And here is our weekly round-up of interesting links about speculative fiction from around the web in a special Christmas Day edition, this week with wall to wall Star Wars discussion. Most of the articles and posts, which contain spoilers, have spoiler warnings, but reader beware. Though we've also got a couple of non-Star Wars links as well, including several Year's Best lists.
Speculative fiction in general:
- Andrew Liptak shares his favourite science fiction and fantasy novels of 2015.
- Paul Weimer shares his five favourite SFF books of 2015.
- Mary Jo Schimelpfenig of Powell's Books shares her favourite SFF books of 2015.
- Liz Bourke shares her favourite SFF books and SFF in other media of 2015.
- Jeff VanderMeer shares his favourite books of 2015. (Just ignore The Tower by Uwe Tellkamp. Trust me on this.)
- Matthew Stott shares his favourite reads of 2015.
- The participants of the SF Signal Mind Meld share their favourite "new to them" authors of 2015.
- Noah Berlatsky wonders why so much science fiction is obsessed with colonial and post-colonial anxiety.
- Keidra Chaney and Raizel Liebler shares some thoughts about default whiteness in media.
- Aliette de Bodard points out that many features of "alien" societies and languages are not actually alien, just borrowed from non-western languages and cultures.
- Polenth Blake and Bogi Takács have a conversation about gender, sex and sexuality in SFF.
- Cailey Hall explains why Outlander is smarter than you think.
- Crystal Paul shares nine books to read if you like Outlander.
- Sunil Patel explains why everybody should read romance novels.
- Jo Walton takes a look at meta narrative, irony and framing devices in The Neverending Story.
- Margaret Fortune shares her appreciation for Michael Ende's The Neverending Story.
- Max Gladstone wonders how to classify A Nightmare before Christmas.
- Matthew David Surridge takes a look at the younger years of C.S. Lewis.
- Mark Lawrence wonders whether Grimdark is a thing and whether he writes it.
- Sara Goodwin believes that news of the death of Steampunk are rather exaggerated.
- Joachim Boaz shares his appreciation for SFF cover artist Jack Gaughan.
- Jon Morgan shares his favourite five TV characters of 2015.
- Claire North shares her love for comic stores.
Comments on Star Wars in general:
- Observation Deck talks about Star Wars as a gateway drug to science fiction.
- Ryan Britt attempts to answer the question which generation owns Star Wars.
- Rene Rodriguez attempts to answer the question why Star Wars means so much to so many.
- Alyssa Rosenberg points out that Star Wars has always appealed to women.
- A.J. O'Connell and Tamara J. Ritter remember how Han Solo taught them about gender and sexual identity.
- Sarah Doran asks fans to stop bashing the Star Wars prequels, since they are not as bad as they are often made out to be.
- Henry Jenkins discusses the social significance of Star Wars.
- Noel Murray remembers a world before Star Wars.
- David Thomson explains how Star Wars changed Hollywood.
- Josh Dzieza explains how Star Wars and the Internet changed movie trailers.
- Germain Lussier explains how Star Wars toys changed movies and toymaking forever.
- Nicholas de Monchaux finds some unexpected parallels between Star Wars and Apple.
- Charlie Jane Anders traces the impact of Star Wars on American politics and culture.
- Scott Timberg and Rick Perlstein also believe that Star Wars is responsible for the rise of Ronald Reagan.
- Brett Neely points out that the politics of the Star Wars universe make no sense.
- Stephen Benedict Dyson would like more and clearer politics in Star Wars.
- Tom Scocca or rather his three-year-old son wonder why a universe with highly advanced AIs still uses human pilots for spaceships.
- Kyle Miezokami explains why Star Wars spaceships make no sense.
- Sam Hutchinson ranks the rebel pilots who helped to blow up the first Death Star.
- Watch the reactions of a six-year-old as he watches Star Wars for the first time with his Dad.
- Watch a retelling of Star Wars assembled entirely from clips of other movies.
- Read Star Wars, retold as a medieval Irish epic.
- With The Force Awakens breaking box office records, Mel Brooks' Star Wars parody Spaceballs lloks to get a sequel as well.
Comments on The Force Awakens:
- John Scalzi shares his thoughts on The Force Awakens.
- Michael J. Martinez also shares his thoughts on The Force Awakens.
- Kyoko M. also shares her (spoilerish) thoughts about The Force Awakens.
- Abigail Nussbaum also shares her (spoilerish) thoughts about The Force Awakens.
- Manohla Dargis reviews The Force Awakens.
- Anthony Lane reviews The Force Awakens.
- Gary Westfahl reviews The Force Awakens.
- Emily Asher-Perrin has a spoiler-free and a spoilerish review of The Force Awakens.
- Richard Roeper thinks that The Force Awakens is a return to greatness.
- Christopher Orr claims that The Force Awakens is a mashup masterpiece.
- A.A. Dowd claims that The Force Awakens returns Star Wars to its roots, but isn't sure whether this is a good thing.
- Jen Yamato also points out that The Force Awakens is full of nostalgic references to the original trilogy.
- Richard Brody feels that The Force Awakens hearkens back a bit too much to the originals.
- Anthony O'Hehir also feels that The Force Awakens is too much as a rehash of the originals and reports on the hate mail he got for that.
- Derek Austin Johnson calls The Force Awakens a derivative but engaging entry in the Star Wars canon.
- Charlie Jane Anders says that The Force Awakens is the most fun she's had at the movies in ages.
- Krishnadev Calamur wonders whether it's even possible to fairly assess The Force Awakens, given the overwhelming hype.
- Amy Ratcliffe takes a look at the state of the galaxy in The Force Awakens.
- Charlie Jane Anders asks people to stop spreading the nonsense that Rey from The Force Awakens is a Mary Sue.
- Andy Neuenschwandner reports that many people are upset that Rey is missing from The Force Awakens playsets.
- Gavia Baker-Whitelaw praises the beautiful three-way friendship between Rey, Finn and Poe Dameron.
- Germain Lusser shares 33 questions he desperately wants answered after The Force Awakens.
- Natalie Zutter and Chris Lough discuss what they learned about the Star Wars universe from The Force Awakens.
- Gerry Canavan discusses Tolkien, The Force Awakens and the general sadness of expanded universes.
- Andy Welch believes that it's a good thing that George Lucas was kept away from The Force Awakens.
- Nigel M. Smith predicts that The Force Awakens will not sweep the Oscars.
- Olly Richards offers a look inside the Stormtrooper dressing room on the set of The Force Awakens.
Awards:
- The winners of the Jovian Awards have been announced.
- Meanwhile, the good people of File770 are speculating about the Retro Jovian Awards.
- Submissions for the 2016 Tomorrow Prize are open.
- Rocket Stack Rank offers a consolidated recommendation list for 2015 short fiction for awards consideration.
Writing, publishing and promotion:
- Kate Hill discusses the benefits of alternate Earth settings.
- Donna Maree Hanson discusses what she gave up for writing.
- Tamsin Silver shares her tricks for what to do when you get stuck writing a story.
- Tony C. Smith stresses the importance of reading the submission guidelines.
- Brian Olsen discusses discrimination against LGBT books at 24symbols.
Interviews:
- Matt Staggs interviews Elizabeth Bear.
- Robyn Lupo interviews Charlie Jane Anders.
- Kristin Centorcelli interviews Steven Savile.
- Adrian Ling interviews Jack McDevitt.
- Gef Fox interviews Jonathan Lanz.
- Janice Kay interviews Andy Weir.
- The Geek's Guide to the Galaxy interviews Andy Weir.
- Civilian Reader interviews Peter McLean.
- Civilian Reader also interviews Guy Haley.
Reviews:
- Paul Weimer reviews The Labyrinth of Flame by Courtney Schafer.
- Andrea Johnson reviews The Life of the World to Come by Kage Baker.
- Jason Sanford reviews The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu.
- Andrea Johnson and her husband review The Dark Forest by Liu Cixin.
- Paul di Filippo reviews Made to Kill by Adam Christopher.
- Michael Patrick Hicks reviews Krampus, the Yule Lord by Brom.
- Rachel Cordasco reviews Red Star Tales: A Century of Russian and Soviet Science Fiction, edited by Yvonne Howell.
- Sherwood Smith reviews Bandersnatch: C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and the Creative Collaboration of the Inklings by Diana Pavlac Glyer.
- David Neth reviews Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott.
Crowdfunding:
- Shakespeare versus Cthulhu, an anthology edited by Jonathan Green, is looking for funding.
- Blacktastic, a podcast devoted to black science fiction and fantasy, is looking for funding.
- A project to restore the 1963 movie The Atomic Brain, directed by Joseph V. Mascelli, is looking for funding.
- Vron, a 17-year-old science fiction fan and non-binary genderqueer teen, needs help getting out of an unsafe home.
Con reports:
Science and technology:
- Space X's Falcon 9 rocket has completed a historic landing.
- Space tourism might permanently alter the ultra-rich few who can afford it.
- The future of space travel may lie on Mars.
- Could a war in space really happen?
- The US Air Force is planning to arm its planes with laser guns and maybe shields, too.
- Is it possible to build a lightsaber?
- Could videogames open the door to lucid dreaming?
- The science of spoilers.
Free online fiction:
- "Telling the Bees" by T. Kingfisher at Strange Horizons.
- "Dragons for Dummies" by Sarina Dorie in Shattered Prism.
- "Like Bogart" by Lavie Tidhar in Shattered Prism.
- "Fragmented" by Andrew Liptak at The Art of Future Warfare.
- "How to Wrap a Roc's Egg" by Marissa Lingen.
- "Dancers" by William Meikle.
- "Memories of Christmas" by Floyd Looney.
- Chapter 4 of "Rock and Roll Lifestyle", part 91 of The Descendants by Landon Porter.
Odds and ends:
- Watch a trailer for the TV series The Wizards of Aus.
- Watch a short film sequel to Home Alone depicting Kevin as an adult (warning: lots of swearing).
- Watch a cute Star Wars themed Christmas commercial for a German supermarket chain.
- Watch a drone create seasonal light paintings.
- Watch the 1964 movie Santa Claus conquers the Martians.
- Take Orbit's 2015 ultimate science fiction and fantasy quiz.
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