Books

Our exclusive interview with legendary fantasy artist Brom!

Brom is only 48, which is pretty young to have his career summed up in a single book. But the recently released The Art of Brom does just that, from his humble beginnings (seriously, you have to see the dinosaur picture he drew when he was 5) to his reign as one of the fantasy…

7 Subtly Suggestive New Cover Designs For Nabokov’s Lolita

Boiling down the essence of a book into a single, striking image is a incredible challenge. Part of the fun of browsing for new books is checking out the various artistic interpretations of your favorite titles—while shamelessly judging each and every unknown by what’s emblazoned on the front. Lolita: The Story of a Cover Girl…

How to Turn Cutting-Edge Science into a Page-Turning Thriller

Author James Rollins has been compared to Michael Crichton, and his latest book The Eye of God includes biohacking, DIY mad science and other current ideas. In this essay, he talks about visiting Fermilab and explains the secrets of transforming science into a cracking good read. Turning Science into Fiction By James Rollins “Tell me…

Word of the Day: Now there’s a word for that thing where a planet has a single climate, ecosystem or culture: a Monocosm.

Would a Marvel/Star Wars crossover be the worst idea ever?

Greetings, fellow denizens! Today’s mailbag has a bit of an international flair, with letters coming all the way from Belgium and the Philippines! How did a fake mailman in post-apocalyptic America with nothing but a horse receive these letters? I have no fucking idea. Top image by Jonathan Moore. Make Mine Mon Mothma Ross A.:…

The io9 Preview: Everything That Will Rock Your Cosmos This Fall!

Summer is almost over, but the fun isn’t stopping. The fun isn’t even slowing down. Science fiction and fantasy are on fire over the next few months. Here’s our jam-packed guide to this fall’s movies, television, comics and books. https://gizmodo.com/fall-movie-guide-our-forecast-on-20-science-fiction-an-1138983993 https://gizmodo.com/the-ultimate-guide-to-this-falls-science-fiction-and-f-1149999892 https://gizmodo.com/this-fall-s-greatest-comics-will-blow-your-mind-and-you-1173211879 https://gizmodo.com/all-the-books-that-will-explode-your-mind-this-fall-1167469236

In Memories with Maya, human sexuality gets an upgrade

What happens when you mix virtual reality, haptic interfaces, augmented reality, and artificial intelligence? That’s what Clyde deSouza explores in his highly entertaining near-future science-fiction novel, Memories with Maya. DeSouza introduces the “Wizer,” an augmented-reality, see-through visor driven by AGI (artificial general intelligence) — Google Glass on steroids. It’s coupled with 3D scans of real…

The Only Kind of Sentence You Should Use in Your Fiction

People will advise you to write all sorts of sentences. Snappy sentences, lyrical sentences, Hemingway-esque short sentences, long Faulknerian sentences. But there’s really only one kind of sentence that actually works: a sentence that carries the reader forward from the previous sentence. This is harder than it sounds. I don’t care what kind of fiction…

What’s your favorite moment where a victim turns the tables?

There’s just something so satisfying about a story where someone’s been hunted or terrorized for ages and ages — and then, they stop running and fight back, decisively. What’s your favorite moment from science fiction or fantasy where a victim suddenly turns the tables? Please include a picture or clip of this moment, so we…

The Real Reason Why Grown-Ups Love Young-Adult Fantasy Books

Marie Rutkoski’s young-adult novel The Winner’s Curse is already getting early raves. We’ve got the exclusive reveal of the book’s gorgeous cover, plus an essay in which Rutkoski, an English professor as well as a YA author, explains why adults love young-adult novels. Liminal Fantasy Eat the goblin fruit. Walk with the wolf. Kiss the…

Goodbye True Blood Season 6, and thanks for the Vampire Dong!

This was it: the very last episode of True Blood season six. And not a single moment of it made a lick of sense. However we did get to see that VAMPIRE DONG DA DONG DONG DONG. Spoilers ahead, plus this recap is NSFW for random, dancing vamp breasticles. The last PRO/CON of the year…

Read the zine that young Ray Bradbury started in 1939

In 1939, shortly after Ray Bradbury graduated from high school, he started a zine called Futuria Fantasia. It featured a lot of his early fiction and some essays, and you can read all first four issues online at Project Gutenberg. Bradbury started Futuria Fantasia by borrowing $90 from Forrest E. Ackerman, and used it as…

The Trading Cards that Defined Star Trek for a Generation

Before we had DVDs and Blu-rays of every Star Trek episode — before VHS tapes, even — there were trading cards that commemorated every adventure. A brand new book commemorates the lurid Topps trading-card adventures of the U.S.S. Enterprise, and we’ve got an exclusive peek. The images below come from the book Star Trek: The…

In the first trailer for How I Live Now, the Apocalypse is a turn-on

Like a more romantic version of Red Dawn, behold the trailer for How I Live Now. This sexy young-adult apocalypse novel is translated onto the big screen with nuclear fall-out, and lots of cuddling in big comfy sweaters. Based on Meg Rosoff’s novel, this film stars Saoirse Ronan, who plays Daisy. She’s an angry girl…

This Fall’s Must-Read Science Fiction and Fantasy Books

If you want to read your eyeballs out this fall, you are in luck. Here are some of the science fiction and fantasy books we’re most excited about this season. Top image: Beyond the Rift by Peter Watts Remember, these are only a fraction of the books arriving this fall to fill your bookshelves with…

Travelers Beware: Google Play Might Delete All Your Books (Updated)

It’s easy to forget that owning something digitally is way different from owning it for real. And if you do forget, it can bite you in the ass. That’s what happened to Jim O’Donnell when he traveled into Singapore and found that Google Play Books app on his iPad had up and deleted all his…

The jury is still out on whether this is science fiction or not

Is Breaking Bad science fiction? I mean, it’s fiction about science. What about William Gibson’s novel Pattern Recognition? Don’t even get me started on Person of Interest and Sneakers. We could argue all day! And we will. What’s your candidate for the story that defies categorization? Tell us about stories — books, movies, comics, TV,…

Rare Dune art from Omni reveals Frank Herbert’s original vision

One of the many reasons we’re excited for the return of Omni magazine is access to their vaults. Just recently, the new owners of the magazine republished this iconic Dune art from a collection of rare work by John Schoenherr. Not only are these illustrations stunning, but Frank Herbert praised their accuracy. These are taken…

Game of Thrones deleted scene stars Tywin Lannister, Sexy Fish Magnet

Three hard minutes of open-shirted, fish-slapping Tywin Lannister. The feared father of the blond bunch like you’ve never seen him before, posing all sexy-like. Are you not turned on by the incessant fish squeezing and smacking? We are. [Via Blastr]

Hunger Games-themed makeup line really sells the dystopian decadence

Want to feel like you’re part of a decadent crumbling society that oppresses the working classes and forces children to kill each other for your amusement? CoverGirl has you covered, with their decadent new Hunger Games makeup line. According to Fashionista, the new CoverGirl Catching Fire makeup collection is being rolled out in October, and…