Speculative Fiction Links of the Week for July 15, 2022

 

It's time for the latest weekly round-up of interesting links about speculative fiction from around the web, this week with Star Trek: Strange New Worlds and the many other iterations of Star Trek, Ms. Marvel, Thor: Love and Thunder and the Marvel Cinematic Universe in general, season 4 of Stranger Things, season 4 of Westworld, season 3 of The Orville, the latest version of Resident Evil, She Will, The Baby, Tron at forty, Minions 2: The Rise of Gru, tributes to James Caan and much more.

Speculative fiction in general:

• Lisa Tuttle lists the best recent science fiction and fantasy novels. 
• Alex Brown shares all the new YA SFF books coming out in July.
  
• Adam Roberts shares his definition of science fiction. 
• Ryan Van Loan talks about the mirrored politics of science fiction and fantasy.
  
• Camestros Felapton discusses science fiction's connection to the esoteric.
  
• James Davis Nicoll shares five science fiction stories about long vanished forerunners. 
• James Davis Nicoll lists five impractical reasons to establish space colonies.
  
• Eve Taft shares her favourite horror novels from the last one hundred years. 
• Katrina Monroe talks about feminism in horror. 
• Joe Bonadonna and David C. Smith analyse the collapse of the sword and sorcery genre in the early 1980s.
  
• B.L. Blanchard shares five mystery novels set in speculative worlds.  
• Rachel Taylor shares eight books to read while waiting for part 2 of Dune. 
• Rachel Taylor lists her five favourite comfort fantasy reads.
  
• Cole Rush lists five fantasy cafés he'd like to visit. 
• Kim Stanley Robinson talks about the importance of imagination. 
• Molly Templeton explains what to read when you can't seem to stop staring at the television.
  
• Bill Ward shares his appreciation for Charles R. Saunders' Nyumbani Tales.
  
• Bobby Derie takes a look at Harry Houdini's link to Weird Tales in general and H.P. Lovecraft in particular.
• Matthew Ilseman talks about cosmic horror in the work of Jean Ray. 
• Casey Sherman reports about the literary holiday community in Provincetown, Massachusetts.
  
• Gavia Baker-Whitelaw reports that J.K. Rowling has endorsed a transphobic documentary by far right commentator and filmmaker Matt Walsh.
  
• Mike Glyer reports that Harlan Ellison's infamous lost anthology The Last Dangerous Visions finally has a release date.
  
• SFF writer Geoffrey Goodwin has died aged 51. 
• Science fiction writer, con-linguist and long-term Star Trek fan Dorothy J. Heydt had died aged 80. 
• SFF writer Barbara Haldeman a.k.a. Barbara Delaplace has died.
  

Comics and Art:

• Alan Brown shares his appreciation for the Cadillacs and Dinosaurs a.k.a. Xenozoic comic series by Mark Schultz. 
• Alan Stewart discusses the guest appearance by Fafhrd and Gray Mouser in the September/ October 1972 issue of Wonder Woman.
  
• Chloe Mavael interviews artist and graphic designer Butcher Billy.
  
• Cartoonist and comic scholar Robert C. Harvey has died aged 85.
  

 

Film and TV:

• S. Qiouyi Lu shares some cultural background on Everything Everywhere All At Once. 
• William Hughes shares his thoughts on the season 4 premiere of What We Do In the Shadows.
  
• Cath Clarke calls Executive Order a chillingly believable dystopia from Brazil 
• Leigh Monson calls American Carnage a thought-provoking but unpolished horror thriller.
  
• Manuel Betancourt calls Boo, Bitch a breezy but slight supernatural high school comedy. 
• Peter Bradshaw calls Good Madam an eerie post-apartheid horror film from South Africa. 
• Camestros Felapton shares his thoughts on the Spanish horror movie Malnazidos a.k.a. Valley of the Dead.
  
• Martin Tsai calls Paws of Fury an animated clearinghouse for Asian martial arts clichés.
  
• Ben Child shares some speculations about Avatar: The Way of Water.
• David Cote shares his thoughts on the latest episode of For All Mankind.
  
• George Bass notes that television almost always gets street violence wrong.   
• Pamela Hutchinson notes that Hollywood movies from the pre-Hays Code era were much more interesting and had much better roles for women.
  
• Kristy Ambrose lists the best and worst film and TV adaptations of Ray Bradbury stories and novels.
  
• Lucas Ropek shares the ten best and worst hacker movies. 
• Martin Belam shares behind the scenes photos from the Doctor Who movies of the 1960s.
  
• Natalie Devitt revisits the 1967 gothic soap opera Dark Shadows. 
• Fiona Moore revisits the 1967 horror comedy Carry On Screaming. 
• Jason Sacks revisits the 1967 Japanese science fiction film The Face of Another. 
  
• Chris Morgan shares twenty little known facts about the 1997 science fiction film Men in Black.
  
• Germain Lussier interviews Natalie Holt, composer for Obi-Wan Kenobi.
  
• Artem Golub interviews Emma McDonald, star of Moonhaven. 
• Rob Bricken interviews P.J. Lewis, the current person in charge of the various Masters of the Universe toylines.
  
• Katie Gill traces how Sailor Moon revolutionised the magical girl anime genre. 
• Stuart Heritage celebrates the eightieth birthday of Harrison Ford, star of Star Wars, the Indiana Jones movies, Blade Runner and many others.
  
• L.Q. Jones, actor and director of A Boy and His Dog, has died aged 94. 
• Monty Norman, composer of the James Bond theme, has died aged 94.
  

 

Tributes to James Caan:

• James Caan, star of Rollerball, Misery, The Godfather, Thief , Alien Nation, El Dorado and many others has died aged 82.
• Peter Bradshaw shares his appreciation for James Caan. 
• Ronald Bergan shares an obituary for James Caan.  
• Director Carol Morley remembers James Caan. 
  
• Ian Spelling remembers James Caan's fifteen best performances. 
  
• Greg Whitmore shares photos of James Caan's lengthy career. 
• Robin McKie notes that the deaths of James Caan, Ray Liotta and Tony Sirico with a short period of time are a blow for the kind of mafia drama, through which all three became famous. 
  

 

Comments on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds and the many other iterations of Star Trek: 

• Keith R.A. DeCandido shares his thoughts on "A Quality of Mercy", the latest episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.
• James Whitbrook shares his thoughts on "A Quality of Mercy".  
• Paul Levinson shares his thoughts on "A Quality of Mercy". 
• James Whitbrook shares his appreciation for the Christopher Pike versus James T. Kirk scene in "A Quality of Mercy".
  
• Rob Bricken compares "A Quality of Mercy" to the original series episode "Balance of Terror".
• Keith R.A. DeCandido shares an overview over the first season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.
  
• Nick Romano interviews Paul Wesley, who plays the young James T. Kirk in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. 
• Keith R.A. DeCandido revisits the Star Trek Enterprise episode "A Night in Sick Bay".
  

 

Comments on Thor: Love and Thunder and the Marvel Cinematic Universe in general (spoilers): 

• Emmet Asher-Perrin delcares that Thor: Love and Thunder is not really the promised romance and that is a good thing.
  
• Leonard Maltin finds Thor: Love and Thunder uneven and abruptly veering in tone. 
• Ben Child shares a spoilerish review of Thor: Love and Thunder.
  
• Justin Carter shares his thoughts on Thor: Love and Thunder. 
• Adam Whitehead shares his thoughts on Thor: Love and Thunder.
  
• Germain Lussier explains the end credits of Thor: Love and Thunder. 
• Gavia Baker-Whitelaw wonders what Thor: Love and Thunder is about.
  
• Brian Hiatt interviews Taika Waititi, director of Thor: Love and Thunder.
• Alex Flood interviews Taika Waititi. 
• Gavia Baker-Whitelaw reports that some sexist internet trolls claimed that Natalie Portman's muscles in display in Thor: Love and Thunder are CGI.
  
• James Whitbrook shares the best moments of Jane Foster as Thor from the comics. 
• Justin Carter reports that Thor: Love and Thunder had a very good opening weekend.
• Keith R.A. DeCandido shares his thoughts on Spider-Man: No Way Home. 
• A.A. Dowd wonders whether we have gone from Marvel fatigue to Marvel exhaustion.
  

 

Comments on Ms. Marvel (spoilers): 

• Leah Schnelbach shares her thoughts on "No Normal", the season finale of Ms. Marvel. 
• Sarah Shaffi shares her thoughts on "No Normal". 
• Gavia Baker-Whitelaw shares her thoughts on "No Normal".
  
• Richard Phippen interviews Iman Vellani who plays Kamala Khan in Ms. Marvel.
• Saloni Gajjar interviews Sana Amanat, producer of Ms. Marvel.
  

 

Comments on season 3 of The Orville: 

• Steve Vertlieb shares his thoughts on season 3 of The Orville so far.
• Paul Levinson shares his thoughts on the latest episode of The Orville.
  

 

Comments on season 4 of Stranger Things (spoilers): 

• Paul Levinson calls season 4 of Stranger Things a big step forward for the series.
  
• Kevin Hurler discusses how season 4 of Stranger Things deals with depression.
• Sabina Graves notes that the descriptive captions of season 4 of Stranger Things include various Easter eggs such as Dungeons and Dragons references.
  

Comments on season 4 of Westworld: 

• Manuel Betancourt shares his thoughts on the latest episode of Westworld.
• Rob Bricken shares his thoughts on the latest episode of Westworld.
  

 

Comments on the latest version of Resident Evil:

• Lucy Mangan calls the latest version of Resident Evil mindless, blood-soaked zombie fun.
• Tom Philip declares that the latest Resident Evil TV show fails to breath new life into the franchise that just won't die. 
  

 

Comments on The Baby: 

• Lucy Mangan calls The Baby a truly terrifying comedy horror film, particularly in the light of the repeal of Roe vs. Wade in the US.
• Inspired by The Baby, Hollie Richardson discusses TV's problem with portraying women who don't want children.
  

 

Comments on She Will: 

• Jordan Hoffman calls She Will a vicious horror tale of vengeance.
• Cath Clarke interviews Charlotte Colbert, director of She Will. 
  

 

Comments on Tron at forty: 

• Justin Carter revisits the 1982 science fiction film Tron for its fortieth anniversary. 
• Ryan Britt also revisits Tron. 

 

Comments on Minions 2: The Rise of Gru:  

• Calum Marsh attempts to explain why the Minions have taken over the world.
• Claire Fahy and McKenny Oxenden report about the "Gentleminions" phenomenon of fans dressing up in suits to watch Minions 2: The Rise of Gru.
  

 

Awards:

• The shortlist for the 2022 Arthur C. Clarke Award has been announced.
• The winners of the 2022 Prometheus and Prometheus Hall of Fame Awards have been announced. 
• The winners of the 2022 Imadjinn Awards have been announced.
  
• The finalists for the 2022 Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailer Award have been announced.
• The nominations for the 2022 Emmy Awards have been announced with some love for genre television.
  
• Adri Joy and Joe Sherry share their thoughts on the 2022 Hugo finalists for Best Short Story. 
• The Hugos There! podcast discusses the 2022 Hugo finalists for Best Novelette.
  
• Rich Horton wonders what the 1951 Hugo finalists might have looked like.
  

 

Writing, publishing and promotion:

• Rachel Howzell Hall shares some tips for avoiding burnout and resetting your creative gears. 
• Kristine Kathryn Rusch talks about the importance of finding the right words.
  
• Eva V. Gibson shares a beginner's guide to using and exploring horror tropes. 
• Phoebe Wynne talks about writing unlikeable heroines. 
• Kelley Armstrong shares some tips for writing time travel. 
• Locus reports that DAW Books has been sold to the Chinese company Astra Publishing House.
  
• Andrew Albanese reports about the latest developments in the lawsuit of various publishing companies against the Internet Archive over making scanned copies of books illegally available.
  
• Andrew Albanese reports about a new study of trauma in librarians.
• Alexandra Alter and Elizabeth A. Harris report that bookstores are not only thriving after the covid pandemic, but also becoming more diverse.
  

Interviews:

• Scott Edelman interviews David Gerrold. 
• Locus interviews Daniel Abraham.
  
• Oliver Brackenbury interviews David C. Smith.
  
• D.M. Ritzlin interviews S.E. Lindberg. 
• Phoebe Barton interviews Sabrina Vourvoulias. 
• Molly Odintz interviews Liz Michalski.
  
• Cat Luria interviews Kathleen Chadwick.
  

Reviews:

• Paul Weimer reviews Currency of War by Melinda M. Snodgrass.
• Maya Gittelman reviews A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers. 
• Jennie Ivins reviews Steel Guardian by Cameron Coral.
  
• Jennie Ivins reviews Iron Truth by S.A. Tholin. 
• Aigner Loren Wilson reviews Gearbreakers by Zoe Hana Mikuta.
  
• Jennie Ivins reviews In the Orbit of Sirens by T.A. Bruno.
  
• Michael Dodd reviews Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir.
  
• Gabino Iglesias reviews Mage of Fools by Eugen Bacon.  
• Rob Bedford reviews Kagen the Damned by Jonathan Maberry. 
• James Tivendale reviews The Tyrant's Law by Daniel Abraham.
  
• Molly Templeton reviews For the Throne by Hannah Whitten.
• Alasdair Stuart reviews The Green Bone Saga by Fonda Lee. 
• Adrienne Martini reviews Last Exit by Max Gladstone. 
• Michael R. Brown reviews Nick Nightmare: Nightmare Cocktails by Adrian Cole.
  
• Marion Deeds reviews The Extraordinaries by T.J. Klune. 
• Marion Deeds reviews Flash Fire by T.J. Klune.
  
• Roseanna Pendlebury reviews Uncommon Charm by Emily Bergslien and Kat Weaver.
• Fiona Denton reviews The Hedge Witch by Cari Thomas. 
• Mahvesh Murad reviews The Mermaid of Black Conch by Monique Roffey.
  
• Alex Brown reviews The Lost Dreamer by Lizz Huerta. 
• Alice Jolly reviews Dark Earth by Rebecca Stott.
  
• Maya Gittelman reviews An Arrow to the Moon by Emily X.R. Pan.
  
• Maya C. James reviews City of Orange by David Yoon. 
• Kat Hooper reviews The Fall of Babel by Josiah Bancroft
• Runalong the Shelves reviews She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan. 
• Sarah McCarry reviews Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield.
• Fabienne Schwitzer reviews Wrath Goddess Sing by Maya Deane
• Roseanna Pendlebury reviews Wrath Goddess Sing by Maya Deane.
• Lee Mandelo reviews Wake the Bones by Elizabeth Kilcoyne.
  
• Runalong the Shelves reviews The Last Storm by Tim Lebbon. 
  
• Blue Book Balloon reviews What Doesn't Break Us by Helen Sedgwick.
  
• John Mauro reviews The Butterfly Garden by Dot Hutchison. 
• Gary K. Wolfe reviews Utopias of the Third Kind by Vandana Singh. 
• Bill Ward reviews Savage Scrolls: Thrilling Tales of Sword and Sorcery, edited by Jason Ray Carney.
  

Classics reviews:

• Sandy Ferber revisits the 1911 science fiction novel The Wonder by J.D. Beresford. 
• Joachim Boaz revisits the 1956 science fiction story "And Now the News..." by Theodore Sturgeon.
  
• Benjamin Espen revisits the 1965 science fiction novel Dune by Frank Herbert.
  
• Paperback Warrior revisits the 1965 gothic suspense novel The Pavilion at Monkshood by Anne Maybury a.k.a. Anne Arundel. 
• Gideon Marcus revisits the August 1967 issue of Galaxy. 
• John Boston revisits the August 1967 issue of Amazing Stories.
  
• James Davis Nicoll reviews the 1972 anthology The Best Science Fiction of the Year, edited by Terry Carr. 
• Steve Carroll revisits the 1977 historical fantasy novel Cormac Mac Art: The Sign of the Moonbow by Andrew J. Offutt. 
• Young People Read Old SFF revisit the 1979 science fiction story "Cassandra" by C.J. Cherryh.
  
• James Maliszewski revisits the May 1983 issue of White Dwarf. 
• James Davis Nicoll revisits the 1984 science fiction novel Palimpsests by Carter Scholz and Glenn Harcourt. 
• Paperback Warrior revisits the 1985 TV tie-in novel Street Hawk by Jack Roberts.
  
• James Maliszewski revisits the 1986 Simon of Gitta historical fantasy story "The Blade of the Slayer" by Richard L. Tierney. 
• Alissa Burger revisits the 1991 YA horror novel Mother's Helper by A. Bates and the 1995 YA horror novel The Claw by Carmen Adams.
• John Mauro revisits the 1998 epic fantasy novel A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin.
  

 

Crowdfunding:

• The Last Ranger, an epic fantasy novel by J.D.L. Rosell, is looking for funding.
  

 

Con and event reports:

• The Texas Center shares Fred Malmberg's guest of honour speech at the 2022 Howard Days in Cross Plains, Texas. 
• Tim Knight looks ahead at the Conan Ninetieth Anniversary Panel at the 2022 San Diego Comci Con in San Diego, California.
  
• Mike Glyer reports that Bryan Brandenburg, co-founder of the FanX Comic Convention in Salt Lake City, Utah, has been arrested in Hawaii for making several bomb threats.
• Jacob Scholl has more on the Bryan Brandenburg case. 
• Norbert Fiks reports about the Multivers SFF reading in Bremen, North Germany. 
• Mike Glyer reports that the 2022 FantasyCon in Heathrow, UK, will take place after all, though shortened to two days. 
  
• Mike Glyer reports that the 2022 SMOFCon will take place in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in December. 
• Anime News Network reports about bad ventilation in artist alley at the 2022 AnimeExpo in Los Angeles, California.
  
• Oliver Wainwright reports about the exhibition "Space Popular: The Portal Galleries" at Sir John Soane’s Museum in London, UK.
• Hattie Lindert reports that the fictional theme park Jupiter's Claim from the upcoming horror movie Nope will become a permanent attraction at the Universal Studios theme park in Hollywood, California. 
• Sabina Graves shares the latest news and attractions from the Disney Parks, the Universal Studios parks and other US theme parks.
  

Science and technology:

• NASA shares the first images taken by the James Webb Space Telescope. 
• Marina Koren reports that the first images transmitted by the James Webb Space Telescope are dazzling and only the beginning.
• Jeffrey Kluger reports what the James Webb Space Telescope images mean for space. 
  
• Paola Rosa Aquino discusses the difficulties of troubleshooting the aging Voyager space probes.
• George Dvorsky reports that a SpaceX Starship booster rocket has exploded during a test.
  
• Dave Kindy celebrates the 75th anniversary of the suppose UFO crash in Roswell, New Mexico, in 1947. 
• Caroline Delbert reports that scientists may have stumbled upon an entirely new elementary particle. 
• Science Daily reports that the mechanism of the biosynthesis of strychnine has been discovered. 
  

Free online fiction:

• "The Sisters of Saint Nicola of The Almost Perpetual Motion vs the Lurch" by Garth Nix in Tor.com.
• "How to Be a True Woman While Piloting a Steam-Engine Balloon" by Valerie Hunter in Beneath Ceaseless Skies.
• "River of Sons" by Geoffrey W. Cole in Beneath Ceaseless Skies. 
• "Liberty: Seeking Support for a Writ of Habeas Corpus for a Non-Human Being" by Samuel Peralta in Lightspeed. 
• "An Old Man Cometh and He Is Overgrown" by Lyndsie Manusos in Lightspeed. 
• "The Tiger Who Fell In Love With the Sky" by Kathleen Chadwick in Luna Station Quarterly.
  
• "The Pale Sparrow" by Fernando Medici in Swords and Sorcery Magazine.
  
• "Nothing Is Wasted" by Sean Padraic Birnie in The Dark.
• "Carapace" by David Goodman in Clarkesworld. 
• "To Be" by Ahmed Asi in Clarkesworld. 
• "The Memory of Chemistry" by Sabrina Vourvoulias in Fantasy Magazine. 
• "Notes to a Version of Myself, Hidden in Symphonie Fantastique Scores Throughout the Multiverse" by Aimee Picchi in Apex Magazine.
• "Crazy" by Don Tassone in Daily Science Fiction. 
• "Stubbornness and Sisters and Spite" by Aimee Ogden in Daily Science Fiction.
  
• "You Always Have To Ask" by Philip Apps in Daily Science Fiction. 
• "Read the Manual" by Lynne Lumsden Green in Daily Science Fiction.
  
• "The Hollow Prisoner" by Paul Starkey in Daily Science Fiction. 
• "Elvis at the White House" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch.
  

 

Trailers and videos:

• Watch a trailer for Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.
  
• Watch a trailer for Day Shift.
• Watch a trailer for Prey for the Devil.
  
• Watch a trailer for The Artifice Girl.
• Watch a trailer for season 3 of Harley Quinn.