Here is our weekly round-up of interesting links about speculative fiction from around the web, this week with a new Doctor Who, a new season of Game of Thrones, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, War for the Planet of the Apes, Salvation, a Muppet scandal, tributes to George A. Romero and Martin Landau, plenty of new film trailers as well as the usual mix of awards news, writing advice, interviews, reviews, awards news, con reports, crowdfunding campaigns, science articles and free online fiction.
Speculative fiction in general:
- Tor.com shares five kinds of stories you can tell with a lost spaceship.
- Nicole Hill shares six novels about robots who are too smart for their own good.
- Liz Bourke has strong words about the erasure of women writing SFF.
- A.C. Wise shares a list of non-binary SFF authors to read.
- Andrew Neil Gray and J.S. Herbinson share five SFF books written by writing teams.
- Wayne Alan Brenner reports about the speculative fiction writing community of Austin, Texas.
- Michael Berry profiles Sharon Lee and Steve Miller.
- Jake Rossen remembers how Stephen King was outed as Richard Bachman.
- Eliot Peper explains why business leaders should read more science fiction.
- Brandon O'Brien talks about future slang in science fiction.
- Martin Wisse declares that the New Weird was the last speculative fiction movement consisting solely of white authors assuming they were writing for a white middle class readership.
- Natalie Zutter calls Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey the sex-positive fantasy novel we need.
- T.W. O'Brien shares his appreciation for Fritz Leiber's sword and sorcery duo Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser.
- Brian Greene revisits Roadside Picnic and Stalker by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky and their respective film adaptions.
- K.B. Wagers discusses moments of hope in the Star Wars films and reminds us that rebellions are built on hope.
- James Altucher explains how Star Wars saved his life.
- Matthew Foster points out that many people completely fail to get the deeper themes of many science fiction works.
- Daniel Godfrey shares his favourite media tie-in novels.
- Ron McKenzie shares his appreciation for the 1997 film Event Horizon.
- Ashley R. Pollard shars her appreciation for the 1961 film adaption of The Day of the Triffids.
- Jordanna Max Brodsky finds some parallels between fandom and religion.
- Charles Pulliam Moore asks why so many black superheroes have electricity powers.
- Brigid Alverson explains why the manga series One Piece is still beloved after twenty years.
Comments on the new Doctor Who:
- Actress Jodie Whittaker has been announced as the 13th Doctor by the BBC.
- The BBC interviews Jodie Whittaker.
- Sarah Doran and Huw Fullerton share everything fans need to know about Jodie Whittaker.
- Alasdair Stuart declares that the future of Doctor Who has been prepared for with the casting of Jodie Whittaker.
- James Cooray Smith attemots to explain why some viewers are still opposed to the idea of a woman playing Doctor Who, even though the show's creator proposed the idea more than thirty years ago.
- Karen Walsh explains why as a woman she does not want a female Doctor.
- Steve J. Wright points out that the backstory of Doctor Who has never been set in stone.
- Camestros Felapton links to one of the more extreme negative reactions to the Doctor Who announcement.
- James Whitbrook reminds us that now would be a great time to rewatch the 2011 movie Attack the Block, in which Jodie Whittaker fights aliens together with John Boyega of Star Wars fame.
- Sarah Gailey talks about how the character of River Song from Doctor Who parallels the myth of Persephone.
Comments on Valerian and the City of the Thousand Planets:
- David Sims calls Valérian and the City of a Thousand Planets a one of a kind space odyssey.
- Richard Lawson calls Valérian and the City of a Thousand Planet endearing and eye-popping, if something of a mess.
- Adi Robertson declares that Valérian and the City of a Thousand Planets was a true fan project for Luc Besson, in the best and worst ways.
- A.O. Scott calls Valérian and the City of a Thousand Planets a rave in space, but not much fun.
- David Sims reminds us that Luc Besson's 1997 science fiction film The Fifth Element also subverted expectations and receive polarised reactions in the US.
- Scott Huver interviews Cara Delevingne who plays Laureline in Valérian and the City of the Thousand Planets.
- Meanwhile, Ross Johnson shares his appreciation for the original Valérian and Laureline comics by Pierre Christin and Jean Claude Mézières.
Comments on the new season of Game of Thrones:
- Sarah Hughes explains how Game of Thrones altered the television landscape.
- Alison Herman calls Game of Thrones the very last piece of TV monoculture.
- Tara Sonin offers a recap of episode 1 of the new season of Game of Thrones.
- Theresa DeLucci offers her take on episode 1 of the new season of Game of Thrones.
- Daniel Fienberg reviews episode 1 of the new season of Game of Thrones.
- Emmett Booth declares that Game of Thrones works best when it stays small.
- Damien Walter shares his predictions for season 7 of Game of Thrones.
- Tara Sonin shares six rules for surviving Game of Thrones.
- Adam Troy Castro declares that the vitriolic reactions to Ed Sheehan's bit part in Game of Thrones shows that fandom is infested with toxic people.
Comments on War for the Planet of the Apes:
- A.O. Scott declares that War for the Planet of the Apes will make you root against your species.
- Kaitlyn Booth calls War for the Planet of the Apes a satisfying conclusion to one of the best trilogies ever.
- Roslyn Sulcas interviews Andy Serkis, star of War for the Planet of the Apes.
- Roslyn Sulcas also praises Andy Serkis' motion capture performance in War for the Planet of the Apes.
- Patrick Shanley shares various references War for the Planet of the Apes makes to the original 1968 Planet of the Apes.
- Meanwhile, Anthony Cuoto revisits the original Planet of the Apes series and declares that Escape from the Planet of the Apes is the best of darkest movie of the series.
Comments on Salvation:
- Martin Morse Wooster offers his take on the new TV show Salvation.
- J'Dean Meisner calls Salvation nail-biting and full of drama.
- Tim Goodman calls Salvation predictable and boring and wonders who watches such shows.
- Kelly Lawler calls Salvation no disaster, but hardly original.
- Elizabeth Howell answers the question how realistic the science of Salvation is.
Tributes to George A. Romero and Martin Landau:
- Legendary horror movie director George A. Romero has died aged 77.
- Actor Martin Landau, best known for his parts in Mission Impossible, Space 1999 and Ed Wood, died aged 89.
- Alasdair Stuart remembers George A. Romero.
- Mike Glyer remembers George A. Romero.
- Ray Flook shares Twitter reactions to the death of George A. Romero.
- Andrew Paul reports that George A. Romero had finished four unproduced screenplays before his death.
Comments on the firing of Steve Whitemire, the puppeteer who played Kermit the Frog among others:
- Puppeteer Steve Whitemire reports how Disney fired him from The Muppets after almot forty years.
- Bryan Menegus sheds some more light on the firing of Steve Whitemire.
- Sopan Deb and Sophie Haigney also report on the controversy surrounding the firing of Steve Whitmire.
Awards:
- The winners of the 2017 David Gemmell Legend Awards have been announced.
- The winners of the 2016 Shirley Jackson Awards have been announced.
- The shortlist for the 2017 British Fantasy Awards has been announced.
- The shortlist for the 2017 Sunburst Awards has been announced.
- The winner of the 2017 Prometheus Award has been announced.
- The winner of the 2017 Manly Wade Wellman Award has been announced.
- The recipient of the 2017 Cordwainer Smith Rediscovery Award has been announced.
- The winners of the 2017 Phoenix and Rebel Awards have been announced.
- The winners of the 2017 Prix Rosny-Aîné, the Prix Cyrano and the Prix Alain la Bussy have been announced.
- Voting is open for the 2017 eFestival of Words Best of the Independent e-books awards.
- Grimbold Books celebrates the British Fantasy Awards nominations for themselves and their authors.
Writing, publishing and promotion:
- Damien Walter discusses the principle of creative opposition.
- Max Winter shares ten writing rules you can (and should) break.
- Aaron Miles talks about character development.
- Beth Cato explains what The Great British Bake Off has taught her about writing.
- Cassandra Khaw explains why every story she writes is for her mother.
- Claudia Gray explains how fanfiction fueled her career.
- Stewart C. Baker shares some tips for writing with a co-author.
Interviews:
- Anne Charnock interviews Nina Allan.
- A.C. Wise interviews Sam J. Miller.
- Jonathan Thornton interviews Jeffrey Noon.
Reviews:
- Shana DuBois reviews Tomorrow's Kin by Nancy Kress.
- Adri Joy reviews Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty.
- Aaron Pound reviews Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee.
- Ceridwen Christensen reviews Ilona Andrews' Hidden Legacy trilogy.
- Alex Brown reviews The Library of Fates by Aditi Khorana.
- Rob Bedford reviews The Queen of Swords by R.S. Belcher.
- Shana DuBois reviews Perilous Prophecy by Leanna Renee Hieber.
- Martin Cahill reviews The Witch Who Came in From the Cold, created by Lindsay Smith and May Gladstone.
- Camestros Felapton reviews A Conjuring of Light by V.E. Schwab.
- Ceridwen Christensen reviews When the English Fall by David Williams.
- Jason Sheehan reviews Tropic of Kansas by Christopher Brown.
- Greg Hersom reviews A Gathering of Ravens by Scott Oden.
- Ceridwen Christensen reviews Strange Practice by Vivian Shaw.
- Bookworm Blues also reviews Strange Practice by Vivian Shaw.
- Jana Nyman and Kevin Wei reviews The Prey of Gods by Nicky Drayden.
- Shana DuBois reviews Godblind by Anna Stephens.
- Jeff Somers reviews The Punch Escrow by Tal M. Klein.
- Jana Nyman reviews Lois Lane: Triple Threat by Gwenda Bond.
Crowdfunding:
Con reports:
- The Geekiary reports about Heroes & Villains Fan Fest in London, UK, and shares some photos.
- The Geekiary also reports about the Love is Love event at MegaCon in Orlando, Florida.
- Josh Rottenberg reports about the D23 Fan Expo in Anaheim, California.
- Damien Walter reports about the Wisdom 2.0 conference in San Francisco, California.
- Aaron Couch reports that Stan Lee's Comikaze will be renamed Stan Lee's Los Angeles Comic Con.
- Thomas E. Delfi shares a list of eleven comic conventions that will make geeks of golour feel at home.
- John King Tarpinian shares some photos of SF-nal vehicles on display at Glendale Cruise Night in Glendale, California.
- Megan Damore reports about a panel on the future of DC Comics at San Diego Comic Con in San Diego, California.
- Beth Elderkin reports about the Game of Thrones experience at San Diego Comic Con.
Science and technology:
- Is the reason we have never found intelligent life in the universe that intelligent life tends to go extinct once it is sufficiently advanced?
- The icy moons of Jupiter and Saturn may be the solar system's most likely place for extraterrestrial life.
- The atmosphere of Trappist-1's planets may have been destroyed.
- A security robot has accidentally drowned itself in a fountain.
Free online fiction:
- "The Martian Obelisk" by Linda Nagata at Tor.com.
- "On the Phone with Goblins" by Aidan Moher in Medium.
- "We Who Live in the Heart" by Kelly Robson in Clarkesworld.
- "Mix Tapes From Dead Boys" by E. Catherine Tobler in Lightspeed.
- "Rivers Run Free" by Charles Payseur in Beneath Ceaseless Skies.
- "A Portrait of the Desert in Personages of Power, Part I" and "Part II" by Rose Lemberg in Beneath Ceaseless Skies.
- "Garra Rufa" by Joyce Chng in Rambutan Literary.
Odds and ends:
- Watch a trailer for A Wrinkle in Time.
- Watch a trailer for The Shape of Water.
- Watch a trailer for season 3 of Outlander.
- Watch a trailer for Blade Runner 2049.
- Watch a trailer for Alpha.
- Watch a Korean trailer for The Defenders featuring Stan Lee.
- Watch a teaser for Pacific Rim: Uprising.
- Watch a trailer for Voltron.
- Watch a trailer for Fullmetal Alchemist.
- Watch a trailer for Kingsman 2: The Golden Circle.
- Watch a trailer for Jigsaw.
- Watch a behind the scenes video for The Last Jedi.
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