It's time for the latest weekly round-up of interesting links about speculative fiction from around the web, this week with Star Trek: Picard, the series 12 finale of Doctor Who, season 5 of Outlander, the latest version of The Invisible Man, I Am Not Okay With This, Onward, the blocking of AO3 in China, tributes to Mike Resnick, Aly Parsons and Freeman Dyson and much more.
Speculative fiction in general:
- Leah Schnelbach shares five science fiction and fantasy books to read in March.
- Rebecca Diem talks about hopepunk and the new science of stress.
- Leah Schnelbach talks about fantasy novels and the processing of trauma.
- Spencer E. Hart takes a look at the sword and planet subgenre and its influences.
- Runalong the Shelves shares a list of SFF novels featuring sword-wielding lesbians.
- Rachel S. Cordasco takes a look at science fiction in translation in 2020.
- Natalie Zutter shares twelve SFF stories written from the second person perspective.
- Meghan Ball shares five recent SFF novels that deserve their own soundtrack.
- Mark Cole talks about the connection between science fiction and occultism.
- Adam Roberts takes a look at science fiction novels, films, TV shows and videogames about pandemics.
- Vanessa Armstrong shares five SFF books featuring dogs and doglike beings.
- Chris Kluwe shares five SFF books about games and life.
- Geoff Ryman offers an overview of the state of African speculative fiction in 2019.
- Deborah Hewitt shares five books set in fantasy versions of London.
- James Davis Nicoll shares five SFF books set in Toronto.
- David Lerner Schwartz points out that the techniques of Choose Your Own Adventure books have made their way into literary fiction.
- Keith Rice takes a look at the SFF works of Stephen King.
- Johnny Diamond points out that Elon Musk has learned the wrong lessons from Isaac Asimov's Foundation trilogy.
- James Davis Nicoll remembers 1970s science fiction publisher Laser Books.
- Rich Lynch remembers Mike Resnick.
- John Hertz remembers Mike Resnick and Steve Stiles.
- Writer, fan and con runner Aly Parsons has died aged 67.
Comments on the blocking of AO3 in China:
- Mike Glyer reports that the fanfiction site Archive of Our Own has been blocked in China.
- Aja Romano reports that the blocking of Archive of Our Own in China may be related to new Chinese internet censorship laws.
- Iris Deng reports about the blocking of AO3 in China and that it may be related to fans of Chinese actor Xiao Zhan outraged about erotic real person slash featuring the actor.
- Cai Xuejiao shares some background about the real person slash fic which prompted the complaints against AO3 in China.
- Elsbeth van Paridon also reports about the blocking of AO3 in China and the background.
Film and TV:
- Shaun Duke and Jen Zink discuss season 1 of The Mandalorian.
- Graeme Virtue calls season 2 of Altered Carbon visually dazzling and brilliantly intriguing.
- Nikki Onafuye calls Noughts and Crosses must-see TV.
- Jesse Hassenger shares his thoughts on the supernatural comedy Extra Ordinary.
- Lucy Mangan declares that Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist hits all the wrong notes.
- Liz Shannon Miller shares her thoughts on the first episode of Dispatches from Elsewhere.
- Liz Shannon Miller shares her thoughts on the latest episode of Avenue 5.
- Alex McLevy shares his thoughts on the latest episode of The Walking Dead.
- Allison Shoemaker shares her thoughts on the latest episode of The Outsider.
- Katie Rife shares her thoughts on the Brazilian dystopian movie Bacurau.
- SciFi and Scary revisits the 1982 version of The Thing.
- Gavia Baker-Whitelaw reports about some conflicts behind the scenes of American Gods.
- Cameron LeBlanc reports Adam Driver, who play Kylo Ren in the Star Wars movies, saved the birthday of the son of Ben Affleck.
- Ben Child reports that some fans of the books are upset about the trailer for Disney's Artemis Fowl adaptation.
- Jacob Oller reports that The Magicians will end after season 5.
- Mark Sweeney reports that various James Bond fan groups demand postponing the March release of the upcoming James Bond film No Time To Die because of corona virus fears.
- Benjamin Lee reports that the release of No Time To Die has been postponed to November.
Comments on Star Trek: Picard and Star Trek in general (warning, spoilers):
- Zack Handlen shares his thoughts on "The Impossible Box", the latest episode of Star Trek Picard.
- Gavia Baker-Whitelaw shares her thoughts on "The Impossible Box".
- Camestros Felapton shares his thoughts on "The Impossible Box".
- Keith R.A. DeCandido shares his thoughts on "The Impossible Box".
- Font Folly shares his thoughts on "The Impossible Box".
- Cora Buhlert shares her thoughts on "The Impossible Box".
- Camestros Felapton revisits the Star Trek Voyager episodes "Collective", "Child's Play" and "Imperfection".
- Keith R.A. DeCandido revisits the Star Trek Voyager episodes "Cathexis" and "Faces".
- Kimberly Unger shares some plotlines which crop up in Star Trek again and again across incarnations.
- Don Kaye reports about Star Trek Phase II, a planned 1977 Star Trek live action series, which never got off the ground, but which has significantly influenced subsequent films and TV series.
- Bernd Perplies recalls how he and Christian Humberg came to write the Star Trek Prometheus tie-in trilogy.
Comments on series 12 of Doctor Who (spoilers):
- Dan Martin shares his thoughts on "The Timeless Children", the series 12 finale of Doctor Who.
- Camestros Felapton shares his thoughts on the two-part finale "Ascension of the Cybermen" and "The Timeless Children".
- Elizabeth Sandifer shares her thoughts on "The Timeless Children".
- Sylas K. Barrett and Emmet Asher-Perrin share their thoughts on "The Timeless Children".
- Caroline Siede shares her thoughts on "The Timeless Children".
- Jennifer Ouellette declares that series 12 of Doctor Who was a return to form.
- Lacy Baugher talks about Doctor Who and the difficulty of rewriting your own history.
- Tor.com reports that Doctor Who will return with a holiday special entitled "Revolution of the Daleks".
- Huw Fullerton wonders whether actors Mandip Gill and Tobin Cole are planning to leave Doctor Who.
- Nicola Methven reports that actors Bradley Walsh and Tobin Cole will be leaving Doctor Who after the upcoming holiday special.
- Jessica Holmes revisits the 1965 Doctor Who serial "The Web Planet".
- Pamela Hutchinson interviews Paul McGann who played the Eighth Doctor in Doctor Who.
Comments on season 5 of Outlander:
- Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya shares her thoughts on the latest episode of Outlander.
- Paul Levinson shares his thoughts on the latest episode of Outlander.
- Allison Keene shares her thoughts on the latest episode of Outlander.
Comments on the latest version of The Invisible Man:
- Jennifer Ouellette calls The Invisible Man an ingenious horror film that works on multiple levels.
- Scott Tobias calls the latest version of The Invisible Man an ingenious updating.
- Alissa Wilkinson declares that the latest version of The Invisible Man gives a classic horror story new life as a tale about domestic abuse.
- Gavia Baker-Whitelaw calls The Invisible Man a surprisingly realistic thriller about domestic abuse.
- Sara Century declares that The Invisible Man turns the horror classic into a story about a woman.
- Natalie Zutter declares that the feminist wish fulfillment of The Invisible Man feels hollow.
- Katie Rife and Ignatiy Vishnevetsky discuss The Invisible Man.
- Jeffrey Bloomer asks how scary The Invisible Man is.
- Adrian Horton discusses how The Invisible Man plays on the real-world fears of many women.
- Cameron Scheetz interviews Oliver Jackson-Cohen who plays the titular character in The Invisible Man.
- Cameron Schetz also interviews Storm Reid, one of the stars of The Invisible Man.
- Rebecca Onion traces how the latest version of The Invisible Man departs from the original novel by H.G. Wells.
Comments on I Am Not Okay With This:
- Rachel Leishman praises the nerdy beauty of I Am Not Okay With This.
- Nathan Matisse calls I Am Not Okay With This a brisk and bingeable series.
- Matthew Carbonell compares I Am Not Okay With This to the comic it is based upon.
Comments on Onward:
- Peter Bradshaw calls Onward a standard, but entertaining quest fantasy.
- K. Austin Collins reports that Onward doesn't have enough of the so-called Pixar magic to make it work.
- Katie Rife and A.A. Dowd discuss Onward.
- Anthony Breznican shares the heartbreaking true story behind Onward.
Awards:
- The winner of the 2020 IAFA Crawford Award has been announced.
- The winners of the 2019 Clarkesworld Reader's Poll have been announced.
- The finalists for the 2020 Pulp Factory Awards have been announced.
- The nominees for the 2019 Ursa Major Awards have been announced.
- The nominees for the 2019 Cóyotl Awards have been announced.
- The shortlist for the 2020 Tähtivaeltaja Award has been announced.
- The winners of the 2020 Romantic Novel Awards have been announced.
- The winners of the 25th Annual Audie Awards have been announced.
- The winners of the 2019 Irish Comic News Awards have been announced.
- The winner of the Horror Writers Association 2019 Specialty Press Award has been announced.
- The nominees for the 2020 British Academy Games Awards have been announced.
- File 770 lists where to find the 2019 Nebula finalists online for free.
- File 770 also lists eligible editors and works for the 2020 Best Editor Long Form Hugo Award.
- File 770 also lists eligible works for the 2020 Best Professional Artist Hugo Award.
Writing, publishing and promotion:
- Scott Marmorstein talks about the drive to create.
- Ed Ruggero shares seven lessons for writing believable violence.
- Jason Pinter talks about the challenges of being a writer and a parent.
- Greg Levin explains how to overcome rejection.
- Kristine Kathryn Rusch talks about disruption and how it effects writing and other businesses.
- George Berridge reports about a plagiarism uproar involving Willem Anker, a finalist for the 2020 International Booker Prize.
- Mike Glyer reports about the problematic practices of Unreal and Unfit magazines.
- Victoria Strauss reports about mass cancellations at the publisher Henery Press.
Interviews:
- Niamh Donnelly interviews Eoin Colfer.
- Arley Sorg interviews Alastair Reynolds.
- Arley Sorg interviews Kameron Hurley.
- Marion Deeds interviews Juliette Wade.
- Penguin Random House interviews Emily St. John Mandel.
- The Qwillery interviews Premee Mohamed.
- Jeremy O. Harris and Samuel Delany interview each other.
- Scott Edelman interviews Keith R.A. DeCandido.
- Juliette Wade interviews K. Tempest Bradford.
- Aidan Moher interviews Charles Vess.
Reviews:
- Zoraida Córdova reviews The Sound of Stars by Alechia Dow.
- Blue Book Balloon reviews Chilling Effect by Valerie Valdes.
- Blue Book Balloon reviews The Light Years by R.W.W. Greene.
- Kat Hooper reviews Terminal Alliance by Jim C. Hines.
- Runalong the Shelves reviews Re-Coil by J.T. Nicholas.
- Blue Book Balloon reviews The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin.
- Russell Letson reviews World Engines: Destroyer by Stephen Baxter.
- James Davis Nicoll reviews The Orphans of Raspay by Lois McMaster Bujold.
- Kat Hooper reviews Knife Children by Lois McMaster Bujold.
- Liz Bourke reviews The Name of All Things by Jenn Lyons.
- James Davis Nicoll reviews The Wolf of Oren-Yaro by K.S. Villoso.
- Gabriella Tutino reviews The Queen's Assassin by Melissa de la Cruz.
- Cassie Schulz reviews Witches of Ash and Ruin by E. Latimer.
- Rob Bedford reviews House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas.
- Molly Templeton reviews House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas.
- Paul Weimer reviews Carved from Stone and Dream by T. Frohock.
- Blue Book Balloon reviews By Force Alone by Lavie Tidhar.
- Amy Goldschlager reviews The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern.
- Jonathan Thornton reviews Dark River by Rym Kechacha
- Alex Brown reviews The Kingdom of Back by Marie Lu.
- Katharine Coldiron reviews The Border Keeper by Kerstin Hall.
- Bill Capossere reviews Servant of the Crown by Duncan M. Hamilton.
- Tadiana Jones reviews Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo.
- Carolyn Cushman reviews The Princess Who Flew With Dragons by Stephanie Burgis and Witchy Kingdom by D.J. Butler.
- Alex Brown reviews Wicked As You Wish by Rin Chupeco.
- Fantasy Faction reviews A Time of Courage by John Gwynne.
- Paul Weimer reviews Beneath the Rising by Premee Mohamed.
- Em Nordling reviews When We Were Magic by Sarah Gailey.
- Camestros Felapton reviews The Absolute Book by Elizabeth Knox.
- James Davis Nicoll reviews The Lost Puzzler by Eyal Kless.
- Amal El-Mohtar reviews Finna by Nino Cipri.
- Leah Schnelbach reviews Temporary by Hilary Leichter.
- Adri Joy reviews Docile by K.M. Szpara.
- Meg Elison reviews Docile by K.M. Szpara.
- Michael Patrick Hicks reviews The Invention of Ghosts by Gwendolyn Kiste.
- Michael Patrick Hicks reviews Scanlines by Todd Keisling.
- Jason MacGregor reviews Arkad's World by James L. Cambias.
- James Davis Nicoll reviews Orconomics by J. Zachary Pike.
- Ray Palen reviews The Andromeda Evolution by Michael Crichton and Daniel H. Wilson.
- Mark Yon reviews The Golden Age of Science Fiction by John Wade.
- Steven Poole reviews Spacefarers by Christopher Wanjek.
- Suzy Michael reviews Ad Nauseam II: Newsprint Nightmares from the 1990s and 2000s by Michael Gingold.
Classics reviews:
- Anne M. Pillsworth and Ruthanna Emrys revisits the 1936 horror story "The Graveyard Rats" by Henry Kuttner.
- Don Briago reviews the 1944 science fiction novel Sirius by Olaf Stapledon.
- Cora Buhlert revisits the 1944 science fiction novelette "No Woman Born" by C.L. Moore.
- Cora Buhlert revisits the 1944 space opera novelette "Highwayman of the Void" by Frederik Pohl a.k.a. Dirk Wylie.
- Cora Buhlert revisits the 1944 urban horror novelette "Ride the El to Doom" by Allison V. Harding.
- Cora Buhlert revisits the 1944 John Thunstone story "Hoofs" by Manly Wade Wellman.
- Steve J. Wright revisits the 1944 science fiction novelette "Census" by Clifford D. Simak.
- Steve J. Wright revisits the 1944 science fiction novelette "Plague" by Murray Leinster.
- Steve J. Wright revisits the 1944 science fiction short story "Invariant" by John R. Pierce.
- Steve J. Wright revisits the 1944 science fiction short story "A Can of Paint" by A.E. Van Vogt.
- Steve J. Wright revisits the 1944 science fiction short story "Far Centaurus" by A.E. Van Vogt.
- John Hertz revisits the 1944 children's fantasy novel The Wind on the Moon by E. Linklater.
- Young Pople Read Old SFF revisit the 1960 science fiction story "Step IV" by Rosel George Brown.
- Judith Tarr revisits Andre Norton's 1962 foray into the western genre Rebel Spurs.
- Gideon Marcus revisits the March 1965 issue of Analog.
- David Levinson revisits the April 1965 issue of If - Worlds of Science Fiction.
- Helen Lowe revisits the 1968 fantasy novel A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin.
- Sean Guynes revisits the 1974 science fiction novel The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin.
- Joachim Boaz revisits the 1977 collection The Bleeding Man and Other Science Fiction Stories by Craig Strete.
- Paperback Warrior revisits Total War, a 1981 novel in the post-apocalyptic men's adventure series The Survivalist by Jerry and Sharon Ahern.
Con and event reports:
- Daniel Ritter talks about hosting a table for the First Fandom Experience Project at Boskone 57 in Boston, Massachussetts.
- Chuck Wendig talks about what conventions should do regarding a potential corona virus pandemic.
- CoNZealand, the 2020 WorldCon in Wellington, New Zealand, has announced a scholarship program for members of marginalised communities.
- Mike Glyer shares the program for the 2020 LA Vintage Paperback Collectors Show and Sale in Glendale, California.
- Charles Pulliam-Moore reports that exhibitors and creators are pulling out of Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle, Washington, because of corona virus fears.
- Chris Talbott also reports about Emerald City Comic Con's grapling with the corona virus.
- Lauren Morton reports that the Eve Online Fanfest 2020 in Reykjavik, Iceland, has been cancelled.
- Kate Cox reports that the Games Developers Conference in San Francisco, California, has been cancelled over corona virus fears.
- Michael Cader reports that the London Book Fair will go ahead in spite of corona virus fear, though the Leipzig Book Fair has been cancelled.
- Alison Flood reports that the London Book Fair has now been cancelled as well.
- Ed Nawotka reports that the Bologna Children's Book Fair in Bologna, Italy, has been rescheduled to May because of corona virus fears.
- Jeanne Gomoll shares her experiences as a TAFF delegate visiting the 1987 WorldCon in Brighton, UK.
- Olivia Rutigliano reports about a performance of a play based on Susan Hill's 1983 gothic novel The Woman in Black in New York City.
- Runalong the Shelves reports about a stage performance of Night of the Living Dead in Liverpool, UK.
- Bruce Haring reports that a statue of animated cartoon characters Rocky and Bullwinkle will return to its original location on Sunset Strip in Los Angeles, California, after being removed for renovations.
Crowdfunding:
- The Alien Stars and Other Novellas, a collection by Tim Pratt set in the world of his Axiom space opera trilogy, is looking for funding.
- The Hated #1, an alternate history comic by David F. Walker and Sean Damien Hill, is looking for funding.
- Puestes pa’l futuro, a bilingual science fiction anthology by Puetro Rican authors, is looking for funding.
- The Magitech Chronicles pen and paper roleplaying game, an RPG based on the popular Magitech Chronicles science fantasy series by Chris Fox, is looking for funding.
Science and technology:
- Eric Mack reports that SpaceX's Starship prototype has exploded during a test in Texas.
- Lisa Grossman reports that NASA's newest Mars rover will be named Perseverance.
- Jonathan Amos reports that telescopes have detected the biggest explosion since the Big Bang.
- Pallab Ghosh reports that two white dwarves in the process of merging have been discovered.
- Ian Morse reports about harvesting metal from plants.
- The BBC reports that China is sending ducks to battle locust swarms in Pakistan.
- Physicist Freeman Dyson has died aged 96.
- George Johnson remembers Freeman Dyson.
Free online fiction:
- "So You Want to Be a Honeypot" by Kelly Robson in Uncanny Magazine.
- "Time Reveals the Heart" by Derek Künsken in Clarkesworld.
- "It Came From Cruden Farm" by Max Barry in Slate: Future Tense.
- "The City Born Great" by N.K. Jemisin at Tor.com.
- "The Spoils" by Aliya Whiteley in Beneath Ceaseless Skies.
- "The All-Night Horror Show" by Orrin Grey in The Dark.
- "A Study in Shadows" by Benjamin Percy in Nightmare Magazine.
- "Viewer, Violator" by Aimee Bender in Lightspeed.
- "Giant Steps" by Russell Nichols in Lightspeed.
- "Stinkbug Apocalypse" by JeanWolfersteig at Akashic Books.
- "Bug-Eyed Monsters and the Women Who Love Them" by Cora Buhlert
Odds and ends:
