Here is our weekly round-up of interesting links about speculative fiction from around the web. This week's edition is somewhat truncated, because Cora is away at Worldcon 75 in Helsinki, Finland.
Speculative fiction in general:
- Sylvia Spruck Wrigley shares five books set below London.
- Nicola Alter discusses the pros and cons of a macro timescale.
- Oren Ashkenazi shares five SFF stories that undermine their own message.
- Jen Williams explains why she loves stories about non-human characters trying to become human.
- Charles Pulliam Moore discusses how the upcoming Thor: Ragnarok movies seems to be turning the Asgardians into gods again, based on promo material.
- Darren Slade declares that the media debate about the casting of Jodie Whittaker has insulted Doctor Who fans.
- Camestros Felapton reviews season 2 of the Australian superhero series Cleverman.
- Director Brad Anderson shares his five most terrifying movies.
Comments on The Dark Tower:
- Owen Gleiberman calls The Dark Tower a lean and mean metaphysical action pulp.
- Germain Lussier bemoans that The Dark Tower turns a truly epic fantasy into a shockingly mundane movie.
- Manohla Dargis calls The Dark Tower a cliched and generic shoot-em-up held together by Idirs Elba.
Comments on the Confederate controversy:
- Roxane Gay declares that she does not want to watch slavery fanfiction.
- Ta-Nehisi Coates offers his take on the controversy surrounding the proposed HBO show Confederate.
- Lynn Elber reports about the backlash against Confederate.
- Meanwhile, Kyle Smith doesn't quite understand what the uproar surrounding Confederate is all about.
Awards:
- The nominees for the 2017 Dragon Con Awards have been announced.
- The Dragon Awards team also caused some anger by first refusing to let authors withdraw and finally relenting.
- N.K. Jemisin also withdraws from the Dragon Awards.
- The shortlist for the 2017 Royal Society Science Book Prize has been announced.
Writing, publishing and promotion:
- Tobias M. Buckell explains how he uses bullet journals.
- Christian Miller shares three daily habits to enhance creativity.
- Roger Johns discusses how to handle setting.
- Steven Smith shares three tips for creating a fantasy villain.
Interviews:
- Julia Rios interviews Mary Robinette Kowal.
- Julia Rios also interviews Maurice Broaddus.
- Tim Midura interviews Jon Del Arroz.
Reviews:
- Tadiana Jones reviews Arabella and the Battle of Venus by David D. Levine.
- Thomas M. Wagner reviews The Stone Sky by N.K. Jemisin.
- Ceridwen Christensen reviews The Life and Death of Schneider Wrack by Nate Crowley.
- Jana Nyman reviews Strange Alchemy by Gwenda Bond.
- The San Francisco Review of Books reviews Reenu-You by Michele Tracy Berger.
- Kat Hooper reviews The Adventures of Tom Stranger, Interdimensional Insurance Agent by Larry Correia.
Crowdfunding:
- Power and Magic: Immortal Souls, an anthology of comics about queer witches of colour, is looking for funding.
- Sweethearts of 1989, an LGBT and trans-positive romance manga by Kale Jeffery, is looking for funding.
Con reports:
- David J. Cord reports about WorldCon 75 in Helsinki, Finland.
- Mike Glyer shares tweets and photos from WorldCon 75.
- James Bacon reports about the Croatian Party at WorldCon 75 and shares some photos.
- Mark Hepworth reports about the Into the Unknown exhibition at the Barbican in London, UK.
Science and technology:
- A Hyperloop passenger pod has been successfully tested.
- Two Chinese chatbots have been shut down after they began to criticise the Chinese government.
- Entrepreneurs are cashing in on the drone revolution.
Free online fiction:
- "Tongue" by Ashok K. Banker in Lightspeed.
- "East of Eden and Just a Bit South" by Ken Scholes in Lightspeed.
- "A life in the day of" by William Meikle in Nature.
Odds and ends:
