Kelly Faircloth, Author at Gizmodo

Take your chances with fun, pulpy Version 43

Charming gangsters, lots of gun-fighting, and one insufferable robot cop: Version 43, Philip Palmer’s latest, is a cracker-jack pulp-noir deep-space blast. Far-future Earth is a peaceful place, with little crime and few anti-social personalities. That’s because whenever someone commits a serious offense, they’re offered a shot at a new life on the distant planet of…

Books & Comics Kelly Faircloth Nov 14

Felix Gilman’s Wild West is the cure for your genre blahs

Sick of predictable books that fill your subgenre bingo card with the same subgenre elements over and over? With The Half-Made World, Felix Gilman has blended elements from alternate history, Steampunk, Westerns, and epic fantasy to create something truly original. Spoilers ahead… The jacket description of The Half-Made World is cryptic, to say the least.…

Books & Comics Kelly Faircloth Nov 9

November Books Bring Greg Bear’s deep-space mystery and steampunk secrets

In this month’s books, Greg Bear serves up disaster in deep space, while a beautifully designed book sheds new light on steampunk. Plus medieval utopias, star-crossed loves, and a flaming zeppelin! Steampunk Reloaded, ed. Ann VanderMeer and Jeff VanderMeer (Tachyon Publications) This lavishly designed compilation offers up short fiction, essays, comics, collage art, and a…

Books & Comics Kelly Faircloth Nov 8

Marketing is magic in M.K. Hobson’s Native Star

Foggy London’s the spiritual home of steampunk, but M.K. Hobson has set Native Star against Gilded Age America’s rise to power—and added magic. We talk to Hobson about American steampunk, mixing history and fantasy, and mass media-inspired magic. At the novel’s opening, local herbalist and witch Emily Edwards is struggling valiantly to support herself and…

Books & Comics Kelly Faircloth Oct 30

“Out of the Dark” is a fun alien invasion tale that doesn’t make an impression

Out of the Dark, David Weber’s new tale of alien invasion and human resistance, is a lot of fun, but it’s no instant classic. When we meet our protagonists—firearms instructor Dave Dvorak and Master Sergeant Stephen Buchevsky—they’re going about their lives, minding their own business. And then the Shongairi show up, blow half the world’s…

io9 Kelly Faircloth Oct 17

Steampunk on a budget: Costumers reveal their greatest secrets!

Steampunk costumes always look amazing — but expensive. How can you look like a denizen of alternate steam-powered London without spending a fortune? We attended both of NYCC 2010’s panels on the subject and came away with 10 cost-saving tips. Steampunk is everywhere these days — we even encountered a steampunk Iron Man wandering the…

io9 Kelly Faircloth Oct 11

True Blood, Spawn, and Darwyn Cooke’s Outfit are NYCC’s bestselling comic books

Comic book fans hit the floor at NYCC’s Javits Center, eager to put the “comic” in Comic Con. From classics like Spawn to TV adaptations like True Blood to up-and-comers like The Outfit, here’s convention-goers most wanted comics. It is, at least in theory, the focus of any comic con – the opportunity to expand…

io9 Kelly Faircloth Oct 10

George R.R. Martin’s A Dance with Dragons is really almost done!

Good news from New York Comic Con’s Del Rey / Spectra panel: George R.R. Martin is just 5 chapters away from the end of A Dance with Dragons! Plus, we’ll soon see old school Del Rey titles in ebook form. Several members of the Del Rey/Spectra team gathered to preview their upcoming books. Panelists included…

Books & Comics Kelly Faircloth Oct 10

Marjorie M. Liu says you should never let genre get in the way of a cool story

What’s it like juggling a gig at Marvel with being a top-selling paranormal romance/urban fantasy author? At New York Comic Con, we asked Marjorie M. Liu, who’s writing comics while continuing both her Dirk & Steele and Hunter Kiss series. Marjorie M. Liu has covered a lot of speculative ground since publishing her first novel…

io9 Kelly Faircloth Oct 9

How to learn from Tolkien without flat-out copying him: Top fantasy writers speak!

The house was packed last night for NYCC’s fantasy writers panel, where fan favorites like Naomi Novik and Jim Butcher spoke about their influences, and whether fantasy writers are still knocking off Tolkien. The crowd at the fantasy writers panel was far too big for the space allotted. That’s not surprising, considering that Jim Butcher…

io9 Kelly Faircloth Oct 9

Georgia’s the perfect place for The Walking Dead’s zombie rampage

We’ve all been thrilled by the glimpses of The Walking Dead’s bleak, intense vistas. But I’ve been more thrilled than most — because it’s about time my home state of Georgia had a zombie outbreak. Confession: I’ve never read The Walking Dead. But one thing I do know is that my home state of Georgia…

io9 Kelly Faircloth Oct 7

Time-Traveling Historians and Resurrected Concubines in October’s books!

October brings several long-awaited treats to your bookshelf, including a new Culture novel, the sequel to Connie Willis’ Blackout, and Scott Westerfeld’s Behemoth. Plus spying Victorian streetwalkers and Miles Vorkosigan! Here are the October releases you can’t skip. Behemoth, Scott Westerfeld (Simon Pulse) The sequel to Leviathan follows Deryn (a girl pretending to be a…

io9 Kelly Faircloth Oct 5

Gail Carriger explains why her heroine has no soul

Gail Carriger mashes up urban fantasy, steampunk, and Victorian gothics in her Parasol Protectorate series. She explains what inspired the series, how she arrived at her soulless protagonist, and what’s next for her heroine. Carriger’s series follows the adventures of Alexia Tarabotti, a youngish woman living in an alternate Victorian London populated with all manner…

io9 Kelly Faircloth Oct 3

September Books Offer Time Travel, Vampires, and Viral Marketing

September is upon us, bringing new novels from William Gibson, Guillermo del Toro and Cherie Priest. Plus: postmodern time travel, zombie relationship tips, and the ultimate smackdown between vampires and alien invaders! Zero History, William Gibson (Putnam) It’s finally here, you guys: William Gibson’s latest, Zero History. The novel reunites several characters from Spook Country,…

io9 Kelly Faircloth Sep 1

All flashbacks are time travel

That’s basically author Frederick Reiken’s argument in this provocative post, about novels that approach time in unconventional ways. Why can we accept flashbacks so easily, even in the most conventional narratives? Because novels use “block time,” conceiving of time as space. That makes jumping between 2010 and 1986 as conceptually simple as a flight from…

io9 Kelly Faircloth Aug 27

10 SF authors who became fictional characters

The history of science fiction is full of unforgettable characters. So it’s no surprise that famous writers often appear in fiction themselves — either by name, or wearing the thinnest of disguises. Here are our 10 favorite science-fiction writer cameos. HG Wells, Time After Time HG Wells pops up in fiction on a regular basis.…

Books & Comics Kelly Faircloth Aug 5

Black Holes! Glamour! Ultra-Violent Reality TV! August Books Have It All

August brings some exciting new speculative fiction releases. We’ve got conclusions for the Hunger Games and Void trilogies, plus Regency magic and a sentient MMORPG. Here are the books you can’t miss out on this month. The Evolutionary Void, Peter Hamilton (Del Rey) Sprawling, ambitious: Peter Hamilton’s Void Trilogy is an example par excellence of…

Books & Comics Kelly Faircloth Aug 4

The 9 Greatest Dystopian Music Videos

Musicians love to buck conformity. And what better metaphor for fighting social pressure than a good dystopian music video? Here are 9 of our favorites. “Express Yourself,” Madonna It’s no secret that many of the visuals we read as dystopian — giant gears, conspicuous shift whistles, subterranean workers—are straight out of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis. Madonna…

io9 Kelly Faircloth Jul 23

The 7 Most Miserable Heat Waves in Modern History

This has been a hot, wretched week in the Northeastern US. But as heat waves go, this one was pretty mild — especially compared to these seven examples. It’s easy to underestimate the danger of a severe heat wave, and more flamboyant weather events, like hurricanes, tend to draw more attention. But these slow-motion natural…

io9 Kelly Faircloth Jul 9

The best science fiction and fantasy books for summer escapism

Summer is the most escapist time of year, with vacations and long voyages. And no escapist jaunt is complete without a visit to other worlds. Here are the best science fiction and fantasy books for this summer’s beach reading. Back to the Future Ship Breaker, Paolo Bacigalupi: The Windup Girl author’s latest, about an ecologically…

Books & Comics Kelly Faircloth Jul 8

Kelly Faircloth

Take your chances with fun, pulpy Version 43

Felix Gilman’s Wild West is the cure for your genre blahs

November Books Bring Greg Bear’s deep-space mystery and steampunk secrets

Marketing is magic in M.K. Hobson’s Native Star

“Out of the Dark” is a fun alien invasion tale that doesn’t make an impression

Steampunk on a budget: Costumers reveal their greatest secrets!

True Blood, Spawn, and Darwyn Cooke’s Outfit are NYCC’s bestselling comic books

George R.R. Martin’s A Dance with Dragons is really almost done!

Marjorie M. Liu says you should never let genre get in the way of a cool story

How to learn from Tolkien without flat-out copying him: Top fantasy writers speak!

Georgia’s the perfect place for The Walking Dead’s zombie rampage

Time-Traveling Historians and Resurrected Concubines in October’s books!

Gail Carriger explains why her heroine has no soul

September Books Offer Time Travel, Vampires, and Viral Marketing

All flashbacks are time travel

10 SF authors who became fictional characters

Black Holes! Glamour! Ultra-Violent Reality TV! August Books Have It All

The 9 Greatest Dystopian Music Videos

The 7 Most Miserable Heat Waves in Modern History

The best science fiction and fantasy books for summer escapism

The ‘Mass Effect’ Show is Getting Rewritten to Get Greenlit

See the Early Stages of How ‘Project Hail Mary’ Brought Rocky to Life

‘Cognitive Surrender’ Is a New and Useful Term for How AI Melts Brains

HP Omen Max 45L Review: 4K60 Gaming Has Never Been So Easy

Marshall Acton III Home Speaker Drops to a Record Low, the Deal Countdown Has Already Started

Ecovacs Winbot W3 Omni Review: Window Cleaning Robots Have a Long Way to Go

I’m Worried About the Helpless AI Disruptors of the Future

Russia Allegedly Swung at VPNs but Accidentally Hit Its Own Banking Sector Instead

Ryan Coogler Is Shifting ‘Animorphs’ Into a Disney+ Show

No Fooling, ‘Spaceballs 2’ Will Hit Theaters April 2027

AirPods Max 2 vs. Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen): Which ANC Headphones Win?

The Best Gadgets of March 2026

AirPods Max 2 Review: Still Ridiculously Expensive and Ridiculously Nice

DJI Osmo 360 Review: The Best 360 Camera for the DJI-Pilled

Aqara Smart Lock U400 Review: Hands-free Unlocking at Its Best

MSI Prestige 14 Flip AI+ Review: A Solid 2-in-1 Laptop With Some Glaring Flaws

Sonos Play Review: Call It a Comeback

Sonos Era 100 SL Review: The Cheapest Way Into Wired Sonos Sound

Asus ROG’s Massive Swift OLED Gaming Monitor Epitomizes Excess in the Best Way

The Ikea Varmblixt Smart Lamp Fills a Donut Hole in My Life