Speculative Fiction Links of the Week for March 6, 2026

 

It's time for the latest weekly round-up of interesting links about speculative fiction from around the web, this week with the upcoming Masters of the Universe live action film and Masters of the Universe in general, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy and Star Trek in general, The Bride, the final season of Outlander, In the Blink of an Eye, War Machine, Hoppers, Scream 7, the battle for Warner Bros, a scandal at the BAFTA Awards, tributes to Dan Simmons and much more.

Speculative fiction in general:

• Cheryl Eddy shares 86 new science fiction, fantasy and horror books arriving in March 
• Reactor shares all the new science fiction books arriving in March 2026 
• Reactor shares all the new fantasy books arriving in March 2026 
• Reactor shares all the new romantasy books arriving in March 2026 
• Reactor shares all the new horror books arriving in March 2026   
• Reactor shares all the new SFF crossover books arriving in March 2026  
• Reactor shares all the new young adult SFF books arriving in March 2026    
• Alex Brown shares their most anticipated Young Adult SFF for March and April 2026 
• Ada Palmer explains why all science fiction and fantasy writers are also historians. 
• Rachel Griffin shares five SFF books that pair heavy topics with a heap of whimsy
• James Davis Nicoll lists four times familiar characters faced nuclear armageddon
• Sam Reader shares six standalone werewolf novels to unleash the beast within 
• Christopher Lockett shares a brief history of Gremlins. 
• Molly Odintz lists crime novels about crows and related birds.   
• Lauren J. Joseph discusses the current popularity of doppelgangers in fiction and film.
• Alissa Burger talks about the tendency of characters to fall or be shoved from cliffs in 1990s YA horror novels. 
• Tasha L. Harrison talks about the connection between the rise of the bodice-ripper in the 1970s, the current popularity of dark romance and US evangelical purity culture. 
• Jennifer Sklias-Gahan talks about gothic fiction and the magic of storytelling
• Andrea Asuaje and Charlie Desjardins talk about romantic fanfiction.  
• Molly Templeton asks if you can ever really draw a line between genres and if it matters.  
• Marissa Levien explains what we lose when we gamify reading 
• Catherine Shoard wonders why today’s children’s books and films are often so much better than adult ones. 
• Judith Tarr shares her appreciation for the Dungeon Crawler Carl series by Matt Dinniman. 
• Samantha Mills talks about Lord of the Rings and bittersweet endings. 
• SFF writer and fan M.R. “Hilde” Hildebrand has died aged 80.

 

Tributes to Dan Simmons:

• Science fiction writer Dan Simmons died aged 77.
• Eric Berger shares a tribute to Dan Simmons and his most famous novel Hyperion. 
• Locus remembers Dan Simmons. 
• Sian Cain remembers Dan Simmons. 

  

Comics and Art:

• James Davis Nicoll reviews "Rerolled", volume 2 of The Last Session, by Jasmine Walls and Dozerdraws  
• Stew Hotston reviews The One Hand and the Six Fingers by Ram V and others. 
• Brian Cronin looks back at DC Comics 1951 science fiction comic Mystery in Space.  
• Jim Beard revisits the 1963 Batman comic “Robin Dies at Dawn!”, written by Bill Finger and illustrated by Sheldon Moldoff and Charles Paris. 
• Kris Vyas-Myall takes a look at British science fiction comics from 1971. 
• Fan artist Grant Canfield has died aged 80.

 

Film and TV:

• Isaiah Colbert declares that the animated science fiction film Mars Express is phenomenal because it remembers what cyberpunk actually means 
• Phil Hoad calls Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid: A Lonely Dragon Wants to Be Loved a visually stunning dimension hopping anime. 
• Ann Lee explains why Frankenstein should win the best picture Oscar  
• Steve Rose explains why Sinners should win the best picture Oscar
•  Josh Pearce reviews Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die  
• Matthew Byrd calls Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie a science fiction comedy in disguise. 
• Leslie Felperin calls Worldbreaker a father-daughter science fiction survival drama 
• Chris Garcia declares that Anwar made him feel like intelligent and emotionally complex science fiction was alive and well 
• Phil Hoad calls Obex an inventive retro gaming tribute with surreal Lynchian vibes  
• Leslie Felperin calls Dolly a gory, trope-filled horror film.
• Catherine Bray calls Play Dead an intriguing high-concept horror thriller
• Saloni Gajjar shares her thoughts on the latest episode of Paradise.  
• Matt Larkin shares his thoughts on the fantasy series Tale of the Nine Tailed 
• Shealynn Scitt shares ten cyberpunk TV shows that she considers masterpieces 
• Readers of The Guardian share their favourite TV couples. 
• Isaiah Colbert ranks all members of the Strawhat Pirates from One Piece. 
• Jim Halterman interviews Vince Gilligan and Frank Spotnitz, co-creators of the shortlived 2001 TV show The Lone Gunmen. 
• Germain Lussier interviews Ryan Gosling, star of Barbie, Project Hail Mary, Star Wars:Starfighter, Blade Runner 2049 and many others.  
• Emma John interviews Claire Foy and Andrew Garfield, stars of The Magic Faraway Tree
• Borys Kit interviews Jason Blum, CEO of the horror film studio Blumhouse. 
• Kali Wallace revisits the 1929 science fiction film Woman in the Moon 
• Fiona Moore revisits the 1971 horror film Lust for a Vampire. 
• Amber Dubin revisits the 1971 Night Gallery episodes "The House" and "Certain Shadows on the Wall"  
• Zack Handlen revisits the 1989 Quantum Leap episodes "Star-Crossed" and "The Right Hand Of God." 
• Keith R.A. DeCandido revisits the 1998 Babylon 5 episode “No Compromises” 
• Martin Edwards revisits the 2009 science fiction film Moon. 
• Ben Child declares that a Spider-Man Universe without Spider-Man is completely pointless.and wonders why Sony won't include him.  
• Justin Carter is surprised that Rotta the Hutt, son of Jabba, will appear in The Mandalorian and Grogu. 
• Neely Tucker reports that the 1897 science fiction film "Gugusse et l'Automate" by George Méliès has been rediscovered by the Library of Congress in Washington DC. 
• Matt Schimkowitz reports that actor Bruce Campbell, star of the Evil Dead films, The Adventures of Brisco County Jr, Herculas, Xena, Burn Notice and many others, has been diagnosed with a treatable but not curable cancer. 
• Ryan Gilbey shares an obituary for Robert Carradine. 

 

Comments on Masters of the Universe in general:

• He-Mania interviews Mackenzi Lee, author of the Masters of the Universe tie-in novel Teela: Daughter of Eternos.  
• Rob McCallum explains the origins of the Mythic Wall separating the dark and light sides of Eternia as seen in various incarnations of Masters of the Universe.
• Michael Halperin, who wrote the series bible for the He-Man and the Masters of the Universe cartoon, has died aged 91. 

 

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

• Keith R.A. DeCandido shares his thoughts on “300th Night”, the latest episode of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy.  
• James Whitbrook shares his thoughts on “300th Night”, the latest episode of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy.  
• Camestros Felapton shares his thoughts on "The Life of the Stars”, the latest episode of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy.   
• Meredith Jacobs interviews Nora Landau, producer of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, as well as writer and co-creator Gaia Violo and Mary Wiseman, who plays Sylvia Tilly. 
• Richard Edwards wonders whether Nus Braka's weapon in the latest Starfleet Academy episode "300th Night" is a Galaxy Quest in-joke.

 

Comments on A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: 

• Tom Beasley reports that a review bombing and rankings war has broken out among fans of Breaking Bad and A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.
• Inspired by the rankings war between fans of Breaking Bad and A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, Sacha Judd talks about review bombing and how an obsession with rankings can ruin one's love for a movie or TV show.   
• Ben Child wonders how audience will react to the planned Game of Thrones movie focussed on the Targaryen family. 
• Watch a blooper reel of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. 

 

Comments on The Bride!:

• Luke Hicks calls The Bride! a bold, bloody, feminist Frankenstein freakout 
• Peter Bradshaw calls The Bride! a darkly comic and gleefully bizarre reimagining of the 1935 film
• Cheryl Eddy calls The Bride! a violent, wildly energetic horror romance. 
• Jim Vorel revisits the 1985 version of The Bride and calls it a take on My Fair Lady weirdly uninterested in its title character. 

 

 

Comments on In the Blink of an Eye:

• Jesse Hassenger calls In The Blink Of An Eye a discount Cloud Atlas without Tom Hanks
• Arturo Serrano also unfavourably compares In the Blink of an Eye to Cloud Atlas. 
• Rory Doherty reports that In The Blink Of An Eye is not the first preachy live-action science fiction misfire from a Pixar director. 

 

Comments on the final season of Outlander:

• Hunter Ingram declares that Outlander's final season gets off to a promising, characteristically busy start
• Natalie Zutter discusses the changes of the Outlander theme song.  
• Vanessa Armstrong interviews Matthew B. Roberts and Maril Davis, showrunner and executive producer of Outlander.  
• Vanessa Armstrong interviews Sophie Skelton and Richard Rankin who play Brianna and Roger in Outlander.  

  

Comments on War Machine:

• Benjamin Lee declares that War Machine bravely asks: what if Predator but Transformers?  
• Caroline Siede calls War Machine proudly, almost guilelessly old-fashioned. 

 

Comments on Hoppers: 

• Peter Bradshaw calls Hoppers a fun animated film about a teen trying to talk to the animals and save them from an evil developer  
• Jesse Hassenger declares that Hoppers is a reminder of how good and weird Pixar can be when it aims small
• Germain Lussier declares that Hoppers is easily one of Pixar’s funniest, darkest and best movies in years 
• Reuben Baron calls Hoppers a brilliantly silly ecological adventure
• Bill Bria interviews Daniel Cong, director of Hoppers. 

 

Comments on Scream 7: 

• Germain Lussier declares that Scream 7 is so bad it’s hard to know where to start. 
• In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel calls Scream 7 a lot of messy fun 
• Germain Lussier discusses the ending of Scream 7 and whether it makes any sense at all. 
• Matthew Byrd recounts the many controversies haunting Scream 7.
• Matt Schimkowitz declares that for all its zeitgeist-chasing references, Scream still can't get a handle on the modern slasher film's relationship to true crime. 
• Nick Romano interviews outsted Scream 7 writers/directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett about their plans for the film. 
• Cheryl Eddy reports about yet another controversy besetting Scream 7. 
• Drew Gillis reports that despite boycott threats, Scream 7 has achieved a record-breaking opening at the weekend box office
• Germain Lussier reports that Scream 7 broke franchise box office records despite earning franchise-worst reviews   

 

Comments on the battle for Warner Bros: 

• Rick Ellis shares a look behind the scenes of Netflix's decision to drop their bid for Warner Bros.  
• Lucas Shaw interviews Ted Sarandos, CEO of Netflix, about pulling out of the bidding war for Warner Bros. 
• Matt Schimkowitz reports that the much hated Warner Bros CEO David Zaslav reaps even more benefits of the Paramount offer to Warner Bros by unloading $114 million of Warner Bros stock 
• Cheryl Eddy reports that the California Attorney General may still block Paramount's acquisition of Warner Bros for regulatory reasons.

 

Awards:

• The shortlist for the 2016 BSFA Awards has been announced.  
• The shortlist for the 2026 Robert E. Howard Awards has been announced. 
• The finalists for the 2026 Kurd Laßwitz Preis have been announced. 
• The finalists for the 2025 Ursa Major Awards have been announced.
• The finalists for the 2026 Rhysling Awards have been announced.   
• The winners of the 2026 FAAn Awards have been announced.
• The winner of the Must Read Books Award For Undergraduate Excellence in Science Fiction and Fantasy Writing has been announced  
• The longlist for the 2026 Women’s Prize for Fiction has been announced.  
• The winners of the 2026 Libby Awards have been announced. 
• The winners of the 2026 Actor Awards have been announced 
• The winners of the 2026 PGA Awards have been announced. 
• The winners of the 2025 International Film Music Critics Association Awards have been announced

 

Comments on the scandal at the BAFTA Awards ceremony:

• Andrew Pulver reports that Wummi Mosaku, one of the stars of Sinners, felt that her BAFTA win was tainted by hearing the n-word, though she blames not Tourette syndrome activist John Davidson for involuntarily saying it, but the BBC for not editing it out.
• Andrew Pulver shares the reaction of Delroy Lindo, one of the stars of Sinners, to hearing slurs aimed at him at the BAFTA Awards.  
• Catherine Shoard reports that BAFTA Awards host Alan Cumming has criticised the BBC for ‘broadcasting slurs and censoring free speech’ 
• Readers of The Guardian discuss what the BAFTA Awards n-word controversy revealed about disability and race 
• Shania Russell reports that the activist group Tourette Action has condemned the comedy show Saturday Night Live for mocking John Davidson and people with Tourette syndrome over the BAFTA incident. 

 

 

Writing, publishing and promotion: 

• Tracy Maton talks about writing what you love  
• James Rollins talks about crafting characters that readers will care deeply about. 
• Linda Joffe Hull and Keir Graff talk about co-writing. 
• Gin Phillips talks about researching her latest novel.
• Gin Phillips talks about research some more. 
• Dan Barry talks about the glut of scams aimed at writers. 
• Jackson Chen reports that the US Supreme Court has rejected a case regarding whether AI generated art can be copyrighted. 
• Nathalie op de Beek reports that employees of the American Library Association have announced plans to form a union.

 

Interviews:

• Arley Sorg interviews Rebecca Roanhorse. 
• Will McClelland interviews Christopher Buehlman. 
• Emma Loffhagen interviews Malorie Blackman. 
• Alex Puncekar interviews Oliver Brackenbury.
• Arley Sorg interviews J.M. Siderova. 
• Scott Edelman interviews Liz Gorinsky. 

 

Reviews: 

• Marlene Harris reviews At Star’s End by Anna Hackett  
• Fiona Sturges reviews The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley  
• Paul Di Filippo reviews Halcyon Days by Alastair Reynolds 
• Gary K. Wolfe reviews The Mills of the Gods by Tim Powers 
• James Davis Nicoll reviews Hell’s Heart by Alexis Hall  
• Mark Yon reviews Jitterbug by Garath L. Powell. 
• Julia Kitvaria Sarene reviews Soulstar by C.L. Polk 
• Roseanna Pendlebury reviews The Iron Garden Sutra by A. D. Sui 
• Julia Kitvaria Sarene reviews Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky 
• Paul Di Filippo reviews For We Are Many by Dennis E. Taylor  
• Julia Kitvaria Sarene reviews Mumbai Singularity by Nym Coy  
• Jared Shurin reviews Half City by Kate Golden 
• Alasdair Stuart reviews Mystery of the Midnight Cartographers by Barry Nugent  
• Runalong the Shelves reviews Mystery of the Midnight Cartographers by Barry Nugent 
• Colleen Mondor reviews Sundown Girls by L.S. Stratton 
• Paul Weimer reviews Green and Deadly Things by Jenn Lyons 
• Esmay Rosalyne reviews Green and Deadly Things by Jenn Lyons 
• Mark Yon reviews Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlmann. 
• Runalong the Shelves reviews The Gods Must Burn by T.R. Moore 
• Marlene Harris reviews Snake-Eater by T. Kingfisher 
• Nils Shukla reviews The Magician of Tiger Castle by Louis Sachar
• Marlene Harris reviews Monster in the Moonlight by Annelise Ryan 
• Robin Marx reviews Against the Demon World by D.M. Ritzlin 
• Liz Bourke reviews The Lore of Silver by Ruth Francis Long 
• Mahvesh Murad reviews The Glowing Hours by Leila Siddiqui 
• Lesa Holstine reviews The Witching Hours by Heather Graham  
• Grimdark Magazine reviews Wild Reverence by Rebecca Ross 
• Bill Capossere reviews The Red Winter by Cameron Sullivan 
• Stew Hotston reviews The Salt Oracle by Lorraine Wilson 
• Raven Crime Reads reviews Catherine by Essie Fox. 
• Rob Bedford reviews The Body by Bethany C. Morrow. 
• Maya Gittelman reviews The Body by Bethany C. Morrow.  
• Joe Sherry reviews Overgrowth by Mira Grant and Aunt Tigress by Emily Yu-Xuan Qin 
• Abergale Shep reviews Something in the Walls by Daisy Pearce 
• Gabino Iglesias reviews Darker Days by Thomas Olde Heuvelt
• Bill Capossere reviews Vigil by George Saunders  
• Sonja van der Westhuizen reviews Holy Boy by Lee Heejoo, translated by Joheun Lee.   
• Nina Allan reviews The Quantity Theory of Morality by Will Self  
• Niall Harrison reviews If We Cannot Go at the Speed of Light by Kim Choyeop, translated by Anton Hur.
• James Davis Nicoll reviews I’m Waiting for You And Other Stories by Kim Bo-Young, translated by Sung Ryu and Sophie Bowmany   
• Ian Mond reviews Tell Me Yours, I’ll Tell You Mine by Kristina Ten
• Alexandra Pierce reviwws The Year’s Best Science Fiction on Earth 3, edited by Allan Kaster
  
  

 Classics reviews:

• James Davis Nicoll revisits the 1953 science fiction novel The Paradox Men by Charles L. Harness 
• Alan Brown revisits the 1961 Kaiju serial The Luminous Fairies and Mothra by Shin’ichirō Nakamura, Takehiko Fukunaga and Yoshie Hotta
• Cat Eldridge revisits the 1965 children's fantasy novel Elidor by Alan Garner 
• Gideon Marcus revisits the March 1971 issue of Analog. 
• James Davis Nicoll revisits the 1979 hard science fiction novel The Ringworld Engineers by Larry Niven 
• Eddie Clark revisits the 1992 science fiction novel China Mountain Zhang by Maureen F. McHugh.
• James Davis Nicoll revisits the 1993 science fiction novel Heavy Time by C. J. Cherryh
• Clara Cohen revisits the 2015 epic fantasy novel Fool's Quest by Robin Hobb.
   

Con and event reports:

• Matt Schimkowitz shares the line-up for the Beyond Chicago film festival in Chicago, Illinois. 
• Andy Hageman reports about a visit to the Stephen King Archive in Bangor, Maine.
• Emma Loffhagen reports that Amazon has pulled its sponsorship from the Paris Book Festival in Paris, France, after the French booksellers association Syndicat de la Librairie Française accused the online retailer of trying to ‘flood the market with fake AI-generated books 

 

 

Science and technology:

• Ed Pilkington reports that NASA has announced that the Artemis III mission no longer aims to send humans to Moon
• Brendan Byrne also reports about NASA changing the Artemis Moon mission program and postponing a planned astronaut landing  
• Joe Paica explains why NASA lost their Lunar Trailblazer probe on day after launch. 
• Eric Berger reports that the US Congress has voted to extend the life of the International Space Station. 
• Margherita Bassi reports that a new hypothesis about Saturn’s history might explain its iconic rings and some of its odd moons

 

Gaming: 

• Keith Stuart lists five of the most interesting upcoming indie games 
• James Whitbrook reports that World of Warcraft has just upgraded Silvermoon City for the first time in twenty years and now it’s perfect 

 

Toys and collectibles:

• Still a Big Kid reviews the Mattel Masters of the Universe Masterverse New Etheria She-Ra action figure 
• Zach Oat reviews the Mattel Masters of the Universe Chronicles Tri-Klops action figure 
• James Whitbrook shares a look at LEGO sets coming out in March.

 

Free online fiction: 

• "Eat, Prey, Love: A Modest Proposal for Ensuring Gender Equality Through Selective Dietary Practices; or, a Geriatric Millennial’s Guide to #GirlDinner" by Jilly Dreadful in Lightspeed  
• "The Devourers of War; or, An Excerpt from the Cookbook of the Gods" by Oluwatomiwa Ajeigbe in Lightspeed.  
• "Bend Like the Palm" by David D. Levine in Clarkesworld. 
• "Crosstalk, Elysium" by Carolyn Zhao in Clarkesworld. 
• "Where the Dream Train Goes, Part 1" by Jason Sanford in Beneath Ceaseless Skies.
• "The Ugly House" by Bianca Carvalho in The Dark. 
• "Will the Last One to Leave Please Turn Out the Lights?" by Gordon B. White in Nightmare Magazine. 
• "What Would Akanda Do?" by Samit Basu in Future Tense Fiction.
• "A Very Good Dog" by William Adcock in Swords and Sorcery Magazine. 
• "Chimera" by Anjali Sachdeva in Uncanny Magazine 

 

Trailers and videos:

• Watch a trailer for the live action One Piece.
• Watch a trailer for Lanterns. 
• Watch a trailer for The Testaments. 
• Watch a trailer for Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice 
• Watch a trailer for the final season of The Boys. 
• Watch a trailer for the latest incarnation of Scary Movie.