[SF/F/H Link Post] Hugo Awards Redux; the Sci-Fi Classic LA JETÉE; Star Wars Lightsaber Science

Interviews & Profiles

• The Qwillery interviews Rebecca Alexander, author of The Secrets of Blood and Bone.
• Adam Savage interviews Andy Weir, author of The Martian.
• The Murverse Annex interviews Fran Wilde, author of Updraft.
• Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy interviews Andrew Liptak and Rafael Jordan to discuss this year’s new Syfy series, Killjoys and Dark Matter.
• SpeculateSF interviews Bradley P. Beaulieu, author of Twelve Kings in Sharakhai.

News

• A Year in Isolation – Researchers Start Mock Mars Mission to Study Psychological Effects of Space Travel, meaning there are now people in the world who want their roommates dead even more than you do.
• You Can Now Choose the Moon as Your Eternal Resting Place.
• Alan Dean Foster is writing the novelization for Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Events & Event News

• Cartoonist Ben Hatke appears in conversation with Gene Luen Yang at Kepler’s Books in Menlo Park, CA on Monday, September 21, 2015 at 7:00 PM to present LITTLE ROBOT! The event is free, but please register.
• MICE is back! On October 17th and 18th independent graphic novelists and cartoonists will converge on University Hall at 1815 Massachusetts Ave. in Cambridge’s Porter Square. The event is free, family friendly, and offers a weekend of activities as the Boston area’s only show dedicated to independent and alternative comics.

Crowd Funding

• The Colonizer Chronicles: San Francisco – A city ravished by suicide bombers, an EMP attack, and radiation; Francis Romero stands tall and guides his Colony to a bright future.
• Doctor Who: The Classic Series Regenerated – We are Classic Doctor Who fans looking to recapture the look and feel of the Tom Baker era.
• Epoxia Oragis – Graphic novel SF, Ebook format. An intermediary innovating between the classical book, animation, Internet, music and the video game.

Articles

• Book Review: Close encounters with feminist science fiction in Sisters of the Revolution.
• 9 Things I Wish I’d Known about Writing from the Beginning.
• Ant-Man: a small step in the right direction for Marvel.
• Ben Goertzel asks Is a Human Borg-Mind Inevitable?
• Christ-Figure in Movies & Books: Grace or Redemption?
• Could The Matrix Actually Be Powered By Human Batteries?
• Elton Gahr on “My Controversial Opinion on the Hugo Awards.”
• The Guardian on James Bond, spy fiction and the decline of empire.
• George R.R. Martin, in “Awards, Awards, and More Awards,” encourages the Puppies who are talking about starting an award of their own.
• George R.R. Martin likes Kevin Standlee’s ideas for redoing some the Hugo Awards. Kevin Standlee offered a proposal to drop some Hugo categories and add others.
• How The TV Show of Octavia Butler’s Dawn Will Stay True to Her Incredible Vision.
• Lou Antonelli on Facebook: “I’m going to write an alternate history set in a world where cloning was perfected in the 1920s and by the beginning of the television era in the 1950s entertainers are able to license copies of themselves for live performances.”
• Megan Guess at Ars Technica – “I watched Star Trek: The Original Series in order; and so can you. Or, Filling the gaps in your cultural knowledge is equal parts boring and fun.”
• Nerdist looks back at the sci-fi classic LA JETÉE.
• REALLY “REACHING” — Jack Reacher is NOT SF/F!
• Sci-Fi A Guide to Every Sci-Fi and Comic Book TV Show Coming This Fall.
• Star Wars: Aftermath – Conflict Intensifies in Post-Vader Novel, and the book offers several tantalizing hints as to the plot of The Force Awakens.
• Steve Davidson ends his new opinion piece about SP4 on a satirical note.
• Three Roleplaying Games With Great Character Creation.
• Why YA fiction needs to embrace disability, according to The Guardian.
• The works of Karel Capek are being celebrated at a festival in Washington D.C. Celia Wren penned an overview in the Washington Post.
• Would AI and Aliens be moral in a godless universe?
• Would You Take a One-Way Trip to Space? Anousheh Ansari Responds on Ask an Expert.
• The Verge covers the University of Iowa’s progress digitizing the Hevelin fanzine collection – “10,000 zines and counting: a library’s quest to save the history of fandom.”

Art

• 30 of the Most Beautiful Sci-Fi Book Covers Ever Made.
• 36 Epic Looking Sci-fi Artworks.
• The best homages to Totoro and Satsuki waiting for the Catbus together.
• “Hardcore” by OmeN2501.
• “Snatch” by OmeN2501.
• “Star Trek” by JoeJusko.

More Fun Stuff

• 10 of the weirdest Star Wars tie-in products ever made.
• Cracked delivers another round of honest movie posters.
• Discussion: What do you consider to be the “perfect” short story? One Redditor nominates Gaiman’s “The Price,” another Asimov’s “The Last Question.”
• Ellen Datlow has a hundred photos from Sasquan, including GRRM’s Hugo Losers Party
• John O’Halloran’s Sasquan photo album – mainly the Hugo ceremony.
• MythBusters tackles Star Wars lightsaber science.
• Star Wars Stormtrooper Dance in Times Square.