Speculative Fiction Links of the Week for January 29, 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, tributes to David G. Hartwell and discussion about the the TV shows Agent Carter, Legends of Tomorrow, Lucifer, The Magicians and the revived X-Files. 

Speculative fiction in general:

• Charlie Jane Anders explains what it means to be a science fiction writer in the 21st century.
• Esther Nassaris tries to explain why SFF is currently so popular among young people.
• The BBC shares a list of ten women writers who changed science fiction.
• Jason T. Low offers some data about diversity in the publishing industry or rather the lack of it.
• Foz Meadows talks about diversity and the politics of presence. 
• Liz Bourke talks about diversity, representation and the counter in her head.  
• Nina Allen talks about diversity in the horror genre.
• Octavia Cade talks about food, horror, gender and consumption.
• Jason Heller reports about Finnish speculative fiction.
• Jeff Somers takes a look at the most fiendish torture devices in SFF. 
• Eric Grundhauser explains how Victor Hugo and the 1928 silent movie The Man Who Laughs inspired the creation of Batman's nemesis, the Joker. 
• Imaan Sheikh reports about an embarrassing error in a recent DC Comic. 
• Tor.com lists female superheroes of colour who should get their own movie or TV show. 
• Sarah Myles explains how the Marvel Cinematic Universe erases women.
• Foz Meadows rants about bad TV romances. 
• A.L. Kennedy talks about writing a Doctor Who tie-in novel.
• Showrunner Steven Moffat will leave Doctor Who in 2017 to be replaced by Chris Chibnall.
• K. Thor Jensen shares eleven British SFF TV shows most US viewers will never have seen. 
• Tansy Rayner Roberts shares her appreciation for Nichelle Nichols and Lieutenant Uhura.
• Thomas Lalli Foster takes a rather condescending look at American SF TV of the late 1970s.
• Max Gladstone explains why he feels that Jessica Jones has better fight scenes than Daredevil.
• James H. Burns shares his appreciation for George Pal's Puppetoons.
  

Tributes to David G. Hartwell:

• A message from Kathryn Cramer, wife of the late David G. Hartwell.
• Ellen Kushner remembers David G. Hartwell.
• George R.R. Martin remembers David G. Hartwell. 
• Mary Robinette Kowal remembers David G. Hartwell's unique fashion sense.
  

Comments on Star Wars and The Force Awakens: 

• Emily Asher-Perrin explains that yes, Jedi can have sex and very likely did.
• Jay Sherer talks about storytelling and truth in The Force Awakens.
• Heidi MacDonald explains why she is anxious about the next two Star Wars movies.
• Sean Hutchinson explains why The Force Awakens was not all that successful in China.
• Brandon Anthony reports how Star Wars fueled the future. 
• Ryan Lambie chronicles the changing faces of Sy Snootles and the Max Rebo Band from Return of the Jedi. 

Comments on Agent Carter:

• Blastr share their thoughts on episode 3 of Agent Carter. 
• Chris Lough also shares his thoughts on episode 3 of Agent Carter.

Comments on Legends of Tomorrow: 

• Molly Templeton shares her thoughts about Legends of Tomorrow.
• Blair Marnell offers a recap of the pilot of Legends of Tomorrow.
• Oliver Sava says that Legends of Tomorrow shows promise in spite of an uneven debut.
• Darren Orf claims that Legends of Tomorrow is the most comic booky TV show he has ever seen.

Comments on Lucifer:

• Trent Moore says that Lucifer is the dark fantasy cop show we never knew we wanted.
• Cheryl Eddy claims that Lucifer might be the best supernatural detective show we've ever seen. 
• Meanwhile, Chris Lough thinks that Lucifer makes the devil seem boring.
• Jacob Brogan exorts people not to watch Lucifer, but read the eponymous comic by Mike Carey instead.

Comments on the revived X-Files:

• Tom Hawking claims that the return of The X-Files is surprisingly fitting for a new century of paranoia.
• Sam Thielman calls the revived X-Files weird, but not in a good way. 
• Liz Shannon Miller says that the first episode of the revived X-Files does not inspire faith or trust. 
• Willa Paskin calls the revived X-Files uneven, unnecessary and promising.
• Patrick Klepek says that the premiere of the revived X-Files was terrible, but that he still loved it. 
• Leah Schnelbach wonders whether we still want to believe in the revived X-Files.
• Joana Robinson reassures X-Files fans that the revival will get better. 
• Steve Davidson shares his spoilerish thoughts on the revived X-Files.
• Jason Evangelho points out that if the revived X-Files is to survive, it will have to abandon its bloated mythology.
• Jonathan Bernstein says that the world has moved on since the heyday of the original X-Files in the 1990s.
• Joshua Rothman takes a look at the retro-futurism of the revived X-Files. 
• Laura Hubbard and David Bradley explain why the original X-Files pilot demonstrates why the revival failed. 
• Keith Uhlich claims that I Want to Believe, the second X-Files movie, is much better than its reputation.
• Mark N. Kleinhenz offers a complete guide to the mythology of The X-Files, old and new. 
• Ira Madison III ranks every X-Files episode from best to worst.
• Morgan Glennon interviews David Duchovny, who plays Fox Mulder in The X-Files.
• Megan Garber celebrates the return of The X-Files by remembering Dana Scully's iconic pantsuits.
• Carrie Cuinn has distilled some snarky writing advice from the revived X-Files.
  

Comments on The Magicians: 

• Ryan Britt asks how the TV adaptation of The Magicians compares to Lev Grossman's novel. 
• Alison Herman claims that The Magicians faithfully translates Lev Grossman's fantasy series to TV.
• Alicia Lutes calls The Magicians grown-up meta-fantasy.
• Heather Schwedel says that The Magicians could be a great show, if it would stop trying to scandalise its audience.
• Molly Templeton shares her thoughts about The Magicians.
  

Awards:

• Nominations for the 2016 Hugo and 1941 Retro Hugo Awards are now open.
• L. Neil Smith has won the life achievement award of the Libertarian Futurist Society. 
• Cat Rambo tackles the question whether to do awards eligibility posts or not.
• Nerds of a Feather offer their personal Hugo Awards recommendations. Part 1 is for fiction, part 2 is for visual categories like dramatic presentation or graphic story and part 3 is for individual categories like best editor, best fan writer and fan artist. You may note the name of one of the contributors to this blog on the latter list.  

Writing, publishing and promotion:

• Elizabeth Bear talks about finding and accepting your writing voice.
• Steve McIntosh talks about "method writing".
• Nicole Murphy discusses the trouble with writing trilogies. 
• Helen Lowe talks about writing heroines. 
• M. Harold Page shares some writing lessons derived from Louis L'Amour's only historical novel The Walking Drum.
• Jonathan Crow shares the eighteen tips French comic book artist Jean Giraud a.k.a. Moebius had for aspiring artists back in 1996. Also useful for writers.
• Chuck Wendig shares 25 hard truths about writing and publishing.
• Kameron Hurley talks about non-compete clauses and rights grabs in traditional publishing contracts.
• Mindy Klasky talks about fanfiction.
• Jon F. Zeigler talks about fanfiction as a writing exercise.
• Graduate student Harri Holappa has survey for SFF writers.
• Christin Harper explains how she doubled her Kobo sales.
• David Neth talks about marketing your books locally. 
• Bruce Fottler talks about book giveaways.

Interviews:

• The Geek's Guide to the Galaxy interviews Tim Powers. 
• Timothy C. Ward also interviews Charlie Jane Anders.
• Joanna Marple interviews Susan Kaye Quinn. 
• Kristin Centorcelli interviews David Tallerman.
• Kristin Centorcelli also interviews Nicole Kornher-Stace.
• Kristin Centorcelli also interviews Robert Jackson Bennett.
• Jenny Barber interviews Sam Stone.
• Mark West interviews Dean M. Drinkel. 
• The Qwillery interviews Lisa Goldstein.
• The Qwillery interviews Scott Allan Morrison.
• The BiblioSanctum interviews Lawrence M. Schoen.
• The Geek's Guide to the Galaxy interviews J. Michael Straczynski.
  

Reviews:

• Paul di Filippo reviews Medusa's Web by Tim Powers. 
• David Barnett reviews All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders. 
• Aidan Moher also reviews All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders. 
• Jason Heller also reviews All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders.
• Joel Cunningham reviews The Bands of Mourning by Brandon Sanderson.
• Rachel Cordasco reviews The Sea is Ours: Tales of Steampunk Southeast Asia, edited by Jaymee Goh and Joyce Chng.
• Thea James reviews The Dark Days Club by Alison Goodman.
• Paul Weimer reviews City of Blades by Robert Jackson Bennett.
• Michael Patrick Hicks reviews Lustlocked by Matt Wallace. 
• Jay Sherer reviews Tarkin by James Luceno.
• Scott Weinberg reviews the movie Synchronicity. 
• Paul Levinson reviews the season finale of Heroes Reborn.
• Paul Levinson also reviews episode 1.2 of Colony.
  

Crowdfunding:

• Dead Threads, an illustrated anthology of zombie tales edited by Thomas Muzzell, is looking for funding.
  

Con reports:

• John Hornor Jacobs reports about his experiences at ConFusion in Ann Arbor, Michigan. 
• Kameron Hurley talks about her experiences at ConFusion, which inspired a post about kindness and conventions in general.
• Ian Hunter reports about the 2015 British Fantasy Convention in Nottingham. 
• Sue Burke reports about the 2015 Hispacon in Granada, Spain.
• Meredith Filak Rose discusses a US Supreme Court case which may impact the legality of cosplay.

Science and technology:

• Spanish scientists have created the first ever magnetic wormhole in a lab.
• How the Cold War created astrobiology. 
• Recently declassified CIA files include several UFO pictures.
  

Free online fiction:

• "Grandmother-nai-Leylit's Cloth of Winds" by Rose Lemberg in Beneath Ceaseless Skies.
• "The Bone Swans of Amandale" by C.S.E. Cooney at Mythic Delirium. 
• "The Psychometry of Snow" by Nathan Burgoine at Lethe Press.
• "City of Salt" by Arkady Martine in Strange Horizons.
• "First Kill" by Jennifer Fallon at Tor.com. 
• "The Maiden Thief" by Melissa Marr at Tor.com.
• "Razorback" by Ursula Vernon in Apex Magazine.
• "Embedded" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. 
• "The Mazarinette and the Musketeer" by Heather Rose Jones.

Odds and ends: 

• Watch a trailer for Allegiant.
• Watch a video that explains how to build your own Star Trek phaser.