Speculative Fiction Links of the Week for May 14, 2021

It's time for the latest weekly round-up of interesting links about speculative fiction from around the web, this week with The Nevers, The Bad Batch and Star Wars in general, season 4 of The Handmaid's Tale, Jupiter's Legacy, Underground Railroad, the many iterations of Star Trek, Army of the Dead, Spiral, Oxygen and much more.

Speculative fiction in general:

• Lisa Tuttle offers a round-up of the best recent science fiction and fantasy novels. 
• Andrew Liptak shares fifteen recent science fiction books that had a lasting influence on the genre.
  
• Tor.com shares all the new horror and genre-bending books coming out in May. 
• Alex Brown shares young adult SFF coming out in May and June.
  
• James Davis Nicoll shares five science fiction books which take the long view of history.
  
• James Davis Nicoll shares five science fiction stories about rogue worlds. 
• James Davis Nicoll shares five science fiction stories about fictional planets plagued by climate extremes.
  
• Olav Rokne discusses the failure of science fiction to imagine organised labour.
• G.W. Thomas takes a look at John W. Campbell's Unknown and its legacy.
• Matthew Pungitore shares his appreciation for the works of Clark Ashton Smith in a two-part post.
• Sara Light-Waller shares her appreciation for the Paratime stories by H. Beam Piper.
  
• Brian Murphy shares his appreciation for the Bard sword and sorcery series by Keith Taylor.
• Noemi Arellano-Summer talks about society, class and the police in Tamora Pierce's Provost Dog trilogy. 
• Carmen Maria Machado points out that banning her domestic violence memoir In the Dream House will not protect anybody's children from violence. 
• Watch a video of the 2021 Tolkien lecture, delivered by Guy Gavriel Kay.
  
• Richard Halliwell, co-creator of Warhammer, has died aged 62.
  

 

Comics: 

• Joshua L.H. Burnett profiles comic strip artist and writer Alex Raymond, creator of Flash Gordon, Secret Agent X-9 and Rip Kirby. 
• Sam Leith interviews comics legend Barry Windsor.Smith. 
• Alison Flood reports that the Hergé estate has lost its lawsuit against artist Xavier Marabout over Tintin parodies.
  
• Comics artist John Paul Leon has died aged only 49.
  

 

Film and TV:

• Phil Hoad calls Undergods a visionary dystopian trilogy. 
• Ash Parrish explains what Yasuke means for black anime fans. 
• Benjamin Lee shares his thoughts on the horror movie The Unholy and declares that Satan continues to inspire terrible movies. 
• Andrew Liptak looks ahead at Intergalactic.
• Andrew Tejada shares his thoughts at the latest episodes of the DC superhero TV shows. 
  
• Allison Shoemaker shares her thoughts on the latest episode of Legends of Tomorrow. 
• Caroline Siede shares her thoughts on the latest episode of Supergirl. 
• Scott von Doviak shares his thoughts on the latest episode of The Flash.
  
• Paul Levinson shares his thoughts on the latest episode of Debris.
  
• Arturo Serrano shares his thoughts on the animated series Invincible. 
• James Whitbrook shares his thoughts on season 4 of the animated Castlevania series.
  
• Cath Clarke calls the animated film Maya the Bee 3: The Golden Orb a buzzfree disappointment.
  
• Scoot Allan tanks the ten most bizarre weapons in science fiction movies. 
• Charles Pulliam-Moore rewatches the 1954 monster movie Them!
  
• Kris Vyas-Myall revisits the 1966 spy film Modesty Blaise.
  
• Cheryl Eddy revisits the 1972 movie Horror Express. 
• Cheryl Eddy reports about the lost 1973 George Romero horror film The Amusement Park, which has been recently rediscovered and restored. 
• Tom Reimann revisits the 1981 science fiction film Outland.
  
• Andrew Crump revisits the 1998 horror movie Deep Rising and finds it better than its reputation. 
• Alexis Briscuso revisits the 2005 version of the horror film House of Wax and finds it better than its reputation. 
• Joe George profiles Vincent Price.
  
• Ben Child talks about moments in Disney movies which are problematic to modern viewers.
• Several Guardian writers share what annoys them about TV. 
• Nana Baah interviews the cast and crew of the 2011 alien invasion movie Attack the Block.
  
• Eva Wiseman interviews Toby Jones who appeared in the Harry Potter movies, Sherlock, the Captain America movies and much more. 
• Charles Bramesco interviews Vincent D'Onofrio, who appeared in Daredevil, The Cell, The Whole Wide World, Men in Black, Law and Order: Criminal Intent and many others. 
• Ben Child muses about Emily Blunt's reluctance to play Sue Storm in a proposed new Fantastic Four movie.
  
• Tatiana Tenreyro reports that Gal Gadot, who plays Wonder Woman in the DC movies, has said that Joss Whedon threatened her career during the reshoots for Justice League.
  
• Sirin Kale and Lucy Osborne report that there are more sexual harrassment allegations against actor and director Noel Clarke, best known for Doctor Who, Kidulthood and Bulletproof. 
• John Wolfe muses who might replace Cas Anvar in The Expanse, after the actors was fired over allegations of sexual misconduct. 
  
• Actress Tawny Kitaen, who appeared in several music videos as well as in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, has died aged 59. 
• Actor Norman Lloyd, who appeared in the Hitchcock thrillers Saboteur and Spellbound as well as in St. Elsewhere, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Murder She Wrote and countless other movies and TV shows, has died aged 106.
• File 770 remembers Norman Lloyd. 
  

 

Comments on The Bad Batch and Star Wars in general:

• Jarrod Jones shares his thoughts on "Cut and Run", the latest episode of The Bad Batch.
• James Whitbrook shares his thoughts on "Cut and Run".
• James Whitbrook interviews the cast and crew of The Bad Batch.
• James Whitbrook discusses some whitewashing concerns with The Bad Batch.
• Eric Betts declares that The Mandalorian is the Star Wars hero we need.
  

 

Comments on The Nevers: 

• Roxana Hadadi shares her thoughts on the latest episode of The Nevers. 
• Paul Levinson shares his thoughts on the latest episode of The Nevers.
• Zoe Williams interviews Olivia Williams, one of the stars of The Nevers.
• Marah Eakin interviews Nick Frost who plays the Beggar King in The Nevers.
  

 

Comments on season 4 of The Handmaid's Tale: 

• Ines Bellina shares her thoughts on the latest episode of The Handmaid's Tale. 
• Hillary Kelly shares her thoughts on the latest episode of The Handmaid's Tale.
  

 

Comments on Jupiter's Legacy:

• Lucy Mangan calls Jupiter's Legacy an action-packed but humourless superhero family saga.
• Danette Chavez declares that there is nothing super about Jupiter's Legacy.
• Arturo Serrano declares that Jupiter's Legacy wants to be the superhero genre's response to The Godfather, but is just godawful.
  
• Keith R.A. DeCandido calls Jupiter's Legacy a teeming mess of unfulfilled potential.
• Gavia Baker-Whitelaw calls Jupiter's Legacy a forgettable riff on the superhero genre.
• Chelsea Steiner wonders why the make-up and wigs are so terrible in Jupiter's Legacy.
• David Betancourt interviews Mike Millar, on whose comics Jupiter's Legacy is based.
  

Comments on Underground Railroad:

• Stephen Robinson calls Underground Railroad transcendent.
  
• Felice Leon interviews Barry Jenkins, showrunner of Underground Railroad.  
• Tim Adams also interviews Barry Jenkins. 
• Steve Rose interviews William Jackson Harper, one of the stars of Underground Railroad.

 

Comments on Star Trek in general:

• James Whitbrook revisits the 1996 Star Trek Voyager episode "Tuvix".
• Keith R.A. DeCandido revisits the Star Trek Voyager episodes "Dragon's Teeth" and "One Small Step".
• James Whitbrook interviews Gates McFadden who played Dr. Beverly Crusher in Star Trek: The Next Generation.
  

 

Comments on Army of the Dead:

• Peter Bradshaw calls Army of the Dead a wit-free and uninspired zombie splatterfest.
• A.A. Dowd calls Army of the Dead Zack Snyder's liberation from the dour DC superhero movies.
• Chelsea Steiner declares that Zack Snyder rediscovers fun in Army of the Dead.
• Charles Pulliam-Moore calls Army of the Dead emotionally overwrought but surprisingly enjoyable.
• Ian Sandwell interviews Dave Bautista, one of the stars of Army of the Dead who's best known for playing Drax in Guardians of the Galaxy. 
• Germain Lussier interviews Matthias Schweighöfer, one of the stars of Army of Dead. 
• Dan Reilly explains how Chris d'Elia was replaced by Tig Notaro in Army of the Dead, following allegations of sexual misconduct against d'Elia.
  

 

Comments on Oxygen:

• Katie Rife calls Oxygen a claustrophobic science fiction thriller. 
• Peter Bradshaw calls Oxygen a claustrophobic survival nightmare.
  

 

Comments on Spiral and the Saw franchise in general:

• Benjamin Lee calls the Saw reboot Spiral torturously bad.
• Katie Rife declares that Chris Rock brings some fresh blood to the worn out Saw series in Spiral. 
• Germain Lussier calls Spiral a gross but bland sequel. 
  
• Steve Rose traces the history of the Saw franchise and torture horror in general. 
• Germain Lussier interviews Darren Lynn Bousman, director of Spiral and several other Saw movies.
  

 

Awards: 

• The winners of the 2020 Cóyotl Awards have been announced. 
• The finalists for the 2021 Aurora Awards have been announced. 
• The longlist for the 2021 Nommo Awards has been announced.
  
• The finalists for the 2021 Premios Kelvin 505 have been announced.
  
• The shortlist for the 2020 Tähtifantasia Award has been announced.
• The finalists for the 2021 Prix Bob Morane have been announced. 
• The finalists for the 2020 and 2021 Robert E. Howard Foundation Awards have been announced.
  
• The longlist for the 2021 Phantastikpreis der Stadt Wetzlar has been announced. 
• The finalists for the 2021 Seraph Award have been announced. 
  
• The finalists for the 2021 Imadjinn Awards have been announced.
• The finalists for the 2021 Australian Fairy Tale Society Awards have been announced.
  
• The finalists for the 2021 Roswell Awards and Tomorrow Prize have been announced. 
• The finalists for the 2021 MTV Movie and TV Awards have been announced. 
• Dominic Patten reports that the Golden Globes will not be broadcast on US TV after concerns about the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. 

 

Writing, publishing and promotion:

• Leah Schnelbach shares her eighteen favourite books on writing. 
• Howard Linskey wonders why his standalone novels keep turning into series.
  
• Alan Hruska explains how to find the perfect audiobook narrator.
• Sarah Nicholas explains how much authors make per book.
  
• Luna Station Quarterly talks about terminating an agency agreement. 
  
• Mike Glyer reports that the Clarion Writing Workshop has been San Diego, California, has been postponed by another year.
• Mike Glyer reports that the #DisneyMustPay joint taskforce of several writers organisations is making headway. 
• Kat Smith explains why she had deleted Goodreads.
  
• Publishers Weekly reports that sales of print books have risen in April.
  
• Elizabeth Stamp offers a look at some beautifully designed independent bookstores around the world.
  

Interviews:

• Scott Edelman interviews Aliette de Bodard.
• Locus interviews Nnedi Okorafor.
• Elizabeth Tabler interviews Sarah Pinsker.
  
• Runalong the Shelves interviews Angela Slatter. 
• The New York Times interviews Stacey Abrams. 
• Runalong the Shelves interviews Alison Littlewood. 
• C.T. Phipps interviews Blake Howard.
  
• Ezra Klein interviews Ted Chiang. 
• The Odyssey Writing Workshop interviews David Brin.
  
• Anthony Cummins interviews Curtis Sittenfeld. 
• Runalong the Shelves interviews Joseph Elliott Coleman.
  
• Andrea Johnson interviews A.K. Hudson.
• Veronica Henry interviews J.L. Jones.
• Cat Luria interviews K.A. Tutin.
• Joe Siclari interviews 98-year-old SFF fan and publisher Erle Korshak, one of only two surviving members of the first Worldcon in 1939.
  

Reviews:

• Marion Deeds reviews Victories Greater Than Death by Charlie Jane Anders. 
• LaShawn M. Wanak reviews We Are Satellites by Sarah Pinsker.
  
• Mark Yon reviews Day Zero by C. Robert Cargill. 
• Alex Brown reviews A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark. 
• Adri Joy reviews Son of the Storm by Suyi Davies Okungbowa. 
• Leah Schnelbach reviews Piranesi by Susanna Clarke.
  
• Bill Capossere reviews Copper Road by Marion Deeds. 
• Joe Sherry reviews Axiom's End by Lindsay Ellis, Angel of the Underpass by Seanan McGuire and The Dispatcher by John Scalzi. 
• Runalong the Shelves reviews Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon.
  
• Paul Weimer reviews Water Horse by Melissa Scott.  
• Blue Book Balloon reviews Lycanthropy and Other Chronic Illnesses by Kristen O'Neal.
  
• Linda H. Codega reviews Rule of Wolves by Leigh Bardugo.
  
• Blue Book Balloon reviews The Mask of Mirrors by M.A. Carrick. 
• Katharine Coldiron reviews These Lifeless Things by Premee Mohamed. 
• Adrian Collins reviews Blood Sacrifice by Peter McLean.
  
• Alex Brown reviews On This Unworthy Scaffold by Heidi Heilig.
  
• James Davis Nicoll reviews In the Watchful City by S. Qiouyi Lu.
  
• Alex Brown and Colleen Mondor reviews Written in Starlight by Isabel Ibañez. 
• Gary K. Wolfe reviews On Fragile Waves by E. Lily Yu. 
• Runaling the Shelves reviews Hummingbird Salamander by Jeff VanderMeer.
• Blue Book Balloon reviews Hummingbird Salamander by Jeff VanderMeer. 
• Colleen Mondor reviews Kingston and the Magician's Lost and Found by Rucker Moses and Theo Gangi.
  
• Marion Deeds reviews Oddity by Eli Brown. 
• Paul di Filippo reviews Unity by Elly Bangs. 
• Justine Jordan reviews The Employees by Olga Ravn. 
• Bill Capossere reviews Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro. 
  
• Ian Mond reviews Rabbit Island by Elvira Navarro. 
• Angela Maria Spring reviews The Rock Eaters by Brenda Peynado.
  
• Amy Goldschlager reviews The Witch in the Almond Tree and Other Stories by C.S.E. Cooney. 
• Paul Di Filippo reviews The Best of Harry Turtledove by Harry Turtledove. 
  
• Alvaro Zinos-Amaro reviews Michael Bishop and the Persistence of Wonder: A Critical Study of the Writings by Joe Sanders. 

Classics reviews:

• James Maliszewski revisits the 1904 ghost story "The White People" by Arthur Machen. 
• Sandy Ferber revisits the 1931 planetary romance Into Plutonian Depths by Stanton A. Coblentz.
  
• Sean Eaton revisits the 1933 horror story "Genius Loci" by Clark Ashton Smith.
  
• Brian Murphy revisits the 1933 time travel/reincarnation story "Marchers of Valhalla" by Robert E. Howard. 
• Jeff Pike revisits the 1938 horror story "Pigeons from Hell" by Robert E. Howard.
  
• Eric E. Smith revisits the 1948 Zotique fantasy story "The Master of Crabs" by Clark Ashton Smith. 
• Benjamin Espen revisits the 1958 time travel novel The Time Traders and its 1959 sequel Galactic Derelict by Andre Norton.
• Joachim Boaz revisits the 1962 science fiction story "The Cage of Sand" by J.G. Ballard.
  
• Kris Vyas-Myall revisits the 1966 post-apocalyptic novel The Symmetrians by Kenneth Harker.
  
• John Boston reviews the June 1966 issue of Amazing Stories. 
• Gideon Marcus revisits the June 1966 issue of Galaxy. 
• Joe Kenney revisits the 1972 dytopian novel The World Inside by Robert Silverberg.
  
• Alan Brown revisits the 1975 fantasy collection The Compleat Enchanter: The Magical Misadventures of Harold Shea by L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt.
• James Davis Nicoll revisits the 1980 science fiction novel Dragon's Egg by Robert L. Forward. 
• C.T. Phipps revisits the 1982 vampire novel Fevre Dream by George R.R. Martin.
  
• James Davis Nicoll revisits the 1983 science fiction novel Helliconia Summer by Brian Aldiss.
• James Davis Nicoll revisits the 1984 alien invasion novel A Day for Damnation by David Gerrold. 
  
• Emmet Asher-Perrin revisits the 1990 Discworld novel Eric by Terry Pratchett.
• Judith Tarr revisits the 1990 fantasy novel Dare to Go A-Hunting by Andre Norton.
  

Con and event reports:

• Mike Glyer reports that the 2022 Corflu convention will take place in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. 
• The 2021 Wiscon will still be virtual due to the pandemic.
  
• Mike Glyer shares an update about Jon Del Arroz's lawsuit against Worldcon 76 in San José, California.
• Mike Glyer also reports that Jon Del Arroz's lawsuit against Worldcon 76 will go to trial.
• Lidia Molina-Whyte reports that John Barrowman has been removed from the Doctor Who: Time Fracture interactive live event following complaints of sexual misconduct against fellow Doctor Who star Noel Clarke.
  

 

Crowdfunding:

• The Chase, a new novel in the Diving Universe by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, is looking for funding.
  

 

Science and technology:

• Mike Wall reports that a Chinese Long March 5B rocket booster has fallen into the Indian ocean.
  
• George Dvorsky reports that fallout from nuclear tests during the Cold War is still contaminating US honey.
  
• David Farrier explains how modern cities will fossilise and what future archaeologists will find.
  
• George Dvorsky reports that archaeologists have managed to identify a member of the doomned 1845 Franklin expedition using forensic techniques.

Free online fiction:

• "The Palace in the Moonlight" by Howard Andrew Jones in Lightspeed. 
• "Carnivores" by Rich Larson in Lightspeed.
  
• "The Census Faces Unusual Challenges on Audvarn-3" by Jo Miles in Fireside Magazine. 
• "The Adopt a Zombie Program" by Sophia Thimmes in Luna Station Quarterly.
  
• "The Life and Death of Mia Fremont: An Interview with a Killer" by A.K. Hudson in Apex Magazine. 
• "Taking Control of Your Life in Five Easy Steps" by P.H. Lee in Nightmare Magazine.
  
• "Vanishing Point" by Robert V.S. Redick in Clarkesworld. 
• "The Force Exerted on the Mass of a Body" by Bo Balder in Clarkesworld. 
• "The Sweetest Source" by J.L. Jones in Fantasy Magazine. 
  
• "A Pall of Moondust" by Nick Wood in Omenana.
  
• "Heard, Half-Heard in the Stillness" by Iona Datt Sharma in Anathema Magazine.
  
• "Of Claw and Bone" by Suzan Palumbo in The Dark. 
• "Blood in the Thread" by Cheri Kamei in Tor.com.
  
• "The Kite Maker" by Brenda Peynado in Tor.com. 
• "Unseelie Brothers, Ltd." by Fran Wilde in Uncanny Magazine.
• "House Hunting" by Lisa Mason in Daily Science Fiction.
• "The Trap" by Matt Cowan in Daily Science Fiction.
  

 

Trailers and videos: 

• Watch a trailer for Venom: Let There Be Carnage.
  
• Watch a trailer for Intergalactic. 
• Watch a trailer for The Green Knight. 
• Watch a trailer for volume 2 of Love, Death + Robots. 
• Watch a trailer for SOLOS.
  
• Watch the announcement for Muppets Haunted Mansion.
  
• Watch a teaser for season 4 of Stranger Things. 
• Watch another teaser for season 4 of Stranger Things.
• Watch a trailer for Lisey's Story. 
• Watch a trailer for The Legend of King Kong.
  
• Watch a trailer for Spiral: Saw.
• Watch a trailer for The Forever Purge.
• Watch a trailer for Wish Dragon.