[SF/F/H Link Post] The Science of The Martian has NASA and Fanboys Geeking Out

Interviews & Profiles

• The Book Plank interviews David Walton, author of Superposition.
• The Book Plank interviews John Gwynne, author of Ruin.
• Hank Garner interviews Nancy Kress, author of Yesterday’s Kin.
• Midnight in Karachi Podcast interviews Paul Cornell, author of Witches of Lychford.
• The Qwillery interviews Ellen Herrick, author of The Sparrow Sisters.
• Skiffy and Fanty interviews Fran Wilde, author of Updraft.
• Suvudu interviews Judd Winick, author of Hilo.
• The Sword and Laser interviews Cherie Priest, author of I Am Princess X.
• Variety interviews Anthony Daniels, star of Star Wars.

News

• Magnetic Wormhole Created for the First Time.
• Neil Gaiman has an update on his Humble Bundle and Miracleman #1!
• Scarlet Witch Ironically I.D.’s CIVIL WAR’s “Main Villain.”

Events & Event News

• The Washington Science Fiction Association (WSFA) is pleased to announce that it will host Capclave, the D.C.-area’s literary science fiction convention, on October 9-11, 2015 at the Hilton Washington DC North/Gaithersburg, 620 Perry Parkway, Gaithersburg, Maryland. This year’s Capclave will feature Guest of Honor science fiction author Alastair Reynolds from Wales, UK making his only North American appearance this year. Reynolds is the author of the Revelation Space series, the Poseidon’s Children trilogy, the Doctor Who novel Harvest of Time and several other stand alone novels. Gordon Van Gelder is the publisher (since 2000) and former editor (1997-2015) of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction.

Crowd Funding

• Desperation: 2196. A Mech Building Table Top Game – a Mech building table top game using models of a 1/100th scale. Allows unlimited customization.
• THE LAST 52 MEEPLES ON EARTH – Earth’s last 52 survivors try to escape a dying planet to establish a new world. And 6 billion ZOMBIES are out to stop them!

The Martian Articles

• Interview: The App interviews Andy Weir, author of The Martian.
• Interview: JoBlo interviews the cast and crew of The Martian.
• Movie Reviews: CinemaBlend | Mashable | Popular Mechanics | Post-Gazette | The Telegraph | VanietyFair | Variety.
• Movie Review: Ridley Scott’s The Martian Is Sublime, Sophisticated Entertainment.
• 7 Real NASA Technologies in The Martian.
• 7 things The Martian gets right about science (pictures.)
• Alien, and the movies that made space travel scary.
• Elon Musk: Nuke the Martian poles to terraform it faster.
• Great Cast, the Talented Ridley Scott – Why I’m Dying to See The Martian.
• Hollywood Uses Bigger Screens to Tell Sophisticated Stories.
• How realistic is Hollywood’s The Martian?
• How Scientifically Accurate Is The Martian?
• Inside The Martian: Empire Meets NASA.
• ISS Astronauts Read The Martian, Want to See the Movie on Opening Night.
• The Martian Had It Easy Compared to the Shipwrecked Scientists of Venus.
• The Martian: How a blog post became a Hollywood movie starring Matt Damon.
• Matt Damon talked space travel after the new trailer for The Martian debuted.
• Matt Damon’s The Martian has NASA scientists geeking out.
• NASA Invites Media to Explore Mars Science Fiction and Fact in Cinema.
• Neil deGrasse Tyson explains a fake Mars mission so well it almost hurts.
• Space station astronauts have read The Martian, can’t wait to see movie from orbit.
• What Will Be Ridley Scott’s Next Movie After The Martian?
• Why Dust Storms Wouldn’t Sabotage A Real Mars Mission.
• Why The Martian Is A Total Triumph, And One Of The Year’s Best Films.
• Why The Martian Won’t Get Us Any Closer to the Red Planet.
• Why NASA and Matt Damon Love The Martian.
• Why NASA scientists are excited about Matt Damon film The Martian (LA Times.)
• Why NASA scientists are excited about Matt Damon movie The Martian.
• Why The New Teaser For The Martian Is Also An Under Armour Ad.

Articles

• Movie Review: The Guardian calls The Visit “M Night Shyamalan’s found-footage loser.”
• Movie Review: Forbes calls M. Night Shyamalan’s The Visit Is A Glorious Return To Form.
• 5 Psychic Protagonists Whose Stories You Want to Read.
• 7 Books that Explore the Dark Side of the Moon.
• 19 Oscar-worthy sci-fi movie performances, as chosen by Den of Geek.
• The Best Ways To Celebrate Marty McFly’s Arrival Next Month.
• Did you catch the Angel Easter egg in Avengers: Age of Ultron?
• The Doctor and the Master: the history of a friendship.
• The Doctor Returns to Karn in a New Doctor Who Prologue.
• Elected Queens and Princess Senators: How the Politics of Star Wars Work.
• Margaret Atwood writes about Chocky, John Wyndham’s last sci-fi novel.
• The New York Times explains How The Martian makes the nerd the hero.
• Nnedi Okorafor and Kai Ashante Wilson are sci-fi novella authors to watch!
• Post-Credits Scenes Existed Way Before Marvel, And Here Are 5 Dope Ones.
• Reinventing Cyberpunk in Mr. Robot.
• Star Wars: a history of lightsaber design from Den of Geek.
• Where In Our Galaxy Are All The Aliens?
• Whose Story Is This, Anyway? An essay on identity in Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse.
• Why filmmakers need to stop trying to convince us “superhero” is a bad word.

Art

• These Gorgeous Science Fiction-Themed Prints Should Be On Your Walls Right Now.
• Orcs of New York Will Restore Your Faith in Orc-Kind.

More Fun Stuff

• Freelusion: Dance Group Performs With Giant 3-D Robot on America’s Got Talent 2015
• Funko launches Star Wars subscription box service. So long, “budget.” (More)
• Got Six Grand? Get a Life-Sized Aliens Xenomorph
• How It Should Have Ended’s parody of Taylor Swift’s Bad Blood is great and chock full of pop culture characters. Batman and Superman used to be best buds, chilling and drinking coffee together, but now they have bat blood.
• The Inspiring Story of Ronald E. McNair, the Astronaut Who Endured Racism & Became One of the First African Americans in Space
• M.C. Escher’s Perpetual Motion Waterfall Brought to Life: Real or Sleight of Hand?
• Read an excerpt from Lightless by C.A. Higgins at Suvudu.
• Read an excerpt from Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson at Tor.com.
• Watch the dark two-minute prologue to Doctor Who Series 9