Speculative Fiction Links of the Week for December 11, 2015

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, a debate about the continued relevance of Star Trek, rememberances of Leigh Brackett for her 100th birthday and comments on the streaming video show Jessica Jones.

Speculative fiction in general:

• Steve Davidson has some thoughts on how to create a top 100 list for science fiction.
• Charles Stross offers a list of science fiction tropes that annoy him.  
• Eleanor Arnason talks about the dominance of white American pop culture and influences from elsewhere. 
• Paul di Filippo takes a look at the overlooked science fiction of the late 1950s and early 1960s.
• Talk Star Wars To Me explains why we need geeky chick lit.
• Jean Johnson talks about combining science fiction and romance.
• Sarah Laskow chronicles the depiction of Mars and its inhabitants in science fiction.
• Sherwood Smith talks about Arthurian fiction. 
• Katie Rogers that the question whether Gollum is good or evil might decide a trial for "insulting the president" in Turkey. 
• Dejan Ognjanovic attempts to answer the question why H.P. Lovecraft is still relevant.
• John Parker shares his appreciation for Neil Gaiman's Sandman. 
• Cindi May attempts to tackle the problem with female superheroes.
• Oren Ashkenazi shares five uses of real science in the TV show The Expanse.
• M.J. Moores explains why she believes that Star Trek won't make it to the twenty-third century.  
• Matthew Buscemi responds to M.J. Moores.
• Marc Haefele shares his thoughts on The Man in the High Castle. 
• Matthew Chernov remembers Tim Burton's Edward Scissorhands on its 25th anniversary.

Best of 2015 lists:

• Tor.com readers share their favourite SFF books of 2015.
• Bookworm Blues shares its best SFF books of 2015 list.  
• Adam Morgan shares his best SFF books of 2015. 
• Adrian Ling shares her favourite SFF books of 2015.
• Stephanie Burgis shares her favourite fantasy novels from 2015.
• Jeff Somers shares seven unjustly overlooked 2015 SFF books.
• Michael R. Underwood shares five books that surprised him in 2015. 
• A.C. Wise shares her favourite SFF short fiction of 2015.

Comments on Star Wars: 

• Emily Asher-Perrin believes that the true reason why everybody loves The Empire Strikes Back is that Han rather than Luke is the hero of the film. 
• Emily Asher-Perrin also shares her appreciation for Return of the Jedi.
• Darren Slade remembers how Star Wars charmed Britain on its first release.
• Pamela McClintock remembers that no theatre wanted to show Star Wars back in 1977.
• Michael J. Martinez continues his Star Wars rewatch with the original Star Wars a.k.a. A New Hope.  
• Cora Buhlert reports on the Star Wars fever that seems to have gripped the world.
• Zachary Feinstein analyses the financial repercussions of the destruction of two Death Stars within a four year period for the galactic economy.
• Andrew Liptak remembers Alan Dean Foster's Star Wars novelisations.
• Damien Walter discusses the science fiction novels that inspired Star Wars.
• Josh Rottenberg interviews Star Wars and Indiana Jones screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan.
• Kyle Buchanan reveals that Captain Phasma, a new villain from The Force Awakens played by Gwendoline Christie, was originally intended to be played by a man.
• Benjamin Lee reports that legendary Japanese actor Toshiro Mifune turned down both the roles of Obi Wan Kenobi and Darth Vader.
• New York Magazine has posted a video of all the lines said by women not named Leia in the original Star Wars trilogy. It is not very long. 

Comments on Jessica Jones: 

• Liz Shannon Miller explains what makes Jessica Jones so important.
• Dan Van Winkle shares six things that bugged him about Jessica Jones.
• Maddy Myers attempts to analyse the fandom that has sprung up around Kilgrave, the mind-controlling villain of Jessica Jones.
• Liz Shannon Miller interviews Jessica Jones showrunner Melissa Rosenberg, stars Krysten Ritter and Carrie Ann Moss and screenwriter Jane Espenson. 

Remembering Leigh Brackett on her 100th birthday:

• Tansy Rayner Roberts shares her appreciation for Leigh Brackett.
• Keith West remembers Leigh Brackett on the 100th anniversary of her birth. 
• Keith West also shares his appreciation for "Lorelei of the Red Mists", the lone collaboration between Leigh Brackett and Ray Bradbury.
• Howard Andrew Jones and Bill Ward discuss Leigh Brackett's story "The Moon That Vanished". 

Awards:

• The nominees for the 43rd Annie Awards for animated films have been announced.
• The National Board of Review has named Mad Max: Fury Road the best film of 2015.
• Joe R. Lansdale is the winner of the 2015 Raymond Chandler Award.
• The 2016 Sunburst Awards have issues a call for submissions.
• The 2015 Hugo Awards controversy inspired a question on Jeopardy!
  

Writing, publishing and promotion:

• Melissa Gilbert talks about reading like a writer.
• Tobias Buckell offers twenty-eight tips for finding focus when writing. 
• Kameron Hurley talks about writing, anxiety, burnout and taking care of yourself.
• Dean Wesley Smith offers an introduction to Heinlein's rules of writing.
• Max Florschutz explains that writers should always keep learning. 
• Veronica Sicoe shares some tips and templates for organising your writing with Excel. 
• Jeffrey Aaron Miller discusses the joy of chapter titles.
• Sonia Halbach shares some tips for writing historical fantasy.
• Adam Korenman talks about dramatising space battles in fiction and film. 
• Alexander Gordon Smith explains how horror saved his life and why writing horror is good for the soul. 
• David Messick explains how to use Lovecraftian horrors in your fiction.
• Susan Dennard talks about crafting an ending that sings.
• Lieu Pham shares twenty book covers that make an impact.  
• Matthew Stott shares some awesome indie book covers.
• David Neth shares some tips on how to build your mailing list. 
• The results of the 2015 Smashwords survey are in.
• Mercia McMahon comments on the UK edition of the Author Earnings report.
  

Interviews:

• Sandra Odell interviews Hugh Howey.
• Liz Bourke interviews S.L. Huang. 
• Veronica Scott interviews Ruby Lionsdrake. 
• E.P. Beaumont interviews Kate Elliott.
• John DeNardo interviews Holly Messinger. 
• Tobias Carroll interviews Catherynne M. Valente.
• Liz Argall interviews Rachel Swirsky.
• Rachel Cordasco interviews Jaymee Goh and Joyce Chng. 
• A.C. Wise interviews A.M. Dellamonica. 
• Matthew Stott interviews Jenny Colgan.
• Andrew Liptak interviews Jeff VanderMeer.
• Andrea Johnson interviews Jonathan Strahan. 
• Katharine Eliska Kimbriel interviews Kristine Smith.
• Mieneke van der Salm interviews J.M. Frey.
• Fantasy Fraction interviews Peter McLean. 
• Kyra Halland interviews Linda Andrews.

Reviews:

• Bibliotropic reviews The Labyrinth of Flame by Courtney Schafer. 
• Bookworm Blues reviews Radiance by Catherynne M. Valente.
• James Nicoll reviews Aurora by Kim Stanley Robinson. 
• Aidan Moher reviews Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey.
• Jason Heller reviews Your Brother's Blood by David Towsey. 
• Michael Patrick Hicks reviews the audiobook version of The Acolyte by Nick Cutter.
• Justin Hickey reviews On the Origins of Superheroes by Chris Gavaler.
  

Crowdfunding:

• Samsara, a science fiction graphic novel by Adam Dante and Shawn Daley, is looking for funding.
• Ann Totusek, long time science fiction fan and convention organiser, needs some help for herself and her family. 

Con reports:

• Mike Chen offers a survival guide for baby's first con.
• Jeffrey Smith shares his experiences of the James Tiptree Jr. Symposium at the University of Oregon.
• Nirmala George reports about Delhi Comic Con in New Delhi, India. 
• Kevin Standlee shares his experiences at SMOFCon 33 in Fort Worth, Texas, in a three part post. Part 2 and part 3 are here.
• The Walking Dead actor Norman Reedus was bitten by a disturbed fan at Walker Stalker Con in Secaucus, New Jersey. 
• Mark L. Blackman reports about the New York Review of Science Fiction Readings series featuring Ellen Kushner and Delia Sherman. 
• Gail Carriger reports about a Steampunk tea party at Borderlands Books in San Francisco to raise funds for the Locua Foundation.

Science and technology:

• Space radiation is quietly stopping us from sending humans to Mars.
• NASA releases the highest resolution images ever taken of Pluto.
• New evidence suggests that Stonehenge was first erected in Wales.
• Fourteen futuristic skyscrapers for vertical cities.
  

Free online fiction:

• "Tomorrow When We See the Sun" by A. Merc Rustad in Lightspeed.
• "Monkey King, Faerie Queen" by Zen Co in Kaleidotrope.
• "The Log Goblin" by Brian Stavely at Tor.com.
• "Oral Argument" by Kim Stanley Robinson at Tor.com.
• "Bucket List Found in the Locker of Maddie Price, Age 14, Written Two Weeks Before the Great Uplifting of All Mankind" by Erica L. Satifka in Lightspeed. 
• "The Time-Travelling Mystery-Solving Teens in... Murder on Dinosaur Island!" by Benjamin Blattberg in Pornokitsch.
• "Black Friday" by Patrick Tomlinson.
• "The New Tradition" by Matt Hill. 
• "Following the Shimmer" by James A. Moore. 
• "The Fight Before Christmas" by Megan O'Keefe. 
• "A Buy Day Miracle" by Adam Rakunas. 
• "Midnight Trains" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch.
• "Note From An Average Devil" by Floyd Looney. 
• "Vamoose" by Floyd Looney.
• Chapter 3 of Vagabond Fleet by Floyd Looney.
• Chapter 2 of "Rock and Roll Lifestyle", part 91 of The Descendants by Landon Porter.

Odds and ends: 

• Watch a trailer for The BFG.
• Watch a trailer for The Legend of Tarzan. 
• Watch a trailer for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2.
• Watch a teaser for season 6 of Game of Thrones.
• Watch a teaser for the revival of The X-Files.
• A recipe for spice-filled Sandworm bread inspired by Dune.
• The latest edition of xkcd explains why Isaac Asimov ordered the Three Laws of Robotics the way he did.