Here is a special St. Patrick's Day edition of our weekly round-up of interesting links about speculative fiction from around the web, this week with Logan, Kong: Skull Island, the Terra Ignota series, Buffy, the Vampire Slayer at twenty as well as the usual mix of awards news, writing advice, interviews, reviews, awards news, con reports, crowdfunding projects, science articles and free online fiction.
Speculative fiction in general:
- Oliver Thiermann shares five science fiction novels written from an alien's point of view.
- T.W. O'Brien discusses the use of epigraphs in The Stars Are Legion by Kameron Hurley and other science fiction and fantasy novels.
- Steven Smith continues his look at classic works of dystopian fiction.
- Mako Muzenda talks about African science fiction.
- Maddie Crum reports about a case of whitewashing involving the cover of The Shadow Speaker by Nnedi Okorafor.
- Jared Shurin discusses the never published anthology The Last Dangerous Vision, edited by Harlan Ellison.
- Judith Tarr shares her appreciation for Moon of Three Rings and Exiles of the Stars by Andre Norton.
- Theresa DeLucci shares her appreciation for The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe and its editor, the late David Hartwell.
- JJ shares her appreciation for Robert Jackson Bennett's Divine Cities series.
- T.W. O'Brien shares his appreciation for More Than Human by Theodore Sturgeon.
- Paul Weimer shares his appreciation for Kingsley Amis' alternate history novel The Alteration.
- Adam Roberts revisits The Time Machine by H.G. Wells.
- Paul La Farge reports about the complicated friendship between H.P. Lovecraft and his fan Robert Barlow.
- George Anadiotis revisits The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers.
- Darryl Jones recommends the best classic horror stories.
- Beth Elderkin calls The Magicians the most sexually aware show on television.
- Adi Robertson reports that the creators of the TV adaptation of Neil Gaiman's American Gods have found a new meaning in the story due to the political situation in the US and elsewhere.
- Jenna Amatulli reveals George R.R. Martin's plans for the 1987 TV show The Beauty and the Beast.
- Evan Narcisse declares that The Transfiguration might be the most disturbing horror film of the year.
- Cheryl Eddy reports that The Devils, a rarely seen 1971 horror movie, is finally available at the streaming service Shudder (only in the US, alas).
- Bob Mayer shares his thoughts on the movie Passengers.
- Michael Moreci shares his appreciation for Luc Besson's movie The Fifth Element.
- Lauren Wilford shares her appreciation for the movie My Neighbour Totoro.
- Thaddues Howze wonders whether it is time to retire the Star Trek franchise.
- James Whitbrook ranks all of Marvel's Star Wars comics.
- Sarah Gailey takes a look at the costume trope of the black tank top to denote badass female characters.
- Maximilian Potter profiles Chris Evans, the actor best known for portraying Steve Rogers ak.a. Captain America.
- David Betancourt profiles Gabby Rivera, writer of Marvel's new America comic.
- A bronze bust of Sir Terry Pratchett will be set up in his hometown of Salisbury.
Discussion of Ada Palmer's Terra Ignota series:
- Neville Morley discusses the portrayal of the future in Ada Palmer's Terra Ignota series.
- Jo Walton discusses the way the narrator(s) of Too Like the Lightning and Seven Surrenders break the fourth wall and make the reader complicit.
- Ruthanna Emrys discusses the concept of identity in Ada Palmer's Terra Ignota series.
- Max Gladstone discussion the depiction of faith and religion in the Terra Ignota novels.
- Belle Waring also talks about religion and god-like figures in the Terra Ignota novels.
- Henry Farrell discusses the connection of the Marquis de Sade to the Terra Ignota series.
- Martin Cahill interviews Ada Palmer, author of the Terra Ignota series.
Comments on Kong: Skull Island:
- Ty Burr calls Kong: Skull Island a fun adventure.
- Chris Klimek calls Kong: Skull Island forgettable in spite of a great cast.
- Gary Westfahl declares that Kong: Skull Island starts off promising, but undermines its own message with repetititve action sequences.
- Steve Vertlieb discusses the evolution, history and cultural significance of King Kong.
Comments on Logan:
- Melissa Leon calls Logan one of the best superhero movies to date.
- Marcelo Gleiser calls Logan an excellent movie, but so utterly sad it's painful to watch.
Buffy, the Vampire Slayer at Twenty:
- Nicole Cohen celebrates Buffy, the Vampire Slayer on the occasion of the shows twentieth anniversary.
- Lizo Mzimba chronicles how Buffy, the Vampire Slayer influenced modern entertainment.
- While everybody else is celebrating Buffy's 20th anniversary, Bryan Armen Graham shares his appreciation for The Vampire Diaries, which ended its eight season run on the same day.
Awards:
- The winner and the honourable mentions of the 2016 James Tiptree Jr. Award have been announced.
- The winners of the 2017 Prix Bob Morane have been announced.
- The nominees for the 2017 Lambda Literary Awards have been announced.
- The finalists for the 2016 AnLab Readers' Awards have been announced.
- The nominees for the 2016 Ursa Major Awards have been announced.
- The finalists for the 2017 Jim Baen Memorial Award have been announced.
- The winners of the 2016 WeScreenplay Contest have been announced and the runner-up is none other than science fiction author Orson Scott Card.
- Mike Glyer reports about the future of the Kitschies.
- Mike Glyer also reports about the Rampant Manticore Awards and the problems he had figuring out who won them.
Writing, publishing and promotion:
- William Meikle attempts to answer the age-old question "Where do you get your ideas?"
- Alex Mathers talks about how to create more and explains that creating more makes it more difficult to ignore you.
- Sam Weller shares eight things he learned about writing from Ray Bradbury.
- Becky Chambers talks about writing across cultures in science fiction.
- The 2016 black SFF writer survey report has been released.
- Natalie Luhrs analyses the make-up of the Locus Recommended Reading List.
- Shanna Germain talks about the importance of grief in the stories we tell.
- Ann Leckie urgens writers to write their stories their way and not to self-reject out of hand.
- Chuck Wendig attempts to answer the question "Should a writer get an English degree?"
- Matthew Drzymala talks about starting his own writing group.
- Steve Vernon attempts to answer the question whether you should use an author photo.
- Cat Rambo shares some tips for authors working conventions.
Interviews:
- Heather Massey interview S.B.K. Burns.
- Alasdair Shaw interviews Ash Litton.
- C.E. Martin interviews Lawrence Herbert Tide.
Reviews:
- Niall Alexander reviews A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers.
- Martin Cahill also reviews A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers.
- Renay Williams reviews The Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi.
- The Eloquent Page reviews Hunger Makes the Wolf by Alex Wells.
- Rob Bedford reviews The Iron Ghost by Jen Williams.
- Caitlyn Paxson reviews Brother's Ruin by Emma Newman.
- Ardi Alspach also reviews Brother's Ruin by Emma Newman.
- Sam Reader reviews Chalk by Paul Cornell.
- Michael Patrick Hicks reviews Agents of Dreamland by Caitlin R. Kiernan.
- Gary K. Wolfe reviews The Wall of Storms by Ken Liu.
- Victoria Hoyle reviews The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin.
- Paul Weimer reviews The Waking Fire by Anthony Ryan.
- Iori Kusano reviews Lord of the Darkwood and The Tengu's Game of Go by Lian Hearn.
- Niall Alexander reviews The Erstwhile by Brian Catling.
- Laura M. Hughes reviews Relics by Tim Lebbon.
- Leah Schnelbach reviews The Spaceman of Bohemia by Jaroslav Kalfar.
- Paul Kincaid reviews The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead.
- Maureen Kincaid Speller reviews Central Station by Lavie Tidhar.
- Ceridwen Christensen reviews New York 2140 by Kim Stanley Robinson.
- Camestros Felapton reviews Empire Games by Charles Stross.
- Mark Yon reviews Terms of Enlistment by Marko Kloos.
- Germain Lussier reviews the movie Raw.
Crowdfunding:
- Ride the Star Wind, an anthology which combines space opera with cosmic horror, is looking for funding.
- King Kong of Skull Island, an illustrated novel by Joe DeVito which traces the history of King Kong, his ancestors and his homeland, is looking for funding.
- Volume 6 of Unidentified Funny Objects, an anthology of humorous science fiction edited by Alex Shvartsman, is looking for funding.
Con reports:
- KJ from Lady Business reports about FogCon 7 in Walnut Creek, California.
- Alastair Reynolds reports about a performance of the play Diamond Dogs, based on one of his works, at the Chopin Theater in Chicago, Illinois.
- Beth Elderkin reports that several women dressed like handmaids from Margaret Atwood's classic dystopian novel The Handmaid's Tale have been spotted at the South by Southwest expo in Austin, Texas, as well as around town.
- Trae Dorn reports about some problems with the STX Brazos Valley Comic Con in Bryan, Texas.
Science and technology:
- See some photos the Cassini probe took of Saturn's oddly shaped moon Pan.
- Could alien life be hopping between the planets of Trappist-1?
- Baby galaxies seem to be missing dark matter.
- Flecks of cosmic dust accumulate on rooftops, on streets and in parking lots.
Free online fiction:
- "The Worldless" by Indrapramit Das in Lightspeed.
- "The Stone Lover" by Marta Randall in Lightspeed.
- "Six More Miles" by Alex Acks in GigaNotoSaurus.
- "The Last Novelist (or A Dead Lizard in the Yard)" by Matthew Kressel at Tor.com.
- "Predator of Flame" by Thomas Diehl.
- Download Event Horizon, a free anthology of authors eligible for the 2017 John W. Campbell Award.
Odds and ends:
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