Speculative Fiction Links of the Week for December 9, 2016

Here is our weekly round-up of interesting links about speculative fiction from around the web, this week with discussion about Westworld, lots of Best of 2016 lists as well as the usual mix of awards news, writing advice, interviews, reviews, awards news, con reports, crowdfunding projects, science articles and free online fiction. 

Speculative fiction in general:

• James Whitbrock shares the science fiction that makes him hopeful.
• Jason Sanford shares his appreciation for the space opera subgenre. 
• Malka Older, Ada Palmer and Robert Charles Wilson discuss if a real utopia is possible. 
• Foz Meadows talks about the relationship between speculative fiction and politics.
• Martin Cahill shares eight portal fantasies that transport you into another world. 
• L.E. Modesitt Jr. shares five books featuring improbable twists on history and myth.
• Justina Ireland criticises racist worldbuilding tropes in the YA SFF novels The Continent and Carve the Mark.
• Kate Elliott discusses the problematic stereotype of the savage other in fiction.
• Obsidian Wings discusses Elena Ferrante, Mary Sues and internalised misogyny. 
• Kelly Faircloth reports about the rise of the "bodice-ripper" type historical romance in the 1970s and its link to feminism. 
• Storm Constantine talks about the invisibility of women writing science fiction and fantasy.
• Bence Pintér shares a report about the status of science fiction and fantasy in Hungary. 
• Nisi Shawl shares her appreciation for Mama Day by Gloria Naylor. 
• Martin Cahill shares his appreciation for the short fiction of Shirley Jackson.
• Nancy Burns-Fusaro profiles C.S.E. Cooney. 
• Sarah Gailey shares her appreciation for the character of Hermione Granger from Harry Potter.
• Peter Watts shares his thoughts on Arrival and the Ted Chiang story it is based on.
• Laura Bickle shares her appreciation for Westworld.
• Katharine Trendacosta declares that those who focus on solving the mysteries of the TV adaptation of Westworld are missing the point of the show. 
• Camestros Felapton shares his thoughts on the Doctor Who spin-off Class.
• Beth Elderkin explains why we should be watching the Brazilian SF series 3%.  
• Jen Chung reports about more problematic Nazi imagery in ads for season 2 of The Man in the High Castle.
• Ed Oswald shares the best episodes from every Star Trek series.
• Becky Chambers shares her appreciation for the TV series Farscape. 
• Leigh Butler shares her appreciation for the 1986 movie The Golden Child.
• Aaron Pound shares his appreciation for the animated TV special A Charlie Brown Christmas from 1965.
• Pornokitsch asks why Judge Dredd is so damn good even after almost forty years.
• The Geekiary wonders whether Marvel has just confirmed that Bucky Barnes is bisexual.
• Actor Peter Vaughan, who played Maester Aemon in Game of Thrones, has died aged 93.
• Actor Van Williams, best remembered for playing the Green Hornet in the eponymous TV series, has died aged 82.
• Astronaut John Glenn, the first American in space, has died aged 95.
  

Best of 2016 lists (and a look forward to 2017):

• Publishers Weekly shares its list of the best science fiction and fantasy of 2016. 
• Library Journal shares its favourite science fiction and fantasy books of 2016. 
• NPR shares their list of the best science fiction and fantasy books of 2016.
• Various Tor.com reviewers share their favourite books of 2016.
• Bookworm Blues share their favourite books of 2016.  
• Bookworm Blues also shares their favourite audiobooks of 2016.
• Paul Weimer shares his five favourite SFF books of 2016.
• Fran Wilde shares her favourite works and people of 2016.
• Caitlin Bush looks forward to 11 science fiction novels that will define 2017. 

Awards:

• The winners of the 2016 Goodreads Choice Awards have been announced. 
• The winner of the 2016 Rotsler Award has been announced.
• Jared Shurin remembers the Georgette Heyer Prize for historical fiction. 

Writing, publishing and promotion:

• Kate Elliott attempts to answer the question "Is fantasy writing gendered?"
• E.P. Beaumont shares the Revolutionary Fluff Manifesto.
• Clayton Purdom shares a video explaining Dan Harmon's universal theory of storytelling.
• Rachel Thompson shares her four top tips to overcome fear of writing.
• Sarah Ash talks about her new novel Emperor of the Fireflies.
  

Interviews:

• A.C. Wise interviews A.M. Dellamonica.
  
• Locus interviews Eric Flint.
• Carl Slaughter interviews Kristine Kathryn Rusch.  
• Carl Slaughter also interviews Kevin J. Anderson. 
• Carl Slaughter also interviews Steve Davidson.
• Mieneke van der Salm interviews Edward Glover.
  

Reviews:

• Renay Williams reviews Babylon's Ashes by James S.A. Corey. 
• Ana Grilo reviews The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin.
• Mieneke van der Salm reviews The Machinery by Gerrard Cowen.
• John Bardinelli reviews Last Year by Robert Charles Wilson. 
• Ryan Skardal also reviews Last Year by Robert Charles Wilson.
• Mark Chitty reviews Horizon by Tabitha Lord.
• Michael Patrick Hicks reviews Die Dog or Eat the Hatchet by Adam Howe.
• Nancy Palmer reviews Fragment by Craig Russell. 
• Thea James reviews Ahsoka by E.K. Johnston.
• Doris V. Sutherland reviews the winners of the 2016 Dragon Awards. 

Crowdfunding:

• The gender diverse pronouns special issue of the speculative magazine Capricious is looking for funding.
• Tales from the Loop, an RPG based on the art of Swedish science fiction artist Simon Stålenhag, is looking for funding.
• YA author Tristina Wright needs some help to cover medical expenses. 
• SFF writer Katherine Kerr needs some help to rebuilt her career and care for her ill husband.

Con reports:

• Kevin Standalee shares some videos of SMOFCon 2016 in Rosemont, Illinois.
• Steve Vertlieb recalls the King Kong Sixtieth Anniversary Celebration in Chicago, Illinois.
  

Science and technology:

• Can we stop killer asteroids?
• How to recognise alien life when you find it.
• ESA plans to build a Mars rover.
• The Cassini space probe has sent back new photos of Saturn.

Free online fiction:

• "The Story of Kao Yu" by Peter S. Beagle at Tor.com.
• "The Cyborg, the Tinman, the Merchant of Death" by Rich Larson in Lightspeed.
• "They Breed Like Flies" by Jeff Walden in Compelling Science Fiction.
• "No One Really Knows" by Lionel Davoust, translated by Janice Friend, at SF in Translation.
• "The Green Knight's Wife" by Kat Howard in Uncanny Magazine.
  
• "All the Colors You Thought Were Kings" by Arkady Martine in Shimmer.
• "The Great Milo" by David Gerrold in Amazing Stories. 
• "The Penelope Quingdom" by Aidan Moher in Mothership Zeta.
• "One Way Out" by Ethan Robinson.
• "Supervillain Apology Letter" by Drew Hayes.

Odds and ends: 

• Watch a trailer for Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2. 
• Watch a trailer for The Mummy.
• Watch a trailer for Spectral.