It's time for the weekly round-up of interesting links about speculative fiction from around the web, this week with The City and the City, The Expanse, Lost in Space, Star Trek Discovery, A Quiet Place 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:
- Renay Williams talks about reading challenges and how she diversified her reading.
- Chesya Burke discusses the lack of diversity in horror anthologies.
- Glyn Morgan talks about identity and self in Ann Leckie's Provenance.
- Junot Diaz talks about the legacy of childhood trauma and sexual abuse (trigger warning for sexual violence, suicide and depression).
- Cass Morris talks about SFF and historical resonance.
- Joy Lanzendorfer shares ten surprising facts about Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus.
- Kevin Hearne shares five things you probably didn't know about his Iron Druid series.
- Camestros Felapton takes a look at the works of John Scalzi and dives into Scalzi's novel The Collapsing Empire.
- H.G. Chambers revisits Isaac Asimov's 1951 science fiction classic Foundation.
- Alan Brown revisits the classic 1962 science fiction novel Little Fuzzy by H. Beam Piper.
- Stephen L. Carter draws his own twelve rules for life drawn from science fiction.
- Jeff Somers shares a list of thirteen science fiction novels featuring ill-fated voyages.
- Seanan McGuire offers a defence of fanfiction.
- Dana Schwartz sums up the current controversy surrounding the character Apu in The Simpsons.
- Camestros Felapton shares his thoughts on the Black Mirror episode "USS Callister".
- Nicholas Barber explains why 2001: A Space Odyssey remains a mystery even fifty years on.
- Jude Rogers takes a look at the making of the infamous 1984 BBC nuclear drama Threads.
- Peter Bradshaw calls the movie Ghost Stories a dreamlike and atmospheric spookfest.
- Paul Levinson shares his thoughts on The Titan.
- Peter Bradshaw calls the movie I Kill Giants an enormous waste of time.
- C.J. Ciaramella shares his appreciation for the RPG Dungeons & Dragons.
- Japanese animator and co-founder of Studio Ghibli Isao Takahata has died aged 82.
Comments on The Expanse:
- Molly Templeton shares her thoughts on the season 3 premiere of The Expanse.
- Cheryl Eddy shares her thoughts on the season 3 premiere of The Expanse.
- Zack Handlen shares his thoughts on the season 3 premiere of The Expanse.
- Jamie Sugah shares her thoughts on the season 3 premiere of The Expanse.
- Abigail Nussbaum shares her thoughts on the TV version of The Expanse.
- Cora Buhlert also shares her thoughts about the TV version of The Expanse.
Comments on The City and The City:
- Ellen E. Jones has mixed feelings about The City and The City, a TV series adaptated from China Miéville's eponymous novel.
- Alex Mullane offers a primer to the worlds of The City and The City.
- Eleanor Bley Griffith introduces the cast of The City and The City.
- Morgan Jeffery reports that David Morrissey, star of The City and The City, doubted that the novel was filmable.
Comments on A Quiet Place:
- The Economist calls A Quiet Place high concept horror at its best.
- Germain Lussier calls A Quiet Place and unexpectedly terrifying and intense horror movie.
- Peter Bradshaw declares that silence never sounded so terrifying as in the horror film A Quiet Place.
- Jordan Commandeur declares that the monsters of A Quiet Place are more mysterious than expected.
- Germain Lussier shares an ode to A Quiet Place's most distinguishing feature.
- Renaldo Matadeen declares that A Quiet Place isn't a Cloverfield movie, but it could be.
- Ben Pearson interviews Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, writers of A Quiet Place.
Comments on Lost in Space:
- Alex Fitzpatrick declares that Lost in Space wants to be the next prestige science fiction series.
- Maureen Ryan believes that Lost in Space should rather be called "Mired in Mediocrity".
- Mike Hale finds Lost in Space enjoyable enough and praises the actors.
- Lauren Piester is pleased that the new Lost in Space features plenty of badarse women.
- Meanwhile, Jordan Hoffman takes a look at the original 1960s Lost in Space TV show.
Speculations about season 2 of Star Trek Discovery:
- Gavia Baker-Whitelaw shares some speculations about season 2 of Star Trek Discovery.
- Germain Lussier reports that actor Anson Mount, last seen as Black Bolt in Inhumans, has been cast as Captain Christopher Pike in Star Trek Discovery.
- Daniel Holloway reports that comedian Tig Notaro has been cast to play a new character in season 2 of Star Trek Discovery.
- Gavia Baker-Whitelaw takes a look at some Star Trek Discovery tie-in comics.
Awards:
- The winners of the 2017 Kitschies have been announced.
- The winners of the 16th Annual Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards have been announced.
- The finalists for the 2018 Rita and Golden Heart Awards have been announced.
- The shortlist for the 2018 Neukom Institute Literary Awards has been announced.
- The finalists for the 2018 Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire have been announced.
- The finalists for the 2017 Premio Urania, Premio Vegetti and Premio Robot have been announced.
- The finalists for the 2018 Peabody Awards have been announced.
- The finalists for the 2018 ITW Thriller Awards have been announced.
- The longlist and shortlist for the 2018 Saboteur Awards has been announced.
- The longlist for the 2018 Best Translated Book Awards has been announced and includes several SFF books.
- The winners of the 2018 Hans Christian Andersen Awards have been announced.
- Nicholas Whyte shares how to get hold of the short story, novelette and novella finalists for the 2018 Retro Hugo Awards.
- Ahrvid Engholm reports about a scandal surrounding the Swedish Academy, which awards the Nobel Prize for Literature.
Writing, publishing and promotion:
- Chuck Wendig shares the most important writing advice people need right now.
- Ilana C. Myer explains when to stop researching and start writing.
- Joseph Malik talks about narrative voices and POV.
- Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett wonders why do many male authors have problems writing female characters.
- Meanwhile, Electric Literature has a handy chart for determining how a male author would describe a female character.
- Zak Alvarez wonders what makes a writer brave.
- Brian Brewington shares some thoughts from an introverted writer.
- Lauren Sapala explains what the writers who make it all have in common.
- Tracy Townsend explains that relentless stealing from real life is her writing superpower.
- Trisha McNary explains how she brought a dead book back to life.
- Kameron Hurley shares some hard publishing truths.
- The Guardian takes a look at writer's notebooks.
Interviews:
- Ramin Seetodeh interviews Margaret Atwood.
- Paul Weimer interviews Matt Wallace.
- The Qwillery interviews Steve McHugh.
- The Qwillery interviews Leo Carew.
- Jennifer Lee Rossman interviews Jason Whittle.
Reviews:
- Maggie Boyd reviews The Tea Master and the Detective by Aliette de Bodard.
- Runalong the Shelves also reviews The Tea Master and the Detective by Aliette de Bodard.
- Ross Johnson reviews Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente.
- Brit Mandelo reviews Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente.
- Ceridwen Christensen reviews Amberlough by Lara Elena Donnelly.
- Rob Bedford reviews A Serpent in the Heather by Kay Kenyon.
- S.J. Higbee reviews Children of the Shaman by Jessica Rydill.
- Elizabeth Fitzgerald reviews Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi.
- Fantasy Café reviews Daughters of the Storm by Kim Wilkins.
- Liz Bourke reviews The Faeries of Sadieville by Alex Bledsoe.
- The Qwillery reviews Lake Silence by Anne Bishop.
- Tadiana Jones reviews School for Psychics by K.C. Archer,
- Joe Sherry reviews Tomorrow's Kin by Nancy Kress.
- Rich Horton reviews Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty.
- Jeff Somers reviews One Way by S.J. Morden.
- Niall Alexander also reviews One Way by S.J. Morden.
- Jana Nyman reviews Olympus Bound by Jordanna Max Brodsky.
- Renay Williams reviews Head On by John Scalzi.
- Becca Evans reviews Hammer of the Witch by Dakota Chase.
- Paul Weimer reviews Age of Assassins and Blood of Assassins by R.J. Barker.
- Ardi Alspach reviews The Wolf by Leo Carew.
- Sam Reader reviews The Body Library by Jeff Noon.
- Mark Chitty reviews The World Awakening by Dan Koboldt.
- Russell Letson reviews Dark State by Charles Stross.
- Michael Patrick Hicks reviews Forsaken by Michael McBride.
- Rich Rosell reviews Noir by Christopher Moore.
- Brandon Crilly reviews Soledad by D.L. Young.
- Bill Capossere reviews the essay collection Jessica Jones - Scarred Superhero, edited by Tim Rayborn and Abigail Keyes.
- Bob Pastorella reviews Horror Literature Through History: An Encyclopedia of the Stories That Speak to Our Deepest Fears, edited by Matt Cardin.
Crowdfunding:
Con reports:
- Patrice Sarath shares a three part report about FollyCon in Harrogate, UK.
- Marko Kloos shares his experiences at Emerald City Comic Con in Portland, Oregon.
- Howard Andrew Jones shares his experiences and purchases at the Windy City Pulp and Paperback Convention in Lombard, Illinois.
- Kiel Phegley reports about the Marvel's Next Big Thing panel at the Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo in Chicago, Illinois.
- The Geekiary shares some interviews with various celebrity guests of ClexaCon 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
- Trae Dorn reports that Cherry City Comic Con in Salem, Oregon, has been first cancelled and then uncancelled.
- Steven Brower reports about the American Illustration and Comic Art Exhibit at the Sordoni Art Gallery in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania.
- Rupert Christiansen claims that the performance of the opera Coraline by Mark-Anthony Turnage, based on Neil Gaiman's eponymous novella, at the Barbican sputters like a damp firework.
Science and technology:
- The BBC reports that a dozen black holes have been found at the centre of our galaxy.
- Jesus Diaz reports that NASA wants to send a swarm of robotic bees to Mars.
- Janosch Delcker reports about a debate about personhood rights for robots in the EU.
- Peter Watts shares a list of the ten scientists who inspired him.
- Mike Glyer reports that geological features on Pluto's moon Charon will be named after Octavia E. Butler, Arthur C. Clarke and Stanley Kubrick among others.
Free online fiction:
- "A Place Without Portals" by Adam-Troy Castro in Lightspeed.
- "Webs" by Mary Anne Mohanraj in Lightspeed.
- "The Heart of Owl Abbas" by Kathleen Jennings at Tor.com.
- "Cry of Desire in a Shrouded Land" by Talisen Fray in Beneath Ceaseless Skies.
- "She Who Hungers, She Who Waits" by Cassandra Khaw in Beneath Ceaseless Skies.
- "Honor Bound" by Wendy Van Camp at Medium.
- "The Howling Detective" by Brandon O'Brien in Uncanny.
- "One Last Kiss" by Ben Howels in The Arcanist.
- "Get to Know Your C.H.U.D", a webcomic by Ben Fisher and Adam Markiewicz.
Odds and ends:
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