[SF/F/H Link Post] Bladerunner 2 News; Scotland Yard’s Sci-Fi Fears; How Friday the 13th Became a Horror Classic

Interviews & Profiles

• 3D Total interviews Alessandro Cioffi Visual Effects Supervisor of Age of Ultron.
• AZ Central interviews Ann Leckie, author of Ancillary Justice.
• Den of Geek interviews Peter Harness, writer of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell.
• My Bookish Ways interviews Nicholas Guild, author of Blood Ties.
• The Qwillery interviews Catherine Chanter, author of The Well.
• SciFiNow interviews Tony Gonzales, author of Tabit Genesis.
• Vanity Fair interviews Michael Kaplan, the costume designer for The Force Awakens. “With the stormtroopers it was more of a simplification, almost like, ‘What would Apple do?’ […] J.J. wanted them to look like stormtroopers at a glance, but also be different enough to kind of wow people and get them excited about the new design.”

News

• A 12-time Oscar-nominated cinematographer will shoot Blade Runner 2!
• The Baltimore Science Fiction Society is proud to announce that Alexandra Duncan is the winner of the 2015 Compton Crook Award for her novel Salvage published in April of 2014 by Greenwillow Press.
• Damon Lindelof wants Damon Lindelof Wants a Lobot STAR WARS Spinoff Film!
• Deputy U.S. Marshal Bass Reeves, who appeared in Elizabeth Bear’s novel Karen Memory, is now getting his own miniseries.
• Southern Reach Author Jeff VanderMeer Sells New Book, Borne for six figures.

Events & Event News

• The Barnes & Noble at the Tysons Corner Mall in McLean, VA welcomes bestselling author Brad Meltzer to our store for a discussion and book signing. Meltzer will sign copies of his newest book The President’s Shadow on June 18, 2015 at 7:00 PM.
• Harvard Book Store in Cambridge, MA welcomes the award-winning author of The Magicians Trilogy Lev Grossman and the acclaimed author of The Wicked Years series Gregory Maguire for a discussion of the paperback release of Lev’s book The Magician’s Land on Wednesday June 10, 2015 at 6:00 PM. This event includes a book signing. $5 tickets on sale on May 19 at 9am

Crowd Funding

• CLOCKWORK PHOENIX 5 – An offbeat cross-genre fiction anthology series.
• Eon Quest Graphic Novel – The spirit of action figure mini-comics from the 80s is reborn with a modern twist in a new graphic novel.
• Rack and Ruin, Out of Orbit 3 – Completion of the 3rd book in ‘Out of Orbit’, a sci-fi dystopian series full of action, drama, and great characters.

Articles

• Book Review: Amal El-Mohtar calls the The Science Of Collected Fiction Is Pure Magic
• Book Review: A Long View of the Apocalypse in Neal Stephenson’s Seveneves
• Book Review: Paul Di Filippo compares Seveneves by Neal Stephenson favorably to the work of Jack Williamson and Larry Niven, explaining that though “Stephenson has sometimes flaunted an abstruseness and density of ideas that takes some rigorous parsing to fully appreciate. This book gives us something different: a transparency of style and action, a willingness to guide the reader through the most complex concepts with some gentle handholding.”
• Book Review: Samuel Montgomery-Blinn reviews the audiobook versions of The Beam, Dark Eden, The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August, and Lock In, and The Martian.
• 5 Aspects of Science Fiction That Are Far From Childish
• 5 Sci-Fi Books Featuring Homicidal Artificial Minds
• 6 Scenes from Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell We Can’t Wait to See Onscreen
• 9 Great Science Fiction Books For People Who Don’t Like Science Fiction
• The Art Of Murdering Kevin Bacon: How Friday The 13th Became A Horror Classic.
• Ava of Ex Machina Is Just Sci-Fi (for Now)
• The Best Maps Help You Get Lost, says Kotaku
• Bill Nye’s Spacecraft Has Launched Successfully and Wait How Did We Get Here?
• Blogging the Nebulas: Our Bright Future, Our Dark Past, and Coming Home
• Chuck Wendig discusses how sexual assault against women is portrayed in Game of Thrones versus Mad Max: Fury Road.
• Don’t Like Strong Women in Your Sci-Fi? Steer Clear of These 7 Books
• The First Season of CW’s The Flash Was a Massive Pop-Paradox
• Kenstibec is Back: Tor.com on the anti-hero at the heart of Jon Wallace’s dystopia.
• Mad Max: Fury Roads’ Feminine Mystique: A Dystopian Tale of Reproductive Rights
• NASA on how Tomorrowland may spark curiosity in real exploration
• Paul Magrs suggests top 10 sci-fi sagas for teens at The Guardian.
• A Peek into the Upscale World of Science-Fiction Books
• SFF Book Covers That Made You Pick Up the Book
• Scotland Yard Worried That Star Trek Would Cause a Doomsday Cult
• Star Trek, Roswell, and…Lawnmower Man? Why Scotland Yard was afraid of sci-fi.
• We’ll Need Science Fiction To Imagine The Mind-Boggling Future Of War
• Why Damon Lindelof thinks ‘fanboys’ won’t admit to liking Tomorrowland
• Why The Latest Mad Max “Fan Theory” Is a Crock
• Vulture makes the argument for The Flash as the best superhero TV show.

More Fun Stuff

• BoingBoing on A campaign to place Little Free Libraries in police departments.
• Daredevil Fails To Explain Why His Superhero Name Isn’t Batman in Funny Video
• The Easter Egg Hidden In Ex Machina’s Source Code
• Here’s How Space Megastructures Will Look, According to Neal Stephenson
• Homemade propane rifle cannon shoots like a sci-fi weapon
• How soon will robots take over the world? An explosion in artificial intelligence has sent us hurtling towards a post-human future, warns Martin Rees
• Listen to an excerpt from The Mime Order by Samantha Shannon at Lytherus.com.
• A look at the E.T. sequel we mercifully never saw
• Keeping it User Friendly: The Graphic UIs of Avengers: Age of Ultron
• “Rebel Hangar” Star Wars restaurant lounge opens at Walt Disney World
• Star Wars Fan creates “despecialized” original trilogy
• This cutting-edge space plane could be what NASA uses to explore Venus in 2021
• Watch 40 years of awesome ILM special effects in 1 minute
• Watch a preview for The Whispers.
• Watch a trailer for the horror film The Gallows.
• Watch a trailer for the heartwarming documentary Batkid Begins
• Watch an 8-bit tribute to Miyazaki’s Spirited Away.
• Wesley Chu and Nicole Kornher-Stace read from recent and forthcoming novels