Books

Which Fantasy Was Too Heavily Sanitized For Mainstream Audiences?

Mention “Disneyfication” and everybody knows what you’re talking about. But the phenomenon of sanding all the rough edges off fantasy stories goes way further than cartoons, into every area of pop culture. What’s the most horrible case where a fantasy lost all its darkness or complexity, to make it more popular? Please include a picture,…

All The April Science Fiction and Books That Will Rock Your Universe!

April is the coolest month — at least, judging from the stacks of astonishing science fiction and fantasy books being published right about now. There’s tons of space opera, alternate history, crazy apocalypses, and much more. Here are 20 novels you can’t afford to miss out on in April! Peacemaker by C. J. Cherryh (DAW)…

The io9 Book Club is in Session! Let’s Talk About Annihilation.

Welcome to the monthly meeting of the io9 Book Club. In March, we read Jeff VanderMeer’s Annihilation. 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 meeting is…

See io9 editor Annalee Newitz in Boston 4/10, or on Reddit Today!

Today you can finally get the paperback version of my book on the future of humanity, Scatter, Adapt and Remember: How Humans Will Survive a Mass Extinction. Plus, I’ll be at Harvard Bookstore in Cambridge, MA this Thursday — and in my first-ever Reddit AMA this afternoon! If you want to ask me anything on…

10 Distinctive American Libraries That Give Books A Good Home

Hey, let’s all take a quick minute right now to acknowledge those brilliant beacons of books—free books, for goodness sake!—that dot towns across the country. The Public Library, a new hardback by photographer Robert Dawson, offers a poignant look at the incredible architectural range of these community hubs. Flipping through shows just how many incarnations…

Who’s The Worst Student In All Of Science Fiction And Fantasy?

You can’t enter into uncanny worlds without studying the secrets of the masters. Science fiction and fantasy are full of academies, schools, apprenticeships and other places of learning. And they’re also full of awful students, who skip classes, don’t listen and muck everything up. But who’s the worst student of them all? Please include a…

We Reached The “Everybody’s Broken Past Fixing” Part of Game of Thrones

Remember when all the characters on Game of Thrones were shiny and new? Now Tyrion Lannister can’t get laid in a whorehouse. His brother Jaime has lost his groove. The Stark girls have death in their hearts. Jon Snow’s a traitor forever. Last night’s premiere showed these characters aren’t just broken, but broken beyond repair.…

First Teaser Trailer For The Leftovers Shows Life After The Rapture

Here it is, the very first look at Damon Lindelof’s TV adaptation of after-the-Rapture book The Leftovers. So far, so good. What happens when all your friends, family, and loved ones are sent into heaven, leaving you behind? That is the premise for Tom Perrotta’s (Election) book, which he and Lindelof have adapted into a…

Which Superhuman Should Quit Angsting And Just Enjoy Their Powers?

Most of us would probably kill to be able to shrug off a gunshot wound, or jump over a skyscraper, or read people’s minds. You know who doesn’t enjoy superpowers? Most people who have them, these days. Who’s the superhuman character who’s most in need of lightening up and counting their super-blessings? Please include a…

Under The Skin‘s Alien Seduction Will Get You Where It Hurts

There are few movies as creepy as Under The Skin, the movie featuring Scarlett Johansson as an alien who drives a van around Scotland picking up men. The whole thing is skin-crawling: her patter as she tries to coax men to come with her, her blank stare in the face of horrors, the dispassionate camerawork.…

Major Spoilers For Everything! Over at Tor.com, there are spoilers for every science fiction and fantasy book ever published. You have been warned.

An Exclusive Sneak Peek At Christopher Priest’s Next Mind-Bending Novel

He brought us The Prestige and The Separation — but Christopher Priest isn’t done beguiling us. Priest’s new novel The Adjacent includes stage magicians, weird physics, near-future super-weapons and tons more. And we’ve got an exclusive preview chapter! The Adjacent comes out April 8 in the United States from Titan Books, and here’s the synopsis:…

Animal Planet Is Making A Moby Dick TV Movie From The Whale’s POV

Animal Planet is mostly known for reality TV series about hell cats who piss all over their owner’s furniture, but now the animal-centric station is getting into scripted TV, thanks to Moby Dick. Deadline is reporting that Animal Planet’s new slate includes a story that is all about Moby Dick, but from the whale’s point…

Remember When HBO Said Game Of Thrones Could Last 20 Seasons?

There seems to be a disconnect lately between HBO, which wants Game of Thrones to last just seven seasons, and George R.R. Martin, who seems to think the show could last years and years, devoting a couple seasons each to Feast For Crows and Dance With Dragons. But where did Martin get this impression? Maybe…

In Lauren Beukes’ New Novel, A Monster Dreams Of “Remaking The World”

Lauren Beukes’ The Shining Girls was a bestseller and has been optioned for television — and now, here’s the first details about her next novel, Broken Monsters. It’s about broken cities, and the monster who dreams of “violently remaking the world.” The newly revealed cover is above, via Super Punch. And here’s the synopsis: A…

This New Doubleclicks Song Is All You Need to Survive Mass Extinction

My book about humanity’s future, Scatter, Adapt and Remember: How Humans Will Survive a Mass Extinction, comes out in paperback next week. To celebrate, I asked amazing geek band The Doubleclicks to create a book trailer. The song they wrote is wondrous. For those who aren’t familiar with The Doubleclicks, they’re a singer-songwriter duo from…

Slip Your Special Mail Into These Letter-Holder Bookends

This is just a clever use of space right here. These bookends keep your softcovers in line and your mail in order. All your favorite paper goods, all in one place, tidy and organized. Nice! I just moved apartments this weekend and am therefore very acutely aware of just how much stuff—bound, enveloped, and otherwise—I…

Are The Best Sentences In Science Fiction Mostly Aphorisms?

A lot of science fiction’s most quotable authors do seem to write a ton of aphorisms — Robert A. Heinlein comes to mind, for example. But over at the Guardian, there’s a discussion of the greatest sentences in genre fiction, and the question arose: are the best sentences in genre mostly aphoristic? For example, writer…

io9 Book Club Reminder: Meet 4/8 to Discuss Annihilation

This month, the io9 Book Club is reading Jeff VanderMeer’s Annihilation. We’ll meet on April 8 to discuss it. Join us! There’s still time to read the (short) book. We loved Annihilation, which is the first book in VanderMeer’s Southern Reach trilogy. We’re hoping VanderMeer will join us later that week to talk about the…

A Compact Toolbox That Camouflages Itself As a Book On Your Shelf

Hunting down your toolbox and finding the right tool for a quick fix is never really ‘quick’ enough. And it usually leads to an ever-growing to-do list of things to fix around the house. Here’s a better solution: Strelka’s ToolBook lets you hide a basic set of screwdrivers and hex wrenches on a bookshelf, so…