Speculative Fiction Links of the Week for November 26, 2021

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 books of 2021, Foundation, Dune, Hawkeye, Spider-Man: No Way Home and the Marvel Cinematic Universe in general, Star Trek Discovery and  Star Trek in general, Doctor Who, the various DC Comics based TV shows, the live action Cowboy Bebop, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, The Wheel of Time, Hellbound, the unionisation efforts in the comic industry and elsewhere and much more.

Speculative fiction in general:

• Lincoln Michel asks who, if anybody, invented science fiction.
  
• A.K. Larkwood shares seven excellent escapist adventure fantasy books. 
• Tor.com shares ten expansive SFF worlds to explore.
  
• Cole Rush shares five SFF books about embracing found family.
  
• K.T. Howard shares some M/M SFF books to add to your to be read pile.
• Beth Cato talks about the fantastical food of fantasy fiction.
• Joe McDermott talks about worldbuilding and how labour intensive food production was in pre-modern times.
• Alex Clark explains why 2021 is a great year for African writing.
• Alex P. Lipinski discusses four types of literary horror that hold up. 
• Bethany C. Morrow shares the best books she never actually finished.
  
• Julia Nováková discusses how science fiction authors view the greatest scientific challenges of our time.
  
• Iain McIntyre and Andrew Nette talk about the impact the New Wave had on the SFF genre in the 1960s and 1970s.
  
• Brian Murphy talks about the bad reputation sword and sorcery had in the late 1970s and early 1980s. 
• Bill Ward shares his appreciation for the Northwest Smith planetary romance stories by C.L. Moore.
  
• G.W. Thomas revisits the forgotten ghosthunter Dr. John Dale, who was created by Edmond Hamilton, and appeared in Weird Tales in the early 1930s.
• Yair Rosenberg explains how Harry Potter was translated into Yiddish. 
• Douglas A. Anderson profiles forgotten fantasy and adventure fiction writer Arthur McArthur.
• Warhammer 40000 feels the need to point out that the Imperium may be driven by hate, but Warhammer is not.
• Dawn Ennis reports that J.K. Rowling has been doxxed on Twitter in response to her repeated transphobic remarks.
• Alison Flood reports that the Tolkien estate has blocked a Tolkien inspired cryptocurrency.
  

Best of 2021:

• NPR share their favourite science fiction and fantasy books of 2021.
  
• BookPage share their favourite science fiction and fantasy books of 2021.
• Indigo shares its favourite books of 2021, including several genre novels.
  

 

Comics and Art:

• Brad Hawley reviews A Gift for a Ghost by Borja Gonzalez. 
• Locus interviews SFF artist Tehani Farr.
• Michael Cavna profiles cartoonist Ray Billingsley.
• R.C. Harvey profiles cartoonist Bill Mauldin.
• Tom Devlin interviews comic creator Brecht Evens.
• Graeme McMillan wonders whether Image staff unionising will mean more unions in the comics industry.
• Charles Pulliam-Moore attempts to explain why comic book creators are so reluctant to unionise.
  

 

Film and TV:

• David V. Stewart has mixed feelings about Dune.  
• Phil Hoad calls Shepherd an isolation horror film set on a Scottish island. 
• Cath Clarke calls A Boy Called Christmas a charming and big-hearted holiday fantasy. 
• Charles Bramesco declares that Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City lacks even the stupid majesty of the previous Resident Evil movies. 
• Paul Levinson shares his thoughts on the latest episode of La Brea.
  
• Paul Levinson shares his thoughts on the latest episode of Invasion. 
• Leila Latif shares her thoughts on the latest episode of Yellowjackets.
  
• Yair Rosenberg explains how a minor character in Firefly who happens to be visibly Jewish came to be. 
• Lacy Baugher Milas revisits the 1982 animated fantasy film The Last Unicorn.
• Leah Schnelbach shares her appreciation for Mystery Science Theatre 3000.  
  
• Nick Hunt visits the Serrata de Marchante in Spain, a popular filming locations for Italian westerns and SFF movies. 
• Marah Eakin interviews Ridley Scott, director of Alien, Blade Runner, The Last Duel, House of Gucci and many others. 
• Marah Eakin interviews Stephanie Beatriz, star of Encanto. 
• Stephen Barker lists ten science fiction movies that deserve a remake. 
• Cheryl Eddy shares nine recent holiday horror movies to stream.
  
• Mark Sweeney reports that the revenue of the UK cinema chain CineWorld has surpassed pre-covid level due to No Time to Die, Dune and Venom: Let There Be Carnage.
• Ligaya Mishan reports that legendary anime director Hayao Miyasaki will come out of retirement for one last film. 
• Charles Pulliam-Moore reports that the members of the Animation Guild are pushing for fairer pay and being compensated equally to writers for live action programs.
  
• Singer, songwriter and film score composer Dave Frishberg has died aged 88.
• Prolific voice actor Will Ryan has died aged 72.
  

 

Comments on Foundation: 

• Paul Levinson shares his thoughts on "The Leap", the latest episode of Foundation.
• Nick Wanserski shares his thoughts on "The Leap".
• Cora Buhlert shares her thoughts on "The Leap". 
• The Stars End podcast share their thoughts on "The Leap". 
  
• Zachary D. Carter points out that Foundation has an imperialism problem. 
• Paul Levinson, Joel McKinnon and Cora Buhlert discuss season 1 of Foundation and the original stories by Isaac Asimov.
  

 

Comments on Hawkeye, Spider-Man: No Way Home and the Marvel Cinematic Universe in general (spoilers): 

• Caroline Siede calls Hawkeye a Christmas treat and praises the performance of Hailee Steinfeld as Kate Bishop.
  
• Lucy Mangan also praises the performance of Hailee Steinfeld as Kate Bishop in Hawkeye. 
• Gavia Baker-Whitelaw calls Hawkeye a bland show for a bland superhero, but also praises the performance of Hailee Steinfeld as Kate Bishop.
• Germain Lussier declares that Hawkeye hits the bullseye of character development. 
  
• Richard Newby declares that Hawkeye finally gives the most underused Avenger his due.
  
• Annika Rollock notes that Hawkeye is inspired by Matt Fraction's run on the comic.
  
• Germain Lussier interviews Trinh Tran, executive producer of Hawkeye. 
• Aaron Couch interviews Jonathan Igla, writer of Hawkeye. 
• Marah Eakin interviews Rhys Thomas, director of Hawkeye. 
• Germain Lussier explains a callback to Avengers in Hawkeye. 
• Charles Pulliam Moore discusses Rogers: The Musical, the fake Avengers Broadway musical briefly glimpsed in Hawkeye.
  
• Ben Child has some questions about Spider-Man: No Way Home. 
• Justin Carter wonders whether Spider-Man: No Way Home is a movie or an ego-trip. 
• The AV-Club ranks all the Marvel TV shows to date.
  
• Gavia Baker-Whitelaw reports that some fans are upset that Marvel might be changing the superpowers of Ms. Marvel a.k.a. Kamala Khan for the upcoming TV series.
  
• Justin Carter reports that Wesley Snipes, who played the character in several movies in the late 1990s, has no issues with Mahershali Ali playing Blade in an upcoming movie. 

 

Comments on Star Trek Discovery and Star Trek in general: 

• Keith R.A. DeCandido shares his thoughts on "Kobayashi Maru", the season 4 premiere of Star Trek Discovery.
• Zack Handlen shares his thoughts on "Kobayashi Maru".
• James Whitbrook shares his thoughts on "Kobayashi Maru".
• Cora Buhlert shares her thoughts on "Kobayashi Maru".
• James Whitbrook interviews Anthony Rapp, Wilson Cruz and Blu Del Barrio, three of the stars of Star Trek Discovery. 
• James Whitbrook shares his thoughts on the first half season of Star Trek Prodigy.
  
• Keith R.A. DeCandido revisits the Star Trek Enterprise episodes "Fight or Flight" and
• Phil Pirello interviews Ron Moore, co-writer of Star Trek: First Contact.
• James Whitbrook reports that international fans can now watch Star Trek Discovery after all, following a massive backlash.
  

 

Comments on Doctor Who past and present:

• Martin Belam shares his thoughts on "Village of the Angels", the latest episode of Doctor Who. 
• Emmet Asher-Perrin shares their thoughts on "Village of the Angels". 
• Caroline Siede shares her thoughts on "Village of the Angels". 
• James Whitbrook shares his thoughts on "Village of the Angels".
  
• Jessica Holmes revisits the 1966 Doctor Who serial "The Power of the Daleks".
• Watch a teaser for the animated version of the lost Second Doctor story "The Abominable Snowman".
  

Comments on the live action Cowboy Bebop:

• Graeme Virtue calls the live action Cowboy Bebop a spirited slice of Cyberpunk. 
• Leah Schnelbach discusses the pros and cons of the live action Cowboy Bebop.
  
• Inspired by Cowboy Bebop, Christina Lee talks about assigning race to anime characters. 
• Gita Jackson discusses the Joss Whedon influence on the dialogue of Cowboy Bebop. 
• James Whitbrook calls Cowboy Bebop's hunt for a visual style a pain in the neck.
  
• Charles Pulliam-Moore interviews André Nemec, showrunner of the live action Cowboy Bebop.
• Charles Pulliam-Moore interviews Alex Hassell and Elena Satine who play Vicious and Julia in Cowboy Bebop.
• Justin Carter reports about John Cho's injury on the set of Cowboy Bebop, which delayed production for almost a year.
  

 

Comments on Ghostbusters: Afterlife (spoilers): 

• Alison Willmore calls Ghostbusters: Afterlife a reanimated corpse.
  
• Peter Bradshaw calls Ghostbusters: Afterlife a defanged retread without spirit or laughs. 
• Olly Richards declares that Ghostbusters: Afterlife isn't the Ghostbusters we remember, but it feels like Ghostbusters. 
• Matt Schimkovitz calls Ghostbusters: Afterlife an example of the troubling trend to put fan stand-in characters into would-be blockbuster movies to sell a lackluster story.
• Arturo Serrano calls Ghostbusters Afterlife the latest round in a conversation about reboots, nostalgia and originality that many people are tired of having. 
• Hubert Vigilla declares that Ghostbusters Afterlife has found the breaking point of nostalgic reverence.
  
• Inspired by Ghostbusters Afterlife, Jack King asks if nostalgia is killing Hollywood. 
• Germain Lussier shares the spoilerish discussion of the ending of Ghostbusters: Afterlife.
  
• Hadley Freeman interviews Ivan Reitman, director of the original Ghostbusters, and his son Jason Reitman, director of Ghostbuster: Afterlife.
• Marah Eakin also interviews Ivan and Jason Reitman.
• Ashley Spencer profiles Finn Wolfhard, one of the stars of Ghostbusters Afterlife.
• Marah Eakin interviews Logan Kim and Celeste O'Connor, two more of the stars of Ghostbusters: Afterlife.
  

 

Comments on the various DC Comics based movies and TV shows:

• Jarrod Jones shares his thoughts on the latest episode of Legends of Tomorrow.
  
• Scott von Doviak shares his thoughts on the latest episode of The Flash.
  
• Watch a trailer for League of Super-Pets.
  

 

Comments on The Wheel of Time (spoilers): 

• Zack Handlen calls The Wheel of Time new fantasy with some familiar trappings. 
• Glen Weldon declares that Amazon Prime reinvents The Wheel of Time with some surprising turns.
  
• Lucy Mangan calls The Wheel of Time a would-be Game of Thrones destined to be forgotten.
• Samantha Nelson calls The Wheel of Time a true rival to Game of Thrones.
• Sylas K. Barrett shares his thoughts on the first three episodes of The Wheel of Time.
• Pete Keeley interviews Rafe Judkins, showrunner of The Wheel of Time.
• Marah Eakin interviews Madeleine Madden and Zoe Robins, two stars of The Wheel of Time.
• Marah Eakin interviews Josha Stradowski and Marcus Rutherford, two more stars of The Wheel of Time.
  

 

Comments on Hellbound:

• Stuart Heritage calls Hellbound a South Korean death fest that wipes the floor with Squid Game.
• Kelly Burke reports that the South Korean horror series Hellbound is now the most popular series on Netflix worldwide.  

 

Awards: 

• The winners of the 2021 Ditmar Awards have been announced.
  
• The shortlist for the 2021 Future Worlds Prize for Fantasy and Science Fiction Writers of Colour has been announced.
• The winners of the 2021 Premios Ignotus have been announced.
  
• The winners of the 2021 Prix Actusf de l’Uchronie have been announced. 
• The finalists for the 2021 Game Awards have been announced. 
• The shortlist for the 2021 Costa Prize has been announced with lots of love for genre novels.
  
• Vanessa Armstrong reports that the song "Agatha All Along" from WandaVision has received a Grammy nomination.
• James Bacon shares his thoughts on the Hugo finalists for Best Graphic Story.
• Mike Glyer analyses the number of Goodreads ratings of Dragon Award finalists and winners.
• File 770 reports that the 2021 Nommo Awards ceremony will take place at DisCon III, the 2021 Worldcon in Washington DC.
  

 

Writing, publishing and promotion:

• Jacqueline Carey talks about using food in fiction. 
• Alison Flood reports that there is a spike in organised attempts to ban books in school libraries in the US.
  
• The BBC reports that the used book store Berwyn Books in Buckley, Wales, has been destroyed by a fire and that four hundred thousand valuable books were lost.
• Claire Kirch reports that bookshops in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, are recovering after the twin blows of the covid pandemic and the riots following the death of George Floyd due to police violence.
  

Interviews:

• Alison Flood interviews Diana Gabaldon.
  
• Arley Sorg interviews Charlie Jane Anders. 
• Paul Weimer interviews Marissa Lingen.
  
• Cora Buhlert interviews Robin Rose Graves. 
• Runalong the Shelves interviews R.J. Barker. 
• Paul Weimer interviews Marjorie B. Kellogg. 
• Daniel Aldana Cohen interviews Kim Stanley Robinson.
  
• Janna Miller interviews J.L. George.
• Oliver Brackenbury interviews Michael Curtis.
• ZeroSum716 interviews Matt John.
• Cheryl Eddy interviews Andrew Liptak.
  

Reviews:

• James Davis Nicoll reviews We Are Legion (We Are Bob) by Dennis E. Taylor. 
• Russell Letson reviews Shards of Earth by Adrian Tchaikovsky.
  
• Paul Weimer reviews The Fallen by Ada Hoffman.
  
• James Davis Nicoll reviews Far From the Light of Heaven by Tade Thompson.
• Lela E. Buis reviews Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. 
• Liam's Lyceum reviews For the Killing of Kings by Howard Andrew Jones.
  
• Bobby Derie reviews The Song of Bêlit by Rodolfo Martínez.
• Richard Fisher reviews A Cowboy in Carpathia by Teel James Glenn. 
• Gary K. Wolfe reviews The Hood by Lavie Tidhar. 
• L.A. Young reviews Summer Sons by Lee Mandelo. 
• Kat Hooper reviews The Girl and the Mountain by Mark Lawrence. 
  
• Izzy Varju reviews The Godma's Daughters by Isabella Ides. 
• Deana Whitney and Paige Vest review Cytonic by Brandon Sanderson.
  
• Runalong the Shelves reviews A Fledgling Abiba by Dilman Dila. 
• Mahvesh Murad reviews A Snake Falls to Earth by Darcie Little Badger.
  
• Colleen Mondor reviews A Lesson in Vengeance by Victoria Lee. 
• Alex Brown reviews White Smoke by Tiffany D. Jackson.
  
• Rob Bedford reviews Of Honey and Wildfires by Sarah Chorn. 
• Marion Deeds reviews Scribe by Alyson Hagy.
  
• Jennifer Marie Lin reviews Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr. 
• Russell Letson reviews Invisible Sun by Charles Stross.
  
• Sara Collins reviews The Every by Dave Eggers.
• Runalong the Shelves reviews The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson.
• Jana Nyman, Terry Weyna and Tadiana Jones review Comfort Me With Apples by Catherynne M. Valente.
• Arley Sorg reviews Unfettered Hexes: Queer Tales of Insatiable Darkness, edited by Dave Ring.
• Charles Johnson reviews The Young H.G. Wells: Changing the World by Claire Tomalin.
• Ian Mond reviews Dangerous Visions and New Worlds: Radical Science Fiction 1950 to 1985 by Andrew Nette and Iain McIntyre

 
Classics reviews:

• The Cryptofictional Records Wing revisits the 1912 planetary romance A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs.
  
• Deuce Richardson revisits the 1916 lost world adventure Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar by Edgar Rice Burroughs.
  
• Michael Dirda revisits the 1920 science fiction novel A Voyage to Arcturus by David Lindsay.
• Sandy Ferber revisits the 1946 science fiction novel The Green Man by Harold M. Sherman. 
• Alan Brown revisits the 1960 science fiction novel The High Crusade by Poul Anderson.
  
• The Cryptofictional Records Wing revisits the 1965 science fiction novel Dune by Frank Herbert. 
• Gideon Marcus revisits the December 1966 issue of the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. 
• John Boston shares his thoughts on the December 1966 issue of Amazing Stories.
  
• Paperback Warrior revisits the 1966 gothic novel Secret of Canfield House by Florence Hurd.  
• James Davis Nicoll revisits the 1970 YA fantasy Red Moon and Black Mountain by Joy Chant.
  
• The Dark Crusade podcast revisits the 1973 Kane sword and sorcery story "Reflections for the Winter of My Soul" by Karl Edward Wagner.
• James Maliszewski revisits the February/March 1980 issue of White Dwarf.
• Judith Tarr revisits the 1989 historical fantasy novel Imperial Lady by Andre Norton and Susan Shwartz.
• James Davis Nicoll revisits the 1991 science fiction collection Mirabile by Janet Kagan.
  

Crowdfunding:

• Mermaids Monthly is looking for funding for its second year.
  
• The Cleaning of Prison Station Echo, an adventure for the Mothership Sci-Fi Horror RPG, is looking for funding.
  

 

Con and event reports:

• Several videos from the 2019 Worldcon in Dublin, Ireland, are now available online.
• DisCon III, the 2021 Worldcon in Washington DC, points out that its anti-covid guidelines remain in place, even in the face of Washington DC lifting some requirements.
• DisCon III, the 2021 Worldcon in Washington DC, has posted the agenda for its business meeting.
  
• Michael Barnes reports about a visit to the Robert E. Howard House in Cross Plains, Texas.
• The program for the 2021 Psychedelic Film and Music Festival in New York City has been announced.
• George R.R. Martin reports that he and several friends restored the historic Sky Railway in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
• Nicola Twilley reports about Adrian Fisher, foremost maze creator in the world.
  

 

Science and technology:

• Nell Greenfieldboyce reports about NASA's DART spacecraft, which will knock an asteroid slightly off course as a test of a potential planetary defence system. 
• George Dvorsky reports about the TOLIMAN space telescope, which is supposed to observe Alpha Centauri.
• George Dvorsky reports that the first orbital launch of SpaceX's Starship could happen in January 2022.
  
• Matthew Gault reports that the Pentagon has formed a new department to watch and study UFOs.
• David Kindy reports that a property developers has found a secret passage behind a bookshelf in a five hundred year old house in Brighton, UK.

Free online fiction:

• "The Death Haiku of the Azure Five" by L. Chan in Clarkesworld. 
• "Hank in the South Dakota Sun" by Stephanie Kraner in Apex Magazine. 
• "Cloudgazer" by Timi Odueso in Lightspeed.
• "To Reach the Gate, She Must Leave Everything Behind" by Izzy Wasserstein in Lightspeed.
  
• "The Inheritance" by Virgilia Ferrao in Omenana.
  
• "Dance, Macabre" by Phoenix Alexander in The Dark. 
• "Girls Have Sharp Teeth" by Genevieve Mills in Fantasy Magazine.
  
• "My Mother's Samosas" by Malavika Prassed in khoreo. 
• "Thanksgiving" by Elizabeth Bear in Tablet. 
• "The Robot Turkey Apocalypse" by Cora Buhlert.
  
• "Inkmorphia" by Julianna Baggott in Nightmare Magazine.
  
• "Elixir of Life" by Amy Bennett in Luna Station Quarterly.
  
• "Jinli Yu" by Ai Jiang in Luna Station Quarterly.
  
• "This Is How You Make Selkie Skins" by Priya Sridhar in Mermaids Monthly.
  
• "How to identify a robot" by Carla Ra in Daily Science Fiction. 
• "The Stranger" by David Paul Rogers in Daily Science Fiction. 
• "The Brink of Disaster" by William Shaw in Daily Science Fiction.
  
• "A Note on Dating Conventions" by Daniel James Woodhouse in Daily Science Fiction.
  
• "Date and Time" by Susan Taitel in Daily Science Fiction.
  

 

Trailers and videos:

• Watch a trailer for Mother/Android.
  
• Watch a prologue to Jurassic World: Dominion.