[SF/F/H Link Post] 12 Days of Robot Christmas; The Bioethics of Star Wars Spoilers; Gary K. Wolfe’s Gift Guide

Interviews & Profiles

• The Boskone Blog interviews Robert J Sawyer, author of Quantum Night, and Cerece Rennie Murphy, author of Order of the Seers.
• Ginger Nuts of Horror interviews Adam Millard, author of The Last Plague.
• Grim Tidings Podcast interviews Edward M. Erdelac of With Sword and Pistol.
• Electric Literature interviews Catherynne M. Valente, author of Radiance.
• Fantasy Faction interviews Peter McLean, author of Drake (The Burned Man).
• A Fantastical Librarian interviews J.M. Frey, author of The Untold Tale.
• My Bookish Ways interviews Danie Ware, author of Ecko Endgame.
• The Qwillery interviews F. Wesley Schneider, author of Bloodbound.
• Reddit recently held an AMA for Brian K. Vaughan & Marcos Martin, co-creators of THE PRIVATE EYE and BARRIER from PanelSyndicate.com.
• Sleeps With Monsters interviews S.L. Huang, author of Zero Sum Game.

News

• “Improving” Humans with Customized Genes Sparks Debate Among Scientists: Researchers at a gene editing summit grapple with the future of genetic enhancement.
• The International Animated Film Society, ASIFA-Hollywood, announced the nominees for its 43rd Annual Annie Awards on December 1.
• Masters Review Fall Fiction Contest Winners.
• Science Fiction Dominates IMDB’s List of Top 10 Movies and TV Shows for 2015.

Events & Event News

• Locus hosts a Steampunk Tea Party Fundraiser with Gail Carriger, Dec 5th, 10am – noon, at Borderlands Books in San Francisco.
• New York Review of SF Readings host Ellen Kushner and Delia Sherman, December 8th.

Crowd Funding

• Ghosts of War – Ghosts of War is a planet hopping tale of revenge and retribution. Full of action and adventure, twists and turns, it’s like a summer blockbuster in a book.
• Rockets – A young girl searches for a long-lost family secret in a world that has lost its capacity for wonder.
• Transreal Cyberpunk – Nine wild, weird and wondrous stories written together by cyberpunk masters Rudy Rucker and Bruce Sterling over thirty years.
• Browser to Book: The Wartune Novel – The young prince, once had everything – a life people envied, doting parents, a caring master, and a bright future that only come with being the son of King Ferrero. Those times have been forgotten, swept away by tragedy and war. A war driven and dictated by the whims of one man.

Articles

• Book Review: Your Brother’s Blood Gives New Life To The Undead.
• 7 Unjustly Overlooked 2015 SF/F Books chosen by Barnes and Noble: What with bookstore choice paralysis and the background noise of marketing hype, it’s inevitable that many wonderful novels are overlooked each year.
• The 10 best Star Wars board games, as chosen by GamesRadar.
• 16 ways Star Wars could have been VERY different.
• The best recent science fiction and horror — review roundup: Eric Brown on Adam Nevill, Ann Leckie, Dave Hutchinson, David Barnett, William Gay.
• The Bioethics of Star Wars Spoilers
• Crafting an Ending That Sings by Susan Dennard.
• December’s Must-Read Speculative Fiction Books.
• Everyone Loves Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back Because Han Solo is the Hero.
• Gary K. Wolfe’s Gift guide at the Chicago Tribune: Satisfying the sci-fi, fantasy fan.
• Health of Hard Science Fiction in 2015 (Short Fiction) – Greg Hullender of Rocket Stack Rank looks at whether this years stories support claims of doom for Hard SF.
• Introducing the 12 Days of Robot Christmas.
• Is Microsoft co-opting sci-fi’s techno-optimism vs skepticism debate?
• It’s a Trap: Emperor Palpatine’s Poison Pill by Zachary Feinstein: “In this paper we study the financial repercussions of the destruction of two fully armed and operational moon-sized battle stations (“Death Stars”) in a 4-year period and the dissolution of the galactic government in Star Wars.”
• J.J. Abrams Has a Great Message for Everyone in appealing to Young Girls.
• Nancy Hightower’s Best science fiction and fantasy books of 2015.
• Space Radiation Is Quietly Stopping Us From Sending Humans to Mars: In order to create a colony, we need to be able to survive a long trip through space.
• Star Trek Voyager: an episode roadmap.
• Tobias Buckell offers his answer to “How do I know when to trunk my story or novel?”
• Why Has Hollywood Suddenly Decided Scientists Are Good Looking? As analytical characters step into heroic roles, the Bunsen burner set heats up.
• Why There Will Never Be Another Einstein: No modern scientist comes close to Einstein’s moral as well as scientific stature.

Art

• These AT-AT and Voltron Cakes are coming to lay siege to your diet!
• Star Wars Landscapes by Wales-based Rich Davies.
• Time to deck the halls with DIY Star Wars Snowflakes.

More Fun Stuff

• Ansible 341, December 2015 has been released.
• Awesome STAR WARS-Themed Alamo Drafthouse Theater.
• The entire Star Wars saga summed up in 3 minutes.
• Every single Star Wars vehicle from the original trilogy, sized.
• The force of flavor is strong with Star Wars ice cream.
• Harrison Ford Demos His Star Wars Injury Using a Han Solo Doll.
• Our melting, shifting, liquid world: celebrities read poems on climate change.
• Listen to an excerpt from The Builders by Daniel Polansky at Tor.com.
• Jar Jar Binks Sith Theory EXPLAINED!
• Read an excerpt of The Medusa Chronicles! by Stephen Baxter and Alastair Reynolds.
• Read an excerpt of The Phantom in the Maze by Michael Swanwick at Tor.com.
• Star Wars: The Force Awakens behind-the-scenes images.
• Stormtrooper Longboard Race GONE BAD!
• The X-Files – New Art and Eerie Teaser!