Indie Speculative Fiction of the Month for April 2024

 

It’s that time of the month again, time for “Indie Speculative Fiction of the Month”.

So what is “Indie Speculative Fiction of the Month”? It’s a round-up of speculative fiction by indie and small press authors newly published this month, though some March books I missed the last time around snuck in as well. The books are arranged in alphabetical order by author. So far, most links only go to Amazon.com, though I may add other retailers for future editions.

Once again, we have new releases covering the whole broad spectrum of speculative fiction. This month, we have urban fantasy, epic fantasy, paranormal mysteries, science fiction mysteries, science fiction romance, space opera, military science fiction, dystopian fiction, post-apocalyptic fiction, technothrillers, horror, cyborgs, space marines, alien invasions, crime-busting witches, fugitive heroes, deadly muses, the devil and his daughter and much more.

As always, I know the authors at least vaguely, but I haven’t read all of the books, so Caveat emptor.

And now on to the books without further ado:

Muse by L-C.W. Allingham:

Inspiration is a living thing and it is hungry...

Terra Desmarais’s success as the next big artist in NYC is absolutely inevitable. Her patrons, the associates, Mr. Black, Mr. Silver, and Mr. Green, can practically taste the raw talent dripping from the enigmatic trailer park prodigy’s dollar store paints.

Up and coming pastel artist Cedric Fleck is a lucky discovery of the associates. Rescued from oblivion by Mr Green, put up in a studio by Mr. Silver and paraded around on the arm of Mr. Black should be the dream. But within the steady stream of great press and even better parties, Cedric can’t shake the sense that something is very wrong. He wants to hate Terra for her overnight success, but he’s taken by her earnest love of art.

As the artists around them crash and burn, and Cedric struggles to break free from the toxic seduction of Mr. Black, Terra is only concerned with her strange and compelling paintings. She seems to want nothing of the fame, the money, the sex or the drugs. As greed exposes the true colors of the associates, and Terra is too lost in her art to notice the danger, Cedric discovers that inspiration is a living thing, and it is hungry.

Colonel by Jonathan P. Brazee:

Ryck has proven himself as a warrior and a hero, but in times of peace, that can lead to trouble. Ryck's temper gets the best of him, and because of that, and with a heavy heart, he resigns his commission.

As an old enemy comes a-calling, a new threat surfaces, and Ryck's services are once again needed.

If he fails, all of humanity could be at risk.

Given a second chance to be the man that Humanity needs, Ryck answers the call, determined to make good. This new threat, however, might just be his most insurmountable yet.

The Devil's Daughter by Rachel Ford:

Antonia guards the devil. Caelia is his daughter.

Mayor Crassus is the most corrupt man in Black Port. He’s never met a con he didn’t like, or grift he rejected. He’s mercenary, cold-blooded, and ruthless in turns.

In order to better feather his own nest, he’s promised his daughter’s hand to one of the king’s most ruthless inquisitors. Caelia, in whose veins flows the blood of a powerful matriarchal line of witches, knows it would be a fate worse than a death sentence.

Whatever it takes, she must escape.

She turns to Knight Protector Antonia Brocklehurst, her father’s bodyguard – a woman with plenty of secrets of her own.
But Antonia’s mission could save the lives of hundreds. Can she abandon it to save one woman – even if she has loved her for years?

Fiendish Delights by Helen Harper:

Yeah, I’m a treasure hunter. No, I’m not rich. Or busy. Or successful.

Not yet.

I’m doing my very best at making a living in my newfound career. I’ve got magic, a pair of brownie sidekicks and enough ambition to fill every chilly corner of Edinburgh castle.

What I don’t have is any actual treasure to hunt.

However, when a young girl asks me for help, I end up embroiled in a deeply dangerous search for an ancient magical artefact. Unfortunately, I’m not the only one who wants to find it. Between fire-breathing dragons, vicious vampires and lethally powerful fiends, I’ve got my work cut out for me if I’m going to locate the treasure first.

At least this time I’ve got help. Hugo Pemberville might be as provocative as ever but he has also attached himself to my side. Sure, I’ve got a few teeny tiny problems of my own to deal with - but I’ve got everything under control.

Sort of.

Hexcess Baggage by Lily Harper Hart:

The French Quarter is quiet for a change. Christmas is just around the corner, and the off-season is allowing for some rest and relaxation for the local business owners. Ofelia Archer is basking in it…until her mother’s walking group stumbles upon a body in Jackson Square.

The White Walkers—a group Ofelia and her fiancé Zach Sully are constantly mocking—have been getting bolder and bolder in the Quarter. Their aim is to stop the crime and clean things up…even if that means pointing the finger at a homeless man Ofelia is convinced is innocent.

As things come to a head between Ofelia and her mother, a group of shadow assassins takes shape and begins a cleanse in the Quarter. They’re acting as vigilantes, but who is controlling them?

All eyes turn to the White Walkers.

Ofelia has always made it a point to let her mother live her own life. That’s no longer an option. It’s time to infiltrate the group and find out exactly what’s going on.

Ofelia isn’t going to like what she finds.

Ofelia has always taken it upon herself to care for the homeless population in New Orleans. With the White Walkers working against her efforts, the battle is afoot.

Ofelia won’t let those who need help go without it.

Marie Charlies won’t back down.

It’s mother against daughter and the fate of the French Quarter is in the balance.

Who will win?

Undead Urges by Amanda M. Lee:

Luna Thorn is a witch about town. She likes to fancy herself a loner, but the truth is, she has the weight of the world resting on her shoulders.

Gorgons are infiltrating Detroit, and they’ve set their sights on Luna. They want her. The question is: why? Luna is determined to find out. It won’t be easy.

When zombies attack the Cathedral, the building Luna and the people she cares for call home, Luna is determined to snuff out the culprit. Unfortunately for her, the only lead she has is a witch who isn’t in the mood to offer up help.

When the most powerful mage in the Midwest pops up for a visit, Luna is glad for the help. The responsibility is becoming overwhelming, though, and she’s afraid she might crack under the pressure.

As a traveler, Luna can wander through time. If only she could control her powers. It’s not as easy as she hoped, however. Instead, she keeps overshooting her mark, and the resulting chaos is not what she bargained for.

Luna wants to save the world. More than that, she wants to keep the people she loves most safe. An ancient order of monsters wants to stop her in her tracks.

It’s a fight to the finish, and when Luna delves into the history of the world she resides, she finds that some things should be left in the past. Will she have that option, though?

Luna won’t give up. Neither will the friends she’s surrounded herself with. That just might be their downfall, though.

Will she survive to find out the truth of her past? Or will she die never knowing what she was truly meant to be?

Honor of Cyborgs by Scott Moon:

Follow commands or save his renegade family... He must choose.

No one defies the Protectorate.

They’ve got relentless cyborg assassins who never quit and never fail to take out their targets.

Until one defies them by becoming a parent.

Camden 1192, and ninety-nine other killers, are assigned to locate and capture the traitor. Orders specify taking the child alive, if possible. Only, theres one problem. The traitor happens to be Camden's sister, and the child, his nephew.

At the end of the day, everyone knows the Protectorate's Cyborgs are only good at one thing—ending the lives of anyone daring to disobey. But it's family... Blood versus duty.

Can one man win the most unwinnable scenario in the galaxy?

Exoputians by A.J. Pagan IV:

As the Second American Civil War wanes, Mary the Exoputian awaits her chance to contact the Folbulae—a highly advanced species of extraterrestrial, only to be hunted down by the dictator of the Sovereign States of America, Vladimir Booth.

With rising tides and thawing tundra, the Exoputians—a new species of human genetically created to live in Space and communicate with the Folbulae, land in the Republic of Texas following a missile strike on their space station. Mary and the other Exoputians learn of the lies their progenitor taught them, training the space-bred crew to use their novel communication to cure the planet they’d never set foot on. As Mary and the others road trip through racially segregated America, they encounter multiple attempts on their lives to follow through with their once-mission of saving the planet from the climate crisis.

Discover with Mary what’s worth saving on a planet prepared to destroy her entire species.

Content Warning: This novel is about the Second American Civil War, a race war. As such, it contains references to racism, police brutality, war, profanity, hate speech, violence, violence against minorities, racial slurs, sexual violence, drug use

Wartorn Stars by Glynn Stewart:

A mysterious enemy threatens the innocent.
A tide of silence and death sweeps the stars.
A single fleet, far from home, stands for freedom.

Under threat by a strange enemy, the alien Londu have called on old debts, leading Rear Admiral Henry Wong to bring his new Expeditionary Fleet hundreds of light-years from home to aid them.

A hard-fought victory gives his partner, Ambassador Sylvia Todorovich, time to negotiate a new alliance with their old friends. The same victory should give him answers about the strange Enigma alien attacking the Londu—but all they find are lies and more questions.

The questions give them one possible source of answers: another old ally, wrapped in mysteries of their own. An old ally no one has heard from since the Enigmas started attacking…

Fugitive Heroes by James David Victor:

When you're being chased by the good guys and the bad guys, the only thing to do is prove you are the real hero.

Melias and crew have have the devices needed to fight the Lightbringers, but they're also on the run from the military that they are ultimately serving. Can they stay ahead of the authorities and fight the Prime Ones at the same time? If they can't prove themselves to be fugitive heroes, all of humanity may be doomed.

Artificial Wisdom by Thomas R. Weaver:

Salvation has a price.

An enthralling murder mystery with a vividly realised future world that forces readers to grapple with hard-hitting questions regarding our relationship with Artificial Intelligence and the price we would be willing to pay, as a species, to be saved from crises of our own making. This jaw-dropping techno-thriller is perfect for fans of Blake Crouch, Neal Stephenson, Philip K Dick, Kim Stanley Robinson and RR Haywood.

It's 2050, a decade after a heatwave that killed four hundred million across the Persian Gulf, including journalist Marcus Tully's wife. Now he must uncover the truth: was the disaster natural? Or is the weather now a weapon of genocide?

A whistleblower pulls Tully into a murder investigation at the centre of an election battle for a global dictator, with a mandate to prevent a climate apocalypse. A former US President campaigns against the first AI politician of the position, but someone is trying to sway the outcome.

As the murder of a crucial witness derails the investigation, Tully must find the truth, convince the world to face it and make hard choices about the future of the species. But will humanity ultimately choose salvation over freedom, whatever the cost?

The States by Norah Woodsey:

A dream experiment holds unforeseen consequences for a woman who relinquished love and belonging 8 years earlier. Can her dreams convince her to pursue happiness, or will they pull her away from reality?

Interview with Norah Woodsey, author of The States

 

Today it gives the Speculative Fiction Showcase great pleasure to interview Norah Woodsey, whose novel The States has its debut on April 30.

What was the beginning of your novel The States and how does it relate to lockdown in 2020? 

The States started out as my project for 2020’s NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). Prior to COVID, I had spent years researching and writing my much darker novel, The Control Problem. When the world became even darker than the one I was writing, I needed to take a step back. I considered what was pulling at me the most. I missed traveling, I missed my mom, a nurse who was working through the pandemic. I missed seeing my very funny siblings back home in New York. I also missed my grandmother, who had passed away years earlier. She had experienced a lot of suffering in her life. Though she loved me, she was difficult to please and her advice often cold and harsh. In the end, longing for Ireland and for my grandmother had the most potential, and I nestled those into a love story. I used my journal entries from past visits, photos and text messages to relive my travels. I listened to various podcasts, including one that reminded me of my great-uncle (shoutout to “The Old Galway Diary” from The Galway Advertiser). I got to sink myself into an imaginary world, while in reality I was helping my family survive a plague. I hit the word count on the final day of November, then went back to working on The Control Problem. I promised myself to turn The States into something, one day. Now, here it is! 

The States marries Jane Austen’s novel Persuasion with an Irish/American contemporary setting, and a hint of the supernatural. What inspired you to bring these elements together? 

I like the challenge of weaving themes and story elements into something new. Setting a modern Persuasion in Manhattan, a city of immigrants, and Ireland, a country romanticized by millions of Americans, seemed logical. From there, the dream machine is a way to show Tildy Sullivan using her memories to treat her surface level desire for change with fleeting experiences, rather than face reality. All together, I tried to create a cohesive tale of longing, not just for her lost love, Aidan, but for a place and people and possible life that Tildy foolishly chose to abandon.  

What made you choose Persuasion as the matrix for The States and how easy was it to adapt it to a modern narrative?  

Initially, it wasn’t a choice. When I reviewed the initial version of The States at the end of 2022, it was clearly a thin retelling of Persuasion. Persuasion is my favorite of Jane Austen’s novels, so the idea of retelling it was madness. I either had to rewrite it or make the similarities honest. I spent a month closely re-reading the book, marking up a paperback copy and appreciating how Austen structured the story. I also listened to the audiobook while I did housework or exercised, and I folded laundry while I watched (most) of the movie and miniseries adaptations. 

There were things that were fun, like recreating certain scenes from the original with a modern spin. There were challenges, too. You don’t realize how many characters are in an Austen novel until you start analyzing the story. Some did not fit in my novel, which meant the loss of some great characters and scenes. But, with the additional material of Tildy’s mother and Nana, I think it grew into a novel that stands on its own, while still being a faithful retelling.

What aspects of Anne Elliot’s situation did you keep and what did you change? 

First, I tried to keep Anne’s values in Tildy. Both are responsible, hardworking, and calm under pressure, and are invested in their fathers’ well-being disproportionate to his worth as a human. Maintaining these qualities are essential for sympathizing with their circumstances at the start of both stories. They listen to bad advice and act on it, and give good advice and are ignored. 

I veered away from the original, of course. Women in contemporary NYC and Ireland have more opportunities for independence. The rigid Regency-era misogyny is missing. In contemporary America, we have Ultra High Net Worth families with private jets in place of landed gentry with no jobs. It required careful consideration of Tildy’s internal struggles. Also, Anne only had her collection of newspaper clippings, naval books, and past letters from Wentworth to keep in touch with him at a distance, while Tildy has search engines. Tildy’s methods would be sorcery for the first readers of Persuasion, but the intention is the same. 

How about other characters in Persuasion? 

I had a lot of fun working on ancillary storylines, particularly those of Mr. Elliot and Miss Smith. My version of Miss Smith still reveals Mr. Elliot’s past, but I introduce her earlier and give her more to do. Likewise, I gave Jude Mills, my version of Mr. Elliot, a different presence. The story needed a logical temptation for Tildy to stay in her current life, in New York, that also emphasized her insecurities. 

Why is the Irish connection crucial to this story of regret and missed opportunities?

Like all writers, I brought my own background to the story. I am a “Plastic Paddy,” an American with Irish citizenship through one of my grandparents. Growing up, it was implied that things were weird for us here because the US wasn’t really home, that home was this other country we had never visited. And when I finally went to Galway after college, I was treated warmly and even recognized on the street as a relative of my grandmother. Even though my life was great, the trip felt very sad. Like a window into a life that had passed me by. My childhood could’ve included visiting these relatives, learning Irish, and learning to swim in the ocean. I used this longing, which I think is familiar to many Americans with recent ancestry in another country, to fuel my retelling. 

How important is the role played by lucid dreaming? 

I like to explore our reliance on technology in my work. Any update to a Regency-era story has to address what I have heard described as “the cell phone problem.” Basically, modern communication would eliminate a lot of tension in historical stories. For example, the Bennett girls from Pride and Prejudice could’ve searched for Wickham online and learned he was a rake. So, rather than avoid technology, I tried to use it to maintain the original tension in Persuasion. The lucid dreaming machine felt like a fitting fictional device. It introduces the reader to Galway, Aidan and his friends early on, which is helpful, but it only gives Tildy what she feels she deserves, not what she needs. It is an emotional crutch, which reveals what is broken in her that she needs to overcome. 

Tell us about your protagonist, Tildy Sullivan, and what prompts her to leave Ireland (and love) behind?

Tildy is the daughter of the wealthy, vain Patrick Sullivan, a New Yorker who has let his inherited corporate empire crumble. Her mother, an Irish immigrant, had given Tildy an escape through summer visits to her home village outside of Galway. There, Tildy fell in love with a local boy, Aidan. But after her mother’s tragic death Tildy’s independence dissolved. She abandoned her chance for youthful happiness, compelled by the strength of her father and sisters’ disdain, and by what she believed were her mother’s wishes. 

How important was the Irish language in writing The States? 

I always wanted to set a story in Ireland one day, and I knew that story needed to include the Irish language. The words created and used by a culture convey the history and values of that culture. In my personal life, I have native speakers on both sides of my family, and my grandmother’s cousin Caitlín Maude was an Irish-language revivalist, poet and singer. My own grasp of the language is weak, so I relied on a wonderful translator Andrea Brown for the Irish passages. By word count, there are less than 700 Irish words, but I tried to use them at moments of impact, to emphasize the state of connection (or disconnect) between characters. 

What about Aiden, her lost love? Who is he and how much does he resemble Captain Frederick Wentworth, the hero of Persuasion? 

The British Royal Navy of Captain Wentworth’s life doesn’t have too much in common with modern fine dining. The goal, though, was to show Aidan’s qualities in contrast to the other men in Tildy’s life. Yes, Aidan is a handsome, strong, and intelligent man, who is also angry and heartbroken. Despite his feelings, he is able to build his own success with a team of good people who admire and love him in a risky industry. He becomes a young Michelin-starred chef, near the top of his field, whose deep knowledge of Ireland’s wild resources and crew of warm-hearted friends offer Tildy the sort of experiences she craves. I wanted to capture some of the romanticism of the Regency-era Royal Navy, and keep the expansion of horizons Anne gets from Wentworth and his friends, but remove the military. 

Why do you think Persuasion continues to evoke such affection in people? And why do you love it? 

Persuasion is, above everything else, a story of escaping a bad parent and overcoming a mistake. We all have regrets. I like Mansfield Park and Emma, but I don’t relate to much in those stories. In Persuasion, we see a character who has had her youthful adventure and failed to preserve it. She now has to find her way through her own flaws to a happiness that works for her. Anne is also a believable protagonist. She has uncharitable observations of others (to say the least), she doesn’t have endless patience, and her choice in confidants is obviously flawed. But we root for her, and we see her story through. I think that sort of realism and relatability gives Persuasion something extra that Austen’s other works lack. 

Why did you feel it was important to introduce a greater level of conflict into The States?

I think the conflict in Persuasion has dire consequences for Anne Elliot. She is entirely dependent on her father, an emotionally abusive idiot who is squandering their wealth, the remainder of which will be inherited by her shady cousin, Mr. Elliot. Her only source of support is her mother’s friend, a woman who wants Anne to prop up the family legacy just as her mother did. Anne’s only path out is marriage, relinquishing her father’s control over her to another man, where her comfort and happiness will be dependent on a new man’s success and care for her – a gamble, as we see in the example of Miss Smith. In The States, Tildy has a career, can get a bank account, an apartment, whatever she needs to survive, as I imagine a modern-day Anne would. I couldn’t replicate the challenges Anne experiences within the story I wanted to tell. I introduced variations or entirely new ones for Tildy’s story, partly to heighten the stakes but also in service to other parts of the story, particularly in explaining Tildy’s character more fully. 

Have you kept something of the irony and satire in Austen’s writing?

I certainly tried to — Austen is such a master at both, it’s very hard to meet expectations on that front. I tried to layer in moments throughout, particularly when Tildy is with her father and sisters. Those are the moments I enjoyed most in the original. Still, no one can compare to Austen. 

How do you see the audience for The States and who will love it? 

I wrote this book for anyone who wants some humor, love, and the beauty of western Ireland. My other works focus on serious issues, and I love each one of them, but this one is for readers who want escapism. Sometimes we all need a book where the protagonist works through what was holding her back. 

Amazon - Bookshop

About Norah Woodsey:

NORAH WOODSEY is the author of The States, The Control Problem, Lifeless, and the novella When the Wave Collapses. After short careers in finance and tech, she has dedicated herself to creating fiction. Her subjects of intense interest but not quite expertise include history, physics, genetics, sociology and gender studies. The product of four generations of Brooklynites, she now lives in California with her husband, children and their dog Saoirse. Find out more about her at norahwoodsey.com.

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Speculative Fiction Links of the Week for April 26, 2024

 

It's time for the latest weekly round-up of interesting links about speculative fiction from around the web, this week with Star Trek Discovery and Star Trek in general, Fallout, Masters of the Universe in general, Doctor Who past, present and future, Civil War, Dead Boy Detectives, Spy x Family: Code White, Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver, Humane, Knuckles, Abigail, Bluey, tributes to Terry Carter and much more.

Speculative fiction in general:

• Jennifer Wilson talks about the recent popularity of stories about humans and robots in sexual and romantic relationships. 
• Cole Rush shares five SFF mysteries he couldn't put down.
  
• Ratika Deshpande shares eight fantasy stories with happy endings. 
• James Davis Nicoll shares five SFF books featuring professional assassins.
  
• Nina Munteanu shares ten works of ecological SFF.
• Keith Roysdon talks about the heyday of pulp fiction. 
• Andrew DeYoung hosts a roundtable with the finalists in the genre fiction section of the 2024 Minnesota Book Awards.
  
• Kim Sherwood shares her appreciation for the many formidable women in the James Bond novels and movies. 
  
• Brian Collins shares his appreciation for the works of M.R. James. 
• Adventures Fantastic shares his appreciation for the works of Henry Kuttner.
  
• Alison Scott shares an overview of Australian SFF fandom in the 1960s. 
• Deuce Richardson shares another health update about Robert E. Howard scholar Rusty Burke. 
• Shealagh Sullivan remembers the late SFF fan, conruunner and scholar Deborah Geisler.
  
• SFF fan and conrunner Leane M. Verhulst has died aged 54. 
• Horror writer Ray Garton has died aged 61.
  
• SFF fan John G. Trimble, who co-founded the Society for Creative Anachronism and initiated the campaign to save the original Star Trek with his wife Bjo Trimble, has died.aged 87.
  

Comics and Art:

• Rachel Cooke reviews the graphic novel Self-Esteem and the End of the World by Luke Healy
• James Whitbrook share some background about the character of Cassandra Nova from the X-Men comics.
  
• Tom Gauld shares a cartoon about Bluebeard the writer.
  

 

Film and TV:

• James Whitbrook shates his thoughts on "Bright Eyes", the latest episode of X-Men '97.
  
• C.T. Phipps shares his thoughts on Castlevania: Nocturne. 
• Graeme Virtue calls The Red King a wickedly playful new spin on The Wicker Man
  
• Tom Philip calls season 2 of The Big Door Prize a messy, intriguing improvement
• Phil Hoad calls Malum/Hunt Her, Kill Her a double bill of low-budget, single-location horror films. 
• Melody McCune shares her thoughts on the latest episode of Beacon 23. 
• Meredith Hobbs Coons shares her thoughts on the season 1 finale of Shogun.
  
• Anthony Breznican shares a look behind the scenes of Dark Matter.
  
• Ben Child wonders whether Edgar Wright will manage to make a decent remake of The Running Man. 
• Lorelei Marcus revisits the 1969 movie Head starring The Monkees. 
• Kali Wallace revisits the 1977 science fiction film Close Encounters of the Third Kind
  
• Judith Tarr revisits the 1987 fantasy film Harry and the Hendersons 
  
• Keith R.A. DeCandido revisits the 1994 Babylon 5 episode “Infection” 
• Paul Morton revisits the 1995 Sliders episode "Eggheads".
  
• Cheryl Eddy revisits the horror movies of 1999. 
• Germain Lussie revisits the 2001 fantasy romance Amélie.
  
• Germain Lussier revisits the 2011 science fiction film Rise of the Planet of the Apes.
• io9 interviews Marlo Kelly who plays Tatiana in 3 Body Problem. 
• Rich Pelley interviews actress and director Bryce Dallas Howard, who starred in Argylle and Jurassic World and directed multiple episode of The Mandalorian. 
• Lindsey Bahr interviews Shawn Levy, director of Deadpool and Wolverine. 
• Cheryl Eddy interviews Don Coscarelli, director of Phantasm I-IV, Bubba Ho-Tep, The Beastmaster, and John Dies at the End
  
• Germain Lussier remembers that Disney declared the Star Wars expanded universe non-canon exactly ten years ago.
  
• Craig Wexler and Darci Heikkinen share their ten favourite engineers in filmic science fiction. 
• Charlie Jane Anders shares gender-flipping comedies.
  
• Olivia Rutigliano shares the ten best sunglass wearers in films and TV shows. 
• Daniel Bessner talks about the threats facing film and TV writers. 
• Amelia Tait reports how tax breaks and grants have fuelled a boom of international film and TV productions in rural parts of the UK. 
• Chike Nwaenie reports that animation work on the upcoming anime Dahlia in Bloom may have been outsourced to North Korea in spite of economic sanctions against that country.
  
• Michael Sun reports that actors  Rei Hance, Joshua Leonard and Michael Williams, the original cast of The Blair Witch Project, have demanded retroactive residuals, since they did not have proper union representation, when making the film.
• The Guardian reports that multiple crewmembers were injured and hospitalised after an accident on the set of the film The Pickup.
  
• Dalya Alberge reports that The Magic Eye: The Cinema of Stanley Kubrick by Neil Hornick, a non-fiction book whose publication Kubrick blocked for decades, will finally be published.
• Dani Anguino reports that actor Chris Pratt, best known for playing Star Lord in Guardians of the Galaxy, and his wife Katherine Schwarzenegger, daughter of Arnold, have demolished a historic mid century house in Los Angeles, California, to build yet another McMansion.  
• Gloria Oladipo reports that the rape conviction of film producer Harvey Weinstein has been overturned by a court in New York, though his rape conviction in Los Angeles still stands. 
• Benjamin Lee shares responses from various of Weinstein's accusers to the overturning of his rape conviction.
  

 

Tributes to Terry Carter:

• Actor Terry Carter, who played Colonel Tigh in the original Battlestar Galactica and also appeared in McCloud, Foxy Brown, Sergeant Bilko and many others, has died aged 95.
• Mike Barnes remembers Terry Carter.

 

Comments on Star Trek Discovery and Star Trek in general:

• Keith R.A. DeCandido shares his thoughts on "Mirrors", the latest episode of Star Trek Discovery.
• Avery Kaplan shares her thoughts on "Mirrors" 
• James Whitbrook shares his thoughts on "Mirrors".
  
• TrekCore interviews Sonequa Martin-Green who plays Michael Burnham in Star Trek Discovery.
  
• James Whitbrook looks on the impact that the Dominion War from Deep Space Nine had on the usually utopian Star Trek universe.
  

Comments on Fallout: 

• Joe DelFranco shares his thoughts on season 1 of Fallout.
  
• William Hughes shares his thoughts on the season 1 finale of Fallout.
  
• Cassie Holguin shares her appreciation for the character of Lucy MacLean in Fallout. 
• Jack King interviews Ella Purnell who plays Lucy MacLean in Fallout.
  
• Germain Lussier interviews Ramin Djawadi, who composed the score for Fallout.
  
• Cheryl Eddy shares ten post-apocalyptic movies to watch after finishing Fallout,. 
  

 

Comments on Doctor Who past, present and future: 

•  Cliff Joannou interviews Ncuti Gatwa, who plays the Fifteenth Doctor in Doctor Who.
• James Whitbrook reports that showrunner Russel T. Davis has defended Doctor Who's new controversial midnight release schedule.
  

 

Comments on Masters of the Universe in general:

• Kate Bove lists the classic Masters of the Universe characters killed off in Masters of the Universe Revelation/Revolution.
• Alexander Valentino lists ten classic Masters of the Universe characters who have yet to put in an appearance in Masters of the Unvierse Revelation/Revolution. 
• Mega Jay Retro discusses history of Keldor from Masters of the Universe.
  
• Dad-at-Arms interviews Stage McNulty, production manager at Powerhouse Animation who worked on Masters of the Unvierse Revelation and Revolution.
  

 

Comments on Dead Boy Detectives: 

• Joel Golby calls Dead Boy Detectives silly, spooky and wicked fun
• Lucy Mangan calls Dead Boy Detectives a fun paranormal romp that will make you feel young again
• Saloni Gajjar calls Dead Boy Detectives a sweet and silly supernatural drama
  
• Melody McCune shares episode by episode reviews of Dead Boy Detectives.

 

Comments on Civil War: 

• Haley Zapal calls Civil War an absolutely brutal depiction of photojournalism in the midst of an underexplored conflict
  
•  io9 interviews Wagner Moura, one of the stars of Civil War.
  

 

Comments on Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver: 

• Jesse Hassenger calls Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver a bombastically fun sequel
• Jarrod Jones calls Rebel Moon—Part Two: The Scargiver an improved follow up and a messy but daring star war
• Germain Lussier calls Rebel Moon - Part Two: The Scargiver, without a doubt, better than its predecessor, yet still slow, unbalanced and emotionally vapid.  
• Arturo Serrano calls Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver a forgettable boogaloo.
  
• Germain Lussier reports that Rebel Moon - Part Two: The Scargiver is currently topping the Netflix charts, but still had fewer views than Part One,
  

 

Comments on Spy x Family: Code White:

• Phuong Le declares that the anime Spy x Family Code: White features ingenious espionage antics with a super-powered family 
• Ann Michelle Harris declares that Spy x Family: Code White is lighter in tone than the regular anime.
  

 

Comments on Humane: 

• Brent Simon calls Humane a dystopian film that mostly hits the right social satire notes
  
• Brent Simon interviews Caitlin Cronenberg and Jay Baruchel, director and star of Humane.

 

Comments on Abigail:

• Luke Y. Thompson calls Abigail a frequently funny dance of death
• Sabina Graves interviews Melissa Barrera and Alisha Weir, two of the stars of Abigail.
• Sabina Graves interviews Kathryn Newton, one of the stars of Abigail.
  

 

Comments on Knuckles: 

• Meredith Hobbs Coons shares her thoughts on the Sonic the Hedghog spin-off Knuckles. 
• Kenneth Shephard notes that Knuckles is barely in his own show.
  

 

Comments on Bluey:

• Sian Cain reports that a secret, previously unannounced secret episode of Bluey entitled "The Surprise" just dropped.
• Stuart Heritage explains how an experience he had playing with his kids inspired an episode of Bluey. 
• Sabina Graves reports that Bluey will be taking a break after the surprise secret episode.
  

 

Awards:

• The winners of the 2024 Los Angeles Times Book Prizes have been announced.
• The shortlist for the 2024 Australasian Shadows Awards has been announced.
  
• The winners of the 2024 Zsoldos Péter Award have been announced.
• The shortlist for the 2023 Coyotl Awards has been announced. 
• The winners of the 2024 Ursa Major Awards have been announced.
  
• George R.R. Martin has received the 2024 Courageous Communicator Award from the New Mexico Press Women.
  
• The Society of Illustrators has announced its 2024 Hall of Fame inductees.
  
• Tom Hunter shares a list of all the books submitted for the 2024 Arthur C. Clarke Award.
  
• Submissions are open for the 2024 Faber/Observer/Comica Graphic Short Story Prize
  

Writing, publishing and promotion:

• Sasha Vasilyuk talks about writing in English as a second language.
  
• Charlie Jane Anders explains how to build your online brand without burning out. 
• Ellen Datlow, Joe Monti and Deanna Hoak discuss the role of editors in publishing in a two-part post.
  
• Elle Griffin claims that no one buys books. 
• Lincoln Michel counters Elle Griffin and points out that yes, people do buy books.
  
• Claire Kirch and Nathalie op de Beeck report about a new generation of independent bookstores.
  
• Constance Grady chronicles how Amazon became flooded with scammy trash e-books.
• Charlie Jane Anders, Annalee Newitz and Maggie Tokuda-Hall discuss book bans and fascism.
  
• Jonathan Hamilt, organiser of the controversial Drag Queen Story Hours in libraries, talks about receiving threats and shares safety tips.
  

 

Interviews:

• AudioFile Magazine interviews Martha Wells.
  
• Paul Weimer interviews Eliza Chan. 
• Runalong the Shelves interviews Oliver K. Langmead. 
• Runalong the Shelves interviews Shona Kinsella. 
• John Mauro interviews Lavanya Lakshminarayan
• Fabienne Schwizer interviews Taran Matharu.
  
• Arturo Serrano interviews Cheryl Ntumy.

 

Reviews:

• Runalong the Shelves reviews Light of Impossible Stars by Gareth L Powell
  
• Gary K. Wolfe reviews The Practice, the Horizon, and the Chain by Sofia Samatar 
  
• Marlene Harris reviews The Practice, the Horizon, and the Chain by Sofia Samatar 
• Alexandra Pierce reviews Triangulum: An Epic of the Nine Worlds of Surya by Subodhana Wijeyeratne 
  
• Marlene Harris reviews Mal Goes to War by Edward Ashton
• Niall Harrison reviews The Mars House by Natasha Pulley
  
• Blue Book Balloon reviews Alien Clay by Adrian Tchaikovsky
• Liz Bourke reviews Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell
  
• Marion Deeds reviews Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell 
• Matthew Keeley reviews Saevus Corax Gets Away With Murder by K.J. Parker. 
• Aaron Cummings reviews The Doom of Odin by Scott Oden. 
• Esmay Rosalyne reviews Thorns of War by João F. Silva
  
• James Davis Nicoll reviews Witch of Wild Things by Raquel Vasquez Gilliland  
• Runalong the Shelves reviews The House On The Old Cliffs by Adrian Tchaikovsky
  
• Esmay Rosalyne reviews The Crimson Court by Brendan Noble
• Liz Bourke reviews Sunbringer by Hannah Kaner. 
• Chris Kluwe reviews Of Jade and Dragons by Amber Chen
  
• Fantasy Faction reviews The Last Ranger by J.D.L. Rosell
• Fantasy Faction reviews The Last Fang of God by Ryan Kirk
  
• Maya Gittelman reviews Mammoths at the Gates by Nghi Vo.
  
• Julia Kitvaria Sarene reviews Gates of Sorrow by J. E. Hannaford 
• Marion Deeds reviews Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett 
  
• Colleen Mondor reviews The Fair Folk by Su Bristow and The Bad Ones by Melissa Albert 
• Alex Brown reviews Otherworldly by F.T. Lukens
  
• James Davis Nicoll reviews One Hundred Shadows by Hwang Jungeun, translated by Jung Yewon
  
• Blue Book Balloon reviews Simul by Andrew Caldecott 
• Gabino Iglesias reviews Clever Creatures of the Night by Samantha Mabry
  
• John Mauro reviews Night’s Reign by Daan Katz
  
• Runalong the Shelves reviews Hunting By The River by Daniel Carpenter 
• Runalong the Shelves reviews Convergence Problems by Wole Talabi
     
  

Classics reviews:

• John O'Neill revisits the 1947 horror collection Night’s Black Agents by Fritz Leiber
  
• James Wallace Harris revisits the 1950 time travel story “Flight to Forever” by Poul Anderson
• Sam Reader revisits the 1955 horror story “Bright Segment” by Theodore Sturgeon
  
• James Wallace Harris revisits the 1957 science fiction story “Small World” by William F. Nolan 
• Mark Yon revisits the May 1969 issue of New Worlds.
  
• Brian Collins revisits the 1976 Kane sword and sorcery story “Two Suns Setting” by Karl Edward Wagner 
• James Davis Nicoll revisits the 1978 YA science fiction novel The Tomorrow City by Monica Hughes 
  
• Brian Collins revisits the 1979 time travel novella “Palely Loitering” by Christopher Priest
• The Por Por Books Blog revisits the 1985 cyberpunk novel Eclipse by John Shirley. 
• James Davis Nicoll revisits the 1990 science fiction novel The Race For God by Brian Herbert 
   
  

Con and event reports:

• Octothorpe discusses the Levitation, the 2024 Eastercon in Telford, UK.
  
• John Maher reports that PEN America has cancelled its 2024 Literary Awards ceremony due to yet more uproar about the war in Gaza.
• Coral Murphy Marcos also reports about the cancellation of the 2024 PEN America Literary Awards. 
• Sabina Graves reports about Pixar Fest at Disneyland and Disney California Adventure in Anaheim, California.
  

 

Science and technology:

• Harry Baker reports that NASA's Ingenuity Mars helicopter has sent its final message to Earth, but will continue collecting data.  
• NASA reports that the Voyager 1 space probe has resumed sending updates to Earth.
  
• Rafael Henrique reports that the AI company Stable Diffusion is facing mass lay-offs. 
• Peter O'Dowd, Chris Bentley and Catherine Welch report that Detroit, Michigan, has introduced a road which allows for wirelessly charging electrical vehicles while driving.
  
• Emma Beddington and Sarah Gilbert share eleven vintage transport concepts that never came to be.
• Rahul Jandial wonders whether dreaming is actually the point of sleep.
  

 

Gaming: 

• Nathan Rott reports about the Catan: New Energies boardgame, a spin-off of the popular Settlers of Catan series of boardgames.
  

 

Toys and collectibles:

• For Eternia reviews the Masterverse Princess of Power Leech action figure by Mattel. 
• Ethan Wilson reviews the Marvel Legends Angel figure by Hasbro.
  
• Cat Eldridge reviews the Marvel Guardians of the Galaxy 2 Body Knocker Groot by Neca. 
  
• Still a Big Kid reviews the Ultra Street Fighter II Ken action figure from Jada Toys.
• Sir Dork reviews the Casket of Cruelty and Ultimate Weapons Rack action figure accessories from Super Action Stuff. 
• Sir Dork reviews the Boss Fight Studios skeleton action figures.
  
• Germain Lussier shares a look at the Voltron 40th Anniversary Set by Playmates Toys.
• James Whitbrook shares some new space-themed Lego sets. 
  
• Dad-at-Arms interviews Ethan Wilson about his ongoing copyright battle with Scott Neitlich of Spector Creative.
• Scott Neitlich shares his side of the story.
  

 

Free online fiction: 

• "Lesser Demons of the North Shore" by Juan Martinez in The Sunday Morning Transport. 
• "The Little Monster" by Léopold Chauveau, translated by Nat Paterson, in Samovar. 
• "Travelers’ Tales from the Ends of the World" by Vandana Singh in Lightspeed.
• "Limping Toward Sunrise" by Rich Larson in Lightspeed.
  
• "Occurrence at O1339" by Kelly Jennings in Clarkesworld.
• "The Rambler" by Shen Dacheng, translated by Cara Healey, in Clarkesworld.
• "The Slave Boy" by Denzel Xavier Scott in The Deadlands.
• "Sleeping Arrangements" by R.T. Ester in Interzone Digital. 
  
• "Dead But Dreaming Still" by Michael Kelly in The Dark.
• "Reading Lies" by Gabby Gilliam in Wyldblood.
  
• "The Injustice Collector" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch.
  

 

Trailers and videos:

• Watch a trailer for Deadpool & Wolverine.
• Watch a trailer for Robot Dreams
• Watch a trailer for The Watchers.
  
• Watch a trailer for Blink Twice. 
• Watch a trailer for Atlas. 
• Watch a trailer for The Exorcism.
  
• Watch a trailer for Jim Henson Idea Man