Speculative Fiction Links of the Week for September 11, 2015

And here is our weekly round-up of interesting links about speculative fiction from around the web, this week with discussion about Star Wars: Aftermath and Fear the Walking Dead, lots of con reports as well as more Hugo debate.

Speculative fiction in general:

• Mike Gullickson talks about Cyberpunk and the future.
• Taylor Clark profiles Ursula K. Le Guin. 
• Robert Hanks remembers Joan Aiken. 
• Celia Wren remembers Karel Capek.
• Tanarive Due, Bernice McFadden and Jeffrey Renard Allen explain why black characters are still revolutionary in SFF.
• John O'Neill talks about the success of Liu Cixin and science fiction in translation.
• Stant Litore talks about SFF featuring characters from beyond the US and UK. 
• Leah Schnelbach discusses language and codeswitching in Sorcerer of the Wildeeps by Kai Ashante Wilson. 
• Natalie Luhrs discusses the thematic similarities between Updraft by Fran Wilde and The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin.
• Zen Cho shares five books about difficult women.
• Jeff Somers shares six fantasy novels which explore the economics of imagined worlds. 
• Miss Cellania discusses why H.P. Lovecraft continues to influence SFF. 
• The participants of the SF Signal Mind Meld discuss the most memoratable deaths in SFF. 
• Domenic DiNardo points out that Harry Potter is nothing without Voldemort.
• Giaco Furino explains how Dungeons and Dragons went mainstream. 
• Sam Goodman talks about James Bond, spy fiction and the decline of the British Empire. 
• Darren Slade believes that Ant-Man is a step in the right direction for Marvel.
• Megan Geuss shares her thoughts about watching the original Star Trek in order.  
• Kim Zetter explains why Mr. Robot is the best hacking show yet, but not perfect. 
• Michelle Buchman remembers the classic science fiction movie La Jetée, which was the inspiration for Twelve Monkeys.
• Sanford Allen shares his tribute to Wes Craven. 
• Cora Buhlert remembers German children's SFF writer Max Kruse.
• Writer Warren Murphy died aged 82.

Discussion about Star Wars: Aftermath by Chuck Wendig:

• Megan Crouse reviews Star Wars: Aftermath. 
• Sean Keane also reviews Star Wars: Aftermath.
• Anthony Breznigan has a three part interview with Chuck Wendig about Aftermath (Part II and Part III). 
• Ben Lindbergh discusses Star Wars: Aftermath as well as the fallout from so-called Extended Universe being removed from canon.
• Chuck Wendig has a round-up of reactions to Star Wars: Aftermath, both positive and negative.
• Michael Patrick Hicks talks about Star Wars: Aftermath and the regressive hate machine.
• Jim Hines takes a look at the reasoning behind the many negative customer reviews of Star Wars: Aftermath.

Discussion about Fear the Walking Dead:

• Joanna Robinson wonders whether Fear the Walking Dead has inherited the parent show's race problem.  
• Tanarive Due discusses the toxic racial imagery in Fear the Walking Dead. 
• Janiera Eldrige explains that the inherent racism caused her to give up on Fear the Walking Dead. 
• Showrunner Dave Erickson defends killing off only black characters in the first two episodes of Fear the Walking Dead.

Awards:

• The winners of the 2015 Parsec Award have announced. 
• The winners of the 2015 Prix Elbakin.net have been announced.  
• The winner of the Year's Best Military Science Fiction Story Award has been announced.
• Jed Hartman explains why he loves the Hugo Awards. 
• Chaos Horizon analyses the Hugo nomination data and attempts to calculate how many sad and rabid puppies there really are.
• Camestros Felapton wonders how big the voting base for the Hugo Awards should ideally be. 
• Dara Korra'ti weighs in on a possible best series Hugo Award. 
• Steve Davidson weighs in on the next reiteration of the Sad Puppies campaign. 
• George R.R. Martin asks the Sad Puppies to create their own awards.
• Rachel Acks explains what the SFWA is and is not in charge of.
  

Writing, publishing and promotion:

• Fran Wilde shares some writing advice. 
• Rebekah Loper shares nine things she wishes she'd known about writing from the beginning. 
• James Van Pelt talks about the 52 week writing challenge.
• K.H. Denham talks about creating psychologically realistic characters in science fiction.
• Elena Linville talks about her worldbuilding process.
• Adam Rakunas talks about worldbuilding and food.
• Elisabeth Grace Foley shares some advice for writing fairytale retellings. 
• Ilana C. Meyer talks about the importance of finishing your book.
• Gary Gibson explains why he doesn't get writer's block.
• Percival Constantine explains why writing fast does not mean writing badly.
• Kristen Painter shares some tips for dealing with your inner editor.
• Gerrard Cowen shares his experiences as a debut SFF author. 
• Mark Dawson explains how to use Facebook to sell books.

Interviews:

• Sarah Mirk interviews Ann VanderMeer. 
• Charles Tan interviews Sébastien Doubinsky.  
• A.C. Wise interviews Fran Wilde. 
• Paul Weimer interviews Jamie Wyman. 
• The Qwillery interviews Adam Rakunas.
• Tiffany Turner interviews Marilyn Peake. 
• Ryan W. Bradley interviews Christian TeBordo. 

Reviews:

• Tommy Muncie reviews Defiance by Lucas Bale.
• Paul Di Filippo reviews Chasing the Phoenix by Michael Swanwick.
• Stefan Raets reviews The Trials by Linda Nagata.
• Natalie Luhrs reviews Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho. 
• Alex Brown also reviews Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho.
• Karin L. Cross reviews The Shepherd's Crown by Terry Pratchett.
• Elena Linville reviews The Good, the Bad and the Undead by Kim Harrison.  
• David Neth reviews Write. Publish. Repeat by Sean Platt and Johnny B. Truant.
• James Nicholl reviews Jupiter Ascending.
• Ross Miller reviews the new Star Wars BB-8 toy.

Crowdfunding:

• I Am The Abyss, a horror anthology edited by Chris Morey, is looking for funding.
• Metal Etched Memories, an art book cum short story collection by Linda Adair, is looking for funding. 
• Metamorphose Magazine is looking for backers.
• Patrick Ness and other writers are raising money to support Syrian refugees.

Con reports:

• William Hertling shares his notes of several panels at Sasquan, the SFF Worldcon in Spokane, Washington.
• John O'Halloran shares his photos of Sasquan. 
• Ellen Datlow shares her photos of Sasquan.
• See some more photos from Sasquan.
• Pat Cadigan calls for a kinder gentler Worldcon.
• Galactic Journey has a report about Pittcon, the 1960 Worldcon in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
• Allison Keene shares cosplay images from Dragon Con in Atlanta, Georgia. 
• Howard Pousner reports that Dragon Con has broken its attendance record.
• Mike Glyer reports about a fight that broke out at MetaCon in Minneapolis.
• Peter Tyers shares his impressions of Archipelacon in Mariehamm, Finland. 
• Karl-Johan Norén also shares his impressions of Archipelacon.

Science and technology:

• Dwarf galaxies have been spotted eating blobs of gas caught in a cosmic web.
• Alien nuclear wars might be visible from Earth.
• Dan Allen explains the basics of gravity for science fiction authors. 
• Human and artificial intelligence will co-evolve.
• An architecture office plans to replace London's Circle Tube Line with moving sidewalks a la Robert A. Heinlein's The Roads Must Roll. 
• 3-D printed glass could lead to some wild architecture. 
• Homo Naledi, a new human ancestor species, has been discovered in South Africa.
• A giant Neolithic site has been found near Stonehenge. 
• A dragon-like flying lizard has been discovered in Indonesia.

Free online fiction:

• "Ten Rules for Being an Intergalactic Smuggler (the Successful Kind" by Holly Black in Lightspeed.
• "Time Bomb Time" by C.C. Finlay in Lightspeed.
• "The Oiran's Song" by Isabel Yap in Uncanny Magazine.
• "Find a Way Home" by Paul Cornell in Uncanny Magazine. 
• "Hic Sunt Monstra" by Brian Trent in Galaxy's Edge Magazine. 
• "The Sill and the Dike" by Vajra Chandrasekera in Nightmare Magazine. 
• "Diving After the Moon" by Rachel Swirsky at Clarkesworld. 
• "The Dogs of Athens" by Kendare Blake at Tor.com. 
• "Reflections on Life and Death" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch.
• "Missile" by Floyd Looney.
• Eight very short science fiction stories by Paul Simms in The New Yorker.
• Chapter 6/Epilogue of "Tome of Battle", part 88 of The Descendants by Landon Porter.
  

Odds and ends: 

• Watch a trailer for season 9 of Doctor Who. 
• Watch a teaser trailer for season 3 of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
• Watch a trailer for season 2 of The Flash.
• Watch yet another clip from The Martian.
• Watch puppies playing with the new Star Wars BB-8 toy.
• Check out the William Shakespeare Star Wars sonnet generator.
• Watch the Avengers: Age of Ultron blooper reel.
• Listen to eight hours of old time radio science fiction shows.