Speculative Fiction Links of the Week for December 1, 2023

 

It's time for the latest weekly round-up of interesting links about speculative fiction from around the web, this week with the sixtieth anniversary of Doctor Who, Star Trek in general, Star Wars in general, the Marvel Cinematic Universe in general, Godzilla Minus One and Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, season 2 of Our Flag Means Death, Barbie, It's a Wonderful Knife, the continued casting woes of Scream 7, the debate about AI generated writing, new revelations regarding the origin of Nightcrawler and much more.

Speculative fiction in general:

• Erika Johansen shares horror novels to enjoy this holiday season.
  
• The Library Ladder discusses the identity crisis of Steampunk. 
• James Davis Nicoll shares five SFF books reaturing sudden, unexpected calamities that change everything
  
• Rowdy Geirsson shares five Norse fantasy books by indie and small presse writers.
  
• Caroline Hardaker asks why people are still scared of forests.  
• Alex Clark wonders whether we should abolish genres. 
• James Davis Nicoll shares five books of prehistoric fantasy.
  
• Kat French attempts to define sword and sorcery.
  
• Adam Roberts compares the original Robert E. Howard Conan stories with Robert Jordan's Conan pastiches and finds the latter lacking.
• Jonathan Thornton shares his appreciation for the works of Kelley Eskridge. 
• Alvaro Zinos-Amaro shares his appreciation for the works of Michael Swanwick.
  
• Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe talks about reading in prison  
• Molly Templeton wonders how much you should know about a book before reading it.
  
• Andrew Dickson profiles Irish composer Jennifer Walshe whose work often wanders into the SFF realm.
• James Bacon shares his experiences during the recent far right riots in Dublin, Ireland, following the stabbing of a young girl. 
• Steve Holland shares an obituary for Michael Bishop.
  

 

Comics and Art:

• Jonathan Jones reviews  X-Men Blue: Origins #1 by Si Spurrier, Wilton Santos, Oren Junior, Marcus To, Ceci De La Cruz, VC’s Joe Caramagna and Sarah Brunstad 
• James Whitbrook reports that X-Men Blue: Origins #1 has retconned Nightcrawler's parentage yet again and that he is now the biological child of Mystique a.k.a. Raven Darkholme and Destiny a.k.a. Irene Adler, who have long been hinted to be in a romantic relationship.
  
• Collier Jennings reviews Spider-Woman #1 by Steve Foxe, Carola Borelli, Arif Prianto and Joe Sabino
• Chris Coplan interviews Declan Shalvey and Drew Moss, the creative team behind a new Thundercats comic.  
  

 

Film and TV:

• Alasdair Stuart shares his thoughts on the science fiction crime drama Bodies. 
• Arturo Serrano shares his thoughts on the science fiction thrillers Hypnotic and Awareness. 
• Josh Pearce and Arley Sorg share their thoughts on No One Will Save You
• Keith R.A, DeCandido calls R.I.P.D. 2: Rise of the Damned a sequel no one asked for.
  
• Cath Clarke calls There's Something in the Barn a horror film about a murderous garden gnome that's neither silly nor scary enough to provide much entertainment 
• Leslie Felperin calls Teddy's Christmas a wholesome holiday movie from Norway. 
• Benjamin Lee calls Candy Cane Lane a convoluted and inconsistent holiday movie that even Eddie Murphy can't save. 
• Lauren Mechling calls Family Switch an overstuffed holiday body switch comedy.
  
• Melody McCune shares her thoughts on the latest episode of Beacon 23.
  
• Manuel Betancourt shares his thoughts on the latest episode of The Curse. 
• Sabina Graves shares some early reactions to Wonka.
  
• Germain Lussier lists all the SFF movies coming out this holiday season. 
• Jennifer Ouellette and Sean M. Carroll rate time travel movies.
• Lorna Wallace shares five amazing lesser known movies about aliens on Earth.
  
• Jesse Hassenger wonders why Disney has had such a terrible year with multiple movies underperforming.
  
• Ben Child wonders whether actor Nicholas Hoult is too fresh-faced to play Lex Luthor. 
• Dan Persons revisits the 1993 dinosaur film Jurassic Park. 
• Adam Fleet revisits the 1997 science fiction action thriller Face/Off. 
• Peter Bradshaw revisits the 2003 holiday movie Elf.
  
• Judith Tarr revisits the 2006 fantasy film Aquamarine.
  
• Carly Thomas revisits the 2008 paranormal romance film Twilight. 
• Chris Garcia revisits the 2013 time travel film Sorry About Tomorrow. 
• Charles Bramesco interviews John Woo, director of Silent Night, Face/Off, The Killer, Hardboiled and many others.
• Catherine Bray interviews Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, star of Misfits, Utopia and Femme.
• Saloni Gajjar interviews Ron D. Moore, showrunner of Outlander, the new Battlestar Galactica and For All Mankind. 
• Brian Davids interviews Joe Lynch, director of Suitable Flesh. 
• Linda Marx interviews Keith Nielsen, costume designer for Hallmark holiday movies. 
  
• Vanessa Thorpe profiles Gary Oldman, star of Slow Horses, The Fifth Element, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, the Harry Potter movies, the Christopher Nolan Batman movies and many others.  
• Borys Kit profiles Zack Snyder, director of Man of Steel, Batman versus Superman: Dawn of Justice, Justice League. Rebel Moon and others.
  
• Calum Russel profiles George Reeves and his struggles of being identified solely with playing Superman in the 1950s.
  
• Allegra Rosenberg profiles Dorothy Swanson, co-founder of the organisation Viewers for Quality Television, which organised letter writing campaigns to save TV shows from cancellation in the 1980s and 1990s. 
  
• John Carreyrou chronicles how Netflix gave director Carl Rinsch 55 million US-dollars to make a science fiction series, only for Rinsch to suffer a mental breakdown and gamble away the money.
  
• Nadia Khomani reports that participants in the reality show Squid Game: The Challenge are threatening to sue Netflix over injuries sustained while filming,
• Amanda Lee reports that the drive-in cinema in Cooper Pedy, South Australia, which has appeared in the movies The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome among others, has been fatally damaged by a storm.
• Anthony D'Alessandro reports that The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes sits at the top of the US box office, beating the Disney animated film Wish and a Napoleon biopic. 
• Marty Krofft, creator of the iconic children's fantasy shows H.R. Pufnstuf, Land of the Lost, The Banana Splits Adventure Hour and many others, has died aged 86. 
• David Elliott, director of Thunderbirds and other Gerry Anderson shows, has died aged 92.
  

 

Comments on Star Wars in general (spoilers): 

• Nathan Johnson interviews Emily Swallow who plays The Armorer in The Mandalorian. 
• Russ Milheim interviews Katee Sackhoff, who plays Bo-Katan Kryze in The Mandalorian.
  

 

Comments on Star Trek in general:

• Galactic Journey revisit the 1968 Star Trek episode "Plato's Stepchildren".
  
• Keith R.A. DeCandido revisits the Star Trek Enterprise episode "Bound".
  

 

Comments on the Marvel Cinematic Universe in general:

• Arturo Serrano declares that The Marvels is very confused about what it wants to be about
• James Whitbrook reports that Disney and the media are trying to blame director Nia DaCosta for the perceived failure of The Marvels. 
  
• Germain Lussier shares some background about the making of season 2 of Loki.
  
• Alyssa Shotwell reports that screenwriter and actor Paul Scheer has called out the undue criticism that female-led and directed Marvel movies like The Marvels or Black Widow receive.
  
• Russ Milheim interviews Iman Vellani who plays Kamala Khan a.k.a. Ms. Marvel in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
  
• Sabina Graves shares Taika Waititi's comments about his experience directing two Thor movies.
  

 

Comments on Doctor Who at sixty: 

• Martin Belam shares his thoughts on "The Star Beast", the first of the Doctor Who Sixtieth Anniversary Specials. 
• Jack Seale shares his thoughts on "The Star Beast"
• Miles Reid-Lobatto shares his thoughts on "The Star Beast". 
• Emmet Asher-Perrin shares their thoughts on "The Star Beast". 
• James Whitbrook shares his thoughts on "The Star Beast". 
• Camestros Felapton shares his thoughts on "The Star Beast" and wonders whether it is an example of the dreaded message fiction. 
• Cindy White declares that the three Doctor Who Anniversary Specials are fixing one of the show's greatest missteps, the way Donna Noble was written out.  
• James Whitbrook notes that we know very little about the second Doctor Who Anniversary Special "Wild Blue Yonder".
  
• James Whitbrook reports that Doctor Who showrunner Russell T. Davis has spoken out on the importance of showing the reality of trans lives with the new character Rose in "The Star Beast".
  
• Clark Collis interviews Doctor Who showrunner Russel T. Davis and David Tennant, who played the Tenth and Fourteenth Doctors. 
• James Whitbrook shares some images from the 2023 Doctor Who Holiday Special "The Church on Ruby Road".
  
• Lillian Crawford interviews even more people involved with Doctor Who. 
• Readers of The Guardian share their favourite Doctor Who moments.
  
• Sue Perkins looks back on sixty years of Doctor Who.
  
• Jessica Holmes revisits the 1968 Doctor Who serial "The Invasion". 
• Matthew Sweet talks about the so-called wilderness years between 1989 and 2005, when Doctor Who was off the air. 
• Steven Morris recounts how the 2005 Doctor Who regeneration boosted the Welsh economy, since the current show is filmed in Cardiff, Wales. 
• Max Goldbart reports that the payment structure for Doctor Who writers has been changed now that Disney+ is co-producing the show. 
• The Radio Times reports that "The Star Beast" is the highest rated BBC drama of 2023 to date.
  
• Glyn Morgan discusses the iconic design of the Daleks and why so many fans build their own.
  
• Charlie Jane Anders takes a look at Doctor Who spin-offs she'd like to see.
• Watch a trailer for Doctor Who: The William Hartnell Years in Colour. 
• Watch a teaser for "Wild Blue Yonder", the next Doctor Who Sixtieth Anniversary Special.
  
• Watch a clip of Ncuti Gatwa's Fifteenth Doctor appearing in An Adventure in Space and Time.
  

 

Comments on Godzilla Minus One and Monarch: Legacy of Monsters:

• James Whitbook calls Godzilla Minus One a terrifying, hopeful throwback. 
• Matt Schimkovitz calls Godzilla Minus One as thrilling and enthralling as Godzilla movies get. 
• Richard Newbie ranks every Godzilla film.
  
• Vanessa Armstrong interviews Chris Black and Matt Fraction, co-creators of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters.
  
• Sam Barsanti muses about the different portrayal of Godzilla in Japanese films like Godzilla Minus One and American productions like Monarch: Legacy of Monsters.
  

 

Comments on season 2 of Our Flag Means Death: 

•  Vanessa Armstrong interviews Ruibo Qian, who plays Zheng Yi Sao in Our Flag Means Death.
• Vanessa Armstrong interviews Vico Ortiz, who plays Jim in Our Flag Means Death.
• Chris Winkle explains what Good Omens can learn from Our Flag Means Deaths. 
  

 

Comments on It's a Wonderful Knife: 

• Catherine Bray calls It's a Wonderful Knife a seasonal classic refitted as comedy slasher horror 
• Jules Cabot calls It's a Wonderful Knife derivative, but highly watchable.
  

 

Comments on Barbie: 

•  Elle Hunt interviews Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt, producers of the Barbie soundtrack. 
• Trevor Hogg reports that contrary to belief, Barbie actually contains a lot of visual effects. 
  

 

Comments on the Scream VII casting woes:

• Borys Kit chronicles the troubles of Scream VII.
  
• Britt Hayes finds it worrying that Melissa Barrera was removed from Scream VII over Pro-Palestinian remarks. 
• Emma Keates reports that the true reason why Jenna Ortega left Scream VII as well was a salary dispute rather than a scheduling conflict.
  
• Adam Starkey reports that some fans are now threatening to boycott Scream VII after actress Melissa Barrera was dropped over Pro-Palestinian and Anti-Semitic remarks.
  

 

Awards:

• The finalists for the 2023 Goodreads Choice Awards in the science fiction category have been announced and voting is open. 
  
• The finalists for the 2023 Goodreads Choice Awards in the fantasy category have been announced and voting is open.  
• The finalists for the 2023 Goodreads Choice Awards in the romantasy category have been announced and voting is open.   
• The finalists for the 2023 Goodreads Choice Awards in the horror category have been announced and voting is open. 
  
• The finalists for the 2023 Goodreads Choice Awards in the young adult science fiction and fantasy category have been announced and voting is open.
  
• The winners of the 2023 Prix ActuSF de l’Uchronie have been announced.
  
• The winners of the 2023 HWA Crown Awards have been announced. 
• The winner of the 2023 Booker Prize has been announced. 
• The winner of the 2023 Polari Prize has been announced.
  

Writing, publishing and promotion:

• Scott Oden talks about his writing process. 
• Eugenia Triantafyllou talks about her process writing short fiction.
  
• Jane Jesmond explains what she likes best about writing.
  
• Kelly Barnhill talks about trying to write after suffering a traumatic brain injury
• Sarah Pinsker explains why dogs are the perfect pets for writers. 
• Neil Clarke discusses the many issues facing SFF magazines.
  
• Tom Borders chronicles the rise and fall of Borders Books. 
• Ella Creamer reports that the percentage of characters of colour in children's books has risen.
  
• Ella Creamer reports that almost a million children in the UK do not own a single book.
• Locus reports that Peguin Random House has filed a lawsuit against the state of Iowa over book bans.
  
• Charles Lane reports that the New York Public Library in New York City has been defaced by Anti-Semitic graffiti during two Pro-Palestinian protests last week. 
  

 

Comments on the AI controversy:

• The UK Authors' Licensing and Collecting Society shares a statement regarding the principles of the relationship between authors and AI.
  
• Brian Boucher reports that a prankstar used AI to "improve" on Edward Hopper's classic painting "Nighthawks".
  

 

Interviews:

• Daniel Greene interviews Brandon Sanderson.
• Runalong the Shelves interviews Lili Hayward.
  
• Lisa Allardice interviews Paul Lynch.
  
• Alice Kemp-Habib interviews Katherine Howe.
  

 

Reviews:

• Runalong the Shelves reviews Refractions by M.V. Melcher.
  
• Paul Weimer reviews Scarlet by Genevieve Cogman 
• James Davis Nicoll reviews Talonsister by Jen Williams.
  
• Robin Marx reviews Conan: Lord of the Mount by Stephen Graham Jones
  
• Gary K. Wolfe reviews A Stranger in the Citadel by Tobias S. Buckell 
• Caren Gussoff Sumption reviews The Pomegranate Gate by Ariel Kaplan
  
• Liz Bourke reviews A Multitude of Dreams by Mara Rutherford 
• Natalie Zutter reviews The Hurricane Wars by Thea Guanzon. 
• Vanessa Armstrong reviews The Siren, the Song, and the Spy by Maggie Tokuda-Hall
  
• Fabienne Schwizer reviews Curious Tides by Pascale Lacelle
  
• The Quick and the Read reviews A Power Unbound by Freya Marske. 
• Caren Gussoff Sumption reviews A Power Unbound by Freya Marske
  
• Marion Deeds reviews The Truth Against the World by David Corbett
  
• Francis Gooding reviews The World We Make by N.K. Jemisin. 
• Mark Yon reviews The Kingdom of Sweets by Erika Johansen.
  
• James Davis Nicoll reviews Land of Milk and Honey by C. Pam Zhang 
• Ian Mond reviews Death Valley by Melissa Broder 
• Stephanie Merritt reviews The Future by Naomi Alderman   
• Alex Brown reviews Beholder by Ryan La Sala
  
• Runalong the Shelves revisits The Ghost In The Bone by Mike Carey
  
• Colleen Mondor reviews Who Haunts You by Mark Wheaton
  
• Marlene Harris reviews Evergreen Chase by Juneau Black
• Caren Gussoff Sumption reviews Let’s Go Let’s Go Let’s Go by Cleo Qian 
• Runalong the Shelves reviews Between Dystopias: The Road to Afropantheology by Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki and Joshua Uchenna Omenga 
• Paul Kincaid reviews The Big Book of Cyberpunk, edited by Jared Shurin
  
• John Mauro reviews The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy and Horror, Volume 4, edited by Paula Guran
  
• Paul Di Filippo reviews Weird Tales: 100 Years of Weird, edited by Jonathan Maberry
  
• Robin Marx reviews issue 5 of Old Moon Quarterly.
  
• Rebecca Nicholson reviews Pandora’s Box: The Greed, Lust, and Lies That Broke Television by Peter Biskind
• Runalong the Shelves reviews Historical Dictionary of Fantasy Literature by Allen Stroud
   
  

Classics reviews:

• Paperback Warrior revisits the 1929 Solomon Kane dark fantasy story "Skulls in the Stars" by Robert E. Howard.
  
• Vintage Pop Fictions revisits the 1933 science fiction novel Beyond the End of Space by John W. Campbell 
• The Cromcast discusses the 1935 Conan sword and sorcery story "Beyond the Black River" by Robert E. Howard.
  
• Ken Lizzi revisits the 1951 sword and sorcery novel The Tritonian Ring by L. Sprague De Camp. 
• Ben Boulden reviews the 1951 historical adventure novel Fire-Hunter by Jim Kjelgaard
• Vintage Pop Fictions revisits the 1957 science fiction novella Cosmic Kill by Robert Silverberg.
  
• James Reasoner revisits the 1957 historical adventure novel Lysander by F. van Wyck Mason
  
• Mark Yon revisits the December 1968 issue of New Worlds.
• Gideon Marcus revisits the December 1968 issue of Analog.
  
• James Davis Nicoll revisits the 1971 science fiction novel The Wrong End of Time by John Brunner 
• The Dark Crusade discusses the 1973 Kane sword and sorcery story "Mirage" by Karl Edward Wagner.
  
• James Davis Nicoll revisuts the 1976 science fiction novel Star Probe by Josepf Green. 
• Alissa Burger revisits the 1989 YA horror novel My Secret Admirer by Carol Ellis and the 1996 YA horror novel Secret Admirer by R.L. Stine.
  
• Alan Brown revisits the 1990 science fiction novel In the Country of the Blind by Michael F. Flynn
  
  

Crowdfunding:

• B-Sides Volume 1, a comic by Mike London, Rich Ivens and Hayley Dwan, is looking for funding.
  

 

Con and event reports:

• The program for the virtual 2023 City Tech Science Fiction Symposium on Science Fiction, Gender, and Sexuality has been announced.
• Ella Creamer shares some of the guests who will appear at the 2024 Hay Literary Festival in Hay-on-Wye, Wales.
  
• Ella Creamer reports about a new exhibition dedicated by YA SFF author Malorie Blackman at the British Library in London, UK.
• Alison Stewart and Zach Gottehrer-Cohen report about the exhibition "Copy Machine Manifestos: Artists Who Make Zines." in Brooklyn, New York.
• Mark Fisher calls Morna Young's take on The Snow Queen, which is currently playing in Edinburgh, Scotland, a bold and imaginative musical.
  
• Chris Wiegand calls the stage version of Cinderella currently playing in Hammersmith, London, UK a pantomine with fabulous costumes and high-energy songs
• Chris Wiegand calls The Lightbulb Princess, which is currently playing in London, UK, a fairytale play for children about the importance of making – and saving – electricity.
• Pixel Dan shares a video of a giant Masters of the Universe display at Retro Toy Con in Greenville, South Carolina. 
• Sabina Graves reports about the Grinchmas event at the Universal Studios Hollywood theme park in Los Angeles, California. 
• Armando Tinoco reports that a man was arrested after getting out of the moving "It's a Small World" ride at Disneyland in Anaheim, California, and stirpping off his clothes amidst the moving animatronics.
  

 

Science and technology:

• George Dvorsky reports that NASA, Thales Alenia Space and the Italian Space Agency ASI are cooperating on constructing the first permanent outpost on the Moon. 
  
• Hannah Devlin reports that extremely high energry cosmic Amaterasu particles have been detected falling to Earth and scientists have no idea why.
• Ian Sample reports that scientists have started analysing the dust that the Osiris-Rex space probe brought back from the asteroid Bennu. 
• Yiwen Lu reports that driverless taxis are increasing traffic jams, lengthening emergency response times and putting undue stress on city employees in San Francisco, Calufornia, and Austin, Texas.
  
• Lee Weinstein talks about the scientific hoax of the Piltdown man.
  
• Eric Lipton reports about the international debate about AI-controlled killer drones.
• Vladimir Supica reports that the fast food chain Wendy's has introduced a robot to take orders at the drive-through window, which does not quite work as expected. 
• Douglas Rushkoff talks about the follies of today's tech billionaires.
  
• Katie Malone reports that a group of self-proclaimed gay furry hackers hacked the nuclear research hub at the Idaho National Laboratory and demanded that the lab help them to create real life cat girls.

 

Gaming: 

• C.T. Phipps looks back on the history of the Baldur's Gate vidoe game series.
• Joe DelFranco reviews Minesweeper by Kyle Orland

 

Toys and collectibles:

• Toy Habits reviews the Hasbro G.I. Joe Classified Python Patrol Tele Viper & Flight Pod a.k.a. Trubble Bubble.
• Toy Habits reviews the Hasbro G.I. Joe Classified Python Patrol Copperhead.
  
• Warner Holme reviews the Folkmanis Mini Frog
• James Whitbrook shares a look at Hasbro's latest Clone Trooper figures in the Star Wars Black Series and Vintage Collection lines.  
• James Whitbrook shares a look at Super7's new Godzilla figure, based on Godzilla Minus One.
• Sabina Graves shares a look at the Funko Nightmare Before Christmas Bitty Pops.  
• Pixel Dan interviews Brian Flynn of Super7 about the return of the G.I. Joe O-ring figures.
  

 

Free online fiction: 

• "Isle of the Thousand-Eyed Strangler" by Dariel R.A. Quiogue in Heroic Fantasy Quarterly.
• "On the Day When She Can Run No More" by Aimee Ogden in Beneath Ceaseless Skies.
• "What Will Bring You Home" by Jenny Rae Rappaport in Beneath Ceaseless Skies.
  
• "All the Things I Know About Ghosts, By Ofelia, Age 10" by Isabel Cañas in The Deadlands.
• "Of Death Deserved We Will Not Die" by Bennett North in Lightspeed.
  
• "Vendetta" by Diego Lama, translated by Rose Facchini, in Wyldblood.
  
• "Never Lie to Me" by Priya Chand in The Dark.
• "To Carry You Inside You" by Tia Tashiro in Clarkesworld.
  
• "Thin Ice" by Kemi Ashing-Giwa in Clarkesworld.
• "The Quiet of Drowning" by Kel Coleman in Uncanny Magazine 
• "Silent Night" by Ogheneyome O in Omenana.
• "Whatever Takes Us" by Aigner Loren Wilson in Nightmare Magazine.
  
• "Homewrecker" by E. Catherine Tobler in Apex Magazine.
  
• "Fittonia" by Libby Feltis in Luna Station Quarterly.
• "Expulsion" by Mary Anne Mohanraj in The Sunday Morning Transport.
• "The (Un)Expected Holiday Season" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch.
  
  

Trailers and videos:

• Watch a trailer for Furiosa.
  
• Watch a trailer for Night Swim.
  
• Watch a sizzle reel for the planned Shadow and Bone spin-off Six of Crows that died along with the cancellation of the main show.