Here is our weekly round-up of interesting links about speculative fiction from around the web, this week with Star Wars at forty, Wonder Woman, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, the return of Twin Peaks, an incident at Phoenix Comicon as well as the usual mix of awards news, writing advice, interviews, reviews, awards news, a whole lot of con reports, crowdfunding projects, science articles and free online fiction.
Speculative fiction in general:
- Laura Miller attempts to answer what happens when literary novelists experiment with science fiction.
- Jason Sanford takes exception to Laura Miller's article.
- Jason Sanford also shares five trends in the science fiction genre.
- The participants of the Mind Meld ask what defines a classic SF book.
- James Davis Nicoll shares twenty core works of speculative fiction about science and scientists that every fan should have read.
- Adam Roberts discusses the exploration themes of many science fiction works.
- Mark Yon shares a list of SFF novels featuring circusses.
- Sam Reader shares seven SFF short fiction collections to read this summer.
- Rachel Cordasco take a look at speculative fiction from Finland.
- Elaine Yang and Kitten Wang take a look at the success of Chinese science fiction overseas.
- Mark Kaedrin shares his appreciation for the Rememberance of Earth's Past trilogy by Liu Cixin.
- Martin Cahill discusses how Brian Staveley has developed as an epic fantasy writer.
- David Barr Kirtley wonders why colleges are so hostile to fantasy writers.
- Laura M. Hughes talks about non-human protagonists in science fiction and fantasy.
- Jessica Rydill shares her appreciation for M.R. James and discusses how his work influenced her own writing.
- Stephen Graham Jones talks about justice and transgression in horror stories.
- Joel Cornah talks about asexuality in fantasy.
- D. Franklin share their appreciation for the Manifold Worlds series by Foz Meadows.
- Lucy Hounsom takes a look at the gender ratios of authors recommended in the newsletters of various SFF publishers.
- Ross Johnson shares his appreciation for Bitch Planet by Kelly Sue De Connick and Valentine De Landro.
- Riki Wilkins complains that the Wachowski sisters' series Sense8 still adhered to traditional gender binaries and has no genderqueer characters.
- Meanwhile, Charles Pulliam-Moore reports that Sense8 has been cancelled.
- James Whitbrook explains why Newt Scamander from Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is a rare type of male genre hero.
- Cheryl Eddy declares that the TV show Lucifer shouldn't be as good as it is.
- George Hall reports about a performance of the post-apocalyptic opera The Day After by Jonathan Dove
- Alex Shephard visits Amazon's new bookstore in New York City, is not overly impressed and eventually buys a science fiction novel.
Star Wars at forty:
- Aaron Crouch interviews various cast and crewmembers about their memories working on Star Wars and discusses the less than enthusiastic early reactions to the movie.
- Nicholas Barber believes that the Star Wars saga should have stopped after the first movie.
Comments on Wonder Woman:
- Chancellor Agard declares that Wonder Woman is everything a superhero movie should be.
- Kristy Puchko calls Wonder Woman the best DC movie yet.
- Germain Lussier declares that the Wonder Woman movie is even better than we hoped it would be.
- Mick LaSalle calls Wonder Woman a different kind of action movie.
- Nicole Sperling explains why the screenwriter of Wonder Woman opted for an anachronistic World War I setting.
- Devan Coggan explains how real life women athletes were cast to play amazons in Wonder Woman.
- Charles Pulliam-Moore reports that the Wonder Woman movie has been banned in Lebanon because of Gal Gadot's military service in Israel.
- Charlie Jane Anders shares her appreciation for Wonder Woman, the character.
- Meanwhile, Keith DeCandido looks back on Lynda Carter's turn as Wonder Woman in the eponymous 1970s TV show.
Comments on Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales:
- Germain Lussier declares that Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales will remind us why we love and hate those movies.
- Alasdair Stuart remembers when the Pirates of the Caribbean movies were fun.
- Actor Geoffrey Rush reflects on fourteen years and five Pirates of the Caribbean movies.
- Jessica Derschowitz explains the post-credits scene of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales.
Comments on the new Twin Peaks:
- Stuart Jeffries declares that the new Twin Peaks became even weirder in its third and fourth episodes.
- David Cranmer reviews episodes 3 and 4 of the new Twin Peaks.
- Emily Temple shares an incomplete guide to literary references in Twin Peaks.
Awards:
- The nominees for the 2017 Aurora Awards have been announced.
- The longlist for the 2017 Sunburst Award has been announced.
- The winners of the 2017 Premio Italia have been announced.
- The winners of the 2016 Cóyotl Awards have been announced.
- Charles Stross has received the Alberto Lisiero Award.
Writing, publishing and promotion:
- Honorée Corder talks about developing a powerful writing habit.
- Chuck Wendig tells writers that a book needs time to cook.
- Steve Harrison discusses how to beat writer's block.
- David Kazzie shares five things he learned writing a sequel.
- Joe Vasicek explains what it's like to write again after a major life interruption.
- Jessica Rydill explains how music influenced her writing.
- Camestros Felapton and Timothy the Talking Cat share some not entirely serious writing advice.
Interviews:
- The Qwillery interviews Isabelle Steiger.
- The Qwillery also interviews Weston Ochse.
- Alasdair Stuart interviews Sarah Gailey.
- Alasdair Stuart also interviews Corey J. White.
- Carl Slaughter interviews Robert J. Sawyer.
- Christian A. Coleman interviews Steven Barnes.
- Laura Hudson interviews G. Willow Wilson.
- Laura Hudson also interviews Laura E. Hall.
Reviews:
- Camestros Felapton reviews Seven Surrenders by Ada Palmer.
- D. Franklin reviews River of Teeth by Sarah Gailey.
- Michael Patrick Hicks reviews River of Teeth by Sarah Gailey.
- Michael Patrick Hicks also reviews Sacculina by Philip Fracassi.
- Alex Brown reviews Mormama by Kit Reed.
- Kat Hooper reviews A Symphony of Echoes by Jodi Taylor.
- The Fantasy Café reviews The Floating Islands by Rachel Neumeier.
- Bill Capossere reviews Tyrant's Throne by Sebastien de Castell.
- Josephine Hao reviews Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor.
- Thea James reviews Deadly Pink by Vivian Vande Velde.
- Books, Bones and Buffy reviews Mars Girls by Mary Turzillo.
Crowdfunding:
Con reports:
- An armed man has been arrested at Phoenix Comicon in Phoenix, Arizona, after a struggle with the police.
- Benjamin Leatherman reports about the incident at Phoenix Comicon.
- 12News has more about the background of the incident at Phoenix Comicon.
- Ryan Leston identifies the target of the gunman who was arrested at Phoenix Comicon.
- Max Jaeger reports how Flash Gordon and the Hulk a.k.a. actors Sam Jones and Lou Ferrigno got into a fight at London Comic Con in London, UK.
- Helen Bushby interviews and photographs some women cosplayers and other female attendants at London Comic Con.
- Charon Dunn shares her experiences at Baycon in San Matteo, California.
- Jon Del Arroz shares his experiences as well as some photos of Clockwork Alchemy in San José, California.
Science and technology:
- NASA's Juno probe has revealed that much of what we thought we knew about Jupiter is wrong.
- A potentially habitable Super-Earth has been spotted 21 lightyears away.
Free online fiction:
- "Shape Without Form, Shade Without Color" by Sunny Moraine at Tor.com.
- "Making the Magic Lightning Strike Me" by John Chu in Uncanny.
- "Salvage" by Tracy Canfield in GigaNotoSaurus.
- "Paternity" by Greg Hrbek in Lightspeed.
Odds and ends:
