And here is our weekly round-up of interesting links about speculative fiction from around the web, this time in another special Hugo Awards debate edition:
Speculative fiction in general:
- NPR profiles Chinese science fiction writer Liu Cixin.
- Phenderson Djeli Clark discusses fantasy's othering fetish.
- Aliette de Bodard talks about writing the stories she wanted to read.
- Sarah Hughes explains how women are storming male-dominated genres like science fiction and fantasy.
- Eleanor Arnason responds by pointing out that women have always written science fiction and fantasy.
- Michelle Sagara talks about how often women writing SFF find their works called (and dismissed as) romance, even if that's not what they write at all.
- Monica Byrne talks about the continued sexism in the publishing industry, particularly in literary fiction.
- Nerds of a Feather has taken a look at the gender breakdown of SFWA members.
- Peter Orullian talks about magical worldbuilding.
- Faith M. Boughan talks about poisoning your fantasy characters.
- D.K. Mok talks about heroic healers in fantasy.
- The latest SF Signal Mind Meld discusses cities in SFF.
- At Word and Film, Clifford Jackman discusses the rise of the apocalyptic western.
- Jeremy Polacek talks about the fantastical paradoxa of Afrofuturist films.
- Chuck Barney explains how Game of Thrones became a pop cultural sensation.
- Christopher Eccleston finally reveals why he left Doctor Who.
- John Seavey argues that Steve Rogers a.k.a. Captain America probably grew up in a Communist family.
Awards:
- The winners of the 2014 Aurealis Awards have been announced.
- The winners of the 2014/2015 Friends of Merril Short Story Contest have been announced.
- Fox Spirit Books shares their appreciation of the David Gemmell Awards.
- Diabolical Plots announces the Mulligan Awards.
Hugo Debate:
- Two Hugo Award finalists have been declared ineligible and replaced.
- Hugo nominees Annie Bellet and Marko Kloos withdraw their respective nominations.
- The final Hugo ballot is here.
- At File 770, Mike Glyer continues to offer links to posts from all sides of the Hugo debate.
- George R.R. Martin continues his series of posts about this year's Hugo debate by talking about hatespeech, replying to those who felt excluded at WorldCon because of their politics, gets pessimistic about the future of the Hugos, wonders what to do now and explains how people can join Sasquan and vote.
- Alastair Reynolds explains his conflicted relationship to the Hugo Awards.
- Kari Sperring offers her take on the Hugo Awards debate.
- Damien Walter offers some suggestions about what is needed to fix the problem with the Hugo Awards.
- At The Atlantic, Kameron Hurley points out that hijacking the Hugos will not stifle diversity in SFF.
- Jason Sanford takes on the relationship between sad and rabid puppies.
- At Big Think, Robert Montenegro explains that this year's Hugo controversy is part of a larger culture war in the US.
- Connie Willis explains why she will not be a presenter at the 2015 Hugo Awards.
- David Gerrold offers his take on the whole affair and explains why the Hugo Award ceremony will not be cancelled.
Writing, publishing and promotion:
- Clarkesworld Magazine shares the top ten most common short story titles from their slushpile.
- Boing Boing shares 8 tips by Kurt Vonnegut on writing a good short story.
- Delilah S. Dawson shares 25 tips for writing violence and fight scenes.
- Betsy Dornbusch talks about writing sequels.
- Charlaine Harris talks about blending fantasy and mystery.
- Damien Walter discusses storytelling versus the human condition.
- Damien Walter also points out that blogging and tweeting for self-promotion is useless, if you don't have something to say.
- Charley Daveler shares some strategies for picking a manuscript you stopped writing up again.
- John M. Whalen discusses the joys of self-publishing.
Interviews:
- Tor.com interviews Kameron Hurley and Ken Liu.
- E.P. Beaumont interviews Lev Mirov.
- Kyra Halland interviews Lynn Thompson.
Reviews:
- A Journal of Impropriety reviews some of the more controversial Hugo nominees.
- Michael Patrick Hicks reviews Hugh Howey Lives by Daniel Arthur Smith.
- Elena Linville reviews Cry Wolf by Patricia Briggs.
- Paul Levinson reviews the season finale of Twelve Monkeys.
- SF Signal reviews the Daredevil show.
Crowdfunding:
- First Light, an anthology celebrating the life of author Alan Garner edited by Erica Wagner, is looking for funding.
- Observatory Press, a small press dedicated to bringing classic speculative fiction back into print, is looking for backers.
- The creators behind the Apocalypse Weird project are looking for funding for their super launch.
- In Their Own Worlds, a project about photographing authors in the worlds of their novels, is looking for backers.
- Science poet Mary Alexandra Agner is looking for support for her science poetry.
- Nigerian writer Samuel Kolawole needs help to attend the Clarion West workshop.
- Potter and graphics artist Peri Charlifu needs help to cover his medical expenses due to a raptured and gangrenous appendix.
Con reports:
- Mihaela Perkovic reports about Dysprosium, the 2015 Eastercon in Heathrow, London.
- Jeff Salyards talks about taking his kids to the Bristol Renaissance Fair.
Science and technology:
- Andrew McGuire explains that space farming is science fiction.
- NASA's New Horizons space probe beams back the first colour images of Pluto.
- Motherboard explains when to nuke an asteroid heading towards Earth and when not to.
Free online fiction:
- "The Ways of Walls and Words" by Sabrina Vourvoulias at Tor.com.
- "I Growled" by Joyce Chng in Delinquent's Spice and Truancy.
- The Godzilla Sonnets (yes, really) by Jo Walton.
- Chapter 22 of Dragon Physician by Joyce Chng.
- "Athos on the Walls", chapter 47 of Musketeer Space by Tansy Rayner Roberts.
- Chapter 2 of "The Ballad of the Bad Lass", part 85 of The Descendants by Landon Porter.
Odds and ends:
- Watch a trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
- Watch a trailer for Ant Man.
- Watch a trailer for Terminator Genisys
- Watch a trailer for Dark Matter, a new science fiction series on the SyFy Channel.
- Watch a video of the cast of Game of Thrones edited to sing "I'm so excited" by the Pointer Sisters.
- Watch Darth Vader say "Luke, I am your father" in twenty different languages.
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