And here is our weekly round-up of interesting links about speculative fiction from around the web, this week with tributes to Wes Craven, Afrofuturism, Sasquan con reports as well as the more 2015 Hugo debate.
Speculative fiction in general:
- Tor.com shares a list of post-apocalyptic novels.
- Andrew Liptak shares nine space operas to read.
- Ian McDonald, Jody Lynn Nye, Corey Ostman, Karen Traviss and Vanessa Rose Phin discuss zero gravity settings in science fiction.
- John Bardinelli discusses some enduring mysteries of Dune on the occasion of its 50th anniversary.
- Leah Schnelbach remembers Jack Vance.
- Jeff Nilsson remembers Edgar Rice Burroughs.
- Jonathan Jones insults the late Sir Terry Pratchett by declaring that Pratchett was no literary genius without ever having read him. Damien Walter and Sam Jordison beg to disagree.
- Christopher Priest also begs to disagree with Jonathan Jones and also wonders what literary posterity truly means.
- R.S. Benedict points out that science fiction has always been political.
- Jacob Brogan declares that the FBI's investigation of Ray Bradbury and other SF authors in the 1950s proves that science fiction has always been political.
- Read the best quotes from the FBI's file on Ray Bradbury or read the entire file here.
- Rochelle Spencer explains why black science fiction studies matter.
- Florence Okoye talks about afrofuturism and tech power.
- Fred Strydom explains why South Africa needs science fiction.
- Cristina Jurado discusses the invention of speculative fiction in Spain.
- Natalie Luhrs talks about all male recommendation lists and male writers lamenting about how hard it is to be a male writer.
- Fran Wilde shares a list of SFF debut authors who just happen to be women.
- Ashe Armstrong points out that fantasy is not historically accurate nor does it have to be, since it's fantasy.
- Anne T. Donahue discusses how the protrayal of witches in popular culture has changed in the past twenty-five years.
- C.P.D. Harris talks about Donald Trump and his connection to fantasy fiction.
- Michelle Dean profiles R.L. Stine.
- J.V. Chamary complains about the bad science in Ant-Man.
- Paul Levinson explains why Mr. Robot is a triumph for Cyberpunk on TV.
- Luke McKinney explains why Star Trek's Federation was an evil empire.
- Drew McWeeney wonders why he is no longer as excited about Star Wars as he was back in 1999.
- Was E.T. a Jedi?
- Director Wes Craven died age 76.
- Noah Berlatsky remembers Wes Craven's first film The Last House on the Left.
Awards:
- The winners of the 2015 Prix Rosny-Aîné have been announced.
- The winners of the 2015 Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire have been announced.
Hugo and Alfie Awards aftermath:
- Chinese fans celebrate Liu Cixin's Hugo win.
- Gary K. Wolfe offers a summary of the Hugo controversy.
- George R.R. Martin explains the background of the Alfie Awards he presented at Sasquan.
- Ken Burnside recounts his Hugo experience from the POV of a nominee on the puppy slates.
- Steve Rzasa also offers his take on the Hugos from the POV of a nominee on the puppy slates.
- Laura J. Mixon, Hugo winner in the best fanwriter category, shares her acceptance speech as well as her take on the controversy.
- David Gerrold talks about competing narratives and points out that there is room for everyone in SFF.
- Melina, a first time Hugo voter, explains her voting criteria and strategies.
- John Scalzi shares his view on Hugo slates and the puppies.
- Elizabeth Bear and Ann Leckie discuss responses to punitive slating.
- Scott Lynch wonders what precisely counts as awful social justice warrior message fiction.
- Amanda Marcotte finds a link between the sad puppies and Donald Trump.
- George R.R. Martin wonders where the Hugos will go from here.
- Sherwood Smith wonders what things like literary merit really mean in terms of awards.
- Eric Flint discusses the divergence between popularity and awards in SFF.
- Steven Brust reveals, strictly tongue in cheek, who really runs the Hugo Awards.
Writing, publishing and promotion:
- Kristine Kathryn Rusch draws some parallels between writing and running.
- Elena Linville points out that characters should evolve and grow with the story.
- Marshall Ryan Maresca talks about writing characters who are not like the author.
- Rachel Aaron talks about writing characters who are nice and do not kick butt.
- Shari Sukarai reviews her character Adam Larimore.
- Kali Amanda Browne talks about writing emotional confrontations.
- Alyssa Flowers shares five mistakes writers make when writing dialogue.
- Fran Wilde talks about language and worldbuilding.
- Stephen King asks if a writer can be too prolific.
- Cora Buhlert talks about the July Short Story Challenge and writing 31 short stories in 31 days.
- Fran Wilde shares somewhat questionable answers to publishing questions.
Interviews:
- Anthony Vicino interviews Cecilia Dart-Thompson.
- Anthony Vicino also interviews Ted Cross.
- Kristin Centorcelli interviews Fran Wilde.
- Kim Harrison and Charlaine Harris interview each other.
- Charles Tan interviews Zen Cho.
- Deborah Stanish interviews Isabel Yap.
- Angela Slatter interviews Robert Shearman.
- Tansy Hoskins interviews Martha Wells.
- The Qwillery interview Kai Ashante Wilson.
Reviews:
- Joel Cunningham reviews the first batch of Tor.com novellas.
- Stefan Raets reviews Persona by Genevieve Valentine.
- Amal El-Mohtar reviews Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho.
- Wei Ming Kam also reviews Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho.
- Michael Patrick Hicks reviews The Heart Goes Last by Margaret Atwood.
- Jeff Somers reviews The Quatum Rose by Catherine Asaro.
- Paul Levinson reviews the series finale of Falling Skies.
Crowdfunding:
- The reboot of Issue 1 of the comic series The Threat by Mark Schmidt is looking for backers.
- Jamie Wyman is looking for funding for Uninvited, the third book in her Etudes in C# series.
Con reports:
- Cat Rambo shares her experiences at Sasquan, the 2015 Worldcon in Spokane, Washington.
- Melinda Snodgrass shares her experiences at Sasquan.
- Jeffrey A. Carver also shares his experiences at Sasquan.
- Marko Kloos shares his experiences at Sasquan, including winning an Alfie Award.
- Angela Blackwell also shares her experiences at Sasquan.
- Ellen Datlow shares her photos of Sasquan.
- Natalie Luhrs reports on some behind the scenes drama at Sasquan.
- Stephanie Gorton Murphy reports about NecronomiCon in Providence, Rhode Island.
- Steven H. Silver shares a brief history of MidAmeriCon in Kansas City.
- Michi Trota declares that diversity panels should be the beginning, not the end.
- Annalee Flowers shares some ideas for diversity panels she'd like to see.
Science and technology:
- The main reason why we don't yet have space elevators is the prohibitive cost.
- How humans will live on Mars.
- The science behind Blade Runner.
Free online fiction:
- "We never sleep" by Nick Mamatas.
- "On Higher Ground" by Annie Bellet at GigaNotoSaurus.
- "The Fifth Dragon" by Ian McDonald at Tor.com.
- "The Fall of Venus: Weird War of the Space Vampires" by A. Lee Martinez.
- "On the Rocks" by Floyd Looney.
- "Kkotjebi" by Floyd Looney.
- "Cat Nap" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch.
- Chapter 5 of "Tome of Battle", part 88 of The Descendants by Landon Porter.
Odds and ends:
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