Speculative Fiction Links of the Week for September 23, 2016

Here is our weekly round-up of interesting links about speculative fiction from around the web, this week with a lot of listicles, the 50th anniversaries of Star Trek and Raumpatrouille Orion, tributes to Dave Kyle, the Emmys and other awards as well as the usual mix of writing advice, interviews, reviews, awards news, con reports, science articles and free online fiction. 

Speculative fiction in general:

• The G. shares his list of mind-bending science fiction and fantasy novels.
• Leah Schnelbach shares the year's best alternate history novels. 
• Christopher Priest shares five science fiction books about music.
• Joel Cunningham shares six novels about strange cults. 
• Liu Cixin talks about Chinese apocalyptic science fiction.
• Ada Palmer and Jo Walton talk about utopias and dystopias. 
• Aidan Moher and Corrina Lawson debate whether they prefer series or standalones.
• Bronwyn Lowell talks about science fiction's woman problem.
• Sarah Gailey explains why Hermione Granger is more than just Harry Potter's sidekick.
• Natalie Zarelli profiles Lady Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle and early science fiction author.  
• Petra Mayer profiles Alan Moore.
• John Hertz shares his appreciation for Silverlock by John Myers. 
• Ashley R. Pollard shares her appreciation for A Fall of Moondust by Arthur C. Clarke.
• Cora Buhlert shares her appreciation for the German science fiction series Raumpatrouille Orion on occasion of its 50th anniversary.
• Molly McArdle explains how Star Trek invented fandom.
• Erin Horáková discusses the legacy of Blake's Seven. 
• Katharine Trendacosta explains why the supernatural sitcom The Good Place is well worth watching.
• Today discusses Game of Thrones and the rise of violence in prime time TV.
• Katharine Trendacosta remembers the original Westworld movie from 1973.
• Jay Eddidin explains where to start with the X-Men.
• Dave Kyle, publisher, illustrator, longterm fan, original Futurian, member of the very first WorldCon and many thereafter, died aged 97.
• Locus offers a tribute to Dave Kyle. 

Awards:

• The winners of the 2016 Emmy Awards have been announced, including wins for Game of Thrones, Orphan Black and Mr. Robot.
• The winners of the 2016 WSFA Small Press Awards have been announced. 
• The winners of the 2016 Rosny-Aîné have been announced.
• Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has been awarded the Heinlein Prize and promptly donated the prize money to Students for the Exploration and Development of Space.

Writing, publishing and promotion:

• Ursula K. Le Guin talks about what inspired her early writing.
• William Meikle shares his twenty biggest influences. 
• Kate Coe explains why there is no one size fits all writing advice.
• Wil Wheaton explains why you cannot please everybody and why you shouldn't even try. 
• Carl Slaughter wonders what is more important in science fiction: ideas or characters?
• Kameron Hurley shares some tips for avoiding writing boring and/or repetitive scenes.  
• Chris Stevenson shares some tips for new romance writers and blunders to avoid. 
• Marc Turner shares five fantasy tropes that should be consigned to history.
• Marc Turner also wonders whether epic fantasy can be too epic.
• Ryk E. Spoor explains why traditional vs. indie publishing is a false dichotomy and why the two approaches don't have to be mutually exclusive.
• Susanne Althoff talks about the influence data mining and algorithms might have on publishing. 
• David Neth shares some tips for getting bookstores to carry your book. 

Interviews:

• Jane Routley interviews Ellen Datlow. 
• Mieneke van der Salm interviews Rowena Cory Daniells.
• Joe Sherry interviews Kate Elliott. 
• Dag Rambraut interviews Simon Kurt Unsworth.
• Farah Oomerbhoy interviews Intisar Khanani.
• The Qwillery interviews Jason Arnopp.
  

Reviews:

• Lady Business reviews Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee.
• Ceridwen Christensen reviews Death's End by Liu Cixin.
• Jason Sheehan reviews Jerusalem by Alan Moore.  
• Bookworm Blues reviews Chapel of Ease by Alex Bledsoe.
• Kelly Anderson reviews The Queen of Blood by Sarah Beth Durst. 
• Mark Chitty reviews Binary by Erik Brown.
• Michael Patrick Hicks reviews The Warren by Brian Evenson.
• Michael Patrick Hicks also reviews Chills by Mary SanGiovanni.
• Ardi Alspach reviews The Family Plot by Cherie Priest.
  

Con reports:

• Mike Headley shares his experiences at the 2016 WorldCon in Kansas City, Missouri. 
• FANAC shares lots of photos of MidAmeriCon II, the 2016 WorldCon in Kansas City.
• Glen Weldon shares his experiences at the Small Press Expo in Bethesda, Maryland.  
• Mark L. Blackman reports about the Fantastic Fiction Reading at the KGB Bar in New York City featuring Laird Barron and Alyssa Wong.
• Sofia Samatar shares her Guest of Honour speech from Wiscon 2016 in Madison, Wisconsin.
• Justine Larbalastier shares her Guest of Honour speech from Wiscon 2016 in Madison, Wisconsin.
• The FANAC Fan History Project offers plenty of videos from various conventions. 
• Keith Kato reports about the installation of a bust of Robert A. Heinlein at the Missouri State Capitol in Jefferson City, Missouri.

Science and technology:

• China has successfully launched its space station Tiangong 2, which will receive its first crew next month.
• The big "heart" on the surface of Pluto is a methane glacier.
• Deep space images from the Hubble telescope have revealed a new type of galaxy.
• Point Nemo is a graveyard for downed spacecraft in the Pacific and probably has sea monsters as well.
• The architecture of parliament buildings influences politics. 

Free online fiction:

• "Ratcatcher" by Amy Griswold in Mothership Zeta. 
• "The Night Cyclist" by Stephen Graham Jones at Tor.com.
• "Under One Roof" by Sarah Pinsker in Uncanny Magazine.
• "The Life and Times of Angel Evans" by Meredith Debonnaire at The Book Smugglers. 
• "Medium" by Charles Payseur at The Book Smugglers.
• "Abere and the Poisoner" by Jonathan Edelstein in Beneath Ceaseless Skies.
• "Sea of Dreams" by Alter S. Reiss in Beneath Ceaseless Skies.
• "Towards the Luminous Towers" by Bogi Takacs in Clarkesworld Magazine. 
• "The House of the Dead" by Mark Latham at the Barnes & Noble Science Fiction and Fantasy Blog.
• "Houston, Houston, Do You Read James Tiptree" by Rachael K. Jones in Nature.
• "Don't Feed the Unicorn" by T.S. Paul.
• Chapter 1 of Summer in Orcus by T. Kingfisher.
• Chapter 1 of Coma: The Cataclysm by R. Brady Frost.
  

Odds and ends: 

• Watch a trailer for Doctor Strange.
• Watch a trailer for Passengers.
• Watch a trailer for Don't Kill It.