Speculative Fiction Links of the Week for October 20, 2017

It's time again for our weekly round-up of interesting links about speculative fiction from around the web, this week with Star Trek Discovery, Blade Runner 2049, Thor: Ragnarok, two awards for Margaret Atwood, lots of articles about horror fiction as well as the usual mix of awards news, writing advice, interviews, reviews, awards news, con reports, crowdfunding campaigns, science articles and free online fiction. 

Speculative fiction in general:

• James Davis Nicoll shares twenty alternate histories every SFF fan should have on their shelves.
• Jeff Somers shares the thirteen unluckiest characters in science fiction and fantasy. 
• Jeff Noon shares the top ten imaginary drugs in fiction.
• Karen Lord shares five books about the human and the divine.
• Nicole Hill shares five YA fantasy tropes she cannot get enough of.
• Liz Bourke discusses the rise of LGBTQ speculative fiction.
• Shaun Duke talks about space opera and domesticity.
• Shaun Duke also shares what he learned from three years of reading mainly speculative fiction by women.
• Cat Rambo presents an SFWA roundtable discussion on the Fireside Fiction black speculative fiction report.  
• Nerds of a Feather talks about Eurocentrism and worldbuilding in fantasy.
• Junot Díaz talks about global dystopias.
• Erin Roberts explains how to tell if you're living in a dystopia and why it matters.
• Peter Ross shares his appreciation for George Orwell and Nineteen Eighty-Four. 
• Jane Dykema discusses The Husband Stitch by Carmen Maria Machado and the practice it is named after.  
• Ross Johnson revisits Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy.
• Lorelei Marcus revisits the 1962 novel A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle. 
• Jo Walton revisits The Long Tomorrow by Leigh Brackett.
• Victoria Lucas shares her appreciation for science fiction writer Lee Chaytor a.k.a. Elizabeth Chater.
• Gabrielle Bellot shares her appreciation for the works of Octavia E. Butler.
• Victor LaValle shares his appreciation for the works of Richard Matheson.  
• The participants of the latest Mind Meld share their favourite books about ghosts and witches.
• Cullen Bunn shares five books about folk horror.
• Emily Temple shares a list of scary literary fiction for people who hate horror.
• Jonathan Barry talks about his love of gothic horror and the Hell Fire Club. 
• Lee Foster talks about horror and disability. 
• Jonathan Barkan explains how horror can help in times of tragedy.  
• Grady Hendrix attempts to answer the question how many of Stephen King's novels are actually set in Maine.
• Mark Olsen profiles Guillermo del Toro. 
• Elizabeth Rayne shares ten movies about tentacled monsters for Lovecraft fans.
• Brian Greene revisits Carl Theodor Dreyer's 1932 horror movie Vampyr.
• Gavia Baker-Whitelaw calls Good Manners the most interesting werewolf movie of the year.
• Erin Lindsey shares six epic narrative lessons from The Empire Strikes Back.
• Emily Asher-Perrin shares five things that Obi-Wan Kenobi could have told Luke rather than outright lies.
• Shaun Duke discusses generation ships and the 2009 movie Pandorum.
• Vance Kotrla compares the 1956 and the 1978 versions of Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
• BloomsMag reports that seventeen minutes of lost footage of 2001 - A Space Odyssey have been found.
• Mark Jenkins calls the movie Professor Marston and the Wonder Women strangely subdued.
• Angel Wilson shares her thoughts on the season 3 premiere of Mr. Robot. 
• David Annandale shares his appreciation for the television show Hannibal.
• Jodie and KJ of Lady Business share their thoughts on season 1 of The Good Place.
  
• Kevin Melrose explains the timeline of the X-Men spin-off TV show The Gifted. 
• Charles Pulliam Moore declares that there will probably never be a right time for a Punisher series.
• Geoff Miller calls for comics to stop telling stories about established superheroes becoming Nazis.
• Chris Arrant reports that comic book sales have risen by 6% and that 37% of comic buyers are women. 
• An original Asterix illustration has been sold for 1.4 million Euro at an auction in Paris.
• Isa Hackett, TV producer and daughter of Philip K. Dick, has accused the head of Amazon Studios of sexual harrassment.
• Natalie Luhrs discusses another case of serial harrassment in the SFF community.
• Actor Roy Dotrice, who played multiple genre roles,  has died aged 94.
• Italian film director Umberto Lenzi, who directed several horror movies, has died aged 86.
  

Comments on Star Trek Discovery:

• Bridget McKinney shares her thoughts on the two-part pilot as well as the third and fourth episode of Star Trek Discovery.  
• Andrew Lowry shares his thoughts on the fourth and fifth episode of Star Trek Discovery.
• Ethan Siegel calls Star Trek Discovery scientific nonsense.
• Zach Handlen calls episode 5 of Star Trek Discovery not terrible. 
• Angel Wilson is happy about the introduction of a gay couple in episode 5 of Star Trek Discovery.  
• Keith DeCandido shares his thoughts on episode 5 of Star Trek Discovery.
• Camestros Felapton shares his thoughts on episode 5 of Star Trek Discovery. 
• Camestros Felapton also discusses the Alice in Wonderland references in Star Trek Discovery. 
• Helen O'Hara declares, based on the pilot, that Star Trek Discovery is what the world needs right now.
• Katharine Trendacosta declares that Star Trek Discovery has lost its soul with the latest episode. 
• Gavia Baker-Whitelaw wonders whether Star Trek Discovery has gone too far with the animal cruelty in episode 5.
• Cora Buhlert discusses yet more of her issues with Star Trek Discovery.
• Abigail Nussbaum is cautiously optimistic about Star Trek Discovery, but really dislikes The Orville. 
• James Wallace Harris explains why he is dissatisfied with Star Trek Discovery and the CBS All Access streaming service where the show is available. 
• Marissa Martinelli shares a potentially spoilerish fan theory regarding a certain character in Star Trek Discovery.
• Gavia Baker-Whitelaw also discusses the potentially spoilerish fan theory regarding Star Trek Discovery actor Javid Iqbal. 
• Gavia Baker-Whitelaw also reports how actor Wilson Cruz, who plays Dr. Culber in Star Trek Discovery, responded to comments by homophobic fans.
• Emily Asher-Perrin takes a closer look at the character of Harry Mudd who appeared in various incarnations of Star Trek from the original series to Star Trek Discovery.
• James Hibberd interviews Jason Isaacs who plays Captain Gabriel Lorca in Star Trek Discovery.
  

Comments about Blade Runner 2049: 

• Devon Maloney points out that the politics of Blade Runner 2049 aren't that futuristic.
• Ryan J. Downey discusses the woman problem of Blade Runner 2049.
• Sara Lynn Michener points out that Blade Runner 2049 may not pass the Bechdel test, but that this may be the point for a movie set in a dystopian future.
• Trish Marston calls Blade Runner 2049 disturbing and enthralling.
• Bill Capossere calls Blade Runner 2049 visually stunning.
• Rick Williamson calls Blade Runner 2049 one of the best films of the year and one of the best noir films ever.
• James Wallace Harris calls Blade Runner 2049 a heartless sequel.
• David Fear wonders whether Blade Runner 2049 has become the victim of peak dystopia fatigue.
• Adam Wagner shares his thoughts on Blade Runner 2049.
• M.G. Siegler shares his thoughts on Blade Runner 2049.
• Adam Frank attempts to answer the question whether Rick Deckard is a replicant or not.  
• Justin T. Westbrook wonders whatever happened to Rick Deckard's dog in Blade Runner 2049.
• Evan Narcisse explains the secret behind Blade Runner 2049's most surprising special effect.
  

Comments about Thor: Ragnarok: 

• Germain Lussier calls Thor: Ragnarok probably the funniest superhero movie ever.
• Alonso Duralde calls Thor: Ragnarok breathlessly action-packed and funny.  
• Brian Truitt calls Thor: Ragnarok a fun Marvel romp that doesn't take itself too seriously.

Awards:

• Margaret Atwood has been awarded the 2017 Peace Prize of the German Book Trade. 
• Margaret Atwood has also been awarded the Franz Kafka Prize.
• The winner of the 2017 Man Booker Prize for Fiction has been announced.
• The winners of the 2017 Sunburst Awards have been announced.
• The winners of the 2017 Geffen Awards have been announced.
• The finalists for the 2017 Prix d'Uchronie have been announced.
• The finalists for the 2017 Parsec Awards have been announced.
• The finalists for the 2017 BookNest Fantasy Awards have been announced.
• Kevin Hogan introduces the Smithee Awards.

Writing, publishing and promotion:

• Writing Routines shares eight lessons from Nobel laureate Kazuo Ishiguro about the writing process. 
• Mason Cross talks about writing a novel in 500 word chunks.
• Abdulghaniy Otukogbe explains how he writes. 
• Andrea Carter talks about going from part-time to full-time writer. 
• Mareth Griffith talks about time management for writers.
• Steven Smith explains how visual art inspires his writing. 
• Elizabeth Bear shares five worldbuilding tips.
• Jacey Bedford talks about the importance of peer to peer critique groups. 
• Barry Davret shares ten unusual but critical edit checks to do before publishing.
  

Interviews:

• Carl Slaughter interviews Alma Alexander. 
• The Qwillery interviews Mareth Griffith.
• The Qwillery also interviews Glynn Stewart.
• Lawrence M. Schoen interviews Vivian Shaw.  
• Veronica Scott interviews Nalini Singh.
• Veronica Scott interviews Linda Mooney and R.E. Butler.
• Nicole Hill interviews Joseph Fink.
• Seth Ferranti interviews Dr. Reynaldo Anderson. 
• Albert Ching interviews Daniel Kibblesmith.
• Nix Whittaker interviews Sharon Hannaford.
• Brigid Alverson interviews S. Nagano and A. Honda.
• Meagan Damore interviews Juliana Harkavy, the actress who plays Black Canary in Arrow.
  

Reviews:

• Kat Hooper and Jana Nyman review Provenance by Ann Leckie.
• Camestros Felapton also reviews Provenance by Ann Leckie. 
• Deborah J. Ross reviews The Innkeeper Chronicles by Ilona Andrews. 
• Liz Bourke reviews Blood Enemies by Susan R. Matthews. 
• Shana DuBois reviews The Bloodprint by Ausma Zehanat Khan.
• Shana DuBois reviews The Only Harmless Great Thing by Brooke Bolander. 
• Katy Waldman reviews La Belle Sauvage, Volume 1 of The Book of Dust by Philip Pullman.
• Joel Cunningham also reviews La Belle Sauvage, Volume 1 of The Book of Dust by Philip Pullman. 
• Smart Bitches, Trashy Books reviews Rebel Seoul by Axie Oh.
• Bridget McKinney reviews Where the Stars Rise: Asian Science Fiction & Fantasy, edited by Lucas K. Law and Derwin Mak.
  
• Bill Capossere reviews The Stone in the Skull by Elizabeth Bear.
• Rob Bedford reviews A Plague of Giants by Kevin Hearne. 
• Paul Weimer reviews At the Table of Wolves by Kay Kenyon. 
• Sam Reader reviews Blackwing by Ed McDonald. 
• Kate Coe reviews Court of Twillight by Mareth Griffith. 
• Camestros Felapton reviews City of Miracles by Robert Jackson Bennett.
• Rob Bedford reviews The Core by Peter V. Brett.
• Bence Pintér reviews Autonomous by Annalee Newitz.
• Gary K. Wolfe also reviews Autonomous by Annalee Newitz.  
• Rachel Swirsky reviews An Excess Male by Maggie Chen King.
• Jason Heller reviews Iraq +100, edited by Hassan Blasim. 
• Mark Yon reviews Austral by Paul McAuley.
• Sandy Ferber reviews The Small Hand by Susan Hill. 
• Jana Nyman reviews Boneyard by Seanan McGuire. 
• Michael Patrick Hicks reviews Halloween Carnival, Volume 3, edited by Brian James Freeman.

Crowdfunding:

• Wonders and Visions: A Visual History of Science Fiction by Adam Roberts and Graham Sleight is looking for funding. 
• M.C.A. Hogarth is looking for funding to produce print editions of her science fiction romances Thief of Songs and Cantor for Pearls.
• Joe Quesada, comic artist and creative head of Marvel Comics, is looking for help to recover artworks that were stolen from his house.
  

Con reports:

• James Bacon reports about Octocon 2017 in Dublin, Ireland, and also shares some photos.  
• Peter Tieryas talks about attending Donburacon in Shizuoka, Japan, where he received a Seiun Award. 
• Jim Walker reports about the 2017 Eurocon in Dortmund, Germany. 
• Brian Lee Durfee reports that Prison Con in Utah, the first ever SFF convention inside a prison, was a big success.
• Jamie Sugah reports about the Voltron: Legendary Defender panel at New York Comic Con.
• T.S. Paul shares some photos of the 2017 NINC conference in St. Petersburg, Florida.
• Mark L. Blackman reports about the latest edition of the Fantastic Fiction Reading series in New York City, featuring James Patrick Kelly and Jennifer Marie Brissett.
  

Science and technology:

• The Saturn moon Titan experiences seasonal methane rainstorms. 
• NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory provides insights in how CO² moves around the atmosphere. 
• Scientists have found the perfect spot to build an underground colony on the Moon.
• Scientists have measured the furthest part of the Milky Way yet.
• Scientists have discovered five black hole pairs at the centres of distant galaxies.
• Asking the right questions about artificial intelligence. 
• Model Alex Sorina Moss is about to change the future of space medicine.
• Ancient virusses are buried in human DNA. 
• French scientists believe that the cause of dyslexia may be the arrangement of light receptor cells in the eyes.
• David D. Levine talks about experiencing zero gravity while researching Arabella of Mars.
  

Free online fiction:

• "Crossing the Midday Gate" by Aliette de Bodard in Lightspeed. 
• "The Future of Hunger in the Age of Programmable Matter" by Sam J. Miller at Tor.com. 
• "Pan Humanism: Hope and Pragmatics" by Jess Barber and Sara Saab in Clarkesworld.
• "Control Negro" by Jocelyn Nicole Johnson in Guernica Magazine.
• "What the Highway Prefers" by Cassandra Khaw in Lackington's.
• "So Sings the Siren" by Annie Neugebauer in Apex Magazine.

Odds and ends: 

• Watch a trailer for Black Panther.
• Watch a trailer for The Punisher. 
• Watch a trailer for season 2 of Stranger Things.
• Watch a trailer for The New Mutants. 
• Watch a trailer for Bright.
• Watch a trailer for The Alienist.
• Angela Watercutter shares the best memes and tweets about the Porgs from Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
  

Among the Stars: Science Fiction Romance Sale

Rinelle Grey, author of science fiction and fantay romance, has organised a big science fiction romance sale with more than fifty books available for 99 cents or free.

The sale runs from October 19 to 21. 

 

A list of the participating books may be found here.

Wanted By The Werewolf Prince (Space Shifters Chronicles, Book 1) by Kara Lockharte

Release date: October 18, 2017
Subgenre: Science fiction shifter romance

About Wanted by the Werewolf Prince:

 

She's bold, fearless and disobedient--which always gets her in trouble…
 

He's controlling, demanding, and superior--which always gets him what he wants…
 

Captain Skye Daring is a space fighter pilot without equal. Rescuing a foreign werewolf prince and his sister from behind enemy lines should be a breeze.
 

Prince Ral doesn’t take orders from impudent humans. He’s determined to save not only his sister but also the people they left behind. The only thing in his way is a sexy pilot too stubborn to acknowledge his authority.
 

Stuck in a crippled ship and hunted by tiger shifters, Skye and Ral must stop fighting each other and battle the enemy -- together. Will the prince and pilot drop their guards long enough to conquer their dislike…and desire?

 

Excerpt:

 

Chapter 1

2356 C.E.

His royal wolfiness, Prince Ral of the House of Nightclaw, Duke of something or other and holder of a ludicrous number of other titles, locked his injured unconscious sister into the med stasis capsule. He turned and approached me in human form. The Prince was covered in grime and blood, his hair matted with dirt, his shirt shredded exposing glimpses of scarred hard muscle.

Filthy never looked so good.

Looking at that chiseled jaw, those too full lips, I knew he was going to be impossible.

People across the galaxy paid lifetimes for that kind of perfection, but cosmetic surgery didn’t work on werewolves. All it meant was that the Prince had had a lifetime of conditioning, a lifetime to believe he was a gift of the stars and a lifetime at exploiting others using his looks, prestige and power.

He turned and watched as the med-bots chimed, “Escort the capsule from the hanger bay.”

I didn’t know what the tiger-shifters had done to her, but I would look at the report later.

A med-bot stumbled.

“Don’t jolt her,” he snarled.

Then the prince stalked toward me.

My exo-armor, with its mirrored visor, and small dull black-scaled plates was designed to make an adversary think twice. But he was completely unfazed, or at least he had the appearance of being so. Men like him knew about facades.

He looked at me as if I were his mother’s serving android. “Be ready, soldier. After we get Princess Seria to safety, we’re coming back to Altai."

A hello, or ‘thanks for risking your lives to save us even though we’re not your subjects,’ would have been nice rather than an order. But this was to be expected. I triggered my exo-armor’s retreat. The helmet and suit opened, folding itself into my harness. The air smelled of exhaust and something burnt.

“Sorry, Your Majesty. Our orders are to one, get you off the tiger’s planet and two, escort both of you to neutral ground on Chandrayaan Station.”

Ice blue eyes focused on me. Nostrils flared taking in my scent. “You’re not one of us.”

I lifted my chin, strengthened my stance. “No. I’m an officer of the United Coalition Space Force. And unfortunately for you, sir, you are not part of my chain of command.”

Surprise cracked his facade. My ship had no markings, and my exo-armor had no insignias. Technically the Coalition and his kidnappers, the Tigrantine Protectorate, were at peace, but if the tigers caught us helping a wolf escape, things probably wouldn’t stay that way.

I threw him a rescue pack. It thumped as it hit the floor between us.

He folded his arms, leaned against a pillar. “The Coalition finally decided to honor their agreements?”

If that was how he wanted to play, so be it. “I have to obey orders. But not from you.”

He stalked forward, trying to intimidate me. “Take me to the captain of this ship. He will see reason.”

The ship jerked to the side. The alarms screamed. I pitched into him and we fell to the floor, me on top of him. My cheek pressed up against the ridges of his naked abdomen.  A mud-covered crotch was microns away from my nose. He smelled of dirt and greenery, things I hadn’t smelled in years.

My co-pilot’s voice blared over the com. “Captain, we’ve got cats up our ass. Lots of them.”

 

 Amazon.com | Amazon UK | Instafreebie | Book Trailer

About Kara Lockharte:

Kara Lockharte is the author of the Space Shifter Chronicles. She loves writing romances with sexy alpha alien shifters and strong heroines.

She lives on Planet Earth

 

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Author Central | BookBub

Kymiera by Steve Turnbull

Release date: November 7th 2017

Sub-genre: Cyberpunk, superhero

About Kymiera:

In our technologically dependent world everything stops when the wi-fi dies. It’s a total disaster, until it’s fixed and forgotten.

What if it’s never fixed? Not because of some accident or act of terror, but because everyone is too scared to leave their homes? Because they fear the distorted genetic monstrosities their friends and families have become. Terrified they might become the same. Fragile society collapses: No food. No power. Apocalypse!

But that was twenty years ago. The survivors from that terrible time have patched up what was left of civilisation until it worked again, just barely, and then they forgot. 

Now they pretend nothing has changed, with tracking chips in their heads, food rationing, and crumbling infrastructure they cannot repair. But they still fear the freaks and huddle in isolated communities throughout the desolate cities they still call home.

Chloe Dark wants to join the ‘Purity’ and help rid the world of monsters, starting with her home in Manchester. She goes to school and studies hard but these days Chloe’s always hungry, she knows that’s not right, but her genetic purity tests always come back clean. Until the day she can no longer deny she is changing into something else. But what? Then her closest friend is kidnapped and Chloe vows to find her before her time runs out.

DI Mitchell remembers how it was before the collapse. Nowadays his job is to track down and kill the freaks. He’s good at it. Too good. Finding kidnapped girls is not what he does, until his boss has him babysitting a Purity Agent up from London. As their investigation progresses the situation becomes ever more complicated and politically charged until something has to break.

Dog knows he has never been normal, but he’s not a freak, he’s something else. So he helps his boss, Mr Mendelssohn, buying and selling freaks for the illegal fights, doing odd jobs, nothing too nasty because Mr Mendelssohn doesn’t go in for violence—at least that’s the official line. But Dog wants a pack he can call his own, and when he catches the scent of others like him, he can’t ignore it.

In this rotting husk of civilisation, political power, industry and the law are in delicate balance. The whole unstable construct is about to be brought down by one young woman with a simple goal: before she becomes a freak and dies, she must rescue her missing friend.

Excerpt:

Delia moved up close, no longer scared apparently. She hunkered down so her head was at the same height as Jason’s. ‘Are you a mute?’

Jason found her scent to be… now even he couldn’t quite figure the word he wanted. He finally settled on attractive. He nodded.

‘You poor thing. That’s terrible.’ She reached out to take his hand, but he moved it and her fingers came down on his leg.

She jerked her hand away. ‘So sorry.’ She turned to Dog. ‘His fur is so soft.’

Dog pushed back his chair with a scrape. ‘I think you better be going now, Delia. Your dad would throw a fit if he knew you were in here. How do we know he isn’t dangerous?’

Delia stood up. She was taller than Dog. ‘Well, you weren’t getting very far with him, were you? You hadn’t even found out that he couldn’t talk and you’ve been trying to have a conversation for hours. You need me.’

‘All right, I’m grateful you discovered he’s dumb,’ said Dog. ‘But your dad would explode if he was here and saw you with him—not tied up.’

‘He’s not going to find out, is he?’ she said. ‘Not unless you tell him.’

‘You need to leave,’ said Dog.

‘I’m staying here,’ said Delia.

‘I’ll chuck you out.’

‘I’d like to see you try.’

Delia crossed her arms and set her feet as if ready for his attempt. Dog just stared at her, and then sat down. ‘Fine, whatever, the important thing is that freak-boy—’

‘Why don’t you find out what his name is?’

‘Because he can’t talk, as you so cleverly discovered.’

‘Well, maybe he can write.’

All the time the two of them had been arguing Jason had the feeling they wouldn’t even have noticed if he left.

‘Well, as long as you’re here,’ said Dog, ‘you might as well help. Let’s see what else we can get out of freak-boy.’

Jason looked up at Delia; at this particular moment she seemed very tall indeed. And she put her fists on her hips, like his mother used to when she got angry with him.

‘Listen, why don’t you start treating him with some respect. You might get what you want a bit faster.’

‘What would you suggest?’

‘Well, stop calling him freak-boy for a start. I mean, seriously, pot-kettle-black’ said Delia, then she turned her attention to Jason and came down to his level again. ‘Can you write?’

Jason was confused. He spent all his life running away from everyone except his mother, and now in the space of just two days everything had changed. He had a full stomach, and people were talking to him. It didn’t even matter that Dog was rude. It was just someone was talking to him as if he was really there, and not some sort of ghost. Not some sort of night demon that scared people as he flitted through the shadows.

There were no shadows here, and he couldn’t hide even if he wanted to. And just at this moment, hiding was the last thing he wanted to do.

Buy Kymiera online here

About Steve Turnbull:

When he's not sitting at his computer building websites for national institutions and international companies, USA Today bestselling author Steve Turnbull can be found sitting at his computer building new worlds of steampunk, science fiction and fantasy.

Technically Steve was born a cockney but after five years he was moved out from London to the suburbs where he grew up and he talks posh now. He's been a voracious reader of science fiction and fantasy since his early years, but it was poet Laurie Lee's autobiography "Cider with Rosie" (picked up because he was bored in Maths) that taught him the beauty of language and spurred him into becoming a writer, aged 15. He spent twenty years editing and writing for computer magazines while writing poetry on the side.

Nowadays he writes screenplays (TV and features), prose and computer programs.

Twitter | Facebook | Google+

Speculative Fiction Links of the Week for October 13, 2017

It's time again for our weekly round-up of interesting links about speculative fiction from around the web, this week with Star Trek Discovery, Blade Runner 2049, Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams, Runaways, The Orville, the geography of fantasy, New York Comic Con, lots of new trailers as well as the usual mix of awards news, writing advice, interviews, reviews, awards news, con reports, crowdfunding campaigns, science articles and free online fiction. 

Speculative fiction in general:

• N.K. Jemisin and Ann Leckie discuss what makes a classic work of science fiction.
• The participants of this month's Mind Meld share their favourite books featuring werewolves and giant monsters. 
• Rob Little shares his top ten post-apocalyptic books. 
• James Davis Nicoll shares twenty science fiction and fantasy books featuring redheads.
• Ginn Hale shares five alternate histories that embrace diversity.
• Claudie Arsenault introduces the aromantic and asexual speculative fiction database. 
• Epic Reads shares some not entirely serious charts for book lovers.
• Alexa Grave talks about Stephen King's Dark Tower series and how it influenced her writing.  
• Alex Acks discusses the perplexing river systems of Tolkien's Middle Earth. 
• Camestros Felapton discusses the plot elements and even more plot elements of fantasy maps.
• Julie E. Czerneda talks about the science behind her Clan Chronicles series. 
• Doris V. Sutherland revisits the 1928 space opera The Skylark of Space by E.E. Smith. 
• James Davis Nicoll revisits the 1959 science fiction novel The Enemy Stars by Poul Anderson.
• Judith Tarr revisits the 1981 novel Horn Crown by Andre Norton.
• Molly Templeton revisits the 1974 novel The Forgotten Beasts of Eld by Patricia A. McKillip. 
• The Fantasy Café also revisits The Forgotten Beasts of Eld by Patricia A. McKillip.
• Margaret Atwood shares her appreciation for Ray Bradbury and his work. 
• Lucas Siegel shares a list of 25 creators of colour that changed the SFF genre over the past twenty years.
• Alexandra Alter profiles Nnedi Okorafor. 
• Tobias Carroll shares his appreciation for the works of Nigerian SFF writer Deji Bryce Olukotun.
• Robert Greene II revisits the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Past Tense".
• Cheryl Eddy explains that she cannot stand Seth MacFarlane, but really enjoys The Orville. 
• Nick Wanserski declares that The Orville has significantly improved.
• James Berardinelli shares his thoughts on the Professor Marston and the Wonder Women.
• Curt Oglesbee shares ten facts about horror movies that you probably don't know.
• Aja Romano reports that the author of the infamous fanfiction story My Immortal probably hasn't been revealed after all.
• NASA Scientist Dr. Yoji Kondo who also wrote science fiction under the name Eric Kotani has died aged 84.
  

Comments on Star Trek Discovery:

• Zack Handlen reviews the two-part pilot and the first regular episode of Star Trek Discovery.
• David Sims believes that Star Trek Discovery is a bold evolution of the franchise.
• Ethan Siegel shares five real world issues he feels Star Trek Discovery should address.  
• Ethan Siegel also expresses his displeasure with how Star Trek Discovery actually did address those and other issues and feels it has turned into "War Trek".
• Ethan Siegel is also displeased with the science of Star Trek Discovery. 
• Cora Buhlert talks about redemption arcs and shares yet more of her complaints about Star Trek Discovery.  
• Gavia Baker-Whitelaw points out that Star Trek Discovery needs to find its moral heart.
• Keith DeCandido shares his thoughts about episode 4 of Star Trek Discovery. 
• Katharine Trendacosta also shares her thoughts about episode 4 of Star Trek Discovery.
• Camestros Felapton shares his thoughts on episode 4 of Star Trek Discovery. 
• Angel Wilson shares her thoughts about episode 4 of Star Trek Discovery.
• Zach Handlen was not thrilled with episode 4 of Star Trek Discovery.
• Kevin Melrose wonders whether the titular ship in Star Trek Discovery is part of the shadowy Section 31.
• Kevin Melrose also reports about the (disgusting) final fate of Captain Philippa Georgiou, as portrayed by Michelle Yeoh.
• Katharine Trendacosta shares showrunner Alex Kurtzman's explanation for why the Klingons look and behave so differently in Star Trek Discovery. 
• Emily Asher-Perrin reports that Michelle Yeoh, who played Captain Philippa Georgiou in Star Trek Discovery, put in a surprise appearance at new York Comic Con and had some advice for her successor. 
• Jon Arvedon reports that the cast and crew of Star Trek Discovery hope Donald Trump will watch the show.
• Angel Wilson discusses the results of a poll at The Geekiary regarding whether fans prefer Star Trek Discovery or The Orville and finds that the fact that Star Trek Discovery is only available on a subscription channel might be killing the show before it had the chance to find its feet.

Comments on Blade Runner 2049:

• Caryn Jones is quite pleased with Blade Runner 2049 and particularly praises Harrison Ford's performance. 
• Theresa DeLucci shares her thoughts on Blade Runner 2049.
• Damien G. Walter calls Blade Runner 2049 an artificial diamond of a movie in a spoilerish review.
• Ryan Lambie offers a spoiler-filled discussion of Blade Runner 2049.
• Ian Cardona attempts to explain the ending of Blade Runner 2049. 
• Gavia Baker-Whitelaw calls Blade Runner 2049 visually stunning and subtly sexist.
• Helen O'Hara is bothered by the sexist future presented in Blade Runner 2049. 
• Sarah Emerson points out that the future of Cyberpunk in general and the Blade Runner franchise in particular looks very Asian, even though there are hardly any Asians about, let alone Asians with speaking roles.  
• Stephen Humphries talks about Blade Runner 2049 in the context of the current popularity of dystopian science fiction.
• Maria Bustillos finds some parallels between Blade Runner 2049 and the 1962 novel Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov.
• Sunny Moraine talks about memories and emotions and how they are portrayed in Blade Runner 2049.  
• Germain Lussier shares nine questions he has after watching Blade Runner 2049.
• Sara Vilkomerson interviews Martin Green, one of the screenwriters of Blade Runner 2049.
• Gavia Baker-Whitelaw explains why Blade Runner 2049 is considered a box office flop.
  

Comments on Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams: 

• Rob Leane discusses the anthology TV series Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams.
• Rob Bricken declares that Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams looks amazing.
• Beth Elderkin reports that Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams is not so much a TV show but a series of ten standalone movies.
  

Comments on Runaways:

• Charles Pulliam Moore calls Runaways a dynamic spin on the classic teen drama. 
• Natalie Zutter calls Runaways a solid teenage superhero drama.

Awards:

• The winner of the 2017 WSFA Small Press Award has been announced.
• The winners of the 2017 MacArthur Foundation fellowships have been announced.
• The nominees for the 2018 Astrid Lindgren Award have been announced.
  

Writing, publishing and promotion:

• Michael Sendrow talks about his relationship with creativity.
• James Dowd explains how to infuse passion and energy into your work.
• Rosalyn Kelly shares six writing tips.
• Damien G. Walter talks about the importance of change for stories.
• Glory Anna reminds writers not to put story above character. 
• Ginn Hale talks about the inspiration behind The Long Past and Other Stories.
• Alex Acks talks about research and getting it right.
• John Allen shares some tips for writing a great horror story.
  

Interviews:

• Dag Rambraut interviews Jacey Bedford. 
• Dag Rambraut also interviews Matthew S. Williams.
• Paul Weimer interviews Alex Acks.
• Brigid Alverson interviews Saladin Ahmed.
• Randy Dotinga interviews John Joseph Adams.
• Carl Slaughter interviews Dean Wesley Smith.
• Shellie Horst interviews R.J. Barker.
• S.A. Soule interviews Julie Ann Dawson.
• The Qwillery interviews Rivers Solomon.
• The Qwillery also interviews Jeanette Ng.
• Juliana Spink Mills interviews Gwendolyn Kiste.
  

Reviews:

• Paul Weimer reviews The Tiger's Daughter by K. Arsenault Rivera.
• James Davis Nicoll reviews Binti: The Night Masquerade by Nnedi Okorafor.
• Niall Alexander reviews The Power by Naomi Alderman.
• Amal El-Mohtar reviews An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon. 
• Liz Bourke reviews The Bloodprint by Ausma Zehanat Khan.
• Aidan Moher reviews The Stone in the Skull by Elizabeth Bear.
• Kate Sherrod reviews The Trials by Solomon Parker by Eric Scott Fischl. 
• Ardi Alspach also reviews The Trials of Solomon Parker by Eric Scott Fischl.
• Mark Chitty reviews The Bastard Legion by Gavin Smith. 
• Nicole Hill reviews A Plague of Giants by Kevin Hearne. 
• Rob Bedford reviews The Core by Peter V. Brett.
• Michael Patrick Hicks reviews Halloween Carnival, Volume 1, edited by Brian James Freeman.
• Ross Johnson reviews the Star Wars anthology From A Certain Point of View.
  

Crowdfunding:

• The re-edition of Cain's Jawbone, a puzzle mystery by Edward Powys Mathers originally published in 1934, is looking for funding.

Con reports:

• Rob Bedford shares his experiences at New York Comic Con in New York City.
• The Geekiary offers a summary of the "Women of Marvel" panel at New York Comic Con.
• The BBC reports that Marvel has cancelled a joint event with weapons manufacturer Northrop Grumman at New York Comic Con, following criticism.
• Beth Elderkin shares the best cosplay photos from New York Comic Con. 
• Black Nerd Problems reports about Geek Girl Con in Seattle, Washington, and shares some photos.
• James Bacon reports about the Irish Disworld Con 2017 in Cork, Ireland, and shares some photos.
  

Science and technology:

• Mercury experiences micro-meteor showers every morning.
• The serach for a potential ninth planet on the outer edges of the solar system.
  

Free online fiction:

• "Light and Shadow" by Catherine Asaro.
• "At Cooney's" by Delia Sherman in Uncanny Magazine.
• "The Walk Up Nameless Ridge" by Hugh Howey in Lightspeed.
• "Every Black Tree" by Natalia Theodoridou in Beneath Ceaseless Skies. 
• "ZeroS" by Peter Watts at Tor.com. 

Odds and ends: 

• Watch a trailer for Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
• Watch a trailer for Pacific Rim: Uprising.
• Watch a trailer for Justice League.
• Watch a trailer for season 3 of Legends of Tomorrow. 
• Watch a trailer for season 6 of Arrow.
• Watch a trailer for Runaways. 
• Watch a trailer for Raising Dion.
• Watch a trailer for Replicas.
• Watch a trailer for Beyond Skyline. 
• Watch a trailer for season 11 of The X-Files.
• Watch a trailer for Castle Rock.
• Watch a trailer for season 4 of Black Mirror.
• Watch a clip from season 3 of The Man in the High Castle.
  

Speculative Fiction Links of the Week for October 6, 2017

It's time again for our weekly round-up of interesting links about speculative fiction from around the web, this week with Star Trek Discovery, Blade Runner 2049, Inhumans, The Gifted, Stephen King, a lot of horror fiction, the Nobel Prize for Literature as well as the usual mix of awards news, writing advice, interviews, reviews, awards news, con reports, crowdfunding campaigns, science articles and free online fiction. 

Speculative fiction in general:

• Adrian McKinty explains why genre fiction should be a part of the literary canon.  
• Katherine Ashe talks about the art of mixing genres.
• The participants of this month's Mind Meld share their personal definition of urban fantasy.
• Ryan Graudin shares five SFF books dealing with parallel universes and string theory.
• The Hugo Awards Book Club discusses the political power of science fiction.
• Corrie Brundage shares her top five science fiction heroines. 
• Lucy V. Hay shares five debates on female writers that really need to die.
• Cora Buhlert discusses the latest round of romance bashing, this time courtesy of the New York Times. 
• Cora Buhlert also has a follow-up post with reactions from around the web to the romance bashing New York Times article.
• Amanda Diehl shares five romances just begging for a film adaptation.
• Doris V. Sutherland revisits Edmond Hamilton's Interstellar Patrol series.
• Andrew O'Hehir shares his appreciation for the Broken Earth trilogy by N.K. Jemisin. 
• Camestros Felapton discusses fantasy terrains in The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe. 
• Grady Hendrix revisits The Shining by Stephen King. 
• Darren Slade revisits It by Stephen King.
• Leah Schnelbach sharees fifteen haunted house stories. 
• Rachel Cordasco shares eight horror novels from around the world.
• Stephen Graham Jones talks about horror and cautionary tales.
• Joanne Kaufman profiles R.L. Stine.
• Germain Lussier declares that the Flatliners remake should have stayed dead.  
• Barry Monush revisits Steven Spielberg's early 1971 TV movie L.A. 2017.
• Glen Weldon remembers the classic television show The Prisoner for its 50th anniversary.
• Teresa Jusino shares her appreciation for the much maligned Star Trek: The Next Generation character of Wesley Crusher.
• The Geekiary shares their appreciation for the afterlife sitcom The Good Place.
• Todd Mason remembers Kit Reed as well as the other nominees for the Hugo Award for most promising new author of 1959.
• Writer Dian Crayne a.k.a. J.D. Crayne has died aged 75. 
• Actress Anne Jeffreys, who appeared in numerous SFF TV shows, has died aged 94.
  

Comments on Star Trek Discovery: 

• Jodie of Lady Business shares her thoughts about the first episode of Star Trek Discovery and praises the character of Michael Burnham.
• Jodie of Lady Business also shares her thoughts on the second episode of Star Trek Discovery and mourns the fate of Captain Philippa Georgiou.
• Swapna Krishna praises the fact that Star Trek Discovery briefly had two women of colour as leads and mourns the fact that this only lasted for two episodes.
• Kaila Hale-Stern wonders about the symbolism behind the name of Michael Burnham, Star Trek Discovery's central character.
• Anita Sarkeesian and Ebony Aster offer two highly critical reviews of the two-part pilot and the third episode of Star Trek Discovery.
• Angel Wilson declares that Star Trek Discovery is everything she wanted and needed from a new Star Trek series.  
• Angel Wilson also declares that Star Trek is for everyone.
• Gavia Baker-Whitelaw calls Star Trek Discovery a gift for fans old and new.
• Gavia Baker-Whitelaw also reviews Desperate Hours by David Mack, the first Star Trek Discovery tie-in novel, in which Michael Burnham teams up with her adoptive brother of sorts, Mr. Spock.
• Gavia Baker-Whitelaw also recaps episode 3 of Star Trek Discovery.
• Angel Wilson reviews episode 3 of Star Trek Discovery.
• Camestros Felapton is quite pleased with episode 3 of Star Trek Discovery.
• Keith DeCandido feels that the third episode of Star Trek Discovery should have been the pilot rather than the two-parter we got.
• Katharine Trendacosta is pleased that Star Trek Discovery delves into the conflict between the scientific and the military side of starfleet. 
• Beth Elderkin and Katharine Trendacosta also discuss the game-changing technology that's apparently being developed in Star Trek Discovery and why we never see any trace of it in any other Star Trek shows.
• Nick Izumi compares Star Trek: Discovery to The Orville.
• Anthony Cuoto also compares Star Trek Discovery to The Orville.
• Carl Slaughter rounds up several critical YouTube reviews of Star Trek Discovery.
• Anthony Cuoto also attempts to explain why in spite of critical acclaim Star Trek Discovery is not the Star Trek that many fans wanted.
• Cora Buhlert talks about cultural differences and shares some thoughts and baseless speculation about Star Trek Discovery.
• Daniel Holloway interviews Jason Isaacs about his character Captain Lorca in Star Trek Discovery.
  

Comments on Blade Runner 2049: 

• Scott Huver declares that Blade Runner 2049 almost equals the original.
• Chris Klimek calls Blade Runner 2049 even sharper than the original.
• Cassam Looch calls Blade Runner 2049 a worthy successor to the original that may even exceed it.
• Katharine Trendacosta calls Blade Runner 2049 gorgeous, brilliant, pretentious and very long. 
• Liam Nolan explains what viewers should know before watching Blade Runner 2049.
• Damien Walter shares five questions the new Blade Runner must answer.
• John Bardinelli shares some background information about Do Androids Dream of Electronic Sheep?, the Philip K. Dick novel on which Blade Runner was based.  
• Ross Johnson ranks every philip K. Dick film adaptation.
• Meanwhile, Sarah Gailey shares her reactions to watching the original 1982 Blade Runner for the first time.
• Beth Elderkin and Charles Pulliam Moore also share their reactions to watching the original Blade Runner for the first time.
• Watch Black Out 2022, an animated tie-in short film to Blade Runner 2049.
  

Comments on Inhumans:

• Glen Weldon calls Inhumans inept and inert.
• Kevin Melrose argues that the supposed antagonist Maximus might actually be the hero of Inhumans. 
• Charles Pulliam Moore finds at least one good idea in Inhumans.
• Meagan Damore traces differences between the TV version of Inhumans and the version that was shown in IMAX theatres.
  

Comments on The Gifted: 

• Farid Ul-Haq calls The Gifted a good X-Men spin-off that doesn't offer anything new. 
• Charles Pulliam Moore declares that The Gifted is not trying to be an X-Men show, which is what makes it good.
• Kevin Melrose explains why The Gifted changed a scene featuring the mutant Lorna Dane a.k.a. Polaris in prison between the trailer and the episode that actually aired.
  

Awards:

• Kazuo Ishiguro had been awarded the 2017 Nobel Prize for Literature.
• The winners of the 2017 British Fantasy Awards have been announced. 
• The winners of the 2017 Salam Award for Imaginative Fiction have been announced. 
• Composer and writer Somtow Sucharitkul a.k.a. S.P. Somtow has been awarded the KulturPreis Europa.
• The winner of the inaugural Sputnik Award has been announced.
• The winners of the 2017 Lord Ruthven Awards have been announced.
• The winners of the 2017 Inky Awards have been announced.
• Adam Roberts offer a phantom version of the 2017 Kitschies in place of the real award, which was put on hold this year. 
• Chris M. Barkley shares his views and suggestions regarding the Dragon Awards.
• Red Sonja of the Red Panda Fraction explains why the Red Pandas created a slate for the 2017 Dragon Awards.
  

Writing, publishing and promotion:

• Christopher Laney shares three concepts (aspiring) writers should know.
• Barbara G. Tarn shares five things she learned in the age of the typewriter. 
• Thomas Oppong shares some tips for not screwing up your creativity.
• John Scalzi discusses why the current political situation is negatively affecting his writing and his wordcount.  
• Frank McKinley explains how to get your writing done, when you're busy all the time.
• Damien G. Walter explains why all stories are fractal. 
• Damien G. Walter also talks about emotion, the thermonuclear weapon in a writer's arsenal.
• Bookplan Pro talks about contrast in storytelling.
• Greg Ruth explains what writers of all genres can learn from horror fiction. 
• Scott Warren discusses three-tier worldbuilding.
• Marshall Ryan Maresca talks about living with a fantasy city inside his head.
• Michael Coorlim talks about writing an interactive series. 
• Dean Wesley Smith shares his criticisms of the practice of using beta readers.
• Michael Coorlim explains how self-publishing saved his life.
• Abby Norman explains that writing a book may not change your life, but that it will change you.
  

Interviews:

• Ana Grilo and Thea James interview Ann Leckie. 
• Mary Louise Kelly interviews Stephen and Owen King.
• Mark Lefevre interviews Charles de Lint.
• Joel Cunningham interviews Elizabeth Bear.
• Andrew Liptak interviews Jeff VanderMeer.
• Dianca London Potts interviews Tanarive Due.
• The Qwillery interviews Ausma Zehanat Khan.
• The Qwillery interviews Tim Doyle.
  

Reviews:

• Martin Cahill reviews The Tiger's Daughter by K. Arsenault Rivera. 
• Sam Reader reviews Quillifer by Walter Jon Williams.
• Paul Weimer reviews Horizon by Fran Wilde. 
• Liz Bourke reviews The Stone in the Skull by Elizabeth Bear.
• Abigail Nussbaum reviews The Stone Sky by N.K. Jemisin.
• Jason Sheehan reviews The Language of Thorns by Leigh Bardugo. 
• Ceridwen Christensen reviews Under the Pendulum Sun by Jeanette Ng.
• John Connolly reviews Sleeping Beauties by Stephen and Owen King.
• Mark Yon reviews Sea of Rust by C. Robert Cargill.
• Kirkus reviews Satellite by Nick Lake. 
• Michael Patrick Hicks reviews Phasma by Delilah S. Dawson. 

Crowdfunding:

• Kristine Kathryn Rusch and Dean Wesley Smith are looking for funding to bring back Pulphouse Fiction Magazine after 21 years.
• Joe Praska is looking for personal stories about journeys to fandom.
  

Con reports:

• Rich Johnston reports about an uproar during a Marvel panel at New York Comic Con, where several comic retailers made racist, sexist and homohpobic complaints about various Marvel characters.
• At The Geekiary, Bekah shares a report about Dragon Con in Atlanta, Georgia. 
• Gideon Marcus reports about Geek Girl Con in Seattle, Washington.
• Daniel Dern reports about a reading plus Q&A session featuring Stephen and Owen King in Newton, Massachusetts.
• Mark L. Blackman reports about the latest installment of the New York Review of Science Fiction Readings series in Brooklyn, New York, featuring Michael Swanwick and Grdner Dozois.
• Brian Lee Durfee is planning to organise a convention inside Utah State Prison for the inmates.
  

Science and technology:

• Elon Musk plans to use rockets for intercontinental passenger flights. 
• The mysterious bright spots on Ceres might have a common origin.
• Chinese scientists have managed to cure diseases by performing DNA surgery on human embryos.
• The tomb of St. Nicholas of Myra, better known as Santa Claus, has been discovered in Turkey.
  

Free online fiction:

• "Down and Out in R'lyeh" by Catherynne M. Valente in Uncanny Magazine.
• "Longing for Stars Once Lost" by A. Merc Rustad in Lightspeed.
• "The Tale of Mahliya and Mauhub and the White Footed Gazella" by Sofia Samatar in Lightspeed.
• "Red Lights, and Rain" by Gareth L. Powell in Clarkesworld.
• "Fandom for Robots" by Vina Jie-Min Prasad in Uncanny Magazine.
• "Crispin's Model" by Max Gladstone at Tor.com.
• "The Whalebone Parrot" by Darcie Little Badger in The Dark.
  

Odds and ends:

• Watch a trailer for The Beyond.
• Watch a trailer for Ghosted.
• Watch a trailer for Future Man. 
• Watch a trailer for the French science fiction series Missions. 
• Watch a clip for season 2 of Stranger Things.
• In Casper, Wyoming, the police have arrested a drunken man who claims to be a time traveller from the year 2048 come to warn us of an alien invasion.