Speculative Fiction Links of the Week for October 25, 2019

It's time for the latest weekly round-up of interesting links about speculative fiction from around the web, this week with more on Martin Scorsese's derogatory comments about superhero movies, Joker, Watchmen, His Dark Materials, Terminator: Dark Fate, The Lighthouse, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, Countdown, Daybreak, an uproar about an anthology featuring only male writers named David and much more. 

Speculative fiction in general:

• Leah Schnelbach offers spooky books recommended by famous monsters.
• The staff of LitHub and Crime Reads recommend their favourite spooky books, films and TV shows for Halloween. 
• Mallory O'Meara shares seven contemporary monster novels written by women. 
• Michael Kateregga wonders why there is so little fantasy written by women and proves himself unable to read the author name on the novel he is currently reading.
• James Davis Nicoll takes a look at science fictional rulers and emperors.
• Jeff Somers shares six lost science fiction and fantasy novels that were published posthumously.
• T.G. Shenoy talks about economics and science fiction.
• Yvonne Shiau talks about the evolution of dragons in western literature.
• Tochi Onyebuchi talks about power and male derangement in Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. 
• Camestros Felapton discusses the online uproar caused by a Baen anthology containing only stories by authors named David or variations thereof.
• Camestros Felapton offers some more discussion regarding the David anthology. 
• Camestros Felapton also shares some other reactions to the David anthology from around the web
• Cora Buhlert discusses how a general taste for folksy rural themes in the 1960s spilled over into the science fiction of the period.
• Matthew Westwood discusses the importance of fashion and clothing in Jane Austen's novels.
• Olivia Sudjic attempts to define what makes a millennial novel. 
• Art Spiegelman traces how the Golden Age of comics was created by Jewish artists and writers who created American superheroes to combat the rise of fascism. 
• Sonali Nandi reports about the President Supervillain Twitter account, which photoshops Donald Trump quotes into panels from Marvel Comics featuring Red Skull. 
• Jason Sacks remembers how Batman got a new look in 1964. 
• Sonali Nandi reports about the upcoming 38th Asterix album.
• The Seattle Times reports that Hank Weisinger, son of longtime Superman editor Mort Weisinger, has demanded the return of his father's papers from the University of Wyoming, because he was upset about a speech held there by US politician Liz Cheney.
  

Film and TV:

• Katie Rife calls Paradise Hills a lavishly produced but flimsy YA dystopia.
• Emily Asher-Perrin declares that Zombieland: Double-Tap offers the same fun as the original.
  
• Karin L. Kross calls the TV show The Terror: Infamy a frustrating, groundbreaking and timely exploration of history and horror.
• Benjamin Lee calls Eli a schlocky horror film full of supernatural silliness.
• Emily L. Stephens offers episode by episode reviews of Castle Rock. 
• Paul Levinson shares his thoughts on the latest episode of Evil. 
• Theresa DeLucci shares her thoughts on the horror movie Wounds. 
• Keith R.A. DeCandido shares his thoughts on Captain America: Civil War.
• Steven James shares eighteen near future films well worth watching.
  
• Vogue shares the forty best spooky movies to watch for Halloween.
• Kate Racculia talks about the portrayal of teenaged witches in movies and TV. 
• Tai Gooden would like to see more witches of colour in movies and TV.
• Adam Troy Castro shares his thoughts on Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. 
• Tom Breihan declares that for all the blood and guts, the 1972 horror movie The Exorcist was remarkably conservative and supported traditional values. 
• Matt Zoller-Zeitz reports that the back catalogue of Twentieth Century Fox movies is slowly vanishing from repertory theatres after the Fox Disney merger.
• LaShawn M. Wanak praises the afrofuturism of Janelle Monáe. 
• Nate Jones interviews Rian Johnson, director of Looper and The Last Jedi. 
• Michael Rechtshaffen shares his thoughts about the newly rediscovered 1938 silent science fiction film As the Earth Turns. 
• Andrew Liptak discusses the challenges of adapting Isaac Asimov's Foundation as a TV series.
• Charlotte Graham-McLay reports that director Peter Jackson has attempted to influence a local election in Wellington, New Zealand.
  

Comments on Martin Scorsese's derogatory comments about superhero movies:

• Nick Evans shares Martin Scorsese's attempt to clarify the derogatory remarks he made about superhero movies, whereby he manages to dig the whole even deeper.
• Yahoo News reports that Francis Ford Coppola has backed Martin Scorsese's dismissal of superhero movies as not cinema and calls Marvel movies despicable.
• Ken Loach also attacks Marvel movies in an interview with Lucy Cotter. 
• Meanwhile, James Whitbrook reports that Pedro Almodovar would like to see more sex in superhero movies.
• Timothy the Talking Cat also weighs in with some not entirely serious criticism of Marvel movies.
• Rosy Cordero shares the responses of several Marvel actors and directors to Scorsese's and Coppola's remarks.
• Alexandra del Rosario shares the reaction of Natalie Portman, who plays Jane Foster in the Thor movies, to Scorsese's and Coppola's comments. 
• Alexandra del Rosario also shares the reaction of Karen Gillan, who plays Nebula in the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, to Scorsese's and Coppola's comments. 
• Andrew Pulver shares the reaction of Benedict Cumberbatch who plays Doctor Strange to Scorsese's and Coppola's remarks.
• Disney CEO Bob Iger responds to the Scorsese's and Coppola's comments.
• David Gerrold offers a rebuttal of Scorsese's and Coppola's remarks and points out that Marvel movies make the audience feel good, which is why they are derided.
• John Scalzi also weighs in one the Scorsese and Coppola versus superhero movies debate.
• Cora Buhlert weighs in on the debate and declares that what we are seeing is old directors yelling at superheroes.
• Steve Rose wonders about the reasons for the current superhero backlash.
• Bilge Ebiri weighs in on the superhero backlash and claims that there are simply too many of them right now.
  

Comments on the latest version of Watchmen: 

• Leah Schnelbach calls Watchmen rich and terrifying and is surprised by the direction of the show. 
• Joelle Monique calls Watchmen as violent, thought-provoking and humorous as the comic. 
• Paul Levinson calls Watchmen a promising alternate history. 
• Lucy Mangan calls Watchmen the perfect superhero story for our tattered times.
• Emily Todd VanDerWerff calls Watchmen tremendous television, though she expects that many critics will disagree.
• James Poniewozik calls Watchmen an audacious Rochach test.
• Eric Deggans is very impressed by the latest version of Watchmen, but also feels that anybody who hasn't read the comic will be hopelessly lost.
• Sonia Saraiya calls Watchmen and ambitious reimagination of a classic.
• Gavia Baker-Whitelaw implores people who have doubts about Watchmen to give the show more time.
• Gavia Baker-Whitelaw also explains how the historical figure of Bass Reeves, the first black US Marshall, ties into Watchmen. 
• Charles Pulliam Moore is bothered by the fact that Watchmen attempts to tackle racism by positively portraying police officers. 
• Charles Pulliam-Moore also reports that Watchmen is much more connected to the comics than it seems at first glance. 
• SyFy Wire reports how the ending of the Watchmen comic influences the new TV series. 
• File 770 posters discuss Watchmen.
• Peter Sagal interviews Regina King, one of the stars of Watchmen.
• Tor.com digs into the ancillary material found on the official Watchmen website.
  

Comments on Terminator: Dark Fate:

• Jesse Hassenger declares that Terminator: Dark Fate cannot outrun the less than stellar sequels it tries to ignore.
• Peter Bradshaw calls Terminator: Dark Fate an endless repetition of scenes we've all seen before in other films of the series.
• Terminator: Dark Fate has inspired Nicholas Barber to beg that someone would just terminate this series. 
• David Edelstein declares that Terminator: Dark Fate proves to be a return to James Cameron's more hopeful take on the series.
• Jill Pantozzi is happy that Terminator: Dark Fate tells the story of three powerful women with the occasional Terminator thrown in.
• Danny Leigh wonders about the political implications of the return of the 1980s cinema icons the Terminator as played by Arnold Schwarzenegger and Rambo as played by Sylvester Stallone.
  

Comments on Maleficent: Mistress of Evil: 

• Emily Asher-Perrin declares that Maleficent: Mistress of Evil falls short of the epic treatment it deserves.
• Scott Tobias delcares that Maleficent: Mistress of Evil clips Angelina Jolie's wings.
• Nicholas Barber calls Maleficent: Mistress of Evil a fun fairytale action film that shortchanges Angelina Jolie. 
• Tracy Brown recounts how one of Angelina Jolie's children inspired the backstory of Maleficent: Mistress of Evil.

Comments on The Lighthouse:

• Leah Schnelbach calls The Lighthouse a tense, psychological horror movie. 
• Nicholas Barber calls The Lighthouse exhilaratingly strange and violent.
• Cameron Scheetz interviews Robert Pattinson, star of The Lighthouse.
• Cameron Scheetz also interviews William Dafeo, the other star of The Lighthouse.
  

Comments on Joker:

• Annabel Driscoll and Mina Husain declares that Joker's depiciton of mental illness is dangerously misinformed.
• Ben Child feels sorry for Jared Leto, because his portrayal of Joker never stood a chance.
• Nate Jones reports how the Bronx staircase featured in Joker became an unlikely tourist attraction.
• Stuart Heritage also reports about the staircase from Joker and other movie inspired tourist attractions.
  

Comments on Countdown: 

• A.A. Dowd declares that Countdown will leave you counting the minutes until the movie is finally over.
• Benjamin Lee calls Countdown a hapless thriller about a haunted app that should be uninstalled. 

Comments on Daybreak: 

• Jack Seale calls Daybreak a lazy and schlocky teen zombie apocalypse drama. 
• Shannon Miller calls Daybreak a disappointing zombie comedy that focusses on the wrong character.

Awards:

• The winners of the 2019 British Fantasy Awards have been announced.
• The winners of the 2019 Aurora Awards have been announced.
• The winner of the 2019 WSFA Small Press Award has been announced. 
• The finalists for the 2019 Endeavour Awards have been announced.
• The winners of the 2019 Mike Wieringo Comic Book Industry Awards have been announced.
• The candidates for the 2020 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award have been announced.
• Nicholas Whyte explains what became of the trophies for the 1944 Retro Hugo Awards and who received them, since all recipients are already dead.
  

Writing, publishing and promotion:

• The Odyssey Writing Workshop offers new online classes for winter. 
• Rochelle Melander explains how writers can get rid of distractions and focus.
• Nathan Nance talks about the art of story as worldbuilding. 
• Janice Hardy shares five ways to create likeable characters.
• Peter Orner refuses to offer a defense of the art of the short story.
• Kristine Kathryn Rusch explains to writers how to analyse what they can afford to do with regard to money or time.
  

Interviews:

• Scott Simon interviews George R.R. Martin.
• Emily Connelly interviews Nnedi Okorafor. 
• Christian A. Coleman interviews Valerie Valdes.
• Denise Davidson interviews Alice Hoffman. 
• Jeff Somers interviews Brent Weeks.  
• Joel Cunningham interviews Bradley P. Beaulieu and Micah Epstein.
• The Qwillery interviews Ashley Capes. 
• NFReads interviews Jeff Tanyard. 
• The Qwillery interviews T.A. Frost. 
• The Qwillery interviews K.S. Marsden.
• Susana Polo interviews Gene Luen Yang.
  

Reviews:

• Kat Hooper reviews The Queen's Advantage by Jessie Mihalik.
• Liz Bourke reviews Velocity Weapon by Megan O'Keefe. 
• Adrienne Martini reviews Empress of Forever by Max Gladstone and Three Laws Lethal by Daniel Walton. 
• James Davis Nicoll reviews War Girls by Tochi Onyebuchi. 
• Publishers Weekly reviews Salvaged by Madeleine Roux.
• Tadiana Jones reviews The Last Conversation by Paul Tremblay.
• Paul Di Filippo reviews Salvation Lost by Peter F. Hamilton.
• Erik Henriksen reviews Supernova Era by Liu Cixin.
• Thomas M. Wagner reviews Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir. 
• L.A. Young reviews Rosewater by Tade Thompson. 
• Alex Preston reviews The Secret Commonwealth by Philip Pullman.
• Paul Weimer reviews Romanitas by Sophia McDougall. 
• James Davis Nicoll reviews Hild by Nicola Griffith.
• Gary K. Wolfe reviews The Gurkha and the Lord of Tuesday by Saad Z. Hossain. 
• Paul Weimer reviews The Throne of the Five Winds by S.C. Emmett.
• Corrina Lawson reviews The Bone Ships by R.J. Barker.  
• Carolyn Cushman reviews Eye Spy by Mercedes Lackey and Midsummer's Mayhem by Rajani LaRocca.
• Katharine Coldiron reviews Silver in the Woods by Emily Tesh.
• James Davis Nicoll reviews The Twisted Ones by T. Kingfisher. 
• Michael Patrick Hicks reviews The Half-Freaks by Nicole Cushing. 
• Rebecca Fisher reviews Street Freaks by Terry Brooks.
• Natasha Pulley reviews The Wayward Girls by Amanda Mason. 
• James Latimer reviews The Last Road by K.V. Johansen. 
• Justine Jordan reviews In the House in the Dark Woods by Laird Hunt.
• Runalong the Shelves reviews Bone China by Laura Purcell.
• Michael Patrick Hicks reviews In Dreams We Rot by Betty Rocksteady.
• Michael Patrick Hicks reviews Into Bones Like Oil by Kaaron Warren.
• Ian Mond reviews Someone Who Will Love You in All Your Damaged Glory by Raphael Bob-Waksberg.  
• Martin Edwards reviews The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton. 
• Rob Bedford reviews The Remaking by Clay McLeod Chapman. 
• BOLO Books reviews The Remaking by Clay McLeod Chapman.
• James Davis Nicoll reviews Telepath by Janet Edwards.
• For Winter Nights reviews Ghoster by Jason Arnopp.
• For Winter Nights reviews The Institute by Stephen King. 
• Tadiana Jones reviews The Last Town by Blake Crouch.  
• Publishers Weekly reviews The Chronicles of Davids, edited by David Afsharirad.
• Brandon Critty reviews Lost Transmissions - The Secret History of Science Fiction and Fantasy, edited by Desirina Boskovich
• Adri Joy reviews Joanna Russ by Gwyneth Jones and New Worlds: Year Two - More Essays on the Art of Worldbuilding by Marie Brennan. 

Classics reviews: 

• SFF World revisits the 1895 gothic fiction collection Black Spirits and White by Ralph Adams Cram.
• Sandy Ferber revisits the 1904 fantasy adventure Green Mansions by W.H. Hudson and its 1959 film adaptation.
• Alan Brown revisits the 1934 space opera Triplanetary by E.E. Smith.
• Paperback Warrior revisits The Quest of Qui, a 1935 Doc Savage adventure by Kenneth Robeson a.k.a. Lester Dent. 
• Jason McGregor revisits the 1962 science fiction anthology The Expert Dreamers, edited by Frederick Pohl. 
• Victoria Silverwolf revisits the 1964 science fiction novel No Man on Earth by Walter Moudy and Cora Buhlert revisitis the 1964 postapocalyptic novel Davy by Edgar Pangborn. 
• Gideon Marcus revisits the November 1964 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.
• Joe Sherry revisits the 1965 science fiction novel ...And Call Me Conrad a.k.a. This Immortal by Roger Zelazny.
• Paperback Warrior revisits the 1965 spy novel Modesty Blaise by Peter O'Donnell, the first adventure of the eponymous heroine. 
• Deuce Richardson revisits the 1967 science fiction novel The Winds of Gath by E.C. Tubb.
• Judith Tarr revisits the 1971 science fiction novel Android at Arms by Andre Norton.
• James Davis Nicoll revisits the 1973 science fiction novel Protector by Larry Niven.
• Joseph Hurtgen revisits the 1977 science fiction novel Gateway by Frederick Pohl.
• Stephen H. Silver revisits the 1978 science fiction collection The Persistence of Vision by John Varley.
• Tessa Gratton revisits the 1989 fantasy novel Magic's Pawn by Mercedes Lackey.
• Joe Sherry revisits the 1990 fantasy novel Sunrunner's Fire by Melanie Rawn.
• Mark Yon revisits the 1995 pastiche Sherlock Holmes and the Tangled Skein by David Stewart Davies.

Con and event reports:

• Yunchtime reports about the 2019 Chinese Science Fiction Convention in Beijing, China.
• EspañaSheriff shares her experiences at WorldCon 2019 in Dublin, Ireland.
• Mike Glyer reports about the outcome of a Code of Conduct complaint at WorldCon 2019.
• Ellen Datlow shares some photos of the latest edition of the Fantastic Fiction Readings Series at the KGB Bar in New York City, featuring Barbara Krasnoff and Nicole Kornher-Stace.
• Jessica Juby reports about the Fierce Fantasy Night event in Norwich, UK.
• S.M. Carriére explains how she survives conventions.
• All issues of the daily newsletter for ConFiction, the 1990 WorldCon in Den Haag, Netherlands, are now available online.
  

Crowdfunding:

• Hero Nation is looking for funding to provide comic book libraries to school students in Michigan.
• Geneva Benton is looking for funding to produce AstroLadies enamel pins.
  

Science and technology:

• Rachel Treisman reports about NASA's first all-female spacewalk. 
• Jonathan Amos reports about ESA's Solar Orbiter space probe. 
• Joe Palca discusses the increasing importance of Cubesats.
• James Davis Nicoll shares five ways humans could benefit if planet 9 turns out to be a black hole, as has been recently proposed. 
• Peter Ward talks about the history and future of space tourism.
• Neil Heath profiles meteorite hunter Graham Ensor.
• Paul Rincon reports that traces of glue have been found on a 50000 year old Neanderthal tool.
• Emily Vaughn talks about the placebo effect and why the attitude of doctors matters. 
• James Gallagher reports about a new DNA editing tool which could correct 89 percent of genetic defects that cause diseases.
• David Abulafia offers an ancient history of piracy.
  

Free online fiction:

• "As the Last I May Know" by S.L. Huang at Tor.com. 
• "A Report of One's Honorable Death" by Virginia M. Mohlere in Luna Station Quarterly.
• "The Death of Fire Station 10" by Ray Naler in Lightspeed.
• "The Star Plague" by Rich Larson in Beneath Ceaseless Skies. 
• "Growing and Growing" by Rich Larson in Nightmare Magazine.
• "The Butcher, the Baker" by Mike Allen in Beneath Ceaseless Skies. 
• "The Devil and Dice" by Diana Hurlburt in Luna Station Quarterly.
• "The Demon L" by Carly Holmes in The Dark.
• "The Words of Our Enemies, the Words of Our Hearts" by Merc Fenn Wolfmoor in Lightspeed.
• "The Scrapyard" by Tomas Furby in Clarkesworld.
• "Empire of the Moment" by Alexander Condie in Daily Science Fiction.
• "The Hook" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch.
  

Odds and ends: 

• Watch a trailer for The Rise of Skywalker.
• Watch a trailer for Bloodshot.
• Watch a trailer for The Outsider. 
• Watch a trailer for season 4 of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power.
• Watch a trailer for the latest version of Ghost in the Shell.
• Watch a trailer for Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway.
• Kitchen Overlord shares a Dune inspired recipe for spice-stuffed Sandworm bread.
• See a map of literature.