Speculative Fiction Links of the Week for December 13, 2019

It's time for the latest weekly round-up of interesting links about speculative fiction from around the web, this week with the best SFF of 2019 and the decade, The Mandalorian, The Rise of Skywalker and Star Wars in general, season 4 of The Expanse, His Dark Materials, Watchmen, In Fabric, Jumanji: The Next Level, the Ghostbusters: Afterlife trailer, tributes to Rene Auberjonois and much more. 

Speculative fiction in general:

• Andrew Liptak recommends ten new science fiction and fantasy novels for December. 
• Mark Yon takes a look at future histories. 
• Cora Buhlert muses about Margaret St. Clair and other women writers of the golden and silver age that are all too often forgotten.
• Alastair Reynolds shares his favourite books about space invaders and interstellar arrivals.
• James Davis Nicoll shares SFF books which create gods through science and magic. 
• Derek Künsken talks about transhumanism in science fiction.
• Nicholas Whyte takes a look at how various science fiction books have portrayed life in 2020. 
• Damien Angelica Walter discusses how women authors are reshaping the crime and horror genres.
• K.W. Colyard discusses the use of language in Amatka by Karin Tidbeck.
• Jared Shurin shares his appreciation for the works of K.J. Parker. 
• Joshua Rothman profiles William Gibson.
• Rachel Ashcroft takes a look at the women characters of The Witcher by Andrzej Sapkowski.
• Jason Kottke explains how he banks unread books by favourite authors as a strategic book reserve. 
• Jane Li reports about a book burning in Zhenyuan, China, and the criticism it received inside and outside China.
• Aaron Crouch reports that Thanos creator Jim Starlin is not amused that his character was used in a Donald Trump campaign ad.  
• Science fiction author Andrew Weiner has died.
• Robert J. Sawyer remembers Andrew Weiner.
  

Best of 2019 and the decade:

• Runalong the Shelves share their favourite science fiction books of 2019.
• Runalong the Shelves shares their favourite fantasy books of 2019.
• Alex Brown shares her favourite young adult science fiction, fantasy and horror novels of 2019.
• Alexis Gunderson shares the twenty best audiobooks of 2019, including several genre titles.
• The AV Club share their twenty worst movies of 2019, including several genre movies.
• Paste Magazine share their twenty-five favourite TV episodes of 2019, including several genre shows.
• Adri Joy and Joe Sherry discuss their favourite SFF books of the 2010s.
• Gavia Baker-Whitelaw shares her ten most important SFF movies of the 2010s.
  

Film and TV:

• A.A. Dowd calls Little Joe a creepily mundane arthouse version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. 
• Keith R.A. DeCandido shares his thoughts on Spider-Man: Far From Home.  
• Paul Levinson shares his thoughts on the latest episode of Emergence. 
• Kelly Faircloth points out the utter absurdity of the Ruritanian Christmas movie A Christmas Prince: The Royal Baby.
• Peter Bradshaw declares that the 1984 Christmas horror comedy Gremlins still has bite thirty-five years later. 
• Rich Lynch recalls watching the 1959 science fiction movie The Atomic Submarine for the first time and how it terrified him. 
• Camestros Felapton revisits the 1994 cartoon series Gargoyles in a two part post.
• Natalie Devitt revisits three episodes of season 2 of The Outer Limits.
• Jessica Holmes revisits the 1964 Doctor Who serial "The Dalek Invasion of Earth".
• Jake Kanter looks ahead at "Spyfall", the series 12 premiere of Doctor Who.
• Catherine Shoard explains why the James Bond movies are a dream come true for product placement. 
• Jennifer Giesbrecht shares ten things that Marvel Studios/Disney could learn from Chris Claremont's legendary X-Men run.
• Joe Otterson reports that Marvel is closing its television division. 
• Gavia Baker-Whitelaw points out that all the big Marvel and DC superhero movies coming in 2020 are directed by women.
• Hannah J. Davies interviews Nathalie Emmanuel who played Missandei in Game of Thrones.  
• Stuart Heritage ranks every Michael Bay movie.
• Gavia Baker-Whitelaw explains why many fanfiction writers are obsessed with two characters from the recent adaptation of Stephen King's It. 
• The Guardian reports that Roman Polanski whines that the press has turned him into a monster and that it's all Harvey Weinstein's fault.
• Stuart Heritage reports that Harvey Weinstein appearing in court with a walker won't engender sufficient sympathy in the light of what he has done. 
• Puppeteer Caroll Spinney, who played and provided the voice for Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch of Sesame Street for fifty years, has died aged 85.
• Actor Robert Walker Jr., best known for his roles in the original Star Trek, Columbo, Charlie's Angels, Murder She Wrote and many others, has died aged 79. 
• Actor Rene Auberjonois, best known for playing Odo in Star Trek Deep Space 9 and Paul Lewiston in Boston Legal, has died aged 76. 
• Ryan Britt remembers Rene Auberjonois by sharing his eight favourite Odo-centric episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space 9.

Comments on The Mandalorian, The Rise of Skywalker and Star Wars in general (warning: spoilers):

• Katie Rife shares her thoughts on "The Gunslinger", the latest episode of The Mandalorian.
• Emily Asher-Perrin shares her thoughts on "The Gunslinger". 
• Dean R.S. Richards shares his thoughts on "The Gunslinger". 
• Shaun Duke and Jen Zink share their thoughts about the first three episodes of The Mandalorian.
• Abigail Nussbaum shares her thoughts about The Mandalorian and several other new streaming video shows. 
• Brian Tallerico explains when The Mandalorian takes place in the Star Wars timeline.
• Ryan Parker reports about the potential return of the popular Star Wars character in The Mandalorian.
• Michael Schneider wonders whether puppet and animated characters like Baby Yoda from The Mandalorian should be allowed to compete for awards. 
• Carolyn Giardina interviews Jon Favreau, showrunner of The Mandalorian.
• Sarah Hughes profiles Adam Driver who plays Kylo Ren in The Rise of Skywalker.
• Emily Asher-Perrin declares that you need to watch the various Star Wars animated series to understand the full story of Anakin Skywalker. 
• Dave Itzkoff reports about the difficulties of making The Rise of Skywalker both a satisfying standalone film as well as the culmination of a trilogy of trilogies.
• Ben Child lists all the unsolved questions that The Rise of Skywalker must answer.
• Emily Asher-Perrin lists four ways in which Emperor Palpatine may return in The Rise of Skywalker. 
• Emily Asher-Perrin muses some more about what she'd like to see happening in The Rise of Skywalker.
• Pamela McClintock reports that Disney/Lucasfilm will add a warning about flashing light effects before The Rise of Skywalker. 
• Germain Lussier shares a sneak peek at some Baby Yoda toys coming next year.
• Jimmy Kimmel offers a not entirely serious video about how to make your own Baby Yoda. 
• Binging with Babish explains how to make Baby Yoda's favourite food (no, not a live frog), bone broth. 

Comments on His Dark Materials:

• Tyler Dean shares his thoughts on the latest episode of His Dark Materials.
• Lisa Weidenfeld shares her thoughts on the latest episode of His Dark Materials.
• Myles McNutt shares his thoughts on the latest episode of His Dark Materials.
• Paul Levinson shares his thoughts on the latest episode of His Dark Materials.
• Tyler Dean is disappointed that the TV adaptation of His Dark Materials fails to update the Boy's Own tropes and the latent racism of the original books.
  

Comments on season 4 of The Expanse:

• Cheryl Eddy offers a spoiler-free look at season 4 of The Expanse.
• Gavia Baker-Whitelaw calls season 4 of The Expanse a triumphant return.
• Zack Handlen declares that The Expanse is as good as ever, even after it moved to Amazon Prime. 
• Beth Elderkin interviews cast and crew of The Expanse. 
• Beth Elderkin interviews Burn Gorman who plays Adolphus Murtry in The Expanse.
  

Comments on the latest version of Watchmen:

• Leah Schnelbach shares her thoughts on the latest episode of Watchmen.
• Joelle Monique shares her thoughts on the latest episode of Watchmen.
• Charles Pulliam-Moore shares his thoughts on the latest episode of Watchmen.
• Paul Levinson shares his thoughts on the latest episode of Watchmen. 
• Phoebe Wagner shares her thoughts on the latest episode of Watchmen. 
• Gavia Baker-Whitelaw shares her thoughts on the latest episode of Watchmen. 
• Matt Novak reports that Watchmen creator Alan Moore has voted for the first time in forty years in the recent UK general election. 

Comments on In Fabric:

• Elizabeth Metzger calls In Fabric a darkly comic horror movie. 
• Cameron Scheetz interviews Marianne Jean-Baptiste, star of In Fabric.
  

Comments on Jumanji: The Next Level:

• Ignatiy Vishnevetsky is not impressed with Jumanji: The Next Level.
• Peter Bradshaw declares that Dwayne Johnson has levelled up his comedy skills in Jumanji: The Next Level.
  

Comments on the Ghostbusters: Afterlife trailer: 

• Anthony Breznican hunts down all the Easter eggs in the Ghostbusters: Afterlife trailer.
• Hadley Freeman takes a look at the trailer for Ghostbusters: Afterlife and is not impressed.

Awards:

• The SFWA has named Lois McMaster Bujold the 36th Damon Knight Grandmaster. 
• The winners of the 2019 Goodreads Choice Awards have been announced. 
• The winners of the 2019 Premio Ignotus have been announced. 
• The winners of several science fiction movie awards have been announced at the Science + Fiction Festival in Trieste, Italy.
• The finalists for the 2020 Golden Globes have been announced with little love for genre films and TV shows.
• The finalists for the 25th Annual Critics' Choice Television Awards have been announced with some love for genre shows.
• The finalists for the 35th Annual Critics' Choice Movie Awards have been announced with little love for genre movies and even less love for genre movies not named Joker.
• The nominees for the 2020 Screen Actors Guild Awards have been announced with some love for genre films and TV.
• The finalists for the 2020 Prometheus Hall of Fame Awards have been announced.
  
• The winner of the 2019 LASFS Evans-Freehafer Award has been announced. 
• Doris V. Sutherland compares the Goodreads Choice and the Dragon Awards.
• Camestros Felapton notes yet more problems with the Dragon Award website.
  

Writing, publishing and promotion:

• Allen Eskens talks about the benefits of building a book series out of a community of characters. 
• Aaron Miles talks about character agency. 
• Emily Littlejohn explains how to write a haunted house story. 
• Zaria Gorvett wonders whether Ernest Hemingway's advice to beat writer's block really works. 
• Kristine Kathryn Rusch talks about writing habits.
• Alison Flood explains how Neil Gaiman created a poem for refugees from 1000 tweets.
• Jeff VanderMeer shares some tips regarding estate planning for writers.
• Locus reports that Vonda N. McIntyre has left her literary estate to the Clarion West Writing Workshop. 
• Blue Corn Creations has sponsored a scholarship for Native American writers at the Clarion West Writing Workshop.
• Crossed Genres Publications is closing.
• Jason Sanford offers an author's guide to understanding BookScan.
• Heather Kelly takes a look at the ways voracious readers circumvent e-book lending limits and long waiting lists.
  

Interviews:

• Molly Young interviews Margaret Atwood.
• Craig Sisterson interviews Nalini Singh. 
• Gavia Baker-Whitelaw interviews N.K. Jemisin and Jamal Campbell.
• Runalong the Shelves interviews R.J. Barker. 
• Runalong the Shelves interviews Anna Smith Spark.
• Juliette Wade interviews Paul Krueger. 
• Jen Frankel interviews Paul Levinson. 
• Tor.com readers interview Tochi Onyebuchi.
• Evan Winter interviews James Islington.
• The Odyssey Writing Workshop interviews J.G. Faherty. 
• Oliver Sava interviews Eve L. Ewing. 

Reviews: 

• Liz Bourke reviews Down Among the Dead by K.B. Wagers.
• Arkady Martine reviews Dead Astronauts by Jeff VanderMeer. 
• Russell Letson reviews Stealing Worlds by Karl Schroeder. 
• Rachael McKenzie review The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern.
• Liz Bourke, Rich Horton and Amy Goldschlager review Desdemona and the Deep by C.S.E. Cooney.
• Runalong the Shelves reviews The Deep by Rivers Solomon. 
• Marion Deeds and Rachael McKenzie review Lies Sleeping by Ben Aaronovitch.
• James Davis Nicoll reviews Vessel by Lisa A. Nichols. 
• James Davis Nicoll reviews Ormeshadow by Priya Sharma.
• Blue Book Balloon reviews Skein Island by Aliya Whiteley.
• Colleen Mondor reviews Last Bus to Everland by Sophie Cameron. 
• Blue Book Balloon reviews Twelve Strange Days of Christmas by Syd Moore.  
• Paula Guran reviews The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heep by H.G. Parry.
• Rachael McKenzie and Jana Nyman review The Secret Commonwealth by Philip Pullman.
• Adrienne Martini reviews The Municipalists by Seth Fried. 
• Tadiana Jones reviews Anyone by Charles Soule. 
• L.A. Young reviews The Gutter Prayer by Gareth Hanrahan. 
• Michael Patrick Hicks reviews Various States of Decay by Matt Hayward.
• Michael Patrick Hicks reviews Kill Switch by Jonathan Maberry.
• BOLO Books reviews Crime Travel, edited by Barb Goffman.
  
• Paul di Filippo reviews The Best of Uncanny, edited by Lynne M. and Michael Damian Thomas.
  
• Gary K. Wolfe reviews Broken Places and Outer Spaces: Finding Creativity in the Unexpected by Nnedi Okorafor.
• Matthew Keeley reviews Reading Backwards: Essays and Reviews 2005-2018 by John Crowley. 
• SF Concatenation reviews From Science Fiction to Science Fact: How writers of the past invented our present by Joel Levy.
• Alvaro Zinos-Amaro reviews The Time Machine Hypothesis: Extreme Science Meets Science Fiction by Damien Broderick

Classics reviews: 

• Sandy Ferber revisits the 1923 dark fantasy collection Uncanny Stories by May Sinclair. 
• James Wallace Harris revisits the 1957 generation ship story "Lungfish" by John Brunner.
• Joachim Boaz revisits the 1958 generation ship story "Wish Upon a Star" by Judith Merril.
• M. Porcius also revisits "Wish Upon a Star" by Judith Merril.
• James Wallace Harris also revisits "Wish Upon a Star" by Judith Merril.
• Cora Buhlert revisits the 1964 science fiction books Message from the Eocene and Three Worlds of Futurity by Margaret St. Clair, while Gideon Marcus revisits the 1964 science fiction novels The Greks Bring Gifts by Murray Leinster, The Arsenal of Miracles by Gardner F. Fox and Endless Shadow by John Brunner.
• James Davis Nicoll revisits the 1976 feminist science fiction anthology Aurora: Beyond Equality, edited by Vonda N. McIntyre and Susan Janice Anderson. 
• James Davis Nicoll revisits the 1984 science fiction novel The Peace War by Vernor Vinge.
• Kat Hooper revisits Jinx High, a 1991 Diana Tregarde urban fantasy mystery by Mercedes Lackey.
  
• Joe Sherry revisits The Doomsday Book by Connie Willis, winner of the 1993 Hugo Award for Best Novel.

Con and event reports: 

• Egg Emby reports about Multiverse Con by Hapeville, Georgia. 
• Mike Glyer shares some videos of the Fannish Inquisition of SMOFCon 37 in Albuqureque, New Mexico.
• The BBC shares several photos of the Parade of Myths and Legends in Medellin, Columbia. 
• Watch a video of The Expanse Space Opera Drone Show at the 2019 Intersect Festival in Las Vegas, Nevada.
• Alice Blanchard talks about the curious experience of visiting Salem, Massachusetts, with its tragic past and commericalised present.  
• Arifa Akbar reports about a stage performance of Neil Gaiman's The Ocean at the End of the Lane in London, UK.
• Martin Morse Wooster reports about a performance of Susan Hill's play The Woman in Black in Washington D.C.
• Stephen Cave reports about a visit to the Futurium museum in Berlin, Germany. 

Crowdfunding:

• Science fiction writer Mike Resnick needs some help with medical expenses.
• Science fiction and fantasy writer Lezli Robyn needs some help with medical expenses.
• The family of Baize White, partner of writer and critic Mark Oshiro who died suddenly aged 28, needs some help with funeral and transfer expenses.
  

Science and technology: 

• Nell Greenfieldboyce reports that the Parker Solar Probe has found rogue plasma waves and flipping magnetic fields during its mission to the sun.
• Jonathan Amos reports about an upcoming ESA Mars Rover project.
• Paul Rincon reports about a newly discovered white dwarf and the planet orbiting it, which offer a preview about what will happen to our sun in about five to six billion years. 
• Henry McDonald reports about the massive racial and other biases of decision-making algorithms.
• The BBC reports about Netshidzati Lucky Mashudu from South Africa who has developed a smart glove that can translate sign language into speech and vice versa.
• Soutik Biswas reports about an attempt to develop a male birth control shot.
• Ekaterina Pesheva reports that men living in countries with a high degree of gender equality are better in telling the faces of women apart.
• Rory Cellan-Jones reports how a visit to the start-up company that is developing an app to aid people with Parkinson's disease helped him get diagnosed.
• Yao-Hua Law explains why zebras have stripes.
• Erin Blakemore reports that Big Bird as portrayed by puppeteer Caroll Spinney was supposed to participate in the fateful 1986 Challenger mission, where the space shuttle blew up shortly after take-off.
• Jason Daley reports that a witch bottle has been found in the chimney of a former pub in Watford, UK.
• Allison C. Meier offers more information on witch bottles.
  

Free online fiction:

• "Dislocation Space" by Garth Nix at Tor.com. 
• "I Send My Tower Walking" by Amanda Helms in Fireside Magazine.
• "All the King's Monsters" by Megan Arkenberg in Clarkesworld.
• "Velvet Man" by Leone Ross in The Dark.
• "Nesters" by Siobhan Carroll in Nightmare Magazine.
• "Sunlight-Golden Treason, by the Candle's Waning Light" by Aimee Ogden in Daily Science Fiction. 
• "Vault of the Wordmonger" by Nick Hunt in The Dark Mountain Project.
• "Liar, Liar, Tongue on Fire" by Janessa Mulepati in Luna Station Quarterly.
• "All Manner of Wounds" by Emily Strempler in Luna Station Quarterly.
• "End of the Sleeping Girls" by Molly Gutman in Lightspeed.
• "Njuzu" by T.L. Huchu in Lightspeed.
• "Loop" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch.
  

Odds and ends: 

• Watch a trailer for Wonder Woman 1984. 
• Watch a clip from "Spyfall", the first episode of series 12 of Doctor Who.
• Watch a trailer for Free Guy. 
• Watch a trailer for Ghostbusters: Afterlife. 
• Watch a trailer for Stargirl.
• Watch a trailer for Avenue 5.
• Watch a trailer for season 2 of The Boys.
• Watch a trailer for The Witcher.
• Watch a trailer for Mulan.
• Watch a trailer for Legends of Tomorrow.
• Watch a trailer for The Outsider.