Books & Comics

The io9 Book Club is in session! Let’s talk about Oryx and Crake

Welcome to the monthly meeting of the io9 Book Club. In September, we read Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake. Jump into comments to get started talking about it! For those unfamiliar with the io9 book club, here’s how it works: You read the book. We create a special book club post on io9 when the…

This manual of psychological disorders is actually a dystopian novel

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) is the premiere reference book for psychiatrists and mental health workers. But critics have often called it monstrous, wrong-headed and unscientific. Now, at last, one writer has discovered that it’s actually a dystopian scifi novel. https://gizmodo.com/the-future-of-nymphomania-5468365 https://gizmodo.com/traditional-psychological-diagnoses-are-going-out-of-st-493966169 The latest edition of the manual, DSM-V, was published…

Frank Frazetta Like You’ve Never Seen Him Before!

Most of us are pretty familiar with the art of Frank Frazetta: his amazing Edgar Rice Burroughs illustrations. His original creation, the Death Dealer. And so much else. But you haven’t really learned the story of Frank Frazetta, unless you’ve read a brand new book, Frank Frazetta: Art and Remembrances. Warning: A couple images below…

An aspiring doctor must solve a ghostly mystery to stop a plague

Anya Katsukova is a passionate young physician in training who thinks only of her work—at least until a mysterious stranger is found half-dead in the woods. When a horrific plague follows on his heels, Anya must rely not only on science, but also learn the spiritual mysteries of her world, to save the people who…

Gail Carriger’s new music video will have you dancing in your airship

Here’s an exclusive first look at a new music video promoting Gail Carriger’s book Curtsies & Conspiracies. It’s the cutest thing we’ve seen in days — but be warned: Major earworm. You will be singing this one in the shower on Monday. Gotta love any song that rhymes “irritable” and “dirigible.” And the animation, mixing…

Kim Stanley Robinson brings the Neolithic to life in Shaman

Kim Stanley Robinson is known for his meticulous worldbuilding. So when Robinson heads to neolithic Europe for his newest novel Shaman, Robinson creates a world that has familiar outlines — but resists both clichés and lazy assumptions about prehistoric life. Spoilers ahead… First, it must be pointed out, Shaman is not a science fiction book.…

Comment of the Day: Superman Vs. Captain America Edition

In today’s comments, we learned how to measure our risk of death in tidy little units, asked “are we there yet?” while kicking the backs of our space shuttle seats, and pitted the origin stories of Superman and Captain America against each other. Two (super)men enter, one leaves. In response to this post, revealing the…

The 10 Hilariously Confusing Origins of Hawkman

There are few comics characters that have as much history as Hawkman. That’s not just because Hawkman has been around longer than most superheroes, but because DC has given him several histories — different origins, major retcons and other nonsense that has made him one of comic’s most baffling characters, and here’s how. Please note:…

Another publisher steps in. Simon & Schuster is launching its own science fiction imprint, overseen by Children’s Publishing EVP Jon Anderson and Young Readers VP Justin Chandra. But the imprint, edited by current literary agent Joe Monti, will publish “YA and above.”

James Gunn’s Transcendental feels like a lost Golden Age classic

Cracking open James Gunn’s latest novel, Transcendental, is like finding a lost manuscript from the Golden Age of Science Fiction. And while reading it, I enjoyed the retro-stylings — but couldn’t help but think this is the kind of thing science fiction has left behind for a reason. Gunn’s novels features a mixed group of…

Ytasha Womack, Author of Afrofuturism, Is Here to Answer Questions!

Ytasha Womack, the author of Afrofuturism: The World of Black Sci-Fi and Fantasy Culture, is here to answer your questions today! In addition to Afrofuturism, she’s also the author of Post Black: How a New Generation is Redefining African American Identity and 2212: Book of Rayla. Her credits as a filmmaker include Love Shorts and…

How Batman helped a cartoonist through a violent childhood trauma

Dean Trippe‘s comic Something Terrible is a deeply personal account of his experiences following a childhood trauma, and how the fictional heroes he grew up admiring helped him cope with those experiences even as an adult. Trippe is posting Something Terrible very gradually online as a webcomic, but for 99 cents, you can download the…

A drug that lets people share dreams leads to a deadly mystery

Max Miller Dowdle’s webcomic Shattered With Curve of Horn opens on married couple Matthew and Caitlin getting ready for Matthew’s art show and a tense reunion with Pierce, an old friend recently released from prison. But Pierce doesn’t just want to reconnect, he wants to know what happened the night years ago when the three…

What If Famous Books Had Ridiculous Linkbait Titles?

The thing about literature is that it takes itself so damn seriously. What if, for a change, instead of pretentious and opaque titles, famous books came with ridiculous linkbait titles instead? College Humor has done a real good job with this series of great book covers reworked to cast them as clickable internet stories. There…

How to kill a rampaging demon with the power of your disbelief

When angels, demons, myths and monsters attack humanity, our only defense is S.H.O.O.T. These protectors use their disbelief in what they’re fighting — as filtered through seriously high-tech weaponry — to battle the supernatural in Dark Horse’s S.H.O.O.T. First! #1. Also, it has a robot arm-wrestling a demon. In full disclosure, the writer, Justin Aclin,…

Neil Gaiman will finally get to complete his MiracleMan story

Four years ago, Marvel announced they had the rights to the classic MarvelMan (a.k.a. MiracleMan, after a Marvel-ous lawsuit forced the publisher Eclipse to change the name) comics, but not Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman’s dark and epic ’80s relaunch of the superhero. That changed this weekend. At this year’s New York Comic-Con, Joe Quesada…

Kate Beaton reveals why Black Canary shouldn’t go to concerts

The latest installment of Kate Beaton’s Hark! A Vagrant stars the Black Canary, who finds herself in an unexpected place—a music venue. In addition to posting a goofy new comic, Beaton has also revealed that her next big project involves her delightfully derpy Fat Pony. Laura Hudson has more details in her interview with Beaton…

Stan Lee Explains the Ludicrous “Science” Behind Superheroes

Superheroes don’t make a lot of scientific sense. They’re better than science; that’s half the fun. But you’ve gotta try and keep a little believability in there, and Stan Lee explains exactly how to do it. This two minute clip is just a teaser for a full PBS special, SUPERHEROES: A Never-Ending Battle coming out…

How the Bible Is Helping Crack Your Passwords

The Bible might not be quite the good book it claims to be. According to an Ars Technica report on the future of password cracking, the holy book is being employed to help crack passwords to great effect. The article explains how security researchers Kevin Young and John Dustin have been using books acquired from…

An Interactive Map of San Francisco’s Many Literary Landmarks

In the lead-up to Litquake, the annual city-wide literary festival that kicks off this Friday, the San Francisco Chronicle just launched a seriously impressive online map marking some of the Bay Area’s most iconic moments in print. The extensive resource is organized by tabs, each of which has its own dedicated collection of site-specific pins…