Speculative Fiction Links of the Week for April 6, 2018

It's time for the weekly round-up of interesting links about speculative fiction from around the web, this week with  Lost in Space, Ready Player One, 2001: A Space Odyssey at fifty, The Quiet Place, the 2018 Hugo Award finalists and the 1943 Retro Hugo Award finalists as well as the usual mix of awards news, writing advice, interviews, reviews, con reports, crowdfunding campaigns, science articles, free online fiction and much more. 

Speculative fiction in general:

• The participants of this month's Mind Meld talk about books that expand the definition of genre. 
• C. Gold talks about her science fiction influences. 
• Lindsey Williams shares eight horror novels to keep you up at night. 
• Geoff Ryman talks about African science fiction in 2017.
• Jessa Crispin shares her introduction to a new edition of How to Suppress Women's Writing by Joanna Russ. 
• James Davis Nicoll looks at more forgotten women writers of science fiction and fantasy from the 1970s.
• Brian Keene rediscovers 12th century feminist werewolf fiction.
• Andrew Liptak discusses the audio version of John Scalzi's upcoming novel Head On and the way the novel keeps the narrator's gender ambiguous.
• Marissa Lingen asks what counts as hard science fiction and why work by women and minorities, although science based, is so often excluded.
• Cora Buhlert talks about cozy space opera and some of her own books.   
• Camestros Felapton talks about fantasy and the post-apocalypse.
• Alison Flood reports about the return of the popular Fighting Fantasy bookline of the 1980s. 
• Tyler McCarthy profiles George R.R. Martin.
• Teddy Jamieson profiles crime and horror writer Graham Masterton. 
• Doris V. Sutherland revisits the 1935 science fiction novel The Mightiest Machine by John W. Campbell.  
• Ana Grilo revisits Barbara Hambly's 1994 historical horror novel Bride of the Rat God.
• Judith Tarr revisits Andre Norton's 1959 science fiction novel Voodoo Planet.
• Ananyo Bhattacharya revisits Philip K. Dick's 1968 novel Do Androids Dream of Electronic Sheep? for its fiftieth anniversary. 
• Bob Mayer finds some parallels between the Netflix film The Titan and Frederick Pohl's novel Man Plus.
• James Whitbrook decares that Rian Johnson understands what the Star Wars franchise needs.  
• James Whitbrook declares that Pacific Rim Uprising ripped its own heart out.
  
• Jennifer Williams discusses Wakanda's position as a world leader from Africa in Black Panther. 
• Eliza Anyangwe asks if Black Panther and A Wrinkle in Time have got black feminism all wrong. 
• Justina Ireland talks about the film adaptation of A Wrinkle In Time and black feminity. 
• Karlyn Ruth Meyer talks about the many iterations of Sarah Connor in the Terminator franchise.
• Karen Han declares that The Terror may be the scariest series on TV, but that it is not a classic horror show.  
• Glen Weldon shares his thoughts on the season 2 premiere of Legion.
• The Geekiary reviews the premiere of the new mermaid TV show Siren.
• Tor.com reports that Neil Gaiman and Akiva Goldman will adapt Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast series for television. 
• Martin Belam reports that Lynda Carter, the actress who played Wonder Woman in the eponymous 1970s TV series, has been honoured with a star on the Walk of Fame in Hollywood, California.  
• James Whitbrook reports that some of Stan Lee's blood has been stolen and used to sign Marvel comics.
• Gwilym Mumford reports that the Duffer Brothers have been accused of plagiarising their successful streaming video series Stranger Things.
• Ariane Lange reports that two women have accused Ren & Stimpy creator John Kricfalusi of sexually assaulting them, while they were teenagers. 
• Priscilla Frank reports that the furry community has become the latest target of alt-right infiltrators. 
• Asher Elbein shares an in-depth report about the harrassment campaign known as Comicsgate that has been raging in the comic book industry these past few years.

Comments on Lost in Space:

• Beth Elderkin declares that the latest version of Lost in Space has a lot of potential, but needs time to find itself.
• Beth Elderkin also discusses the robot in the new version of Lost in Space.
  

Comments on Ready Player One: 

• Justin Chang calls Ready Player One a fatally overblown juggernaut. 
• Peter Bradshaw calls Ready Player One a dizzying VR yarn.
• Michael Moreci calls Ready Player One vintage Spielberg with heart and soul.
• Germain Lussier declares that Steven Spielberg managed to make Ready Player One work in spite of itself. 
• Tasha Robinson declares that the movie Ready Player One is an immense improvement over the book and was surprised by how much she enjoyed it. 
• Beth Elderkin discusses her favourite line in Ready Player One.
• Beth Elderkin and Gita Jackson discuss Ready Player One.
• Gita Jackson, Tim Rogers and Seung Park share what they liked and didn't like about Ready Player One.
• Charles Bramesco declares that Ready Player One's many pop culture references are just empty nostalgia.
• Bob Mondello calls Ready Player One full of 1980s nostalgia and Easter eggs.
• Jordan Commandeur shares Ready Player One's best and most obscure Easter eggs. 
• Geoff Miller chronicles the main changes between the Ready Player One movie and the novel it is based upon. 
• The New York Times interviews Ernest Cline, author of the novel Ready Player One.
• Nat Silverman offers a Ready Player One parody called "Excerpts from My Upcoming Novel, Ready Player Two: Girl Stuff."
  

2001: A Space Odyssey at fifty:

• Phil Hood explains how 2001: A Space Odyssey changed the form of cinema.
• Piers Bizony talks about the ageless appeal of 2001: A Space Odyssey.
• T.W. O'Brien revisits 2001: A Space Odyssey for its 50th anniversary.
• Chris M. Barkley remembers both the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King and the original run of 2001: A Space Odyssey, both of which happened within days of each other in April 1968. 
• Charles Bramesco shares his favourite pop culture references to 2001: A Space Odyssey.
• Cheryl Eddy shares the most intriguing theories about 2001: A Space Odyssey.
• Gerry Flahive tells the story behind the iconic voice of the computer HAL in 2001: A Space Odyssey.
• Germain Lussier explains how the psychedelic Stargate sequence in 2001: A Space Odyssey was created.

Comments on The Quiet Place:

• Meg Downey calls the film The Quiet Place a refreshingly clever horror romp. 
• Germain Lussier calls The Quiet Place an unexpectedly terrifying and intense horror movie.

Discussion about the 2018 Hugo Award and 1943 Retro Hugo Awards Finalists: 

• The finalists for the 2018 Hugo Awards have been announced.
• The finalists for the 1943 Retro Hugo Awards have been announced.
• JJ explains where to find the 2018 Hugo finalists online for free. 
• CiaraCat offers some links where to find the 1943 Retro Hugo finalists online.
• Cora Buhlert shares her thoughts on the 2018 Hugo Award finalists.
• Cora Buhlert also shares her thoughts on the 1943 Retro Hugo Award finalists.
• Cora Buhlert also shares some reactions to the 2018 Hugo Award finalists from around the web.
• Joe Sherry shares his thoughts on the 2018 Hugo Award finalists.
• Aidan Moher shares his thoughts on the 2018 Hugo Award finalists. 
• Aaron Pound shares his thoughts on the 2018 Hugo Award finalists. 
• Camestros Felapton shares his initial thoughts on the 2018 Hugo Award finalists.
• Michael Cavna profiles Emil Ferris, artist and author of the Hugo nominated graphic novel My Favourite Thing is Monsters. 

Other Awards:

• The winners of the 2018 Philip K. Dick Award have been announced. 
• The winners of the 2017 BSFA Awards have been announced.
• The winners of the 2017 Aurealis Awards have been announced.
• The winners of the 2018 Ditmar Awards have been announced. 
• The winners of the 2018 Sir Julius Vogel Awards have been announed. 
• The winners of the 2018 Tin Duck Awards have been announced. 
• The finalists for the 2018 Rhysling Awards have been announced.
• The shortlist for the 2018 Tolkien Society Awards has been announced. 
• The nominations for the 2018 Bafta TV Awards have been announced. 
• The shortlist for the 2018 International Dublin Literary Awards has been announced. 
• The winner of the 2018 Terran Prize has been announced. 
• 17-year-old Malachi Jones has won the prestigious Gold Medal Portfolio at the 2018 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards.
  

Writing, publishing and promotion:

• Kameron Hurley declares that writing is hard and that's okay. 
• Lauren Sapala explains why writers are having so many problems getting non-writers to understand them. 
• Jheelam Dutta Roy talks about writing well, when English is not your first langage.
• Erik Hane discusses the flood of novels inspired by the election of Donald Trump that he has received and wonders what the definitive novels about the Trump era will look like.
  

Interviews:

• Darcell Rockett interviews Nnedi Okorafor.
• Ilana C. Myer interviews Kelly Robson.
• Caroline M. Yoachim interviews Vina Jie-Min Prasad. 
• The Fantasy Book Critic interviews Cass Morris.
• Dominik Szabó interviews Pierce Brown.
• Lindsey Duncan interviews Frances Kay.
• Ross Johnson interviews Charles Soule.
• Mark Yon interviews Russell T. Davis and Steven Moffat.  
• Locus interviews Tricia Meeks of Meerkat Press. 
• Velvet Vernon interviews R.S. Belcher's Laytham Ballard.

Reviews:

• Liz Bourke reviews Clockwork Boys by T. Kingfisher. 
• Liz Bourke also reviews Creatures of Will and Temper by Molly Tanzer.
• Liz Bourke also reviews The Barrow Will Send What It May by Margaret Killjoy. 
• Nicole Hill reviews Fire Dance by Ilana C. Myer.
• Aaron Pound reviews The Refrigerator Monologues by Catherynne M. Valente.
• Michael Patrick Hicks reviews Apocalypse Nyx by Kameron Hurley. 
• Paul Di Filippo reviews The Coincidence Makers by Yoav Blum.  
• Smart Bitches, Trashy Books reviews Pride and Prometheus by John Kessel.
• Smart Bitches, Trashy Books review Tess of the Road by Rachel Hartman.
• Allyson Aritcheta reviews Sodom Road Exit by Amber Dawn.
• John Hertz reviews Down and Out in Purgatory by Tim Powers.
• Mark Gardner reviews Day Killer by Clara Coulson.  
• Paul di Filippo reviews Quietus by Tristan Palmgren.
• Rich Rosell reviews Glimpse by Jonathan Maberry. 
• Shellie Horst revies Ashael Rising by Shona Kinsella.
• R. Kleffel reviews Artemis by Andy Weir. 
• Corrina Lawson reviews Grey Sister by Mark Lawrence. 
• Mark Yon reviews The Wolf by Leo Carew. 
• Gary K. Wolfe reviews No Time to Spare: Thinking About What Matters by Ursula K. Le Guin. 

Crowdfunding:

• Yohance: The Movie, an adaptation of the eponymous African space opera comic by Midas Monkee, is looking for funding.
• Jon Spira is looking for funding to translate the long lost autobiography of SFF film pioneer George Méliès into English. 
• Issue 2 of Meraki, a comic featuring Greek mythology and LGBT heroes, is looking for funding.
• Point & Clickbait, a games journalism parody site, is looking for funding to issue a selection of its best articles in print.
  

Con reports:

• Yunchtime reports about the Melon Conference 2018 in Hong Kong and interviews Allen Steele and Dr. Christine Yi Lai Yuk about gender in SFF writing.
• The London Film & Comic Con in London, UK, explains how they responded to a troll attack.
• Tim Ashley reports about a performance of the opera Coraline by Mark-Anthony Turnage and Rory Mullarkey, based on Neil Gaiman's eponymous novella, at the Barbican in London, UK.
• Erica Jeal also reports about the production of the opera Coraline at the Barbican.
• Mark L. Blackman reports about the latest installment in the New York Review of Science Fiction reading series, featuring Chris Claremont and Chandler Klang Smith, in Brooklyn, New York.
  

Science and technology:

• The Chinese space station Tiangong-1 has crashed into the Pacific without causing any damage.
• David Grossman reports that in China, traffic violators are identified via facial recognition software and fined by text message.
• Tekla S. Perry reports that the city of San Diego in California is planning to install smart streetlights that monitor air pollution and detect gunshots among other things.
• Mark Gradner taks about space combat.
  

Free online fiction:

• "Pistol Grip" by Vina Jie-Min Prasad in Uncanny Magazine.
• "The Tesimony of Dragon's Teeth" by Sarah Monette in Uncanny Magazine. 
• "Snake Season" by Erin Roberts in The Dark. 
• "What Is Eve?" by Will McIntosh in Lightspeed.
• "The Old Women Who Were Skinned" by Carmen Maria Machado in Lightspeed.
• "Played Your Eyes" by Jonathan Carroll at Tor.com.
• "On Good Friday the Raven Washes Its Young" by Bogi Takács in Fireside Fiction.
• "Acceptable Loss" by Przemysław Zańko in Scientific American.
• "Logistics" by A.J. Fitzwater in Clarkesworld.
• "Underground" by Archie Black in Pornokitsch.
• "it me, ur smol" by A. Merc Rustad.
  

Odds and ends:

• Watch a trailer for an animated crossover episode of Supernatural and Scooby Doo.
• Watch a trailer for Fahrenheit 451.
• Watch a trailer for Cargo.
• Watch a trailer for Ghost Stories.
• Watch a trailer for The Cured. 
• Watch a trailer for The Darkest Minds.  
• Watch a trailer for Replicas.  
• Watch a trailer for Upgrade.
• Watch a short Thor Ragnarok tie-in film in which the Grandmaster moves to Earth.
• Watch a very special message from Deadpool and fight cancer. 
• Vance Kortla shares his appreciation for the theremin, the early electronic musical instrument that gives 1950s science fiction and the Midsomer Murders their distinctive sound.