The Prix Imaginales recognize the best works of fantasy of the year published in France in six categories.
The winners will be announced May 23 at the Imaginales festival in Epinal, France.
[NOTE: The Prix Imaginales is a different award than the Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire.]
Prix Imaginales du roman francophone (Fantasy) / French novel
Roman de ronce et d’épine, de Lucie BARATTE – Éditions du Typhon
La Boutique des choses inavouables, by Céline CHEVET – Éditions du Chat Noir
Kosigan, un printemps de sang, by Fabien CERUTTI – Éditions Mnémos
Une valse pour les grotesques, by Guillaume CHAMANADJIAN – Éditions Aux Forges de Vulcain
Le Cycle de syffe, tome 4 : La maison des veilleurs, by Patrick K. DEWDNEY – Éditions Au Diable Vauvert
La Sonde et la taille, by Laurent MANTESE – Éditions Albin Michel Imaginaire
Prix Imaginales du roman étranger traduit (Fantasy) /Foreign Novel translated into French
Requiem pour les fantômes, by Katherine ARDEN. Translated by Jacques COLLIN – Éditions Denoël, Lune d’encre
Les Cités divines, tome 1 : La cité des marches, by Robert Jackson BENNETT. Translated by Laurent PHILIBERT-CAILLAT – Éditions Albin Michel Imaginaire
Starling house, by Alix E. HARROW. Translated by Thibaud ELIROFF – Éditions Hachette Heros, Le Rayon Imaginaire
Les Sœurs solstice, tome 1 : L’automne du grimoire, by Jane Lenore VAMPA. Translated by Cécile GUILLOT – Éditions du Chat Noir
Les Beaux et les élus, by Nghi VO. Translated by Mikael CABON – Éditions L’Atalante
Prix Imaginales de la jeunesse (Fantasy) / Youth category (Fantasy)
Fleur de bastion et le renard masqué, tome 1 : Les loups de Hurlebois, by Jolan C. BERTRAND – Éditions l’École des loisirs
Pérégrine Quinn et la déesse du chaos, tome 1, by Ash BOND. Translated by Anne GUITTON – Éditions Casterman
La Tisseuse de vents, by Nina LAN – Éditions Didier Jeunesse
Greenwild, tome 1: Le monde derrière la porte, by Pari THOMSON. Translated by Thibaud ELIROFF – Éditions Pocket Jeunesse
Neige et poussière, by Adrien TOMAS – Éditions Rageot
Prix Imaginales de l’album relevant de l’imaginaire au sens large (de 3 à 6 ans) /Prix Imaginales for the album relating to the imagination in the broad sense (from 3 to 6 years old)
Bertha et moi, by Béatrice ALEMAGNA – Éditions l’École des loisirs
C’est bien, mon cœur, by Owen GENT – Éditions Obriart
Une aventure au royaume de porcelaine, by Katerina ILLNEROVA – Éditions Obriart
Un abri, by Adrien PARLANGE – Éditions La Partie
(Pas encore) une histoire de licorne, by Christine ROUSSEY – Éditions de La Martinière
Prix Imaginales de l’illustration (Fantasy) / Illustration (Fantasy)
Dragons & Merveilles, by Philippe-Henri TURIN (author and illustrator) – Éditions Gautier-Languereau
L’Encyclopédie du merveilleux : Les ogres et ogresses, by Étienne FRIESS (illustrator) and Cécile ROUMIGUIÈRE (author) – Éditions Albin Michel Jeunesse
Ether, by Étienne CHAIZE (author and illustrator) – Éditions 2042
Prix Imaginales de la bande dessinée (Fantasy, Science-fiction, anticipation…) /Prix Imaginales Comics Prize (Fantasy, Science fiction, anticipation, etc.)
La Cuisine des ogres, trois-fois-morte, by Fabien VEHLMANN (author) and Jean-Baptiste ANDREAE (illustrator) – Éditions Rue de Sèvres
Les Navigateurs, by Serge LEHMAN (author) and Stéphane DE CANEVA (illustrator) – Éditions Delcourt
La Route, by Manu LARCENET (author and illustrator) – Éditions Dargaud
(1) JMS MOVES TO ENGLAND. J. Michael Straczysnki told Facebook followers he is pursuing his goal to write for British TV by becoming a Resident of the UK, which he is as of today.
…So it should come as no surprise that every year, when my agent and I have our “what goals should we set for the coming year” discussion, I’ve asked one question every time: “Is there any way I can produce a series in the UK and live there for a while?”
The answer, alas, has always been no, for the obvious reason that I’m not a British citizen or resident with a visa that would allow me to work in the UK. The closest I came was when we shot a big chunk of Sense8 in London. Rather than satisfy my desire to live and work in the UK, the experience only reinforced it.
Well, I finally decided to do something about it. Because that’s what dreams are for….
…Even though the outcome was far from certain, I made the decision to sell the house that has been my home for 25 years as a way of saying I’m committing to the path. Gave away or donated a ton of clothes and other stuff. If the visa went through, I wanted a fresh start, so I used much of what was left after selling the house to pay off debt accumulated during one pandemic, two strikes, and four years of paralysis in the film/TV business.
…As of today, I am officially a Resident of the United Kingdom. I can stay on indefinitely, can apply for full citizenship in three years, and finally, at long last, I am free to work for any studio, producer or network in the UK, from ITV to Channel 4, Britbox, Acorn…BBC….
…All of that being said, I’m not just leaving the US behind. My plan is to divide my time between both countries. In addition to looking after the Ellison Estate, there’s my ongoing comics work, several US-based projects that require my attention, and the possibility of more in the future, I want to launch some US/UK film and television co-productions, create series that can be shot in both places, and perhaps join arms with UK studios and networks already working to bring homegrown characters from comics and past TV series to an international audience.
But there’s that old joke: Q: How do you make God laugh? A: Tell Him your plans….
(2) RHYSLING AWARD NEWS. The Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association (SFPA) has announced the “2025 Rhysling Award Finalists”, 50 short poems and 25 long poems.
A short poem finalist is Pat Masson’s “The Last Valkyrie” from Forgotten Ground Regained 2. Paul Deane tells the story behind that poem’s publication and Rhysling eligibility in this Bluesky thread.
(3) PULITZER PRIZES 2025. The New York Times has the “Pulitzer Prizes: 2025 Winners List”. Complete list at the link, which bypasses the paywall. There are no winners of genre interest, however, File 770 has taken an interest in James because it has in common with Julia, based on 1984, the concept of retelling a classic from another character’s point of view.
FICTION
“James,” by Percival Everett
Mr. Everett’s book won for “an accomplished reconsideration of ‘Huckleberry Finn’ that gives agency to Jim to illustrate the absurdity of racial supremacy and provide a new take on the search for family and freedom,” the committee said.
Finalists “Headshot: A Novel,” by Rita Bullwinkel; “The Unicorn Woman,” by Gayl Jones; “Mice 1961,” by Stacey Levine
(4) KGB. Fantastic Fiction at KGB reading series hosts Ellen Datlow and Matthew Kressel present Daryl Gregory and Carol Gyzander on Wednesday, May 14, 2025, at 7:00 p.m. Eastern. Location: KGB Bar, 85 East 4th Street, New York, NY 10003. (Just off 2nd Ave, upstairs.)
Daryl Gregory
Daryl Gregory is a Seattle writer whose latest novel is When We Were Real, which Kirkus in a starred review called “a marvel.” His books and short stories have been translated into a dozen languages and have won multiple awards, including the World Fantasy, Shirley Jackson, and Crawford awards, and have been nominated for the Hugo, Nebula, Edgar, and other awards. His ten other books include the novels Revelator and Spoonbenders, the novellas The Album of Dr. Moreau and We Are All Completely Fine, and the collection Unpossible and Other Stories. He also teaches writing and is a regular instructor at the Viable Paradise Writing Workshop
Carol Gyzander
Carol Gyzander is a two-time Bram Stoker Award® nominee who writes and edits horror, weird fiction, and science fiction—with strong women in twisted tales that touch your heart. She has stories in Weird Tales 367, Weird House Magazine, Under Twin Suns, and numerous other publications. Carol edited and contributed to the Stoker-nominated Discontinue If Death Ensues: Tales from the Tipping Point (Flame Tree Publishing), including her poem “Bobblehead,” which is nominated for a Rhysling Award. She’s Co-Chair of HWA NY Chapter and co-host of their Galactic Terrors online reading series. Follow her on Instagram @carolgyzander.
(5) SOMEBODY STILL WANTS TO RUN A WORLDCON? The Brisbane in 28 Worldcon bid woke from its ordinary social media slumber to leave this announcement on Facebook today:
Our apologies for being so quiet, we’ve been busy trying to organise ourselves for Seattle, and then a Federal Election happened. We plan on being more visible again from this point on.
Our bid is currently for Thursday the 28th of July to Monday the 31st of July, 2028. This is on the weekend following the total eclipse that will be passing through Australia on Saturday the 22nd of July, 2028.
We do plan on having a presence in Seattle for this year’s Worldcon, but the current situation is making that challenging. However, even if we are not there in person, we have people willing to handle things on our behalf, so we will have a presence there.
(6) ON THE TUBE. Camestros Felapton continues his 2025 Hugo review series with a Dramatic Presentation: Long Form finalist: “Hugo 2025: I Saw the TV Glow”.
… I Saw the TV Glow is billed as horror and while it contains a bunch of disturbing ideas and images it is not what I would regard as a frightening film. That’s not a criticism of the film just an indication that it sits in its own place rather than comfortably within one genre category. Of course, depending on your own life experiences (and particularly teenage experiences) this film may hit very differently….
The National Endowment for the Arts began terminating and withdrawing grant offers on Friday night, after President Trump proposed cutting NEA funding from the government budget. Many small publishers, magazines, and publishing-related organizations lost funding.
The Community of Magazines and Literary Presses (CLMP) tells PL that they reached out to all fiscal year ’25 Grants for the Arts round one grantees in the literary/arts publishing category. “Of the 51,” said executive director Mary Gannon, “I’ve heard from 40 so far and all 40 have had their grants ‘terminated’ or ‘withdrawn.’ Some have already received payments, but not all.”
Among the institutions impacted were Open Letter Books, which publishes literature in translation; literary magazine N+1, which lost a $12,500 grant; Hub City Press, which lost $25,000; and Deep Vellum, which lost $20,000; Milkweed Editions, which lost $50,000; Electric Literature, which lost $12,000; Nightboat Books, which lost $30,000; McSweeney’s Literary Arts, which lost $25,000, and many more. (Find a growing list here.)…
The Trump administration has released its proposed budget for next year, revealing massive budget cuts that could deal NASA’s space exploration and science efforts a devastating blow.
The agency’s budget would be slashed by 24 percent year over year, a difference of $6 billion, which is the biggest single-year cut in US history, according to the Planetary Society.
While space and Earth science funding would face massive lacerations, human space exploration could see its budget increase by roughly $1 billion in “new investments for Mars-focused programs,” according to the proposal, highlighting Trump’s desire to plant a flag on the Red Planet.
Notably, the Trump administration proposes canceling NASA’s “grossly expensive and delayed” Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion capsule after Artemis 3, the first attempt to return astronauts to the Moon’s surface in over half a century, which is tentatively scheduled for 2027….
…At the end of Thunderbolts*, CIA director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) announced the group’s rebrand as The New Avengers. A graphic on screen after the film’s post-credits scene then informs cinemagoers that “The New Avengers will return”.
Now, posters for Thunderbolts* appearing in cinemas and on billboards around the world have been updated to reveal its new title: The New Avengers.
This development also reveals the meaning of the asterisk featured at the end of the original title, which was part of a carefully orchestrated publicity stunt….
(10) TODAY’S BIRTHDAY.
[Written by Paul Weimer.]
May 5, 1979 — Catherynne Valente, 46.
By Paul Weimer: Reading Catherynne Valente for me started with Palimpsest. The idea of a map on people’s skin, pieces transmitted by sex, was a little out of my comfort zone. But the dream/faerie reality of the titular city, accessible after nights of passion, entranced me. Valente’s work was lush, gorgeous, vivid, fey, The writing was poetic in language and form, a puzzle like the map on the visitors’ skin.
Catherynne Valente
I was enchanted by her work, even if it wasn’t my usual. I skipped into and Valente’s work here and there rather than making her a solid must-buy. Sometimes for my own personal reading, a little Valente was enough. It’s as if her work was too potent for me to consume continually. But I enjoyed Six Gun Snow White, and Deathless, particularly.
And then there’s Space Opera.
Space Opera is glorious, and was glorious to me, who is not immersed into the world of Eurovision, which it borrows shamelessly from. Space Opera is part of the branch of Space Operas in the same realm that Cat Rambo and Valerie Valdes and Lavanya Lakshminarayan play in: Frothy, fun, and light, and yet with hidden depths. Character focused and oriented science fiction space opera, and yet interesting and intriguing worldbuilding. Space Opera is the leading edge of this slice of space opera, and even someone with Amusia can and does enjoy it.
Sadly, for me, the follow-up, Space Oddity, charitably didn’t live up to the first. But I expect that I will get the urge to taste the potency of Valente’s work again in the future. Like that map in Palimpsest, I will be irresistibly drawn to the faerieland of her work once more.
For more than a decade, a pair of Hobbit-inspired eagle sculptures have cast a watchful eye over visitors at New Zealand’s Wellington Airport.
But the giant birds will be unfastened from the ceiling on Friday to make way for a new mystery exhibit, airport authorities said.
The eagles appear as messengers in JRR Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, which were adapted to film by New Zealand’s Sir Peter Jackson.
The spectacular New Zealand landscapes featured in Mr Jackson’s films are a consistent draw for tourists, who are greeted at the airport by the eagle sculptures.
“It’s not unusual to see airborne departures from Wellington Airport, but in this case, it will be emotional for us,” Wellington Airport chief executive Matt Clarke said in a statement.
The giant eagles will be placed in storage and there have not been long-term plans for them.
Each eagle weighs 1.2 tonnes (1,200kg) with a wingspan of 15m (49ft). Riding on the back of one of the birds is a sculpture of the wizard, Gandalf.
Made of polystyrene and with an internal steel skeleton, each eagle has hundreds of feathers, the longest one measuring 2.4m (8ft).
While the iconic eagles will soon be gone, not all is lost for fans of the franchise: Smaug the Magnificent, the dragon in The Hobbit, will continue to be displayed at the check-in area….
If you’re worried about the end of the world, you can scratch asteroids and climate change off the list of final threats —at least in the very long term. According to new research from Toho University in Japan, supported by NASA modeling, the slow fade of life on Earth won’t come with a bang. Instead, it’ll happen with a lack of breathable air.
That’s right: the distant future of Earth won’t end in fire or ice, but in something far more subtle: oxygen loss. And while that sounds ominous, you can relax. This isn’t something that will affect you, your children, or even your great-great-great-great-grandchildren. In fact, the end is about a billion years away, give or take a few hundred million….
The first trailer for SYFY’s upcoming adaptation of the fan-favorite Image Comics title Revival has been officially released online. The trailer provides people with a basic overview of the general premise; a rural Wisconsin town has to adjust to a startling new reality when the dead mysteriously come back to life. What sets Revival apart from similar zombie-themed titles is that the “revived” appear and act as they did before they passed away. At the center of the story is Officer Dana Cypress (played by Melanie Scrofano), who has to make sense of it all as the town’s residents struggling coming to terms with the situation….
The South Texas home of Elon Musk’s SpaceX rocket company is now an official city with a galactic name: Starbase.
A vote Saturday to formally organize Starbase as a city was approved by a lopsided margin among the small group of voters who live there and are mostly Musk’s employees at SpaceX. With all the votes in, the tally was 212 in favor to 6 against, according to results published online by the Cameron County Elections Department.
Musk celebrated in a post on his social platform, X, saying it is “now a real city!”
Starbase is the facility and launch site for the SpaceX rocket program that is under contract with the Department of Defense and NASA that hopes to send astronauts back to the moon and someday to Mars.
Musk first floated the idea of Starbase in 2021 and approval of the new city was all but certain. Of the 283 eligible voters in the area, most are believed to be Starbase workers….
Researchers from Switzerland’s École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) and the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) have formed an unlikely collaboration team with pastry chefs and food scientists to create the RoboCake, currently on show at Osaka’s Expo 2025.
But this is a cake with a bit of a twist. Sitting atop the elaborate piece are edible robotic bears, which are reported to taste like pomegranate gummies, which have an internal pneumatic system that provides movement for their limbs and head. And, yes, these little dancing robots are completely edible….
… Not to be outdone, IIT researchers have made the world’s first edible rechargeable battery, using a recipe of vitamin B2, quercetin, activated carbon and chocolate.
“These batteries, safe for consumption, can be used to light the LED candles on the cake,” said Valerio Galli, a PhD student at IIT. “The first flavor you get when you eat them is dark chocolate, followed by a surprising tangy kick, due to the edible electrolyte inside, which lasts a few seconds.”…
…What was up with that baby cry at the end there? And what game could possibly be coming with everyone getting their team out of a giant gumball machine?
We don’t know and that’s just the tip of the iceberg for all these questions. We love to see how 456 (Lee Jung-jae) is brought back into the game and that the story from the boat, and of the Front Man, will continue. In fact, everything has to wrap up here because the show’s creator, Hwang Dong-hyuk, has said this is the end….
[Thanks to Cat Eldridge, SF Concatenation’s Jonathan Cowie, Mark Roth-Whitworth, Michael J. Walsh, Jim Janney, Steven French, Kathy Sullivan, Teddy Harvia, Mike Kennedy, Andrew Porter, John King Tarpinian, and Chris Barkley for some of these stories. Title credit belongs to File 770 contributing editor of the day Jack Lint.]
The Seattle Worldcon 2025’s WSFS Division Head Cassidy, Hugo Administrator Nicholas Whyte, and Deputy Hugo Administrator Esther MacCallum-Stewart today announced their resignations from the committee in the following statement:
Effective immediately, Cassidy (WSFS DH), Nicholas Whyte (Hugo Administrator) and Esther MacCallum-Stewart (Deputy Hugo Administrator) resign from their respective roles from the Seattle 2025 Worldcon. We do not see a path forward that enables us to make further contributions at this stage.
We want to reaffirm that no LLMs or generative AI have been used in the Hugo Awards process at any stage. Our nomination software NomNom is well-documented on GitHub for anyone to be able to review. We firmly believe in transparency for the awards process and for the Finalists who have been nominated. We believe that the Hugo Awards exist to celebrate our community which is filled with artists, authors, and fans who adore the works of our creative SFF community. Our belief in the mission of the Hugo Awards, and Worldcon in general has guided our actions in the administration of these awards, and now guides our actions in leaving the Seattle Worldcon.
Cassidy
Nicholas Whyte
Esther MacCallum-Stewart
The Seattle Worldcon’s WSFS Division administers the Hugo Awards, Business Meeting, and Site Selection. The committee’s remaining WSFS Division leadership includes Deputy Division Heads Kathryn Duval and Rosemary Parks (who is also Site Selection Coordinator).
The Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association’s juries have chosen the 2025 Rhysling Award finalists from the previously announced longlists.
SHORT POEMS (50 FINALISTS)
• After they blasted your home planet to shrapnel • P. H. Low • Haven Spec 14 • aftermath, in the city. a diary • Peter Roberts • Chrome Baby 133 • Battle of the Sexless • Colleen Anderson • Bestiary of Blood (Crystal Lake Publishing, October) • A Black Hole is a Melting Pot That Will Make Us Whole • Pedro Iniguez • Star*Line 47.1 • Bobblehead • Carol Gyzander • Discontinue if Death Ensues (Flame Tree Collections, October) • Born Against Teeth • Tiffany Morris • Grimm Retold (Speculation Publications, September) • Brandy Old Fashioned • Amelia Gorman • Eye to the Telescope 53 • Chronoverse • Jeffrey Allen Tobin • Star*Line 47.3 • Colony Xaxbara 4 • Kimberly Kuchar • The Space Cadet Science Fiction Review 2 • Dodging the Bullet • Lisa M. Bradley • Small Wonders 13 • Fractal • Jack Cooper • Poetry News Spring 2024 • from Venus, to Mars • Cailín Frankland • Eye to the Telescope 55 • Generation Ship • Akua Lezli Hope • Star*Line 47.3 • Gravitation is Only a Theory • Alan Katerinsky • Wheeling, Yet Not Free (Written Image Press, July) • The High Priestess Falls in Love with Death • Ali Trotta • The Deadlands 35 • In the Future, AI Will Make Ofrendas • Felicia Martinez • Asimov’s Jan/Feb 2024 • The Last Valkyrie • Pat Masson • Forgotten Ground Regained 2 • The Last Woman • Anna Taborska • Discontinue if Death Ensues (Flame Tree Collections, October) • Lesson’s End • Brian Hugenbruch • Samjoko Summer 2024 • Let’s Pretend It’s A Bird • Roger Dutcher • NewMyths 69 • Lost Ark • F. J. Bergman • Space & Time Magazine 146 • Make me a sandwich • Marisca Pichette • Star*Line 47.2 • New Homestead • Akua Lezli Hope • Sublimation Volume 1, Issue 5 • Notes from a Centaur’s Curator • Gwen Sayers • Ghost Sojourn (Southword Editions, April) • The Oarfish Bride • Amelia Gorman • Baubles From Bones 2 • Odysseus’s Apology to Anticlea • Anastasios Mihalopoulos • Lit Magazine 37 • The Old Tradition • Zaynab Iliyasu Bobi • FIYAH 32 • One Bright Moment (International Research Station, Nili Fossae, Mars) • Kate Boyes • SFPA Valentines Day Reading • One Large Deep Fried Thistle Burr • Jonathan Olfert • Strange Horizons 8/19/2024 • Our Combusted Planet • Brian Garrison • Dreams & Nightmares 126 • Pa(i)ncakes • Dex Drury • Slay and Slay Again! (Sliced Up Press, July) • Right to Shelter • Mary Soon Lee • Radon Journal 7 • Rising Star • David C. Kopaska-Merkel • Spectral Realms 21 • Robin’s Rest • Lisa Timpf • Eye to the Telescope 54 • Sea and Sky • Megan Branning • The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction Winter 2024 • Song Through Wires • Jacqueline West • Star*Line 47.4 • Sonnet for the Unbeliever • Paul Chuks • Strange Horizons 5/20/2024 • Space Psychiatry • Anna Cates • Star*Line 47.3 • Things to Remember When Descending Through the Ocean • Sandra Kasturi • Poetry Society Stanza Poetry Competition October • the time travel body • Angel Leal • Radon Journal 8 • Transhumanist Classroom • Pedro Iniguez • Mexicans on the Moon: Speculative Poetry from a Possible Future (Space Cowboy Books, November) • traveling through breaths • Eva Papasoulioti • Radon Journal 6 • Trinary • Amabilis O’ Hara • Heartlines Spec 4 • Trip Through the Robot • Carolyn Clink & David Clink • Giant Robot Poems (Middle West Press, July) • Visions of Manhattan • Ian Li • Eye to the Telescope 53 • A War of Words • Marie Brennan • Strange Horizons 9/16/2024 • We Carry Our Ghosts to the Stars • Richard Leis • Star*Line 47.3 • What Dragons Didn’t Do • Mary Soon Lee • Uppagus 6 • The Witch Recalls Her Craft • Angel Leal • Uncanny 60 • You Are a Monster • Beth Cato • Worlds of Possibility August 2024 Issue
LONG POEMS (25 FINALISTS)
• 9n Lives • Mary A. Turzillo • Eccentric Orbits 5 (Dimensionfold Publishing, October)
• The Blackthorn • Mary Soon Lee • Dreams & Nightmares 126
• Body Revolt • Casey Aimer • Strange Horizons 7/29/2024
• Change Your Mind • Gwendolyn Maia Hicks • Small Wonders 16
• Divide By Zero • Michael Bailey • Written Backwards 12/22/24 Post
• Draco Hesperidum • Eric Brown • Eternal Haunted Summer Summer Solstice 2024
• Elemental Scales • Ruth Berman • Star*Line 47.1
• The Fabulous Underwater Panther • Marsheila Rockwell • Blood Quantum & Other Hate Crimes (Fallen Tree Press, July)
• The Final Trick • Angela Liu • Strange Horizons 8/26/2024
• Giant Robot and His Person • Akua Lezli Hope • FIYAH 31
• The High Priestess Writes a Love Letter to The Magician • Ali Trotta • Uncanny 58
• The House of Mulberry Leaves • Ryu Ando • Crow & Cross Keys 2/7/2024
• In Graves Wood • Siân Thomas • Long Poem Magazine 32
• The Last Voyage: Island Relocation Program • Steve Wheat • Radon Journal 8
• Medicine For The Ailing Mortal, as Told in Seven Stories • Silvatiicus Riddle • The Fairy Tale Magazine 5/1/2024
• The Museum of Etymology • F.J. Bergman • Star*Line 47.3
• My Queens Last Gift • Adele Gardner • Dark Dead Things 3
• Porphyria’s Lover • Anna Cates • Abyss & Apex 92
• The Price of Becoming a Villain is to Quell One’s Kin in a Charade of Pact with The Gods • Nwuguru Chidiebere Sullivan • The Deadlands 36
• Shattered Souls at Heaven’s Gate • Ayòdéjì Israel • The Deadlands 36
• Star Stitcher • A. J. Van Belle • Haven Spec 13
• Watching • Vonnie Winslow Crist • Shivers, Scares, and Chills (Dark Owl Publishing, October)
• We Makes It • J.H. Siegal • Penumbric April 2024 Issue
• What Beautiful Heavens These • Kaya Skovdatter • Strange Horizons 12/23/2024
• When it Really is Just the Wind, and Not a Furious Vexation • Kyle Tran Myrhe • Academy of American Poets Poem-a-Day 8/6/2024
Marvel Comics’ Pride celebration returns this June with six all-new Pride Variant Covers drawn by superstar cover artist Meghan Hetrick.
For the fifth consecutive year, Marvel’s Pride Variant Covers spotlight the LGBTQIA+ community with stunning portraits of LGTQIA+ characters—ranging from iconic heroes to recently introduced breakout stars. The covers can be found on Deadpool #15, Exceptional X-Men #10, Immortal Thor #24, New Champions #6, Runaways #1, and X-Men #17 throughout June.
The characters featured this year are:
KITTY PRYDE, beloved X-Man and pillar of the mutant community! Kitty is currently guiding a trio of new mutants in the critically-accalaimed Exceptional X-Men ongoing series by Eve L. Ewing and Carmen Carnero.
KID JUGGERNAUT, aka Justin Jin, who made his unstoppable debut in the Marvel’s Voices Infinity Comic where his family’s secret legacy with the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak was revealed! Now, Kid Juggernaut uses his superhuman strength to be a champion for others in the hit Avengers Academy: Marvel’s Voices Infinity Comic on Marvel Unlimited, written by co-creator Anthony Oliveira.
LOKI, the God of Mischief! Over the decades, Loki has evolved from maniacal supervillain into one of Marvel’s most complex protagonists, with their most recent character-redefining journey occurring in the pages of Al Ewing and Jan Bazaldua’s bold Immortal Thor series.
NICO MINORU, the young sorceress of Runaways and Midnight Suns fame. Nico and the Runaways return this June in a new One World Under Doom tie-in limited series by Rainbow Rowell and Elena Casagrande–Hetrick’s Pride Variant Cover will be featured on the debut issue!
PRODIGY, aka David Alleyne, a breakout character from the X-Men’s Academy X generation. The super-genuis mutant went on to star in titles like Young Avengers, X-Factor, and most recently, NYX by Collin Kelly, Jackson Lanzing, and Francesco Mortarino.
VALENTINE VUONG, the elite assassin who stole Wade Wilson’s heart during Alyssa Wong’s 2023 run of Deadpool, and recently resurfaced in the Merc with a Mouth’s current solo series by Cody Ziglar and Rogê Antônio.
“It was an honor to be asked to work on this year’s Pride Variant Covers. Celebrating these characters in vibrant, personal ways felt especially meaningful right now,” Hetrick shared.
Check out all six covers following the jump. For more information, visit Marvel.com.
(1) JUSTWATCH REVEALS THE MOST-STREAMED STAR WARS TITLES. JustWatch, the world’s leading streaming guide, released an exclusive report ahead of Star Wars Day (May the 4th), diving into the most-streamed titles across the Star Wars universe.
From the timeless legacy of George Lucas’ original trilogy to the power of Disney’s modern revival, JustWatch’s findings reveal how the Force continues to captivate American audiences.
Drawing from millions of data points collected from JustWatch users, the report uncovers the top-performing Star Wars films and series and how streaming preferences vary between generations of fans.
Key Findings
“The Mandalorian” Reigns Supreme: Disney+’s flagship series outperformed the original trilogy by over 25%, cementing its status as the most-watched Star Wars title.
Film Favorites Still Fly High: Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back remains the most-streamed film from the Lucas-era classics, while The Rise of Skywalker leads among Disney’s theatrical releases.
Old vs. New: Though newer series like Ahsoka and Andor surged in popularity in 2024, the original trilogy collectively still held over 30% of the film streaming share.
Anakin Showdown: Hayden Christensen’s portrayal in the prequels has seen a resurgence, outpacing Jake Lloyd and even early Mark Hamill-led films in younger demographics.
Hidden Gems: Despite critical acclaim, Star Wars: Visions and The Book of Boba Fett landed among the least-streamed titles.
Methodology: Streaming interest is based on JustWatch user activity globally, from 2019-April 28th, 2025, including interactions such as adding titles to watchlists, click-outs to streaming platforms, and filtering by service providers. JustWatch aggregates data from over 60 million monthly users across 140 countries.
New Yorkers — and residents of many other states — have paid more for entertainment in recent years than just their Netflix or Hulu subscriptions.
Each New York household has also contributed about $16 in taxes, on average, toward producing the drama series “Billions” since 2017. Over that period, each household has also paid roughly $14.50 in production incentives for “Saturday Night Live” and $4.60 for “The Irishman,” among many other shows and movies.
Add it all up, and New York has spent more than $5.5 billion in incentives since 2017, the earliest year for which data is readily available. Now, as a new state budget agreement nears, Gov. Kathy Hochul has said she wants to add $100 million in credits for independent productions that would bring total film subsidies to $800 million a year, almost double the amount from 2022.
Other states also pay out tens or hundreds of millions each year in a bidding war for Hollywood productions, under the theory that these tax credits spur the economy. One question for voters and lawmakers is whether a state recoups more than its investment in these movies and shows — or gets back only pennies on the dollar….
… A recent study commissioned by Empire State Development, the agency that administers the tax credit, found that for every dollar handed out, about $1.70 was returned via local or state taxes, meaning the program was profitable for the state.
But many economists say these programs are money losers. A separate study commissioned by the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance estimated a return of only 31 cents on the dollar….
…A recent survey of incentive programs by The New York Times estimated that states had paid out more than $25 billion over 20 years. Last year, Gov. Gavin Newsom of California cited the size of New York’s subsidies when he proposed increasing his state’s tax credits to $750 million from $330 million….
Is there ever a right time to introduce into your superhero universe a psychologically unstable god-being with the potential to sneeze a continent off the map? It is probably not when – 17 years in – you are being accused of having lost half your audience to superhero fatigue. But that’s exactly what Marvel is doing this weekend as Thunderbolts* brings us Sentry, quite possibly the freakiest superhero to ever grace the comic book publisher’s hallowed pages. You thought Rocket Raccoon was weird and unhinged? Reckon Moon Knight is a bit of a handful? This guy makes them look like well-adjusted professionals with decent pensions.
(4) THE HANDMAID’S TALE Q&A. Leading into the show’s final season, in “‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ Wants to End With a Message of Hope” the New York Times hears from actors Yvonne Strahovski and Elizabeth Moss (who is also a producer and director on the series); Bruce Miller, the creator; Warren Littlefield, a producer; and Yahlin Chang and Eric Tuchman, the Season 6 showrunners. (Behind a paywall.)
…When you originally conceived of this show, how faithful to Margaret Atwood’s novel did you feel like you had to be?
BRUCE MILLER I first read “The Handmaid’s Tale” in college. I’m dyslexic, so I tend to read the same books over and over. Since it became one of my favorites, I didn’t want to mess it up in an adaptation. The key, for me, was not fealty to the book or Margaret as an artist — it was born out of the storytelling in the novel that had already stood up to a whole bunch of readings. There are parts in it that I have never understood.
ELISABETH MOSS Margaret’s tone is so specific to her voice and writing that it was really important for that to be part of the show. As a producer, if I’m sent something and someone says, “I don’t see how you make this into a film or a show.” I’m like, “Have you read ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’?” It’s a first-person narrative that follows one person’s perspective the entire way, has a ton of loose ends and ends abruptly with no explanation.
Like the book, the show often feels politically prophetic, but it is much more racially and culturally diverse. What were some of your priorities when it came to adapting the novel?
MILLER: I decided at the beginning that fertility would trump everything. That once the fertility rate went down by 95 percent, people’s racism, sexism and whatever-ism would slide. I was completely wrong, based on what happened in the last 10 years. That stuff is more intractable than I ever thought it was. But on a much more practical level, it didn’t make sense for me to, by following the book, keep a whole bunch of actors of color from working.
WARREN LITTLEFIELD We wanted it to be relevant. But if we’re going to resonate, then why not reflect the world we live in?
The show was developed during the Obama years and even then, we could see the radical right rising throughout the world and in the United States. Did we think that was going to settle into the White House? We didn’t. But when we were about to shoot Episode 4, we realized that No. 45 was going to be Donald J. [Trump], so we found ourselves doing this show at that time. Months later, Hulu purchased an ad spot for the show during the Super Bowl, it played twice, and then suddenly we were claimed as part of the resistance….
(5) THE FACE (BOOK) ON THE CUTTING ROOM FLOOR. Steve Verlieb celebrates his release from Facebook jail.
One or ten of you may have noticed that I’ve been “Missing in Action” (M.I.A.) from Facebook for a fairly substantial amount of time. Whether M.I.A., MS13, OR MSNBC, the fact of the matter is that I’ve been rotting away in Facebook prison without the benefit of legal defense for some time. While incarcerated, I wasn’t even Afforded a Harrison or “Cell” phone with which to notify friends and family of my precarious circumstances. My “crimes” included the audacity and utter indignity of sharing my own articles with others of like-minded affiliation and persuasion. In the depths of my despair, I wasn’t even permitted to drown my virtual sorrow in the local prison “bars.” I was surreptitiously removed from active recognition and participation on Unsocial Media by I.C.E. without the lawful declaration of my Lin-Manuel “Miranda” rights.
My eventual “sentence,” while not quite as long as a “paragraph,” was nonetheless both shameful and humiliating. Denied the privilege of legal counsel, with not an active “Mason” in the “Big House,” not even Raymond Burr (or even Aaron Burr) could help me “Escape from Alcatraz.” Despite the presence of some illustrious prison mates, like Charlie “Byrd,” man, with no strings attached, this proverbial “Jailhouse” did not “Rock.” Not even my continuing letters and messages to friends and neighbors offered any semblance of appeal or hope of freedom, and so I fled into a “Long Day’s Journey into Night,” while desperately hiding the disgrace that “I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang.”
With an increasingly inflationary Writ for what I Wrote upon my head, the gavel ultimately sent me to the gravel under the cruel reign of Warden Zuckerberg. It seemed that I’d become a permanent resident of “The Big House” when suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, I was delivered a perhaps tentative reprieve, and allowed access to the burning blaze of freedom once more. Free At Last, Free At Last, I was a “Stranger in a Strange Land,” having to re-learn the “dues” and don’ts, as well as the ins and outs, of safe navigation across the inflamed countryside of social media. However, I must be up Front in my declaration of joy in being Back once more, and I sincerely hope that you’ll both forgive, and pardon my pardon … with “Biberty” and James Robertson Justice for All.
(6) JACK KATZ (1927-2025) In “Jack Katz, 1927-2025”, The Comics Journal profiles the late creator’s complete 60-plus-year career.
Artist/writer Jack Katz, whose ambitious indy epic, The First Kingdom, laid the groundwork in the 1970s for long-form graphic narratives like Cerebus, died April 24 at the age of 97. If he had not published that science-fantasy saga, it’s likely that Katz would have been regarded as just a journeyman artist, who tried — with little success — to make a living in comics. As it is, he will be remembered for his attempt, during the waning days of underground comics, to put out one of the first self-published graphic novels….
… After he moved to California, Katz encountered underground comics and realized that self-publishing would give him the freedom to craft his own stories and art without anyone dictating to him the direction and scope of his story or the pace at which he had to work, which was always an issue with the slow and meticulous Katz.
He began putting out The First Kingdom in 1974, published by Comics & Comix Co., which remained his publisher until 1977 (issues #1–6). Longtime book-dealer and fanzine-publisher Bud Plant took over publishing from 1977 until 1986, re-offering #2-6 and completing Katz’ first story cycle of 24 issues. Always a deliberate and diligent worker, Katz only put out two issues a year and wrote and drew every comic, never working with assistants. No one had ever done an independent comic book quite like The First Kingdom, and Katz’s efforts were praised in the pages of both Playboy magazine and the Rocket’s Blast Comicollector fanzine. Although the series had its fervent adherents, Katz’ fan base was never very large, because his comic book never had newsstand distribution and was only available by mail order, in comics shops or in head shops alongside underground comics like Zap Comics, Slow Death and The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers. Its commercial appeal was also limited by the infrequency with which the title appeared and by its adult content, which restricted its venues.
The First Kingdom storyline was a fantasy/science-fiction hybrid, with a growing emphasis on the science fiction component by the sixth issue. It began in a primitive, post-nuclear world populated by barbaric peoples, anthropomorphic gods and strange monsters….
(7) TODAY’S BIRTHDAY.
[Written by Cat Eldridge.]
May 4, 1976 — Gail Carriger, 49.
Steampunk and mannerpunk, it’s time to talk about both, specifically that as written by our birthday author, Gail Carriger.
Where to start? Her first novel, Soulless, is set in an alternate version of Victorian era Britain where werewolves and vampires are members of proper society. Alexia Tarabotti is a wonderful created character that anyone would love to have an adventure with, as well as sit down with to high tea in the afternoon.
The book begins the Parasol Protectorate series centered around her, which as of now goes on to have Changeless, Blameless, oh guess, Heartless and Timeless in it, plus one short story, “Meat Cute”. Why the latter broke the naming convention I know not.
Wait, wait, don’t tell me! — she’s done more mannerpunk. Indeed she has. There is Custard Protocol series (PrudenceImprudence, Competence and Reticence), also set in Parasol Protectorate universe. When Prudence “Rue” Alessandra Maccon Akeldama , a young woman with metahuman abilities, is left an unexpected dirigible in a will , she does what any sensible (ha!) alternative Victorian Era female would do — she names it the Spotted Custard and floats off to India. Need I say adventures of a most unusual kind follow? I really love this series and not just for the name of the series. It’s just fun. Really fun.
The Finishing School series is set in Parasol Protectorate universe. Again she has a delightful manner in naming her tales, Etiquette & Espionage, Curtsies & Conspiracies, Waistcoats & Weaponry and Manners & Mutiny. Go ahead, I think you can figure what this series is about without me telling you. It’s delightful of course.
So I’m not that familiar with her other writing. It appears the two Delightfully Deadly novellas might have a tinge of romance in them though at least one also has dead husbands, four to be precise, lobsters and of course high society. Lobsters?
The Claw & Courtship novellas are standalone stories set in the Parasol Protectorate universe. So far there’s just “How to Marry a Werewolf (In 10 Easy Steps)”, though she says there’ll be more.
Finally, I’ll note she did a SF series, the Tinkered Stars Universeseries — how can this possibly be? — which she describes on her website as “a sexy alien police procedural on a space station”. Oh, that sounds so good. It consists of Divinity 36, Demigod 22, Dome 6, Crudat and The 5th Gender.
Did she do short stories? Just six, of which I really want to read one — “The Curious Case of the Werewolf that Wasn’t, The Mummy that Was and the Cat in the Jar”.
…The competition, particularly among their comics and cartoons, between Hearst and his rivals, had become so intense that some services had a surfeit of talent. By 1917 his comics operation filled the daily and Sunday pages of the dozen papers in the Hearst chain. A few years earlier the Hearst organization had spun off Buster Brown, Little Nemo, Polly and Her Pals, and other strips under a purportedly rival umbrella, the Newspaper Feature Service. This enabled Hearst papers to run two comic sections every weekend, perhaps one on Saturday, or to provide Hearst rivals in certain cities with their own comic sections that didn’t appear to be generated by Hearst! (In New York City, for instance, Hearst’s deadly competitor the New York Tribune was able to run a four-page NFS color comic section that appeared to readers to be the Trib‘s own.)
By 1917, Hearst’s lieutenant Moses Koenigsberg split up the syndicate operations even further. Eventually there was King Features, a sort of holding company or sales agent for all the syndicates; Central Press Association; International Feature Service, Newspaper Feature Service; and others. The material we will be sharing here and over subsequent weeks is from a rare book published for prospective clients by the International Feature Service….
(11) MURDERBOT SHOWRUNNERS Q&A. The Grue Rume Show interviews film makers Chris Weitz and Paul Weitz. They write and direct Season 1 of Apple TV show MurderBot. “Chris Weitz and Paul Weitz talks Murderbot!!”
(12) ALEXANDER SKARSGÅRD’S SWEDISH MOMENTS. The Swedish actor’s occasional use of his native language in otherwise English-language productions is celebrated in this interview conducted by Jonatan Blomberg from Moviezine:“Murderbot, Lady Gaga & True Blood”.
I had a truly awesome time with Alexander Skarsgård, one of our best Swedish actors right now! We spoke about the times he’s been bringing our Swedish language in to American productions – which is also the case (in one brief moment) in his new show Murderbot. Here he tries to remember the “krokodil” when skinny-dipping in True Blood and sharing a bed while chatting in Swedish with LADY GAGA in the Paparazzi music video.
Winter Is Coming’s Daniel Roman sits down with Murderbot star Alexander Skarsgård to talk about becoming the SecUnit at the heart of Apple’s new comedic sci-fi series, how he embodied the character, and guilty TV pleasures.
[Thanks to Chris Barkley, Cat Eldridge, SF Concatenation’s Jonathan Cowie, Mark Roth-Whitworth, Steven French, Kathy Sullivan, Teddy Harvia, Mike Kennedy, Andrew Porter, and John King Tarpinian for some of these stories. Title credit belongs to File 770 contributing editor of the day Kip W.]
Dande’s winning piece is The Keeper of the Ship. He is a writer, artist, and musician living in New Delhi, India. His academic research on topics such as reading planetary history, death in roguelike videogames, Cold War fantasies of space colonization, and Jorge Luis Borges have been presented at international conferences in Kolkata, London, and Lisbon. He is currently a PhD scholar at Jawaharlal Nehru University, where he researches the relationship between science fiction, conspiracy theory, and esotericism.
He enjoys carrying a sketchbook every day for drawing with friends and strangers. He enjoys the way an idea falls from the sky, still warm from the lathe. He enjoys reading, twitchy and marionette-like, in an unfamiliar language. He enjoys being awash in music until birds stir in the blue dawn. He is writing a novel that he very much hopes you will one day read
In 2019, the Speculative Literature Foundation and DesiLit co-sponsored the A.C. Bose Grant in memory of Ashim Chandra Bose, a lover of books—especially science fiction and fantasy. Bose’s children, Rupa Bose and Gautam Bose, founded the grant to honor the legacy of the worlds their father opened up for them. The donors hope that this grant will help develop work that will let young people imagine different worlds and possibilities.
Launched in January 2004 to promote literary quality in speculative fiction, the Speculative Literature Foundation addresses historical inequities in access to literary opportunities for marginalized writers. The SLF is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, entirely supported by community donations. For more information, visit speculativeliterature.org.
The Speculative Literature Foundation is partially funded by the Oak Park Area Arts Council, Village of Oak Park, Illinois Arts Council Agency, National Endowment for the Arts and Oak Park River Forest Community Foundation.
The 2024 Aurealis Awards were presented on May 4 by the Canberra Speculative Fiction Guild. The award recognizes the achievements of Australian science fiction, fantasy and horror writers.
BEST CHILDREN’S FICTION
The Apprentice Witnesser, Bren MacDibble (Allen & Unwin)
BEST YOUNG ADULT SHORT STORY
“In a League of Her Own”, Jeanette O’Hagan (Stepping Sideways: Worlds of Steampunk & Dystopia, Rhiza Edge)
BEST HORROR SHORT STORY
“Flesh of My Flesh”, Ben Matthews (Spawn 2: More Weird Horror Tales About Pregnancy, Birth and Babies, IFWG Publishing)
BEST FANTASY SHORT STORY
“Market of Loss”, Matt Tighe (Aurealis #176, Chimaera Publications)
BEST SCIENCE FICTION SHORT STORY
“The Combat Pilot’s Dictionary”, Arden Baker (Aurealis #167, Chimaera Publications)
BEST GRAPHIC NOVEL / ILLUSTRATED WORK
In Utero, Chris Gooch (Top Shelf)
BEST COLLECTION
The Heart of the Labyrinth and Other Stories, D K Mok (self-published)
BEST ANTHOLOGY
Far-Flung, Samuel Maguire (Ed.) (Tiny Owl Workshop)
BEST YOUNG ADULT NOVEL
Anomaly, Emma Lord (Affirm Press)
BEST HORROR NOVELLA
Shattered, Pauline Yates (Black Hare Press)
BEST FANTASY NOVELLA
“Another Tide”, Will Greatwich (Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Firkin Press)
BEST SCIENCE FICTION NOVELLA
Ghost of the Neon God, T R Napper (Titan Books)
BEST HORROR NOVEL
Carve Your Soul to Pieces, Ben Pienaar (self-published)
BEST FANTASY NOVEL
Thoroughly Disenchanted, Alexandra Almond (HarperCollins Publishers)
BEST SCIENCE FICTION NOVEL
Temporal Boom, J M Voss (Shawline Publishing Group)
SARA DOUGLASS BOOK SERIES AWARD
The Radiant Emperor:She Who Became the Sun (2021) / He Who Drowned the World (2023), Shelley Parker-Chan (Mantle)
CONVENORS’ AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE
Speculative Insight: Year 1, Alexandra Pierce (Ed.)
(0) Scroll lite today because I will be attending a dinner to celebrate my daughter’s graduation with a Master’s in Social Work. Congratulations Sierra!
(1) SANFORD HONORED AT MO*CON. [Item by Chris Barkley.] On May 3, 2025 Hugo Award Finalist Jason Sanford (Best Fan Writer and Best Related Work) was the recipient of the Sara J. Larson Award at MoCon 2025 in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Maurice Broaddus (L) and Jason Sanford
Mr. Sanford, the editor and primary reporter of Genre Grapevine, was honored by MoCon Chair and bestselling author Maurice Broaddus for “his continuing support of the Indianapolis science fiction community.”
The Sara J. Larson Award is named for a beloved member of the Indianapolis sf fan community and a enthusiastic supporter of MoCon, who passed away in March 2012. More information about the event is on Maurice Broaddus’ blog: MO*CON. All photos by Chris M. Barkley.
Jason Sanford MoCon welcome plaque
(2) NNEDI OKORAFOR’S WORLD SERVICE. [Item by SF Concatenation’s Jonathan Cowie.] The BBC’s World Service is a great early morning listen to on sleepless nights and last night was a joy with a programme on three writers, the third of whom was with the SF writer Nnedi Okorafor. Her interview revealed that during her youth she competitively played tennis facing occasional racial slurs on the court as some inferior opponents tried to put her off her game. However, her sports ambitions were curtailed during an operation to correct her scoliosis induced spinal curvature which left her (fortunately temporarily) paralysed from the waist down. It was this time that got her writing stories and then novels and then Marvel comics came calling. Her novels include Lagoon, The Book of Phoenix and recently Death of the Author.
“Becoming a writer was not the most straightforward journey for Nnedi Okorafor. Before her literary success she was a talented tennis player and dreamt of turning pro. However following a diagnosis of scoliosis, routine surgery to her spine left her temporarily paralysed. Confined to her hospital bed, Nnedi found solace in her vivid imagination and began writing for the first time. It was the start of a highly successful career as an author and led to a request from Marvel to write some of their comics. Over the years she has written characters including Spiderman, the X-Men and the Avengers. Nnedi is also the first woman to write the character of T’Challa – the Black Panther, as well as his tech-loving sister, Shuri.”
This article includes spoilers for “Daredevil: Born Again,” “Severance,” “The Last of Us” and “The White Lotus.”
As a longtime player of the Last of Us video game series, Sam Gaitan knew the death was coming. Still, the brutal murder of Joel in a recent episode of the HBO adaptation hit her hard. It was already midnight when she went on Tumblr to read fan reactions. Then, in a fit of inspiration, she started writing.
“I was a wreck, and I needed to get those strong emotions out,” Gaitan, a tattooist and artist, said in a recent phone interview. By 5 a.m., she had written 3,761 words featuring Joel and Red, an original character Gaitan had previously created, and an alternative scenario that spares Joel from his onscreen fate.
Writing under the alias oh_persephone, she posted the story on AO3, an online repository for fan fiction and other fan-created art, and crashed until her dogs woke her up the next morning.
“It probably wasn’t the most coherent thing I’ve written,” she said, laughing. “But I figured other people could use it as much as I did.”
Gaitan’s urge to change the narrative is a familiar one among a subset of fans who write fan fiction, or fanfic, original stories that borrow characters, plots and settings from established media properties and are published mostly online, on sites like AO3, Tumblr and FanFiction.net.
Increasingly, these fans are taking matters into their own hands by writing “fix-it fics,” or simply “fix-its,” which attempt to right the perceived wrongs of a beloved work — and often provide some measure of emotional succor.
“The Last of Us,” which killed off its male lead surprisingly early in a hotly anticipated second season — a lead played, no less, by “the internet’s daddy,” Pedro Pascal — has proved to be particularly generative. Real numbers can be hard to track because of inconsistent labeling, but more than 50 “The Last of Us” stories tagged “Fix-It” were uploaded to AO3 in the week after Joel’s death, ranging from about 300 words to almost 80,000.
But if a TV writer can dream of it, a fan can feel betrayed by it: Fix-its have appeared in recent months for series like “Daredevil: Born Again,” “Severance” and “The White Lotus,” all of which contained whiplash-inducing plot twists….
(4) L J SMITH OBIT ON BBC RADIO 4. [Item by SF Concatenation’s Jonathan Cowie.] The passing of the author L. J. Smith is one of those commemorated in BBC Radio 4’s Last Word. The author of the ‘Vampire Diaries’ series, she inspired girls to be determined and self-reliant. The Vampire Diaries were adapted into a CW Network series that lasted for eight seasons
By Lis Carey: In 1956, Forbidden Planet burst upon our movie screens. It’s considered one of the greats of early science fiction films, and rightly so.
Starring Walter Pidgeon, Anne Francis, and Leslie Nielsen, it also features the first appearance of Robby the Robot. Robby was the first movie robot that was more than just a prop, with a real personality and an important supporting role. This was also the first movie set entirely on a distant planet, with no scenes on Earth or in our solar system, and no direct contact with Earth. They were truly isolated. It’s also the first appearance of an FTL ship.
It’s also a lovely loose adaptation of Shakespeare’s The Tempest.
The planet was Altair IV, and the ship’s mission was to find out what happened to the ship Bellerophon, and the scientists it carried, twenty years before. When they arrive, Dr. Edward Morbius (Walter Pidgeon), one of those scientists, warns them off for “safety reasons,” but Commander John J. Adams (Leslie Nielsen), sees it as his duty to land anyway. Morbius tells them that all the members of the expedition were killed by “a mysterious planetary force, one by one, except for himself, his wife, and his daughter, Altaira (Anne Francis). Their ship, Bellerophon, was destroyed by that “planetary force” when a few remaining members of the expedition tried to use it to escape. His wife, he says, later died of natural causes.
Do I have to say that, even as a child, watching it for the first time, I found his wife’s death fishy as heck? In fact, I may have been thinking other words, words I was not allowed to say.
The newly arrived ship and its crew start to suffer attacks. When the engineer is attacked by this force while trying to repair communications equipment, we know something very bad is going on. It’s a tense, exciting story, which I’ll assume everyone has seen.
So I’ll talk about what this film means to me.
Being born a year after its release, I never saw it in a theater. I saw it at home, on our very first color TV. It was also the largest screen we’d ever had—do not be impressed. It was the 1960s, and it was, what? 27 inches? And I watched it with my dad.
My mother either stayed busy in the kitchen, or took herself off someplace, because she did not share our enthusiasm for Saturday afternoon science fiction movies, even when they weren’t featured on Creature Double Feature. (We were devotees of Creature Double Feature.) Mom occasionally pointed out that those movies were objectively bad, in a variety of ways. We said that was a lot of the fun, and made popcorn. She went out.
She did not believe us that Forbidden Planet was different, and actually very good, and that she would like the story. She banned any mention of Shakespeare in connection with a science fiction movie. (Admittedly, she had seen a couple of the Creature Double Feature offerings with us before she implemented her Never Again rule—maybe that’s why?) She refused to watch it with us—ever. We watched it every time it came on. Dad pointed out all the bits that showed this was an adaptation of The Tempest. We analyzed everything the characters would maybe have picked up on as clues if they knew they were in The Tempest.
And for the Creature Double Feature movies, we picked out every zipper in the badly made monster costumes, the places where you could see that those rocks were not rocks, re-used fake scenery from other movies. The cheesy dialog.
Either way, it was a lot of fun. A wonderful bonding experience with my dad, the only one in the extended family who didn’t think I was a little weird. Because, you know, he was, too.
Both Forbidden Planet, and Creature Double Feature’s masterpieces that would have made Ed Wood proud, are fond memories.
In the summer of 1995, Robert Williams, then director of the Space Telescope Science Institute, which manages the Hubble Space Telescope‘s research program, was paid two visits by the renowned astronomer John Bahcall, considered one of Hubble’s founding fathers.
Bahcall had, in hindsight, a strange request.
He urged Williams not to train the powerful NASA telescope into an uncharted region of space, where the school bus-sized observatory would stare for days in an attempt to observe profoundly distant, never-before-seen galaxies. It was a proposed endeavor to capture an unprecedented “deep field” view of the cosmos, allowing humanity to look back billions of years, near the dawn of time.
Though Bahcall believed Hubble would make many astronomical advances, he didn’t think it would observe any new, undiscovered galaxies — even in its lofty position above Earth‘s image-distorting atmosphere. Crucially, a failed attempt would bring more shame to a telescope that was already an orbiting object of ridicule: After launching in 1990, a flawed mirror captured blurry images in what was then the most expensive science project in history, requiring astronauts to visit Hubble and install a refrigerator-sized instrument to act as Hubble’s “correcting eyeglasses.”
So Williams knew the deep field was indeed a risk. Still, he told Bahcall he was compelled to take it.
“I told him that I’m willing to fall on my sword,” Williams told Mashable.
Soon after those meetings, Williams directed Hubble — which, in April 2025, celebrated its 35-year anniversary of launching — to peer at a seemingly empty patch of space for 10 straight days. The space telescope beamed home iconic imagery, a “cosmic zoo” of some 3,000 galaxies. It changed everything….
[Thanks to John King Tarpinian, Chris Barkley, Cat Eldridge, SF Concatenation’s Jonathan Cowie, Mark Roth-Whitworth, Steven French, Kathy Sullivan, Teddy Harvia, Mike Kennedy, and Andrew Porter for some of these stories. Title credit belongs to File 770 contributing editor of the day Andrew (not Werdna).]
Those who had registered for the online event received notifications from Eventbrite, and the announcement was posted in social media.
The town halls are designed for members to ask questions about the business meeting process. The fate of the second town hall announced for May 25 is unknown.
