Speculative Fiction Links of the Week for January 18, 2019

It's time for the weekly round-up of interesting links about speculative fiction from around the web, this week with yet more best books of 2018 lists and a look ahead at books coming out in 2019, Star Trek Discovery, Outlander, The Orville, Glass, The Punisher, Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, Bird Box, Replicas, The Kid Who Would Be King, Captain Marvel, Spider-Man: Far From Home, Sherrilyn Kenyon's marital and health issues and much more. 

Speculative fiction in general:

• Paul Weimer share his favourite science fiction and fantasy books of 2018.
• Melanie of The Qwillery shares her top five science fiction and fantasy books of 2018.
• Ross Johnson looks ahead at science fiction and fantasy debut novels coming up in 2019. 
• Ross Johnson ranks the twenty-five greatest science fiction tropes.
• Veronica Scott shares some new science fiction romance for January. 
• S.A. Chakraborty shares five SFF novels about family drama.
• James Davis Nicoll shares some science fiction stories featuring abandoned Earths. 
• Shaun Barger shares five books about the magical post-apocalypse. 
• David Mack shares five books about badarse modern day magicians.
  
• Rob Latham takes a look on the connection between rock music and the fantastic.
  
• Eyal Kless shares five fascinating works of Israeli speculative fiction.
• Gautham Shenoy talks about the rise of Chinese science fiction.
• Cameron N. Coulter shares his appreciation for speculative fiction featuring gender-diverse pronouns. 
• Rebecca Romney talks about Suzette Haden Elgin's feminist science fiction novel Native Tongue and the feminist conlang Láadan Haden Elgin created for the novel. 
• Lee Konstantinou complains that science fiction is broken and hasn't really moved on since Cyberpunk. 
• Cora Buhlert responds to Lee Konstantinou and declares that science fiction is neither broken nor dying. 
• Brian Murphy finds unexpected similarities in the works of J.R.R. Tolkien and Robert E. Howard and traces them back to the influence of Henry Rider Haggard.
• Featured Futures shares a guide to reading Asimov's Robot, Galactic Empire and Foundation series.
• David Lee Summers shares his appreciation for the Commodore John Grimes stories by A. Bertram Chandler.
• Aidan Moher shares his appreciation for the Long Price Quartet by Daniel Abraham.
• Sam Anderson shares his appreciation for N.K. Jemisin's short story "The Ones Who Stay and Fight".
  
• Hector DeJean shares his appreciation for the works of Jack Vance. 
• Mike Glyer reports that Larry Correia has decided to continue his feud with File 770.
• Camestros Felapton points out that the Sad Puppies have totally moved on from the events of 2014/15/16 - not. 
• Camestros Felapton offers a follow-up on the Larry Correia situation. 
• Brian Cronin reports that newly elected US Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez responded to her critics with a quote from Watchmen, endearing her even further to her fans. 
• British comic artist Ron Smith, who worked on Judge Dredd among others, has died aged 94. 
• Lottie Robbins, writer, translator and longterm science fiction fan, has died aged 103. 
• John Kendall Cannizzo, physicist and husband of science fiction writer Catherine Asaro, has died aged 61.

Comments on Sherrilyn Kenyon's marital and health issues:

• Fantasy author Sherrilyn Kenyon shares some disturbing news about her husband and other people in her orbit abusing her and her children.
• Elaina Sauber has more on Sherrilyn Kenyon's allegations against her husband.
• Annie Vainshtein also reports about the Sherrilyn Kenyon case.
  

Film and TV:

• David Sim and Sam Earle rank the fifty greatest science fiction movies of all time.
• Camestros Felapton shares his thoughts on Titans. 
• Camestros Felapton also takes a look at the surprising amount of Australian soap opera actors who eventually show up in Marvel and DC superhero films and TV shows.
• Danette Chavez declares that the most interesting idea of Roswell, New Mexico is also the least developed. 
• Danette Chavez calls the TV version of A Discovery of Witches Underworld with tweed jackets.
• Kyle Fowle calls The Passage dull and bloodless.
• James Whitbrook breaks down everything we learned from the Spider-Man: Far From Home trailer. 
• Charles Pulliam-Moore offers a primer to the Spider-Man villain Mysterio.
• James Aggas is not happy that UNIT will no longer appear in Doctor Who, which he considers a commentary about Brexit. 
• Jessica Holmes revisits the original Dalek serial broadcast as the second ever Doctor Who story in 1964. 
• Natalie Devitt continues to revisit season 1 of The Outer Limits from 1964. 
• Cynthia Vinney declares that 2018 was the year of the socially conscious supervillain.
• Keith R.A. DeCandido revisits Thor: The Dark World.
• Kerry Truong shares her appreciation for for the character of Nico Minoru in Marvel's Runaways.
• Julie Muncy reports about the late Stan Lee's cameo in the animated Black Panther series. 
• Sarah Gailey watches Top Gun for a very first time and finds an unexpected heterosexual tragedy. 
• Seanan McGuire calls zombie musicals the perfect genre mash-up.
• Tansy Rayner Roberts shares the pop culture she and her family are currently enjoying.
• Digg offers some graphs to show how film genres have changed in popularity since 1910.
• Anthony Breznican reports that a new Ghostbusters set in the same world as the 1984 original, is in the works, directed by Jason Reitman, son of Ivan Reitman who directed Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters 2. 
• Steve Vertlieb shares photos and memories of meeting science fiction stars William Shatner, Buster Crabbe and Ed Kemmer.
• TV producer John Falsey, who created Northern Exposure and St. Elsewhere among others, has died aged 67.
• Actress and singer Carol Channing, who had voice roles in several SFF films and TV programs, has died aged 97.
  

Comments on Star Trek Discovery and Star Trek in general:

• James Whitbrook lists everything to remember before Star Trek Discovery returns. 
• Gavia Baker-Whitelaw reports that season 2 of Star Trek Discovery begins on a cheerful note.
• James Whitbrook also reports that viewers outside the US can now watch legally watch the Star Trek Discovery spin-off series Short Treks.
• James Hibberd interviews Alex Kurtzman, showrunner of Star Trek Discovery.
• James Whitbrook agrees with Alex Kurtzman on how to handle Star Trek canon in Star Trek Discovery and the other upcoming new shows.
• James Hibberd reports that a fourth new Star Trek series is planned, focussing on Michelle Yeoh as Philippa Georgiou.
• Scott Collura explains how the timeline of the planned Jean-Luc Picard show connects to the J.J. Abrams Star Trek movies.
• Sam Stone declares that the future of Star Trek lies on TV and streaming services, not on the big screen.
• Do a quiz and match Star Trek first officers to starships.
  

Comments on The Orville:

• Paul Levinson shares his thoughts on the latest episode of The Orville.
• Nick Wanserski shares his thoughts on the latest episode of The Orville.
  

Comments on Outlander:

• Paul Levinson shares his thoughts on the latest episode of Outlander. 
• Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya shares her thoughts on the latest episode of Outlander.
• Marah Eakin interviews Terry Dresbach, costume designer for Outlander.

Comments on The Punisher: 

• Alex McLevy declares that even The Punisher cannot escape the season 2 curse of the Marvel Netflix shows.
• Gavia Baker-Whitelaw declares that season 2 of The Punisher remains slow.
• Charles Pulliam-Moore reports that season 2 of The Punisher tries to turn Frank Castle into a superhero.
• Gavia Baker-Whitelaw takes a look at Jigsaw, the villain of season 2 of The Punisher.
• Cynthia Vinney reports that actress Deborah Ann Woll, who plays Karen Page in the various Marvel Netflix shows, believes that season 2 of The Punisher will be the last time she plays that particular character.
  

Comments on Glass:

• John DeFore calls Glass a partly satisfying conclusion to an eccentric saga. 
• Peter Bradshaw calls Glass a pointless superhero sequel.
• A.A. Dowd calls Glass a wacky sequel that mashes up two past hits. 
• Glen Weldon calls Glass leaden.
• Zach Vasquez declares that the lacklustre Glass proves that cinema should stop trying to deconstruct superheroes.
• Germain Lussier offers a recap of everything you need to remember from Unbreakable and Split before seeing Glass.
• Sam Stone reminds us that Unbreakable was the first postmodern superhero movie.
  

Comments on Captain Marvel and Avengers Endgame: 

• Heather Mason shares fourteen things she learned on the set of Captain Marvel. 
• Sam Stone calls Captain Marvel the most important Marvel film since Iron Man.
• Chris Smith reports that Captain Marvel will not just feature the origin story of Carol Danvers a.k.a. Captain Marvel, but also of Nick Fury.
• Chris Smith also reports that Samuel L. Jackson accidentally leaked how Thanos' infamous finger snap at the end of Avengers: Infinity War might be undone in Endgame (spoilers).
  

Comments on Black Mirror: Bandersnatch:

• Abigail Nussbaum talks about Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, interactive fiction and the illusion of free will.
• Mira Jacobs explains why Black Mirror: Bandersnatch has some inaccessible scenes. 
• Amanda Bell found a new way to kill a pivotal character in Bandersnatch. 
• Germain Lussier reports that Chooseco, the company which owns the rights to the Choose Your Own Adventure books, has sued Netflix for trademark infringement over Black Mirror: Bandersnatch.
• Hannah Jane Parkington finds some unexpected parallels between Bandersnatch and the real life Brexit mess. 
• Germain Lussier shares some Bandersnatch viewer choice statistics.
• Amanda Bell reports that Bandersnatch themed pop-up stores have been spotted in London, Birmingham and other major UK cities.

Comments on Bird Box:

• James Hibberd reports that Bird Box has come under fire for using footage of a real train disaster in Canada. 
• Sam Stone reports that according to Netflix, Bird Box has been streamed more than 80 million times. 
• Mia Galuppo profiles Rose Salazar, who has parts in The Maze Runner and Bird Box and will star in the upcoming Alita: Battle Angel film. 

Comments on Replicas: 

• Charles Bramesco calls Replicas a brain-dead science fiction thriller. 
• A.A. Dowd calls Replicas so terrible it might give you an existential crisis. 
• Alexandra August declares that Replicas makes no sense, but is strangely watchable.

Comments on The Kid Who Would Be King:

• Germain Lussier calls The Kid Who Would Be King a solid, feel-good adveture film. 
• Ignatiy Vishnevetsky calls The Kid Who Would Be King uneven.

Awards:

• The nominees for the 2019 Philip K. Dick Award have been announced.
• Stuart Turton has won the Costa First Novel Award for The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle.
• Nominations are open for the 2019 Rhysling Awards. 
• The 2019 Baen Fantasy Adventure Award Contest is open for submissions.
• The nominees for the 2019 Costume Designers Guild Awards have been announced with some love for genre films.
• The nominees for the 2019 Annie Awards have been announced. 
• The finalists for the 2019 BBC Audio Drama Awards have been announced.
• The finalists for the 2019 D.I.C.E. Awards have been announced. 
• The nominees for the 2019 VES Awards have been announced.
• The winners of the 2018 Golden Tomato Awards have been announced.
• The winners of the 2019 Critics Choice Awards have been announced with very little love for genre films. 
• The winners of the 2018 AWFJ EDA Awards have been announced with a little love for genre films.
• Kevin Melrose declares that Black Panther's lackluster performance at the Golden Globes does not necessarily dash its Oscar hopes.
  

Writing, publishing and promotion:

• Anne R. Allen shares ten tips to protect your creative writer self in the marketplace. 
• Chris Winkle shares some tips for getting started with worldbuilding. 
• The members of the Kill Zone share their advice for writing series. 
• Marty Thornley talks about the differences between writing novels and writing screenplays. 
• Lauren Sapala asks why so many writers are afraid of transgressive fiction.
• Carrie V. Mullins declares that the decline in author incomes found by a recent survey of the Author's Guild isn't solely Amazon's fault. 
• Mike Glyer reports that the SFWA has raised the minimum pay rate for qualifying markets to 8 cents per word. 
• Mary Robinette Kowal announces that she is running for SFWA president.
• P.J. Parish takes a look at bestseller lists and how they are compiled.
• Camestros Felapton asks what happened to the proposed new SFFC Guild approximately one year after it was founded.
  

Interviews:

• Lily Philpott interviews S.A. Chakraborty.
• Lisa Allardice interviews John Lanchester.
• Veronica Scott interviews J. Scott Coatsworth.
• Juliana Spink Mills interviews James Worrad.
  

Reviews:

• Mark Yon reviews Shadow Captain by Alastair Reynolds. 
• Kat Hooper and Tadiana Jones review The Cold Between by Elizabeth Bonesteel.
• Russell Letson reviews The Accidental War by Walter Jon Williams.
• James Davis Nicoll reviews Temper by Nicky Drayden.
• James Davis Nicoll reviews The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie. 
• Liz Bourke reviews Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan. 
• Ellen Cheeseman-Meyer reviews Dragon Pearl by Yoon Ha Lee.
• N.K. Jemisin reviews The Water Cure by Sophie Mackintosh.
• Gary K. Wolfe reviews Hazards of Time Travel by Joyce Carol Oates. 
• Alex Brown reviews The Winter of the Witch by Katherine Arden. 
• Ardi Alspach reviews The Winter of the Witch by Katherine Arden. 
• Fantasy Faction reviews The Winter of the Witch by Katherine Arden.
• Nicole Hill reviews The Hod King by Josiah Bancroft. 
• Taya Okerlund reviews A Kingdom of Exiles by S.B. Nova.
• Rachel Cordasco reviews Legend of the Galactic Heroes Volume 8: Desolation by Yoshiki Tanaka, translated by Matt Trevaud. 
• Smart Bitches, Trashy Books reviews How To Tame a Beast in Seven Days by Kerrelyn Sparks.
• Ross Johnson reviews Rewrite by Gregory Benford.
• Ian Mond reviews My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh 
• Michael Patrick Hicks reviews Everything Is Horrible Now by Edward Lorn.
• Rich Horton reviews Infinity's End, edited by Jonathan Strahan.
• Publishers Weekly reviews New Suns: Original Speculative Fiction by People of Colour, edited by Nisi Shawl.
  

Classics reviews:

• Andrea Johnson revisits Isaac Asimov's classic 1952 science fiction mystery The Caves of Steel. 
• Tip the Wink revisits Arthur C. Clarke's 1952 science fiction novel Sands of Mars. 
• Kenneth R. Gower revisits Isaac Asimov's 1957 science fiction story I'm in Marsport Without Hilda.
• Martha Wells revisits Andre Norton's 1958 science fiction novel Star Gate. 
• This Sporadic Life revisits Robert A. Heinleins classic 1959 military science fiction novel Starship Troopers.
• Marc Kaedrin revisits Robert A. Heinlein's 1963 science fiction juvenile novel Podkayne of Mars.
• Weighing a Pig reviews Frank Herbert's 1965 science fiction novel Destination: Void. 
• Howling Frog Books revisits the 1965 science fiction novel Earthworks by Brian Aldiss.  
• Joe Kenney revisits the 1968 sword and sorcery collection Conan the Freebooter, one of L. Sprague de Camp's rewrites of Robert E. Howard. 
• James Davis Nicoll revisits the 1970 science fiction novel World Fair 1992 by Robert Silverberg.
• Judith Tarr revisits Andre Norton's 1980 science fiction novel Voorloper. 
• Liz Bourke revisits the 1980 sword and sorcery novel Frostflower and Thorn by Phyllis Ann Karr and its 1982 sequel Frostflower and Windbourne.
• Joe Kenney revisits George R.R. Martin's 1983 fantasy novel The Armageddon Rag.
• Alan Brown revisits the 2006 fantasy romance The Sharing Knife: Beguilement by Lois McMaster Bujold.
  

Crowdfunding:

• Monalisa Foster is looking for funding to create intellectual property tracker for indie and hybrid authors.
  

Con and event reports:

• Elisabeth Vincentelli reports about BroadwayCon in New York City and shares several photos.
• Luke Plunkett reports that an obsessed stalker has torched seven cars outside Anime Los Angeles in Los Angeles, California.
• Dan Berry reports about the line-up of PaleyFest in Los Angeles 2019, California. 
• Locus reports about the exhibition Gregory Manchess: Above the Timberline, featuring artwork from the eponymous book, in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.
• Steven H. Silver shares a photo of Ray Bradbury's childhood home in Waukegan, Illinois.
• Mike Glyer reports that Dan Wells will be the keynote speaker at the Wasatch Writers Fellowship conference in Kaysville, Utah.
• Rob Hansen talks about the history of UK science fiction and comics fandom and how the two of them were intertwined.
  

Science and technology:

• The BBC reports that the Russian space telescope Spektr-R is not responding. 
• The BBC reports that seeds taken to the moon by China's Chang'e-4 probe have begun to sprout. 
• Alas, Aristos Georgiou reports that the seeds taken to the moon by Chang'e-4 have already died after a few days.
• Meghan Bartels reports that ocean moons like Europa might be too geologically inactive to support life.
• Michael Greshko reports that astronomers have finally witnessed a star turning into a black hole. 
• Corey S, Powell reports that citizen scientists have found an exo-planet professional astronomers missed.
• Mark Alpert talks about scientific advances that scare him.
• Caitlin Petreycik reports that snack vending robots will soon patrol US college campuses.
• Russell Redman reports that a robot called Marty will soon patrol supermarkets to flag potential hazard like product spills.

Free online fiction:

• "Beyond the El" by John Chu at Tor.com. 
• "The Duke of Riverside" by Ellen Kushner in Uncanny Magazine.
• "The Last Voyage of the Skidbladnir" by Karin Tidbeck at Tor.com. 
• "Midway" by Tony Ballantyne in Lightspeed.
• "A Theory of Flight" by Justina Ireland in The Verge.
• "The Athuran Interpreter's Flight" by Eleanna Castoianni in Strange Horizons. 
• "The Pilgrim and the Angel" by E. Lily Yu in Lightspeed. 
• "La Orpheline" by Jordan Taylor in Beneath Ceaseless Skies.
• "The Deepest Notes of the Harp and Drum" by Marissa Lingen in Beneath Ceaseless Skies. 
• "Burrowing Machines" by Sara Saab in The Dark. 
• Read the screenplays for Doctor Who, Bodyguard, Informer and other BBC shows at the BBC Writers Room.
  

Odds and ends: 

• Watch a trailer for Spider-Man: Far From Home. 
• Watch another trailer for Spider-Man: Far From Home.
• Watch a teaser for the final season of Game of Thrones. 
• Watch another teaser for the final season of Game of Thrones.
• Watch a teaser for the new Ghostbusters movie.
• Watch a trailer for Level 16.
• Watch a trailer for Siempre Bruja. 
• Watch a trailer for Fast Color. 
• Watch a trailer for Space Force.
• Watch a video of Neil Gaiman reading a poem by Ursula K. Le Guin to his 100-year-old cousin Helen Fagin.
• Watch Thanos fingersnap The Simpsons (except for Maggie) out of existence.