It's time for the latest weekly round-up of interesting links about speculative fiction from around the web, this week with the best science fiction and fantasy books of 2020, season 3 of Star Trek Discovery and Star Trek in general, season 2 of The Mandalorian and Star Wars in general, season 2 of His Dark Materials, the Supermatural series finale, the new Animaniacs, a special Hugo Award for videogames, problems at Fireside Magazine and much more.
Speculative fiction in general:
- Joel Cunningham shares six SFF novels that defy genre distinctions.
- M.K. England shares five SFF novels that will leave you with hope for humanity.
- Rebecca Diem talks about Hopepunk and revolutionary acts of kindness.
- Jo Walton talks about the search for books in which no bad things happen.
- Nicolas Lietzgau talks about dark romanticism and the gothic.
- Marta Cobb shares a survival guide to medieval fairy tales.
- Yvonne Shiau offers a brief history of dragons in western literature.
- Piper J. Drake reminds us that people of colour and other marginalised people in historical settings are historically accurate.
- Namwali Serpell talks about Afrofuturism.
- Lish McBride talks about combatting book shame and reading outside your comfort zone.
- Larissa Irankunda shares bestselling novels which started as NaNoWriMo projects.
- Fen Zhang reports about the Chinese science fiction database.
- David Mana shares five reasons to read Fritz Leiber.
- Bobby Derie reports about the correspondence between Jonquil Leiber, wife of Fritz Leiber, and H.P. Lovecraft.
- Sverre C.O. Tidemand profiles Charles R. Saunders.
- Annalee Newitz talks about being nonbinary.
- Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett wonders why so many books won't name Donald Trump.
- Science fiction and mystery writer Hayford Peirce and his wife Wanda Zhang Peirce have died aged 78.
Best of 2020:
Film and TV:
- Benjamin Lee calls Superintelligence an unfunny AI comedy.
- Guy Lodge shares his thoughts on Proxima and wonders why there are so many movies about female astronauts right now.
- Ignatiy Vishnevetsky shares his thoughts on the action movie Vanguard and the historical fantasy movie Iron Mask.
- Leslie Felperin calls The Ringmaster a deeply unpleasant horror film.
- A.A. Dowd calls Soul a sweet mashup of earlier Pixar films.
- Jesse Hassenger calls The Croods: A New Age an unnecessary sequel that's still a lot of fun.
- Renn Tann shares her thoughts on Over the Moon.
- Gwen Ihnat shares her thoughts on the latest episode of Next.
- Randall Colburn shares his thoughts on the latest episode of Moonbase 8.
- Alex McLevy shares his thoughts on the latest episode of The Walking Dead: World Beyond.
- Thomas West shares ten science fiction movie flops that should have been hits.
- Thomas West shares ten recent SFF movies with inexcusably bad special effects.
- Mark Harrison talks about the importance of cats in horror movies.
- Leah Schnelbach shares the seventeen best and worst animal sidekicks from 1980s cartoons.
- Dan Persons shares twelve animated series worth watching.
- Emmet Asher Perrin revisits the 1971 fantasy film Bedknobs and Broomsticks.
- Alex McLevy revisits the 1978 horror film Magic.
- Erica Kanda revisits the 1999 horror comedy Ravenous.
- Charles Bramesco revisits the 2000 superhero movie Unbreakable for its twentieth anniversary.
- Jesse Hassenger revisits the 2009 horror comedy Jennifer's Body.
- Rich Pelley interviews Sylvester McCoy who played the Seventh Doctor in Doctor Who.
- Michael Segalov interviews Russell Tovey who appeared in Being Human, Doctor Who and many others.
- Marta Balaga interviews George Clooney and Martin Ruhe, star/director and cinematographer of The Midnight Sky.
- Sian Cain interviews Hugo finalist Rachel Bloom.
- The Guardian shares a gallery of iconic film cars.
- Ben Child reports about a racist backlash against the fantasy film Come Away, which presents Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan as mixed race.
- Louisa Mellor reports that John Barrowman will appear as Captain Jack Harkness in the Doctor Who New Year's Special "Revolution of the Daleks".
- Andrew Liptak reports that Netflix and the company behind the Choose Your Own Adventure books have settled their trademakr infringement suit out of court.
- Molly Templeton reports that The Expanse will end after season 6.
- Ally Mauch reports that the superhero show Black Lightning will end with season 4.
- Andrew Tejada offer some background on the cancellation of Black Lightning.
- Actor Philip Voss, who appeared in Doctor Who, the James Bond film Octopussy and many others, has died aged 84.
- Actor Kirby Morrow, who appeared in Stargate Atlantis and Stargate Universe and also has a lengthy list of voice acting credits, has died aged 47.
Comments on season 3 of Star Trek Discovery and Star Trek in general:
- Keith R.A. DeCandido shares his thoughts on "Scavengers", the latest episode of Star Trek Discovery.
- Zack Handlen shares his thoughts on "Scavengers".
- James Whitbrook shares his thoughts on "Scavengers".
- Camestros Felapton shares his thoughts on "Scavengers".
- Cora Buhlert shares her thoughts on "Scavengers".
- Rosanna Greenstreet interviews Jason Isaacs who played Captain Gabriel Lorca in Star Trek Discovery.
- Abigail Nussbaum shares her thoughts on Star Trek Picard.
- Keith R.A. DeCandido revisits the Star Trek Voyager episode "Prey"
- Alvaro Zinos-Amaro revisits the 2016 Star Trek Deep Space Nine tie-in novel Rules of Accusation by Paula M. Block and Terry J. Erdmann.
- Herbert M. Solow, Desilu Studios executive and producer of the original Star Trek, has died aged 89.
Comments on season 2 of The Mandalorian and Star Wars in general:
- Paul MacInnes shares his thoughts on "The Siege", the latest episode of The Mandalorian.
- Katie Rife shares her thoughts on "The Siege".
- Emmet Asher-Perrin shares his thoughts on "The Siege".
- Germain Lussier shares his thoughts on "The Siege".
- Cora Buhlert shares her thoughts on "The Siege".
- Charlie Ridgeley reports about a blunder in "The Siege".
- Joanna Robinson and Anthony Breznican report about the backlash against Gina Carano, who plays Cara Dune in The Mandalorian, over some social media comments.
Comments on season 2 of His Dark Materials:
Comments on the Supernatural series finale (spoilers):
- Danielle Turchiano finds that Supernatural series finale both tragic and upbeat.
- Alex McLevy shares his thoughts on the Supernatural series finale.
- Juliette Harrison explains why the Supernatural series finale works for her.
- Samantha Highfill reports how the story of every major character on Supernatural ended.
- Gavia Baker-Whitelaw reports that the Spanish dub of the Supernatural series finale changes a pivotal scene.
Awards:
- The winners of the 2020 Prix ActuSF de l’Uchronie have been announced.
- The winners of the 2020 DeepSouthCon Awards have been announced.
- The finalists for the 2020 Costa Book Awards have been announced.
- The winners of the 2020 Golden Joystick Awards have been announced.
- Mike Glyer reports that DisCon III, the 2021 Worldcon, will be giving out a special Hugo Award for video games.
- Camestros Felapton shares his thoughts on the special Hugo Award for video games.
- Camestros Felapton also wonders what criteria would make a video game SFF enough to be a Hugo contender.
- Igor Bonifacic weighs in on the special Hugo Award for video games.
- Malindy Hetfeld also weighs in on the special Hugo Award for video games.
- Adam Whitehead offers an overview of video games eligible for the 2021 videogame Hugo Award.
- Peter Schmitt weighs in on the 1945 Retro Hugo winners.
Writing, publishing and promotion:
- Ann Langley explains that writing does not always come easily and how she came to terms with that fact.
- Kate Elliott and Zen Cho talk about worldbuilding.
- Kate McKean explains that it's perfectly normal to hate what you write.
- Gideon Marcus shares some questions to ask yourself whether you are ready for publishing.
- Belinda Pollard shares some tips for briefing beta readers.
- Anthony W. Eichenlaub discusses the pros and cons of independent publishing in 2020.
- Gideon Marcus talks about distribution for small presses and indie authors.
- Gideon Marcus shares some tips for setting up your own publishing company.
- Gideon Marcus declares that in order to market your books, you must first market yourself.
- Derek Murphy shares some blogging tips for authors.
- Patch O'Furr weighs in on Disney's failure to pay Alan Dean Foster and reminds people of Foster's importance to the furry community.
- Alison
Flood reports that employees of Random House Canada are protesting
against plans of the company to publish a new book by controversial
professor Jordan Peterson.
- Aidan Moher reports about some problems with Fireside Magazine.
- Mike Glyer also reports about the problems with Fireside Magazine in a two part post.
- Jim Milliot reports that Bertelsmann, who already own Penguin Random House, will also buy Simon & Schuster from Viacom CBS.
- Jim Milliot reports that the Big Five (soon to be Big Four) publishers have reported big gains in the third quarter of 2020.
- Charlie Deitch reports that Allegheny County Jail in Pennsylvania limits inmates to only 214 selected e-books, mostly public domain classics, which may only be read on a tablet with high fees.
Interviews:
- Hans Rollmann interviews Elizabeth Bear.
- Alana Joli Abbott interviews Brandon Sanderson.
- Arley Sorg interviews S.L. Huang.
- Lucy Hounsom interviews Genevieve Cogman.
- Scott Edelman interviews A.C. Wise.
- Michael Washburn interviews Ramsey Campbell.
- Megan Leigh interviews Nghi Vo.
- Christian A. Coleman interviews Usman T. Malik.
- Paul Weimer interviews Mur Lafferty and S.B. Divya.
- Jonathan Strahan and Gary K. Wolfe interview Sheree Renée Thomas and C.C. Finlay.
- Lisa Morton interviews Alma Katsu.
- Tom Smith interviews Stephen Erikson.
- Janna Miller interviews Alexis Ames.
- Runalong the Shelves interviews Dan Coxon.
Reviews:
- Liz Bourke reviews Machine by Elizabeth Bear.
- The Hugo Book Club reviews The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenez.
- For Winter Nights reviews To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini.
- Paul Weimer reviews How the Multiverse Got Its Revenge by K. Eason.
- Kat Hooper reviews Dead Man in a Ditch by Luke Arnold.
- Runalong the Shelves reviews Dead Man in a Ditch by Luke Arnold.
- Blue Book Balloon reviews Paris by Starlight by Robert Dinsdale.
- Runalong the Shelves reviews Roth-Steyr by Simon Bestwick.
- Katharine Coldiron reviews Burning Roses by S.L. Huang.
- Gary K. Wolfe reviews The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow.
- Blue Book Balloon reviews The Dark Archive by Genevieve Cogman.
- Rob Bedford reviews The Thousand Deaths of Ardor Benn by Tyler Whitesides.
- James Davis Nicoll reviews Son of a Trickster by Eden Robinson.
- Tim Scheidler reviews The Guinevere Deception by Kiersten White
- Paul Di Filippo reviews The Book of Malachi by T.C. Farren.
- A.M. Justice reviews Twilight of the Gods by Scott Oden.
- Blue Book Balloon reviews Call of the Bones Ships by R.J. Barker.
- Alice Arneson and Paige Vest review Rhythms of War by Brandon Sanderson.
- Russell Letson reviews Dead Lies Dreaming by Charles Stross.
- Suzie Feay reviews When the Lights Go Out by Carys Bray.
- Adri Joy reviews Before the Lights Go Out by Bina Shah
- Sean Dowie reviews Sweet Harmony by Claire North.
- Kat Hooper and Marion Deeds review Sleep Donation by Karen Russell.
- Steven Poole reviews The Ministry of the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson.
- Ian Mond reviews Fauna by Christiane Vadnais, translated by Pablo Strauss.
- Blue Book Balloon reviews Bone Harvest by James Brogden.
- Mark Yon reviews Bone Harvest by James Brogden.
- Hank Wagner reviews The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones.
- Larissa Irankunda reviews Lakewood by Megan Gidding.
- Runalong the Shelves reviews Thirteen Storeys by Jonathan Sims
- Runalong the Shelves reviews Escape Pod: The Science Fiction Anthology, edited by Mur Lafferty and S.B. Divya.
Classics reviews:
- James Malizewski revisits the 1914 planetary romance The Warlord of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs.
- G.W. Thomas revisits the 1934 portal fantasy "The Sapphire Goddess" by Nictzin Dyalhis.
- Gideon Marcus revisits the December 1965 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.
- Kris Vyas-Myall revisits the 1965 science fiction novel The Long Result by John Brunner and the 1965 science fiction anthology New Writings in SF6, edited by John Carnell.
- Joachim Boaz revisits the 1967 fix-up novel S.O.S. From Three Worlds by Murray Leinster.
- Harold Bloom revisits the 1969 science fiction novel The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin.
- Paul Fraser revisits the February 1972 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.
- James Davis Nicoll revisits the 1976 science fiction novel A Billion Days of Earth by Doris Piserchia.
- Emmet Asher-Perrin revisits the 1988 Discworld novel Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett.
- James Davis Nicoll revisits the 1992 science fiction novel Only You Can Save Mankind by Terry Pratchett.
- Joe Kenney revisits End Game, a 1993 novel in the Cybernarc science fiction men's adventure series by Robert Cain.
- James Davis Nicoll revisits the 2007 Vatta's War military science fiction novel Command Decision by Elizabeth Moon.
Con and event reports:
- Walker Martin reports about the 2020 Pulp Adventurecon in Mount Laurel, New Jersey.
- Cat Rambo talks about diversity in conventions and the conversation the SFF community needs to have.
- Watch some videos of the Fifth Annual City Tech Science Fiction Symposium on Race and Science Fiction.
- Watch a video of the "Dystopian Worlds" panel at the virtual National Book Festival.
Science and technology:
- George Dvorsky reports that the large SETI telescope dish at the Arecibo observatory in Puerto Rico will have to be demolished following the failure of two support cables.
- Michele Debczak reports about the upcoming conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn on the winter solstice.
- NASA reports that Earth seems to have captured a discarded rocket stage from 1966 in its orbit.
- Victor Tangermann reports about laser-guided lightning.
- Adam Rogers reports that scientists have come up with a way to plug a human brain into a computer via veins.
- Kaye Dee reports about the space probes Explorer 29 and 30 and Venera 2 and 3, which were all launched in November 1965.
- Alvin Ward lists the twelve most haunted roads in America.
- Amanda Holpuch reports that a helicopter pilot has found a strange monolith in a remote part of Utah, while counting sheep.
Free online fiction:
- "Three Speeches about Billy Grainger" by Jake Kerr in Lightspeed.
- "Magnificent Maurice, or the Flowers of Immortality" by Rati Mehrotra in Lightspeed.
- "Love Laws and a Locked Heart" by Tamoha Sengupta in Fantasy Magazine.
- "The Lotus Wife" by Avra Margariti in Luna Station Quarterly.
- "White Mare" by Tana Niveau in Nightmare Magazine.
- "The Black Paintings" by Simon Avery in The Dark.
- "The Love Life of John Doe" by K. Raghasudhan in Clarkesworld.
- "Mothers Against Sinister Technology" by Rose Eveleth in Terraform.
- "A Beutiful Whimper" by Stephen W. Henkel in Daily Science Fiction.
- "You Will Find Yourself Buried Beneath Rubble" by Matthew Sanborn Smith in Daily Science Fiction.
- "Amber" by Sandra M. Odell in Daily Science Fiction.
- "Eyespots" by Shannon Fay in Daily Science Fiction.
- "Chosen" by Kate Sheeran Swed in Fireside Magazine.
- "Refugia" by Caldon Mull in Omenana.
Trailers and videos:
Odd and Ends:
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