Speculative Fiction Links of the Week for January 23, 2015

And here is our weekly round-up of interesting links about speculative fiction from around the web:

Speculative fiction in general:

• The New Yorker profiles Jeff VanderMeer.
• California Sunday Magazine profiles Ted Chiang.
• At the New York Times, David Brooks discusses Ursula K. LeGuin's "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas".
• Joel Cunningham shares his top 8 social justice SFF novels. 
• James W. Harris wonders why science fiction goes stale. 
• Paul Weimer shares his thoughts on the latest Hugo Awards debate. 
• Pornokitsch (which is totally safe for work and young children BTW) takes a look at the history of the Hugo and Nebula Awards.
• Susan Stepney looks at the connection between science and science fiction.
• At Kirkus Reviews, Andrew Liptak talks about the rise of the paperback novel and its influence on the science fiction genre. 
• Camille LaGuire talks about the murder of the mystery genre and its rebirth, though what she has to say is just as pertinent to speculative fiction.
• Leah Petersen talks about same-sex relationships in speculative fiction. 
• Cecilia Tan takes a look at bisexuality in science fiction.
• Shaun Duke talks about gender, non-binary people and failing.
• At the Guardian, Steve Rose tackles the obsession of many science fiction films with sexy female robots.
• C.P.D. Harris discusses fanaticism and honour culture in fantasy fiction.
• Sarah Ash discusses historical fantasy.
• Michael J. Martinez talks about cultural attitudes towards women and people of colour in historical fantasy. 
• At the Book View Café, Sherwood Smith discusses memorable foods in fiction.
• Elena Linville explains why she's proud to be a gamer.
• Matthew Cheney finds harsh words for post-apocalyptic fiction that depicts apocalypses as too cozy or survivable. 
• At Bustle, Laura Miller ranks Margaret Atwood's apocalypses according to survivability.
• Motherboard explains how the year 2015 is depicted in science fiction. 
• Foz Meadows talks about Teen Wolf, subversion, masculinity and gender.
• Cora Buhlert talks about Guardians of the Galaxy, the Marvel movies and found families.
• Robert Kinoshita, designer of Robby the Robot, Tobur the Great and other robotic pop culture icons, died aged 100.
• The nominations for the 2015 Hugo and Campbell Awards are now open. 
  

Writing, publishing and promotion:

• A. Lee Martinez talks about genre expectations and conventions and how they can be stifling both writers and readers.
• Robert Jackson Bennett talks about writing, deadlines and the muse with a gun to its head.
• Ryan Lanz shares some tips for feeling like writing again. 
• Dale Kutzera has a detailed explanation of story design (PDF). 
• Neil Vogler shares 8 tips for writing effective action scenes.
• Ian Tregillis shares a hardboiled slang glossary.
• At io9, Lauren Davis shares 10 rules for making better fantasy maps.
• Heather Hill implores authors not to be a bloody statistic.
• Michael Patrick Hicks responds to the Washington Post article "The case against e-readers" by Naomi S. Baron.  
• The Digital Microbusiness Action Group explains what's changed for those indie publishing e-books in the UK and the rest of the European Union. 

Interviews:

• The Guardian interviews Shalini Boland.
• Nautilus interviews Andy Weir.
• Jan Edwards interviews Misha Herwin. 
• Michael Brookes interviews A.L. Butcher. 
• Tiffany Cherney also interviews A.L. Butcher.
• Ch'kara Silverwolf interviews Thomas Watson. 
• Reedsy interviews Anna Caltabiano.
• Gene Bathurst continues his interview with Buzz Dixon, who worked as a screenwriter on Thundarr the Barbarian and many other 1980s cartoons.
• Gavia Baker-Whitelaw interview Gigi Melton, costume designer for Marvel's Agent Carter.

Reviews:

• Michael Patrick Hicks reviews Island of the Forbidden by Hunter Shea. 
• Michael Patrick Hicks also reviews Blockbuster by Lisa von Biela.
• Elena Linville reviews The Deep by Nick Cutter.
• Martin Wisse reviews Half Life by S.L. Huang. 
• James Davis Nicholl reviews Coyote by Regan Wolfrom.
• Nadine Ducca reviews Jonathan Cabal the Detective by Jonathan L. Howard. 
• Liz Bourke reviews Carousel Seas by Sharon Lee.
• SF Signal reviews the urban fantasy anthology Night Shift, featuring stories by Nalini Singh, Ilona Andrews, Lisa Shearin and Milla Vane a.k.a. Meljean Brook.
• SciFi Latino reviews Lunar Braceros 2125 - 2148 by Rosaura Sánchez and Beatrice Pita.
• Paul Levinson reviews the pilot episode of the 12 Monkeys TV show and Amazon's adaptation of Philip K. Dick's The Man in the High Castle. 
• The Little Red Reviewer reviews the 1970s TV show Space 1999.
• Tim Lehnerer reviews the movie The Valley of Gwangi from 1969.

Crowdfunding:

• Queers Destroy Science Fiction, a special issue of Lightspeed Magazine, is looking for funding.
• Issue 1 of Globcow, a comic by Jeremy C. Shipp and Tabby Freeman, is looking for backers. 
• Nonlocal Science Fiction, a new SF magazines, is looking for funding. 
• Castles in Spain, a bilingual anthology of great Spanish speculative fiction edited by Mariano Villarreal, is looking for backers.

Con reports:

• John Scalzi shares his impression of ConFusion 2015 in Dearborn, Michigan.
• Sonya Taaffe shares her impressions of Arisia 2015 in Boston.
• Nerd Caliber has a gallery of the best costumes at Arisia 2015.
• GAU Studios also has an Arisia cosplay gallery.
• At Strange Horizons, Liz Bourke compares her experiences at Loncon 3 and the Toronto International Book Fair INSPIRE!
  

Science and technology:

• Researchers at the University of Toronto discover that planets outside the solar system are more hospitable to life than previously believed.
• io9 discusses the ongoing scientific legacy of old, but not outdated solar satellites.
• Elon Musk discusses his plans to set up a "space internet".
  

Free online fiction:

• "Barsoom Billy" by Lou Antonelli.
• "Toad Words" by Ursula Vernon.
• "Synchronicity" by Paul Levinson.
• "The Changing Pool" by A. Lee Martinez.
• "The Last Escapement" by James Smythe. 
• "Mass Hysteria and You" by Amy Coombe.
• Chapter 17 of Dragon Physician by Joyce Chng.
• "Is It Love Or Just Paris?", part 35 of Musketeer Space by Tansy Rayner Roberts.
• Chapter 3 of "Avalon Rises", part 83 of The Descendants by Landon Porter.

Odds and ends: 

• Watch the pilot for the Amazon produced adaptation of Philip K. Dick's The Man in the High Castle for free and vote whether it or another of Amazon's test pilots should become a series.
• Want your own Mech robot? Lucky for you, Amazon Japan sells a mech starter kit.
• Check out this comprehensive overview of (almost) every X-Men member ever. 
• Build a Batmobile baby stroller for the budding superhero in your life.