It's time for the weekly round-up of interesting links about speculative fiction from around the web, this week with more on hopepunk, Star Trek Discovery, The Orville, Captain Marvel, season 2 of American Gods, Us, an uproar at San Diego Comic Fest and much more.
Speculative fiction in general:
- Maria Haskins shares ten science fiction and fantasy anthologies that celebrate women.
- Will Dunn talks about the rise of Chinese science fiction.
- Sarah Crocker lists twenty black science fiction authors you need to know.
- Ethan Mollick shares a cool map of science fiction networks.
- Cat Rambo shares her thoughts about hopepunk as well as a reading list.
- Ellen Gamerman talks about hopepunk and optimistic speculative fiction.
- Bryn Hammond applies the hopepunk approach to historical fiction.
- Father Jim McDermott attempts to explain why hopepunk is quintessentially Catholic.
- Beth Cato talks about the food of fantasy fiction.
- Nicole Hill shares twelve fantasy novels in which gods walk the land.
- Samuel Chapman explains why anthopomorphic animals will always have a place in fantasy.
- Tor.com lists eight time travelling dogs.
- James Davis Nicoll wonders why no one in science fiction ever reads the manual, if there even is one.
- James Davis Nicoll lists some science fiction and fantasy authors he wishes would write more books.
- James Davis Nicoll looks at four very different science fiction and fantasy novels which all happen to share the same title.
- Ian McDowell profiles Nicole Givens Kurtz.
- Cody Delistraty profiles John Lanchester.
- John Hertz remembers Harlan Ellison.
- Tim Maughan shares his appreciation for the works of J.G. Ballard.
- Michael Moorcock shares his appreciation for the works of H.G. Wells.
- Kelsey McKinney remembers Anne Moncure Crane Seemüller, a pioneering American woman writer, whose novel Emily Chester was a bestseller in its day, and whose work was suppressed and erased after her death, likely by Henry James.
- Anna Godbersen explains how The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton changed young adult fiction fifty-two years ago.
- John Hertz shares his appreciation for the work of Vincent Di Fate.
- T.J. Martinson discusses what unites superheroes and the protagonists of crime novels.
- Graeme McMillan reports how DC is planning to celebrate Batman's eightieth anniversary.
- Michael Cavna reports about Senator Patrick Leahy from Vermont who is a lifelong Batman fan, had cameo appearances in five Batman films and has now penned the introduction to an eightieth anniversary collection of Batman.
- Myke Cole explains how the far right distorts antique history and why it matters.
- Cecilia D'Anastasio reports about a fight over the legacy of Dungeons & Dragons co-creator Gary Gygax and attacks on his widow Gail.
- The Humanist remembers Janet Jeppson Asimov.
- Don Kaye shares an obituary for Janet Jeppson Asimov.
Film and TV:
- Gavia Baker-Whitelaw calls Level 16 a tense, Handmaid's Tale style dystopia.
- Gavia Baker-Whitelaw calls Freaks one of the best science fiction films of 2019.
- Danette Chavez calls Now Apocalpyse a kinky stoner comedy for the end times.
- Kerry Truong shares her thoughs on the Korean historical fantasy drama Kingdom.
- Austin Gilkeson explains how Thor: Ragnarok takes on masculine stereotypes and shows a better way.
- Tom Breihan traces how Deadpool made a superstar of Ryan Reynolds.
- Keith R.A. DeCandido revisits Deadpool 2.
- Germain Lussier shares some early reactions to Shazam!
- Martin Belam shares his thoughts on the animated recreation of the lost 1967 Doctor Who adventure The Macra Terror.
- Vance Kotrla revisits the 1960 postapocalyptic movie The Last Woman on Earth.
- Natalie Devitt revisits the next few episodes of season of The Outer Limits.
- Nellie Andreeva reports that Taika Waititi will co-write and direct a Time Bandits TV series, based on the eponymous 1981 movie.
- Lesley Goldberg reports that the upcoming abbreviated eighth season of Arrow will be its last.
- The BBC reports that Israeli actress Gal Gadot, best known as Wonder Woman, has waded into a political dispaute about the citizen status of Israeli Arabs.
- Catherine Shoard reports that James Bond will drive an electric Aston Martin in the upcoming still untitled movie.
- Actor Jan-Michael Vincent, best remembered for Airwolf and Damnation Alley, has died aged 74.
Comments on Star Trek Discovery and Star Trek in general (spoilers):
- Zack Handlen shares his thoughts on "If Memory Serves", the latest episode of Star Trek Discovery.
- James Whitbrook shares his thoughts on "If Memory Serves".
- Keith R.A. DeCandido shares his thoughts on "If Memory Serves".
- Gavia Baker-Whitelaw shares her thoughts on "If Memory Serves".
- Kayti Burt shares her thoughts on "If Memory Serves".
- Camestros Felapton shares his thoughts on "If Memory Serves".
- Cora Buhlert shares her thoughts on "If Memory Serves".
- Camestros Felapton shares his appreciation for the character of Sylvia Tilly.
- Keith Phipps ranks Star Trek captains according to management technique.
- James Whitbrook reports that Star Trek Discovery might bring back the so-called "skant", the unisex uniform dress seen in the early seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
- Yuan Ren reports that redshirts really do die more often in Star Trek, though yellowshirts are not far behind.
- Jonathan H. Kantor shares some spectacular Star Trek cosplay photos.
- Sara Lyall profiles Stacey Abrams, candidate for governor of Georgia and Star Trek fan.
Comments on The Orville:
- Nick Wanserski shares his thoughts on "Blood of Patriots", the latest episode of The Orville.
- Paul Levinson shares his thoughts on "Blood of Patriots".
- Will Harris declares that with the recent run of fine episodes, The Orville is finally turning into serious science fiction.
- Cheryl Eddy reports that The Orville is getting its own comic book.
Comments on Captain Marvel (potential spoilers):
- Emily Asher-Perrin calls Captain Marvel the joyful realisation of a woman coming into her power.
- Ty Burr declares that Captain Marvel gets the job done.
- Matt Brunson declares that Captain Marvel flies high.
- Caryn James enjoyed Captain Marvel, but does not see it as the women's empowerment story the hype has painted it as.
- Gavia Baker-Whitelaw calls Captain Marvel a totally average Marvel movie and that's okay.
- Will Gompertz has some trouble following Captain Marvel's plot, but praises Brie Larson's performance.
- Debora Ross reports that she was not bored by Captain Marvel.
- Gary Thompson calls Captain Marvel a disappointing debut for the character.
- Abigail Nussbaum declares that the most interesting thing about Captain Marvel are the conversations around it.
- Katie Rife, Danette Chavez, Gwen Ihnat and Allison Shoemaker have a roundtable discussion about Captain Marvel.
- Charles Pulliam-Moore, Cheryl Eddy, James Whitbrook and Jill Pantozzi hold a roundtable discussion about Captain Marvel.
- Chris M. Barkley shares his thoughts on Captain Marvel.
- Camestros Felapton shares his thoughts on Captain Marvel.
- Timothy the Talking Cat shares his thoughts on Captain Marvel and was particularly impressed by Goose, the cat.
- Brian Truitt shares five things to know about Goose the cat.
- Ben Child discusses how Captain Marvel subverts expectations.
- Charles Pulliam-Moore declares that the origins of Captain Marvel's powers raised some interesting questions.
- Inspired by Captain Marvel, Nicholas Barber wonders why superhero movies no longer feature romance subplots.
- Will Lloyd doesn't appear to have seen Captain Marvel, but nonetheless believes that the existence of the movie reflects badly on American culture and that the popularity of superhero movies is to blame for the election of Donald Trump.
- Ryan Parker reports that Captain Marvel was hit by a troll attack on Rotten Tomatoes within hours of the movie opening, though Rotten Tomatoes later purged many of the reviews.
- Richard Newby talks about troll attacks on Captain Marvel and Shazam and points out that the current ratings and audience score driven culture has caused these attacks.
- Steve Zeitchik points out that troll attacks such as the latest one on Captain Marvel do not negatively affect movie viewer numbers.
- Pamela McClintock reports that Captain Marvel has made more than 150 million US-dollars in its first three days.
- Dan Neilan discusses Stan Lee's cameo in Captain Marvel.
- April Wolfe interviews Ursula Brauner, the animal trainer who trained the cats who played Goose in Captain Marvel.
- Kevin Polowy explains which parts of Carol Danvers' comics history Captain Marvel chose to keep and which it chose to ditch.
- Joelle Monique interviews Kelly Sue DeConnick, on whose run on the Captain Marvel comic the movie is based.
- Gavia Baker-Whitelaw shares the bizarre comic book origin story of Captain Marvel's cat Goose.
- Inspired by Captain Marvel's Goose, Germain Lussier shares pictures of various ginger cats owned by staff writers of the Gizmodo Media Group.
- Watch a clip from Captain Marvel.
Comments on season 2 of American Gods:
- Alex Brown asks if season 2 of American Gods lives up to expectations.
- Stuart Jeffries calls season 2 of American Gods a shonky Game of Thrones without the dragons.
- Emily L. Stephens shares her thoughts on the first episode of season 2 of American Gods.
- Jamie Sugah shares her thoughts on the first episode of season 2 of American Gods.
- Kathryn Shattuck interviews Ian McShane, who plays Mr. Wednesday in American Gods.
Comments on Us:
- Peter Bradshaw calls Us a brilliant horror satire of the American Dream.
- Randall Colburn calls Us thrilling, creepy and kind of a mess.
Awards:
- Andrew Liptak weighs in on this year's Nebula Award controversy.
- Mike Glyer reports about the special Ditmar Award for Best Fannish Cat that was given out a few times over the years and shares photos of some finalists and winners.
Writing, publishing and promotion:
- Lauren Harris explains why so many writers have problems getting started and what to do about it.
- Kristine Kathryn Rusch talks about writing with chronic illness and how comparing yourself to other writers doesn't help.
- Tim Maughan talks about how writers of near future science fiction can sometimes find reality overtaking their fiction.
- Kathleen Valenti talks about the book that almost killed her.
- Zen Cho explains why writing your second book can be so difficult.
- Brian Kirk talks about the long and winding road between books.
- Charles Stross shares some tips for writing a long series.
- B. Morris Allen explains what music and writing have in common.
- Camestros Felapton finds some parallels between writing and gambling.
- Fraser Sherman explains that going full-time was not what qualified him as a professional writer.
- Sandra M. Odell explains how the SFWA mentorship program helped her.
- Vicky Who Reads shares the results of a survey of book bloggers about interactions with authors and publishers.
- Shiloh Walker has an idea about how to fight the rampant scamming in the Amazon Kindle store.
Interviews:
- Rob Hopkins interviews Alexandra Rowland.
- Joel Cunningham interviews V.E. Schwab.
- Jana Nyman interviews Rati Mehrotra.
- Locus interviews Leigh Bardugo.
- Paul Weimer interviews Catherine Lundoff.
- Joe Sherry interviews Sarah Pinsker.
- Ari Shapiro interviews Henry Eliot.
- Ross Johnson interviews Grace Ellis and Shae Beagle.
Reviews:
- Jana Nyman reviews Polaris Rising by Jessie Mihalik.
- Rob Bedford reviews Polaris Rising by Jessie Mihalik.
- Ross Johnson reviews The Light Brigade by Kameron Hurley.
- Paul di Filippo reviews The City in the Middle of the Night by Charlie Jane Anders.
- Michael Patrick Hicks reviews Edges by Linda Nagata.
- Liz Bourke revies The Vela by Becky Chambers, Yoon Ha Lee, Rivers Solomon and S.L. Huang.
- Bill Capossere reviews The Haunting of Tram Car 015 by P. Djèlí Clark.
- Ceridwen Christensen reviews The True Queen by Zen Cho.
- Adri Joy reviews The True Queen by Zen Cho.
- Cheryl Wassenaar reviews Dragon Pearl by Yoon Ha Lee.
- James Davis Nicoll reviews The Smoke-Scented Girl by Melissa McShane.
- Nicole Hill reviews The Near Witch by V.E. Schwab.
- Melanie Sanderson reviews Ruthless Magic by Megan Crewe.
- Jo Niederhoff reviews The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter by Theodora Goss.
- Adri Joy reviews The Ingenious by Darius Hinks.
- Geoff Matthews reviews The Anointed by Keith Ward.
- Colleen Mondor reviews The Plastic Magician by Charlie N. Holmberg.
- Amy Goldschlager reviews Summerland by Hannu Rajaniemi.
- Ceridwen Christensen reviews The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang.
- Liz Bourke reviews The Rosewater Insurrection by Tade Thomspon.
- Ross Johnson reviews The Rosewater Insurrection by Tade Thompson.
- Gary K. Wolfe reviews Confessions of the Fox by Jordy Rosenberg
- Alex Brown reviews Dealing in Dreams by Lilliam Rivera.
- Matt Brandenburg reviews A Hawk in the Woods by Carrie Laben.
- Jana Nyman reviews Crown of Feathers by Nicki Pau Preto.
- Michael Patrick Hicks reviews Paradise, Maine, by Jackson R. Thomas.
- Speculiction reviews Vigilance by Robert Jackson Bennett.
- Tadiana Jones reviews The Test by Sylvain Neuvel.
- John Langan reviews Cross Her Heart by Sarah Pinborough.
- Sam Reader reviews Infinite Detail by Tim Meughan.
- Paul Weimer reviews State Tectonics by Malka Older.
- Bill Capossere and Marion Deeds review Unholy Land by Lavie Tidhar.
- Tobias Caroll reviews Lord by Joao Gilberto Noll, translated by Edgar Garbelotto.
- Maria Haskins reviews New Suns - Original Speculative Fiction by People of Color, edited by Nisi Shawl.
- Mark Yon reviews An Informal History of the Hugos by Jo Walton.
Classics reviews:
- Nisi Shawl revisits the 1954 fantasy novel My Life in the Bush of Ghosts by Amos Tutoala.
- James Davis Nicoll revisits the 1956 science fiction novel The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester.
- Gideon Marcus revisits the April 1964 issue of Galaxy.
- John Boston revisits the April 1964 issue of Amazing Stories.
- Judith Tarr revisits the 1968 fantasy novel Fur Magic by Andre Norton.
- Paperback Warrior revisits The City of the Living Dead, a 1978 novel in the Richard Blade science fantasy series.
- Joe Kenney revisits the The Cutthroat, a 1984 novel in The Warlord post-apocalyptic series by Jason Forst a.k.a. Raymond Obstfeld.
- James Davis Nicoll revisits the 1993 fantasy novel The Element of Fire by Martha Wells.
- Alan Brown revisits the 1993 military science fiction novel On Basilisk Station, first in the Honor Harrington series by David Weber.
- Kat Hooper revisits the 1996 science fiction novel City of Golden Shadow by Tad Williams.
- Ceridwen Christensen revisits the 1997 science fiction novel The Dazzle of Day by Molly Gloss.
Crowdfunding:
Con and event reports:
- At San Diego Comic Fest in San Diego, California, speaker Arlen Schumer became abusive to convention volunteers, when told that he had to wrap up his presentation, as this video shows.
- The Geekiary also reports about the incident at San Diego Comic Fest and notes that this isn't the first time that Arlen Schumer has displayed problematic behaviour at conventions.
Science and technology:
- Paul Rincon reports that evidence has been found of a huge solar storm two thousand years ago.
- George Dvorsky reports about an experiment that has given infrared vision to mice.
- Russell Brandom explains how to protect humans in a fully automated society.
- Gastro Obscura reports that chocolate tea cakes tend to explode at high altitudes, as discovered by Royal Navy pilots in the 1960s.
Free online fiction:
- "Crook's Landing, by Scaffold" by G.V. Anderson in Nightmare Magazine.
- "Through the Doorways, Whiskey Chile" by S.H. Mansouri in Beneath Ceaseless Skies.
- "New Horizons" by Alexander Stanmyer in Beneath Ceaseless Skies.
- "On the Shores of Ligeia" by Carolyn Ives Gilman in Lightspeed.
- "Ambitious Boys Like You" by Richard Kadrey in Lightspeed.
- "The Prison House of Language" by Elana Gomel in Apex Magazine.
- "Here and There" by Karen Heuler in The Dark.
- "Track 61" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch.
- "Millennials Are Killing Inanna, Mesopotamian Goddess of Fertility" by Andrew Williams in McSweeney's Internet Tendency.
Odds and ends:
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