Speculative Fiction Links of the Week for February 21, 2025

 

It's time for the latest weekly round-up of interesting links about speculative fiction from around the web, this week with Star Trek in general, Star Wars in general, Captain America: Brave New World and the Marvel Cinematic and TV Universe in general, Daredevil Born Again, Your Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man, Masters of the Universe in general, Mickey 17, season 2 of Severance, season 3 of Yellowjackets, Doctor Who past, present and future, The Gorge, The Monkey, the future of James Bond, Twin Peaks, EastEnder at forty, the best SFF works of 2024 and much more.

Speculative fiction in general:

• Molly Odintz shares speculative murder mysteries and thrillers coming out in 2025.
• Ed Finn explains why science fiction is important. 
• Susan Barker explains why she loves horror.
  
• Alex Brown shares must read short speculative fiction for January 2025
  
• James Davis Nicoll shares five oddly, unexpectedly upbeat works of SFF
• James Davis Nicoll shares five SFF stories driven by plot-facilitating ignorance
  
• Ratika Deshpande shares five SFF stories about the things we do for the love of our families
• Kristen Patterson talks about exploring the consequences of magic in modern fantasy
  
• Cheryl Morgan writes about trans writers, artists and editors in twentieth century speculative fiction. 
• Nathalie op de Beeck reports about the rising prominence of indigenous authors.
  
• Deon Meyer talks about subgenres and genre boundaries.  
  
• Dalya Alberge reports that thousands of letters, photographs, illustrations and books from one of the world’s largest private Lewis Carroll collections have been donated to Christ Church College in Oxford, UK.
• Locus remembers the late Anthony R. Lewis. 
• Arwen Joy GoodKnight, musician, pastry chef and fan, has died aged 52.

 

Best of 2024:

• Russell Letson shares his favourite SFF books of 2024.
• Liz Bourke shares her favourite SFF books of 2024. 
• Charles Payseur shares his favourite SFF works of 2024. 
• Jake Casella Brookins shares his favourite SFF works of 2024. 
  

 

 Comics and Art:

• C.T. Phipps reviews Behind Blue Eyes: The Graphic Novel #1 by Anna Mocikat and Ivano Lago 
• Grace Hetrick reviews On a Sunbeam by Tillie Walden 
• Isaiah Colbert interviews Bartosz Sztybor, writer of Cyberpunk: Edgerunners Madness
• Jimmy Stamp profiles Eliot R. Brown who created the map of Gotham City.
• Sabina Graves reports that the planned resurrection of Gwen Stacy has become even weirder.
  
• Chloe Genter explains how she restored an original concept drawing of Captain America by Joe Simon from 1940.
  

 

Film and TV:

• Peter Bradshaw calls What Marielle Knows a fantasy-satire of bourgeois family life 
• Elijah Gonzales declares that Pantheon’s brainmelting second season wows and confounds in equal measure
  
• Leah Schnellbach declares that Companion would like us to think about the nature of love
  
• Brent Simon declares that the horror film The Dead Thing turns the hold of toxic relationships into slow-burn horror 
• Catherine Bray calls Little Bites a decent horror film with a genre fan’s dream cast
  
• Peter Bradshaw calls The Light a mystical satirical romp that channels German anxiety over refugees
• James Whitbrook revisits Madame Web one year after its release and notes that there are a lot of car crashes in the film. 
• Aaron Jones shares his thoughts on The Witcher: Blood Origin
  
• Melody McCune shares her thoughts on the latest episode of Mayfair Witches. 
• William Hughes shares his thoughts on the latest episode of Invincible.
  
• Paul Morton discusses how Flow fists into a history of animated movies about animals in a post-human world. 
• Ruth Lawes reports that the fantasy comedy Wolf Like Me is becoming an unlikely streaming success due to binge watchers.
  
• Germain Lussier ranks the Final Destination movies.
  
• Joe George shares his ten favourite filmic superhero romances. 
• Readers of The Guardian share their most romantic movie moments.
  
• Caroline Siede profiles blaxploitation star Pam Grier. 
• Mallory O'Meara profiles silent era action star Helen Gibson. 
• Lee Weinstein revisits the 1955 science fiction series Commando Cody, Sky Marshal of the Universe
  
• Scott Tobias revisits the 1975 science fiction horror film The Stepford Wives. 
• William Lampkin reports about a planned 1978 Doc Savage movie that was never made.  
• Cheryl Eddy revisits the 1992 Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie.
• Keith R.A. DeCandido revisits the 1995 Babylon 5 episode “The Long, Twilight Struggle”
• Isaiah Colbert revisits the 1997 anime series Revolutionary Girl Utena
  
• Diego Nicolás Argüello discusses the challenges of dubbing movies like Spider-Man: Across the Spiderverse for Latin American audiences.
• Ben Child wonders whether Dune: Messiah will be Denis Villeneuve’s crowning achievement or the moment the spice runs dry?
• Camestros Felapton muses about the xenomorphs from the Alien movies.
  
• Justin Carter notes that the success of the Sonic the Hedgehog movies comes from focussing on what the fans of the character want. 
• Emlyn Travis explains why Lin Manuel Miranda was not in Wicked. 
• Cheryl Eddy reports that the Chinese animated film Ne Zha 2 is now the highest grossing animated movie of all time.
• Actor and voice actor Julian Holloway, who appeared in Doctor Who, Star Wras: The Clone Wars, The Sweeney, James Bond Jr., the Carry On series and many others, has died aged 80. 
• Anthony Hayward shares an obituary for Julian Holloway. 
  

 

Comments on Star Trek in general:

• James Whitbrook revisits the 1995 Star Trek Voyager episode "Eye of the Needle"
  
• Avery Kaplan lists four bad leaders from various incarnations of Star Trek.
• James Whitbrook interviews Carlos Baena, director of Star Trek 765874
  

 

Comments on Captain American: Brave New World and the Marvel Cinematic and TV Universe in general: 

• Chris M. Barkley shares a somewhat spoilerish review of Captain America: Brave New World. 
• Emmet Asher-Perrin declares that Captain America: Brave New World seems incredibly afraid of its own audience
  
• Elizabeth Minkel explains what the release of Captain America: Brave New World says about the state of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2025.
• Richard Newby notes that expectations are placed on Anthony Mackie's Captain America that were never placed on Chris Evans' Captain America.
  
• Steve Rose discusses how Captain America: Brave New World got caught up in the various culture wars besetting the US. 
• Inspired by Captain America: Brave New World, Rory Doherty discusses how the Marvel Cinematic and TV Universe portrays its fictional presidents.
  
• Colin Hickson explains that the bad reviews for Captain America: Brave New World might have been due to bad marketing. 
  
• Tasha Robinson discusses the post-credits scene of Captain America: Brave New World. 
• Germain Lussier also discusses the post-credits scene of Captain America: Brave New World.   
• Caroline Siede declares that Marvel movies and superhero movies in general need themes to be successful again.  
• Alex Zalben reports that Liv Tyler was actually on the set of Captain America: Brave New World as Betty Ross, in spite of only having two brief and somewhat disjointed scenes.
  
• Pamela McClintock reports that Captain America: Brave New World had a good opening weekend in spite of mixed reviews.

 

Comments on Daredevil Born Again: 

• Ben Travis interviews Dario Scardapane, showrunner of Daredevil Born Again. 
• Oliver Franklin-Wallis interviews Charlie Cox who plays Matt Murdoch a.k.a. Daredevil in Daredevil Born Again.
• Nick Romano interviews actors Charlie Cox, Vincent D'Onofrio and Deborah Ann Woll as well as the creative team behind Daredevil: Born Again. 
  
• Watch a trailer for . Daredevil: Born Again

 

Comments on Your Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man: 

• Isaiah Colbert shares his thoughts about the season 1 finale of  Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man
• Isaiah Colbert and Justin Carter share six things they liked, and four they didn't like about Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man

 

Comments on Masters of the Universe in general:

• Marco Vito Otto reports that some photos from the set of the live action Masters of the Universe movies have surfaced, showing Prince Adam seemingly being arrested by two police officers.
• For Eternia shares some more photos and information from the set of the live action Masters of the Universe movie. 
• Ryan Gajewski reports that Sasheer Zamata has been cast as Suzie, Jon Xue Zhang has been cast as Ram-Man and Christian Vunipola has been cast as Hussein in the Masters of the Universe live action movie.
  
• James Eatock discusses the multiple origins of Evil-Lyn in Masters of the Universe. 
• James Eatock shares a tribute to the late John Erwin, voice of Prince Adam/He-Man and many other characters. 
  

 

Comments on Star Wars in general: 

• Joshua M. Patton notes that Andor and Skeleton Crew, though very different, offer a blueprint for what the future of Star Wars could look like. 
• James Whitbrook reviews Star Wars: Reign of the Empire – The Mask of Fear by Alexander Freed.

 

Comments on Doctor Who past, present and future: 

• David Craig reports that according to the BBC, rumours of the impending demise of Doctor Who are premature. 
  
• James Whitbrook reports that the BBC has denied Doctor Who‘s latest round of cancellation rumours
• Nation Cymru wonders whether Michael Sheen might become the next Doctor once Ncuti Gatwa steps down.
  

 

Comments on Mickey 17: 

• Germain Lussier calls Mickey 17 a solid science fiction delight, until things get a little too real
  
• Peter Bradshaw calls Mickey 17 an eerily cheery cloning drama 
• Siddhant Adlakha calls Mickey 17 a nihilistic science fiction comedy
• Katarina Docalovich calls Mickey 17 a silly but declawed social satire 
• Germain Lussier offers a look behind the scenes of Mickey 17.
  

 

Comments on The Gorge: 

• Benjamin Lee calls The Gorge a slickly made but increasingly dumb horror film.
• Bill Capossere calls The Gorge a perfectly serviceable movie 
• Paul Levinson calls The Gorge a hi-tech blast from the past
  
• Alasdair Stuart shares his thoughts on The Gorge. 
• Arturo Serrano shares his thoughts on The Gorge. 
  

 

Comments on The Monkey: 

• Jesse Hassenger declares that the horror film The Monkey reveals some feeling beneath its torrents of splattering blood 
• Benjamin Lee calls The Monkey a slapdash splatter comedy and a grating misfire 
• Kimberly Pierce shares her thoughts on The Monkey.
  
• Cheryl Eddy interviews Osgood Perkins, director of The Monkey.

 

Comments on season 3 of Yellowjackets:

•  Rebecca Nicholson declares that season 3 of Yellowjackets just remembered to be funny.
• Jen Lennon declares that after a shaky season 2, Yellowjackets returns with two intriguing, relatively grounded episodes
• Gillian Bennett declares that the first episodes of season 3 of Yellowjackets seem to get the show back on track. 
• Melody McCune shares her thoughts on episodes 1 and 2 of season 3 of Yellowjackets. 
• Natalie Zutter shares her thoughts on the season 3 premiere of Yellowjackets.

 

Comments on season 2 of Severance: 

• Saloni Gajjar shares her thoughts on the latest episode of Severance.
• Molly Templeton shares her thoughts on the latest episode of Severance. 
• Diana Keng shares her thoughts on the latest episode of Severance.
• Germain Lussier shares his thoughts on the latest episode of Severance. 
• Paul Levinson shares his thoughts on the  latest episode of Severance.  
• Cheryl Eddy declares that Severance‘s views on grief are raw, real and dystopian all at once
  

 

Comments on the Future of James Bond: 

• Mark Sweeney reports that Austrian property developer Josef Kleindienst is challenging various trademarks associated with James Bond. 
• Rob Davies and Andrew Pulver report that the James Bond producers, the Broccoli family, have  given Amazon full creative control of 007
• James Whitbrok also reports that Amazon gained creative control over James Bond in a shocking new deal   
• Brent Lang and Rebecca Rubin try to explain why Amazon took control of James Bond    
  
• Germain Lussier reports that Amazon head Jeff Bezos is already soliciting ideas for the next James Bond
  

 

Comments on Twin Peaks: 

• Cheryl Eddy shares ten life lessons from Twin Peaks.
  
• Kali Wallace revisits the 1992 horror crime film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me

 

 EastEnders at Forty:

• Michael Hogan celebrates the fortieth anniversary of the British soap opera EastEnders. 
• Stuart Heritage reports about the fortieth anniversary episode of EastEnders, which became positively science fictional at times.

 

Awards:

• The winners of the 2025 Skylark and Gaughan Awards have been announced. 
• The finalists for the 2025 Prix Bob Morane have been announced. 
• The finalist for the 2025 Los Angeles Times Book Prizes have been announced.
  
• The winners of the 2024 Cybils Awards have been announced.
• The winner of the 2025 Dell Magazines Award has been announced. 
• The winners of the 2025 BAFTA film awards have been announced. 
• The winners of the 2025 Writers Guild Awards have been announced,
• The finalists for the 2024 International Film Music Critics Association Awards have been announced. 
  
• The winners of the 2025 D.I.C.E. Awards have been announced. 
• Doris V. Sutherland discusses the brief life of the Helicon Awards. 
• SFWA talks about the new poetry and comics Nebula Award categories. 
• Herb Kauderer talks about awards, bias and how the impact of bias can be reduced.
  

Writing, publishing and promotion: 

• Jenn Bredman talks about the pitfalls and problems of incorporating current events in your fiction. 
• Dhanika Pineda talks about fan-fiction that is pulled to publish.
  
• Matilda Battersby reports that Jeannette Winterson has criticised the UK government's AI plans.
  
• Barbara Casassus reports that French creative fear that their interests are being ignored by proposed new AI legislation. 
• Christopher Norris declares that writers need a new moral right in response to the threat of AI. 
• Ed Pilkington reports that books dealing with gender issues or discrimination have been suspended from the libraries of schools operated by the US military for children of military personnel in response to an executive order by Donald Trump. 
• Ella Creamer reports that actress Julianne Moore is shocked that her children's book Freckleface Strawberry about a little girl who comes to accept her freckles is among the books suspended from the libraries of schools operated by the US military. 
• Ella Creamer reports that hundreds of books have been seized from stores in Kashmir as the Indian police crack down on dissent and Muslim organisations.
  
• Ella Creamer reports about couples who met in bookstores.

 

Interviews:

• Runalong the Shelves interviews A.G. Slatter. 
• Harry Siegel and Brian Berger interview Jonathan Lethem.
• Scott Edelman interviews Shannon Robinson.
• Molly Odintz interviews Kat Dunn.
  
• Brandon O'Brien interviews Colleen Anderson.
  

 

Reviews:

• Colleen Mondor reviews How to Steal a Galaxy by Beth Revis  
• Alex Wallace reviews The Scourge Between Stars by Ness Brown. 
• James Davis Nicoll reviews Orbital by Samantha Harvey
  
• Liz Bourke reviews Murder by Memory by Olivia Waite
  
• Paul Weimer reviews The Sentence by Gautam Bhatia  
• Paul di Filippo reviews Hammajang Luck by Makana Yamamoto 
• Paperback Warrior reviews Empire of Silence by Christopher Ruocchio.
  
• Joe Sherry reviews The Martian Contingency by Mary Robinette Kowal and Tidal Creatures by Seanan McGuire
  
• Mark Yon reviews The Frozen People by Elly Griffiths.
  
• Marlene Harris reviews The Fourth Consort by Edward Ashton
  
• Paul Di Filippo reviews Sleeping Worlds Have No Memory by Yaroslav Barsukov 
• James Davis Nicoll reviews The City and Its Uncertain Walls by Haruki Murakami, translated by Philip Gabriel. 
• Julia Kitvaria Sarene reviews Last Winter Sun by G.R. Matthews
  
• Tobias Carroll reviews At the Fount of Creation by Tobi Ogundiran.
  
• Blue Book Balloon reviews Triggernometry Finals by Stark Holborn 
• Marion Deeds reviews Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcett 
• Fantasy Faction reviews The Humane Society for Creatures and Cryptids by Stephanie A. Gillis  
  
• Marlene Harris reviews I Got Abducted by Aliens and Now I’m Trapped in a Rom-Com by Kimberly Lemming 
• Julia Kitvaria Sarene reviews The Guardian of the Palace by Steven J. Morris 
  
• Blue Book Balloon reviews The Crimson Road by Angela Slatter
  
• Fiona Denton reviews Cursebound by Saara El-Arifi 
• John Mauro reviews An Inkling of Flame by Z.B. Steele
  
• Adrian Collins reviews A Drink Before We Die by Daniel Polansky
• Sandra Newman reviews Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor 
• Phoebe Wagner reviews Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor 
  
• Niall Harrison reviews Private Rites by Julia Armfield
  
• James Davis Nicoll reviews Zhara by S. Jae-Jones 
• Kat Hooper reviews Calling by Molly Harper
• Gary K. Wolfe reviews The Garden by Nick Newman
• Runalong the Shelves reviews Victorian Psycho by Virginia Feito 
• John Valeri reviews Alter Ego by Alex Segura   
• Tobias Caroll reviews Dengue Boy by Michel Nieva
  
• C.T. Phipps reviews A Conventional Boy by Charles Stross
  
• Gary K. Wolfe reviews Picks and Shovels by Cory Doctorow 
  
• Marlene Harris reviews Picks and Shovels by Cory Doctorow 
• Paperback Warrior reviews The Gauntlet by Bryan Smith.
  
• Runalong the Shelves reviews Of Shadows, Stars and Sabers, edited by Jendia Gammon and Gareth L. Powell
• Ian Mond reviews Sinkhole and Other Inexplicable Voids by Leyna Krow 
• Arley Sorg reviews Will This Be A Problem? The Anthology: Issue 5, edited by Olivia Kidula and Somto Ihezue 
  
• The Unofficial Hugo Book Club Blog reviews Speculative Whiteness: Science Fiction and the Alt Right by Jordan S. Carroll
   
  

 Classics reviews:

• James Davis Nicoll revisits the 1958 religious science fiction novel A Case of Conscience by James Blish  
• Sandy Ferber revisits the 1965 science fiction novel Starchild by Frederik Pohl and Jack Williamson 
  
• Paperback Warrior revisits the 1967 Dark Shadows gothic novel Strangers at Collins House by Marilyn Ross.
• Gideon Marcus revisits the March 1970 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. 
  
• Kris Vyas-Myall revisits the March 1970 issue of Vision of Tomorrow.
  
• Gideon Marcus revisits the 1970 Star Trek novel Spock Must Die! by James Blish, Frida Singer revisits the 1970 science fiction novel Starbreed by Martha deMey Clow and Brian Collins revisits the 1970 science fiction novels Seed of the Dreamers by Emil Petaja and The Blind Worm by Brian Stableford
• Jason Sacks revisits the 1970 science fiction novel Time Trap by Keith Laumer, Victoria Silverwood revisits the 1970 dystopian novel This Perfect Day by Ira Levin, Winona Menezes revisits the 1970 science fiction novel Whisper from the Stars by Jeff Sutton and Amber Dubin revisits the 1970 dystopian novel The Incredible Tide by Alexander Key
• Young People Read Old SFF revisit the 1974 science fiction novelette "The Warlord of Saturn's Moons" by Eleanor Arnason
  
• Judith Tarr revisits the 1974 children's fantasy book The Bunyip of Berkeley’s Creek by Jenny Wagner and Ron Brooks. 
• Paperback Warrior revisits the 1979 gothic horror novel Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews.
  
• Alan Brown revisits the 1987 science fiction horror novel The Legacy of Heorot by Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle and Steven Barnes
• Alissa Burger revisits the 1991 YA horror novel Ski Weekend and the 1995 YA horror novel Truth or Dare by R.L. Stine.
• James Davis Nicoll revisits the 2012 science fiction novel 2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson  
  

 

Crowdfunding:

• SFF writer Zig Zag Claybourne needs some help with medical expenses.

 

Con and event reports:

• The 2025 Worldcon in Seattle, Washington, announces which platform they will use for the virtual Business Meeting.
  
• Allegra Rosenberg reports about the grave of Charlotte Temple, a fictional character from an 18th century novel, in Lower Manhatten, New York.
• Sabina Graves reports about the Universal Horror Unleashed immersive experience in Las Vegas, Nevada.

 

Science and technology:

• Scott Alan Johnston muses about the possible origin of the mysterious space object Oumuamua
  
• Andrew Jones introduces Tansuo' and Wangyu, China's next moon rover and spacesuit
• Kerrie Dougherty reports about monkey astronauts in the early days of the US space program. 
• Chris Young reports about a British start-up that plans to build humanoid robots. 
• Ian Frasier reports about a robot building contest for teenagers in Queens, New York.
  
• Danny Robb talks about the origins of the so-called dinosaur renaissance.
• Colin Dickey talks about the history of ley lines.
  

 

Gaming: 

• Alex Wallace reviews the video game Squirrel Stapler 
• Tom Regan interviews video game developer Josef Fares.
• Justin Carter revisits the video game The Order: 1886 for its tenth anniversary.
  

 

Toys and collectibles:

• Sabina Graves shares a look at some upcoming Hasbro Marvel Legends figures.
  
• Sabina Graves takes a look at toys she thinks might make great horror movie stars.

 

Free online fiction: 

• "The Fairford Duck" by Carrie Vaughn in The Sunday Morning Transport.
• "Old Crow" by Steve Rasnic Tem in The Dark. 
• "The Hanging Tower of Babel" by Wang Zhenzhen, translated by Carmen Yiling Yan, in Clarkesworld. 
• "Numismatic Archetypes in the Year of Five Regents" by Louis Inglis Hall in Clarkesworld.
• "Books to Take at the End of the World" by Carolyn Ives Gilman in Lightspeed.  
• "Some to Cradle, Some to Eat" by Eugenia Triantafyllou in Lightspeed. 
• "The Village of the Sleeping Dead" by Blue Guldal in Beneath Ceaseless Skies.  
• "For Those Who Sink and Those Who Float" by Jonathan Louis Duckworth in Beneath Ceaseless Skies.
• "Agate Way" by Laird Barron in Reactor. 
• "Notes from a Pyre" by Amal Singh in Apex Magazine. 
• "Gargoyles" by Ryan M. Patrick in Swords and Sorcery Magazine.
• "The Sorcerer Weaves Magic in His Sleep" by David Carter in Swords and Heroes.
• "In Our Skin" by Kelsea Yu in Nightmare Magazine. 
  

Trailers and videos:

• Watch a trailer for Iyanu. 
  
• Watch a trailer for Jumanji 4: The Final Game.
• Watch a trailer for The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie
  
• Watch a trailer for Freaky Tales. 
• Watch a trailer for There's a Zombie Outside.
  
• Watch a trailer for The Actor.
• Watch a teaser for Bring Her Back. 
• Watch a trailer for the live action Snow White.