Speculative Fiction Links of the Week for May 28, 2021

 

It's time for the latest weekly round-up of interesting links about speculative fiction from around the web, this week with The Bad Batch and Star Wars in general, the Marvel Cinematic Universe in general, the various DC Comics based TV shows, the many iterations of Star Trek, Solos, Army of the Dead, A Quiet Place Part II, season 4 of The Handmaid's Tale, Cruella, John Steinbeck's lost werewolf murder mystery, Amazon purchasing MGM and much more.

Speculative fiction in general:

• Liz Bourke recommends some recent SFF books by female authors.
  
• Salman Rushdie talks about the magic of stories. 
• Cherry Pickett asks if romance and science fiction can coexist. 
• Nicole Kornher-Stace shares five SFF books that take friendship as seriously as romance.
  
• James Davis Nicoll shares five science fiction tales about aliens trying to reshape the Earth. 
• Lavie Tidhar and Silvia Moreno-Garcia discuss SFF works with circus settings.
  
• Shea Ernshaw shares five SFF books based on real world folklore. 
• Zen Cho shares six SFF books about gods and pantheons.
  
• Nicole Jarvis shares five historical fantasies not set in New York or London. 
• Liselle Sambury shares seven YA fantasies featuring magical black girl protagonists.
  
• Ratika Deshpande shares her appreciation for the Stormlight Archives series by Brandon Sanderson.
  
• Deuce Richardson shares his appreciation for the works of Gardner F. Fox for his 110th birthday. 
• Lucy Northrup discusses the women in Edgar Allan Poe's life. 
  
• Sam Weller chronicles how the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918/19 impacted the family of Ray Bradbury, who was born in 1920. 
• Matt Mikalatos explains how The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis introduced him to other books he loves.
  
• Dalya Alberge reports that Murder at Full Moon, a werewolf mystery written by John Steinbeck in 1930, has beem discovered in an archive. 
• Vanessa Willoughby also reports about John Steinbeck's lost werewolf murder mystery Murder at Full Moon.  
• Alexandra Penth profiles Cora Buhlert. (cached version)
  
• Johanna Thomas-Corr wonders whether literature and the publishing industry are becoming overly dominated by women. 
• ABE Books shares one hundred novels to read in a lifetime.
  
• Journalist David Farrier recounts how he not only inspired a Chuck Tingle tale, but even ended up modelling for the cover.
• David Yoon talks about the difficulty of separating the art from the artist.
• Wealthy collectors can bid on a copy of The Shadow No. 1, a complete run of Doc Savage and Weird Tales issues from Margaret Brundage's personal collection among others at an online auction at Heritage Auctions.   
• Long time science fiction fan Marty Helgesen has died aged 82. 
• Children's books author and illustrator Eric Carle, creator of The Very Hungry Caterpillar, has died aged 91. 
• Alison Flood shares tributes to Eric Carle.
  

 

Comics and Art: 

• Marcus Goh profiles Marvel Comics artist Alan Quah.
  
• Eric Diaz ranks the many costumes Batgirl has worn over the decades. 
• Rachel Cooke reviews the graphic novel Stone Fruit by Lee Lai.
  
• Deuce Richardson shares his appreciation for the art of Ken Kelly. 
• Benjamin Marra shares a series of drawings of the Arthurian legends by Burne Hogarth. 
• Unquiet Things takes a look at the psychedelic book cover art of Gene Szafran. 
• Heavy Metal Magazine shares Bob Peak's posters for the 1981 fantasy film Excalibur. 
• James Whitbrook reports that the joint "Disney Must Pay" task force of various writers' organisations is also working with the comics publisher Boom Studios regarding unpaid royalties for various licensed comics.
  

 

Film and TV:

• Alex McLevy calls Sweet Tooth magical, but fears that it will suffer from having a pandemic storyline.
  
• Angelica Jade Bastien calls The Underground Railroad the filmic event of the year. 
• Leah Schnelbach shares her thoughts on Soul and finds parallels to the Lil Nas X music video "Montero".
  
• Leslie Felperin calls Demon Slayer The Movie: Kugen Train an anime fever dream. 
• Cath Clarke calls Earwig and the Witch a disappointing venture into CGI animation by Studio Ghibli.
  
• Cheryl Eddy calls Skull: The Mask a delight for fans of splatter horror. 
• Paul Levinson shares his thoughts on the season 1 finale of Debris.
  
• Dan Persons shares ten filmic zombie comedies that won't rot your brain. 
• William Parker shares the favourite horror movies of all US states.
  
• Vance Kotrla takes a look at the science fiction and horror movies of the 1930s.
  
• Leah Schnelbach revisits the 1930 afterlife movie Outward Bound and its 1944 remake Between Two Worlds. 
• Leah Schnelbach revisits the 1941 afterlife comedy Here Comes Mr. Jordan as well as its 1946 remake Angel on My Shoulder, its 1978 remake Heaven Can Wait and its 2001 remake Down to Earth. 
• Leah Schnelbach revisits the 1943 afterlife comedy Heaven Can Wait and the 1946 afterlife romance A Matter of Life and Death.
  
• Jessica Holmes revisits the 1966 Doctor Who serial "The Gunfighters". 
• Erica Frank revisits the 1966 Batman TV series.
  
• Leah Schnelbach revisits the 1991 afterlife comedy Defending Your Life, the 1998 afterlife melodrama What Dreams May Come and the 2006 afterlife romance Wristcutters: A Love Story. 
• Jesse Hassenger revisits the 1997 deal with the devil movie Devil's Advocate.
  
• Paul Weimer revisits the 2003 alternate history movie Masked and Anonymous. 
  
• Keith Roysdon revisits the 2004 TV show Lost. 
• Alex Godfrey revisits the 2015 robot movie Chappie and finds it better than its reputation. 
• Perri Nemiroff interviews Hannah Waddingham who played Septa Unella in Game of the Thrones and reports about being waterboarded on set. 
• Alex McLevy interviews Simon Barrett, director and writer of Seance. 
• Ben Child wonders about an odd portrayal of the Riddler in the upcoming movie The Batman. 
• Stuart Heritage analyses the many pop culture references to SFF films in the speech Boris Johnson's former chief strategist Dominic Cummings held in the UK House of Commons. 
  
• Andrew Liptak reports that Apple TV is planning to adapt Hugh Howey's Wool. 
• Hugh Howey weighs in on the Wool TV show.
  
• Justin Kroll reports that Henry Cavill may star in a new Highlander movie. 
• Peter Bradshaw reports that Amazon has purchased MGM, giving it the license for the James Bond movies and others. 
• J. Kingston Pierce reports about Amazon's takeover of MGM and what this means for the James Bond series.
  
• Actor and singer Samuel E. Wright, best known for providing the voice of Sebastian the Crab in Disney's take on The Little Mermaid, has died aged 74.
  

 

Comments on The Bad Batch and Star Wars in general:

• Jarrod Jones shares his thoughts on "Cornered", the latest episode of The Bad Batch. 
• James Whitbrook shares his thoughts on "Cornered". 
• Adam Chitwood reports that J.J. Abrams has finally figured out that it would have been better to have a plan for the Star Wars sequel trilogy.
  
• Sam Sanders interviews John Boyega, who played Finn in the Star Wars sequel trilogy. 
• Leonard Maltin interviews Ben Burtt, sound designer on the Star Wars movies and many other science fiction classics.
  
• Adam B. Vary reports that Dave Filoni has been promoted to executive creative director for all of Lucasfilm.
• Germain Lussier reports that the Rangers of the New Republic TV show has been put on hold, following the firing of Gina Carano.
• Haley Lindes reports about Disney World's new Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser hotel.
  

 

Comments on the Marvel Cinematic Universe in general:

• Chancellor Agard profiles Tom Hiddleston, star of Loki. 
• Ebenezer Samuel interviews Simu Liu, who will play Shang Chi in Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
  
• Marc Malkin interviews Sebastian Stan who plays Bucky Barnes a.k.a. the Winter Soldier in the Marvel movies. 
• Sam Barsanti reports that Oscar Isaac will be playing Marc Spector a.k.a. Moon Knight in an upcoming Marvel TV show.
  
• Watch a trailer for Eternals.
  

 

Comments on the various DC Comics based TV Shows:

• Andrew Tejada shares his thoughts on the latest episodes of the various DC superhero shows.
  
• Allison Shoemaker shares her thoughts on the latest episode of Legends of Tomorrow.
• Kyle Fowle shares his thoughts on the series finale of Black Lightning.
• Charles Pulliam-Moore was underwhelmed by the series finale of Black Lightning. 
• Scott von Doviak shares his thoughts on the latest episode of The Flash. 
• Caroline Siede shares her thoughts on the latest episode of Superman and Lois.
  
• Andrew Tejada declares that Batwoman should focus more on the law enforcement issues it raises.
  

 

Comments on Star Trek in general:

• Livian Yeh explains what the character of Keiko O'Brien from Star Trek: The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine taught her about belonging. 
• Zoe Sadozai Malik explains how love changed the character of Worf.
  
• Victoria Zelvin declares that the 2009 Star Trek movie did not need to kill off Amanda Grayson.
• James Whitbrook shares his thoughts on the documentary Woman in Motion: Nichelle Nichols, Star Trek and the Remaking of NASA.
• Keith R.A. DeCandido revisits the Star Trek Voyager episodes "Fair Haven" and "Blink of an Eye".
  
• Valerie Complex reports that Tig Notaro will reprise the role of Jett Reno in season 4 of Star Trek Discovery.
  

 

Comments on season 4 of The Handmaid's Tale: 

• Abigail Nussbaum shares her thoughts on the latest episodes of The Handmaid's Tale.
• Ines Bellina shares her thoughts on the latest episode of The Handmaid's Tale.
  

 

Comments on Army of the Dead:

• Camestros Felapton remarks that Army of the Dead is actually a watchable Zack Snyder film, in spite of inappropriate music use. 
• Valerie Complex declares that Army of the Dead starts off well, but falls apart in the third act.
  
• Ian Simmons finds Army of the Dead derivative. 
• Leah Schnelbach finds Army of the Dead a bit too overstuffed for her tastes. 
• Charles Pulliam-Moore discusses a disturbing and tragic moment in Army of the Dead. 
• Sam Barsanti explains why there are dead pixels in some scenes of Army of the Dead.
  
• Inspired by Army of the Dead, Guy Lodge takes a look at the best zombie movies available for streaming.
• Vanity Fair interviews Zack Snyder, director of Army of the Dead.
• Marah Eakin interviews Omari Hardwick, one of the stars of Army of the Dead.
  

 

Comments on Solos:

• Jack Seale calls the anthology series Solos a dystopian dud. 
  
• Matt Hurwitz shares his thoughts on Solos.
• Janelle Okwodu takes a look at Solos and particularly at Helen Mirren's Christian Dior designed wardrobe.
• Marah Eakin interviews Constance Wu, one of the stars of Solos.
• Marah Eakin interviews Nicole Beharie, another one of the stars of Solos.
  

 

Comments on A Quiet Place Part II: 

• Marah Eakin interviews John Krasinski, director of A Quiet Place Part II.
• Marah Eakin interviews Emily Blunt, star of A Quiet Place Part II.
• Marah Eakin interviews Millicent Simmonds, another of the stars of A Quiet Place Part II.
• Steve Weintraub also interviews Millicent Simmonds.
• Marah Eakin interviews Cillian Murphy and Djimon Hounsou who also appear in A Quiet Place Part II.
  

 

Comments on Cruella:

• Charles Pulliam-Moore feels that Cruella's attempt to redeem the 101 Dalmatians villainess doesn't quite work. 
• Danny Leigh praises Cruella for recalling the DIY aesthetics of the early female designers of the punk movement. 
• Katie Rife calls Cruella stylish and chaotic, just like its protagonist. 

Awards: 

• The winners of the 2020 Bram Stoker Awards have been announced. 
• The finalists for the 2021 Premios Ignotus have been announced.
  
• The winners of the 2021 Roswell Award have been announced. 
• The winners of the 2021 Tomorrow Prize and Green Feather Award have been announced.
  
• The finalists for the 2021 Neffy Awards have been announced.
• The candidates for the 2021 Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off have been announced.
• Voting is open for the 2021 Hugo Awards.
  

 

Writing, publishing and promotion:

• Shanna Swendson shares one key question to ask before you start writing.
  
• Calvin Fisher explains what's important to get right on the first draft.
• Rafe Posey explains that writing a novel can be like decrypting a cipher.
• Rayne Hall explains how to keep a short story short.
• Janice Hardy explains how to make sense out of character wants and needs.
• Max Allan Collins recounts how the International Association of Media Tie-In Writers came to be.
• Kristine Kathryn Rusch talks about fear-based decision making in the publishing, film and TV industries.
  

Interviews:

• Emily Inkpen interviews Gareth L. Powell.
  
• Scott Edelman interviews Nino Cipri. 
• The Qwillery interviews Nicole Jarvis.
  
• The Qwillery interviews Sarina Dahlan.
  
• The Qwillery interviews Sammy H.K. Smith. 
  
• Phoebe Barton interviews Anya Leigh Josephs.
  
• The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction interviews Stephanie Kraner.
  
• Janna Miller interviews Hayli McClain.
• David Barr Kirtley interviews F. Brett Cox.
• Lisa Morton interviews Benjamin Rubin and Adam Hart.
  

Reviews:

• Adrienne Martini reviews The Galaxy and the Ground Within and A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers. 
• Liz Bourke reviews Hold Fast Through the Fire by K.B. Wagers.
  
• Gary K. Wolfe reviews Chaos on CatNet by Naomi Kritzer.
  
• Paul di Filippo reviews We Are Satellites by Sarah Pinsker. 
• Molly Templeton reviews We Are Satellites by Sarah Pinsker.
  
• Arturo Serrano reviews We Are Satellites by Sarah Pinsker. 
• Adrienne Martini reviews Paladin's Strength by T. Kingfisher.
  
• Camestros Felapton reviews Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse.
  
• Kat Hooper reviews Star Daughter by Shveta Thakrar. 
• Gary K. Wolfe reviews The Return of the Sorceress by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. 
• Vanessa Armstrong reviews The Kingdoms by Natasha Pulley.
  
• Amy Goldschlager reviews The Tower of Fools by Andrzej Sapkowski, translated by David A. French.
  
• Anthony R. Cardno reviews A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark.
• James Davis Nicoll reviews Dr. Marvellus Djinn’s Odd Scholars by B. Sharise Moore.
• Vanessa Armstrong reviews The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman. 
• Rob Bedford reviews The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman.
  
• Blue Book Balloon reviews The Broken God by Gareth Hanrahan. 
• Liz Bourke reviews The Lights of Prague by Nicole Jarvis. 
  
• Marion Deeds reviews The Album of Dr. Moreau by Daryl Gregory. 
• Runalong the Shelves reviews The Book of Disappearance by Ibtisam Azem, translated by Simon Antoon. 
• Paul Weimer reviews Reset by Sarina Dahlan.
  
• Paula Guren reviews The Bridge by J.S. Breukelaar. 
• Runalong the Shelves reviews Bridge of Souls by Victoria Schwab.
  
• For Winter Nights reviews Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. 
• Angela Maria Spring reviews Honeycomb by Joanne M. Harris.
  
• Adri Joy reviews The Blue-Spangled Blue by David Bowles.
• Kat Hooper reviews Riot Baby by Tochi Onyebuchi.
• Ian Mond reviews Peaces by Helen Oyeyemi.
• Brad Hawley reviews The Crossroads at Midnight by Abby Howard.
• Charles Gramlich reviews The Lost Empire of Sol, edited by Scott Oden.
• Arley Sorg reviews Black Sci-Fi Short Stories, edited by Tia Ross.
  

Classics reviews:

• James Maliszweski revisits the 1923 planetary romance The Moon Maid by Edgar Rice Burroughs.
  
• Bobby Derie revisits the 1930 science fiction horror story "A Million Years After" by Katherine Metcalf Roof. 
• Bobby Derie revisits the 1933 Northwest Smith story "Shambleau" by C.L. Moore. 
• Sandy Ferber revisits the 1933 time travel novel The Man From Tomorrow by Stanton A. Coblentz. 
• Steve J. Wright revisits the June 1943 issue of Unknown. 
  
• Joachim Boaz revisits the 1951 science fiction story "Star Bride" by Anthony Boucher.
  
• Mark Yon revisits the June 1966 issues of New Worlds and Impulse. 
• Paul Fraser revisits the 1967 science fiction story "Full Sun" by Brian W. Aldiss. 
• Paul Fraser revisits the 1968 anthology World's Best Science Fiction, edoted by Donald A. Wollheim and Terry Carr. 
• Alan Brown revisits the 1969 post-apocalyptic novel Damnation Alley by Roger Zelazny.
  
• Judith Tarr revisits the 1972 science fantasy collection Spell of the Witch World by Andre Norton. 
• Joe Kenney revisits the 1973 science fiction anthology Infinity Five, edited by Robert Hoskins.
  
• James Davis Nicoll reviews the 1978 historical horror thriller Poe Must Die by Marc Olden.
• James Davis Nicoll revisits the 1987 fantasy series Arrows of the Queen by Mercedes Lackey.
• James Davis Nicoll revisits the 1989 anthology The Year's Best Science Fiction, edited by Gardner Dozois.
  

Con and event reports:

• James Bacon reports about the latest edition of the London Comics Mart, which took place in person in London, UK.
  
• Kalimac's Corner reports about the virtual International Congress on Medieval Studies and its adjacent Tolkien conference.
  
• Sheryl DeVore reports about a virtual tour of the Ray Bradbury Museum in Waukegan, Illinois.
• The American Writers Museum also hosts a virtual Ray Bradbury exhibition.
• The MIT in Cambridge, Massachussetts, offers a class on "Inhabitating 21st Century Science Fiction".
• Watch a video of Rachel Bloom singing "Seasons of Love" in Klingon at Renovation, the 2011 Worldcon in Reno, Nevada.
  

 

Crowdfunding:

• The Sanctuary of Santa Faustina, a science fiction graphic novel by David Lindgren and several artists, is looking for funding.
• Critical Hit, a supernatural gaming mystery by W.M. Akers, is looking for funding.
• Once More Into the Void, a science fiction roleplaying game by Jason Pitre, is looking for funding.
  

 

Science and technology:

• Deng Xiaoci and Cao Siqi report about the mission of the Chinese Zhurong Mars rover. 
• Jody Serrano reports that Virgin Galactic's VSS Unity spacecraft has completed its first test flight in two years. 
• Andy Couts shares some photos of the Super Flower Blood Moon eclipse.
  
• George Dvorsky explains how an artificial superintelligence might actually destroy humanity.
  
• Jed S. Rakoff wonders about the moral implications of using algorithms to determine prison sentences based on the likelihood to reoffend. 
• Katie Engelhart explains what robots can and can't do for the elderly and the lonely. 
• George Dvorsky reports that baby Tasmanian devils have been born on the Australian mainland for the first time in 3000 years. 
  
• Isaac Schulz reports about some remarkable fossils found in a fossilised forest near San Francisco, California.
  
• Elizabeth Rayne reports that crinoids, a prehistoric undersea coral thought to be extinct, have been found very much alive. 
• Elizabeth Rayne reports that the face of an 8000-year-old skull found stuck on a pike in Motala, Sweden, has been reconstructed.
• The BBC reports that the body of a missing man has been found inside a dinosaur statue in Santa Coloma de Gramenet, Spain.
• Emily Midorikawa profiles the Victorian sisters Margaretta and Catherine Fox who went from mediums and spiritualism debunkers.  
• Research librarian and astronomy expert Ruth Freitag has died aged 96.
  

Free online fiction:

• "A Star for Every Word Unspoken" by Kai Hudson in Clarkesworld. 
• "Spore" by Tang Fei, translated by Andy Dudak in Clarkesworld. 
• "By Our Own Hands" by Anya Leigh Josephs in Fantasy Magazine.
  
• "Throw Rug" by Aurelius Raines II in Apex Magazine. 
• "Bones in It" by Kristina Ten in Lightspeed. 
• "Saudade" by Nelson Rolon in Lightspeed.
  
• "Hubris' Nest" by J.V. Gachs in Luna Station Quarterly.
  
• "The 21 Bus Line" by Gabriela Santiago in The Dark. 
  
• "Lost Between the Plates" by Benjamin Abbott in Daily Science Fiction.
• "Lead With 'The Dog Lives'" by Meg Candelaria in Daily Science Fiction.
  
• "What's in a Name?" by Sarah G. Matthews in Daily Science Fiction.
  
• "Not Mature Enough for That" by Michael Collard in Daily Science Fiction. 
• "Julia, Forever" by Eugie Foster in Nightmare Magazine.
  
• "Pinafore" by Mae Chong in Anathema.
• "Familiar Territory" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch.
  

 

Trailers and videos: 

• Watch a trailer for Last Night in Soho. 
• Watch a trailer for Gunpowder Milkshake. 
• Watch a trailer for The Tomorrow War. 
• Watch a trailer for Werewolves Within.
• Watch a trailer for Jungle Cruise.
  
• Watch a trailer for Trese. 
• Watch a trailer for The Lost Symbol. 
  
• Watch a trailer for season 5 of Rick and Morty.