Speculative Fiction Links of the Week for January 9, 2026

 

It's time for the latest weekly round-up of interesting links about speculative fiction from around the web, this week with the best (and worst) SFF of 2025, a debate about ethical AI use in writing and publishing and if that's even possible, Masters of the Universe in general, season 2 of Fallout, Avatar: Fire and Ash,  the series finale of Stranger Things, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy and much more.

Speculative fiction in general:

• Reactor shares all the new science fiction books arriving in January 2026 
• Reactor shares all the new fantasy books arriving in January 2026  
• Reactor shares all the new romantasy books arriving in January 2026   
• Reactor shares all the new horror books arriving in January 2026   
• Grimdark Magazine share their most anticipated science fiction, fantasy and horror books for 2026. 
• Natalie Zutter shares 26 science fiction and fantasy books to look forward to in 2026 
• Alex Brown shares their most anticipated YA spculative fiction for January 2026. 
• Ratika Deshpande shares six seriously funny speculative short stories 
• James Davis Nicoll lists five SFF worlds threatened by endless winter 
• Lorna Wallace shares five horror stories about inanimate objects coming to life 
• Ryan Britt lists the eleven most iconic science fiction stories about sleep of all time. 
• Ross Montgomery talks about our enduring obsession with the end of the world 
• Christine Yunn-Yu Sun talks about the politics of translation.
• Evan Amato explains why J.R.R. Tolkien did not like Dune by Frank Herbert. 
• Sylas K. Barrett discusses communication via hand signals in baseball, Dune and The Wheel of Time.  
• Lee Wood shares a health update about Norman Spinrad. 

 

Best (and worst) of 2025:

• The British Fantasy Society share their favourite SFF books of 2025. 
• The Fantasy Hive share their favourite SFF books of 2025. 
• A.C. Wise shares her favourite SFF books of 2025.  
• Roseanna Pendlebury shares her favourite SFF books of 2025. 
• Abigail Nussbaum shares her favourite SFF books of 2025. 
• Gavia Baker-Whitelaw shares her favourite SFF books of 2025. 
• Every Book a Doorway shares her favourite SFF books of 2025. 
• SF Concatenation share their favourite SFF books and films of 2025.
• Fantasy Book Nerd shares their favourite SFF books of 2025.
• Witty and Sarcastic Bookclub shares their favourite SFF books of the 2025.  
• Aquavenatus shares their favourite SFF books of 2025. 

 

Comics and Art:

• Bill Capossere reviews The Mighty Avengers vs. the 1970s by Paul Cornell 
• Bill Capossere reviews Doctor Strange: A Decade of Dark Magic by Stuart Moore
• Isaiah Colbert calls MAD by Yusuke Otori the wildest science fiction manga right now.
• Claude Solnik reports that the New York City Council has approved naming a street after Jack Kirby on the Lower East Side, where he grew up.

 

Film and TV: 

• Megan Navarro lists fifty horror movies she's looking forward to in 2026. 
• Cheryl Eddy looks ahead at SFF TV shows coming out in 2026. 
• Justin Carter takes a look at superhero movies coming out in 2026. 
• Petrana Radulovic lists all the genre TV premieres airing in January 
• Petrana Radulovic lists all the genre movies premiering in January  
• Jesse Hassenger takes a look at science fiction films set in 2026.  
• Germain Lussier takes a look at genre movies that are celebrating notable anniversaries this year. 
• James Whitbrook notes that the season 2 opening of Andor remains one of its best moments. 
• Keith R.A. DeCandido calls the latest Superman film finally, a Superman movie that truly gets Superman...and it’s glorious 
• Benjamin Lee calls We Bury the Dead a slightly smarter-than-average zombie survival movie
• Emmet Asher-Perrin talks about Dust Bunny and fighting for the love you deserve 
• Vanessa Armstrong discusses what the fact that Carol reads The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin says about Pluribus 
• Arturo Serrano declares that Eternity seems to know what it wants to say, but it needs to resort to an absurd scenario for that message to begin to make sense. 
• Lacy Baugher Milas declares that the Anne Rice TV universe needs to get gayer 
• Robert Repino lists some made-for-TV movies that mimicked Hollywood, for better or worse 
• Martin Edwards revisits the 1968 science fiction film Planet of the Apes. 
• Kali Wallace revisits the 1979 dystopian film Mad Max. 
• Scott Monty revisits the 1985 movie Young Sherlock Holmes. 
• Peter Bradshaw revisits the 1986 fantasy film Labyrinth. 
• Lisa Morton revisits the 1997 urban fantasy series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. 
• Keith R.A. De Candido revisits the 1997 Babylon 5 episode “The Exercise of Vital Powers”  
• Dee Jefferson interviews Miranda Otto who plays Eowyn in Lord of the Rings. 
• Amando Tinoco interviews Sarah Michelle Gellar, who is best known for playing the titular character in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. 
• Cheryl Eddy interviews Ric Roman Waugh, director of both Greenland and Greenland 2: Migration. 
• Jack Dunn shares director Guillermo del Toro's comments about the importance of art. 
• Miatta Mbriwa reports that Chloé Zhao, director of Eternals, has said that ‘feminine consciousness’ incompatible with current Hollywood model 
• Sian Cain reports that actress Evangeline Lilly, best known for her appearances in Lost, the Hobbit movies and the Ant-Man movies, has suffered brain damage after experiencing a fall.  
• Beth McMillan explains that "An Unearthly Child", the first Doctor Who serial, is embroiled in a copyright battle between the BBC and the descendants of the writer. 
• Andrew Pulver reports that A Minecraft Movie is the highest grossing film of 2025 in the UK and Ireland. 
• Ramin Zahed takes a look at some animated characters that have become public domain at the beginning of 2026. 
• Mark Sweney reports that Warner Bros Discovery has told investors to reject the takeover bid by Paramount. 
• Benjamin Mullen reports that the US Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which operates NPR and PBS among others, has voted to shut down after the US Congress cut their funding.
• Former child actor Sidney Kibrick, one of the last few survivors of the Our Gang shorts, has died aged 97. 
• Science fiction writer and special effects artist Con Pederson, who is best known for his work on 2001 - A Space Odyssey, has died aged 91. 

Comments on Masters of the Universe in general:

• Colt Crane shares a preview of issue 3 of Masters of the Universe: The Sword of Flaws by Tim Seeley and Freddie Williams II. 
• James Eatock recounts how Orko came close to taking He-Man's Power Sword and the Power of Grayskull for himself in an issue of the Marvel Star Comics. 

 

Comments on Star Trek: Starfleet Academy and Star Trek in general: 

• James Whitbrook calls Starfleet Academy a solid successor to the Star Trek legacy 
• Elijah Gonzales declares that Star Trek: Starfleet Academy boldly goes where many teen dramas have gone before   

 

 

Comments on season 2 of Fallout:

• William Hughes shares his thoughts on the latest episode of Fallout. 
• Matthew Byrd reports that season 2 of Fallout reveals a missing detail in the origin story of the Deathclaws. 

 

Comments on the series finale of Stranger Things (spoilers): 

• Cheryl Eddy declares that the Stranger Things finale really tried to be everything for everyone  
• Judy Berman declares that Stranger Things started as a triumph of trauma bonding and ended as a casualty of the franchise machine 
• Tyler Dean discusses the critical hits and misses of the Stranger Things finale 
• Saloni Gajjar declares that Stranger Things ends with a whimper instead of a bang 
• Stuart Heritage declares that Stranger Things committed TV’s ultimate crime by ending at all. 
• Matt Larkin shares his thoughts on season 5 of Stranger Things. 
• Andrew McGowan shares the moments of the Stranger Things finale that got the biggest reactions during theatrical showings. 
• Germain Lussier discusses whether there were two or three waterfalls in the Stranger Things finale. 
• Katie Campione interviews Matt and Ross Duffer, creators of Stranger Things.
• Kate Arthur interviews Matt and Ross Duffer, creators of Stranger Things. 
• Katie Campione interviews Caleb McLaughlin, who plays Lucas Sinclair in Stranger Things.  
• Justin Carter reports that the 1984 songs “Purple Rain” and “When Doves Cry” by Prince shot up the charts after being played in the Stranger Things finale. 
• Jem Aswad explains how the two Prince songs came to be in Stranger Things and the negotiations involved. 
• Benjie Godhart discusses the "Conformity Gate" conspiracy theory which claims that there is a secret true final episode of Stranger Things and how this belief crashed Netflix.  
• Jennifer Maas reports that the rumoured secret final episode of Stranger Things does not exist. 
• Cheryl Eddy notes that the Stranger Things finale broke Netflix's ratings records, 
• Isaiah Colbert shares some speculations about a planned Stranger Things spin-off. 
• Matthew Byrd shares what to watch after finishing the final season of Stranger Things. 
• Watch Sesame Street parodying Stranger Things. 

 

Comments on Avatar: Fire and Ash: 

• James Whitbrook reports that Avatar: Fire and Ash has already made more than a billion US-dollars worldwide. 
• Ben Child wonders how far James Cameron’s Avatar saga can go after its billion-dollar box office triumph.

 

Awards:

• The finalists for the 2026 Golden Globes have been announced with some love for genre film and TV.
• The winners of the 2026 Critics Choice Awards have been announced. 
• The finalists for the 2026 SAG Actor Awards have been announced. 
• The finalists for the 2026 DGA Awards have been announced. 
• The finalists for the 2026 ADG Awards have been announced. 
• The finalists for the 2026 Annie Awards have been announced. 
• Molly Templeton explains how Hugo voting works,. 
• Mike Glyer shares an update on the status of the remaining 2023 Hugo trophies that still haven't been delivered to the respective winners. 
• Chris Gardner reports about costume designer Colleen Atwood who lost her three Oscars in the Los Angeles wildfires last year. 

 

Writing, publishing and promotion: 

• Gabino Iglesias shares ten ways to turn your writing resolutions into reality
• Elizabeth McCracken shares some tips for writing a novel in 2026. 
• Jenn Lyons talks about building the ecology of an SFF universe 
• Cate Quinn shares some of the strange things she learned for research. 
• John Scalzi reports that Tor Books editor Patrick Nielsen Hayden is retiring after 37 years. 
• Locus also reports about Patrick Nielsen Hayden's retirement from Tor. 
• Sam Spratford reports that both Patrick Nielsen Hayden, editor-at-large, and Linda Quinton, publisher and vice president of Tor Forge Books, have retired. 
• Michael Schaub reports that the state of Utah has added Wicked by Gregory Maguire to the list of books banned from public schools in the state. 
• Natalie op de Beek reports that a lawsuit by the estate of Kurt Vonnegut is challenging Utah's book banning laws. 
• Leah Romero reports that proposed legislation would prohibit book banning in New Mexico public libraries 

 

The Debate about intentional and unintentional AI-use in writing and publishing: 

• Stewart Hotston responds to Erin Underwood's open letter about AI-use in writing and publishing.
• Nancy Jane Moore declares that AI is not inevitable. 

 

Interviews:

• Katie Drummond interviews Margaret Atwood. 
• Jean-Paul Garnier interviews Marie Brennan.
• Betsy Aoki interviews Marie Brennan 
• Arley Sorg interviews Alastair Reynolds. 
• Arley Sorg interviews Nicola Griffiths.  

 

Reviews: 

• Gary K. Wolfe reviews Nine Goblins by T. Kingfisher 
• Judith Tarr reviews Hell's Heart by Alexis Hall. 
• James Davis Nicoll reviews The King Must Die by Kemi Ashing-Giwa 
• Paul Weimer reviews The Gryphon King by Sara Omer 
• Grimdark Magazine reviews The Poet Empress by Shen Tao 
• Paul Weimer reviews Enchanting the Fae Queen by Stephanie Burgis  
• Julia Kitvaria Sarene reviews Wooing the Witch Queen by Stephanie Burgis 
• Julia Kitvaria Sarene reviews Under the Lesser Moon by Shelly Campbell
• Z.B. Steele reviews Ashes of Man by Christopher Ruocchio 
• Rob Bedford reviews Bones of Our Stars, Blood of Our World by Cullen Bunn. 
• Marlene Harris reviews A Ruin Great and Free by Cadwell Turnbull 
• Lesa Holstine reviews The Shop on Hidden Lane by Jayne Ann Krentz   
• Lesa Holstine reviews The Charmed Library by Jennifer Moorman 
• James Davis Nicoll reviews Secrets Of The Silent Witch by Matsuri Isora, translated by Alice Prowse. 
• James Davis Nicoll reviews The Two Doctors Górski by Isaac Fellman 
• Caleb Klaces reviews Arborescence by Rhett Davis  
• Niall Harrison reviews Ice by Jacek Dukaj 
• Ainy Cormac reviews Artificial Truth by J.M. Lee 
• Runalong the Shelves reviews Teenage Girls Can be Demons by Hailey Piper 
• Sandy Ferber reviews Cathedral of Horror and Other Stories by Arthur J. Burks 
• John Mauro reviews Tell Me Yours, I’ll Tell You Mine by Kristina Ten
• Runalong the Shelves reviews Between Worlds - The IF Anthology of New Indian SFF Vol 1, edited by Gautam Bhatia 
• Ann Michelle Harris reviews Will This Be a Problem? The Anthology: Issue V, edited by Somto Ihezue and Olivia Kidula, 
• Toby Litt reviews A Long Game: How to Write Fiction by Elizabeth McCracken 
• Tim Clare reviews The Score by C. Thi Nguyen
  
  

 Classics reviews:

• James Davis Nicoll revisits the 1948 dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell 
• Alan Brown revisits the 1962 children's science fantasy novel A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle. 
• George Pritchard revisits the 1971 science fiction anthology Orbit 8, edited by Damon Knight. 
• Gideon Marcus revisits the Feburary 1971 issue of Galaxy Science Fiction. 
• James Davis Nicoll revisits the 1985 science fiction novel Cuckoo’s Egg by C J Cherryh 
• Alissa Burger revisits the 1992 YA horror trilogy Cheerleaders by R.L. Stine, 
• James Davis Nicoll revisits the 1995 Drake Majistral space opera Rock of Ages by Walter Jon Williams 
• Runalong the Shelves revisits the 1996 historical fantasy novel Declare by Tim Powers. 
• Zachary Gillan revisits the 1997 Well-Built City dystopian novel The Physiognomy by Jeffrey Ford. 
• Gayle Surrette revisits the 2002 Liaden Universe space opera I Dare by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller  
• Dave Hook revisits the 2002 anthology The Hard SF Renaissance, edited by Kathryn Cramer and David G. Hartwell 
• Clara Cohen revisits the 2013 The Rain Wild Chronicles epic fantasy novel Blood of Dragons by Robin Hobb.  
  
  

Con and event reports:

• The 2026 Worldcon in Anaheim, California, has announced Tracey Baptiste as a special guest. 
• David K. Li reports about an accident involving a giant boulder during the “Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular” performance at Disney World in Orlando, Florida.
• James Whitbrook also reports about the giant boulder accident at Disney World. 

 

Science and technology:

• Aaron Leong reports that astronomers have spotted a rogue planet the size of Saturn hurtling through space 
• Denise Chow reports that NASA has lost contact with the MAVEN space probe that is orbiting Mars.   
• Passant Rabie lists the asteroids that would be profitable to mine,
• James Davis Nicoll explains where to look for evidence of alien visitors to our solar system 
• With regard to AI, Jow Stech points out that intelligence is a landscape, not a ladder
   

Gaming: 

• C.T. Phipps recommends eight Lovecraftian games.
• Phil Hoad interviews some of the designers of the 1989 vidoe game Prince of Persia. 

 

Toys and collectibles:

• The DorkLair shares his ten favourite action figures of 2025.
• Pixel Dan reviews the Frazetta Universe 5.5 inch Conan, John Carter and Death Dealer action figures. 
• Billy Beige Customs reviews the Xesray Studios Gold Hildr action figure. 
• James Whitbrook takes a look at the Hot Toys Absolute Batman action figure. 
• James Whitbrook takes a look at some new "smart" LEGO Star Wars sets and explains why they are controversial. 
• Chris Bryant reports that a New York congressman has asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate Collectors Universe for their alleged monopoly on trading card grading. 
• Cora Buhlert shares a toy photo story called "Nutcracker versus Mouse King: The Legendary Battle" 

 

Free online fiction: 

• "The (Mis)Fortunes of Saint Ilia’s School for Gifted Girls, In No Particular Order" by Catherine Tavares in The Dark.
• "Brokeheart’ GPT” or “A Superintelligent Being Reads Pat Rosal" by Micaiah Johnson in The Sunday Morning Transport. 
• "Choose Your Own Damnation" by Kehkashan Khalid in Lightspeed.  
• "Mother’s Hip" by Corey Jae White and Maddison Stoff in Lightspeed.  
• "The Stars You Can't See by Looking Directly" by Samantha Murray in Clarkesworld 
• "Down We Go Gently" by M. L. Clark in Clarkesworld.
• "Be My Horse, Ride the Cowboy" by Christopher Caldwell in Uncanny Magazine 
• "Iron Phantom" by Bader M. Alsadeqi in Swords and Sorcery Magazine. 
• "The Stone’s Choice" by Anaea Lay in Beneath Ceaseless Skies.
• "Sing" by Jules Bly in Beneath Ceaseless Skies. 
• "The Tailors" by Kurt Fawver in Nightmare Magazine.  

 

Trailers and videos:

• Watch yet another teaser for Avengers: Doomsday. 
• Watch a trailer for the latest attempt to revive The Muppets Show.
• Watch a trailer for The Death of Robin Hood. 
• Watch a trailer for They Will Kill You.
• Watch a trailer for Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die. 
• Watch a trailer for Greenland 2: Migration. 
• Watch The Ballad of Squen and Cragg, a Magic the Gathering promotional film produced by the Jim Henson Company.