 2025. 
• Market context: Paramount+ saw some volatility early in the year, potentially linked to the conclusion of Yellowstone, which aired its series finale in late 2024. However, the platform also saw strong performance from certain exclusive titles, including MobLand, South Park, and its release of The Naked Gun, as per JustWatch’s Streaming Charts.

(11) IT’S A WRAP. ScreenRant introduces “The Mummy 2026 Trailer: Horror Franchise Returns With Gory Twist”.

…Though its 63-second runtime has Blumhouse and New Line Cinema keeping much of it a secret, The Mummy trailer certainly offers a lot of insight into what’s to come from the film. For starters, Cronin has once again made a film centered around a family encountering evil forces that threaten to tear them apart, having done so with both his feature directorial debut The Hole in the Ground and his critical and commercial hit Evil Dead Rise.

The new Mummy, however, also takes a big swing with its family dynamic compared to his prior films and the franchise itself by seemingly making its titular entity that of a child. As seen in the trailer, the daughter of Reynor’s character, Katie, goes missing for eight years and is later found in the sarcophagus being opened in the footage, albeit seemingly with some physical deformations….

(12) VIDEO OF THE DAY. Today’s title is inspired by Kenny Everett’s song “Captain Kremmen” – complete lyrics at the link. Character’s history in the Wikipedia: “Captain Kremmen”.

[Thanks to John King Tarpinian, Cat Eldridge, SF Concatenation’s Jonathan Cowie, Mark Roth-Whitworth, Kathy Sullivan, Steven French, Mike Kennedy, and Andrew Porter for some of these stories. Title credit belongs to File 770 contributing editor of the day SF Concatenation’s Jonathan Cowie.]