Books & Comics

Orson Scott Card’s Hamlet: Not as Good as Shakespeare’s Version

You have to hand it to Ender’s Game author Orson Scott Card. He already reworked Iron Man’s origin so that Tony Stark’s entire body is made out of brain matter that lets him regenerate severed extremities. And now Card has rebooted Shakespeare’s Hamlet. What could possibly go wrong? Top image: Detail from cover of Ender…

Books & Comics Charlie Jane Anders

Must Watch: John Kessel on Future Stories as a Mirror of the Present

Acclaimed science fiction author and literature professor John Kessel recently gave a fantastic talk about science fiction, and you can watch the whole thing online. Here’s the blurb: Science fiction is popularly understood to be about showing us the world of the future: space travel, robots, immortality, encounters with aliens, mechanized cities, human evolution. But…

Books & Comics Charlie Jane Anders

10 reasons why Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters would be a horrible place to be educated

Hey, it’s back-to-school time! Boo! I know it’s a huge disappointment to learn that Alice Cooper has the capacity to fib, but look on the bright side — you could be earning your diploma at Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters! I know it sounds thrilling to sign up for Colossus’ “Siberian Landscape Oil Painting 101”…

Books & Comics Cyriaque Lamar

Ray Bradbury’s Scientific Obsessions

There’s a fantastic article over at New Scientist about the science that shaped Ray Bradbury’s development as a person and as a writer, including his early fascination with theories about life on Mars, and his obsession with psychology. Written by Bradbury’s biographer (and co-founder of the Center for Ray Bradbury Studies) Jonathan R. Eller, the…

Books & Comics Charlie Jane Anders

Why Burning Man Is Just a Giant Chatbot Festival

Remember those amazing chatbots that talked about unicorns, God, and got a little flirty? As xkcd astutely observes, there’s only one other place on Earth you can find that combination of philosophy and disorientation: the Black Rock Desert, last weekendish. https://gizmodo.com/two-chatbots-face-off-to-discuss-god-unicorns-and-expe-5835312 Oh, Burning Man. So in touch with nature, yet so artificial. [xkcd]

Books & Comics Brian Barrett

Is George R.R. Martin helping to save print book sales?

Sales of physical books in August dropped 9 percent from the same month in 2010 in the United Kingdom, according to Nielsen BookScan. And spending on novels, in particular was down 15 percent year on year. There was only one category that didn’t face a steep decline: science fiction and fantasy, which actually grew “thanks…

Books & Comics Charlie Jane Anders

In comics this week, Animal Man bleeds out his eyes and Superman goes grassroots

What’s in comic stores this Wednesday? Grant Morrison’s “Bruce Springsteen Superman,” the return of scifi man of mystery Casanova Quinn, and Animal Man crying tears of hemoglobin. Gross! First Issues Okay, so we’re in the second week of DC’s big superhero relaunch. Frankly, this week’s batch has the bulk of the promising debuts. https://gizmodo.com/we-have-a-very-spoilery-discussion-about-justice-league-5836101 The…

Books & Comics Cyriaque Lamar

Remember when The Ramones met the Incredible Hulk?

In 1977, Irish punk fanzine Heat took a cue from KISS’ encounter with Howard The Duck and introduced The Ramones to the most irascible hero in the Marvel Universe. It’s way better than that time Hulk teamed up with toilet paper. https://gizmodo.com/kiss-vs-doctor-doom-is-the-best-and-or-worst-comic-you-5711513 https://gizmodo.com/this-hulk-toilet-paper-comic-is-the-apex-of-bathroom-re-5570659 What other songs would The Hulkmones play? “Gimme Gimme Zzzax?” “Now I…

Books & Comics Cyriaque Lamar

September Books bring vampires, faeries, airships, and hackers!

What does September have in store for you? A new Neal Stephenson novel! Not one, but two new releases from Cherie Priest! Plus faeries, vampires, digital revolutionaries, and a college in outer space. Here are all the new releases your bookshelf needs this month. Ganymede, Cherie Priest (Tor) Priest’s third Clockwork Century novel stars Andan…

Books & Comics Kelly Faircloth

No, science fiction novelists are not really predicting the future

There’s a curiously wide-eyed article from the New York Times, about some recent science fiction novels that have uncannily come true, which is making the rounds online. Are science fiction novelists really predicting the future after all? Er, no. What it boils down to, in the end, is that some people wrote books about economic…

Books & Comics Charlie Jane Anders

Secrets from a post-Soviet alternate history could destroy the world in The Restoration Game

Ken MacLeod’s latest near-future thriller The Restoration Game takes us deep inside a CIA plot to overthrow the government of Krassnia, an imaginary former Soviet republic — using an MMO designed to stir up nationalist sentiment among Krassnia’s youth. Out this month in the U.S. from PYR Books, the novel traces a set of strange…

Books & Comics Annalee Newitz

In Marvel Comics’ The Fearless, the superheroes stock up on magic hammers

In Marvel Comics’ summer miniseries Fear Itself, a dark god known as The Serpent uses magic hammers to transform characters like the Hulk and the Thing into sociopathic Asgardian deities. But when Fear Itself wraps up, what’s going to happen to The Serpent’s mystical implements of smashing? Here’s the scoop on The Fearless, a new…

Books & Comics Cyriaque Lamar

Read an exclusive preview of DC Comics’ quirky new superhero series, O.M.A.C.

Here’s an exclusive sneak peek of DC Comics’ new comic book O.M.A.C. In this series, Jack Kirby’s One Man Army Corps gets a 21st century cybernetic update, complete with espionage thrills and battles with Frankenstein. Also, we chatted with O.M.A.C. co-author Dan DiDio about the hero’s upcoming trials that can’t simply be vanquished with the…

Books & Comics Cyriaque Lamar

In Transient Man, only San Francisco’s homeless can prevent the apocalypse

Bob is homeless man living in San Francisco’s Tenderloin District who regularly converses with monsters that only he can see. Is he crazy? Or is he the only person who stands between the human race and total destruction? Justin Coro Kaufman’s Transient Man has a simple, but compelling premise: What if the fellow who stands…

Books & Comics Lauren Davis

10 Real Life “Memoirs” That Read Like Scifi and Fantasy Stories

There are people in the world with life-stories that defy human imagination and expand our idea of what the human experience is like. And there are some people whose stories cross out of reality and into what reads a lot like a science fiction or fantasy epic. Take a look at the most fantastical tales…

Books & Comics Esther Inglis-Arkell

China Miéville Unleashes Linguistic Apocalypse in Episode 43 of The Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy

China Miéville, author of Perdido Street Station and The City & The City, joins us to discuss Dungeons & Dragons, international relations, and his recent science fiction novel Embassytown. Art by Vincent Chong. Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy is hosted by John Joseph Adams and David Barr Kirtley. You can download the MP3 for this…

Books & Comics Johnjosephadams

The psychedelic realism of Chris Foss’ alternate worlds

Concept artist Chris Foss has been creating iconic science fiction book covers for decades, bringing unforgettable visuals to the tales of Isaac Asimov, Philip K. Dick, and JG Ballard. He also worked on art for a crazy Dune movie in the 1970s that never got made. And now he’s released a gorgeous art book of…

Books & Comics Annalee Newitz

The Most Cyberpunk Places in the U.S.A.

Cyberpunk is no longer the future. We’re living in an age in which many of the visions of creators like Bruce Sterling, William Gibson, Pat Cadigan and Ridley Scott are invading our world today. Our lives (and minds) are more integrated with technology than ever before, and many of our cities are growing closer to…

Books & Comics Charlie Jane Anders

Read the fan mail a 16-year-old George R.R. Martin sent to Stan Lee

On the letters-to-the-editor page of 1964’s Avengers #12, Stan Lee and Don Heck received a correspondence from future A Song of Ice and Fire author George R.R. Martin. In his letter, Martin expressed a firm appreciation of Fantastic Four villains like Dr. Doom and The Red Ghost and a mild ambivalence for Molecule Man and…

Books & Comics Cyriaque Lamar

There’s nothing less romantic than two people who are destined to be together

A major trope in paranormal romance — and plenty of other types of sagas — lately is the idea that two people are destined to be together, or are “bond-mates.” Over at Genreville, Rose Fox does a great job of examining why this idea strays into disturbing territory, by removing free choice and turning romantic…

Books & Comics Charlie Jane Anders

Orson Scott Card’s Hamlet: Not as Good as Shakespeare’s Version

Must Watch: John Kessel on Future Stories as a Mirror of the Present

10 reasons why Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters would be a horrible place to be educated

Ray Bradbury’s Scientific Obsessions

Why Burning Man Is Just a Giant Chatbot Festival

Is George R.R. Martin helping to save print book sales?

In comics this week, Animal Man bleeds out his eyes and Superman goes grassroots

Remember when The Ramones met the Incredible Hulk?

September Books bring vampires, faeries, airships, and hackers!

No, science fiction novelists are not really predicting the future

Secrets from a post-Soviet alternate history could destroy the world in The Restoration Game

In Marvel Comics’ The Fearless, the superheroes stock up on magic hammers

Read an exclusive preview of DC Comics’ quirky new superhero series, O.M.A.C.

In Transient Man, only San Francisco’s homeless can prevent the apocalypse

10 Real Life “Memoirs” That Read Like Scifi and Fantasy Stories

China Miéville Unleashes Linguistic Apocalypse in Episode 43 of The Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy

The psychedelic realism of Chris Foss’ alternate worlds

The Most Cyberpunk Places in the U.S.A.

Read the fan mail a 16-year-old George R.R. Martin sent to Stan Lee

There’s nothing less romantic than two people who are destined to be together

School Forced to Replace Toilets After Kids Flush Vapes

‘Scream 7’ Just Won’t Stop Making Money as ‘Scream 8’ Gets Started

The Curtain Has Closed on Meta’s Movie Rating-Inspired Content Filters

Good News! You Can Finally Change That Ridiculous Gmail Address

ExpressVPN Just Launched ExpressAI: Your Prompts Are Now Invisible

VR Just Took Another Massive Body Blow

The Best Gadgets of March 2026

‘Supergirl’ Will Feature David Corenswet’s Superman in a Sort of Big Brother Role

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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