And here is our weekly round-up of interesting links about speculative fiction from around the web, this week with best SFF of 2015 lists, lots of Star Wars discussion, clips and trailer for Batman versus Superman: Dawn of Justice and comments on the TV show The Expanse and the streaming video show Jessica Jones.
Speculative fiction in general:
- Tor.com reviews share their favourite SFF books of 2015.
- Brian Merchant shares a history of drugs in science fiction.
- Cat Rambo weighs in on the debate whether it is worthwhile to read the classics of SFF.
- M.D. Jackson remembers the Ace Doubles.
- Leah Schnelbach profiles Frederik Pohl.
- Sam Weller shares his appreciation for Ray Bradbury's October Country on its 60th anniversary.
- Robin Anne Reid discusses the question of Tolkien criticism.
- Philip Eil debates how to deal with the problematic aspects of H.P. Lovecraft.
- Matthew Craig offers an introduction to Stephen King's short fiction.
- Wole Talabi shares his ten favourite African science fiction short stories of 2015.
- Deji Bryce Olukotun discusses the utopian and dystopian visions of Afrofuturism.
- Greg Hullender offers an analysis of the state of short hard science fiction.
- Kristian Wilson shares twenty-five novels which show how morally complex YA fiction really is.
- Laxmi Hariharan explains why the time is now for YA speculative fiction.
- Adeline Johns-Putra talks about cli-fi, science fiction focussed on climate change.
- Richard Trenholm lists the real world locations where several science fiction films were shot.
- Michael J. Martinez shares his thoughts about Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith.
- Tim Robey discusses ten films which influenced Star Wars.
- Will Holz shares a truly wacky Star Wars fan theory.
- Steven Lyle Jordan explains that Star Trek is as out of date today as Buck Rogers was in 1980.
- Bryan Lufkin is highly impressed with the fight scenes in Into the Badlands.
- Charles Pulliam-Moore shares a brief history of Black Panther, the African superhero who was briefly glimpsed in the trailer for Captain America: Civil War.
- Albert Burneko shares his thoughts about the Batman versus Superman clip.
Comments on Jessica Jones:
- Mark Jones declares that Jessica Jones is the best show on TV.
- Jim Henley shares his thoughts about Jessica Jones.
- Natalie Zutter explains what rape apologists need to learn from Jessica Jones.
- Rowan Kaiser feels that Jessica Jones bodes well for the upcoming Spider-Man movie.
- Paul Tassi complains about Jessica Jones' lack of connection to the wider Marvel cinematic universe.
- Alisha Grauso points out that Jessica Jones has nothing to do with the Avengers, which is precisely the point.
- Gem Seddon believes that the success of Daredevil and Jessica Jones shows that the Marvel Cinematic Universe must become darker.
- Neil Miller says that we need to stop calling actresses playing female superheroes too scrawny.
Comments on The Expanse:
- Carl V. Anderson shares his thoughts on the pilot episode of The Expanse.
- Observation Deck claims that The Expanse is kind of great.
Awards:
- The winners of the 2015 Goodreads Choice Awards have been announced.
- The winners of the 2015 Prêmio Argos de Literatura Fantástica have been announced.
- The winners of the 2015 Wattys, the Wattpad awards, have been announced.
Writing, publishing and promotion:
- At the latest SF Signal Mind Meld, various SFF writers talk about their influences.
- Josh St. John talks about the connection between creativity and anxiety.
- Anne Charnock talks about taking risks as a writer.
- Elena Linville points out that everybody who participated in NaNoWriMo is a winner, whether they crossed the 50000 word hurdle or not.
- Peter M. Ball offers some tips and some more tips for evaluating writing advice.
- Curtis Brown shares some tips on how not to write.
- Ian Sales shares ten things he learned from writing space opera.
- J.S. Breukelaar shares five Ray Bradbury stories which tell us everything we need to know about writing.
- William Meikle shares some tips for writing short stories.
- Richard Thomas shares some tips for writing flash fiction.
- Marc Aplin explains how writing is a lot like fighting.
- William Meikle shares some thoughts on being called prolific.
- Tobias Buckell attempts to answer the question how you know when to trunk a story or novel.
- James R. Haggerty reports that some teachers are trying to banish 'boring' words like "said" from student essays.
- Debra Purdy Kong shares twelve reasons why authors' incomes are dwindling.
- Peter M. Ball attempts to answer the question whether writing is a waste of time.
- Kristine Kathryn Rusch explains what the market that many indie authors are writing for actually is.
- Kristine Kathryn Rusch also shares some thoughts on the international e-book market.
Interviews:
- Adam Mills interviews William Gibson.
- Charlie Jane Anders interviews Charles Stross.
- Jonathan Hatfull interviews Leigh Bardugo.
- Dag Rambraut interviews Mike Resnick.
- Kristin Centorcelli interviews Julia Knight.
- The Qwillery interviews Kate Ormand.
- Kyra Halland interviews Linda Andrews.
- Hank Stuever interviews George Lucas.
Reviews:
- Russell Letson reviews Killing Titan by Greg Bear.
- Laird Barron reviews Sing Me Your Scars by Damien Angelica Walters.
- Fantasy Book Café reviews Cagebird by Karin Lowachee.
- Nerds of a Feather reviews A Prospect of War by Ian Sales.
- John DeNardo reviews The Curse of Jacob Tracy by Holly Messinger.
- Paul Weimer reviews A Daughter of No Nation by A.M. Dellamonica.
- Caitlyn Paxson also reviews A Daughter of No Nation by A.M. Dellamonica.
- L.R.W. Lee reviews Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard by Rick Riordan.
- Michael Patrick Hicks reviews Rewinder and Destroyer by Brett Battles.
- Scifi and Scary Book Reviews reviews The Other Car by Paul Levinson.
- David Neth reviews On Writing by Stephen King.
- T. Ellery Hodges reviews the movie Frequencies.
- Leah Schnelbach reviews the TV adaptation of Arthur C. Clarke's Childhood's End.
Crowdfunding:
- Transreal Cyberpunk, a collection of stories by Rudy Rucker and Bruce Sterling, is looking for funding.
- Cthulhu the Conqueror, a graphic novel by Steven G. Saunders and Myke Allen, is looking for funding.
- Heliosphere, a science fiction comic by Benjamin Jelter, is looking for funding.
Con reports:
- Connie Willis shares her experiences at Sasquan, the 2015 Worldcon in Spokane, Washington.
- David Gerrold discusses his experiences at a diversity panel at Loscon in Los Angeles.
- Jim Hines shares his experiences at Loscon, including post-convention insecurity.
Science and technology:
- Did the big bang never happen?
- Scientists have witnessed a super massive black hole consuming a star in a nearby galaxy.
- Why is NASA still so focussed on Mars, while Russia and ESA want a moon colony.
- A new Airbus patent proposes drop-in cabin modules to speed up airplane boarding.
- Scans have proven that there is no such thing as a male or female brain.
- Robots are learning to say "No" to humans. Humans are debating whether this is a good thing.
- An Australian start-up is experimenting with transferring human consciousness into a machine.
- A cancerous tapeworm has managed to infect and kill its human host.
- A pink sludge is swamping Norway's coasts.
Free online fiction:
- "She Gave Her Heart, He Took Her Marrow" by Sam Fleming in Apex Magazine.
- "The Phantom in the Maze" by Michael Swanwick at Tor.com.
- "Fiber" by Seanan McGuire at Tor.com.
- "Interlingua" by Yoon Ha Lee in Uncanny Magazine.
- "Puppeteer" by Hernán Ortíz in Columbia Journal.
- "Best Christmas Ever" by Robert Dahlen.
- Chapter 1 and chapter 2 of Vagabond Fleet by Floyd Looney.
Odds and ends:
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