Books

Read a White-Knuckle Excerpt from Robogenesis, Sequel to Robopocalypse

Robogenesis, Daniel Wilson’s much-anticipated sequel to Robopocalypse, hit stores yesterday, and it’s even more intense and mind-blowing than the first novel. We’ve got an excerpt. If you recall, Robopocalypse was a hair-raisingly realistic tale of a robot uprising, written by former roboticist Wilson in a journalistic style reminiscent of World War Z. All the players…

Books & Comics Annalee Newitz

The Worldbuilding in Lockstep Is So Good It Will Make You Giddy

Every now and then I encounter a book that utterly thrills me, and Karl Schroeder’s new novel Lockstep is one of them. It’s about a young loner, battling an oppressive corporate regime that controls space by controlling how people experience time. And the lockstep is the key to it all. In the far future, people…

io9 Michael Ann Dobbs

What Book Terrified You To The Bone?

What is the scariest work of fiction ever penned? What made your hair stand on its end? We want to know about the scariest book you ever read. This is a fairly selfish open channel request because I need a new book! And I want a skin tingling, hair standing, knock down horrifying read for…

io9 Meredith Woerner

How Well Do You Know Your Fictional Maps?

Now, this specific map isn’t in the quiz, but The Guardian has a quiz that tests your fictional geography knowledge. What really stands out is that some books have need of very elaborate maps where others have sketches you can easily imagine being done on napkins. Oddly, the elaborate ones are way easier to identify…

io9 Katharine Trendacosta

The Entirety Of Game Of Thrones Summed Up In One Perfect Illustration

All hail Nedesem for this brilliant, brilliant image. Now we all need to make sure to keep George R.R. Martin far away from mules until he’s finished writing the series.

Books & Comics Rob Bricken

How Robert Heinlein Went from Socialist to Right-Wing Libertarian

The second massive volume in William Patterson’s fannish biography of classic science fiction author Robert Heinlein has just come out, and it explores — in part — the writer’s strange political transformation. It all started, and ended, with free love. Jeet Heer has a fantastic article about the late Patterson’s biography in The New Republic…

io9 Annalee Newitz

The Memory Garden By Mary Rickert Is A Breathtaking Masterpiece

Many of the best fantasy novels have an aura of mystery that goes beyond signs and portents into the realm of the ineffable. There are mysteries that have answers, and mysteries that are their own answer, and they intertwine. The Memory Garden by Mary Rickert manages this blend beautifully. And heart-breakingly. Spoilers ahead… Top image:…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders

Robert Charles Wilson’s Spin Could Be Your Next Favorite TV Series

This is great news. Robert Charles Wilson’s mind-blowing, Hugo Award winning novel Spin just got optioned by Universal Cable Productions. Which means we may be due for a Spin TV series sometime soon. The premise isn’t simple, but it’s fascianting. Think an infinitely more interesting Under the Dome. Out of nowhere, the Earth is surrounded…

io9 Meredith Woerner

The io9 Book Club Is in Session! Let’s Talk About Leviathan Wakes!

Welcome to the monthly meeting of the io9 Book Club. In May, we read Leviathan Wakes, by James S.E. Corey. 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…

io9 Annalee Newitz

All The Best Larger-Than-Life Moments In Last Night’s Game Of Thrones

This was Game Of Thrones’ big battle episode, and it featured huge set pieces. HUGE. But you know what was really huge? The characters, and their incredible defining moments. There was sex, love, heroism, cowardice… and lots of killing. We’ve rounded up all of the defining moments in last night’s insane showcase. Spoilers ahead… “The…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders

The SciFi Story Robert H. Goddard Published 100 Years Ago

In 1904, while Robert H. Goddard was a student at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts, his professor of creative writing asked his class to write a theme on the subject of what travel might be like in 1950. Goddard imagined what it might be like to travel in a mag lev train that shot…

io9 Ron Miller

The Most Astounding Must-Read Science Fiction And Fantasy Books In June

There’s never been a greater time to be a fan of science fiction and fantasy books — the sheer number of great reads coming out every month can be overwhelming as well as exciting. So many books, so little time! So here are the 23 science fiction and fantasy books we think you should check…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders

If I Stay Actually About A Girl Stuck In A Really Crappy Purgatory

If you’ve seen the ads for If I Stay, you may have written it off as some tween heartstring yanker (and you wouldn’t be wrong). However, it is also a story about a ghost who is attached to her comatose body, stuck forever in some horrible hospital until she decides what to do—which just made…

Movies Meredith Woerner

Really? Are We Still Genre Shaming People For The Books They Like?

Yesterday, Slate caused a bit of a stir with an editorial reprimanding adults for reading books marketed to young adults. This song-and-dance — saying that we should be ashamed of what we like to read — is a familiar one for fans of genre fiction. And frankly, it’s getting old. Top image by Rory MacLeod.…

io9 Lauren Davis

The U.S. Government Inflicted Horrible Atrocities On Cthulhu’s Followers

Chances are, you’ve read tons of stories in the Cthulhu Mythos — but “The Litany of Earth” by Ruthanna Emrys is still something special. It’s set in a world where the U.S. government destroyed Innsmouth, closed Miskatonic University, and imprisoned the true believers. And now, one survivor of the camps is trying to rebuild her…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders

“I Didn’t Think I Liked This Genre, Until This Story Came Along”

It’s easy to write off a whole genre of books, comics or movies. You hear about the sexy vampires, or the killer dragons, or the massive starships, and you just decide it’s not for you. Until you come across one special story, that just blows your mind. Which genre did you think you hated, until…

Movies Charlie Jane Anders

The Stand Movie Will Be Three Hours Long

Hollywood has toyed with re-adapting Stephen King’s The Stand forever. But instead of a TV miniseries (hopefully better than the 1994 ABC version), we’re getting a movie. A three-hour-long movie. We have no idea if this will work. In an interview with Vulture, The Stand director Josh Boone (currently stumping for his new film Fault…

io9 Meredith Woerner

Kylie and Kendall Jenner’s YA Novel Has Nothing But 1-Star Reviews

Kylie and Kendall Jenner, two of the younger Kardashian sisters, published their long-awaited dystopian young-adult novel, the double-colonic Rebels: City ofIndra: The Story of Lex and Livia. And the early reviews are… not exactly raves. You can read the first two chapters online at MTV, but meanwhile, the Amazon page for the book, which has…

Books & Comics Charlie Jane Anders

Yep, Harvard Really Does Have a Book Bound in Human Skin

This past April brought disappointing (but relieving?) news that a book long suspected to be bound in human skin in Harvard’s library was, in fact, bound in sheepskin. Nothing here, move along, right? But no! Now Harvard has confirmed, for the first time ever, one of its other books is indeed sheathed in human skin.…

Books & Comics Sarah Zhang

The Giver Trailer Shows Our Black-And-White Future Hell

The latest trailer for The Giver (based on the book by Lois Lowry) shows a future so sterile that society has stopped seeing color. Thanks to a handy mandatory injection, the new world (run by Meryl Streep) is a whole lotta boring—until Jeff Bridges is introduced! This looks MUCH better than the colorful trailer released…

Trailers Meredith Woerner

Read a White-Knuckle Excerpt from Robogenesis, Sequel to Robopocalypse

The Worldbuilding in Lockstep Is So Good It Will Make You Giddy

What Book Terrified You To The Bone?

How Well Do You Know Your Fictional Maps?

The Entirety Of Game Of Thrones Summed Up In One Perfect Illustration

How Robert Heinlein Went from Socialist to Right-Wing Libertarian

The Memory Garden By Mary Rickert Is A Breathtaking Masterpiece

Robert Charles Wilson’s Spin Could Be Your Next Favorite TV Series

The io9 Book Club Is in Session! Let’s Talk About Leviathan Wakes!

All The Best Larger-Than-Life Moments In Last Night’s Game Of Thrones

The SciFi Story Robert H. Goddard Published 100 Years Ago

The Most Astounding Must-Read Science Fiction And Fantasy Books In June

If I Stay Actually About A Girl Stuck In A Really Crappy Purgatory

Really? Are We Still Genre Shaming People For The Books They Like?

The U.S. Government Inflicted Horrible Atrocities On Cthulhu’s Followers

“I Didn’t Think I Liked This Genre, Until This Story Came Along”

The Stand Movie Will Be Three Hours Long

Kylie and Kendall Jenner’s YA Novel Has Nothing But 1-Star Reviews

Yep, Harvard Really Does Have a Book Bound in Human Skin

The Giver Trailer Shows Our Black-And-White Future Hell

Ahead of the SpaceX IPO, xAI Has Now Shed All 11 of Its Non-Elon Musk Founders

Do ‘Disclosure Day’ Prep With a Spielberg Sci-Fi Marathon

How to Watch the F1 Japanese GP 2026 on a Free Channel

Ranking 2016’s Superhero Debuts, 10 Years Later

Fourth Most Populous Country in the World Bans Most Social Media for Kids

How to watch UFC Fight Night Adesanya vs Pyfer live this Saturday

‘Steel Ball Run’ Will Return This Year…Eventually

‘The Mummy 4’ Is Getting the Family Back Together

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

Nothing Headphone A vs. Headphone 1: Which Pair of ANC Wireless Headphones Wins?

Asus ROG’s Cetra Open Wireless Gaming Earbuds Might Be Better Than Wearing a Headset

Nintendo’s Talking Flower Is Annoying as Hell. I Love It

Level Lock Pro Review: As Good as a Secret Smart Lock Gets

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