Books

This Was The Most Emotionally Intense Game Of Thrones Episode Yet

Last night’s Game of Thrones was ridiculously eventful, with a number of major turning points. But “Mockingbird” was also full of intense moments, where people revealed their defining tragedies and made life-or-death decisions. And discovered what they’re willing to kill, or die, for. Spoilers ahead… Tyrion and the Three Swordsmen The backbone of this episode…

Congratulations To This Year’s Nebula Award Winners!

Last night, the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America announced the winners of the 2013 Nebula Awards. Let’s see who took home this year’s trophies. Novel Winner: Ancillary Justice, Ann Leckie (Orbit US; Orbit UK) Nominees: We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves, Karen Joy Fowler (Marian Wood) The Ocean at the End of the…

These Were The First Female Astronauts In Science Fiction

While the first real-life woman to fly into space didn’t do so until 1963, fictional women had already been zooming around the universe for more than a century. The first was probably in Andre Laurie’s incredible The Conquest of the Moon of 1889. The story revolves around a group of scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs who…

“They Wrote That Cliffhanger Without Any Clue How To Resolve It”

A startling cliffhanger is basically the best thing ever. But you know what makes a cliffhanger even better? When they’ve figured out how to resolve it already. What are the cliffhangers where it’s obvious (or they’ve admitted) that the writers had no idea how to resolve them? Please include a clip or picture. And please…

12 Happy Accidents that Helped Save Science Fiction

Science fiction history is full of strange occurrences, and it’s easy to imagine some wild alternate histories of the genre. And without some bolts from the blue, science fiction could have turned into something way less interesting. Here are 12 happy accidents that helped save science fiction. Top image: Martian Chronicles, art by Meinert Hansen.…

Tough time for Orbit authors. First Orbit Books’ parent company Hachette clashed with Amazon, causing the online retailer to delay sending books and raise prices. Then Orbit announced it won’t send free copies of books to Hugo voters, putting authors at a distinct disadvantage.

First Look At Hunger Games: Mockingjay Reveals The Secret District

Here it is: your first look at Julianne Moore as President Alma Coin, along with a collection of stills from Hunger Games: Mockingjay. This is your first-ever look at the beginning of the end of Katniss and friends. The website The Hunger Games Exclusive just launched a whole set of new images from the first…

Who’s The Coolest Fictional Assassin Of All Time?

Assassins are deadly and stealthy — so it’s no surprise that they have a certain mystique and glamor going on. Science fiction and fantasy are full of assassins who win our admiration while taking lives. But who’s the most badass fictional assassin of all time? Please include a picture, book cover or clip for your…

The New Science Fiction and Fantasy Books That You Can’t Afford To Miss

The best days of science fiction and fantasy books aren’t in the past — they’re still arriving. Every month, new books come out that pack a hell of a whallop. Just check out our list of the 23 new books that you absolutely must not miss in May. Reach for Infinity, edited by Jonathan Strahan,…

“They Turned An Epic Villain Into A Weird Forgettable Joke”

A lot of the time, an adventure story is only as good as the villain. A truly memorable villain can make any story feel massive. But sometimes, when we reboot a story or translate it to a new medium, the villain becomes kind of useless. Or turns into abstract art. What’s the saddest reimagining of…

Want to Write Great Science Fiction? Read Classic Literature

Worldbuildingis a major challenge for science fiction creators — building a plausible world from scratch involves thinking about lots of variables. But sometimes, to imagine the future, the best way is to look to the past. Classic literature can help you build a world more believably alien than anything you’ve yet imagined. I’m currently making…

Europa Crisis: Read The First Chapter Of Jeff Carlson’s Frozen Sky 2!

Last year, we brought you an exclusive look at Frozen Sky by Plague Year author Jeff Carlson — and now, here’s the first chapter ofthe sequel, Frozen Sky 2: Betrayed — in which the situation with the alien sunfish on Europa is only getting more drastic. Plus some exclusive illustrations! BETRAYED 1. The ice shook…

Nnedi Okorafor’s Lagoon Shows Just How Messy First Contact Could Get

Lagoon, Nnedi Okorafor’slatest novel, is a swirling writhing cross section of life in Lagos, Nigeria as aliens make contact for the first time ever. It doesn’t go smoothly — a fact which allows Okorafor to bring to life a fascinating view of Lagos in all its contradictions. The aliens, who claim foremost to be “agents…

In The Tropic of Serpents, a Naturalist Studies Dragons and Politics

One of the many pleasures of reading a Marie Brennan novel is that a swashbuckling quest to find dragon eggs in the tropics is never just that. It is also a complicated political story of colonial incursion and ecosystems in peril. Welcome back to the world of Lady Trent, a naturalist with a dragon obsession.…

The Star Wars Characters Who MUST Be In The New Movies

The brand new Star Wars trilogy is a blank canvas, wide open for J.J. Abrams, Lawrence Kasdan and Simon Kinberg to create something new and brave. But we’re bound to see some familiar characters from the original films, plus some people from the E.U. Which characters absolutely need to be in the new films? Please…

Researchers Train Computers to Manipulate Human Emotions with Art

A musician and a computer scientist have created a software system, called “TransProse,” that transforms written works into piano concertos. It’s all done by training the software to understand how words and sounds create emotional responses in humans. Here’s what A Clockwork Orange sounds like. In a recently published paper, the two researchers—Hannah Davis and…

The io9 Book Club Is in Session! Let’s Talk About Life After Life

Welcome to the monthly meeting of the io9 Book Club. In April, we read Kate Atkinson’s Life After Life. Jump into comments to get started talking about it! (Note: I was out last week, so the book club got delayed until today. My apologies!) For those unfamiliar with the io9 book club, here’s how it…

Tyrion Is Among The Least Skilled Players Of The Game Of Thrones

Back in Game of Thrones season two, we heard a lot about how Tyrion was taking to court intrigue in King’s Landing. How he was enjoying playing politics, and discovering he was quite good at it. The sad thing? He was horrible at it. Almost as bad as Ned Stark. Last night’s episode pretty much…

Fan-Made Trailer For Jim Butcher’s Next Dresden Files Book Is Splendid

Jim Butcher’s next book in the Dresden Files series, Skin Game, doesn’t come out until May 27 — but you can feed your Dresden Files addiction right now, with this action-packed book trailer. This trailer was created by the talented folks at Dresden Files Fan Filming, featuring Tiffany Briels as Mab, Queen of Air and…

The 10 Best Stories In the Star Wars Expanded Universe

The Star Wars Expanded Universe is no more. In many cases; this is no big loss — some stories and characters are best tossed into a black hole and never spoken of again. But the EU had plenty of good stories, too — tales so good we’re genuinely sad they’ll lose whatever little canonization they…