Speculative Fiction Links of the Week for July 1, 2016

Here is our weekly round-up of interesting links about speculative fiction from around the web, this week with comments on Independece Day: Resurgence as well as the usual mix of writing advice, interviews, reviews, awards news, con reports, crowdfunding projects and free online fiction. 

Speculative fiction in general:

• Damien Walter talks about systems fiction, which sits on the border of literary and speculative fiction.
• Galactic Journey remembers female SFF authors of the 1950s and 1960s. 
• Kari Sperring shares her appreciation for the works of Judith Tarr. 
• Ethan Mills shares his appreciation for The Forever War by Joe Haldeman.
• Science fiction writer Robert J. Sawyer has been awarded the Order of Canada.
• Luke Buckmaster explains why the movie Labyrinth is so memorable. 
• Scott Weinberg shares a beginner's guide to alien invasion movies. 
• Camestros Felapton shares his thoughts about Batman versus Superman: Dawn of Justice.
• Steve Cohen explains how the Game of Thrones TV show changed George R.R. Martin's world.
• Katherine Trendacosta shares her appreciation for the TV show Person of Interest. 
• Germain Lussier wonders why hardly anybody is talking about the Preacher TV series.
• Echo Ishii remembers some obscure science fiction TV series of the 1990s and early 2000s. 
• Phelim O'Neill shares his appreciation for the vintage BBC science fiction anthology TV series Out of the Unknown.
• Jason D'Aprile explains why video games are obsessed with surviving the apocalypse.

Comments on Independence Day: Resurgence:

• Germain Lussier declares that Independence Day: Resurgence has the spectacle of the original, but not the heart. 
• Mike Glyer explains that Independence Day: Resurgence made him enjoy the original more, because what is missing in the sequel shows him what the original did right.
• Gary Westfahl actually prefers Independence Day: Resurgence to its predecessor.  
• Tara Lynne declares that Independence Day: Resurgence provided just the cheesy nostalgia she wanted.
• Noah Berlatsky discusses the curious colonial politics of Independence Day.

Awards:

• The winners of the 2016 Locus Awards have been announced.
• The winners of the 2016 Saturn Awards have been announced.
• The nominees for the 2016 Deutscher Phantastik Preis have been announced.

Writing, publishing and promotion:

• Dean Wesley Smith talks about writing with the right attitude.
• John Skovron talks about how to build a fantasy language.
• Jim C. Hines discusses what would happen, if authors wrote men like they wrote women. 
• Susan Jane Bigelow talks about writing transgender characters. 
• Joel Cornah talks about writing with dyslexia and depression.   
• Kim Liao explains why you should aim for 100 rejections per year.
• Kristell Ink Publishing welcomes its new authors.
• Tobias Buckell talks about using Skype, Google Docs and other technological means to collaborate with other writers.
• Robinson Meyer traces the impact of word processors on literature.
• Penelope Redmont shares her appreciation for the writing program Scrivener.
• Penelope Redmont also shares six content ideas for author blogs.
  

Interviews:

• Tyler Malone interviews Neil Gaiman. 
• Michaeline Duskova interviews Lois McMaster Bujold.
• Jo Hall interviews Jessica Rydill.
• Jo Hall also interviews Jennifer Lee Rossman. 
• Jane Routley interviews Cat Sparks. 
• Carl Slaughter interviews Lee Martindale. 
• Andrew Leon Hudson interviews Jay Posey.
• Dag Rambraut interviews Phillip Richards.
• Dag Rambraut also interviews P.P. Corcoran. 
• Steve Davidson interviews Jim C. Hines.
• Eli Lee and Gautam Bhatia interview Bodhisattva Chattopadhyay.
  

Reviews:

• Paul Weimer reviews Wolf's Empire: Gladiator by Claudia Christian and Morgan Grant Buchanan.
• Paul McAuley reviews The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers.  
• Tomcat in the Red Room also reviews The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers.
• Tomcat in the Red Room also reviews Way Down Dark by J.P. Smythe.
• Jessica Rydill reviews Spark and Carousel by Joanne Hall. 
• Jesse Hudson reviews A Stranger in Olondria by Sofia Samatar.
• Thea James reviews The Beauty by Jeremy Haun and Jason A. Hurley.
• Michael Patrick Hicks reviews Stolen Away by Kristin Dearborn.
• Aja Romano reviews Pounded by the Pound by Chuck Tingle.
  

Con reports:

• Ellen Datlow shares some photos of Marc Laidlaw and Daniel Braun reading at the KGB Bar in New York City.
• Anne Charnock and Matt Hill offer a transcript of a panel discussion at Mancunicon in Manchester, UK. 
• Keith West shares his experiences at the Robert E. Howard Days in Cross Plains, Texas.
• Lee Breakiron also shares his experiences at the Robert E. Howard Days in Cross Plains, Texas.
• David Piske also shares his experiences at the Robert E. Howard Days in Cross Plains, Texas. 

Crowdfunding:

• Hidden Youth, an anthology of speculative fiction about marginalized children edited by Mikki Kendall and Chesya Burke, is looking for funding.
• Fran Evans, who volunteered at and organised many conventions, needs some help.  

Science and technology:

• George Dvorsky chronicles the negative impact of the UK's vote to leave the EU on science in Britain.
• Joel Ashenbach remembers the Mars Viking mission on its fortieth anniversary. 
• Researchers have spotted strange patterns in the sand of Mars.
• Excitement builds for the possibility of life on the Saturn moon Enceladus.
• The ozone hole is finally healing. 

Free online fiction:

• "Traumphysik" by Monica Byrne at Tor.com. 
• "The Plague Givers" by Kameron Hurley in Uncanny Magazine.
• "Bride Price" by S.E. Jones in Strange Horizons.
• Chapter 10 of Escape from the Free Republic by Floyd Looney.
  

Odds and ends: 

• Watch a trailer for Star Trek: Beyond.
• Listen to David Tennant reading some very rude Scottish tweets about Donald Trump.