It's time for the latest weekly round-up of interesting links about speculative fiction from around the web, this week with problems at DC Comics and the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, Star Trek: Lower Decks and the various other iterations of Star Trek, Lovecraft Country, Project Power and much more.
Speculative fiction in general:
- Eric Brown shares the rest recent science fiction, fantasy and horror novels.
- Adam Roberts attempts to define science fiction.
- James Davis Nicoll shares six works that straddle the line between fantasy and science fiction.
- Inspired by the discussion about the science fiction canon, Doris V. Sutherland wonders whether there is a horror cannon.
- Ferrett Steinmetz shares eight science fiction novels that get programming right.
- Meghan Ball shares five SFF novels that deserve great soundtracks.
- Alexandra Alter reports about indigenous speculative fiction.
- Jonathan E. Hernandez celebrates the humorous science fiction of Latino authors.
- Silvia Moreno-Garcia and Lavie Tidhar recommend their favourite fantasy noir novels.
- John Scalzi responds to people who blame him for the state of science fiction.
- Tobias Carroll shares his appreciation for the SFF crime novels of Jeff Noon.
- Robert J. Sawyer points out that we're all living in a science fiction novel now.
- Jessica Murray reports that Jessica Johnson, a student who won the Orwell Prize for Youth Fiction for her dystopian tale about biased algorithms, suddenly finds herself affected by what she described in her story.
- David Brin notes some similaities between the current fight between Donald Trump and the US Postal Service and his novel The Postman.
- David Brin also shares some practical tips for saving the US postal service.
- Petra Mayer reminds us that George Orwell's 1945 fable Animal Farm almost wasn't published.
- Sylas K. Barrett talks about the problem of strict gender binary in The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson.
- Leah Schnelbach finds unexpected Catholic content in Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir.
- Rachel Ayers takes a look at modern retellings of the fairytale "The Wild Swans".
- Lavie Tidhar asks who owns the legend of King Arthur.
- Margaret Owen talks about the flawed fantasy of the chosen one.
- Kathleen Rooney shares her favourite non-human narrators.
- Jason Ray Carney weighs in on the Flashing Swords 6 controversy.
- Ivan Brunetti talks about comics as a place.
- Marvel Comics announces Marvel's Voices: Indigenous Voices No. 1, a comic anthology featuring indigenous Marvel superheroes by indigenous creators.
- Graeme McMillan reports on the future of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund after the resignation of executive director Charles Brownstein over sexual harrassment allegations.
- Calvin Reid reports that Jeff Trexler has been named interim executive director of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund
Comments on the problems at DC Comics:
- Following the news of massive layoffs at DC Comics, Gavia Baker-Whitelaw wonders whether AT&T, owner of DC's parent company Warner Media, even cares about comics at all.
- Borys Kit interviews Jim Lee, publisher of DC Comics, about the recent layoffs.
Film and TV:
- Shannon Miller declares that Peninsula, the sequel to Train to Busan, is all zombie spectacle and no heart.
- Laura Pohl talks about Brazilian identity and resistance in the SFF movie Bacurau.
- Peter Bradshaw calls the latest version of Pinocchio statisfyingly bizarre.
- Nosheen Iqbal reports that the Zoom horror movie Host has Hollywood quivering.
- Carrie Vaughn shares her thoughts on Upload.
- Ignatiy Vishnevetsky calls Tesla a quirky biopic and noble failure.
- Cora Buhlert revisits the 1965 science fiction thrillers Again, the Ringer and The Face of Fu Manchu.
- Miles Surrey revisits the 1997 science fiction horror film Event Horizon.
- Clark Collis interviews director Rachel Talalay for the 25th anniversary of Tank Girl.
- Gavia Baker-Whitelaw revisits the 2010 comic book movie Scott Pilgrim vs. the World for its tenth anniversary.
- Katie Rife and A.A. Dowd discuss Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy.
- Leah Schnelbach shares her favourite devils in SFF movies.
- Samuel R. Murrian ranks his fifty favourite vampire movies of all time.
- Peter Clines talks about B-movies and their various golden ages.
- Stuart Heritage interviews Tom Ellis, star of Lucifer.
- Aaron Couch interviews Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni, showrunners of The Mandalorian.
- Kirsten Chuba interviews Bruce Miller, showrunner of The Handmaid's Tale.
- Jennifer Vineyard interviews Maurissa Tanchareon and Jed Whedon, showrunners of Agents of SHIELD.
- Amy Spencer interviews Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter, the stars of Bill and Ted Face the Music.
- Stuart Heritage reports about a rumour that Tom Cruise does not want other actors to run beside him on screen.
- Rebecca Davis reports that Chinese film authorities have issued some official guidelines for science fiction films made in China.
- Leena Tailor reports how new corona virus infections have impacted Hollywood movies shooting in New Zealand.
- Steve Rose wonders why Warner Bros is still making the Fantastic Beasts movies, considering how beset with problems they have been.
- The Guardian reports how Donald Trump's campaign adviser Jenna Ellis got into a spat with Marge Simpson from the longrunning animated series The Simpsons.
- Anthony d'Alessandro reports that Ben Affleck will be returning as Batman in The Flash and that Michael Keaton will be appearing as the Dark Knight.
- Justin Kroll reports that Olivia Wilde will be directing an unnamed female-centered Marvel superheroine movie, most likely Spider-Woman.
Comments on Star Trek: Lower Decks and Star Trek in general:
- Keith R.A. DeCandido revisits "Temporal Edict", the latest episode of Star Trek: Lower Decks.
- Richard Keller ranks the ten funniest Star Trek episodes.
- Keith R.A. DeCandido revisits the Star Trek Voyager episodes "Unity" and "Darkling"
- Alvaro Zinos-Amaro revisits the Star Trek Deep Space Nine tie-in novel The Fall: Revelation and Dust by David R. George III.
- Blake Brittain reports that CBS has won a copyright lawsuit regarding the tardigrade in Star Trek Discovery.
- Actor Ben Cross, who played Sarek in the 2009 Star Trek movie, has died aged 72.
- Andrew Liptak reports that the entire second season of Star Trek: Short Treks is available on YouTube now.
Comments on Lovecraft Country:
Coments on Project Power:
Awards:
- Ellen E. Jones calls Lovecraft Country a horror series that confronts racism in the US.
- Alison Herman says that Lovecraft Country has great ideas, but that the execution is lacking.
- Ellen E. Jones calls Lovecraft Country a thrilling horror story that is also highly prescient about racism in the US.
- Aja Romano declares that the cosmic horrors of Lovecraft Country pale next to the deadly reality of racism in the US.
- Glenn Weldon finds some unexpected parallels between Lovecraft Country and the 2019 Academy Award winning movie Green Book, escape that Lovecraft Country also has shoggoths.
- Eric Deggans shares his thoughts on Lovecraft Country.
- Alex Brown shares her thoughts on "Sundown", the first episode of Lovecraft Country.
- Ellen E. Jones shares her thoughts on "Sundown".
- Joelle Monique shares her thoughts on "Sundown".
- Inspired by Lovecraft Country, Adam Nayman takes a look at the works of H.P. Lovecraft and previous Lovecraftian films and TV shows.
- Aja Romano looks at Lovecraftian horror and the racism at its core.
- Watch the first episode of Lovecraft Country for free.
Coments on Project Power:
- Peter Bradshaw calls Project Power an enjoyable action thriller with superhero elements.
- Gavia Baker-Whitelaw declares that Project Power cannot compete with traditional superhero movies.
- Katie Rife calls Project Power forgettable.
- Emmet Asher-Perrin declares that Project Power uses a superhero story to tackle the history of medical experimentation.
- Ethan Alter declares that Project Power also addresses issues of police racism.
- Steve Rose interviews Joseph Gordon-Levitt, one of the stars of Project Power.
Awards:
- The winners of the 2020 Gollancz and Rivers of London BAME SFF Awards have been announced.
- The winners of the 2019 This Is Horror Awards have been announced.
- The finalists for the 2020 Ignyte Awards have been announced and voting is open.
- The voters packet for the 2020 Sir Julius Vogel Awards is available again for download for all members of CoNZealand, the 2020 Worldcon.
- Adam Whitehead explains why J.R.R. Tolkien never won a Hugo Award.
- Steve Mollman analyses the 2020 Hugo Awards, particularly the number of "No Award" voters.
Writing, publishing and promotion:
- Charlie Jane Anders explains why writing fiction can make you feel better about the world.
- David Gerrold explains why he considers himself a writer, not a storyteller.
- Wendy van Camp shares bullet journal guidelines for writers.
- George R.R. Martin talks about his writing progress.
- Nathan Bransford asks writers to be very careful with dreams and hallucinations, because such scenes often don't work.
- Christopher Rice recalls how a chance sighting of the post for The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 in a shop window turned him into a horror writer.
- Chris Mooney talks about working with an editor.
- Brian Keene offers a three part statement regarding the allegations of sexual misconduct against horror writer and publisher Matt Hayward.
- Alexander Larman predicts the demise of the second hand bookshop.
- Terry Ambrose profiles the new owners of the Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore in San Diego, California.
Interviews:
- The Qwillery interviews Micaiah Johnson.
- Redditors interview Emily Tesh.
- Locus interviews John Hornor Jacobs.
- Andrea Johnson interviews Helen Corcoran.
- Paul Weimer interviews Michael Underwood.
- Brad Listi interviews Stephen Graham Jones.
- Redditors interview Christopher Brown.
Reviews:
- Blue Book Balloon reviews Chaos Vector by Megan O'Keefe.
- Gabriella Tutino reviews Star Daughter by Shveta Thakrar.
- Nathalie DeFelice reviews Star Daughter by Shveta Thakrar.
- Bill Capossere reviews The Second Star by Alma Alexander.
- Blue Book Balloon reviews The Doors of Eden by Adrian Tchaikovsky.
- Bill Capossere and Tadiana Jones review The Ghosts of Sherwood by Carrie Vaughn.
- Tadiana Jones reviews The Heirs of Loxley by Carrie Vaughn.
- Blue Book Balloon reviews Divine Heretic by Jaime Lee Moyer.
- Rob Bedford reviews The Shadow Commission by David Mack.
- Adri Joy reviews Shorefall by Robert Jackson Bennett.
- Alex Brown reviews Drowned Country by Emily Tesh.
- Catherine Heloise reviews Drowned Country by Emily Tesh.
- Paul Weimer reviews Ashes of the Sun by Django Wexler.
- Runalong the Shelves reviews Shadow in the Empire of Light by Jane Routley.
- Runalong the Shelves reviews The Book of Snow and Silence by Zoe Marriott.
- Cassie Schultz reviews Axiom's End by Lindsay Ellis.
- James Davis Nicoll reviews Axiom's End by Lindsay Ellis.
- Blue Book Balloon reviews The Midnight Library by Matt Haig.
- Smart Bitches, Trashy Books reviews Dragon Unleashed by Grace Draven.
- Em Nordling reviews The Tyrant Baru Cororant by Seth Dickinson.
- Katharine Coldiron reviews The Angel of the Crows by Katherine Addison.
- Marion Deeds reviews The Bird King by G. Willow Wilson.
- Blue Book Balloon reviews Threading the Labyrinth by Tiffani Angus.
- Fantasy Faction reviews The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart.
- Kat Hooper reviews The Bone Ships by R.J. Barker.
- James Davis Nicoll reviews A Song Below Water by Bethany C. Morrow.
- Colleen Mondor reviews A Song Below Water by Bethany C. Morrow.
- Etelka Lehoczky reviews The Daughters of Ys by M.T. Anderson and Jo Rioux.
- For Winter Nights reviews The Human Son by Adrian J. Walker.
- Gary K. Wolfe reviews Big Girl by Meg Ellison.
- Adam Roberts reviews Mordew by Alex Pheby.
- Michael J. McCann reviews The Hollow Ones by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan.
- Runalong the Shelves reviews The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones.
- Gary K. Wolfe reviews The Book of Dragons, edited by Jonathan Strahan.
- Alan Cranis reviews Killer, Come Back To Me: The Crime Stories of Ray Bradbury.
Classics reviews:
- Sandy Ferber revisits the 1930 science fiction novel White Lily by John Taine.
- Cora Buhlert revisits the 1944 space opera story "Gambler's Asteroid" by Manly Wade Wellman.
- Kris Vyas-Myall revisits the 1965 science fiction anthology New Writings in SF 5, edited by John Carnell.
- Noah Berlatsky revisits the 1972 science fiction horror novel The Stepford Wives by Ira Levin.
- Judith Tarr revisits the 1977 gothic novel The Opal-Eyed Fan by Andre Norton.
- James Davis Nicoll reviews the 1980 science fiction novel Songs from the Stars by Norman Spinrad.
- Emmet Asher-Perrin revisits the 1987 Discworld novel Equal Rites by Terry Pratchett.
- James Davis Nicoll revisits the 1988 historical fantasy novel The Armor of Light by Melissa Scott and Lisa A. Barnett.
Con and event reports:
- Cora Buhlert shares her experiences at CoNZealand, the virtual 2020 Worldcon.
- Cheryl Morgan reports about FutureCon, an international virtual online convention.
- Robert J. Sawyer shares his thoughts on the convention scene in Canada.
- DisCon III, the 2021 Worldcon in Washington DC, has announced an initiative to offer sponsored memberships to fans and programme participants from marginalised backgrounds.
- Steven H. Silver posts the In Memorian list presented at the Hugo ceremony at CoNZealand.
- Ashlyn Davis reports that a group is planning to create a drive-through haunted house foir Halloween 2020 in Costa Mesa, California.
Crowdfunding:
- Volume 6 of The Longlist Anthology, which collects those stories which just missed the Hugo ballot, is looking for funding.
- Volume 3 of the webcomic Stand Still, Stay Silent by Mina Sundberg is looking for funding.
- Nichelle Nichols has suffered from elder abuse and financial fraud and needs some help.
Science and technology:
- NASA reports that its MAVEN spacecraft has observed an ultraviolet glow in the Martian sky.
- Jonathan Amos reports that the British robotic boat USV Maxlimer has successfully completed a 22-day mission to map the Atlantic.
- Katherine Kornei reports that the retroreflectors on the Moon used for various experiments are becoming less effective over the years.
- George Dvorsky asks if our sun has a long lost twin.
- Colin Dickey reports about cryptid sightings and the tensions between folklore and science.
Free online fiction:
- "Flight" by Claire Wrenwood in Tor.com.
- "Therabot" by Hannah Frankel in Luna Station Quarterly.
- "My Base Pair" by Sam J. Miller in Lightspeed.
- "The Bone-Stag Walks" by K.T. Brysky in Lightspeed.
- "Great Aunt Elsie's Book of Bevies" by Suzanne Willis in The Dark.
- "The Plague" by Yan Leisheng, translated by Andy Dudak, in Clarkesworld.
- "Redder" by Vajra Chandrasekera in Nightmare Magazine.
- "Down" by Jo Kaplan in Fireside Magazine.
- "Worm Song" by David Naimon in Fireside Magazine.
- "Dread" by John Dulak in Daily Science Fiction.
Odds and ends:
