It's time for the latest weekly round-up of interesting links about speculative fiction from around the web, this week with the best science fiction and fantasy of 2020 and the decade, a look ahead at 2021, season 3 of Star Trek Discovery and Star Trek in general, The Mandalorian and Star Wars in general, season 5 of The Expanse, Wonder Woman 1984, WandaVision, season 3 of American Gods, Outside the Wire, Robert E. Howard's Bran Mak Morn and much more.
Speculative fiction in general:
- Nick Petrie shares nine great science fiction thrillers.
- James Davis Nicoll shares five of the best SFF books he never meant to read.
- Natalie Zutter shares seven SFF stories that grew beyond their original worldbuilding.
- James Davis Nicoll shares five science fiction novels featuring space travel powered by atomic bombs.
- Joyce Reynolds-Ward wonders whether SFF writer romanticising revolutions may have played a part in inspiring the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
- Alex Acks lists six black indie SFF writers to read.
- Kritika Agrawal shares sevem surprising facts about Octavia E. Butler.
- Rachel Hawkins takes a look at the many retellings of Jane Eyre.
- Bill Ward shares his appreciation for the Bran Mak Morn stories by Robert E. Howard.
- Jason Ray Carney points out that Bran Mak Morn might be considered a social justice warrior.
- Doug Ellis reports about the Edgar Rice Burroughs revival of the 1960s.
- Jason Powell offers an overview of George R.R. Martin's Wild Cards series.
- Jeff Noon explains how he came from writing science fiction to writing crime fiction.
- Brian Murphy shares his appreciation for the artwork of Boris Vallejo.
- Dangerous Minds remembers cover artist Bob Haberfield.
- Julie Hinds reports about the forgotten black artists of the early comics industry.
- Sian Cain reports that the cover for the Tintin album The Blue Lotus from 1936 has been sold for a record-breaking 3.2 million Euro.
- Sian Cain reports that Neal Kirby, son of Captain America co-creator Jack Kirby, is furious that some of the far right protesters who stormed the Capitol used Captain America imagery.
- Sarah Parvini reports that virtual Dungeons & Dragons games are booming during the pandemic.
- Alison Flood reports that the UK Royal Mint's H.G. Wells commemorative coin not only features a tripod with four legs, but also a wrong quote.
- Kristie Lim reports that a rare second edition of the classic gothic novel The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe has been discovered in a library in Perth, Australia.
- Adam Whitehead reports that Ty Frank and Daniel Abraham a.k.a. James S.A. Corey have ruled out that they will complete George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire.
- Adam Whitehead reports that David Weber, who contracted covid, has been released from hospital and is on the mend.
Best of 2020 and the decade:
- Mark Yon shares his favourite SFF books of the decade.
- Kat G. shares her favourite SFF books of the decade.
- Mark Chitty shares his favourite SFF books of the decade.
- Shellie Horst shares her favourite SFF books of the decade.
- Rob Bedford shares his favourite SFF books of the decade.
- Joachim Boaz shares his favourite SFF books he read in 2020.
A look ahead at 2021:
Film and TV:
- Jack Seale calls season 2 of A Discovery of Witches a bloodlessbore featuring vanilla vampires.
- Cath Clarke calls The Intergalactic Adventures of Max Cloud virtually pointless.
- Leslie Felperin calls Hunted a nifty and nasty Red Riding Hood retelling.
- Cath Clarke shares her thoughts on the science fiction movie Archive.
- Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya shares her thoughts on the latest episode of The Stand.
- Vikram Murthi shares his thoughts on the latest episode of Disenchantment.
- Andrea Johnson revisits the 1964 science fiction movie Robinson Crusoe on Mars.
- Jessica Holmes revisits the 1965/66 Doctor Who serial "The Daleks' Master Plan".
- Kris Vyas-Myall revisits the 1966 horror movies Dracula: Prince of Darkness and Plague of the Zombies.
- Peter Bradshaw revisits the 1983 horror movie Grizzly II: Revenge and finds it unbearable, in spite of a very young George Clooney and Laura Dern starring.
- Ralph Jones shares an oral history of the 1996 time travel movie Twelve Monkeys and interviews director Terry Gilliam as well as several crewmembers.
- Tom Breihan revisits the 2002 Spider-Man movie.
- Leyla Yvonne Ergil talks about the legacy of Turkish science fiction and superhero movies.
- George Bass interviews Franka Potente and Moritz Bleibtreu, the stars of the 1998 alternate reality crime movie Run, Lola, Run.
- Mitchell W. Maknis profiles voice actors David Sobolov and Ryan Colt Levy.
- Liz Shannon Miller reports that the Martian Manhunter was hiding in plain sight in Man of Steel and Batman versus Superman: Dawn of Justice all along, played by actor Harry Lennix.
- Natalie Zutter has some questions regarding the Disney+ adaptation of The Thief by Megan Whalen-Turner.
- Molly Templeton shares some casting news for season 3 of The Umbrella Academy.
- Germain Lussier shares some updates about the Marvel Cinematic and TV Universe.
- The BBC reports that a young Doctor Who fan from Saxmundham, UK, had been given a custom TARDIS doorframe by his parents.
- Arnold Schwarzenegger has a message for Donald Trump and all Americans and brandishes Conan's sword to reinforce it.
- Horror and action movie actress Julie Strain has died aged 58.
Comments on season 3 of Star Trek Discovery and Star Trek in general:
- Keith R.A. DeCandido shares his thoughts on "That Hope Is You, Part II", the season 3 finale of Star Trek Discovery.
- Zack Handlen shares his thoughts on "That Hope Is You, Part II".
- James Whitbrook shares his thoughts on "That Hope Is You, Part II".
- Camestros Felapton shares his thoughts on "That Hope Is You, Part II".
- Cora Buhlert shares her thoughts on "That Hope Is You, Part II".
- Adam Whitehead shares his thoughts on season 3 of Star Trek Discovery.
- Keith R.A. DeCandido offers an overview of season 3 of Star Trek Discovery.
- Kennedy Allen shares her appreciation for the character of Michael Burnham in Star Trek Discovery.
- Keith R.A. DeCandido revisits the Star Trek Voyager episode "Hope and Fear" and offers an overview of the fourth season of Star Trek Voyager.
- G.W. Thomas looks at possible inspirations for the 1967 Star Trek episode "The Gallileo Seven".
- Alvaro Zinos-Amaro reviews the Star Trek: Picard tie-in novel The Dark Veil by James Swallow.
Comments on The Mandalorian and Star Wars in general:
- Cheryl Morgan shares her thoughts on season 2 of The Mandalorian.
- Ian Prasad Philbrick reports about proliferation of Star Wars fan films, while Disney turns a blind eye.
- Adam Whitehead reports about the new official Star Wars timeline that Disney have released.
- Andrew Liptak shares some news about upcoming Star Wars projects.
Comments on Wonder Woman 1984:
- Marc Malkin interviews Gal Gadot who plays Diana in Wonder Woman 1984.
- Gal Gadot and Lynda Carter discuss the challenges of playing Wonder Woman.
- Ian Goodwillie shares a theory regarding the Dreamstone in Wonder Woman 1984.
- Ben Child reports that director Patty Jenkins did not have to deal with much studio interferences, while making Wonder Woman 1984.
- Mike Sampson reports that Warner Bros has launched a campaign to get Wonder Woman 1984 nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture.
Comments on WandaVision:
- Sam Barsanti declares that WandaVision unleashed the untapped weird power of the Marvel Cinematic and TV Universe.
- Gavia Baker-Whitelaw declares that Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany are pitch perfect in WandaVision.
- Stuart Heritage interviews Kevin Feige, producer of WandaVision and Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany, who play Wanda Maximoff a.k.a. Scarlet Witch and Vision in WandaVision.
- Jeandra LeBeauf interviews Elizabeth Olsen who plays Wanda Maximoff a.k.a. Scarlet Witch in WandaVision.
Comments on season 3 of American Gods:
- Ani Bundel shares her thoughts on the season 3 premiere of American Gods.
- Charles Pulliam-Moore shares his thoughts on the season 3 premiere of American Gods.
- Brian Silliman interviews Ricky Whittle who plays Shadow Moon in American Gods.
- Stephanie Chase and Neil Opie interview Neil Gaiman, on whose novel American Gods is based.
Comments on season 5 of The Expanse:
Comments on Outside the Wire:
Awards:
- The winners of the 2020 Wonderland Book Awards have been announced.
- The finalists for the 2021 Irish Comic News Awards have been announced.
- Nominations for the 2021 FAAn Awards are open.
- The recipients of the 2020 Horror Writers Association's diversity grants have been announced.
- The winners of the 2021 Helicon Awards have been announced.
- DisCon III, the 2021 Worldcon, has announced its Hugo-related policies to a lot of controversy.
- DisCon III retracts the controversial portions of their Hugo-related policies.
- The organisers of the Arthur C. Clarke Award are running a readers' survey.
- Andrea Hull declares that the new year is the perfect time to start writing.
- Beverley D'Silva explains why being creative is good for you.
- Sarah Gailey launches the Building Beyond project.
- David C. Smith explains why he writes.
- P.J. Tracy explains why people watching is a useful activity for writers.
- Lee Goldberg talks about the thrills of researching your fiction.
- The Emperor's Notepad shares some tips for writing dense description.
- G.W. Thomas shares Bob Tucker's not entirely serious tips for writing a weird tale from 1934 and debunks them point by point.
- Rosemary Claire Smith explains why you should write an eligibility post.
- Paul Kincaid points out that those writing criticism and non-fiction about SFF are often underpaid or not paid for their work at all.
- Carlyn Robertson offers a look at BookBub's best performing ads.of 2020.
- Jonathan Strahan reports that Ian Whates will be taking over the editorship of Interzone.
- Alison Flood reports that independent bookshops in the UK report the highest numbers since 2013, in spite of the pandemic.
- Mike Glyer shares an update about the status of Uncle Hugo's and Uncle Edgar's, the science fiction and mystery specialty bookshops burned down during the riots in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
- Mina Blyly-Strauss, daughter of Uncle Hugo's and Uncle Edgar's owner Don Blyly, has started the Uncles Stories project to collect stories from customers, authors and staff about the two beloved bookstores.
- Dave Doering reports about Book Island and VKomix, an SFF bookstore and a comic shop, on Reunion in the Indian Ocean.
- Jennifer Karr shares her thoughts on Little Free Libraries.
Interviews:
- Dave Doering interviews Brandon Sanderson.
- Paul Weimer interviews Melinda Snodgrass.
- Leah Schnelbach interviews Charles Yu.
- Marion Deeds interviews Marie Brennan and Alyc Helms a.k.a. M.A. Carrick.
- Locus interviews Andrea Hairston.
- The Guardian interviews Courttia Newland
- Crime Spree Magazine interviews Nick Mamatas.
- Kat Luria interviews Kayla Whittle.
- The Odyssey Writing Workshop interviews Gregory Ashe.
- Cora Buhlert interviews Gideon Marcus.
- Cora Buhlert interviews Christopher J. Garcia.
Reviews:
- Tadiana Jones reviews Blood Heir by Ilona Andrews.
- Adrienne Martini reviews Goldilocks by Laura Lam.
- Russell Letson reviews Pacific Storm by Linda Nagata.
- Bill Capossere reviews Remote Control by Nnedi Okorafor.
- Catherine Turnbull reviews The Captive by Deborah O'Connor.
- James Davis Nicoll reviews Soulstar by C.L. Polk.
- Kat Hooper reviews The Thousand Deaths of Ardor Benn by Tyler Whitesides.
- Mark Yon reviews Bear Head by Adrian Tchaikovsky.
- Runalong the Shelves reviews Bear Head by Adrian Tchaikovsky.
- Kat Hooper reviews The Doors of Eden by Adrian Tchaikovsky.
- Runalong the Shelves reviews All the Stars and Teeth by Adalyn Grace.
- Runalong the Shelves reviews The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo.
- Runalong the Shelves reviews Call of the Bone Ships by R.J. Barker.
- A.M. Justice reviews A Wind from the Wilderness by Suzannah Rowntree.
- Tim Scheidler reviews The Fires of Vengeance by Evan Winter.
- Paul Weimer reviews Give Way to the Night by Cass Morris.
- Bill Capossere and Tadiana Jones review Across the Green Grass Fields by Seanan McGuire.
- Alex Brown reviews Across the Green Grass Fields by Seanan McGuire.
- Blue Book Balloon reviews The Sunken Land Begins to Rise Again by M. John Harrison.
- Cheryl Morgan reviews Blackthorn Winter by Liz Williams.
- Gary K. Wolfe reviews The Evidence by Christopher Priest.
- Gary K. Wolfe reviews Reconstruction by Alaya Dawn Johnson.
- Doreen Sheridan reviews Bait and Witch by Angela M. Sanders.
- Runalong the Shelves reviews Conjure Women by Afia Atakora.
- LaShawn M. Wanak reviews Afro Puffs Are the Antennae of the Universe by Zig Zag Claybourne
- James Bacon reviews Ghosting by Debbie Jenkinson.
- Runalong the Shelves reviews A Tiding of Magpies by Pete W. Sutton.
- Runalong the Shelves reviews Where We Live by Tim Cooke.
- Sandy Ferber reviews The Women of Weird Tales, edited by Melanie Anderson.
- Doris V. Sutherland reviews MAGA 2020 and Beyond, edited by Jason Rennie.
- Paul Di Filippo reviews Yesterday’s Tomorrows: The Story of Classic British Science Fiction in 100 Books by Mike Ashley
- Karen Haber reviews Middle-earth Journeys in Myth and Legend by Donato Giancola
- Karen Haber reviews Art of Gary Gianni for George R.R. Martin’s Seven Kingdoms by Gary Gianni.
Classics reviews:
- James Reasoner revisits the 1927 horror thriller Seven Footprints to Satan by A. Merritt.
- James Malizewski revisits the 1928 horror story "Cool Air" by H.P. Lovecraft.
- Reviews from R'lyeh revisits the 1936 science fiction horror novella "At the Mountains of Madness" by H.P. Lovecraft.
- Howling Frog Books revisits the 1966 science fiction detective novel Watchers of the Dark by Lloyd Biggle Jr.
- Gideon Marcus revisits the February 1966 issue of Galaxy.
- Reißwolf revisits the 1966 science fiction short story "Day Million" by Frederik Pohl.
- Lexlingua revisits the 1967 science fiction novel Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny.
- Izzy Reads revisits the 1968 science fiction noir novel Do Androids Dream of Electronic Sheep? by Philip K. Dick.
- J.W. Wartick revisits the 1968 science fiction novel Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey.
- James Davis Nicoll revisits the 1970 science fiction novel Gallagher's Glacier by Walt and Leigh Richmond.
- Paul Fraser revisits "Lunatic at Large", a 1977 science fiction story by Ron Goulart.
- Sean Guynes revisits the 1980 portal fantasy The Beginning Place by Ursula K. Le Guin.
- Kat Hooper revisits the 1980 science fiction novel The Artificial Kid by Bruce Sterling.
- Reißwolf revisits the 1985 science fiction novella Sailing to Byzantium by Robert Silverberg.
- Paperback Warrior revisits the 1988 horror novel Breakdown by Ed Naha.
- Paul Fraser revisits "Coming of Age in Karhide", a 1995 science fiction story by Ursula K. Le Guin.
- Adri Joy revisits the 2005 science fiction vampire novel Fledgling by Octavia E. Butler.
Con and event reports:
- Cheryl Morgan reports about the virtual 37 1/4 SMOFCon.
- Dublin Comic Con in Dublin, Ireland, have cancelled their March event because of the ongoing corona pandemic, but hope that the August event will be able to go ahead as planned.
- Katherine Cowdrey reports that Publishers Weekly is launching the virtual US Book Show, a new book fair to replace the permanently cancelled Book Expo America.
- Take a video tour of the Robert E. Howard museum in Cross Plains, Texas.
Crowdfunding:
Science and technology:
- Brian Koberlein reports that the universe is 13.77 billion years old.
- George Dvorsky reports about KOI-5Ab, a triple-star exoplanet with a weird orbit.
- Sigal Samuel reports that citizen science is booming during the pandemic.
- Lauren Aratani reports that the CIA has released thousands of files about UFO sightings.
- Ellen Gutoskey reports that Massachusetts is looking for an official state dinosaur.
- Sloane MacRae reports that a fossil of a dinosaur sitting on a nest with eggs containing fossilized embryos had been found.
- Gwyn Conaway talks about the Art Noveau revival of the 1960s.
- Narinder S. Kapany, the father of fibre optics, has died aged 94.
Free online fiction:
- "Bast and Her Young" by Tegan Moore in Beneath Ceaseless Skies.
- "Daughters with Bloody Teeth" by Marika Bailey in Beneath Ceaseless Skies.
- "Answering the Questions You Might Have About the Kharbat" by Adam-Troy Castro in Lightspeed.
- "Deep Music" by Elly Bangs in Clarkesworld.
- "A House Full of Voices Is Never Empty" by Miyuki Jane Pinckard in Uncanny.
- "Last Stop on Route Nine" by Tanarive Due in Nightmare Magazine.
- "Love For Ashes" by Frances Ogamba in The Dark.
- "The Mirror of Longing" by Wen-yi Lee in Luna Station Quarterly.
- "Silhouettes of Souls" by Precious C.K. in Omenana.
- "Incense" by Megan Chee in Fantasy Magazine.
- "Dream Soft, Dream Big" by Hal Y. Zhang in Slate: Future Tense.
- "A Remembered Kind of Dream" by Rei Rosenquist in GigaNotoSaurus.
- "The Hard Spot in the Glacier" by An Owomoyela in Lightspeed.
- "Aqua Mirabilis" by Stephanie Chan in Anathema.
- "The Niddah" by Elana Gomel in Apex Magazine.
- "My Home, My Galaxy" by Tom Jolly in Daily Science Fiction.
- "Second Chances" by Diane Chattaway in Daily Science Fiction.
- "Echea" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch.
- "The Ghosts of Doodenbos" by Cora Buhlert.
Trailers and videos:
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