Speculative Fiction Links of the Week for June 19, 2020

It's time for the latest weekly round-up of interesting links about speculative fiction from around the web, this week with the J.K. Rowling transphobia controversy, the various iterations of Star Trek, the various iterations of Star Wars, Artemis Fowl, Stargirl, the latest convention cancellations and virtual conventions due to the corona virus and much more. 

Speculative fiction in general:

• Eric Brown shares the best recent science fiction, fantasy and horror books. 
• Arianna Rebolini sares twenty science fiction and fantasy books by black authors.
• Emily Hughes shares five southern gothic horror novels to read this summer.
• Runalong the Shelves shares their favourite unlikeable characters in SFF.
• Zoraida Córdova shares a history of vampires in YA fiction. 
• Eleanor Porter shares the top ten books about witch hunts.
• Ekpeki Oghenechovwe Donald shares five post-apocalyptic and dystopian novels by African authors.
• L.L. McKinney discusses the publishers only push certain kinds of "issue books" by black authors, while ignoring stories that are not about racism and black pain. 
• Cristina Orlando wants to create an LGBTQ Hopepunk canon. 
• Katie Rask finds some parallels between the Wild Cards shared universe by George R.R. Martin and the Tarot Sequence by K.D. Edwards. 
• John Boston takes stock of various science fiction Year's Best anthologies.
• Comic writer Denny O'Neil, best known for his run on Batman, has died aged 81.
  

Comments on J.K. Rowling's remarks about transpeople:

• Emmet Asher-Perrin shares an open letter to J.K. Rowling a.k.a. Robert Galbraith, following her transphobic remarks on Twitter. 
• Julie Jacobs reports how some Harry Potter fans are divorcing their love for the world of Harry Potter from its creator. 
• Gavia Baker-Whitelaw report that some employees at Hachette have refused to work on J.K. Rowling's new book The Ickabod following Rowling's transphobic remarks.
• Jamie Grierson reports that the UK tabloid The Sun has been widely criticised for interviewing the former husband of J.K. Rowling, after Rowling declared that she was a victim of domestic abuse.

Film and TV:

• Robert Repino shares nine deeply humanist science fiction films. 
• Philippa Snow declares that Shirley turns the life of Shirley Jackson into a gripping psychodrama.
  
• Ellen E. Jones calls Spides a clunky science fiction series. 
• Camestros Felapton shares his thoughts on Space Force.
• Keith R.A. DeCandido shares his thoughts on Birds of Prey. 
• Alex McLevy shares his thoughts on the latest episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
• Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya shares her thoughts on the latest episode of Snowpiercer. 
• Peter Bradshaw shares his thoughts on the the Brazilian film The Dead and the Others.
• Peter Bradshaw calls Radioactive a respectful biopic of Marie Curie. 
• Cath Clarke calls The Wishmas Tree a dull animated adventure. 
• Glen Weldon shares his thoughts on season 2 of the cartoon Kipo and the Age of the Wonderbeasts
• Michael Walsh looks ahead at season 2 of The Witcher. 
• Nicholas Barber watches the 1978 horror movie Halloween for the first time ever. 
• Scott Tobias revisits the 1979 horror movie The Shining. 
• Luke Holland revisits the 1986 science fiction film Aliens, his favourite movie aged twelve.  
• Kevin Polowy revisits Gremlins 2: The New Batch for its thirtieth anniversary and interviews director Joe Dante. 
• Beatrice Loayaza revisits the 2004 reincarnation thriller Birth.
• Roxana Hadidi revisits the 2013 apocalyptic movie This Is The End.
• Lorelei Marcus shares her appreciation for the British spy TV show Secret Agent a.k.a. Danger Man.
• Alyse Wax discusses six ways in which Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho influenced the filmmaking.
• Steve Rose discusses why 17th century England is such a popular setting for horror movies. 
• Toby Moses interviews John Logan, writer of Penny Dreadful: City of Angels.
  
• Riley Silverman interviews Rebecca Root, who will play Tania Bell, the Doctor's first trans companion, in an upcoming Eighth Doctor audiodrama.
  
• Mike McGranaghan reports how replacing actor Crispin Glover with a lookalike in prosthetic make-up in Back to the Future II led to a seminal lawsuit.
• Jason Ingolfsman lists five very weird "Godzilla versus" movies that almost got made.
• Shaurya Thapa ranks the silliest weapons from science fiction movies.
• The Guardian reports that there is a renewed debate about the sexual orientation of SpongeBob Squarepants after the character was depicted posing with the pride flag.
• Puppeteer Pat Brymer has died aged 70.
  

Comments on the various iterations of Star Wars: 

• John Manuel Arias talks about Jango Fett, fatherhood and masculinity in Attack of the Clones.
• Derek Cornell reports that Disney/Lucasfilm has reportedly issued a casting call for someone to play Grand Admiral Thrawn in a live action Star Wars film or TV show.
• Andrew Liptak wonders which other ideas Disney should salvage from the Star Wars Expanded Universe. 
• Ryan Gilbey interviews Bryce Dallas Howard who appeared in Jurassic World and directed an episode of The Mandalorian.
• Matthew Hart reports that someone has built a functioning real life lightsabre and shares some videos.
  

Comments on the various iterations of Star Trek:

• Adam B. Vary interviews Hanelle Culpepper who directed several Star Trek episodes including the pilot of Star Trek Picard.
• Keith R.A. DeCandido rewatches the Star Trek Voyager episodes "Basics, Part I".
• Keith R.A.DeCandido offers an overview of the second season of Star Trek Voyager. 

Comments on Artemis Fowl: 

• Emmet Asher-Perrin calls Artemis Fowl a CGI-heavy candy-coated waste of time. 
• Gavia Baker-Whitelaw calls Artemis Fowl bland and disjointed and declares that it bears little resemblance to the books.
• Jennifer Ouellette calls Artemis Fowl a crushing disappointment and wonders whether anybody involved even bothered to read the books.
  

Comments on Stargirl: 

• Joshua Rivera declares that Stargirl doesn't know what to do with its superhero nostalgia.
• Caroline Siede shares her thoughts on the latest episode of Stargirl.

Awards: 

• The shortlist for the 2020 Arthur C. Clarke Award has been announced.
• The winners of the Analog AnLab and Asimov's Readers' Awards have been announced.
• The winner of the 2020 Prix Jacques Brossard has been announced.
• The winner of the 2020 Prix Jeunesse Des Univers Parallèles has been announced.
• The winners of the 2019 Leo Literary Awards have been announced. 
• The winners of the 2020 CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals have been announced.
• The shortlist for the 2020 Neukom Institute Literary Arts Awards has been announced. 
• The finalists for the 2020 Scribe Awards have been announced. 
• The shortlist for the 2020 Prix Utopiales has been announced.
• Benjamin Lee reports that the 2021 Academy Award ceremony has been postponed and the eligibility period extended due to the corona pandemic. 

Writing, publishing and promotion:

• Charlie Jane Anders talks about story ideas and how to find them. 
• Elizabeth Kay talks about the difficulties of writing a reliable narrator. 
• Nick Kolakowski interviews several writers about how they're dealing with the corona virus pandemic. 
• Kristine Kathryn Rusch also talks about creativity during the corona virus pandemic.
• Sian Cain reports that the Black Writers Guild has posted an open letter calling for changes to make the British publishing industry more welcoming to black writers.
• Erin Somers reports that agents Beth Phelan and Kelly Van Sant and author Isabel Sterling have received cease and desist letters from Dawn Fredericks at Red Sofa Literary agency, after they spoke up about Fredericks' condemnation of the protests following the death of George Floyd by police brutality.
• Beth Phelan, Kelly Van Sant and Isabel Sterling share an open letter to Dawn Fredericks. 
• Alan Shephard wonders whether books by rightwing authors will be the next big debate in the publishing industry, now it has pledged to become more diverse.
• Elizabeth A. Harris reports that the Internet Archive has ended its so-called "National Emergency Library" because of a threatened copyright infringement lawsuit by several publishers.
• Dreamhaven Books and Comics in Minneapolis, which was damaged during the recent riots following the death of George Floyd due to police brutality, has reopened.
  

Interviews:

• Neil Gaiman and V.E. Schwab interview each other. 
• Kayti Burt interviews Cory Doctorow and Nnedi Okorafor. 
• The BBC interviews Nnedi Okorafor.
• Andrea Johnson interviews Kathleen Jennings.
• Christopher Paolini and Brandon Sanderson interview each other. 
• Locus interviews Madeline Ashby. 
• The Odyssey Writing Workshop itnerviews E.C. Ambrose. 
• The Qwillery interviews Doug Engstrom. 
• Sian Cain interviews Shaun Tan.
• Celina Ribeiro interviews Anna Fienberg.
• Andrew Liptak interviews Matt Griffin.
• Andrea Johnson interviews Scott H. Andrews of Beneath Ceaseless Skies.
• Andrea Johnson interviews Julia Rios and Elsa Sjunneson of Fireside Magazine.
  

Reviews: 

• Camestros Felapton reviews Network Effect by Martha Wells. 
• Kat Hooper reviews Revenger by Alastair Reynolds. 
• Kat Hooper reviews Shadow Captain by Alastair Reynolds.
• Kat Hooper reviews Ancestral Night by Elizabeth Bear. 
• Kat Hooper reviews Fleet of Knives by Gareth L. Powell.
• Publishers Weekly reviews The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson.
• Blue Book Balloon reviews The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenez. 
• Kat Hooper reviews Permafrost by Alastair Reynolds.
• Katharine Coldiron reviews Everyone on the Moon Is Essential Personnel by Julian K. Jarboe. 
• Publishers Weekly reviews A Dance With Fate by Juliet Marillier. 
• Colleen Mondor reviews Shadowshaper Legacy by Daniel José Older. 
• Blue Book Balloon reviews Lady of Shadows by Breanna Teintze. 
• Liz Bourke reviews The Unconquered City by K.A. Doore. 
• Publishers Weekly reviews The Empire of Gold by S.A. Chakraborty.
• Sandie Herron reviews The Kingdom by Amanda Stevens. 
• James Davis Nicoll reviews Circe by Madeline Ashby. 
• Kat Hooper reviews The Iron Dragon's Mother by Michael Swanwick.
• Kelly Lasiter reviews Desdemona and the Deep by C.S.E. Cooney.
• Publishers Weekly reviews White Trash Warlock by David R. Slayton.
• Kelly Lasiter reviews War Girls by Tochi Onyebuchi.
• Kelly Lasiter reviews Destroy All Monsters by Sam J. Miller. 
• The Bibliosanctum reviews Under Ordshaw by Phil Williams. 
• Richard Marpole reviews Wild Dark Times by Austin Case. 
• Sean Dowie reviews Burn by Patrick Ness.
• Publishers Weekly reviews A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik.
• Skye Walker and Jana Nyman review The Ascent to Godhood by J.Y. Yang.
• James Davis Nicoll reviews The Hero of Numbani by Nicky Drayden.
• Kat Hooper reviews Infinite Detail by Tim Maughan. 
• Kelly Lasiter reviews Blackwater by Michael McDowell.
• Publishers Weekly reviews Yellow Jessamine by Caitlin Starling.
• Andrew Fowlow reviews The Window in the Ground by Steve Stred.
• Ian Mond reviews We All Hear Stories in the Dark by Robert Shearman.
• Michael Patrick Hicks reviews The Cipher by Kathe Koja.
  

Classics reviews:

• Cora Buhlert revisits the 1944 time travel novel The Winged Man by A.E. van Vogt and E. Mayne Hull.
• Don Briago revisits the 1944 Donald Duck comic The Mad Chemist by Carl Barks.
• Matt Mikalatos revisits the 1953 children's fantasy The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis. 
• Alan Brown revisits the 1958 science fiction anthology Three Times Infinity, edited by Leo Margulies. 
• Gideon Marcus revisits the July 1965 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.
• Sean Guynes revisits the 1966 science fiction novel Planet of Exiles by Ursula K. Le Guin.
• James Davis Nicoll revisits the 1975 science fiction mystery The Whereabouts of Burr by Michael Kurland. 
• Emmet Asher-Perrin revisits the 1983 Discworld novel The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett. 
• Joe Kenney revisits The Road Ghost, a 1985 novel in The Traveler post-apocalyptic series by D.B. Drumm a.k.a. Ed Naha.
• Lydia Laurensen revisits the 1992 time travel novel Doomsday Book by Connie Willis.
  

Crowdfunding:

• Agents Beth Phelan and Kelly Van Sant and author Isabel Sterling have started a legal defense fund in case they are sued by Dawn Fredericks of Red Sofa Literary agency for speaking up about problematic practices and behaviour. 
  

Con and event reports:

• CoNZealand, the now virtual 2020 Worldcon in Wellington, New Zealand, has announced how they will handle the WSFS business meeting, which is the one part of Worldcon that cannot be handled virtually.
• The virtual San Diego Comic Con will take place in July. 
• Josh Weiss reports that Warner Bros and DC Comics will not be participating in the virtual San Diego Comic Con, but are planning their own virtual event called DC Fandome. 
• Loscon 47 in Los Angeles, California, has been postponed to 2021. 
• The 2020 StokerCon in Scarborough, UK, has been postponed again. 
• Tor.com shares the highlights of the "Choas and Cosmos" panel at the virtual TorCon. 
• Tom Croom shares his experiences at the “Orlando Area Toy Collectors Summer Pop-Up Show” in Apopka, Florida
• Luke Plunkett reports that the virtual Origins Games Fair has been cancelled due to games creators pulling out because of the Game Manufacturers Association failing to make any kind of statement in support of Black Lives Matter. 
• The Game Manufacturers Association has since apaologised and released a statement that Black Lives do Matter, but Origins Games Fair is cancelled anyway. 
• Patrick Leder takes issue with the statement made by the Games Manufacturers Association.

Science and technology:

• Jonathan Amos reports that ESA's Solar Orbiter has made its first close pass of the sun.
• Jonathan Amos reports that the Trace Gas Orbiter satellite has detected a green glow on Mars. 
• John Johnston reports that the first Skylark Nano rocket has been launched from the Shetland Islands. 
• Paul Rincon reports that the hunt for dark matter has resulted in an unexplained signal. 
• Poppy Koronka talks about a prototype Martian city to be built in the desert of Dubai, UAE. 
• Becky Ferreira reports that scientists have discovered 139 new minor planets beyond the orbit of Neptune. 
• Nell Greenfieldboyce reports that scientists have discovered the biggest ever fossilised dinosaur egg.
• Becky Ferreira reports that scientists have discovered large unidentified structure deep inside the Earth.
• Matt Simon reports that Spot the Robot Dog is available for sale now.
  

Free online fiction:

• "Two Truths and a Lie" by Sarah Pinsker at Tor.com. 
• "Refuge" by Ben Peek in Lightspeed.
• "The Marsh of Camarina" by Matthew Kressel in Lightspeed. 
• "The Augur and the Girl Left at His Door" by Greta Hayer in Beneath Ceaseless Skies. 
• "Kill the Witchman" by William Broom in Beneath Ceaseless Skies.
• "Notice" by Sarah Pinsker at ASU Center for Science and the Imagination.
• "Last Waltz on Titan" by Michael S. Diamond at Akashic Books.
• "The Mind Bar" by Tasha Cotter at Akashic Books.
• "Nine Words for Loneliness in the Language of the Uma'u" by M.L. Clark in Clarkesworld.
• "Depth and Meaning" by Jennifer Lee Rossman in Luna Station Quarterly.
• "The Zoetrope" by Alison Littlewood in The Dark.
• "Dégustation" by Ashley Weng in Nightmare Magazine.
• "Geeks Bearing Gifts" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch.
  

Odds and ends: 

• Watch a trailer for Archive. 
• Watch a trailer for Looks That Kill. 
• Watch a trailer for Cursed.
• Watch a trailer for Fanny Lye Deliver'd.
• Watch a trailer for Radium Girls.
• Watch a trailer for Palm Springs.