Speculative Fiction Links of the Week for June 2, 2023

It's time for the latest weekly round-up of interesting links about speculative fiction from around the web, this week with Return of the Jedi at forty and Star Wars in general, Star Trek in general, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Poker Face, the end of the so-called Arrowverse, The Boogeyman, Yellowjackets, the new Little Mermaid, the WGA strike, the debate about AI writing and art and much more.

Speculative fiction in general:

• Amal El-Mohtar shares new science fiction and fantasy novels.
  
• R.W.W. Greene shares five SFF road trip stories to fuel your wanderlust.
• Christopher Rowe attempts to define sword and sorcery.
  
• Scott Oden discusses the intersection of historical fiction and sword and sorcery. 
• Jelena Dunato asks what slavic fantasy even means. 
• James Davis Nicoll shares five science fiction novels set in future versions of  San Francisco. 
• Lee Mandelo shares four weird and sexy queer books for Pride month.
  
• James Davis Nicoll shares five works that are not SFF but feel as if they could be. 
• Alex Brown lists six favourite SFF authors writing in new and unexpected genres.
  
• Shehan Karunatilaka explains how Choose Your Own Adventure books taught him to write and helped him win the Booker Prize.
• Randee Dawn lists five SFF authors who also had careers as screenwriters.
  
• Joel Cuthbertson profiles Connie Willis.
  
• Jeff Goad profiles Gardner Fox.
  
• Steve Bean shares his appreciation for the Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny. 
• Michael Curtis shares his appreciation for the Silver John stories by Manly Wade Wellman. 
• Christopher Rowe shares his appreciation for The Rogue sword and sorcery stories by Jason Ray Carney. 
• Judith Tarr shares her appreciation for the Royal Dragons of Alaska paranormal romance series by Elva Birch. 

 

Comics and Art:

• James Whitbrook declares that Amazing Spider-Man No. 26 does Ms. Marvel dirty.
  
• Gary Farber shares his appreciation for fan artist and Disney imagineer Jim Shull. 
• Locus interviews fantasy artist Ed Binkley.
• The Cromcast interviews Jim Zub, writer of the new Conan comic. 
  
• Tom Gauld shares a cartoon on how strikes are affecting the book world.
  

 

Film and TV:

• Germain Lussier lists the best science fiction, fantasy and horror to stream in June 2023.
  
• Ann Michelle Harris calls Suzume a universal coming of age story that resonates across cultures.
  
• Camestros Felapton talks about the strange eschatology of Knock at the Cabin. 
• Chris Garcia calls Fudgie Freddie truly brilliant and more than a little terrifying.
  
• Leslie Felperin calls Breaking Infinity a low budget time travel mystery. 
• Cath Clarke calls Old Man and inauthentic and flat psychological horror movie. 
• Phil Hoad calls The Old Man Movie: Lactopalypse! a brilliantly weird Estonian stop-motion film.
• Jack Seale calls The Days a diappointingly insight-free drama about the 2011 Fukushima disaster that cannot hold a candle to Chernobyl. 
  
• Paul Levinson shares his thoughts on the latest episode of Silo. 
• Cheryl Eddy interviews Robert Englund, who played Freddy Krueger in the Nightmare on Elm Street movies and Willie in V.
  
• Marc Malkin interviews Ismael Cruz Córdova, who plays Arondir in The Rings of Power. 
• Germain Lussier interviews Andy Muschietti, director of The Flash.
  
• Jason Sacks revisits the 1968 spy movie Danger Diabolik. 
  
• Maureen Ryan reports about the toxic culture behind the scenes of the 2004 TV show Lost.
  
• Cassidy Ward explains why King Kong is the only one of his kind living on Skull Island. 
• Lorna Wallace shares eight SFF movies featuring giant insects or spiders. 
• Writers of the Guardian share their favourite Stephen King movie adaptations. 
• Karen Gillan, who plays Nebula, offers a look behind the scenes of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
  
• Justin Carter shares the full list of shows removed from Disney Plus and Hulu.
  
• Actor and stunman Gary Kent has died aged 89. 
• Actor George Maharis, best known for his roles in Route 66, Naked City, Fantasy Island, Night Gallery, The Bionic Woman and many others, has died aged 94.
  

 

Comments on Return of the Jedi at forty and Star Wars in general: 

• Lloyd Farley declares that Return of the Jedi is the best film of the original Star Wars trilogy.
  
• James Whitbrook shares forty things that are great about Return of the Jedi. 
• Vincent Acovino reports how NPR had to apologise for accidentally spoiling Return of the Jedi upon its premiere forty years ago.
  
• Brady Langmann interviews Mark Hamill who played Luke Skywalker in Star Wars. 
• Anthony d'Alessandro interviews Deborah Chow, director of Obi-Wan Kenobi.
  
• Jazz Tangcay takes a look at the costume designs for Andor.
  

 

Comments on Star Trek in general:

• Gautam Bhatia, Una McCormack and Manu Saadia discuss extractivism in Star Trek.
  
• Christian Blauvelt interviews Terry Matalas and Dave Blass, showrunner and production designer for Star Trek Picard. 
• Keith R.A. DeCandido revisits the Star Trek Enterprise episode "Damage".

 

Comments on Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse: 

• Peter Bradshaw calls Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse a crazily frantic sequel with full-spin energy
• Brad Buckalew calls Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse an ambitious sequel.  
• Germain Lussier calls Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse a wonder.
  
• William Hughes declares that the 2018 movie Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is still the best Spider-Man movie of all time.
  

 

Comments on Poker Face: 

• Joel Golby calls Poker Face a perfect detective show that turns up the fun-o-meter until it explodes 
• Lucy Mangan calls Poker Face a superfun detective show and praises the performance of Natasha Lyonne. 
• Rebecca Nicholson declares that the female private investigator shows Poker Face and High Desert are the most wildly entertaining TV shows of 2023. 
  

 

Comments on the end of the so-called Arrowverse: 

• Sam Barsanti bids goodbye to the so-called Arrowverse, the most ambitious experiment in superhero television. 
• Sydney Bucksbaum interviews Eric Wallace, showrunner of The Flash, the last remaining Arrowverse show. 
• Justin Carter takes a look at comic stories The Flash wanted to adapt, had the show continued.
  

 

Comments on The Boogeyman: 

• Leigh Monson calls The Boogeyman a Stephen King adaptation that will scare you out of your seat. 
• Benjamin Lee calls The Boogeyman a derivative but well-made Stephen King horror adaptation. 
• Sabina Graves declares that The Boogeyman reminds us why we're afraid of the dark.
  

 

Comments on Yellowjackets: 

• Leila Latif declares that Yellowjackets has taken survival horror to new heights.
• Hattie Lindert shares her thoughts on the season 2 finale of Yellowjackets. 
• Brian Qualey shares his thoughts on the season 2 finale of Yellowjackets.
  
• Meredith Hobbs Coons shares her favourite 1990s songs used on the soundtrack of Yellowjackets.
  

 

Comments on the new The Little Mermaid: 

• io9 interviews Rob Marshall, director of the new Little Mermaid. 
• Brent Lang reports that the new Little Mermaid has grossed 118 million US-dollar over its opening weekend. 
• Kyle Barr reports that the new Little Mermaid suffers from review bombing campaigns.  
• Gavia Baker-Whitelaw also reports about the review bombing campaign against the new Little Mermaid and wonders what IMDB or Rotten Tomatoes ratings say at all, since both are heavilöy biased.
  
• Mari Ness revisits the original fairy tale "The Little Mermaid" by Hans Christian Andersen.
  

 

Comments on the strike of the Writers Guild of America:

• Nellie Andreeva interviews Francesca Orsi, head of HBO's drama department, about the impact of the WGA strike on HBO shows.
  
• Linda Codega reports that several Star Trek actors have been spotted on the picket lines supporting the WGA strike.
  
• Justin Carter reports that production on the Marvel projects Thunderbolts and Wonder Man has been put on hold due to the ongoing WGA strike.
• Justin Carter reports that the TV show Blade Runner 2099 has also stopped production due to the ongoing WGA strike.
  

 

Awards:

• The shortlist for the 2023 Kitschies has been announced.
  
• The contestants for the 2023 Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off have been announced.
• The winners of the 2023 Ursa Major Awards have been announced. 
• The winners of the 2023 Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire have been announced. 
• Chris M. Barkley wonders about the future of the Hugos in an increasingly global science fiction community.
  
• Mike Glyer reports that the winner of the 2023 Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off cover contest has been disqualified after the cover was found to be AI generated.
  

Writing, publishing and promotion:

• Walter Rhein explains how to write something of literary merit that appeals to a popular audience.
  
• Lauren Mechling wonders what happens if your partner does not like your writing.
  
• Victoria Strauss talks about termination fees in publishing.
• Sarah Shaffi reports that the American Library Association, the Authors Guild and other groups are sueing the state of Arkansas over a new law that bans giving books deemed "obscene" to minors.
  

 

Comments on the AI controversy: 

• Jason Sanford shares a round-up of the latest state of the AI controversy. 
  
• Neil Clarke shares a statement on the use and training of AI large language models.
  
• Matt Binder reports that a lawyer used ChatGPT to draft a legal filing, only to find that the AI program had cited non-existent cases.
• John Walker reports that Nvidia is trying to replace many game developers with AI. 
• Naomi Klein notes that AIs are not hallucinating, but that their creators are. 
• Paul Rudnick shares a not entirely serious look at what AI written film and TV scripts might look like.
  

 

Interviews:

• Runalong the Shelves interviews Gareth Hanrahan.
  
• Track of Words interviews Sebastien de Castell. 
• Gordon B. White interviews Sadie Hartmann.
  
• The HWA interviews Christine Sng.
  
• Miwa Messer interviews Jacqueline Woodson.
• Claire Armitstead interviews Georgi Gospodinov.
  
• D.M. Ritzlin interviews Matthew Knight. 
• Oliver Brackenbury interviews Catherine Lundoff.
• Jane Temson interviews Chikọdịlị Emelụmadụ
  

 

Reviews:

• Adrienne Martini reviews Translation State by Ann Leckie 
• Marlene Harris reviews Light Chaser by Peter F. Hamilton and Gareth L. Powell
  
• Adrienne Martini reviews Witch King by Martha Wells
• Rob Bedford reviews Witch King by Martha Wells
• Alex Brown reviews Witch King by Martha Wells
• Warner Holme reviews Witch King by Martha Wells 
• Paul Weimer reviews Master of Samar by Melissa Scott. 
• Roseanna Pendlebury reviews Hybrid Heart by Iori Kusano. 
  
• James Davis Nicoll reviews The Faithless by C.L. Clark. 
• Marion Deeds and Bill Capossere review The Malevolent Seven by Sebastien de Castell
• Track of Words reviews The Malevolent Seven by Sebastien de Castell
  
• Jake Casella Brookins reviews Rose/House by Arkady Martine 
  
• C.T. Phipps reviews Tronick by Rosie Record.
  
• Blue Book Balloon reviews Grave Danger by Alice James. 
• Fabienne Schwizer reviews Painted Devils by Margaret Owen. 
• Runalong the Shelves reviews Scarlet by Genevieve Cogman. 
• Bookshelf Fantasies reviews The Poisoner's Ring by Kelley Armstrong. 
  
• Runalong the Shelves reviews On The Nature of Magic by Marian Womack
  
• Marlene Harris reviews The Nameless Restaurant by Tao Wong. 
• Bill Capossere reviews The Way Home by Peter S. Beagle.
  
• The Fantasy Book Café reviews The Bone Shard Emperor by Andrea Stewart. 
• Em Nordling reviews The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw.
  
• Steven Poole reviews Conquest by Nina Allan. 
• Gary K. Wolfe reviews Conquest by Nina Allan
• Blue Book Balloon reviews Conquest by Nina Allan
• Mark Yon reviews Airside by Christopher Priest.
  
• Paul Di Filippo reviews Dual Memory by Sue Burke
• Marlene Harris reviews Red Team Blues by Cory Doctorow. 
• C.T. Phipps reviews Echoes of Olympos Mons by Eric Malikyte
  
• Paul Di Filippo reviews Under the Hollywood Sign by Tom Reamy 
• David Hayden reviews Eyes Guts Throat Bones by Moïra Fowley
  
• Robin Marx reviews Die By the Sword, edited by D.M. Ritzlin. 
• Christopher Rowe reviews the May 2023 issue of Savage Realms.
  
• Christopher Rowe reviews issue 56 of Heroic Fantasy Quarterly. 
• Christopher Rowe reviews issue 10 of Tales from the Magician's Skull.
  
• Warner Holmes reviews Origins of The Wheel of Time: the Legends and Mythologies by Michael Livingston.
• Blake Morrison reviews Orwell: The New Life by D.J. Taylor

 

Classics reviews:

• Sandy Ferber revisits the 1940 science fiction novel The Whispering Gorilla by Don Wilcox and its 1943 sequel Return of the Whispering Gorilla by David V. Reed.
  
• Vintage Pop Fictions revisits the 1948 lost world novel Ice City of the Gorgon by Richard S. Shaver and Chester S. Geier.
  
• James Davis Nicoll revisits the 1953 non-fiction anthology Modern Science Fiction: Its Meaning and Its Future, edited by Reginald Bretnor. 
• James Wallace Harris revisits the 1959 science fiction story "The Valley of Echoes" by Gérard Klein.
  
• Alan Brown revisits the 1960 science fiction collection Tiger By the Tail by Alan E. Nourse.
  
• James Wallace Harris revisits the 1964 science fiction story "The New Prehistory" by René Rebetez-Cortes.
• James Davis Nicoll revisits the 1965 science fiction novel The Long Result by John Brunner.
  
• Brian Collins revisits the 1968 post-apocalyptic novel Sos the Rope by Piers Anthony. 
• Gideon Marcus revisits the June 1968 issue of Analog.
  
• James Wallace Harris revisits the 1971 science fiction story "A Meeting With Medusa" by Arthur C. Clarke.
• James Maliszewski revisits the March 1986 issue of White Dwarf.
  

 

Crowdfunding:

• Tales from Stolki's Hall: A Thrones & Bones Anthology, edited by Lou Anders, is looking for funding.
• Dragon Hoard Games, an independent game store in Silverdale, Washington, is looking for funding to ward off eviction.
  
• SFF writer Zin E. Rocklyn needs some help to be able to attend the residency portion of the Masters program in creative writing.
• Issues 7 and 8 of the RPG zine Tales from the Smoking Wyrm are looking for funding. 
• My Palitoy Story by Bob Brechin, an illustrated history of the British toy company Palitoy, is looking for funding.
  

 

Con and event reports:

• Mira Jacobs reports that Florida's new anti-drag and anti-LGBTQ laws have affected the furry convention Megaplex in Orlando, Florida.
• E.J. Dickson also reports about Megaplex being forced to ban attendants under eighteen to comply with Florida's new anti-drag and anti-LGBTQ laws. 
• Kenneth Shepard also reports about Ron DeSantis picking a fight with Megaplex.
  
• In response to Florida's new anti-LGBTQ laws, the International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts asks if their annual conference should remain in Orlando, Florida. 
• Marcin Klak reports about the 2023 Magnificon in Krakow, Poland. 
• Marcin Klak reports about the 2023 KONgres in Skierniewice, Poland.
• Kirk McKoy shares cosplay photos from Balticon in Baltimore, Maryland.
  
• Joshua Shaw reports about a problematic question during a quiz held at Anime North in Toronto, Canada. 
• Tom Ambrose shares stories of British theatregoers behaving badly.
  
• Hannah Sampson discusses why the Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser immersive hotel in Disney World in Orlando, Florida, failed. 
• Sabina Graves reports about the music being created for the Tiana's Bayou Adventure attraction in Disneyland in Anaheim, California, and Disney World in Orlando, Florida.
  

 

Science and technology:

• Isaac Schultz notes that we may have been looking for habitable exo-planets in the wrong place 
• NASA reports that the Hubble Space Telescope is on the hunt for a black hole. 
• Kenneth Chang explains why the Japanese Hakuto-R Moon lander crashed.
  
• Noor Al-Sibai reports that space tourists have been less than thrilled with the toilets aboard the International Space Station.
  
• Kaye Dee takes a look at the state of the European space industry in 1968.
• Eric Betz reports about Nabta Playa in Egypt, the oldest known astronomical site on Earth. 
• The Guardian reports that the mystery of why Venice's channels suddenly turned flourescent green has been solved. 
• The Guardian reports that a Beluga whale suspected of being a Russian spy has been spotted off the Swedish coast. 
• Sarah Shaffi reports that the so-called Heege manuscript sheds light on the life and role of medieval minstrels. 
  
  

Gaming: 

• Nic Reuben calls the video game The Lord of the Rings: Gollum a derivative, uninteresting and fundamentally broken stealth action adventure that fails to capture anything interesting about Tolkien’s fiction.
• Levi Winslow reports that Daedalic Entertainment, developers of the video game The Lord of the Rings: Gollum, have apologised for the underwhelming experience.
• Vulture lists the 100 hardest video game levels of all time. 
• Ashley Bardhan shares the worst parts of the best video games.
  
• Linda Codega shares games created by Asian and Pacific Islander designers. 
• Linda Codega reports that Magic: The Gathering's new Lord of the Rings set is makign racists made and that is a good thing.
  
• Linda Codega interviews Andrew Gillis, creator of the RPG Girl by Moonlight. 

 

Toys and collectibles:

• Sabina Graves shares ideas for Father's Day gifts for geeky dads.
• Andrew Liszewski shares the best Lego sets coming out in June.
  
• Germain Lussier shares two new Marvel themed Lego sets.
• Mattel Creations is offering a new version of Vykron, a Masters of the Universe figure based on very early He-Man concept art.
  
• Pixel Dan reviewers the Masters of the Universe Origins Point Dread and Talon Fighter playset and the Masters of the Universe Masterverse New Eternia Whiplash figure.
  

 

Free online fiction: 

• "A Memory Is Like a Talon" by Anna Martino in Luna Station Quarterly.
• "Measure Twice, Cut Once" by K.R. March in Apex Magazine. 
• "Fruit of the Memory Tree" by J.A. Prentice in Beneath Ceaseless Skies.
  
• "Eleonora of the Bones" by Kat Howard in Beneath Ceaseless Skies. 
  
• "The Infinite Endings of Elsie Chen" by Kylie Lee Baker in Uncanny Magazine. 
• "The God of the Overpass" by Orrin Grey in The Dark.
  
• "We Are Always Walking on Dead Things" by Emily Ruth Verona in Nightmare Magazine.
  
• "The Ocean Remembers the Wave" by L. Chan in Strange Horizons.
  
• "The Bull's Calf" by Susan Murray Macdonald in Swords and Sorcery Magazine. 
• "Place of Four Winds" by Gabriel Mara in The Deadlands.
  
• "Pagan Fires" by Rev. Joe Kelly in Heroic Fantasy Quarterly. 
• "Two Blue Circles" by John K. Peck in Pyre Magazine.
  
• "The Writers' Room" by Chao C. Shete in Omenana. 
• "High Stakes" by B.A. Booher in Wyldblood.
  
• "Fierce Happening" by Trent Jamieson in The Sunday Morning Transport.
  

 

Trailers and videos:

• Watch a trailer for season 6 of Black Mirror.
• Watch a trailer for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem. 
  
• Watch a trailer for Fear the Invisible Man. 
• Watch a trailer for Biosphere.
  
• Watch a trailer for I'm a Virgo.