Speculative Fiction Links of the Week for May 30, 2025

 

It's time for the latest weekly round-up of interesting links about speculative fiction from around the web, this week with Andor and Star Wars in general, the Marvel Cinematic and TV Universe in general, news from the upcoming Masters of the Universe live action film and Masters of the Universe in general, season 2 of  The Last of Us, Doctor Who past, present and future, Star Trek in general, Murderbot, the series finale of The Handmaid's Tale, Bring Her Back, Fear Street: Prom Queen, Fountain of Youth, The Librarians: The Next Chapter, the live action Lilo and Stitch, tributes to Peter David and much more.

Speculative fiction in general:

• Michiko Kakutani notes that Silicon Valley tech bros and the far right are learning all the wrong lessons from The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien.  
• Caitlin Rosakis shares five fantasy books that rethink magic school tropes 
• Lorna Wallace shares five horror books that will make you afraid of the dark. 
• Xan Kaur shares five books about the horrors of surviving in America
  
• Olivia Waite shares her favourite books by Terry Pratchett.
• Keith Roysdon profiles Robert Bloch. 
• Vivian Wang profiles Chinese science fiction writer Han Song. 
• Veronique Greenwood discusses the connection between the British beef extract Bovril and the 1871 lost world novel The Coming Race by Edward Bulwer-Lytton

Comics and Art:

• James Smart reviews Spent by Alison Bechdel
  
• Marc Tracy reports that criticism of Donald Trump was removed from a TV documentary about cartoonist Art Spiegelman
• Tom Gauld shares a cartoon about choosing your seat at a literary event.
  

 

Tributes to Peter David:

• Legendary comic writer Peter David, best known for his work on The Incredible Hulk, Spider-Man and X-Factor, has died aged 68.
• Thaddeus Howze remembers Peter David. 
• Locus remembers Peter David.

 

Film and TV:

• Leah Thomas calls the anime The Apothecary Diaries progressive, feminist, empathetic storytelling at its absolute finest.
• Melody McCune shares her thoughts on the first four episodes of season four of Resident Alien. 
• C.T. Phipps shares his thoughts on the speculative thriller Paradise. 
• Paul Hirons shares his thoughts on A Murder At The End Of The World 
• John Mauro shares his thoughts on season 2 of the anime Solo Leveling. 
• Martin Edwards shares his thoughts on The Assessment. 
• Melody McCune declares that Yellowjackets lets women be angry.
• Josh Jackson shares his fifty favourite dystopian movies of all time. 
• Kaiya Shunyata wonders why there is so much less sex in current fantasy TV, even as romantasy is getting more popular in the book realm. 
• Saloni Gajjar interviews Noah Hawley, creator of Fargo and Alien Earth. 
• Nick Romano interviews Allan Heinberg, showrunner of The Sandman. 
• Cath Clarke interviews Nelly Ben Hayoun-Stépanian, director of Doppelgängers
  
• Arturo Serrano revisits the 1970 pseudo-documentary Memories of the Future, based on Erich von Däniken's eponymous book. 
• Kali Wallace revisits the 1978 animated film Watership Down
  
• Meg Elison revisits the 1985 science fiction movie Enemy Mine.
• Phil Hoad revisits the 1985 anime Vampire Hunter D  
• Keith R.A. DeCandido revisits the 1996 Babylon 5 episode“Ceremonies of Light and Dark” 
• Don Kaye traces the three adaptations of Salem's Lot by Stephen King and why none of them got the novel right. 
• Andy Behbakht reports that the estate of Superman co-creator Joe Shuster has filed a lawsuit to block the release of the upcoming Superman movie in the UK, Ireland, Canada and Australia, citing those countries' copyright laws.  
• Emma Keates reports that a full cut of Jerry Lewis' never released 1972 holocaust movie The Day the Clown Cried has resurfaced in Sweden. 
  
• Les Dilley, art director for Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Alien, Superman, An American Werewolf in London, The Abyss and many others, has died aged 84.

 

Comments on the Marvel Cinematic and TV Universe in general:

• Matt Schimkowitz notes that both Marvel and DC look to the Silver Age to rejuvenate their flagging cinematic universes. 
• Nick Romano interviews Todd Harris, showrunner of the animated show Eyes of Wakanda.
  
• Aamna Mohdin interviews Letitia Wright who plays Shuri in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

 

Comments on Masters of the Universe in general:

• Elliot Ball interviews James Wilkinson who will play Mekaneck in the upcoming Masters of the Universe live action movie.
  
• Harry Mockridge reports that the live action Masters of the Universe movie may be filming in Wells Cathedral in Somerset, UK.
  

 

Comments on Andor and Star Wars in general: 

• Camestros Felapton explains why he enjoyed Andor so much.
  
• Joseph Cox reports that the CIA used to run a Star Wars fan site as a covert communication tool.
• Chris M. Barkley remembers going to see Star Wars at a theater in 1977 shortly after the movie debuted.  
  

 

 Comments on Murderbot:  

• Alex Brown shares their thoughts on "Risk Assessment", the latest episode of Murderbot.
• Melody McCune shares her thoughts on "Risk Assessment", the latest episode of Murderbot.
• William Hughes shares his thoughts on "Risk Assessment", the latest episode of Murderbot.
• Allison Parshall discusses the neuroscience of Murderbot’s cyborg brain

 

 Comments on season 2 of The Last of Us (spoilers):

• Caroline Siede shares her thoughts on the season 2 finale of The Last of Us.
• Molly Templeton shares her thoughts on the season 2 finale of The Last of Us.
• Graeme Virtue shares his thoughts the season 2 finale of The Last of Us.   
• Germain Lussier shares his thoughts on the season 2 finale of The Last of Us.   
• Germain Lussier interviews Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann, co-creators and showrunners of The Last of Us.
  
• Lucas Manfredi interviews Bella Ramsey who plays Ellie in The Last of Us.
• Peyton Dix interviews Bella Ramsey. 
• Nisha Gaind interviews David Hughes, scientific adviser for The Last of Us.
  

 

Comments on Doctor Who past, present and future (spoilers): 

• Emmet Asher-Perrin shares their thoughts on “Wish World”, the seventh episode of series 15 of Doctor Who. 
• James Whitbrook shares his thoughts on “Wish World”, the seventh episode of series 15 of Doctor Who. 
  
• Martin Belam shares his thoughts on “Wish World”, the seventh episode of series 15 of Doctor Who. 
• Camestros Felapton shares his thoughts on “Wish World”, the seventh episode of series 15 of Doctor Who. 
• Melody McCune shares her thoughts on “Wish World”, the seventh episode of series 15 of Doctor Who. 
• The BBC interviews showrunner Russell T Davies, director Alex Sanjiv Pillai and Anita Dobson who plays Mrs. Flood a.k.a. the Rani. 
• Danny Fullbrook interviews Mike Tucker, special effects model maker who worked on Doctor Who among many others. 
  
• James Whitbrook shares a brief guide to the Rani from Doctor Who.
• James Whitbrook also shares a history of the Doctor Who villain Omega.
  
• Jake Kanter shares some speculations about the future or lack thereof of Doctor Who. 
• Watch a video of the song (and performer?) "Dugga Doo" from the Doctor Who episode "The Interstellar Song Contest".
  

 

Comments on season 6 of The Handmaid's Tale: 

• Cheryl Eddy shares her thoughts on the series finale of The Handmaid's Tale. 
• Natalie Zutter shares her thoughts on the series finale of The Handmaid's Tale.  
• Jackie Strause interviews Bruce Miller and Elisabeth Moss, star and creator of The Handmaid's Tale.
  
• Jackie Strause interviews Eric Tuchman and Yahlin Chang, showrunners of The Handmaid's Tale.
  
• Jackie Strause interviews Alexis Bledel who plays Emily a.k.a. Ofglen in The Handmaid's Tale.
  
• Dessi Gomez shares everything we know about The Handmaid's Tale sequel The Testaments so far.

 

Comments on Star Trek in general: 

• Elijah Gonzales shares his ten favourite episodes of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. 
• Avery Kaplan lists five Star Trek episodes featuring characters living alternate lives.  

 

Comments on Bring Her Back:

• Matt Schimkowitz calls Bring Her Back a grim fairy tale of resurrection and child endangerment, with an unforgettable turn at the center. 
  
• Brianna Zigler calls Bring Her Back a daunting exercise in unpleasantness
• Luke Buckmaster calls Bring Her Back  a horror film you’ll watch from between your fingers

 

Comments on Fountain of Youth: 

• Matthew Jackson calls Fountain of Youth a pretty but completely hollow treasure hunt
• Jesse Hassenger calls Fountain Of Youth a copy-of-a-copy Indiana Jones
  

 

Comments on Fear Street: Prom Queen: 

• Benjamin Lee calls Fear Street: Prom Queen a disappointing teen slasher  
• Natalia Keogan calls Fear Street: Prom Queen a drab, muddled mess full of trite clichés and tepid cinematography
  
• Jim Vorel declares that Fear Street: Prom Queen registers somewhere in the gulf between mediocre and blandly passable
  

 

Comments on The Librarians: The Next Chapter:

• Diana Keng shares her thoughts on the first episode of The Librarians: The Next Chapter
• Diana Keng shares her thoughts on the second episode of The Librarians: The Next Chapter
  
• Diana Keng visits the fortress in Belgrade, Serbia, seen in The Librarians: The Next Chapter.
  

 

Comments on the live action Lilo and Stitch: 

• Amy Amatangelo calls the live action Lilo & Stitch redundant but enjoyable  
• Sabina Graves attempts to explain a controversy surrounding the live action Lilo and Stitch.
  

  

 Awards:

• The winners of the 2025 Prix Imaginales have been announced.
  
• The winner of the 2025 International Costumers’ Guild Lifetime Achievement Award has been announced.
• Mark Lawrence has announced the Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off Champions’ League, pitting the past ten winners against each other. 
• The Speculative Poetry Initiative has launched a campaign to make the 2025 Special Poetry Hugo permanent. 
• Michael Capobianco looks back on the first Nebula Awards, awarded in 1965. 
• Watch Sharon Lee's acceptance speech for the 2025 Robert A. Heinlein Award.
  

 

Writing, publishing and promotion: 

• Nicola Dinan talks about writing characters based on herself 
• Jason Powell explains how working as a firefighter ignited his passion for storytelling 
• Lincoln Michel shares a defense of adverbs. 
• Locus interviews literary agent Lee O'Brien.
  

 

Interviews:

• Lacy Baugher-Milas itnerviews Antonia Hodgson. 
• Scott Edelman interviews Craig Laurance Gidney

 

Reviews: 

• Alexandra Pierce reviews Infinite Archive by Mur Lafferty
  
• Marlene Harris reviews A Study in Black Brew by Marie Howalt
• Chris Kluwe reviews Of Monsters and Mainframes by Barbara Truelove  
• Camestros Felapton reviews Alien Clay by Adrian Tchaikovsky 
• Roseanna Pendlebury reviews Harmattan Season by Tochi Onyebuchi  
• Abergale Shep reviews Harmattan Season by Tochi Onyebuchi   
• Runalong the Shelves reviews Extremophile by Ian Green 
• Camestros Felapton reviews A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher 
  
• Liz Bourke reviews The Witch Roads by Kate Elliott 
• Vanessa Armstrong reviews Isabella Nagg and the Pot of Basil by Oliver Darkshire 
• Lacy Baugher Milas reviews The Knight and the Moth by Rachel Gillig. 
  
• Grimdark Magazine reviews Behooved by M. Stevenson
• Rebecca Fisher reviews Thunder City by Philip Reeve 
• Runalong the Shelves reviews Song, Stone, Sail, Bone by Juliet Kemp and Bring Me Home by E.M. Faulds 
• Julia Kitvaria Sarene reviws Code of the Communer by Kai Greenwood
  
• Blue Book Balloon reviews Strange New World by Vivian Shaw  
• Runalong the Shelves reviews The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar
• Fiona Denton reviews The Gilded Crown by Marianne Gordon
  
• Camestros Felapton reviews The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett
• Suzi Feay reviews Aftertaste by Daria Lavelle
  
• Blue Book Balloon reviews A Granite Silence by Nina Allan 
• Niall Harrison reviews A Granite Silence by Nina Allan  
• Gary K. Wolfe reviews The Devils by Joe Abercrombie
• Lacy Baugher Milas reviews The Devils by Joe Abercrombie 
• BOLO Books reviews Whistle by Linwood Barclay 
• Rob Bedford reviews The Night Birds by Christopher Golden.
• Jen Lucas reviews We Live Here Now by Sarah Pinborough 
  
• Molly Templeton reviews Eat the Ones You Love by Sarah Maria Griffin.
  
• Ed Crocker reviews I Can Fix Her by Rae Wilde 
• Ann Michelle Harris reviews Late Star Trek: The Final Frontier in the Franchise Era by Adam Kotsko.
  

 

Classics reviews:

• Dave Hook revisits the 1949 science fiction anthology The Other Side of the Moon, edited by August Derleth 
• Dave Hook revisits the 1949 spy novel Atomsk: A Novel of Suspense by Cordwainer Smith 
• Alan Brown revisits the 1960 science fiction novel Invaders from Rigel by Fletcher Pratt
  
• Sandy Ferber revisits the 1964 James Bond spy novel You Only Live Twice by Ian Fleming 
• Tonya Moore revisits the 1970 science fiction novels Flower of Doradil by John Rackham and A Promising Planet by Jeremy Strike
• James Davis Nicoll revisits the 1987 Drake Maijstral space opera The Crown Jewels  by Walter Jon Williams  
  
• James Davis Nicoll revisits the 2002 Discworld fantasy novel Night Watch by Terry Pratchett.
  
  

Crowdfunding:

• Locus Magazine is running its annual fundraising campaign.

 

 Con and event reports:

• Cora Buhlert reports about the Aethercircus Steampunk Festival in Buxtehude, Germany.
• Mike Glyer reports that the 2025 Worldcon in Seattle, Washington, has held a town hall meeting for the virtual WSFS Business Meeting. 
• The 2025 Worldcon in Seattle, Washington, shares a video of the town hall meeting for the virtual WSFS Business Meeting. 
• Mike Glyer reports that Mia Tsai is announced ConCurrent, a kind of counter Worldcon also to be held in Seattle, Washington, in response to the Seattle Worldcon ChatGPT controversy. 
• Frank Catalano shares ten tips for moderating panels. 
• Liv Little reports about the Calabash Literary Festival in Treasure Beach, Jamaica.
  

 

Science and technology:

• Jordan Joseph reports that new evidence suggests that our solar system might have a previously unknown ninth planet. 
  
• Harry Baker reports that the fuel dump of the Chinese Zhuque-2E rocket caused a bright white streak in the sky above several US states. 
• Passant Rabie and George Dvorsky report that SpaceX's Starship experiences yet more issues during its latest test flight. 
• Cynthia Osterman, Farouq Suleiman and Heather Timmons also report about SpaceX's Starship exploding shortly after launch during its latest test flight 
• Mark Lynas explains what would happen if a nuclear bomb exploded over Manhattan, triggering a global nuclear war.
  
• Rebekah Harding talks about time mirrors.
• Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols reports that there are signs of an AI model collapse being imminent. 
• Nicholas Chrastil reports that a law firm in Birmingham, Alabama, used AI in a case involving violence in Alabama's prison system, whereupon the AI made up fake citations.
  

 

Gaming: 

• Nicole Carpenter explains how video game sex scenes are made
• Elliott Gardner reviews Elden Ring Nightreign 
• William Hughes reviews Elden Ring Nightreign

 

Toys and collectibles:

• Pixel Dan reviews the Mattel Masters of the Universe Origins Terroar, Lord Grasp, Reptilax, Vypor and Necro-Conda action figures.
• Michael Crawford reviews the Snake Plissken - Escape from New York action figure by Asmus.
  
• Toy Habits shares some Masters of the Universe toy news from MCM London Comic Con in London, UK.
• James Whitbrook shares a look at several upcoming Hasbro Marvel Legends action figures. 
• James Whitbrook shares a look at the Lego Lord of the Rings Balrog Book Nook set.

 

Free online fiction: 

• "Ninnagan Says Remember" by Jonathan Olfert in Lightspeed.  
• "The Meaning We Seek" by Nancy Kress in Lightspeed. 
• "Last Train from Deadwall" by André Geleynse in Beneath Ceaseless Skies. 
• "Last Stop: Tomb City" by Justin Howe in Beneath Ceaseless Skies. 
• "Grave of Kings" by C. W. Stevenson in Swords and Sorcery Magazine.
• "Oh Time Thy Pyramids" by Ann LeBlanc in Clarkesworld.
  
• "Yarn Theory" by Marie Vibbert in Clarkesworld.
• "Proxima One" by Caryanna Reuven, translated by Sue Burke in Clarkesworld.
• "For Ever and Ever" by Mary Anne Mohanraj in The Sunday Morning Transport.
• "Suddenly My House Became a Tree of Sores" by Gemma Files in The Dark.
• "Exorcism" by Cassandra Khaw in Nightmare Magazine.
  
  

Trailers and videos:

• Watch a trailer for Nautilus. 
• Watch a trailer for Good Fortune.
  
• Watch a trailer for Elio.
• Watch a trailer for The Home.