Speculative Fiction Links of the Week for May 3, 2019

It's time for the weekly round-up of interesting links about speculative fiction from around the web, this week with the final season of Game of Thrones and the battle of Winterfell, Avengers: Endgame, Star Trek Discovery, The Orville, Chambers, season 2 of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, season 2 of American Gods, the Tolkien biopic and much more. 

Speculative fiction in general:

• Curtis Craddock shares five SFF books where the hero doesn't save the day. 
• Natalie Zutter shares eight instances of hyper-worldbuilding in SFF that truly go above and beyond.
• Jeff Somers shares nine science fiction and fantasy books that exist in multiple versions. 
• Jeff Somers shares the best science fiction and fantasy sequels never published (yet). 
• Lorraine Berry talks about the power and pain of post-apocalyptic detective fiction.
• Lily Meyer talks about science fiction's preoccupation with privacy. 
• Marissa Lingen talks about domestic fantasy and agency.
• Brian Philips remembers Gene Wolfe. 
• Deuce Richardson traces Talbot Mundy's influence on early sword and sorcery writers.
• Laura Lee wonders why women's bookshelves are considered clutter these days, while men's bookshelves are a mark of their intellectual prowess.
• David Barnett asks why comic stores are closing, even though superheroes are more popular than ever.
• Omar L. Gallaga discusses the portrayal of fatherhood in Tom King's Mister Miracle comic series.
• Alexandra Alter reports that Blood Heir, the YA debut novel of Amélie Wen Zhao, which was pulled for supposedly offensive content, will now be published after all.
  

Film and TV:

• Ian Sales shares his favourite science fiction films.
• Kyle Fowle shares his thoughts about the series finale of Gotham.
• Katie Rife shares her thoughts on the latest episode of What We Do in the Shadows.
• Marion Deeds shares her thoughts on season 1 of Roswell, New Mexico. 
• Natalie Zutter praises the worldbuilding of The 100. 
• Jesse Hassenger declares that the children's fantasy movie UglyDolls is best left on the shelf.
• Jessica Holmes shares her thoughts on the first three episodes of the 1964 Doctor Who serial The Keys of Marinus.
• Ethan Alter interviews James Cameron about his 1986 movie Aliens.
• Xueting Christine Ni shares a history of science fiction film in China. 
• Jason Parham talks about the resurgence of black horror.
• Anthony Gramuglia calls Ingress: The Animation an enjoyable if flawed science fiction anime. 
• Tochi Onyebuchi talks about the allure of androids.
• Maté Mohos wonders whether Netflix has an unhealthy obsession with robot sex.
• Catherine Shoard wonders why there are fewer sex scenes in movies than there used to be. 
• Jody Simon offers an update on the conflict between the Writers Guild of America and the Association of Talent Agencies.
• Simon Hattenstone interviews Jared Harris, best known for his roles in Mad Men and The Expanse.
• Erum Salam reports that a street in New York City will be renamed Sesame Street in honour of the fiftieth anniversary of the world famous children's TV show.
  

Comments on Avengers: Endgame (warning: possible spoilers):

• Angie Han calls Avengers: Endgame the most Marvel movie ever made. 
• Chris M. Barkley offers a spoiler-free review of Avengers: Endgame. 
• Angel Wilson delcares that Avengers: Endgame punched her in the feels (spoilers).
• Jordan Hoffman offers a spoiler-filled review and discussion of Avengers: Endgame. 
• A.A. Dowd offers a spoiler-filled discussion of Avengers: Endgame. 
• The Tor.com staff shares fourteen things they loved and eight things they hated about Avengers: Endgame. 
• Alex Abad-Santos and Todd VanDerWerff explain the ending of Avengers: Endgame.
• Meagan Damore answers the question whether Avengers Endgame has a post-credits sequence.
• Brian Truitt reports that there was never a post-credits scene planned for Avengers: Endgame.
• The Tor.com staff shares eight lingering questions they have after Avengers: Endgame. 
• Alex McLevy finds some parallels between the opening of Avengers: Endgame and the ending of Ant-Man and the Wasp.
• Ben Child points out that Avengers: Endgame is also a triumph of diversity for Marvel. 
• Emily Asher-Perrin points out that Avengers. Endgame still doesn't do right by its female characters. 
• Caroline Siede declares that Avengers: Endgame doesn't earn its big girl power moment. 
• Alex Cranz declares that the women of Avengers: Endgame deserved more.
• Todd VanDerWerff wonders whether Avengers: Endgame and Game of Thrones barelling towards its series finale means that we have reached peak geek culture.
• James Whitbrook points out how remarkable it is that Avengers: Endgame exists at all.
• Inspired by the three hour runtime of Avengers: Endgame, Chris Klimek wonders why blockbuster movies keep getting longer.
• Michael Milford and Peter Stratton had the quantum mechanics of Avengers: Endgame fact-checked by scientists. 
• Alexis Nedd declares that Avengers: Endgame finally gets the romance right. 
• Kaila Hale-Sterne points out that Avengers: Endgame abandons two much criticised Marvel romances. 
• Leah Schnelbach views Avengers: Endgame as a secular meditation on death, resurrection and the afterlife.
• Meagan Damore reports that the Guardians of the Galaxy gain a new member in Avengers: Endgame. 
• Brandon Zachary reports that Avengers: Endgame features the unofficial introduction of another Marvel superteam. 
• Charles Pulliam-Moore finds a possible clue regarding Black Panther 2 in Avengers: Endgame.
• Jamie Sugah talks about the blink and you miss it of a gay character in Avengers: Endgame.  
• Chelsea Steiner also talks about LGBT representation in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. 
• Kaila Hale-Sterne is bothered by the portrayal of Thor in Avengers: Endgame. 
• Lacey Jade Christie is also bothered by the portrayal of Thor. 
• Sylas K. Barrett is also bothered by the portrayal of Thor.
• Renaldo Matadeen discusses the moment from Avengers: Endgame where a name drop saves a character's life. 
• Germain Lussier shares the story behind the cameo of sports commentator Matthew Berry in Avengers: Endgame. 
• Christian Holub interviews Jim Starlin, creator of Thanos.
• Lanre Bakare reports that some fans are willing to go to extraordinary lengths to see Avengers: Endgame. 
• The Boston Press Herald reports that some students have turned the dome of the MIT into gigantic reproduction of Captain America's shield.
• Steve Rose wonders whether Avengers: Endgame and the Game of Thrones episode "The Long Night" coming out on the same weekend represents peak geek culture.
  
• James Whitbrook ranks the beards of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
• Vivien Achieng lists twenty-five DC characters more powerful than Thanos.
  
• Martin Belam shares an amusing Avengers: Endgame Easter egg from Google.
• Catherine Shoard reports that Avengers: Endgame is expected to gross one billion US-dollars within its first week.
• Julie Muncy reports that Avengers: Endgame actually made 1.2 billion US-dollars during its opening weekend.
• Watch a clip of Jimmy Fallon interviewing Brie Larson, who plays Captain Marvel in Avengers: Endgame.
  

Comments on the final season of Game of Thrones (spoilers):

• Joe Brosnan shares his thoughts on "The Long Night", the latest episode of Game of Thrones. 
• Angel Wilson shares her thoughts on "The Long Night". 
• Theresa DeLucci shares her thoughts on "The Long Night". 
• Alex McLevy shares his thoughts on "The Long Night".
• Myles McNutt shares his thoughts on "The Long Night".
• Rob Bricken shares his thoughts on "The Long Night".
• Katherine Krueger shares her thoughts on "The Long Night".
• Ben Van Iten shares his thoughts on "The Long Night". 
• Sarah Hughes shares her thoughts on "The Long Night".
• Gwilym Mumford shares his thoughts on "The Long Night".
• Paul Levinson shares his thoughts on "The Long Night".
• Josh Wigler lists who died in the battle of Winterfell and why it matters (spoilers). 
• Katie Rife also offers a guide to who died in the battle of Winterfell (spoilers).  
• Tyler Dean talks about facing down death in Game of Thrones.
• Ed Power complains that the battle of Winterfell was riddled with problems. 
• Robert Farley offers a strategic military analysis of the battle of Winterfell. 
• Michael Livingston also breaks down the battle of Winterfell from the military perspective.
• Cherry Wilson shares some secrets behind the battle of Winterfell.
• Alex Cranz explains why "The Long Night" was so dark that it was almost impossible to see what was going on. 
• Rachel Handler interviews actor Vladimir Furdik who plays the Night King in Game of Thrones.
• Allison Shoemaker ranks the characters' food and drink choices in "The Long Night".
• Adam Gropnik offers an art-historical analysis of Cersei Lannister sipping wine.
• Albert Burneko explains why Cersei Lannister is the smartest character in Game of Thrones. 
• Hannah Preston asks if Arya Stark is a Mary Sue. 
• Zing Tsjeng reports on the debate whether Arya Stark is a Mary Sue. 
• Rachel Leishman wonders how anybody can even think that Arya Stark is a Mary Sue.
• Todd VanDerWerff muses if Daenerys Targaryen could turn out to be the ultimate villain of Game of Thrones.
• Beth Elderkin wonders how Game of Thrones will end now that what was believed to be the final battle is over.
• Evangelia Galanis reveals how according to George R.R. Martin, parts of Game of Thrones were inspired by a 1964 Avengers comic. 
• Julie Muncy reports that actress Lupita Nyong'o has found some parallels between Game of Thrones and the horror movie Us.
  

Comments on Star Trek Discovery and Star Trek in general:

• Camestros Felapton shares his thoughts on "Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 2", the season 2 finale of Star Trek Discovery.  
• Athena Andreadis talks about brother and sister relationships in science fiction, using Firefly and Star Trek Discovery as an example. 
• Sandy Schaefer reports that the Jean-Luc Picard Star Trek show has started filming. 
• Maddie Stone feels that it is time for Star Trek to tackle climate change.

Comments on The Orville: 

• Nick Wanserski shares his thoughts on "The Road Not Taken", the season 2 finale of The Orville. 
• Paul Levinson shares his thoughts on "The Road Not Taken". 
• Cheryl Eddy shares her thoughts on "The Road Not Taken".
• Scott Snowden shares his thoughts on "The Road Not Taken".
• Alejandro Rojas shares his thoughts on "The Road Not Taken".
• Jennifer Ouellette declares that the season 2 finale proves that The Orville is one of the best science fiction series on TV. 
• Scott Huver declares that allegorical stories tackling social issues contribute to the success of The Orville.
• Cheryl Eddy shares five things she'd like to see in season 3 of The Orville.

Comments on season 2 of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power:

• Danette Chavez calls season 2 of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power as much fun, but not as focussed as season 1.
• Emily Asher-Perrin implores everybody to watch season 1 of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power before season 2 comes out. 
• Beth Elderkin reports that there will be a tie-in graphic novel to She-Ra and the Princesses of Power.

Comments on Chambers:

• Lucy Mangan calls the horror movie Chambers a supernatural slog.
• Alex McLevy calls Chambers a little too weird for its own good.
• Sezin Koehler declares that Chambers is the gold standard for indigenous representation in visual media.
  

Comments on season 2 of American Gods: 

• Jamie Sugah shares her thoughts on "Moon Shadow", the season 2 finale of American Gods.
• Emily L. Stephens shares her thoughts on "Moon Shadow".  
• Charles Pulliam-Moore shares his thoughts on "Moon Shadow".
  
• Alex Brown shares her thoughts on season 2 of American Gods.
  

Comments on Tolkien:

• Father Michael Ward calls the Tolkien biopic woefully unconvincing. 
• Donald Clarke declares that the Tolkien biopic is better than any of the Hobbit movies. 
• Inspired by the biopic, John Garth talks about the World War I experience of J.R.R. Tolkien and how they influenced his fiction.

Awards: 

• The winners of the 17th Annual Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards have been announced. 
• The nominees for the 2018 Shirley Jackson Awards have been announced. 
• The longlist for the 2019 Nommo Awards has been announced.
• The nominees for the 2019 Scribe Awards have been announced.
• The winner of the 2019 Faust Award has been announced.
• The nominees for the 2019 Munsey Awards have been announced.
  
• The nominations for the 2019 Eisner Awards have been announced. 
• The 2019 inductees into the Eisner Hall of Fame have been announced as well. 
• The winner of the 2018 HWA Mentor of the Year Award has been announced.
• The nominees for the 2019 Origins Awards have been announced.
• The nominations for the 2019 Tony Awards have been announced with some love for genre plays and musicals.
• Timothy the Talking Cat shares his not entirely serious Hugo picks.

Writing, publishing and promotion:

• Cora Buhlert talks about the joy of writing, how to lose it and how to get it back. 
• Kristine Kathryn Rusch talks about setting good goals.
• Eugene Linden talks about researching his novel Deep Past. 
• Max Allan Collins talks about writing outside your comfort zone. 
• William Shaw shares three things he learned about writing a female lead.
• Laura Drake discusses the reality of writing for a living today. 
• James Millington shares five easy steps to ensure you're writing, not editing.
• Rachel Thompson discusses how to create a pre-launch marketing strategy for your book.
  

Interviews:

• Christian A. Coleman interviews Rebecca Roanhorse.
• Annie Mok and Alex Smith interview Samuel R. Delany.
• Bence Pinter interviews John Scalzi. 
• Constellary Tales interviews Joe Haldeman. 
• Chris Urie interviews Jack McDevitt.
• Jeff Spry interviews Andrew Liptak.
• The Qwillery interviews Melanie Golding.
• The Qwillery interviews Tim Clare.
  

Reviews:

• Tadiana Jones reviews Finder by Suzanna Palmer.
• Russell Letson reviews Ancestral Night by Elizabeth Bear.
• The Little Red Reviewer reviews Exit Strategy by Martha Wells. 
• Jana Nyman reviews Atlas Alone by Emma Newman.
• Paul Weimer reviews The Hound of Justice by Claire O'Dell. 
• Publishers Weekly reviews The Hound of Justice by Claire O'Dell. 
• Camestros Felapton reviews Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse. 
• Liz Bourke reviews Storm of Locusts by Rebecca Roanhoarse.
• Camestros Felapton reviews Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente. 
• Jana Nyman reviews Luna: Moon Rising by Ian McDonald.
• The Fantasy Inn reviews The Last Sun by K.D. Edwards.
• Liz Bourke reviews Miranda in Milan by Katharine Duckett. 
• Liz Bourke reviews Descendant of the Crane by Joan He and Brightfall by Jaime Lee Moyer.
• Liz Bourke reviews Once & Future by Amy Rose Capetta and Cori McCarthy. 
• Liz Bourke reviews The Unbound Empire by Melissa Caruso.
• Ceridwen Christensen reviews Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik.
• Katharine Coldiron reviews What Should Be Wild by Julia Fine. 
• Geoff Matthew reviews We Ride the Storm by Devin Madson.
• James Davis Nicoll reviews The River Twice by Brenda W. Clough.
• James Davis Nicoll reviews The Barrow Will Sed What It May by Margaret Killjoy. 
• Bill Capossere and Tadiana Jones review A Brightness Long Ago by Guy Gavriel Kay.
• Geoff Matthews reviews Orconomics by J. Zachary Pike. 
• Karen Haber reviews Tales from the Inner City and Cicada by Shaun Tan. 
• Gary K. Wolfe reviews The Very Best of Caitlin R. Kiernan by Caitlin R. Kiernan. 
• Ian Mond reviews King of Joy by Richard Chiem. 
• Jana Nyman review Upon a Burning Throne by Ashok K. Banker. 
• Kat Hooper reviews The Rosewater Insurrection by Tade Thompson.
• Ben Boulden reviews Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton.
• Tobias Carroll reviews The Amateurs by Liz Harmer.
• Tobias Carroll reveiws Machines Like Me by Ian McEwan.
• Mark Yon reviews Frozen Hell by John W. Campbell, a recently rediscovered early draft of "Who Goes There?" 
• Jenny Maloney reviews The Pandora Room by Christopher Golden.  
• The Real Book Spy reviews The Night Window by Dean Koontz. 
• Colleen Mondor reviews The Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand. 
• Suzy Michael reviews Stoker's Wilde by Steven Hopstaken and Melissa Prusi.
• Matt Brandenburg reviews Shallow Creek, edited by Naomi Booth.

Classics reviews:

• Doris V. Sutherland revisits the April 1928 issue of Amazing Stories.
• Keith Taylor revisits Red Nails, a 1936 Conan novella by Robert E. Howard. 
• James Davis Nicoll revisits the 1942 science fiction novel Beyond This Horizon by Robert A. Heinlein.
• James Davis Nicoll revisits the 1954 science fiction story The Cold Equations by Tom Godwin. 
• Joe Sherry, Adri Joy and Paul Weimer revisit the 1956 anthology SF - The Year's Greatest Science Fiction and Fantasy, edited by Judith Merril.
• Gideon Marcus reviews the May 1964 issue of Analog.
• Mark Yon revisits the May/June 1964 issue of New Worlds. 
• Joe Kenney revisits the 1984 post-apocalyptic men's adventure novel The Outrider by Richard Harding a.k.a. Richard Tine.
• James Davis Nicoll revisits the 1985 science fiction novel Schismatrix by Bruce Sterling. 
  
• Paperback Warrior revisits Raiders of the Revolution, a 1989 novel in the Freedom's Rangers time travel men's adventure series by Keith William Andrews a.k.a. William H. Keith and J. Andrew Keith.
  

Crowdfunding:

• Screenwriter and journalist Ed Naha, who wrote Honey, I Shrunk the Kids among many other thing, needs some help with his medical expenses.
  

Con and event reports:

• Mysore Srinihari reports about the 17th Indian Science Fiction Conference in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India.
• Will C. Franklin reports that the presence of the CIA at Awesome Con in Washington D.C. has caused some controversy.
• Cat Rambo shares her notes about two panels at Norwescon in Seattle, Washington. 
• The Geekiary shares an interview with actresses Nafessa Williams and Chantal Thuy from Black Lightning at ClexaCon in Las Vegas, Nevada.  
• Andrew Hiller shares his experiences at the Baltimore Faerie Faire in Baltimore, Maryland.
• Julie Muncy reports that the high school theatre production of Alien in North Bergen, New Jersey, had an encore performance that was attended by Sigourney Weaver, who played Ellen Ripley in the Alien series. 
• See a video of the chestburster scene from the Alien stage play.
• Daniel Dern reports about the Torah in Orbit: A Jewish Journey in Space event featuring astronaut Jeff Hoffman and the 2018 Julius Schwartz Lecture featuring Brian Michael Bendis and Marjorie M. Liu in Boston, Massachusetts.
  

Science and technology:

• Paul Rincon reports that the bomb crater left by the Japanese Hayabusa 2 spacecraft on the surface of the asteroid Ryugu has been found.
• Ryan F. Mandelbaum reports that latest results from the Hubble Space Telescope confirm that there is something odd about the way the universe is expanding. 
• Ariel Fournier reports that researchers in Canada have observed unexpected emissions from a black hole which might offer a clue to how galaxies are formed.
• Phil Plait reports that scientists in Italy have witnessed te decay of Xenon-124. 
• Ben Guarino reports that mice aboard the International Space Stations have developed new habits and ways to play.
• The BBC reports that a Beluga whale, who was likely trained by the Russian Navy to serve as a spy, has been captured of the Norwegian coast.
• Doctor Science describes a first hand encounter with a dragon in 16th century China.
  

Free online fiction:

• "Cocoons" by Nancy Kress in Lightspeed.
• "The Editor and the Policeman" by Andrew Edwards in Daily Science Fiction.
• "The Song Between Worlds" by Indrapramit Das in Slate.
• "The Ocean That Fades Into Sky" by Kathleen Kayembe in Lightspeed. 
• "Move Forward, Disappear, Transcend" by A.T. Greenblatt in Clarkesworld.
• "Murder in the Spook House" by Michael Swanwick at Tor.com.
• "Nick's Last Flight" by Bruce Arthurs in Silver Bade Magazine.
• "The Wilderling" by Angela Slatter in The Dark.
• "Malitobala Printing Press" by Mimi Mondal in Nightmare Magazine.
  

Odds and ends:

• Watch a trailer for season 3 of The Handmaid's Tale. 
• Watch a trailer for season 6 of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
• Watch a trailer for We Have Always Lived in the Castle. 
• Watch a trailer for Sonic the Hedgehog.
• See a 1982 video of Isaac Asimov, Harlan Ellison and Gene Wolfe discussing science fiction with Studs Terkel and Calvin Trillin. 
• See James Steranko's illustrations for Harlan Ellison's story "Repent, Harlequin!" Said the Ticktockman.
• Listen to a song inspired by the science fiction novel The Hangman's Daughter by Gavin Smith.