Books

The io9 Book Club is in session! Let’s talk about Connie Willis’ Blackout and All Clear

Welcome to the monthly meeting of the io9 Book Club. This month we read Connie Willis’ linked novels, Blackout and All Clear. Jump into comments to get started talking about them! 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 Annalee Newitz

So what did A Game of Thrones really do to that nature reserve?

Our excitement for HBO’s Game of Thrones adaptation was in danger of being squelched when we heard that the production company had trashed a nature reserve. So we investigated — and thank goodness, it seems early reports were somewhat exaggerated. We reported last November that the production company, Fire and Blood Productions, was filming a…

Television Charlie Jane Anders

Download Ebooks Inside McSweeney’s Updated iPad and iPhone App

Fans of holding McSweeney’s quarterly tomes in their hands won’t see the point in downloading ebooks from their revamped app, but for casual readers it’s terrific value. Version two takes the first version’s slick design to a whole new level. https://gizmodo.com/mcsweeneys-iphone-app-delivers-exclusive-content-weekly-5365283 Not only can you still read the online articles, but you can receive weekly…

Tech News Kat Hannaford

Half Sparkle Vampire, Half Lip-chewing Emo Human: First Image of Twilight’s Renesmee

It’s not a big secret that the final Twilight film ends with a bit of a surprise for both vampire Edward Cullen and Bella. So meet the fruit of their loins, who comes into this world by cracking Bella’s ribs! Screencrave has the first image of Renesmee, played by Mackenzie Foy, frolicking in the infamous…

io9 Meredith Woerner

Sandman Slim’s life is only going to get more violent in the next three books

Richard Kadrey’s Sandman Slim series will continue with a second trilogy after the third book, Aloha From Hell, comes out. And Kadrey’s new deal with the newly global Harper Voyager will get his books into the U.K. as well. https://gizmodo.com/harper-collins-creates-global-science-fiction-imprint-5629777 The second Sandman Slim trilogy will continue the plot arc that “escalates” in the third…

Books & Comics Charlie Jane Anders

Loving books and doing magic might just get you through puberty

There are the books you want to give all your friends, and there are the books you wish you could go back and give your younger self. And then there’s the rare book, like Jo Walton’s Among Others, that’s both. Among Others, out this week from Tor Books, is one of those hard-to-categorize books that…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders

Scarecrow monster movie Husk wants to wear your flesh as a skin suit

In Husk, a pack of teens wind up in some sort of supernatural scarecrow hunting-ground. It’s a pretty standard horror film — until the characters start ramming nails and sewing needles into their skin. Also scarecrows are clown-level terrifying. Husk comes from the After Dark Horrorfest folks, who are now producing their own films —…

io9 Meredith Woerner

How do you update science fiction stories that were written in the 1990s?

When reprinting visions of the future (or the futuristic present) published in the 1990s, how do you update them? So much has changed, in technology as well as society. Ammonite author Nicola Griffith has some thoughts on this dilemma.

io9 Charlie Jane Anders

Read an excerpt from “Deathless,” Catherynne M. Valente’s Soviet update of Russian folklore

Scary figures from Russian folk tales cruising around in Soviet-era Russia, wreaking political and magical havoc? Only Catherynne M. Valente could write that story, and she has – in her new novel Deathless. Read an excerpt! Here’s what publisher Tor says about it: Deathless is the highly-anticipated new standalone novel by award-winning speculative fiction author…

io9 Annalee Newitz

Philip K. Dick Award shortlist: 7 daring stories of zombies, generation ships and terraforming

The Philip K. Dick Award, for science fiction books originally published in paperback instead of hardcover, put out its shortlist for the year, and chances are a few books on the list haven’t been on your radar. (The list does include Project Itoh’s Harmony, which was one of our favorite books of 2010.) Since these…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders

MegaReader: An iPhone Ebook App With Transparent Display Powers

Much like Type n Walk shows you what’s on the other side of your phone while you text, MegaReader creates a transparent backdrop for ebooks. Let’s read A Tree Grows In Brooklyn in front of a tree growing in Brooklyn! It’s the first heads-up display of its kind for an iOS ebook app, and works…

Tech News Brian Barrett

Brighten your day with a randomly-chosen piece of terrible science fiction prose

Fans of the science fiction newsletter Ansible already know the joys of “Thog’s Master Class,” a recurring column featuring bad SF prose from famous sources. Now you can get all the joys of Thog with just one click. Over at the Thog website, there’s a little tool called the Thogomatic for pulling up a random…

io9 Annalee Newitz

The next step in young-adult fantasy/SF: monthly serialized novels?

Prose books could become a lot more like comic books, if a new experiment from the author of Incarceron achieves success. Catherine Fisher’s next series, Relic Master, is coming out monthly starting in May. There are four books in the Relic Master series, and they’re coming out in May, June, July and August, just when…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders

Edison’s Predictions for the Year 2011 (1911)

On June 20, 1911 the Miami Metropolis published predictions about the year 2011 from the one and only Tommy “Dumbo Killah” Edison. Edison makes some amazing predictions about a future of golden automobiles, the discontinuation of gold as currency, the rise of steel and the death of the steam engine. I’m especially interested in his…

Tech News Matt Novak

Gene Wolfe talks dystopian futures, and the chances of star-drive in our lifetime

A one-in-200 chance that an interstellar drive will be developed soon? Gene Wolfe thinks it’s possible. The author discussed that and much, much more in an interview about his new novel, Home Fires. No one else writes like Gene Wolfe. Perhaps most famous for his four-part Book of the New Sun — which Neil Gaiman…

Books & Comics Josh Wimmer

Fun And Profit: A writing gig that could change your life!

Want to get into the competitive world of science fiction novel-writing? It takes hard work and persistence… or you could answer this Craigslist ad. Just remember to include a photo of yourself, because that’s important for some reason. [Craigslist]

Books & Comics Charlie Jane Anders

Jennifer Finney Boylan Loves Monsters in Episode 28 of The Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy

Jennifer Finney Boylan, author of Falcon Quinn and the Black Mirror, joins us this week on io9’s Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy podcast to talk about literal and metaphorical monsters, and growing up transgender. Falcon Quinn book cover illustration by Brandon Dorman. The Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy is hosted by John Joseph Adams and…

Books & Comics Johnjosephadams

Is this the greatest pulp novel title in human history?

I’ve never read this tour de force (so I can’t recommend it), but it can be yours for a scant $500. For more gonzo lesbian pulp erotica, check out the terrifically entertaining galleries over at Strange Sisters. [Spotted on Ptak]

Books & Comics Cyriaque Lamar

Martin Luther King In Science Fiction

Today’s the day when we celebrate the life of visionary leader Martin Luther King, Jr. But the civil-rights legend is also an important figure in science fiction… as an influence, and an occasional character. As an influence: Nichelle Nichols decided to quit playing Lt. Uhura at the end of the first season of Star Trek,…

Movies Charlie Jane Anders

New anthology on climate change packed with amazing science fiction authors

What will happen when we burn through the ozone layer, or raise Earth’s temperatures so high that the methane ice clades melt and release toxic gas into the atmosphere? Those are the kinds of questions that the contributors to a new anthology from OR Books ask – and answer. This collection of short stories, called…

Books & Comics Annalee Newitz

The io9 Book Club is in session! Let’s talk about Connie Willis’ Blackout and All Clear

So what did A Game of Thrones really do to that nature reserve?

Download Ebooks Inside McSweeney’s Updated iPad and iPhone App

Half Sparkle Vampire, Half Lip-chewing Emo Human: First Image of Twilight’s Renesmee

Sandman Slim’s life is only going to get more violent in the next three books

Loving books and doing magic might just get you through puberty

Scarecrow monster movie Husk wants to wear your flesh as a skin suit

How do you update science fiction stories that were written in the 1990s?

Read an excerpt from “Deathless,” Catherynne M. Valente’s Soviet update of Russian folklore

Philip K. Dick Award shortlist: 7 daring stories of zombies, generation ships and terraforming

MegaReader: An iPhone Ebook App With Transparent Display Powers

Brighten your day with a randomly-chosen piece of terrible science fiction prose

The next step in young-adult fantasy/SF: monthly serialized novels?

Edison’s Predictions for the Year 2011 (1911)

Gene Wolfe talks dystopian futures, and the chances of star-drive in our lifetime

Fun And Profit: A writing gig that could change your life!

Jennifer Finney Boylan Loves Monsters in Episode 28 of The Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy

Is this the greatest pulp novel title in human history?

Martin Luther King In Science Fiction

New anthology on climate change packed with amazing science fiction authors

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

JD Vance Says UFOs Are Actually Demons

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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