It's time again for the weekly round-up of interesting links about speculative fiction from around the web, this week with various best of 2017 lists, The Shape of Water, Star Trek, Justice League, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., The Punisher, Runaways, the importance of reeprsentation, an uproar about changes to Patreon's fee structure 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:
- NPR shares its favourite science fiction and fantasy books of 2017.
- Martha Wells shares her favourite SFF books of 2017.
- Quill to Live shares their favourite SFF books of 2017.
- Richard Auffrey shares his favourite fiction books of 2017, including several speculative fiction novels and anthologies.
- The editors of Bookish share the best book covers of 2017, including several speculative covers.
- AudioFile announces the best science fiction, fantasy and horror audiobooks of 2017.
- Cameron Johnston shares the ten science fiction and fantasy books that made him.
- Jeff Somers shares ten SFF books featuring interspecies romances.
- William Meikle shares five horror stories to creep you out.
- C.J. Tudor shares her appreciation for the works of Stephen King.
- Pippa of Fantasy Fraction shares her appreciation for the Empire trilogy by Raymond E. Feist and Janny Wurts.
- Judith Tarr shares her appreciation for the 1973 novel Forerunner Foray by Andre Norton.
- Nisi Shawl shares her appreciation for the 1992 short story "The Space Traders" by Derrick Bell.
- Sarah Gailey talks about fear of the female voice.
- Elizabeth Bear talks about the importance of representation and of seeing people like yourself in the stories you read.
- Mallory Yu also talks about the importance of representation.
- Barbara Ann Wright talks about writing the future and the world you want.
- Ursula K. Le Guin explains how to build a new kind of utopia.
- Amanda of Smart Bitches, Trashy Books talks about the painful fantasy of holiday romances.
- Mairead McNulty reconsiders the tragic tale of Voldemort's parents.
- Charles Payseur shares some tips for people who want to become reviews of short speculative fiction.
- Tom Breihan declares that Mad Max Fury Road is probably the best action movie ever made.
- Lorelei Marcus shares her thoughts on the 1962 movie adaptation of Jules Verne's Five Weeks in a Balloon.
- Camestros Felapton reviews the Netflix series Dark and also shares some musing about its end.
- Frazier Moore wonders why TV series based on comic books are so popular.
- Jeremy Slater, showrunner of the TV version of The Exorcist, responds to viewers outraged about a gay kiss in the show.
- Cheryl Eddy shares the seven all time worst dudes in outer space.
- Leah Schnelbach explains that The Force Awakens and Rogue One have turned Star Wars from a story about boys and men into a story about women.
- Actress Kelly Marie Tran, who plays the new character Rose Tico, talks about her experiences working on The Last Jedi.
- Emily Asher-Perrin explains that the true nature of the Force in the Star Wars universe is more complicated than we think.
- Jonah Engel Bromwich explains the concept of shipping to the readers of the New York Times and also shares a list of the top ships on Tumblr.
- Andrew Liptak reports that a bew edition of the classic TV anthology series The Twilight Zone has been commissioned for the streaming service CBS All Access.
- Anita Busch reports that Netflix as optioned John Scalzi's science fiction novel Old Man's War.
- Joe George analyses the softer and more life-affirming aspects of Alan Moore's and Dave Gibbons' classic comic Watchmen.
- Albert Ching reports that the comic G.I. Joe: Scarlett's Strike Force has been cancelled before the first issue has even come out, following rightwing attacks on writer Aubrey Sitterson.
- Teresa Jusino also reports about the cancellation of Scarlett's Strike Force.
- John O'Neill remembers the legendary pulp magazine collection of Frank M. Robinson and shares some photos.
- Katrina Bennett reports about a conflict surrounding the planned Peter Jackson movie museum in Wellington, New Zealand.
- Kimberly Molina reports that Canadian science fiction author Amal El-Mohtar was detained at Ottawa airport by US border control officers as a result of racial profiling.
Comments on The Shape of Water:
- Germain Lussier calls The Shape of Water a beautiful love story where the story doesn't matter.
- Justin Chang declares that The Shape of Water is gorgeous and lyrical, but just misses the mark.
- Germain Lussier takes a look at Daniel Kraus' novel The Shape of Water and how the movie was born during a tennis match between Daniel Kraus and Guillermo del Toro.
- Don Kaye interviews Michael Shannon who plays Colonel Strickland in The Shape of Water.
- Evan Narcisse reports that the dance double of Doug Jones, who plays the creature in The Shape of Water, passed out after a single take.
Comments on Star Trek Discovery and Star Trek in general:
- Camestros Felapton shares their thoughts on the original Star Trek episode "The Trouble with Tribbles".
- Brent Lang interviews Sir Patrick Stewart who played Captain Jean Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation and Professor Charles Xavier in the X-Men movies.
- Danette Chavez interviews Marina Sirtis who played Counsellor Deanna Troi in Star Trek: The Next Generation.
- Joe Dziemianowicz reports that actor Anthony Rapp, who plays Lieutenant Paul Stamets in Star Trek Discovery, is being blamed by certain people for the demise of the Netflix series House of Cards, which was cancelled in the wake of Rapp accusing Kevin Spacey of having sexually assaulted him at the age of 14.
- Marykate Jasper also reports about the attacks on Anthony Rapp following the Kevin Spacey revelations.
- Sam Barsanti reports that Quentin Tarantino is developing a Star Trek movie.
- Mike Fleming Jr. reports that Quentin Tarantino's Star Trek movie will be R-rated.
Comments on Justice League:
- Daniel P. Dern shares his thoughts on Justice League.
- Colin Spindler shares sixteen reasons Justice League got a bad rap according to DC fans.
- Renaldo Matadeen compares Justice League to the DC television crossover event Crisis on Earth X and asks which one was better.
- Kevin Melrose reports that Warner Bros will restructure its DC Films division following the underperforming Justice League.
Comments on the season 5 premiere of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
- Alan Brown shares his thoughts on the season 5 premiere of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
- James Whitbrook declares that if you stopped watching Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, the season 5 premiere is an excellent time to start again.
Comments on The Punisher:
- David Fienberg calls The Punisher punishing indeed.
- Dave Richards reviews the final three episodes of The Punisher.
- Josh Wigler explains how season 1 of The Punisher plays out.
- Josh Wigler also interviews Steve Lightfoot, showrunner of The Punisher.
Comments on Runaways:
- Kevin Melrose calls Runaways Marvel's most faithful TV adaptation yet.
- Renaldo Matadeen declares that Runaways is too good to be on Hulu.
- Josh Wigler interviews Brian K. Vaughan, co-creator of the Runaways comic.
Awards:
- The winners of the 2017 GoodReads Choice Awards have been announced.
- Nominations for the 2017 This Is Horror Awards are open.
- The upcoming WorldCons in San José, California, and Dublin, Ireland, announce that they will be holding Retro Hugo Awards for 1942 and 1943 respectively.
- Jeanne Gomoll shares a statement regarding winning the 2017 Rotsler Award.
Writing, publishing and promotion:
- Randall Floyd shares his cure for writer's block.
- Angely Mercado explains how anime and cartoons have helped her write through the bad times.
- Jacob Polley talks about his writing day.
- Kari Maaren talks about her writing process and her first publication at forty-two.
- Isabel Yap shares a list of things she wishes she knew when she started writing for publication.
- Ricardo Fayet shares the complete guide to e-book publishing.
Interviews:
- Joel Cunningham interviews James S.A. Corey a.k.a. Ty Franck and Daniel Abraham.
- Ross Johnson interviews Joe Haldeman.
- Quill to Live interviews S.A. Chakraborty.
- Elise Hu interviews Megan Hunter.
- Martin Cahill interviews Ken Scholes.
Reviews:
- Ross Johnson reviews Persepolis Rising by James S.A. Corey.
- Marion Deeds reviews Null States by Malka Older.
- Allison Brennan reviews Year One by Nora Roberts.
- Alex Brown reviews The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden.
- Ardi Alspach reviews The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden.
- Tadiana Jones also reviews The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden.
- Tadiana Jones reviews Stranger Magics by Ash Fitzsimmons.
- Ceridwen Christensen reviews Weave a Circle Round by Kari Maaren.
- Leah Schnelbach reviews The End We Start From by Megan Hunter.
- Nicole Hill reviews A War in Crimson Embers by Alex Marshall.
- Eric Christensen also reviews A War in Crimson Embers by Alex Marshall.
- Amy Zinger reviews Blood of Elves by Andrzej Sapkowski.
- Kate Coe reviews The Girl From Avignon by Praveen Arla and Bradley Compton.
- Molly Templeton reviews the Star Wars anthology Canto Bright.
Crowdfunding:
- The Last Days of Earth, a serialised novel by Craig Engler on Kickstarter's new Drip platform, which also involves mysterious, story-relevant objects sent by mail, is looking for subscribers.
- A Hand of Knaves, an Australian science fiction and fantasy anthology featuring rogues, thieves, pirates and scoundrels, is looking for funding.
- An opera adaptation of Octavia E. Butler's Parable of the Sower by Toshi Reagon and Bernice Johnson Reagon is looking for funding.
- Tobias S. Buckell is looking for some funding for his new novel The Trove.
- Mike Glyer reports about the changes to Patreon's fee structure and the outrage this caused.
- Natalie Luhrs analyses the changes to Patreon's fee structure.
Con reports:
- Trae Dorn reports about problems with Waxacon in Waxahachie, Texas.
- Steve Davidson reports about SMOFCon 35 in Boston, Massachusetts.
- Mark L. Blackman reports about a special holiday edition of the New York Review of Science Fiction Reading Series in Brooklyn, New York, featuring Sarah Pinsker, Catherynne M. Valente and Heath Miller.
Science and technology:
- Jatan Mehta explains how to colonise the Moon.
- Peter Ward reports that the Chinese space program is making giant leaps in a short time.
- Ethan Siegel shares twenty images of Mars taken by NASA's HiRISE camera aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
- Nola Taylor Redd shares some theories about the hypothetical ninth planet of our solar system.
- A patent has been filed for a space suit equipped with a self-return system.
- Bill Chappell reports that the world's largest battery has gone online in Australia to store the power generated by a wind farm.
- Alexandra Sifferlin reports that the first woman in the US has given birth following an uterus transplant.
- A swimming dinosaur so strange that researchers first thought it was a fake has been discovered.
- Emily Sullivan reports that the buried film set of Cecil B. DeMille's 1922 version of The Ten Commandments, including a giant plaster sphinx head, has been excavated in the California desert.
Free online fiction:
- "The Greatest One-Star Restaurant in the Whole Quadrant" by Rachael K. Jones in Lightspeed.
- "A Wedding Night's Dream" by Tim Pratt in Lightspeed.
- "Portrait of Skull with Man" by Vina Jie-Min Prasad in Fireside Fiction.
- "Sorrow and Joy, Sunshine and Rain" by Troy L. Wiggins in Uncanny Magazine.
- "Making the Magic Lightning Strike Me" by John Chu in Uncanny Magazine.
- "The Dragon with an Unbearable Family" by Stephanie Burgis.
- "Roll Over" by Patrick Hackeling at Akashic Books.
- McEdifice Returns by Timothy T. Cat, Straw Puppy and Camestros Felapton.
Odds and ends:
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