Books & Comics

Own William Gibson’s bomber jacket! Did you covet the Buzz Rickson MA-1 bomber jacket that cool hunter Cayce Pollard wore in William Gibson’s novel Pattern Recognition? Now a similar jacket can be yours, as designed by Gibson, for just $690.

New book Fortune’s Pawn is like Firefly told by Lois McMaster Bujold

Readers are in for a ride with Rachel Bach’s entry into science fiction, Fortune’s Pawn, which has been called a Firefly-meets-Lois McMaster Bujold tale. It’s fun, rough and tumble, and has an exciting cast of characters — though the plot itself is a little uneven. Mild spoilers ahead. It’s easy to see the similarities to…

10 Key Terms That Will Help You Appreciate Fantasy Literature

Fantasy novels and stories cast a spell on readers, with their vivid worlds and complex characters. But just like any other kind of spell, there are different types, and rules. You need a magical lexicon. So here are 10 commonly used terms you’ll need to know, that describe the different sorts of fantasy worlds and…

You Can Now Get Calvin and Hobbes as E-Books

Words cannot express how giddily excited we are by this news: you can finally get Calvin and Hobbes ebooks for the first time. Goodbye, weekend. Almost 30 years since their inception, the comic strips are now available in digital form. There are three altogether: The Essential Calvin and Hobbes, The Authoritative Calvin and Hobbes, and…

Comment of the Day: Guns, Germs, and Steel Edition

Today, we checked out the 15 (and counting!) superheroes and villains who have dispatched Batman with ease, collectively hushed the people chatting over the sound of our movie, and entered into a debate about a book. In response to this post, looking at charges of racism against Jared Diamond’s newest book, The World Until Yesterday,…

Injustice reveals what happens when Superman lets himself kill

Don’t dismiss DC’s Injustice: Gods Among Us as a simple tie-in to the fighting videogame. It’s an excellent Elseworlds tale about the Joker tricking Superman into murdering Lois Lane, and the grief-stricken Superman killing the Joker in vengeance — which leads Superman to decide he can no longer afford to be merciful, which in turn…

Young-adult science fiction tackles ethics. We think of young-adult novels as a fun ride, or as a vehicle for exploring alienation. But the American Library Association has a great list of YA titles with thought-provoking ethical questions, from Ender’s Game to Sherri L. Smith’s Orleans.

Is Jared Diamond racist?

Even Jared Diamond’s most avid supporters have been raising eyebrows at his new book, The World Until Yesterday. But University of New Mexico American Studies professor David Correia thinks this book is the most convincing evidence yet that Diamond isn’t just played out — he’s racist. Correia has written a very scholarly article about the…

15 People Who Have Kicked Batman’s Ass

They say given enough time and resources, Batman can defeat anybody. But let’s be clear — Batman doesn’t always have the time to plan or the resources he needs, and thus Batman is hardly undefeated in his crime-fighting career. Here are 15 different DC characters, heroes and villains, who have handed the Dark Knight a…

Mark Charan Newton’s Drakenfeld: a Thriller in an Epic Fantasy World

Mark Charan Newton’s no stranger to epic fantasy, but for his latest novel, he’s changed things up a bit. Not only has he replaced the general pseudo medieval Europe setting with something closer to Ancient Rome, he’s put together a compelling novel that wouldn’t be out of place in the modern thriller genre. Charon Newton’s…

Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman: Overture comic has already been delayed

Looking forward to issue #2 of Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman: Overture prequel series? Well, good news — you’re going to be looking forward to it for the next four months! DC announced the much-anticipated second issue has been pushed back from a December release to February 2014, for unknown reasons. If it makes you feel…

The Hobbit takes us inside the home of Beorn, and it’s wonderful!

Sneak a little look inside the gigantic house of Beorn the skin changer, including the gigantic living room Peter Jackson built for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. We’ve still yet to see actual footage of Mikael Persbrandt as Beorn. But we have seen glorious paintings of his mutton-chops along with some footage of him…

Love, Friendship and Murder in Rachel Caine’s Haunting New Book Trailer

If you’re like most people, then your favorite character in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet isn’t either of the two eponymous lovers — rather, it’s Benvolio. Or maybe Mercutio. In any case, Rachel Caine is retelling the play from Benvolio’s perspective, with magic — and here’s an exclusive book trailer. Along with this video, Caine will…

Stellar fan comic writes a poetic, brutal end for Batman and the Joker

What would happen if the Joker managed to break Batman? This fan-made comic brings the tale of legendary foes to a violent, but emotional, finale. Written by Gerardo Preciado and drawn by Daniel Bayliss, The Deal is a fan comic that plays with the psychological interdependence that some (though by no means all) fans see…

What happens when technology comes to kick fantasy’s ass?

The webcomic Black Rose is a tale of two nations. Ishtakar is a realm of the magic-using handwavers, while Athelica is a growing industrialized country, feeling the power of its guns and trains. But as tensions between the nations grow more violent, two siblings—a soldier and a high-class lady—find themselves caught in the middle. Arion…

Everybody loves the new Ms. Marvel*

[*Except for Stephen Colbert.] All copies of Captain Marvel #17, which contains the first appearance of the brand-new Ms. Marvel, have sold out on the distributor level a mere two days after the issue was released. That’s a very good sign for the teenage Muslim shapeshifter Kamala Khan, her own series debuting next February, and…

If you want some gory hard science fiction, you need to read Parasite

Mira Grant, author of the social media zombie series Newsflesh, is back with another tale of pandemics that threaten to transform humanity into shuffling, homicidal maniacs. Parasite is a spine-tingling, near-future tale of what happens when a new medical technology starts (literally) eating our brains. The scientific premise of Parasite is simply terrific, and seals…

Author Margaret Atwood is here answering your questions today

In October, the io9 book club read Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake. Today from 12:00-1:00 PDT, Atwood is here to answer your questions! Ask her about the apocalypse series that begins with Oryx and Crake, or about her incredible writing career. https://gizmodo.com/the-io9-book-club-is-in-session-lets-talk-about-oryx-1454152684 Photo by George Whiteside Just jump into comments and ask questions, and Atwood…

Stephen Colbert does not care for that new Muslim Ms. Marvel

On Tuesday, we reported on the new comic character Kamala Khan, a teenage Muslim who is taking the moniker of Ms. Marvel in her own self-titled comic due out next February. The Colbert Report’s Stephen Colbert recognized this for the attack on America that it is, and reported it accordingly. https://gizmodo.com/meet-the-new-ms-marvel-a-shapeshifting-muslim-teenage-1458949168 The tragedy is that…

Which Books Do You Re-Read?

Sometimes a story is too good to just hear once. Which books do you find yourself going back to for a second or third read (or perhaps many, many more)? It could be a new favorite or a book that you encountered years ago, and just keep reading again and again. Tell us in the…