# What happened in this Pixel Scroll
John Scalzi revisited an old internet moment: the Bacon Cat episode that made his name viral years before his books became the primary association. Scalzi frames the memory as a brief, odd period of online fame. He stresses the moment was harmless to the cat involved and says the cat lived a long, undisturbed life — a simple anecdote about early internet virality and how a writer's public image can shift over time.
Science magazine published its Fall Books 2026 roundup and included two works of science fiction among its selections. The titles called out in the Pixel Scroll excerpt are Dan Warner's Wither, described as a take on an algorithm-driven present leading to a haunting post‑apocalyptic scenario, and Chloe Benjamin's Under Story, set at an Antarctic research station. The mention signals that general-interest science outlets continue to incorporate genre fiction in seasonal roundups.
Michael Whelan shared memories about painting covers for Edgar Rice Burroughs' Barsoom (John Carter) series. Whelan recalled that landing that assignment fulfilled a teenage dream and that he began several paintings before contract terms were even finalized. He credits Judy Lyn Del Rey for entrusting him with the project and expresses gratitude looking back at those early works.
Collider published a list called "10 Greatest Books of the Last 20 Years, Ranked," and File 770 notes that six of the ten entries are science‑fiction or fantasy. The Pixel Scroll extract frames the difference between shared audiovisual experiences and the more solitary act of reading, while pointing out that the last two decades produced books that shaped storytelling across genres.
- The Bacon Cat anecdote is a reminder that internet notoriety can eclipse other work for a time, even for established creators.
- Science's inclusion of SF novels in a mainstream fall roundup shows genre fiction continuing to cross into broad cultural coverage.
- Whelan's Barsoom recollection documents how commercial illustration assignments can fulfill long-term creative goals and get made under tight, early-career conditions.
- Straczynski's complaint spotlights credit and recognition practices in anniversary programming and raises a concrete question about who gets invited and credited at fan-facing retrospectives.
These are short, standalone items collected under the Pixel Scroll banner. Each entry is a compact pointer: a personal anniversary, editorial picks in a major science outlet, an artist's career memory, a public grievance about recognition, and a curated list of important recent books. Together they reflect how the culture around science fiction and fantasy moves across personal recollection, mainstream coverage, artistic process, and debates over attribution.
