Speculative Fiction Links of the Week for November 12, 2021

It's time for the latest weekly round-up of interesting links about speculative fiction from around the web, this week with tributes to Dean Stockwell, Foundation, Dune, Eternals and the Marvel Cinematic Universe in general, the many versions of Star Trek, the many versions of Doctor Who, the various DC Comics based TV shows, The Spine of Night, The Wheel of Time, Squid Game, James Bond past, present and future and much more.

Speculative fiction in general:

• Jo Walton shares her October 2021 reading list.
  
• Alex Brown lists new YA SFF books coming out in November and December.
  
• James Davis Nicoll shares five science fiction stories where interplanetary trading is a family affair. 
• Charles Stross shares five SFF sagas about alternate timelines and parallel universes.
  
• Matthew Claxton explains why the most popular authors are not necessarily the most influential.
  
• Bashira Oladele explains why the YA dystopia fad sputtered out. 
• James Davis Nicoll shares five SFF characters who can control fire.
  
• Brian Murphy wonders whether we are seeing signs of a modest sword and sorcery revival. 
• Rachel Ayers shares five intriguing retellings of Bluebeard.
  
• Melanie Golding shares eight novels about selkies and mermaids based on folklore.
  
• Natasha Bowen talks about mermaids of colour. 
• Charlie Jane Anders shares things that scare her.
  
• Transforming Edmonton profiles Premee Mohamed. 
• Stephen Carver profiles J. Sheridan Le Fanu.
  
• Joachim Boaz remembers Jesse Miller, one of the few black SFF authors active in the 1970s.  
• Molly Templeton asks what makes a book too long.
  
• Science fiction writer, photographer and SFWA volunteer James Fiscus has died aged 76. 
• Locus remembers James Fiscus. 
• Science fiction writer Robert Thurston has died aged 84.
  

Comics and Art:

• James Bacon reports about a Far Sector roundtable with N.K. Jemisin.
  
• Brad Hawley reviews The Abaddon by Koren Shadmi. 
• Rachel Cooke reviews The Waiting by Keum Suk Gendry-Kim
• Jeff Robertson explains why there are so many gorillas in DC Comics of the silver age. 
• Deuce Richardson shares his appreciation for the work of P. Craig Russell. 
• Robert K. Elder remembers model Sandi Zinaman who modelled for Jeffrey Catherine Jones and other fantasy artists in the 1970s.
  
• Charles Pulliam Moore reports that Image Comics is refusing to recognise the union formed by its staffers. 
• Charles Pulliam-Moore also interviews the new union Comic Book Workers United.
  
• Brazilian cartoonist and editor Otacílio Costa d’Assunção Barros has died aged 67. 

 

Film and TV:

• Stephen Kent explains how Star Wars illuminates the importance of hope. 
• Olivia Rutigliano calls Last Night in Soho a film about the dangers of nostalgia.  
• Paul Levinson calls Finch a heartwarming film about a man and his robot.  
• Leah Schnelbach calls season 3 of What We Do in the Shadows a masterpiece of character development.
  
• Bob Mayer calls The Boys a brutal and profane but realistic portrayal of superheroes. 
• Leslie Felperin calls Apex Predator a cheap and cheerless science fiction action thriller. 
  
• Cheryl Eddy calls Great White a tepid shark movie without much bite.
  
• Paul Levinson shares his thoughts on the latest episode of Invasion. 
• Paul Levinson shares his thoughts on the latest episode of La Brea.
  
• Jesse Hassenger shares his thoughts on Clifford the Big Red Dog.
  
• Ben Child wonders why Roland Emmerich keeps making disaster and space movies.
• Guy Lodge lists the best films about robots and artificial intelligence to stream right now. 
• NUTS4R revisits the 1945 horror film House of Dracula.
  
• Cora Buhlert revisits the 1966 Space Patrol Orion episode "Deserters".
  
• Nancy Lambert revisits the 2001 animated movie Monsters Inc.
• Germain Lussier interviews Jason Reitman, director of Ghostbusters Afterlife.
  
• Liam Ness interviews Malgosia Turzanska, costume designer of The Green Knight. 
• Marah Eakin interviews Chris Columbus, director of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.
  
• Stephanie Nolasco interviews Marta Kirsten who played Judy Robinson in the original Lost in Space.
• Catherine Shoard reports that armourer Hannah Guiterrez Reed was paid less than 8000 US-dollars for the entire shoot of Rust.  
  
• Vanessa Armstrong reports that the Witcher prequel Blood Origin will focus on the elves before humans came along.

 

Tributes to Dean Stockwell: 

• Dean Stockwell, star of Quantum Leap, Dune, Blue Velvet, Married to the Mob and many others has died aged 85.
• Peter Bradshaw remembers Dean Stockwell.
• James Whitbrook remembers Dean Stockwell. 
• Greg Evans shares Quantum Leap star Scott Bakula's tribute to Dean Stockwell.
  
• Greg Whitmore shares photos of Dean Stockwell's lengthy career.
  

 

Comments on Foundation: 

• Bill Capossere calls Foundation stunningly gorgeous.
  
• Nick Wanserski shares his thoughts on "The Missing Piece", the latest episode of Foundation.
• Paul Levinson shares his thoughts on "The Missing Piece".
• Camestros Felapton shares his thoughts on "The Missing Piece".
• Cora Buhlert shares her thoughts on "The Missing Piece".
• Danette Chavez interviews Lee Pace who plays the Brother Day incarnation of Emperor Cleon in Foundation.
• Watch a featurette about the visual effects of Foundation.
  

 

Comments on Dune:

• Benjamin Espen enjoyed Dune a lot. 
• NPR Throughline shares the deep history of Dune.
  
• Charles Pulliam-Moore finds some unexpected parallels between the caterpillar in Alice in Wonderland and the sandworms in Dune. 
• Natania Barron shares her appreciation for the costume design of Dune.
  
• Molly Templeton explains how the sound design for the ornithopters in Dune came to be.
  

 

Comments on Eternals and the Marvel Cinematic Universe in general (spoilers): 

• Emmet Asher-Perrin declares that Eternals puts Marvel's commitment to weirdness to the test with mixed results. 
• Arturo Serrano delcares that Eternals tries to save the superhero genre from itself. 
• Princess Weekes declares that Eternals challenges the Marvel formula and thereby exposes its flaws. 
• Angelica Jade Bastién calls Eternals a film for nobody. 
• Hubert Vigilla calls Eternals a mess, albeit a well-meaning one.
  
• Leah Schnelbach calls Eternals a superhero primer on gnosticism.
  
• Manohla Dargis quite enjoyed Eternals.
  
• Ann Hornaday interviews Chloe Zhao, director of Eternals.
  
• Marah Eakin interviews Lia McHugh who plays Sprite in Eternals. 
• Vanessa Armstrong reports that actor Kumail Nanjiani had been cast in Volume 3 of Guardians of the Galaxy before being cast in Eternals.
  
• Adam B. Vary notes that Eternals is the first Marvel movie to have an actual sex scene.
  
• Gavia Baker-Whitelaw shares the background of the character of Dane Whitman, played by Kit Harrington in Eternals.
  
• Charles Pulliam-Moore discusses the post-credits scenes of Eternals (spoilers). 
• Adam B. Vary also discusses the post-credits scenes of Eternals.
  
• Anthony D'Alessandro reports that Eternals has been banned in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Oman. 
• Rob Bricken reports that in spite of mixed reviews Eternals is still doing well at the box office. 
• Ben Child wonders how Eternals can be saved. 
• Eliza Chan calls Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings a love letter to Asian cinema.
  
• Ryan Gilbey interviews former Spider-Man Andrew Garfield.
• Johnny Davis interviews Benedict Cumberbatch, star of Sherlock and Doctor Strange.
  
• Stuart Heritage reports that Paul Rudd who plays Scott Lang in Ant-Man has just been named the sexiest man alive.
• Justin Carter reports that Black Panther 2: Wakanda Forever was forced to shut down production until 2022, after Letitia Wright, who plays Shuri, suffered a serious injury on set.
• Vanessa Armstrong reports that the fake Captain America musical in Hawkeye was created by the real Broadway songwriter team Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman.

 

Comments on Star Trek in general: 

• James Whitbrook interviews Star Trek Discovery stars Sonequa Martin-Green, Mary Wiseman, David Ajala and Anthony Rapp as well as showrunner Michelle Paradise about season 4.
• Galactic Journey revisits the 1966 Star Trek episode "Dagger of the Mind".  
• Keith R.A. DeCandido introduces the Star Trek Enterprise rewatch.
  
• Sam Stone shares some background on the Medusans, a species seen in Star Trek Prodigy.
  
• Eric Pesola explains why the design of the newer Star Trek ships is so pointy. 
• Vanessa Armstrong reports that Star Trek Prodigy has been renewed for a second season.
  
• Camille Saviola who played Kai Opaka in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine has died aged 71.
  

 

Comments on Doctor Who past and present:

• Martin Belam shares his thoughts on "War of the Sontarans", the latest episode of Doctor Who. 
• Emmet Asher-Perrin shares his thoughts on "War of the Sontarans". 
• Caroline Siede shares her thoughts on "War of the Sontarans". 
• James Whitbrook shares his thoughts on "War of the Sontarans".
  
• Huw Fullerton wonders whether the new Doctor Who villain Swarm might be a secret Time Lord. 
• Jessica Fong wonders about the origin of the TARDIS' iconic sound.
• Bob Baker, who co-created K-9 in Doctor Who, has died aged 82.
  

Comments on the various DC Comics based movies and TV shows:

• Caroline Siede shares her thoughts on the series finale of Supergirl. 
• Jarrod Jones shares his thoughts on the latest episode of Legends of Tomorrow.
  
• Rob Bricken reports that The CW network has announced the premiere dates for several DC Comics based superhero series.
  

 

Comments on The Spine of Night: 

• James Maliszewski declares that The Spine of Night is the sort of fantasy film he would like to see more of. 
• ZeroSum716 shares a spoiler-free review of The Spine of Night.  
  
• Adam Pockross interviews Lucy Lawless who voices Tzod in The Spine of Night. 
• Lovecraft eZine interviews Philip Gelatt and Morgan Galen King, directors of The Spine of Night. 

 

Comments on Wheel of Time: 

• Sylas K. Barrett declares that viewers will love the TV adaptation of Wheel of Time. 
• Rob Bricken interviews Rafe Judkins, Marigo Kehoe and Mike Weber, showrunner and producers of Wheel of Time.

 

Comments on Squid Game:

• Kyung Hyun Kim notes that Squid Game hides a hopeful message in the dystopian nightmare it depicts. 
• Princess Weekes reports that according to Squid Game creator Hwang Dong-hyuk a second season is in the works.
• Kobo shares books for fans of Squid Game.
  

 

Comments on James Bond past, present and future:

• Nick Kolakowski notes that fatalism has always been at the core of the James Bond series, whether the novels or the movies.  
• Lucy Knight wonders what the future will bring for James Bond in fiction and on screen.
  
• Alison Flood reports that Kim Sherwood has been hired to expand the James Bond universe with novels not featuring Bond himself. 
  

 

Awards: 

• The winners of the 2021 World Fantasy Awards have been announced. 
  
• The winners of the 2021 BFS Short Story Competition have been announced.
  
• Stephen Graham Jones has won the 2021 Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award. 
• Omar El Akkad has won the 2021 Scotiabank Giller Prize. 
• The winner of the 2021 Goldsmiths Prize has been announced.
  
• Suspense Magazine asks readers to nominate their favourite books of 2021 in several categories.

 

Writing, publishing and promotion:

• Alice Henderson explains how to use the setting to enhance suspense.
  
• Sarah McGill talks about the inciting incident. 
• Kristine Kathryn Rusch talks about writing deadlines and time management.
  
• Rex Pickett discusses the strange experience of donating his papers to the University of California Sand Diego's library.
• Deuce Richardson celebrates the fiftieth anniversary of DAW Books.
• File 770 shares an update on the #DisneyMustPay issue.
• The SFWA alerts authors that they must opt out of a New Zealand book digitisation project by December 1, if they wish.
  

Interviews:

• Locus interviews Chuck Wendig. 
• Paul Burke interviews Joanne Harris. 
  
• Alan Boyle interviews Neal Stephenson.
  
• Paul Weimer interviews Cassidy Ward.
  
• Locus interviews Freya Marske. 
• Paul Weimer interviews Jason Sanford.
  
• Sam Leith interviews Dave Eggers. 
• Peter O'Dowd interviews Kim Stanley Robinson and Omar El-Akkad.
• Sue L. Bavey interviews Angeline B. Adams and Remco van Straten.
  
• Janna Miller interviews J.M. Phillippe.
• Cat Luria interviews Amy Bennett.
• Phoebe Barton interviews Kehkashan Khalid.
  
• Oliver Brackenbury interviews Ngo Vinh-Hoi. 

Reviews:

• Adri Joy reviews Perhaps the Stars by Ada Palmer.
  
• Katherine Mangu-Ward reviews Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells. 
• Adrienne Martini reviews Artifact Space by Miles Cameron.
  
• T.G. Shenoy reviews Cyber Mage by Saad Z. Hossain.
• Alexis Ong reviews The Wandering Earth by Liu Cixin.
  
• Blue Book Balloon reviews Far From the Light of Heaven by Tade Thompson. 
• Paul Di Filippo reviews Shadows of Eternity by Gregory Benford. 
• Jana Nyman and Marion Deeds review Call of Fire by Beth Cato.
  
• Marion Deeds reviews Lights of Prague by Nicole Jarvis. 
• Marion Deeds reviews Nightshifted by Cassie Alexander.
  
• James Davis Nicoll reviews Hollywood Heroine by Sarah Kuhn.
  
• Colleen Mondor reviews Darling by K. Ancrum. 
• Runalong the Shelves reviews Time's Fool by Alys Earl. 
• Maya C. James reviews Walking on Cowrie Shells by Nana Nkweti. 
• Bill Capossere reviews The God Is Not Willing by Steven Erikson. 
• Adrienne Martini reviews Widowland by C.J. Carey.
  
• Natalie Zutter reviews Trashlands by Alison Stine.
  
• Rob Doyle reviews The Every by Dave Eggers.
  
• Paul Di Filippo reviews Juicy Ghosts by Rudy Rucker. 
• Martin Cahill reviews Comfort Me With Apples by Catherynne M. Valente.
  
• The G reviews Whitesands by Johann Thorsson. 
• Ruthanna Emrys and Anne M. Pillsworth review Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark
• Wendy N. Wagner reviews The Death of Jane Lawrence by Caitlin Starling.
  
• Gary K. Wolfe reviews The First Law of Thermodynamics by James Pat­rick Kelly
• Paul Di Filippo reviews The Truth and Other Stories by Stanislaw Lem. 
• Runalong the Shelves reviews Sinopticon - A Celebration of Chinese Science Fiction, translated and edited by Xueting Christine Ni.
• S.E. Lindberg reviews issue 6 of Tales from the Magician's Skull. 
  
• Bill Capossere reviews All of the Marvels: A Journey to the Ends of the Biggest Story Ever Told by Douglas Wolk

 
Classics reviews:

• MarzAat revisits the 1904 horror story "The Man Who Went Too Far" by E.F. Benson. 
• Sandy Ferber revisits the 1945 prehistoric adventure novel King of the Dinosaurs by Raymond A Palmer.
  
• Murray Ewing reviews the 1949 ghost story collection The Alabaster Hand and Other Ghost Stories by A.N.L. Munby. 
• Benjamin Espen revisits the 1951 science fiction collection The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury. 
• James Maliszewski revisits the 1953 Fafhrd and Grey Mouser sword and sorcery story "The Seven Black Priests" by Fritz Leiber.
  
• Kat Hooper revisits the 1964 science fiction novel Night of Masks by Andre Norton.
• Alan Brown revisits the 1965 science fantasy novel Glory Road by Robert A. Heinlein. 
• David Levinson revisits the December 1966 issue of If: Worlds of Science Fiction.
• James Davis Nicoll revisits the 1969 satirical science fiction novel A Spectre is Haunting Texas by Fritz Leiber.
• Young People Read Old SFF revisit the 1971 science fiction story "Vaster Than Empires and More Slow" by Ursula K. Le Guin.
  
• Paperback Warrior revisits the 1972 gothic novel Circle of Secrets by Claudette Nicole a.k.a. John Messman.  
• Judith Tarr revisits the 1991 fantasy novel Elvenbane by Andre Norton and Mercedes Lackey.
  
• Emmet Asher-Perrin revisits the 1992 Discworld novel Lords and Ladies by Terry Pratchett. 
• James Davis Nicoll revisits the 1994 historical fantasy novel Bride of the Rat God by Barbara Hambly.
  
• Kat Hooper revisits the 2007 fairytale retelling Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale.
  
• James Davis Nicoll revisits the 2007 fantasy novel Feast of Souls by C.S. Friedman. 
• Kat Hooper revisits the 2008 YA fantasy novel The Sign of the Sinister Sorcerer by John Bellairs and Brad Strickland.

Crowdfunding:

• The winter 2021 special issue of Tripwire, a magazine dedicated to comics, film and TV, is looking for funding.
• The Brimstone Cradle and The Hills That Hunger, two adventures for the Weird Frontiers and Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG systems, are looking for funding.
  

 

Con and event reports:

• Mike Glyer reports that the 2021 Worldcon bid for Glasgow, Scotland, is polling its presupporters about potential guests of honour. 
• N. Micarelli complains about casual homophobia at Supernatural conventions.
  
• Kathryn Fink discusses the timeless appeal of Renaissance Faires.
• James Whitbrook reports that the Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser hotel at Disney World, Florida, is booked out for four months.
  

 

Science and technology:

• Paul Rincon offers a guide to NASA's Orion spacecraft. 
• Eric Berger reports that the Mars helicopter Ingenuity has now flown three kilometres over the surface of Mars.
  
• Joey Roulette reports that Blue Origin has lost the legal fight over SpaceX's NASA Moon contract. 
• Ramin Skibba reports that NASA is trying to save the Hubble telescope again.
  
• Jorge Cham and Daniel Whiteson explain what happens if you get sucked into a black hole.
• Angela Giuffrida reports that the well preserved room of a slave family has been found in the ruins of Pompeii.
  

Free online fiction:

• "Space Pirate Queen of the Ten Billion Utopias" by Elly Bangs in Lightspeed. 
• "Men in Cars" by Lisa M. Bradley in Lightspeed.
  
• "The Lost Prince" by Milton Davis in Heroic Fantasy Quarterly.
  
• "This Stitch, This Time" by Anna Martino in Clarkesworld. 
• "City of Eternity" by Pan Haitian, translated by Carmen Yiling Yan in Clarkesworld.
  
• "The Thing With Chains" by Rob Costello in The Dark. 
• "This Shattered Vessel, Which Holds Only Grief" by Izzy Wasserstein in Apex Magazine. 
• "A Better Way of Saying" by Sarah Pinsker in Tor.com.
  
• "Small-Town Spirit" by Frances Rowat in Fireside Magazine. 
• "The Petticoat Government" by Kehkashan Khalid in Fantasy Magazine.
  
• "The Good Girl" by Jennifer Lee Rossman in Luna Station Quarterly. 
• "Tweeting" by Mari Ness in Translunar Travelers Lounge. 
• "Fish-Fish" by Cherry Potts in Mermaids Monthly.
  
• "Baartman" by Nick Wood in Omenana.
• "Anomaly" by Chelsea Obodoechina in Anathema.
• "Crossroads" by Tiffany Morris in Nightmare Magazine.
  
• "The Zoo" by Dev Jarrett in Daily Science Fiction. 
• "The Doors in the Castle" by Liam Hogan in Daily Science Fiction.
  
• "The Frog Prince's Reluctant Bride" by Alison Louise Colwell in Daily Science Fiction.
• "Last on Santa's List" by Hailey Piper in Daily Science Fiction.
• "And the Tales Unchanging" by Mari Ness in Daily Science Fiction.
  

 

Trailers and videos:

• Watch a trailer for season 4 of Stranger Things. 
• Watch a trailer for Ghostbusters: Afterlife. 
• Watch a trailer for the final season of Lost in Space. 
• Watch a trailer for The Three Body Problem.
  
• Watch a trailer for Silent Night.
  
• Watch a trailer for Elves.
  
• Watch a trailer for Kriya.
• Watch a trailer for Back to the Outback.
• Watch a trailer for Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous.