It's time for another somewhat truncated weekly round-up of interesting links about speculative fiction from around the web, this week with WorldCon 77, the fallout between Marvel and Sony over Spider-Man, the renaming of the Campbell Award. the Disney+ streaming service and much more.
Speculative fiction in general:
- Nerds of a Feather hold a roundtable discussing their favourite speculative fiction of the year so far.
- James Davis Nicoll shares science fiction and fantasy books where violence is not the solution.
- Font Folly wonders when Cyberpunk began as a subgenre and whether it is much older than we thought.
- Alix Nathan talks about subterranean fiction.
- Sam Reader shares six metafictional horror books that dissect the genre.
- Lisa Kröger and Melanie R. Anderson share five haunted house books written by women.
- Tim Grierson and Will Leitch shares the five best schools in science fiction and fantasy.
- Tor.com shares the best birds from science fiction and fantasy.
- Emily Wenstrom shares eight lesser known works by Ray Bradbury.
- Emily Temple shares eleven writers' thoughts about the legacy of Shirley Jackson.
- Evan Urquhart points out that Gamergate never died, but that the people who made up the harassment movement are still there.
- Anthony Gramuglia reports how alt-right affiliated movements such as GamerGate, ComicsGate, IStandWithVic, etc... harrass and dox those who disagree with them.
Film and TV:
- Laurie Penny explains how fanfiction and the internet have influenced storytelling particularly in film and TV.
- Glen Weldon shares his thoughts on the horror comedy Ready or Not.
- Ryan Britt lists six Doctor Who aliens that would be great for season 12 and three that wouldn't.
- Jessica Holmes revisits the 1964 Doctor Who serial "The Reign of Terror".
- Alex Taylor wonders whether it is possible to modernise James Bond.
- Jason Kottke reports about the Nigerian amateur film group The Critics Company who are making remarkably professional looking short SFF films.
- The BBC reports that Avengers: Endgame has also broken the digital download record.
- Aaron Couch reports that Marvel has announced three new live action TV shows to air on the Disney+ streaming channel.
- Lesley Goldberg offers a comprehensive guide to all programming on the new Disney+ streaming service.
Comments on the fallout between Disney/Marvel and Sony over Spider-Man:
- Borys Kit reports about the fallout between Disney/Marvel and Sony about the Spider-Man movies.
- Richard Newby declares that the fallout between Disney/Marvel and Sony about Spider-Man shows the ugly side of fandom.
- Devan Coggan interviews Tom Holland and Kevin Feige, star and producer of the Marvel/Sony Spider-Man films.
- Josh Weiss shares star Tom Holland's remarks about the next Spider-Man film.
- Jennifer Bisset reports that some Spider-Man fans are planning to storm Sony's offices in outrage over the fallout between Marvel and Sony.
Awards:
- The winners of the 2019 Silver Falchion Awards have been announced.
- The winner of the 2019 Munsey Award has been announced.
- The winners of the 2019 Prix Rosny Aîné have been announced.
- The winners of the 2019 ESFS Awards have been announced.
- The winner of the 2019 Big Heart Award has been announced.
- The nominees for the 2019 Pegasus Awards have been announced.
- The nominees for the 2019 Ringo Awards have been announced.
- Adri Joy and Joe Sherry discuss the 2019 Hugo Awards.
Comments on the Campbell a.k.a. Astounding Award:
- Rachel Cheung reports about Jeanette Ng's remarks about John W. Campbell and the Campbell Award.
- Inspired by Jeanette Ng's remarks about John W. Campbell, Steve Davidson asks whether John W. Campbell was a fascist.
- John Scalzi weighs in on Jeanette Ng's comments about John W. Campbell and the Campbell Award.
- Cory Doctorow weighs in on Jeanette Ng's comments about John W. Campbell.
- Camestros Felapton weighs in on Larry Correia's reaction to Cory Doctorow's reaction to Jeannette Ng's comments.
- Trevor Quachri, editor of Analog Science Fiction and Fact, announces that the Campbell Award will be renamed the Astounding Award for Best New Writer.
- Camestros Felapton shares Brad Torgersen's reaction to the Campbell Award name change.
- Camestros Felapton also reports that Vox Day has reported science fiction dead, now that the Campbell Award will be renamed.
- Steve Davidson weighs in on the Campbell Award name change.
Writing, publishing and promotion:
- Janice Hardy talks about setting the right tone for your novel.
- Evan Ramzipoor talks about balancing writing and your day job.
- Timothy the Talking Cat shares his thoughts on writing.
- Angela Slatter explains how to deal with rejection as a writer.
- Kristine Kathryn Rusch talks about time management for writers.
- Kristine Kathryn Rusch talks about licensing for writers and making decisions.
Interviews:
- John Plotz interviews Samuel R. Delany.
- Christian A. Coleman interviews Silvia Moreno-Garcia.
- Paul Weimer interviews Rhett J. Evans.
- Gordon B. White interviews Nathan Ballingrud.
- Ali Karim interviews Gareth Rubin.
Reviews:
- Corrina Lawson reviews Shrouded Loyalties by Reese Hogan.
- Liz Bourke reviews Five Unicorn Flush by T.J. Berry.
- Maria Haskins reviews Meet Me in the Future by Kameron Hurley.
- Silvia Moreno-Garcia reviews Automatic Eve by Rokoru Inui, translated by Matt Treyvaud.
- Ceridwen Christensen reviews Do You Dream of Terra-Two? by Temi Oh.
- Silvia Moreno-Garcia reviews The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa.
- Adrienne Martini reviews Longer by Michael Blumlein.
- Gary K. Wolfe reviews Unraveling by Karen Lord.
- Tobias Carroll reviews Last Ones Left Alive by Sarah Davis-Goff.
- Gary K. Wolfe reviews Song for the Unraveling of the World by Brian Evenson.
- Liz Bourke reviews Brightfall by Jaime Lee Moyer.
- Ian Mond reviews The Laws of the Skies by Grégoire Courtois, translated by Rhonda Mullins.
- Paul Di Filippo reviews The Girl with the Kaleidoscope Eyes by Howard V. Hendrix.
Classics reviews:
- Paul Fraser revisits the November 1954 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.
- Alan Brown revisits the 1957 science fiction novel Citizen of the Galaxy by Robert A. Heinlein.
- Victoria Silverwolf revisits the September 1964 issue of Fantastic.
- Mark Yon revisits the September/October 1964 issue of New Worlds.
- Will Errickson revisits the 1967 horror novel Unholy Trinity by Ray Russell.
- Olman Feelyus revisits the 1977 children's fantasy novel Silver on the Tree by Susan Cooper.
- Leah Schnelbach revisits the 1986 horror novel It by Stephen King.
Crowdfunding:
- Science fiction writer Mike Resnick needs some help with his medical expenses.
- Pulphouse Fiction Magazine is running a subscription drive.
Con and event reports:
- Chris M. Barkley shares his experiences of WorldCon 77 in Dublin, Ireland.
- Cheryl Morgan reports about the three-way bidding race for the 2023 WorldCon.
- Mike Glyer reports about the unveiling of a statue of Ray Bradbury in front of the Waukegan Public Library in Waukegan, Illinois.
- John Squires reports that several of Ray Harryhausen's iconic creatures have been restored for an exhibition in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Science and technology:
- The BBC reports that Russia has launched a lifesized humanoid robot named Fedor to the ISS.
- Jonathan Amos reports that the assembly of the Rosalind Franklin Mars rover has been completed.
- Jonathan Amos reports about the successful test flight of SpaceX's Starhopper testbed.
- Caroline Kelly reports that astronaut Anne McClain has been accused of illegally accessing the bank account of her estranged wife while aboard the ISS.
- Adam Mann reports that scientists are planning to build a real life version of the Enterprise's lifeform scanner.
- Kaye Dee reports about satellite technology from a 1964 POV.
- The BBC reports about the Bielefeld conspiracy.
Free online fiction:
- "Calved" by Sam J. Miller in Lightspeed.
- "No Matter" by Kendra Fortmeyer in Lightspeed.
- "Card Sharp" by Rajan Khanna in Lightspeed.
- "A Leash of Foxes, Their Stories Like Barter" by Cassandra Khaw in Lightspeed.
- "Signal" by L.D. Lewis in Fireside Magazine
- "The Word-Made Flash" by Richard Gavin in Nightmare Magazine.
- "The City That Never Sleeps" by Walter Simons at Tor.com.
- "What the Dead Man Said" by Chinelo Onwualu in Slate: Future Tense.
Odds and ends:
