Speculative Fiction Links of the Week for January 22, 2016

Here is our weekly round-up of interesting links about speculative fiction from around the web, this week with yet more Star Wars discussion as well as tributes to David Bowie, Alan Rickman and David G. Hartwell and discussion about the the TV shows Agent Carter, Legends of Tomorrow, The Expanse, Colony and the revived X-Files. 

Speculative fiction in general:

• John DeNardo shares 150 SFF books to look forward to in 2016.
• 28 authors, including many speculative fiction writers, talk about the books that changed their lives. 
• Fran Wilde asks ten SFF authors about their definition of hard versus soft science fiction.
• Mary Robinette Kowal investigates why there aren't any more books by women and non-binary writers in the SFF section in various bookstores.
• Teresa Frohock discusses abandoned children in fiction and reality.
• The participates of the SF Signal Mind Meld discuss which spacecraft they would like to own.
• Charlie Jane Anders takes a look at the rise of the weird western subgenre. 
• Heather Rose Jones shares her appreciation for the River of Souls series by Beth Bernobich and its treatment of sexual diversity.
• Liz Bourke discusses the politics of justice, identity and empire in Ann Leckie's Ancillary trilogy.
• Will R. traces the connections between Martin Luther King and science fiction. 
• Aliette de Bodard shares her experiences as a woman of colour writing speculative fiction. 
• Alyssa Wong also shares her experiences as a woman of colour writing speculative fiction.
• Malon Edwards discusses his experiences as a man of colour writing science fiction. 
• Ed Power discusses how to reconcile H.P. Lovecraft's impact on speculative fiction with his repellant personal views.  
• Ursula K. Le Guin gets political and comments on the occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon by militant rightwingers. 
• Damien Walter shares his appreciation for Neuromancer by William Gibson. 
• Jay Allan shares his appreciation for The Forever War by Joe Haldeman.
• Michael Dirda takes a look at The Self-Propelled Island, a little known Jules Verne novel first published in 1895. 
• Michael Dirda also takes a look at J.M. Barrie's other fantasy work.
• Austin Gilkeson argues that Aragorn's claim to the throne in Lord of the Rings is illegitimate.  
• Joe Blevins has finally figured out that A Song of Ice and Fire was inspired by the Wars of the Roses. 
• Carlie St. George discusses the Mary Sue trope and why it does not have to be a bad thing.
• Mark Dawidziak remembers the many classic SFF TV shows which debuted in 1966.
• Charlie Jane Anders shares ten things that Star Trek got right that have never been copied. 
• David M. Perry claims that The Expanse is the best new space opera TV show since Firefly.
• Adam Rowe offers a taxonomy of polar bear drawn sleighs in 1970s fantasy art. Yes, this was a thing.
• Max Gladstone shares his tribute to Alan Rickman.
  

Tributes to David Bowie:

• Jason Heller traces the connections between David Bowie's music and science fiction.
• Engadget points out that David Bowie fused science fiction and pop culture.
• Cory Casciato remembers the science fiction majesty of David Bowie's Low.
• Brian Merchant points out that David Bowie's death was a science fiction masterpiece in itself. 
• Paula Young Lee offers a fan theory to end all fan theories connecting David Bowie, Elvia and Blade Runner. 
• Erin Keane reminds us that we should not gloss over the darker side of David Bowie. 

Tributes to David G. Hartwell: 

• Editor David G. Hartwell died aged 74.
• Tor Books remembers David G. Hartwell, who worked there as an editor for over three decades.
• Tor publisher Tim Doherty remembers David G. Hartwell.
• Locus remembers David G. Hartwell. 
• Jason Sanford shares his appreciation for David G. Hartwell.
• Paul Levinson also shares his appreciation for David G. Hartwell.
• Michael Swanwick also shares his appreciation for David G. Hartwell.
  

Comments on Star Wars and The Force Awakens:

• Mike Chen offers a reappreciation of The Force Awakens, one month after its release.
• Liz Bourke discusses the roles of women in The Force Awakens. 
• Emily Asher-Perrin hopes that Rey will not turn out to be a Skywalker. 
• Dirk Libbey points out that a deleted scene from The Force Awakens offers some new insight into the character of Maz Kanata.
• Dave Trumbore has more information about the scenes deleted from The Force Awakens. 
• Richard Brody explains what the seven Star Wars films reveal about George Lucas.
• Bryan Curtis points out that the derivative nature of The Force Awakens makes him appreciate George Lucas more. 
• K.M. McFarland traces some parallels between Star Wars and the French comic series Valerian et Laureline by Pierre Christin and Jean Claude Mézieres.
• David Kluft offers a history of Star Wars related lawsuits.
• Michael Boehm discusses the true reason behind the lack of Rey toys.
  
• Grammarly offers an infographic about Yoda's grammar.
  

Comments on Agent Carter: 

• David Betancourt shares his thoughts on the premiere of season 2 of Agent Carter.
• Charlie Jane Anders shares her thoughts on the season 2 premiere of Agent Carter.
• Chris Lough shares his thoughts on the season 2 premiere of Agent Carter.
• Oliver Sava shares his thoughts on the season 2 premiere of Agent Carter.
• Alex Diedrick wonders whether Peggy Carter is the most important character in the Marvel Universe.
• Poppy Jay Palmer explains how season 2 of Agent Carter ties in to Doctor Strange.
  

Comments on The X-Files:

• X-Files creator Chris Carter explains why the time is ripe for an X-Files comeback. 
• Chris Carter also admits that the second X-Files movie was a mistake.
• Jethro Nededog reveals that the revived X-Files tackles September 11 conspiracy theories among other things. 
• Kelly Connolly reports that the revived X-Files will also address the fan theory that Dana Scully is in fact immortal.
• Ken Tucker wanted to believe that The X-Files revival would work, but it didn't.
• The Telegraph points out that The X-Files revival isn't very good. 
• Alex McCown thinks that the new X-Files is very much like the original X-Files.
• Lexi Pandell explains how the original X-Files shaped modern television. 
• Chuck Bowen rewatched the original X-Files in preparation for the revival.
• Ed Power wonders whether people have forgotten how terrible the original X-Files was towards its end.

Comments on Colony: 

• Matt Zoller Seitz calls Colony a work of real science fiction.
• Sage Young claims that Colony's realism makes it even more terrifying.
• Hank Stuever calls Colony yet another dystopian SF drama.
  

Comments on Legends of Tomorrow:

• Gwen Ihnat believes that Legends of Tomorrow proves that more is less, when it comes to superheroes.
  

Awards:

• The nominees for the 2016 Academy Awards have been announced and include several SFF films.
• Germain Lussier and Katherine Trendacosta point out the greatest Oscar snubs of 2016, which also happen to contain a lot of SFF.
• The 2016 Academy Awards also failed to nominate any actors of colour at all, which has caused a lot of controversy and a boycott.
• The winners of the 2016 Critics' Choice Awards have been announced. 
• Lee and Low Books have announced the winner of their 2015 New Voices Award. 
• The preliminary ballot for the 2015 Bram Stoker Awards has been announced.
• The nominees for the 2016 Edgar Awards have been announced.
• The shortlist for the 2016 Hall of Fame Award of the Libertarian Futurist Society has been announced.
• The nominations for the 2015 Ursa Major Awards are open.
• Steve Davidson explains how to recommend works for an award without creating a slate.

Writing, publishing and promotion:

• Peter McLean talks about writing modern noir fantasy. 
• Jonathan Winn talks about how to survive writing the unspeakable.
• Pippa Jay talks about the challenge of discovery writing.
• Tim Akers shares his approach to plotting and outlining. 
• Patty Jansen explains how Scrivener can be useful for discovery writers. 
• Matthew de Abaitua shares some tips for writing a loose trilogy. 
• Sara Beatty shares some tips for keeping up productivity.
• Jennifer Garam shares some tips for how to keep writing when no one gives a shit. 
• Tricia Sullivan talks about worldbuilding.
• Kate Elliott discusses inductive and deductive worldbuilding approaches.
• Charlie Jane Anders shares eleven ways to write a character-driven story that still feels action-packed. 
• Elena Linville discusses the evolution of a character.
• Ben Galley talks about his struggles to write believable female characters.
• Alex Bledsoe shares his thoughts on the Clarion workshop, Neil Gaiman and privilege. 
• J.Y. Yang talks about her experience at Clarion West and how writers from beyond the US/UK often feel that such workshops will make US/UK editors take them seriously.
• Fran Wilde points out that you don't need to take specific workshops to be a real writer.  
• Patty Jansen attempts to answer the question "Should I self-publish?"
• Eric Flint discusses what used book sales mean for authors.
• Brooke Warner shares five things every author needs to know about cover design.
• Cecilia Tan explains what she learned from reading one star reviews.
• Gregory Schmidt profiles Ashley Eckstein, founder of Her Universe and Her Universe Press.
• Simon Bestwick reports about his issues with Spectral Press.
  

Interviews:

• Steve Paulson interviews Margaret Atwood.
• Katie Waldman interviews Philip Pullman.
• Matt Staggs interviews Tim Akers.
• Nicholas Yanes interviews Jennifer A. Nielsen.
• Kyra Halland interviews Vanessa Kings. 
• Nadine Matheson interviews Anthony Vicino.
• Bryan Behrenshausen interviews Cory Doctorow. 

Reviews:

• Kelly Anderson reviews The Duellists trilogy by Julia Knight. 
• Elena Linville reviews Deep in the Hollow by Brandy Nacole.
• Ana Grilo reviews In the Garden of Iden by Kage Baker.  
• Emily Nordling reviews The Drowning Eyes by Emily Foster.
• Larry Ketchersid reviews Medusa's Web by Tim Powers.
• Michael Patrick Hicks reviews Desolation by Kristopher Rufty. 
• Rich Rosell reviews City of Blades by Robert Jackson Bennett. 
• Rachel Acks reviews the movie 400 Days. 
• Garth Cremona reviews the movie The Fifth Wave.
• Steve Vernon reviews Zack Snyder's Superman adaptation Man of Steel.
  

Crowdfunding:

• People of Colo(u)r Destroy Science Fiction, a special issue of Lightspeed magazine, is loooking for funding.
• Bradley P. Beaulieu is looking for funding for his short fiction collection In the Stars I'll Find You. 
• Polar Boreal, a Canadian speculative fiction magazine, is looking for funding.
• Quantum Warlock, a graphic novel by Scott Schindel, is looking for funding.  

Con reports:

• Daniel P. Dern shares photos taken at Arisia in Boston. 
• Michael Bailey reports about his experiences at Arisia.
• Leah Schnelbach reports about a literary event featuring authors Daniel José Older and Victor La Valle at the Greenlight Bookstore in Brooklyn, New York.
• Mark L. Blackman reports about the first in the Fantastic Fiction Readings series at the KGB Bar in New York City.  
• Watch some videos of the James Tiptree Jr. Symposium at the University of Oregon.

Science and technology:

• The California Institute of Technology has predicted the existence of a ninth planet in our solar system and believes it will be found in the next five years.
• A so-called "assassin supernova" which is brighter than the entire milky way, has been discovered.
• How can we build a city on Mars?
• How should we look for aliens?
• The world's first virtual reality rollercoaster will launch soon at the British amusement park Alton Towers. 
• Stephen Hawking has foretold the end of the world once again. 
• Fairy tales may be thousands of years old.

Free online fiction:

• "Angel, Monster, Man" by Sam J. Miller in Nightmare Magazine.
• "The Rakshasa of Des Moines" by Shweta Sundararajan in Expanded Horizons. 
• "How the God Auzh-Aravik Brought Order to the World Outside the World" by Arkady Martine in Strange Horizons.
• "Thundergod in Therapy" by Effie Seiberg in Galaxy's Edge. 
• "The Caretakers" by David Nickle at Tor.com.
• "Small Wars" by Matt Wallace at Tor.com.
• "Counting Mississippis" by Dora Badger in Kaleidotrope.
  
• "That Lucky Old Sun" by Carrie Cuinn in Apex Magazine.
• "Riding Atlas" by Ferrett Steinmetz in Apex Magazine.
• "Longsleeves" by Mike Allen in Beneath Ceaseless Skies.
• "Secondhand Bodies" by J.Y. Yang in Lightspeed.
• "Lotus Face and the Fox" by Nghi Vo in Uncanny Magazine. 
• "Godfall" by Sandra M. Odell in GigaNotoSaurus.
• "Sepia Seven" by Floyd Looney.
• Chapter 1 of "Homage", part 92 of The Descendants by Landon Porter.
  

Odds and ends: 

• Watch a trailer for Suicide Squad.
• Watch a trailer for 10 Cloverfield Lane, a sequel to Cloverfield.