Books & Comics

Read a chapter from Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore, the new fantasy novel everybody’s talking about

Critics have been buzzing about Robin Sloan’s weird and alluring debut novel, Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore, a bizarre mystery with lots of fantastical elements. It’s hard to describe, but once you start reading you may not be able to stop. Also, as an added bonus, the cover glows in the dark. We’ve got the first…

Books & Comics Annalee Newitz

The best science poem you’ll read this month

Poet Jessy Randall has a history of filling us with happiness by writing dreamy, occasionally silly, poems that touch on science and science fictional topics. Now she has a new book out, called Injecting Dreams Into Cows. Here’s the poem that inspired the book’s title: http://io9.com/321421/the-only-good-science-fiction-poems-ever-written-are-by-jessy-randall?tag=jessyrandall The Consultant The scientists told me they were injecting…

Books & Comics Annalee Newitz

Why does The Joker want to kill all of Batman’s best friends? Scott Snyder explains

On the opening day of New York Comic Con, Batman and Swamp Thing scribe Scott Snyder caught up with io9 to discuss Death of a Family, a new story about The Joker exacting revenge on the Dark Knight’s pals. (Also, The Joker’s face has been completely carved off and affixed to his head with a…

Books & Comics Cyriaque Lamar

It’s time the major literary awards stopped being a gated community

This year’s finalists for the National Book Awards were announced, and over at Salon, Laura Miller makes a strong case that the list should have included some of the year’s best genre books. Her picks include the fantasy novel Alif the Unseen by G. Willow Wilson (read our review here). http://io9.com/5918297/alif-the-unseen-i-have-no-clever-title And she’s quite eloquent…

Books & Comics Charlie Jane Anders

William Gibson: The Most Important Writer of the Past 30 Years?

Over at Scholars & Rogues, there’s a great essay honoring William Gibson, and making the case that he’s the most important author of the past three decades. The linchpin of the argument: Gibson not only transformed science fiction, he changed how we think about technology. Recognizing that science fiction was speculating about technological advances, only…

Books & Comics Charlie Jane Anders

You Can Self-Publish Your Own Digital Comics to Comixology Now

So you want to write comics? Comixology, the largest distributer of digital comic books, is going to be taking submissions from anyone in the world to publish comics right alongside Marvel, DC, Image, and all the other big time companies. According to a VentureBeat exclusive, the service, Comixology Submit, will start as an invite-only beta.…

Books & Comics Kyle Wagner

A truly mind-bending novel about the future of genetically-modified humans

Ken MacLeod’s novel Intrusion, which has been a hit in the UK since it was released earlier this year, tackles a familiar issue in a completely unexpected way. Hope is a mother-to-be in a near-future London, where pregnant women are under tremendous pressure to take “Fix,” a pill that corrects most known genetic defects in…

Books & Comics Annalee Newitz

The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Novels to Cheer You the Frak Up

Even starship captains get the blues sometimes. And when you get depressed, or when you’re stuck in bed with a nasty case of black plague, you need something to cheer you the frak up. Luckily, there are tons of science fiction and fantasy books with proven restorative properties. Here are 16 terrific SF and fantasy…

Books & Comics Charlie Jane Anders

Advanced Trolling 101: Think Big

You hate “green” energy. You love mayhem. You’re an eccentric billionaire just looking for a good way to kill a Sunday afternoon. If any of these applies to you, here’s a blueprint for the most advanced trolling the world has ever known. Let this be a lesson to all of us: no matter what, we…

Books & Comics Brian Barrett

In this week’s comics, Uncanny Avengers begins and Saga hits bookshelves

Which debuts hit comic stores tomorrow? First off, the Rick Remender-penned series Uncanny Avengers kicks off, with its first issue combining mutants and Avengers under the aegis of Captain America. The synopsis: Captain America begins his quest to create a sanctioned Avengers unit comprised of Avengers and X-Men, humans and mutants working together — so…

Books & Comics Cyriaque Lamar

“Humble Bundle” of Pay-What-You-Like E-Books Already Made $224,000 In First 6 Hours

Looks like it’s only been something like six hours since the Humble Bundle of “name your own price” e-books was rolled out, and already some $224,000 has been spent, some of which will go to the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. The authors in the bundle include Neil…

Books & Comics Charlie Jane Anders

This is probably the greatest Wonder Woman panel in comic history

Wonder Woman’s battled many deadly foes, but maybe none so egregious as the Nazis who were fooled by her sugar-cured manikin. (Incidentally, the “sack” the narration is referring to is an actual bag, not a euphemism.) https://gizmodo.com/9-wonder-woman-villains-that-explain-why-nobody-talks-5936558 [Via The Mary Sue]

Books & Comics Cyriaque Lamar

10 Tips for Generating Killer Science Fiction Story Ideas

Science fiction is the literature of big ideas — so coming up with an amazing story idea often feels like the biggest stumbling block in the way of your dreams of authorship. Unfortunately, most of us can’t just have Robert A. Heinlein mail us $100 and a couple dozen brilliant ideas. So what do you…

Books & Comics Charlie Jane Anders

What’s more thrilling than a fantasy about the Chosen One? How about the Cursed One?

There have been a ton of young adult fantasy novels lately where one person stands against a dystopian world, or faces a terrible menace, and they’re sort of the chosen savior. But Gwenda Bond’s YA debut, Blackwood, takes a very different tack: Her heroine, Miranda Blackwood, is the cursed one, who bears the mark of…

Books & Comics Charlie Jane Anders

An Artistic and Alliterative Alphabet of Abhorrent Abominations

Are your normal nights knotted with nocturnal nervousness? Do you fear fiendish flesh-eating freaks? Dread demonic degenerates with delusions of doom? Then take a gander at Nathan O. Marsh’s Alphabet Apocrypha, an alliterative account of the anxious and aberrant. Marsh’s alphabet, formerly titled Alphabet Horror Vacui, is a satire of children’s alphabet books utilizing unnerving…

Books & Comics Lauren Davis

Hope Larson’s A Wrinkle in Time comic is a love letter to the original

Say what you will about Twilight, but its fans deserved better than the hatchet job of a comic adaptation it received. Encouraged by the burgeoning YA comics market, some publishers have put out hastily adapted comic book versions of successful prose novels that will appeal only to the most die-hard of fans. So it’s a…

Books & Comics Lauren Davis

Towering Library Covered In Books Proves That Hardcovers Are Still Good For Something

So you got yourself an eReader. You’ve sworn off physical books for good. Who needs ’em? Well you can’t build a gigantic pyramid library with eBooks now can you? This mountain of books—called very plainly “Book Mountain”—is a project by MVRDV that just finished construction in the town of Spijkenisse in the Netherlands. The pyramid…

Books & Comics Eric Limer

What if a zombie plague broke out on the Titanic?

On April 15, 1912, the RMS Titanic hit an iceberg, causing the ocean liner to sink and 1,502 people to die. But the new novel Deck Z by Chris Pauls and Matt Solomon imagines that many of those doomed passengers were already dead, or, to be more specific, undead. Zombies do have a habit of…

Books & Comics Lauren Davis

Read the last thing Ray Bradbury ever wrote: An Ode to Books

Before he passed away this past June, author Ray Bradbury dictated the introduction to the 2012 volume of The Best American Nonrequired Reading, a brief essay that would turn out to be his final piece of writing. Appropriately, it’s a love letter to books and the worlds that are opened up by reading. https://gizmodo.com/r-i-p-ray-bradbury-author-of-fahrenheit-451-and-the-m-5916175 The…

Books & Comics Lauren Davis

Neil Gaiman once pitched Sandman to George R.R. Martin, but Martin blew him off

When thinking about Neil Gaiman, The Sandman is one of the works that springs immediately to mind. The epic comic series about the brooding king of dreams helped put Gaiman on the map as a comic creator. But if George R.R. Martin had accepted an idea Gaiman pitched to him many years ago, Morpheus might…

Books & Comics Lauren Davis

Read a chapter from Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore, the new fantasy novel everybody’s talking about

The best science poem you’ll read this month

Why does The Joker want to kill all of Batman’s best friends? Scott Snyder explains

It’s time the major literary awards stopped being a gated community

William Gibson: The Most Important Writer of the Past 30 Years?

You Can Self-Publish Your Own Digital Comics to Comixology Now

A truly mind-bending novel about the future of genetically-modified humans

The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Novels to Cheer You the Frak Up

Advanced Trolling 101: Think Big

In this week’s comics, Uncanny Avengers begins and Saga hits bookshelves

“Humble Bundle” of Pay-What-You-Like E-Books Already Made $224,000 In First 6 Hours

This is probably the greatest Wonder Woman panel in comic history

10 Tips for Generating Killer Science Fiction Story Ideas

What’s more thrilling than a fantasy about the Chosen One? How about the Cursed One?

An Artistic and Alliterative Alphabet of Abhorrent Abominations

Hope Larson’s A Wrinkle in Time comic is a love letter to the original

Towering Library Covered In Books Proves That Hardcovers Are Still Good For Something

What if a zombie plague broke out on the Titanic?

Read the last thing Ray Bradbury ever wrote: An Ode to Books

Neil Gaiman once pitched Sandman to George R.R. Martin, but Martin blew him off

Source Code for Anthropic’s Claude Code Leaks at the Exact Wrong Time

SpaceX Starlink Satellite Malfunctions, Breaks Apart in Orbit

‘The Super Mario Galaxy Movie’ Stinks

‘Scream 4’ Is Back, and on Tape

Iran Threatens to Attack U.S. Tech Companies Starting April 1

Amazon Clears Out Netflix-Licensed Nebula Capsule 3 Mini Projector at 32% Off, Dolby Audio Home Theater for Less

Anker 160W Laptop Charger Briefly Returns to Black Friday Pricing in a Last-Minute Amazon Spring Sale Deal

The New ‘Backrooms’ Trailer Is Packed Full of Endless Dread

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

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