This fucking week, you guys.

First David Bowie died on Sunday, and then Alan Rickman passed away later in the week. Both of these losses were unexpected; although neither man was very young, they were both larger than life, with careers spanning multiple decades in which they entertained and inspired multitudes. They are both gone too soon.

After the news broke of David Bowie’s passing, Neil Gaiman shared “The Return of the Thin White Duke” from his most recent story collection, Trigger Warning.

Lou Anders wrote a lovely tribute piece to Bowie over at io9: Something happened on the the day he died.

At Bitch, a reflection on the influence of Labyrinth and David Bowie’s role as the Goblin King, Jereth.

Hodderscape also examined David Bowie’s legacy by talking about Labyrinth.

And Motherboard talked about how David Bowie’s death itself was a work of science fiction.

While many fans knew him as Professor Snape in Harry Potter, my favorite Alan Rickman role is his turn as Colonel Brandon in 1995’s Sense and Sensibility. The Guardian lists these and eight more performances to remember him by.

In less sad news, Guillermo del Toro is going to be adapting Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark as a film.

The Golden Compass turns twenty this year, and there’s a great interview with Philip Pullman over at Slate.

N.K. Jemisin did a Reddit AMA.

I loved this TV Guide interview with Terry Brooks about The Shannara Chronicles.

However, I loved IGN’s interview with The Shannara Chronicles stars Poppy Drayton and Ivana Baquero even more.

Interviews with Margaret Atwood, though, are one of my all time favorite things, and she popped in over at Electric Literature this week to talk about dystopias, prostibots, and hope.

A new Tor.com novella came out this week, Emily Foster’s The Drowning Eyes. You can read the first chapter here.

Emily Foster was on Midnight in Karachi this week to promote the book, and she was interviewed at the Qwillery.

Speaking of Tor.com’s novellas, the ones from 2015 are available now in ebook bundles. If you haven’t read them yet (and you ought to), this is a great way to save a few dollars on them.

Tor.com has also collected links to ALL of their 2015 short fiction. Perfect for folks like myself who are likely to miss this stuff over the course of the year because we focus more on reading novel length work.

Finally, the first issue of Black Girl Magic is now available for purchase if you didn’t get it through their Kickstarter. From the description of the issue:

Inaugural issue of the Black Girl Magic Lit Mag, a speculative fiction literary magazine featuring Black female main characters and primarily written by Black female authors. Proving Black Girls are Magic one story at a time.