Andrew Liptak

Lightless Is A Fascinating Thriller Set Far Out In The Solar System 

Set in the edges of the Solar System, a pair of thieves board an experimental military spacecraft and are promptly captured, but not before setting into motion an intense plot in one of the best hard SF novels that you’ll read this year. Lightless, the debut novel by C.A. Higgins, is an exciting and deliberate…

Open Channel: Your NaNoWriMo Tips

Today is November, which means that it’s the start of National Novel Writing Month (aka, NaNoWriMo). It’s a writing sprint that encourages people to get writing. The goal is to show that writing a novel isn’t an insurmountable task. The goal is to get a 50,000 word story written, which means that you must write…

Crossed Genres Magazine To Close In December 

Crossed Genres, one of the best speculative, short fiction magazines out there, has announced that they will be shutting down after their December issue, citing a mix of health and financial issues. The magazine, which will run for a total of 36 issues, has been a powerful voice in the science fiction / fantasy short…

The Devil Turns Up His Charm In These Two New Teasers For Lucifer

Fox has released two new teasers for their upcoming show Lucifer, and show off Tom Ellis’s charm as the titular main character. They’re really playing up his charisma and the particular skills that he has – getting people to tell him their secrets. The second, in which Ellis wishes everyone a hell of a Halloween,…

97% Is A Short Romance Film For The Smartphone Age

In Ben Brand’s film 97%, Bert gets an alert on his mobile phone: someone with a 97% match on a dating app is within meters. He just needs to find her. What results is comedic, and a little heartbreaking. It’s a really interesting short film that’s feels like it’s in the William Gibson / Person…

Halo and XBox have long been synonymous: the former is credited with the blockbuster success of the latter. Now, with Xbox One struggling against competing devices, all eyes are Halo 5. Over on Bloomburg Magazine there’s a great profile of Bonnie Ross, 343 Industry’s CEO.

Listen To C.L. Moore Read Her Space Horror Story, ‘Shambleau’

Here’s a perfect story for Halloween: Shambleau. Written by one of my favorite science fiction authors, C.L. Moore, you can now listen to the story as read by the author in a recently discovered recording. Shambleau was Moore’s first short story, written on her breaks while she worked at a bank. The editors of Weird…

Open Channel: What’s That One Costume You’ve Always Wanted To Do? 

Happy Halloween! It’s one of the points in the year when costumes are out in full force! Some people plan out for months what they’ll wear, and put something together over that time. I’ve got two costumes that are on my short list that I’d like to do at some point. The first is a…

In 1977, Star Wars hit theaters, bringing with it a major merchandizing campaign. Later that year, Halloween costumes based on the films were so popular that suppliers ran out of stock. Starwars.com takes a look at what happened that fall.

Check Out This Fantastic Poster For The Martian’s IMAX Release

Starting yesterday, The Martian is being screened in IMAX theaters across the country. To accompany the release, there’s a new poster, and it’s a beauty. Seriously, this is fantastic: The Martian will only be in IMAX theaters through next Friday, so if you’re near one, you’ve only got a limited amount of time. [Flickering Myth]

Go to Amazon.com right now, and you’ll probably find a book that you’re looking for for $.01. Even with shipping, that’s a steal. The New York Times takes a look into the industry of buying books in bulk (sometimes from the trash) and reselling them for a penny.

Here’s Your First Look At James Franco In Hulu’s 11.22.63

Hulu scooped up Stephen King’s time travel novel 11/22/63 a while back, with James Franco set to star as the lead. Now, the streaming video company has released the first images, synopsis and release date for the show. 11.22.63 will be released weekly starting on President’s Day, February 15th, 2016, and will follow weekly from…

World War Z Sequel Has A Surprising New Writer (And Now We’re Interested In It)

World War Z had a troubled production, but since it’s release, there have been efforts on a sequel film. Now, the movie has a new writer that gives us some hope that it might actually be good: Dennis Kelly, creator of the UK show Utopia. Earlier this year, we learned that any new movie would…

Sam Raimi Wants One More Shot At Directing Spider-Man

While Sam Raimi has been on the publicity circuit for Ash vs Evil Dead, he dropped an interesting bit of news: he would love to come back to direct another Spiderman movie. In an interview with The Week, Raimi noted that he messed up Spider-Man 3, and that he’d be back to direct another film…

The Walking Dead Will Return For A Seventh Season

In news that surprises absolutely nobody, The Walking Dead has been renewed for a seventh season, according to Variety. Along with The Walking Dead, a companion after-action show, The Talking Dead was also renewed for another season. A companion show, Fear The Walking Dead, was preemptively renewed for a second season back in March. “Thank…

Neil Gaiman Is Getting His Own Television Series!

One of fantasy’s biggest names is getting an anthology television series. Sky Arts will be airing Neil Gaiman’s Likely Stories, with production beginning at the end of November. The Guardian has reported that the series will adapt four of Gaiman’s short stories. There’s no word on exactly which stories will be adapted, or who has…

The Avengers Aren’t Fans Of Drake’s New Song

Nope. They’re not a fan at all. Especially the Hulk. [EW]

Kickstart This: Spanish Women Of Wonder Anthology

Here’s a really cool-sounding anthology: Spanish Women of Wonder, which came together last year with ten short stories by Spanish women. Now, editors Cristina Jurado and Leticia Lara want to translate the project into English. Translated SF is getting bigger: more and more foreign (to the US) stories are being brought over and translated into…

So You Want To Join The Empire: Connecting All The Dots

We’ve talked a lot about gluing and piecing together armor throughout the course of this thread. Now, it’s time to start getting it assembled to wear. Some parts of the armor are just worn because they’re closed together: forearms, legs, and so forth. Other parts require some slightly different connective tissue: strapping. In my older…

Sunday Cinema: The Space Children (1958)

Here’s an old film to close out your weekend: Children of Space. In this 1958 film, aliens watch as humanity builds weapons of war and telepathically contact the children of the scientists to waylay their plans.