[NEWS] Five sci-fi links: Heinlein, Lovecraft, Voltron, Kuang, fascism in anime

[rfmcdonald]

• This Charlie Stross essay from August looking at the complicated, occasionally malign, influence of Heinlein by much later writers (at least, Heinlein as he is often misunderstood), merits reading.


• This Twin Cities Geek essay by Bryan Thao Worra examining the question of how people of colour can be Lovecraft fans despite his well-documented racism is worth reading.


• This io9 essay about queer representation in the current iteration of Voltron resonates with me, perhaps because I remember the show as it originally aired.


• This Wired essay takes a look at the trope of the academy in fantasy literature, noting how it is dealt with creatively in R.F. Kuang's The Poppy War. (I cannot wait for the sequel!)


• Michelle Villanueva at Syfy looks at the iconography of fascism in anime, even of latent sympathy. I disagree with some of her examples--Fullmetal Alchemist is a slow unbundling of these myths ad images--but there is something to be concerned about here.