Speculative Fiction Links of the Week for January 13, 2023

It's time for the latest weekly round-up of interesting links about speculative fiction from around the web, this week with the Marvel Cinematic Universe in general, Star Trek in general, the new Willow, The Last of Us, Masters of the Universe Revelation/Revolution, Enys Man, Kindred, Mayfair Witches, M3GAN, Black Adam, the chaotic future of the DC Cinematic Universe and the chaos at Warner Bros and HBO Max in general, Avatar: The Way of Water and much more.

Speculative fiction in general:

• Natalie Zutter shares 21 SFF books to look forward to in 2023.
• Tor.com shares all the new science fiction books coming out in January 2023.
  
• Tor.com shares all the new fantasy books coming out in January 2023. 
• Tor.com lists all the new horror and genre-bending books arriving in January 2023.
  
• Tobias Carroll shares the best indie press SFF coming out in January and February. 
• Alex Brown shares all the new YA SFF books coming out in January. 
• Tor.com shares all the new YA SFF books coming out in January. 
• Eric Adelson compiles what he considers the most influential science fiction works of all time.
  
• John Mauro takes a look at rising stars of grimdark SFF.
• Shauna Lawless talks about the rise of historical fantasy. 
• James Davis Nicoll remembers five SFF authors who died far too young.
  
• Rachel S. Cordasco takes a look at Italian speculative fiction in translation. 
• Daria Piskozub lists ten must-read Ukrainian SFF writers. 
• James Davis Nicoll shares five SFF stories about worlds threatened by endless winter.
  
• Cole Rush shares five SFF books that offer a unique take on music. 
• Grady Hendrix takes a not entirely serious look at the impact hauntings and resident ghosts have on the housing market. 
  
• Anya Bergman notes that witches are having a cultural moment right now. 
• Linda Reilly tells book lover to stop feeling guilty about the size of the TBR pile.
  
• Molly Templeton goes in search of new reading rituals.
  
• Rachel Ayers shares six retellings of Cinderella.
  
• Diana Gabaldon recalls how she wrote Outlander. 
  
• Bill Ward shares his appreciation for the Bran Mak Morn stories by Robert E. Howard. 
• Ryan Harvey takes a look at Robert E. Howard's weird menace pulp stories. 
• The Obelisk takes a look at Robert E. Howard's occult investigators Professor John Kirowan and John Conrad. 
• Judith Tarr shares her appreciation for the Wolf's Point novels by Catherine Lundoff.
  
• Laura Miller critiques Ross Douthat's unpublished fantasy novel The Falcon's Children.  
• A.J. Willingham reports about the saga of romance author Stephanie Meacham who faked her own suicide. 
  
• Lucy Knight reports that British writer and screenwriter Hanif Kureishi suffered a serious spinal injury after an accident in Rome and may remain paralysed. 
• Lara Feifel, Amanda Craig and Lisa Allardice remember the late Fay Weldon. 
   
  

Comics and Art:

• James Davis Nicoll reviews The Night Eaters: She Eats the Night by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda. 
• Anthony Perconti reviews Headlopper: The Island by Andrew MacLean and Mike Spicer. 
• For Eternia shares some information about the upcoming Masterverse comics, written by Tim Seeley.
  
• Deuce Richardson shares his appreciation for the fantasy artwork of Wayne Barlowe. 
• Deuce Richardson recounts how Frank Kelly Freas' iconic cover for the November 1950 issue of Weird Tales came to be. 
• Fantasy artist Richard Bober died aged 79.
  

 

Film and TV:

• Lucy Mangan calls The Rig a spooky supernatural thriller set aboard an oil rig in the North Sea.
• Paul Levinson shares his thoughts on the first and only season of Y: The Last Man and wishes there were more.
• Hayden Mears finds season 2 of Star Wars: The Bad Batch frustrating with regard to its unrealised potential. 
• Matthew Jackson declares that Skinamarink may well be the scariest film of 2023. 
• Saloni Gajjar shares her thoughts on season 4 of the horror series Servant.
  
• Saloni Gajjar calls Velma a fun Scooby-Doo prequel. 
• The Guardian notes that some scenes in Matilda: The Musical can be triggering for survivors for child abuse.
  
• Adrian Horton calls Sick an efficient pandemic horror slasher. 
  
• Allegra Frank shares her twelve favourite animated TV shows and movies of 2022.
  
• Robert Repino shares six very strange made-for-TV science fiction, fantasy and horror movies.
• Matt Mills shares fifteen horror films that showcase the history of the jump scare
  
• Jessica Holmes revisits the 1967 Doctor Who serial "The Enemy of the World".   
• Phil Hoad profiles David Lynch, director of Twin Peaks, Blue Velvet, Mulholland Drive, Eraserhead, Dune and many others. 
• Kyle Buchanan interviews Stephanie Hsu who plays Joy in Everything Everywhere All At Once.
  
• Ann Lee interviews Kathleen Turner, star of Body Heat and Romancing the Stone.
  
• Nick Romano interviews Harry Melling, who appeared in the Harry Potter movies as a child and now stars in The Pale Blue Eye as Edgar Allan Poe. 
• Scott Simon also interviews Harry Melling.
  
• Peter White reports that the animated science fictionn series Pantheon has been cancelled after only one season in spite of a two season order and that the existing season will be removed from streaming. 
• Emma Fraser calls the cancellation of 1899 Netflix's latest ridiculous decision.
  
• Germain Lussier reports that Wednesday has been renewed for season 2.
• Si Litvinoff, producer of A Clockwork Orange, The Man Who Fell to Earth and Walkabout, has died aged 93.
  
• Actor Earl Boen who played psychologist Dr. Peter Silberman in the first three Terminator movies and who also appeared in Battle Beyond the Stars, The Man With Two Brains, Alien Nation, The Naked Gun and Scarecrow and Mrs. King, has died aged 81.
  

 

Comments on the Marvel Cinematic Universe in general:  

• Ammar Kalia interviews Kumail Nanjiani, who appeared in Eternals, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Welcome to Chippendales. 
  
• Sabina Graves reports how Don Cheadle came to play James Rhodes a.k.a. Iron Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. 
• William Earl reports that Black Panther 3 is already in the works according to Letitia Wright.
  
• Watch a trailer for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.
  

 

Comments on Star Trek in general: 

• Galactic Journey revisits the 1968 Star Trek episode "The Gamesters of Triskelion".
  
• Keith R.A. DeCandido shares an overview of season 2 of Star Trek Enterprise.
• Peter White reports that season 3 may not be the end for Star Trek Picard after all.
  

 

Comments on the season 1 finale Willow: 

• Cindy White shares her thoughts on the final episode of season one of Willow. 
• Germain Lussier shares his thoughts on the season 1 finale of Willow. 
  
• Germain Lussier interviews Warwick Davis, Erin Kellyman and Amar Chadha-Patel, three of the stars of Willow.
• Germain Lussier discusses the end credits scene of the season 1 finale of Willow.
  

 

Comments of Masters of the Universe Revelation/Revolution: 

• Dad-at-Arms interviews Tim Sheridan, writer of Masters of the Universe Revelation/Revolution, Dragon Age: Absolution, Batman and many others. 
  
• Andrew Gans interviews Chris Wood who played Mon-El in Supergirl and voices Prince Adam/He-Man in Masters of the Universe: Revelation.

 

Comments on The Last of Us:  

• Joel Golby calls The Last of Us finally a perfect videogame adaptation.
  
• Germain Lussier interviews Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann, producers of The Last of Us. 

 

Comments on Enys Man: 

• Peter Bradshaw calls Enys Man a supremely disquieting study of solitude.
• Steven Morris reports that the Cornish folk horror film Enys Man is outgrossing Avatar: The Way of Water - at least in Cornwall.   
  

 

Comments on Mayfair Witches: 

• Saloni Gajjar interviews Alexandra Daddario, star of Mayfair Witches.  
• Rob Bricken reports that a crossover between Mayfair Witches and the new Interview With the Vampire is planned. 
  

 

Comments on Kindred: 

• Arturo Serrano notes that the TV adaptation of Octavia E. Butler's Kindred demonstrates the power of stories to create empathy.
• Ross McIndoe points out that Kindred buries some thorny truth inside a listless story. 
• Ronda Racha Penrice declares that Kindred doesn't dig deep enough into the messy history it portrays. 
• Robert Daniels finds that Kindred lets down its source material. 
• Allegra Frank declares that Kindred bungles everything that was beautiful about Octavia E. Butler's novel. 
• Helena Andrew-Dyer explains why it took 43 years to bring Kindred to TV.
  

 

Comments on M3GAN: 

• Derek Smith calls M3GAN a delightfully campy horror movie.
• Leigh Monson calls M3GAN a horror comedy that pulls all the right strings. 
• Owen Gleiberman calls M3GAN creepy, preposterous and diverting. 
• Jason Zinoman calls M3GAN an over the top horror film. 
• Richard Newsby calls M3GAN a horor film, for the TikTok generation. 
• Charles Bramesco calls M3GAN smarter and scarier than expected. 
• Arturo Serrano declares that M3GAN shows the horror of letting a machine manage your feelings.
  
• Margaret Fuhrer notes that M3GAN proves once again that many people find dancing robots unnerving.
  
• Jen Yamato interviews Akela Cooper, screenwriter of M3GAN
• Rebecca Rubin reports that M3GAN has performed better than expected at the box office, but that the movie still can't beat the noxious Avatar: The Way of Water. 
• Anthony D'Allessandro reports that M3GAN will be getting a sequel. 
  

 

Comments on Black Adam, the various DC Comics based movies and TV-shows and the chaos at Warner Bros and HBO Max in general: 

• Keith R.A. DeCandido shares his thoughts on Black Adam and the way the movie treats heroism. 
  
• Tatiana Siegel chronicles how Dwayne Johnson tried to gain control of the DC cinematic universe and what went on behind the scenes of Black Adam.
  
• Ben Child reports that DC is planning a movie multiverse of its own and wonders if they can repeat Marvel's success.
  
• Allegra Frank calls HBO Max removing some two hundred classic Looney Toons cartoons from its streaming service a shameful decision.
• Todd Spangler reports that HBO Max is raising subscription prices.
  

 

Comments on Avatar: The Way of Water: 

• Steve Power shares his thoughts on Avatar: The Way of Water.
• James Hibberd interviews James Cameron, director of Avatar: The Way of Water, about the unfortunately unevitable sequels. 
  

 

Awards:

• The winners of the 2023 Golden Globes have been announced with quite a bit of love for genre film and TV. 
• The nominations for the 2023 Screen Actors Guild Awards have been announced with quite a bit of love for genre film and TV.
  
• The 2022 Asimov's Readers' Awards are open for voting.
• The 2022 Analytical Laboratory Awards are open for voting. 
  

Writing, publishing and promotion:

• Lincoln Michel talks about bad writing habits stemming from visual media and how to avoid them. 
• Kristine Kathryn Rusch talks about selling books directly via your website.
  
• Porter Anderson reports that the revenues of US publishers have dropped by more than five percent last year.
  
• Locus offers an update on the ongoing strike of the HarperCollins Union. 
• The Guardian reports that Filippo Bernardini has pleaded guilty to stealing more than 1000 unpublished manuscripts.
  
• Leyland Cecco reports about Apple's controversial decision to offer AI-narrated audiobooks on its platform.
• Zoe Wood reports that the number of independent bookshops in the UK has hit a ten-year high in spite of other retail shops suffering in 2022. 
• Sarah Shaffi that independent bookstores in the UK fear for the future in spite of their numbers rising. 
• Bookseller Joyce Meskis, founder of the Tattered Cover bookstore in Denver, Colorado, has died aged 80.
  

Interviews:

• Locus interviews Annalee Newitz.
• J.W. McCormack interviews Kelly Link. 
• Robert Lanza and Nancy Kress interview each other.
  
• The Guardian interviews Alex Wheatle.
• Fantasy Magazine interviews Flossie Arend.
  
• D.M. Ritzlin interviews Daniel J. Davis.
  

Reviews:

• Adrienne Martini reviews August Kitko and the Mechas from Space by Alex White
  
• Matthew Claxton reviews The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez. 
• File 770 reviews The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler. 
• Ian Mond reviews Here Be Leviathans by Chris Flynn
  
• Elizabeth Fitzgerald reviews Wolfpack by Rem Wigmore. 
• Greg Hersom reviews Conan: Blood of the Serpent by S.M. Stirling
• Arturo Serrano reviews Hamlet, Prince of Robots by M. Darusha Wehm
  
• Stephanie Merritt reviews Cold People by Tom Rob Smith. 
• Paul Burke reviews Cold People by Tom Rob Smith.  
• Lis Carey reviews Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir.
• Arturo Serrano reviews Level Five by William Ledbetter.  
  
• Runalong the Shelves reviews Downfall by Louise Carey. 
• Aigner Loren Wilson reviews Even Though I Knew the End by C.L. Polk.
  
• Martin Cahill reviews The World We Make by N.K. Jemisin.
  
• Marion Deeds reviews Battle of the Linguist Mages by Scotto Moore
  
• Fabienne Schwizer reviews The Daughters of Izdihar by Hadeer Elbai.
• The Appendix N Book Club reviews A Gathering of Ravens by Scott Oden. 
• Gary K. Wolfe reviews Kid Wolf and Kraken Boy by Sam J. Miller. 
• Fabienne Schwizer reviews The Witch and the Tsar by Olesya Salnikova Gilmore.
• Mark Yon reviews Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Hannah Fawcett
  
• Alexandra Pierce reviews Twelve by Joan Marie Verba.
• James Tivendale reviews Godkiller by Hannah Kaner.
• Kat Hooper and Marion Deeds review Legendborn by Tracy Deonn.
  
• Mark Yon reviews Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo. 
• Runalong the Shelves reviews Everything's Changing by Chelsea Stickle.
  
• Gary K. Wolfe reviews Expect Me Tomorrow by Christopher Priest
• Runalong the Shelves reviews Such a Pretty Smile by Kirsti DeMeester.
• Marion Deeds reviews Little Eve by Catriona Ward. 
• Runalong the Shelves reviews Now She Is Witch by Kirsty Logan.
  
• Gabino Iglesias reviews Old Country by Matt Query and Harrison Query 
  
• Alexander Wallace reviews issue 0 of New Edge Sword and Sorcery Magazine.
  
• Richard Fisher reviews Swords and Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume Five, edited by David A. Riley.
• Joani Etzkovitz reviews The Milky Way: An Autobiography of Our Galaxy by Moira McTier.
• Tim Adams reviews The Written World and the Unwritten World: Collected Non-Fiction by Italo Calvino, translated by Ann Goldstein.
• John Self reviews The Written World and the Unwritten World: Collected Non-Fiction by Italo Calvino, translated by Ann Goldstein.
  
• Jason Ray Carney reviews Lurking Under the Surface: Horror, Religion, and the Questions That Haunt Us by Brandon R. Grafius.

Classics reviews:

• Patricia Matson revisits the 1914 supernatural thriller The Thing in the Woods by Harper Williams.
  
• Carlo Rotella revisits the 1922 fantasy novel The Worm Ourobouros by E.R. Eddison.
• Davide Mana revisits the 1934 Conan sword and sorcery story "The People of the Black Circle" by Robert E. Howard.
  
• Danny Sichel revisits the 1954 science fiction story "The Cold Equations" by Tom Godwin. 
• Joachim Biaz revisits the 1965 science fiction novel The Genocides by Thomas M. Disch.
  
• Vintage Pop Fictions revisits the 1965 Thongor sword and sorcery novel The Wizard of Lemuria by Lin Carter. 
• Victoria Silverwolf revisits the 1967 science fiction anthology Dangerous Visions, edited by Harlan Ellison.
  
• Erica Frank revisits the January 1968 issue of Playboy and finds an unexpected bounty of science fiction stories inside. 
• James Davis Nicoll revisits the 1976 portal fantasy The Dragon and the George by Gordon R. Dickson.
  
• Paperback Warrior revisits the 1982 Red Sonja sword and sorcery novel Demon Night by David C. Smith and Richard L. Tierney. 
• Brian Collins revisits the 1983 science fiction novella "Hardfought" by Greg Bear.
  
• C.T. Phipps revisits the 1987 Garrett P.I. fantasy mystery Sweet Silver Blues by Glenn Cook.  
• Nicholas Whyte revisits the 1988 science fiction stories "Schördinger's Kitten" by George Alec Effinger and "The Last of the Winnebagos" by Connie Willis.
  
• James Davis Nicoll revisits the 1990 post-apocalyptic novel Black Snow Days by Claudia O'Keefe.
• Alissa Burger revisits the 1991 YA horror novel The Snowman by R.L. Stine and the 1992 YA horror novel Freeze Tag by Caroline B. Cooney.
  
• Alan Brown revisits the 1992 cyberpunk novel Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson.
  

 

Con and event reports:

• Chris M. Barkley shares photos of Chicon 8, the 2022 Worldcon in Chicago, Illinois. 
• Locus reports that the Galactic Philadelphia reading series in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, will return in 2023.
  
• Greg Hersov reports how the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester, UK, has been turned into a unique dream space.
• Sabina Graves shares the latest news and attractions from the various Disney Parks, Universal Studios Resorts and other US theme parks. 
• Sabina Graves reports that a Tron Lightcycle rollercoaster will come to Disney World in Orlando, Florida in April. 
• Sabina Graves reports about some of the offerings at the Epcot International Festival of Arts at Disney World in Orlando, Florida.
  
• Germain Lussier shares his impressions of the new Super Nintendo World attraction at Universal Studios Resort Hollywood in Los Angeles, California.
  

 

Crowdfunding:

• Horror writer Laird Barron needs help with medical expenses.
  
• Artist Peri Charlifu needs some help with medical expenses.
• The Weary Dragon Inn, a cozy fantasy series by S. Usher Evans, is looking for funding.
  
• The RPG OrcQuest: Warpath is looking for funding.
  

 

Science and technology:

• Eric Berger reports that Virgin Orbit's first attempt to launch a rocket from UK soil ended in failure. 
• NASA reports that the James Webb Space Telescope has confirmed its first exoplanet.
  
• Emmett Lindner discusses how climate change affects book preservation.
  
• Daniel Capurro reports that the mystery of strange ancient markings in various European caves has been solved. 
• Hannah Frisberg reports that archaeologists have unearthed a giant Viking hall in Jutland, Denmark. 
  

Free online fiction: 

• "Time Marked and Mended" by Carrie Vaughn in Tor.com.
  
• "How to Raise a Kraken in Your Bathtub" by P. Djèlí Clark in Uncanny Magazine.
  
• "Within the Heart of a Sleeping Giant" by Xan van Rooyen in Swords and Sorcery Magazine.
• "The Big Glass Box and the Boys Inside" by Isabel J. Kim in Apex Magazine.
  
• "Tears Waiting to Be Diamonds: Part One" by Sarah Rees Brennan in The Sunday Morning Transport. 
• "Notes on The Seventh Battle Of The Queen Of The Ruby Mists" by Mari Ness in Beneath Ceaseless Skies.
• "Constant Ivan and Clever Natalya" by M.A. Carrick in Beneath Ceaseless Skies.
  
• "Late Night at the Sideshow" by Gordon B. White in Nightmare Magazine. 
• "A Guide to Alien Terms Useful in the Human Diaspora" by Deborah L. Davitt in Lightspeed.
• "Braid Me a Howling Tongue" by Maria Dong in Lightspeed.
  
• "Anais Gets a Turn" by R.T. Ester in Clarkesworld. 
• "Hunger" by Meg Malone in Luna Station Quarterly. 
• "Broodmare" by Flossie Arend in Fantasy Magazine.
  
• "Lap Record" by Nelson Stanley in The Dark.
• "Naruoma, the Cow Detective of the Millennium" by Rešoketšwe Manenzhe in Omenana.
• "The Wanderer's Lament" by Stewart A. Shearer in SideQuest.
  
• "There Are No Butterflies on Proxima B" by Kyle Robert Annasenz in Daily Science Fiction. 
• "Turbulence" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. 
  

 

Trailers and videos:

• Watch a trailer for season 2 of Carnival Row. 
• Watch a trailer for Lockwood & Co.
  
• Watch a trailer for Wolf Pack.
  
• Watch a trailer for Velma.
  
• Watch a trailer for Beau Is Afraid. 
• Watch a trailer for Consecration.
  
• Watch a trailer for Disquiet.
  
• Watch a trailer for Sick.
• Watch a trailer for Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead.
  

 

 Odds and ends:

• Cora Buhlert shares another Masters-of-the-Universe-Piece Theatre Photo Story entitled "Wun-Dar and his Wonderful Dinosaur".