Charlie Jane Anders

Exclusive Doctor Who Concept Art Reveals the Earliest Visions of the Cybermen!

Cybermen! Ruthless, implacable cyborgs who have replaced emotion with logic, they are among the most deadly villains on Doctor Who. And despite being men in suits, they manage to look other-worldly, creepy and menacing. This took a lot of design savvy, as this exclusive concept art shows. This artwork comes from a brilliant new book…

This Interview With Jem and the Holograms Co-Creator Christy Marx Is Amazing And You Must Watch It

When Christy Marx was a little girl, she took her Batman comics and gave Robin a girl’s hairdo and a little skirt, because she was tired of not having female heroes to look up to. Then she grew up and gave us Jem and the Holograms. This interview with her by The Front is incredible…

io9 Book Club Reminder: Meet Nov. 3 To Discuss Matthew De Abaitua’s If Then!

This month, the io9 Book Club is reading If Then by Matthew De Abaitua. We’ll meet on Nov. 3 to discuss it. Join us! What is this io9 Book Club all about? We meet once a month to discuss a book we’ve all read together, and then we have an online chat with the author…

The Last Witch Hunter Is The Most Amazing Guilty Pleasure In Ages

There are some action movies that just embrace the total absurdity of their own existence, and invite you to come along for a crazy silly ride. These are among my favorite sorts of movies out there, and I’m happy to report that The Last Witch Hunter is a pretty good addition to this canon. Very…

Jem and the Holograms Fails in a Way That I’ve Never Seen a Movie Fail Before

Young people, right? They like young-people shit, like YouTube videos, Instagram selfies and crazy hair. If you hate young people but want to pander to them for some reason—like, if you have loathsome, foul-smelling stepchildren—you can always take them to see Jem and the Holograms. Jem and the Holograms is loosely based on a beloved…

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg already got people reading Iain M. Banks’ The Player of Games for his “A Year of Books” challenge. Now he’s picked another science fiction book: The Three Body Problem by Liu Cixin. And translator Ken Liu is hanging out in the comments! Contact the author at [email protected] and follow her on…

You Can Hear The Most Insane Moment From Pan Right Now

Pan was kind of a letdown in general. But the Peter Pan origins movie does have one totally bonkers moment that’s worth checking out—when Hugh Jackman leads all the captive boys in a singalong of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” Hear it for yourself! It’s even better with the video, and at some point we’ll…

Which Movie Did You Walk Out Of? 

Most of us are committed to our entertainment—when we start a thing, we see it through. Maybe you put down a book sometimes, but when you see a movie, you stick it out. Except. Some movies, you just can’t get through. So which movie did you just walk out of? Please include the name of…

The Deadly Legacy of HIV Truthers

AIDS was a terrifying mystery, and then we solved it. When researchers identified the human immunodeficiency virus as the reason why young, previously healthy people were developing rare cancers and wasting away, it was a triumph of medical science. But even as the medical community reached a consensus that HIV caused AIDS, a counter-movement was…

Mummy Cat Is The Utterly Adorable Undead Creature That Your Kids Will Love

Everybody loves spooky creatures and weird apparitions—but a new book about a mummified cat, called appropriately Mummy Cat, is especially wonderful. Writer Marcus Ewert and artist Lisa Brown have created a lovely children’s book about a cat who comes back every 100 years. In Mummy Cat, a loyal feline companion was mummified with his queen,…

Space is Vast and Deadly in a New Poster for Syfy’s The Expanse

We were just luxuriating in the fact that space exploration is big at the movies again. And now here’s a reminder that we’re finally getting some more big space action on television as well: We’re less than two months away from Syfy’s The Expanse. If you’re already a fan of the book series by James…

Dammit, Agents of SHIELD, That Was Totally Uncool

Agents of SHIELD is often at its best when it focuses on a few key relationships. And last night’s episode was all about how those relationships make life vastly more complicated for people who work (and hunt monsters and fascists) together. It all led up to a conclusion I’m still hoping turns out to be…

These Surreal Science Fiction Collages Are a Wonderful Glimpse into Insanity

Terry, aka Trash Riot, creates collages out of space art, vintage images, and other stuff. And the result is completely insane and at times kind of reminiscent of Terry Gilliam’s Monty Python animations. Some of our favorite Trash Riot collages are below, reproduced by permission of the artist. You can see tons more images at…

Which Franchise Was The Most Successful At Cashing in on Fan Nostalgia?

We’re running out of helium and possibly chocolate, but there’s one resource that will never be exhausted: Fan nostalgia. Especially nostalgia for the classic series of the last four decades of the 20th century. But which franchise made the most successful bid for fan nostalgia? With the Star Wars trailer burning up the internets and…

Great Scott! Here’s Your First Look At The Back To The Future Porn Spoof

It’s only taken 30 years, but someone is finally making a porn spoof of the greatest time travel movie ever. And it’s called Fap to the Future. Are you ready to feel the Power of Love? Fap to the Future is the product of Lee Roy Myers and Woodrocket.com, whose creations we’ve featured before—including porn…

Seriously, These Opera Costumes Are The Most Insane Thing We’ve Seen in Ages

The San Francisco Opera is doing a production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute starting tomorrow, and the costumes are this astonishing late-1980s fantasia that just makes me want to watch classic MTV for the next 10 hours. These images come via the SF Opera’s official photo gallery for The Magic Flute, and were taken by…

50 Brilliant Science Fiction Movies That Everyone Should See At Least Once

Science fiction has rocked cinemas for a century, and the genre has produced many undisputed classics during that time. But which movies are essential viewing for anyone interested in the genre? We broke down the 50 must-watch science fiction films. Methodology: We looked at a few different criteria, including overall cinematic excellence. We wanted to…

This Was Doctor Who At Its Most Spectacular And Heart-Breaking

Tonight’s Doctor Who episode had everything—spaceships, aliens, trickery, the power of stories, and the Doctor desperately struggling to win in an impossible situation. Twice. And it leads up to an ending that genuinely punches you in the gut. Spoilers ahead! What’s great about “The Girl Who Died” is just how much story it manages to…

Akeela Is Tired Of All This Precog Nonsense in a Clip From Monday’s Minority Report

Akeela is fast becoming a standout character on Fox’s Minority Report. And in Monday’s episode—which also guest-stars Reed Diamond from Dollhouse and Agents of SHIELD—she discovers the downside of trying to keep a secret from a clairvoyant. Check out an exclusive clip! The above clip comes from the episode “The Present,” airing Monday at 9…

Ann Leckie’s Picks for the 10 Best Science Fiction Books Include Some Big Surprises

Publishers Weekly asked Ancillary Mercy author Ann Leckie to name her picks for the 10 best science fiction novels. And there are some consensus choices in there—but also a few out-of-left-field candidates. Including Jack Vance, Leigh Brackett, and C.J. Cherryh. Do you agree? Charlie Jane Anders is the author of All The Birds in the…