Books

How will Michel Gondry’s Ubik live up to Philip K. Dick’s legacy?

How has The Adjustment Bureau affected future Philip K. Dick movie adaptations? What’s going on with Michel Gondry’s Ubik? We chatted with the daughter of the legendary author, Isa Dick Hackett, about the secrets of filming Philip K. Dick. With the release of The Adjustment Bureau DVD on the horizon, we had the opportunity to…

Movies Meredith Woerner

Dancing With Bears Is A Tale of Post-Apocalyptic Con Artists in Russia

In Michael Swanwick’s latest novel, Dancing with Bears, a couple of charming con men set out for post-apocalyptic Moscow, only to blunder into a revolutionary mess. Darger and Surplus are on their way from Byzantium to Moscow, to deliver a caravan of beautiful concubines (known as the Pearls Beyond Price) to wed the Duke of…

io9 Kelly Faircloth

Kindle’s Most Prolific Self-Publishers Are Spammers

Amazon’s Kindle hasn’t just revolutionized the publishing industry by making dead tree tomes increasingly obsolete. It’s also opened the door to thousands of self-made Shakespeares, self-publishers who sell their written wares—sometimes very lucratively—online. Oh, and spam. Lots and lots of spam. https://gizmodo.com/this-26-year-old-makes-millions-writing-kindle-only-boo-5772384 The “books” are swarming the Kindle store in the thousands every month, powered…

Commerce Brian Barrett

Solaris Gets A New, More Accurate Translation into English

Stanislaw Lem’s cult classic novel Solaris is finally getting a direct-to-English translation, reports the Guardian, restoring much of the author’s original words. The novel, originally published in Polish in 1961, tells of humans’ struggling attempts to communicate with an alien intelligence. It’s inspired films by Andrei Tarkovsky and Steven Soderberg. But for all its canonical…

io9 Kelly Faircloth

First Concept Art from John Carter takes you to Mars

Disney has released the first look at the savage world of Barsoom, from Andrew Stanton’s live-action adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ classic novel John Carter of Mars. Plus the director shared how much he’s had to change from the book. In an interview with The Los Angeles Times, Stanton (of Wall-E and Finding Nemo fame)…

io9 Meredith Woerner

Kobo Touch E-Reader: You’ll Want to Love It, But…

The Kobo Touch is a lighter, smaller, even more minimal E-reader than its closest known relative, the Simple Touch Nook. And in some areas of performance, the Kobo outguns it and the Kindle 3. https://gizmodo.com/i-wish-this-kobo-touchscreen-e-ink-ereader-was-the-next-5804729 Like: The stark simplicity. And though it’s been reduced to its most basic form, don’t mistake that for ugly or…

Reviews Adrian Covert

In The Hidden Goddess, Love Isn’t Easy, Especially When Battling An Aztec Legend

In The Hidden Goddess, the sequel to M.K. Hobson’s Nebula-nominated Native Star, our protagonists are safe in New York and ready to begin their lives together. Unfortunately, the troubles that plagued them before — magic-hating Russians, death-goo, blood sorcerers — come roaring right back. Despite a rocky start to their relationship, Emily Edwards and Dreadnought…

io9 Kelly Faircloth

American Psycho Director Takes On Wicked Lovely’s Cruel Faeries

Looks like we’ll get a sufficiently dark movie adaptation of Melissa Marr’s Wicked Lovely: Deadline reports American Psycho director Mary Harron will helm the project. Last we heard, Boys Don’t Cry director Kimberly Peirce would direct. But she seems to have left the picture since September. Now Deadline reports Mary Harron, who also directed I…

io9 Kelly Faircloth

Ken Denmead Is a Geek Dad in Episode 38 of The Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy

Ken Denmead, editor of Wired’s Geek Dad blog, joins us to discuss Nerf weaponry, the balloon boy hoax, and how to raise the next generation of mad scientists. Father and daughter photo by Cayusa. Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy is hosted by John Joseph Adams and David Barr Kirtley. You can download the MP3 for…

io9 Johnjosephadams

io9 Book Club reminder: Meeting to discuss Hannu Rajaniemi’s The Quantum Thief on 6/28

The io9 Book Club meets once per month to discuss a book, and then the author usually joins us for a chat. In June, we’re meeting on the 28th to discuss The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi. Watch for a post that day announcing the book club, and jump into comments for discussion! There’s still…

io9 Annalee Newitz

Making fairy tales realistic, with Fables creator Bill Willingham

To celebrate the publication of his new anthology Happily Ever After (Night Shade Books), editor John Klima sat down with Bill Willingham, who wrote the introduction to the book and is the creator of legendary comic book Fables. Together they explore what happens when you smack fairy tale characters down in the so-called real world.…

Books & Comics Annalee Newitz

Who should be cast as the leads in the American Gods miniseries?

We’re excited about the recent news that Tom Hanks will be producing a six-season adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s epic novel American Gods for HBO. And now for the real question: Who should be cast as the leads? https://gizmodo.com/tom-hanks-producing-6-seasons-of-neil-gaimans-american-5811012 Take our polls and decide for yourself! Painting by Curious Squid. We’ve offered some suggestions for who…

io9 Michael Ann Dobbs and Gordon Jackson

First poster for Disney’s John Carter (of Mars)

Taylor Kitsch is giving his best over-the-shoulder John Carter in the first-ever poster from Andrew Stanton’s John Carter of Mars movie adaptation (now just titled John Carter). Look closely — you can see some pulpy bare-chested leather chest thong action! We’re excited that the first image of Carter is of a shirtless scowl — it…

io9 Meredith Woerner

A Bookshelf that Rolls Up Like Ancient Parchment

I love little space-savers like this. Here’s a tensioned bookcase that unfurls to give you space for your books and such. Plus it has compartments for pens and other scrolls. For writing decrees, naturally. [BoingBoing]

Tech News Kwame Opam

A tale of the far future, when humans have evolved to the size of insects

I’m fascinated by the worldbuilding in Clark T. Carlton’s novel Prophets of the Ghost Ants, which Carlton says “takes place a billion years in the future when the human race has been reduced to the size of rice grains and has intertwined with the insect world in order survive, essentially becoming the parasites of ants.”…

io9 Annalee Newitz

The Restless Dead Are A Pain In Graveminder

For years, Rebekkah has bounced from city to city. But when her grandmother Maylene passes away, she’s drawn back to tiny Claysville and finds she’s inherited more than just the family home. She’s responsible for seeing that the dead stay dead. Claysville isn’t a regular little hamlet. It’s tied just a little too tightly to…

io9 Kelly Faircloth

First 8 minutes of True Blood rips the face off of these fairy creatures

True Blood is almost here. And just wait until you see what this season has in store for you. Watch as evil orc-faced creatures hurl magic grenades at Sookie! Check out the first eight minutes of the season premiere. Also just released: this brand new commercial for the fourth season (with lots of never before…

io9 Meredith Woerner

Tom Hanks producing 6 seasons of Neil Gaiman’s American Gods for HBO

Here’s some good news for those readers upset that the television adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s Sandman stalled out. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Tom Hanks’ Playtone Productions will produce a whopping six seasons of Neil Gaiman’s earthbound-deities novel American Gods. https://gizmodo.com/the-new-beast-talks-x-men-first-class-plus-stunning-g-5785204 We had heard previously that Hanks was considering adapting Gaiman’s acclaimed book for HBO,…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar

Meet the Steampunk Superfriends of The Falling Machine

Miss Sarah Stanton doesn’t want to be a society belle. She wants to be a member of the Society of Paragons — a hero and an adventurer. But the organization isn’t quite as squeaky clean as she believes. Spoilers ahead! The Falling Machine jumps right into the action. Sarah Stanton is ascending the Brooklyn Bridge…

Books & Comics Kelly Faircloth

Web Browser Found Hiding Inside the Simple Touch Nook

Well, well, well. Barnes and Noble’s Simple Touch Nook made no mention of having web browsing capabilities. But if you type any URL into its search bar, that web page will magically appear before your eyes. https://gizmodo.com/barnes-and-noble-simple-touch-nook-review-the-e-reader-5807381 Browsing isn’t really all that enjoyable, as it’s monochrome and requires you to wait for the E-Ink screen…

Books & Comics Adrian Covert

How will Michel Gondry’s Ubik live up to Philip K. Dick’s legacy?

Dancing With Bears Is A Tale of Post-Apocalyptic Con Artists in Russia

Kindle’s Most Prolific Self-Publishers Are Spammers

Solaris Gets A New, More Accurate Translation into English

First Concept Art from John Carter takes you to Mars

Kobo Touch E-Reader: You’ll Want to Love It, But…

In The Hidden Goddess, Love Isn’t Easy, Especially When Battling An Aztec Legend

American Psycho Director Takes On Wicked Lovely’s Cruel Faeries

Ken Denmead Is a Geek Dad in Episode 38 of The Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy

io9 Book Club reminder: Meeting to discuss Hannu Rajaniemi’s The Quantum Thief on 6/28

Making fairy tales realistic, with Fables creator Bill Willingham

Who should be cast as the leads in the American Gods miniseries?

First poster for Disney’s John Carter (of Mars)

A Bookshelf that Rolls Up Like Ancient Parchment

A tale of the far future, when humans have evolved to the size of insects

The Restless Dead Are A Pain In Graveminder

First 8 minutes of True Blood rips the face off of these fairy creatures

Tom Hanks producing 6 seasons of Neil Gaiman’s American Gods for HBO

Meet the Steampunk Superfriends of The Falling Machine

Web Browser Found Hiding Inside the Simple Touch Nook

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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