Books

Lord of the Rings burlesque spanks a few sexy, sexy Orcs

How can you redeem the terrible 1980 The Return of the King animated movie? Simple: Add G-strings and pasties! Watch as three wonderful burlesque dancers shake their Orc bits to “Where there’s a Whip – There’s A Way.” It’s fairly safe for work. This is just a little taste of the action from Philadelphia’s Peekaboo…

Books & Comics Meredith Woerner

World War Z movie synopsis is nothing like the book, internet melts down

Remember when the World War Z movie held such promise? Now, not so much. Paramount has released the synopsis for its film adaptation of Max Brooks’ seminal zombie war story, and people are not happy about the massive deviations. The internet is rising up like a last-ditch offensive to stop a zombie army. Read the…

io9 Meredith Woerner

What to Keep and What to Ditch from a Movie Version of The Stand

Harry Potter director David Yates says he’s interested in turning Stephen King’s The Stand into a multi-movie series. Good luck — this is a task that could make Potter look like a cakewalk. If you’ve read the novel — or even seen the miniseries — you know that The Stand is a phone book of…

io9 Meredith Woerner

Ready Player One is a dystopian gamer novel that’s as addictive as a great game

In the 2040s, energy resources and the economy in America have collapsed. The poor live in “stacks,” vertical trailer parks outside cities where old mobile homes are piled on top of each other. A few lucky kids get to attend school online, in a virtual world called the OASIS that has replaced the Web with…

io9 Annalee Newitz

Finally Revealed: The 100 Greatest Science Fiction and Fantasy Books, According to NPR’s Readers

When NPR revealed its list of finalists for its “Top 100 Science-Fiction and Fantasy Books” survey, we were struck by how diverse and wide-ranging that list was. Now the actual list of the 100 greatest books has been revealed… and it’s quite a bit more conservative. https://gizmodo.com/the-best-science-fiction-and-fantasy-books-of-all-time-5826981 As NPR points out, the final selections for…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders

Game of Thrones Crossed With Seinfeld? Meet George R.R. Costanza!

Now this is a literary mashup we’re dying to see. Thomas Dunne Books just signed a deal to publish A Game of Groans by George R.R. Costanza, a parody of the bestselling Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin. Can you just imagine the possibilities for weird humor in George’s take on…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders

A scientific investigation into non-humanoid, extraterrestrial sexuality

You know you think about it. What would it be like to have sex with an alien whose morphology is nothing like yours? And what would such aliens do when they were together? But so few works of science fiction examine this basic question. Now a group of artists, writers, and filmmakers have decided to…

io9 Annalee Newitz

R.I.P. Sakyo Komatsu, author of Japan Sinks

Sakyo Komatsu’s 1973 novel Japan Sinks hit a nerve for a whole generation of Japanese people, and spawned two movie versions. (Just as the name suggests, it was a novel in which the tectonic plates under Japan suddenly shift, setting off volcanos, earthquakes and tsunamis, killing millions.) After the giant earthquake and tsunami earlier this…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders

io9 Book Club reminder: Meeting 8/23 to discuss Ian McDonald’s The Dervish House

The io9 Book Club meets once per month to discuss a book, and then the author usually joins us for a chat. In August, we’re meeting on the 23rd to discuss Ian McDonald’s Hugo-nominated The Dervish House. Watch for a post that day announcing the book club, and jump into comments for discussion! There’s still…

io9 Annalee Newitz

Why We Love Suspending Our Disbelief

One of the great pleasures of science fiction and fantasy is that they ask us to suspend our disbelief more than almost any other fictional genres. (Except maybe romance.) Stories about fantastical worlds and strange discoveries force us to use our imaginations to bring the settings to life — but they also force us to…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders

China Miéville’s Embassytown makes the Duran Duran Book Club

If you like the 1980s pop group Duran Duran, you’ll also love China Miéville’s latest novel, Embassytown. At least, Embassytown is the latest pick from Duran Duran’s Simon Le Bon, who writes a passionate (and awesome) defense of reading science fiction: When we read SF we want to be challenged; we want new ideas, new…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders

Hunger Games fan video will give you chills

Last year we shared this amazing Hunger Games fan-video that acted out a soul crushing scene from the novel. Now the same production company is back and bringing us all a video from the second book Catching Fire. But be warned: There are massive spoilers in this video. Mainstay Pro, the production company behind these…

io9 Meredith Woerner

School bans Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-5, so Vonnegut Library gives copies to students for free

Most of us regard Kurt Vonnegut’s classic novel Slaughterhouse-Five as a masterpiece of thought-provoking science fiction, but the School Board of Republic High School in Missouri felt differently. They decided to ban the novel. And in response, the Vonnegut Memorial Library offered to provide a free copy to any of the 150 students who were…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders

Philip K. Dick’s Bible is on eBay for $6,500

Impulse buy alert! Someone is selling Philip K. Dick’s annotated personal Bible on eBay. Here’s the description from the seller: In 1974, science fiction legend Philip K. Dick experienced a tremendous religious vision and revelation. Renowned cartoonist R. Crumb even illustrated this formative episode in Dick’s life […] Others have written about Dick’s religious transformation,…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar

Splatterpunk Utopia: In Defense of Violent Entertainment

Renowned horror author John Shirley, pioneer of the splatterpunk genre, offers a few ideas about where human violence comes from — and it’s not violent entertainment. And heaven, I think-is too close to Hell… —The Jesus and Mary Chain, “Darklands” Yesterday, driving my car to get take-out, I heard a radio report about famine in…

Books & Comics John Shirley

The Leviathan comes to California, in new art from Scott Westerfeld’s Goliath

The next chapter of Scott Westerfeld’s alternate World War I series comes out next month, and we’ve got an exclusive piece of amazing artwork from illustrator Keith Thompson. Plus an essay from Westerfeld, explaining how this artwork came to be. Behold the full wonderment of a biological airship arriving at Hearst’s California mansion, along with…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders

R.I.P. William Sleator, pioneer of young-adult science fiction

The current boom in dystopian fiction for young-adult readers owes a lot to William Sleator, who passed away in Thailand a couple of days ago. His books were creepy, scary, and also filled with a relatable sort of dread. His most famous novel, House of Stairs, involves five teenage orphans who wake up in a…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders

R.I.P. L.A. Banks, author of bestselling vampire novels

Leslie Esdaile Banks, who died yesterday, should be an inspiration to writers everywhere — she successfully moved between the genres of fantasy, paranormal romance, crime fiction, African American fiction, and women’s fiction, among others. And she also helped bring diversity to the worlds of fantasy and paranormal romance, mostly under the pen-name L.A. Banks. There’s…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders

Digest version of Fantasy & Science Fiction available for free on the Amazon Kindle

The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction leapt into the e-book age with both feet — and came out with a deal that could win the beloved print digest a whole new generation of fans. F&SF announced that a “digest” version — containing all editorial content, plus one free short story per issue — will…

Books & Comics Charlie Jane Anders

Miranda July explains why you’re living in a time bubble right now

Miranda July’s new movie, The Future, plays with time obsessively and weirdly. Just the title hints at a battle against the sneakiness of time, creeping up on you. And in the film, time seems treacherous as well as unpredictable. We were lucky enough to spend about 20 minutes talking with July about time loops, time…

Movies Charlie Jane Anders

Lord of the Rings burlesque spanks a few sexy, sexy Orcs

World War Z movie synopsis is nothing like the book, internet melts down

What to Keep and What to Ditch from a Movie Version of The Stand

Ready Player One is a dystopian gamer novel that’s as addictive as a great game

Finally Revealed: The 100 Greatest Science Fiction and Fantasy Books, According to NPR’s Readers

Game of Thrones Crossed With Seinfeld? Meet George R.R. Costanza!

A scientific investigation into non-humanoid, extraterrestrial sexuality

R.I.P. Sakyo Komatsu, author of Japan Sinks

io9 Book Club reminder: Meeting 8/23 to discuss Ian McDonald’s The Dervish House

Why We Love Suspending Our Disbelief

China Miéville’s Embassytown makes the Duran Duran Book Club

Hunger Games fan video will give you chills

School bans Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-5, so Vonnegut Library gives copies to students for free

Philip K. Dick’s Bible is on eBay for $6,500

Splatterpunk Utopia: In Defense of Violent Entertainment

The Leviathan comes to California, in new art from Scott Westerfeld’s Goliath

R.I.P. William Sleator, pioneer of young-adult science fiction

R.I.P. L.A. Banks, author of bestselling vampire novels

Digest version of Fantasy & Science Fiction available for free on the Amazon Kindle

Miranda July explains why you’re living in a time bubble right now

Aqara Smart Lock U400 Review: Hands-free Unlocking at Its Best

2027 Is Shaping Up to Be a Great Year for Big Sci-Fi RPGs

MSI Prestige 14 Flip AI+ Review: A Solid 2-in-1 Laptop With Some Glaring Flaws

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

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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