And here is our weekly round-up of interesting links about speculative fiction from around the web, this week with commentary on Marvel's Ant-Man as well as your regular dose of Hugo discussion and yet more reports from San Diego ComicCon.
Speculative fiction in general:
- Portland Monthly profiles Ursula K. LeGuin.
- Jake Rossen discusses Harlan Ellison's habit to write in bookstore windows.
- Cecilia D'Anastasio takes a look at the earliest science fiction.
- Jeff VanderMeer wonders whether science fiction can answer the question "Are we alone in the universe?"
- Jared Shurin points out that the western isn't dead.
- Aliette de Bodard talks about chosen ones, specialness and the narrative of the one.
- Chuck Wendig replies to a reader who is angry about the inclusion of a gay character in Wendig's Heartland trilogy.
- David B. Coe a.k.a. D.B. Jackson talks about community and genre.
- Liz Bourke talks about all-white and all-male recommended reading lists and conversations founded on false assumptions.
- Liz Janssen discusses the uses of displeasure using Hogg by Samuel R. Delany as an example.
- Pat Cadigan offers praise for translators.
- Jonathan McCalmont discusses the issues facing book bloggers.
- Ella Morton shares a cultural history of capes in SFF and real life.
- Medievalist Michael Livingston analyses how medieval Game of Thrones truly is.
- Andrei Tarkovsky calls 2001: A Space Odyssey "a phony film with only pretensions to truth".
- Olly Richards remembers Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow and its influence on today's movie making.
Awards:
- The nominations for the 2015 Emmy Awards have been announced.
- The shortlist for the 2015 British Fantasy Awards has been announced.
- The nominees for the 2015 Sidewise Awards have been announced.
- The finalists for the 2015 Baen Fantasy Adventure Awards have been announced.
- The first round of nominations for the Prix Bob Morane have been announced.
- Ghost Train to New Orleans by Mur Lafferty has won the 2015 Manly Wade Wellman Award.
- The winners of the 2015 Curt Siodmak Awards have been announced.
- The winner of the 2015 Premio Minotauro has been announced.
Hugo debate:
- Nicole LeBoeuf-Little shares 6 things to know about voting for the Hugo Awards.
- George R.R. Martin urges everybody to vote for the Hugos.
- Steve Davidson explains how he is planning to vote for the Hugos.
- D.B. Jackson a.k.a. David B. Coe weighs in on the Hugo controversy.
- Karl-Johan Norén discusses the evolution of fandom and the Hugo Awards.
- Kevin Standalee explains how a WorldCon business meeting works in this handy video.
- Jason Sanford points out that the Tor boycott seems to have had no impact on the company's sales.
Comments on Ant-Man:
- Khalil Johnson calls Ant-Man a small but fun blockbuster.
- Dave Smith thinks that Ant-Man may be Marvel's best film yet.
- Kyle Smith claims that Ant-Man is the only superhero movie you need to see this summer.
- George R.R. Martin is very impressed by Ant-Man.
- Emily Asher-Perrin calls Ant-Man fun and endearing, but entirely unnecessary.
- Jake Coyle says that Ant-Man feels like a movie wearing clothes that are too big.
- Andrew Lapin would have preferred to see Edgar Wright's take on Ant-Man instead.
- Nicole Sperling interviews Ant-Man director Peyton Reed.
- Sarah Begley also interviews Peyton Reed.
- Geeks of Doom interviews the cast and crew of Ant-Man.
- Evangeline Lilly talks about playing a female superheroine (sort of) in Ant-Man.
- Esther Bergdahl points out that Ant-Man is less feminist in 2015 than it was in 1963 due to the treatment of Janet Van Dyne a.k.a. the Wasp.
- Alex Abad-Santos explains the post-credits scenes of Ant-Man.
Writing, publishing and promotion:
- Lauren Roy shares five and a half ways to cast out writerly doubt.
- Elena Linville shares what Korean dramas can teach about storytelling.
- Chuck Wendig advises writers to think, plan, write, edit, repeat.
- Kristine Kathryn Rusch talks about cover branding.
- Patty Jansen talks about investing in your writing.
Reviews:
- Elena Linville reviews Late Eclipses by Seanan McGuire.
- Andrew Liptak reviews Armada by Ernest Cline.
- Michael Patrick Hicks reviews Tortures of the Damned by Hunter Shea.
Interviews:
- Veronica Scott interviews Kelly Jensen and Jenn Burke.
- Charlee Allden interviews K.S. Augustin.
- Laurel Amberdine interview Mary Robinette Kowal.
Crowdfunding:
- The Side of Good, the Side of Evil, a comic book flipbook anthology is looking for funding.
- Comic artist Norm Breyfogle who redesigned Batman among many other things needs some help to recover from a stroke.
Con reports:
- Heidi McDonald and Calvin Reid report about the changing face of San Diego ComicCon.
- Van Jensen shares his experiences of San Diego ComicCon.
- Jacob Kastrenakes talks about the horror that is Hall H at San Diego ComicCon as well as the endless line to get in.
- Nick Eskey also tackles the issues of Hall H and the endless line.
- Malcolm Thorndike Nicholson reports about Ragnarok, an epic fantasy roleplaying event in Lake Cooper, Pennsylvania.
Science and technology:
- NASA has discovered the most earth-like planet yet, named Kepler-452b.
- NASA is also studying windpowered robotic probes for exploring gas giants.
- There is a dark matter bridge between the Milky Way and the Vigo Cluster.
Free online fiction:
- "God Showed Up One Day" by David Bussell
- "Christmas on the Moon" and "Incarceration" by Floyd Looney.
- "The Consciousness Problem" by Mary Robinette Kowal at Lightspeed.
- "E-Male" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch.
- "The Totally Secret Origin of Foxman: Excerpts from an EPIC Autobiography" by Kelly McCullough at Tor.com.
- "Tell Me About It, Stud", chapter 61 of Musketeer Space by Tansy Rayner Roberts.
- Chapter 5 of "Descendants... in Space", part 87 of The Descendants by Landon Porter.
Odds and ends:
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