Speculative Fiction Links of the Week for April 12, 2019

It's time for the weekly round-up of interesting links about speculative fiction from around the web, this week with Star Trek Discovery, Shazam!, Unicorn Store, The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, High Life, season 2 of American Gods, Us, Pet Sematary, Hellboy, Little, the upcoming final season of Game of Thrones and much more. 

Speculative fiction in general:

• Jeff Somers lists five technological inventions science fiction predicted with one hundred percent accuracy.
• Arkady Martine talks about motherhood in science fiction.
• Rob Latham takes a look at the time travel stories of Robert Silverberg. 
• Ross Johnson shares eight great books for fans of Farscape. 
• Hanna Jameson reconsiders classic novels as dystopian and post-apocalyptic novels and discusses the enduring lessons of post-apocalyptic fiction.
• Doris V. Sutherland takes a look at a particular notable example of casual mass murder in the Grimm fairy tale "Cherry or the Frog Bride". 
• Lisa Allardice explains how the world went crazy for the Moomins.
• Crime Reads shares twenty quotes by Robert Bloch.
• Foz Meadows talks about cancel culture and the internet eating itself.
• Michael Gonzales shares his appreciation for the horror comics of the 1970s.
• Annalee Newitz explains why the cool kids are playing Dungeons & Dragons.
• Arwen Curry remembers Vonda N. McIntyre.
  

Film and TV:

• Caryn James declares that the new Twilight Zone serves up eerie, witty and stylishly told stories.
  
• Paul Levinson shares his thoughts on the science fiction movie IO. 
• Katie Rife shares her thoughts on the latest episode of What We Do In The Shadows.
• Charles Bramesco calls The Silence a thunderingly bad horror film. 
• Charles Pulliam-Moore declares that season 2 of Cloak and Dagger is off to a blindingly good start.
• Leah Schnelbach declares that The Tick is back and that it is better than ever.
• Tom Breihan declares that Black Panther took superhero movies to a higher level.
• A.A. Dowd shares his appreciation for the improvised heart surgery scene in Iron Man.
• Ben Child wonders why Donald Trump is so obsessed with the character of Bane in the superhero movie The Dark Knight Rises. 
• Peter Bradshaw revisits the 1971 dystopian movie A Clockwork Orange.
• Jessica Holmes revisits the 1964 Doctor Who serial "Marco Polo".
• Joey Shapiro takes a look at Hereditary, Don't Look Now and the despairing future of horror. 
• Steve Weintraub interviews actress Linda Hamilton who plays Sarah Connor in the Terminator movies.
• Erik Adams interviews actress Fiona Shaw who plays Carolyn Martens in Killing Eve and Petunia Dursley in the Harry Potter movies.
• Alex Godfrey interviews actor Udo Kier.
• James Whitbrook reports that actor Iain Glen, best known for playing Jorah Mormont in Game of Thrones and Jack Taylor in the eponymous crime drama, has been cast as Bruce Wayne a.k.a. Batman in Titans.
• Joe Otterson reports that Disney is working on a Hawkeye series featuring Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton handing over the torch to Kate Bishop. 

Comments on Star Trek Discovery and Star Trek in general (spoilers):

• Zack Handlen shares his thoughts on "Through the Valley of Shadows", the latest episode of Star Trek Discovery.
• Keith R.A. DeCandido shares his thoughts on "Through the Valley of Shadows".
• James Whitbrook shares his thoughts on "Through the Valley of Shadows".
• Gavia Baker-Whitelaw shares her thoughts on "Through the Valley of Shadows".
• Camestros Felapton shares his thoughts on "Through the Valley of Shadows".
• Kayti Burt shares her thoughts on "Through the Valley of Shadows".
• Cora Buhlert shares her thoughts on "Through the Valley of Shadows".
• Ryan Britt discusses the portrayal of Captain Christopher Pike in Star Trek Discovery. 
• Ryan Britt lists eight character from the original Star Trek who might pop up in the Star Trek Discovery season finale.
  
• Women at Warp discusses how women's sexuality is treated in various Star Trek shows.
  

Comments on Shazam!: 

• Emily Asher-Perrin declares that Shazam! is best when it shifts its focus off its main character.  
• The Geekiary calls Shazam! a heartfelt film that continues DC's upwards trend. 
• Charles Pulliam-Moore explains that losing one's family and overcoming that loss is a huge part of what makes Shazam! work so well. 
• Jesse Hassenger declares that Shazam! redefines masculinity in the DC universe.
• Leonard Maltin claims that Shazam! never takes off.
• Farid Ul-Haq is pleased that Shazam! includes a gay character.
• Will Friedwald discusses the strange connection between Captain Marvel and Shazam! who was once known as Captain Marvel.
  

Comments on Unicorn Store: 

• Linda Holmes calls Unicorn Store a glittering and charming directorial debut for Brie Larson.
• Katie Rife calls Unicorn Store terminally perky. 
• Yohana Desta shares how actress Brie Larson, star of Captain Marvel and Unicorn Store, feels about the gender pay gap in Hollywood.

Comments on The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina: 

• Chris Cummins calls season 2 of The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina hauting, dark and mature.
• Angie Dahl declares that the witches from The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina smash the patriarchy in season 2. 
• Lisa Weidenfeld offers some episode by episode reviews of season 2 of The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.
• Beth Elderkin interviews Gavin Leatherwood who plays Nick in The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.
• Beth Elderkin interviews Lachlan Watson who plays Theo in The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.
• Inspired by The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Amber Troska asks what makes a good and a bad adaptation.
  

Comments on High Life:

• A.A. Dowd calls High Life a captivating science fiction film.
• Charles Pulliam-Moore declares that the science fiction film High Life gets lost in the void of its own imagination. 
• Andrew Lapin calls High Life a strange and wondrous film that's not a traditional science fiction film.

Comments on season 2 of American Gods: 

• Jamie Sugah shares her thoughts on the latest episode of American Gods.
• Emily L. Stephens shares her thoughts on the latest episode of American Gods.
  

Comments on the upcoming final season of Game of Thrones:

• Chris Mandle asks if Game of Thrones is the last great blockbuster TV show.
• Tyler Dean explains what was lost when the character of Lady Stoneheart was cut from the TV version of Game of Thrones. 
• Readers of The Guardian share their predictions for the ending of Game of Thrones. 
• Various critics from The Guardian share their favourite Game of Thrones characters.
• The Observer interviews several Game of Thrones castmembers about how the show changed their lives. 
• Emma Jones interviews Diana Rigg about playing Olenna Tyrell in Game of Thrones.  
• Ciaran McCauley profiles various crewmembers who've worked on Game of Thrones on location in Northern Ireland.
• Denis Lovrovic shares some photos of how the Croatian city Dubrovnik suffers from overtourism due to Game of Thrones.
• TV critic Sarah Hughes explains how hoping to find out how Game of Thrones ends helped her cope with her incurable cancer.
• Bridget Hallinan lists all of the Game of Thrones food and beverage tributes for the final season. 
• Angel Wilson offers a recap of season 7 of Game of Thrones.
• Ross Johnson shares twenty-five epic fantasies for Game of Thrones fans. 

Comments on Us: 

• Arley Sorg and Josh Pearce discuss Us.
• Camestros Felapton talks about the world building of Us.
• Laura Bradley discusses the inspiration behind the climactic fight scene of Us.
• Joe George finds some parallels between Us and the fiction of Ursula K. Le Guin and Octavia E. Butler.
  

Comments on Hellboy:

• Peter Bradshaw calls the new Hellboy a soulless descent into the seventh circle of tedium.
• Katie Rife calls Hellboy a loud and gory mess that only a teenager could love.
• Charles Pulliam-Moore calls the latest version of Hellboy too dull to leave much of an impression. 
• Alex Wong interviews actor Daniel Dae Kim, best known for his parts in Lost, Hawaii Five-O and Hellboy. 

Comments on Pet Sematary (sic): 

• A.A. Dowd declares that Pet Sematary should have stayed buried.
• Peter Bradshaw calls Pet Sematary an impressively nasty scare story.
• Leah Schnelbach calls Pet Sematary a scary and deeply felt adpatation of the eponymous Stephen King novel.
• Alex McLevy interviews Amy Seimetz, one of the stars of Pet Sematary.
• Katie Rife interviews animal trainer Kirk Jarrett and Melissa Miller who worked on Pet Sematary.
  

Comments on Little:

• Charles Pulliam-Moore declares that the fantasy movie Little has a great message, but fails to entertain.  
• Peter Bradshaw calls Little a confused fantasy comedy with very little to laugh at.
• Jesse Hassenger says that the actors make Little a lot of fun.
  

Awards: 

• The shortlist for the 2019 Brave New Words Award has been announced.
• The finalists for the 2019 Prometheus Award have been announced. 
• The winners of the 2019 Tolkien Society Awards have been announced.
• The nominees for the 2019 Seiun Awards have been announced.
• The nominees for the 2019 Peabody Awards have been announced. 
• The winner of the 2019 Kevin O'Donnell Jr. Service to SFWA Award has been announced. 
• The winners of the 2019 Writers and Illustrators of the Future contest have been announced.
• The shortlist for the 2019 CLFA Book of the Year has been announced. 
• The winners of the 2019 BAFTA games awards have been announced.
• James Davis Nicoll looks back at forty years of the Prometheus Award.
• Mike Glyer reports that a motion has been filed to extend the Hugo eligibility of the documentary Worlds of Ursula K. Le Guin.
  

Writing, publishing and promotion:

• Kristine Kathryn Rusch shares some tips for making writing fun again.
• Laurence MacNaughton explains how to never suffer writer's block again. 
• Maggie Plummer talks about turning life into fiction.
• Marina J. Lostetter talks about feeling the shape of stories.
• Vivian Shaw shares six ways that fanfiction can make your writing stronger. 
• Tobias S. Buckell shares his appreciation for Writer's Digest for its 100th anniversary.
• Clayton Noblit shares a complete guide to making an Amazon Author Central page.
• Charity Bradford asks if it's worth juggling two or more pen names.
  

Interviews:

• Tochi Onyebuchi interviews Victor LaValle.
• Laurel Amberdine interviews Caroline M. Yoachim. 
• Locus interviews Jasper Fforde. 
• Chris Urie interviews Anna Kashina.
• The Qwillery interviews Kris Waldherr. 
• The Qwillery interviews Kate Mascarenhas.
• The Qwillery interviews Sarah Blake.
• The Qwillery interviews Martine Fournier-Watson. 
• The Qwillery interviews Mike Chen.
• The Qwillery interviews Jack Heckel.
• Brandon Crilly interviews Diane Walton. 
• Aidan Moher intervies Nic Kelman.

Reviews:

• Gary Tognetti reviews Finder by Suzanne Palmer. 
• For Winter Nights reviews A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine.
• Adrienne Martini reviews Zero Sum Game by S.L. Huang and The Light Brigade by Kameron Hurley.
• Joe Sherry reviews Alliance Rising by C.J. Cherryh and Jane S. Fancher.
• Kat Hooper reviews The Hidden World by Melinda Snodgrass.
• Tom Whitmore reviews The Widening Gyre by Michael R. Johnston.  
• Daniel Dern reviews Tiamat's Wrath by James S.A. Corey. 
• Bill Capossere reviews Tiamat's Wrath by James S.A. Corey. 
• Blue Book Balloon reviews Atlas Alone by Emma Newman.
• Liz Bourke reviews Luna: Moon Rising by Ian McDonald.
• Ceridwen Christensen reviews Blackfsh City by Sam J. Miller.
• Tadiana Jones and Jana Nyman review The Black God's Drums by P. Djèlí Clark.
• Liz Bourke reviews The Haunting of Tram Car 015 by P. Djèlí Clark. 
• Tadiana Jones reviews Alice Payne Arrives by Kate Heartfield.
• Carolyn Cushman reviews Death & Honey, edited by Kevin Hearne. 
• Bill Capossere reviews Station Zero by Philip Reeve.
• Mark Yon reviews Just One Damned Thing After Another by Jodi Taylor.
• James Davis Nicoll reviews The True Queen by Zen Cho. 
• Rob Bedford reviews Seven Blades in Black by Sam Sykes. 
• Martin Cahill reviews Seven Blades in Black by Sam Sykes.
• Jessica Juby reviews Sympthony of the Wind by Steven McKinnon.
• Katharine Coldiron reviews Lost Gods by Micah Yongo. 
• Corrina Lawson reviews Holy Sister by Mark Lawrence.
• Elizabeth Fitzgerald reviews Descendants of the Crane by Joan He.  
• Geoff Matthews reviews Sworn to the Night by Craig Schaefer.
• Erica Wagner reviews Gingerbread by Helen Oyeyemi.
• Adri Joy reviews Terra Nullius by Claire G. Coleman. 
• Emily Wenstrom reviews The Bayern Agenda by Dan Moren.
• Michael Patrick Hicks reviews The Pandora Room by Christopher Golden. 
• Ian Mond reviews The Psychology of Time Travel by Kate Mascarenhas.
• Gary K. Wolfe reviews Rewrite: Loops in the Timescape by Gregory Benford. 
• Alan Warner reviews Doggerland by Ben Smith.
• Mark Chitty reviews Survival Game by Gary Gibson. 
• Ryan Britt reviews The Municipalists by Seth Fried. 
• Michael Patrick Hicks reviews Terminal by Michaelbrent Collings.
• Nick T. Borelli reviews After the Green Withered by Kristin Ward.
• Suzy Michael reviews Darkest Hours by Mike Thorn.  
• Logan Noble reviews Sefira and Other Betrayals by John Langan.
• Corrina Lawson reviews The Very Best of Caitlin R. Kiernan by Caitlin R. Kiernan. 
• Doris V. Sutherland reviews Jungle Girls, edited by Mitch Maglio and Craig Yoe.

Classics reviews:

• Sandy Ferber revisits the 1942 space opera Second Stage Lensman by E.E. Smith.
• SF Magazines revisits the August 1943 issue of Astounding Science Fiction.
• James Davis Nicoll revisits the 1963 science fiction novel The Cosmic Computer by H. Beam Piper.
• Gideon Marcus revisits the May 1964 issue of Worlds of If.  
• Kat Hooper revisits the 1969 fantasy novel The Face in the Frost by John Bellairs. 
• Alan Brown revisits the 1969 science fiction novel The Ship Who Sang by Anne McCaffrey.
• Rich Horton revisits the 1972 science fiction anthology Again, Dangerous Visions, edited by Harlan Ellison.
• Judith Tarr revisits the 1969 fantasy novel Red Heart Magic by Andre Norton. 
• Joachim Boaz revisits the 1978 post-apocalyptic novel The Road to Corlay by Richard Cowper. 
• James Davis Nicoll revisits the 1981 children's fantasy novel The Wizard Children of Finn by Mary Tannen. 
• Will Errickson revisits the 1981 horror novel Off Season by Jack Ketchum. 
• James Davis Nicoll revisits the 1989 science fiction novel Starfarers by Vonda N McIntyre.

Crowdfunding:

• Strange Waters, an LGBT fantasy comic anthology by Haunted Cosmos Press, is looking for funding. 
• The Dream Foundry, a registered non-profit organisation focussed on creating a community and shared culture for all creators working in the speculative arts, is looking for funding.
• Karen Finlay is looking for funding to open and operate the independent Alibi Bookshop in Vallejo, California.
  

Con and event reports:

• Dan Berry shares some highlights from the Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. panel at WonderCon in Anaheim, California.
• Farid Ul-Haq shares some highlights from the Fear the Walking Dead panel at WonderCon. 
• The Geekiary reports about the panel for the Voyage to the Stars podcast at WonderCon.
• The Geekiary shares five reasons to attend ClexaCon 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
• R. Graeme Cameron reports about the Creative Ink Festival for Writers and Readers in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada.
• Fulk Beauxarmes reports that he is leaving the Society for Creative Anachronism because of the growth of racism and whtie supremacism inside the organisation.
  

Science and technology:

• Daniel Clery reveals what a black hole looks like.
• Geoff Brumfiel reports that Japan's Hayabusa 2 space probe has dropped plastic explosives on the asteroid Ryugu. 
• Christian Davenport wonders what will become of Donald Trump's proposed Moon shot.
• George Wright asks if floating cities are still science fiction or actually viable.
• Jessica Glenza reports that General Casimir Pulaski, who fought with George Washington, may have been a woman or intersex. 
• Oscar de Muriel talks about Victorian patent medicines between quackery and science.
• Kris Waldherr talks about mourning, post-mortem photography and other Victorian death rituals.
  
• Mike McEacharan explains what unicorns mean to Scottish identity.
  

Free online fiction:

• "Painless" by Rich Larson at Tor.com. 
• "Confessions of the Con Girl" by Nick Wolven in Clarkesworld.
• "The Ballad of Boomtown" by Priya Sharma in Nightmare Magazine. 
• "The Red Honey Witch" by Jessica Paddock in Beneath Ceaseless Skies.
• "Boiled Bones and Black Eggs" by Nghi Vo in Beneath Ceaseless Skies.
• "The Last Eagle by Natalia Theodoridou in Clarkesworld.
• "The Seeds of War" by Ashok K. Banker in Lightspeed.
• "What Cradles Us But Will Not Set Us Free" by Nin Harris in Strange Horizons. 
• "All Votes Will Be Counted (We Promise) by Paul Crenshaw in Apex Magazine.
• "To Market, To Market: The Branding of Billy Bailey" by Cory Doctorow in Lightspeed.
  

Odds and ends:

• Watch a trailer for Avengers: Endgame.
• Watch a clip from Avengers: Endgame. 
• Watch a trailer for Detective Pikachu.
• Watch a trailer for The Society. 
• Watch a trailer for Chambers.
• Watch a clip from Tolkien.
• Watch a trailer for The Addams Family.
• Watch a trailer for Weathering With You.
• Watch a trailer for What We Left Behind: Looking Back at Star Trek Deep Space Nine. 
• See an infographic about science fiction weapons.