Books

ABC greenlights cat-girl series, hairballs and all

ABC Family is making a curious show based on Celia Thomson’s novel Nine Lives. A young girl realizes that she has cat-like superpowers. So does that mean when she’s sick, she takes a dump on your bed? [TVGuide]

io9 Meredith Woerner

Next Generation Kobo Ebook Reader Finally Goes Wireless

With a $140 price point, the next generation Kobo ebook reader might struggle to compete with devices such as the Kindle, but its still got some reasonable upgrades since the last generation—such as a basic Wi-Fi feature. https://gizmodo.com/kobo-ereader-looks-pretty-nice-for-150-5501866 The device offers built-in Wi-Fi, access to Borders eBook store, and 100 preloaded classic novels. It is…

Books & Comics Rosa Golijan

Margaret Atwood and Ursula K. Le Guin debate science fiction vs. “realism”

Ursula K. Le Guin and Margaret Atwood are two of SF’s most famous living writers. Claire Evans was lucky enough to join 2,000 other people in listening to them discuss Star Wars, fantasy… and telling the truth in fiction. Earlier this year, when I went to an event to meet NASA astronaut Jim Dutton at…

Books & Comics Claire L. Evans -- Space Canon

Read the first chapter of Iain M. Banks’ new Culture novel, “Surface Detail”

Can’t wait to get your hands on Iain M. Banks’ new novel Surface Detail, coming out early next month? Well, you’ll be in a frenzy after reading the first chapter of the book, available on the Orbit Books website. In typical Banks fashion, the book starts with a spectacular chase scene, and a doomed character…

Books & Comics Annalee Newitz

Reminder: io9 Book Club meeting next week to discuss “Zero History”

A reminder that the io9 Book Club is meeting next week, October 5, to discuss William Gibson’s new novel Zero History. What is this crazy io9 Book Club, you ask? Let me tell you about it. For those unfamiliar with the io9 book club, here’s how it works: You read the book. We create a…

Books & Comics Annalee Newitz

Watching the truck turn into a sentient mecha was like seeing origami fold itself

Why do you assume that a bulldozer has no consciousness? Perhaps because you have not looked at it properly, and seen the mouth that opens in its shovel. Or the finger that points at you in its drill bits. Illustrator David White creates concept art for videogames and magazines, and his work hovers delightfully between…

Books & Comics Annalee Newitz

The world’s most popular science fiction magazine fires its editor

After an author uprising that shook the Chinese publishing establishment, the editor of China’s Science Fiction World has been fired. But some question whether it’s too late to save the magazine, many of whose experienced editors have already quit. [Xinhua] https://gizmodo.com/worlds-largest-science-fiction-magazine-faces-author-up-5502176

Books & Comics Charlie Jane Anders

Free Kindle App Coming To BlackBerry PlayBook

We just heard about the BlackBerry PlayBook and now we’re already hearing about some of the apps which will be available for the device. Among the first: A free Kindle app. https://gizmodo.com/the-blackberry-playbook-tablet-10-things-you-need-to-k-5649238 Amazon to Launch Kindle App for New BlackBerry PlayBook Tablet Computer Amazon adds to its growing list of Buy Once, Read Everywhere Kindle…

Commerce Rosa Golijan

H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival and CthulhuCon to ensnare Portland this weekend

Heads up to West Coast io9ers — a Lovecraft-themed gathering will be going down in Portland this weekend. The list of events includes screenings of eldritch cinema and literature, an appearance from Stuart Gordon, and other sundry mind-bending activities. The festival will occur from October 1-3 at the Hollywood Theater in Portland, Oregon. Here’s a…

Movies Cyriaque Lamar

Page 11, fall in a pit and die: critical assessments of Choose Your Own Adventure novels

Edward Packard’s Choose Your Own Adventure book series was a heady mix of genre conventions, RPG identity-swapping, and dying for no apparent reason. These novels weren’t high art, but their innovative structure has prompted analysis decades later. Over at The Comics Journal, Sean Michael Robinson discusses the transformative aspects of CYOA novels. Despite their wacky…

Books & Comics Cyriaque Lamar

Kate Wilhelm’s Sweet Birds: How protecting a species can endanger it

The musical, measured Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang, by Kate Wilhelm — which won the Hugo in 1977 — is an artful admixture of clones and poetry, with a message that’ll never get old. Here’s a funny thing: After I finished this book, literally the next one I happened to pick up, absolutely coincidentally,…

Books & Comics Josh Wimmer

The Long Wait for the Iliad of Modern Cooking, Modernist Cuisine

Nathan Myhrvold, Bill Gates’ former right-hand man is well known as the mastermind behind Intellectual Ventures. But he’s also an insane chef, who’s been working on the definitive guide to modern cooking, a six-volume, 2400-page tome, Modernist Cuisine. It’s delayed. https://gizmodo.com/how-intellectual-ventures-wants-to-reinvent-invention-5621679 Produced by a 15-person team with help from some of our favorite chefs, like…

Commerce Matt Buchanan

The thing I couldn’t say to Mr. Spock’s dad

Vonda McIntyre, author of beloved Star Trek novels like The Entropy Effect, tells us the story of how she met Spock’s dad – and what she was too embarrassed to tell him. Photo by Peter Meimon Despite having done quite a bit of media tie-in work, I haven’t been in the habit of attending media…

Books & Comics Vonda McIntyre

Never Let Me Go will leave you numb inside

This year’s most anxiously awaited high-brow science fiction movie is also the year’s biggest Merchant Ivory-style weepie. The trouble with Never Let Me Go is that high-concept suspension of disbelief and repressed/understated British melodrama don’t always go together. Spoilers ahead! In Never Let Me Go, three ridiculously cute young people grow up together at a…

Movies Charlie Jane Anders

The chosen research areas of mad scientists, 1810-2010

Mad scientists have haunted science fiction since Mary Shelley created Victor Frankenstein in the 1810s. But what kinds of research have fictional mad scientists done since? I was determined to find out. This chart shows what I discovered. With the help of my mad research colleagues Kelly Faircloth and Mary Ratliff, we began an investigation…

Movies Annalee Newitz

Boys Don’t Cry director takes on tale of invisible stalker fairies

A bestselling YA fantasy book series about a girl who can see invisible, dangerous fairies is about to get a big-screen film adaptation from Kimberly Peirce, director of the acclaimed Boys Don’t Cry and the underrated Stop-Loss. Melissa Marr’s Wicked Lovely is being adapted by Caroline Thompson (Edward Scissorhands), and produced by Vince Vaughn’s Wild…

Movies Charlie Jane Anders

New novel will show H.G. Wells grappling with mega-stardom

Amazing news: One of Britain’s funniest, cleverest authors is writing a novel about the life of H.G. Wells, and it comes out next April. David Lodge, author of the Booker-shortlisted Nice Work, will provide “fascinating insight” into Wells’ life. The “fascinating” quote comes from Lodge’s long-time editor, Geoff Mulligan, who adds: Wells emerges from this…

Books & Comics Charlie Jane Anders

Mark Z. Danielewski on his new cat-centric book project, and why he won’t let House Of Leaves be a movie

A new novel from Mark Z. Danielewski would be a cause for celebration… so how much better is it that he’s finished a 27-volume opus? In a new interview, he also explains why House Of Leaves won’t be a movie. The introspective, informative (and somewhat oddly capitalized) interview with Danielewski, conducted by Kasey Carpenter, appears…

Books & Comics Charlie Jane Anders

Write Notes and Audio-Search for Text on Android’s Kindle App

The free Kindle app for Android phones has been updated today, bringing it more in-line with the iPhone app for full text searching, scribbling notes and highlighting sentences. It can even look up unknown words in Wikipedia. https://gizmodo.com/kindle-for-android-is-here-at-last-5574793 Other additions include the screen-lock orientation, which now supports both landscape and portrait, and Shelfari compatibility for…

Tech News Kat Hannaford

Artificial intelligence isn’t all about you

Science fiction creators need to stop making self-aware machines into a metaphor for our society. One of the great things about the sci-fi genre is the way it runs headlong into the unfamiliar but brings everything home. Some of the most groundbreaking books contain metaphors for the society that produces them. Alien invasions were about…

Movies Esther Inglis-Arkell

ABC greenlights cat-girl series, hairballs and all

Next Generation Kobo Ebook Reader Finally Goes Wireless

Margaret Atwood and Ursula K. Le Guin debate science fiction vs. “realism”

Read the first chapter of Iain M. Banks’ new Culture novel, “Surface Detail”

Reminder: io9 Book Club meeting next week to discuss “Zero History”

Watching the truck turn into a sentient mecha was like seeing origami fold itself

The world’s most popular science fiction magazine fires its editor

Free Kindle App Coming To BlackBerry PlayBook

H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival and CthulhuCon to ensnare Portland this weekend

Page 11, fall in a pit and die: critical assessments of Choose Your Own Adventure novels

Kate Wilhelm’s Sweet Birds: How protecting a species can endanger it

The Long Wait for the Iliad of Modern Cooking, Modernist Cuisine

The thing I couldn’t say to Mr. Spock’s dad

Never Let Me Go will leave you numb inside

The chosen research areas of mad scientists, 1810-2010

Boys Don’t Cry director takes on tale of invisible stalker fairies

New novel will show H.G. Wells grappling with mega-stardom

Mark Z. Danielewski on his new cat-centric book project, and why he won’t let House Of Leaves be a movie

Write Notes and Audio-Search for Text on Android’s Kindle App

Artificial intelligence isn’t all about you

Amazon Clears Out Govee LED Smart Light Bulbs (2-Pack) at a Record Low, Each Bulb Costs Just a Few Dollars

The First Proper ‘Ghost in the Shell’ Trailer Is a ’90s Anime Fever Dream

JBL PartyBox Club 120 Speaker Drops Back to Black Friday Pricing for Amazon’s Big Spring Sale Only

YouTuber Resolves Fraternal Disagreement With Excavator and Hilariously Large Sword

Should We Be Hyped—or Freaked Out—About Nuclear Microreactors?

Roku’s 2025 Streaming Stick HD Is 40% Off to Compete With Amazon Fire TV Stick During Spring Sale

Epstein Victims Sue Google, Claim AI Mode Exposed Personal Information

‘Wicked Spot’ Is a Fun, Sapphic Rom-Com That Yeets a Witch Into the Magical World of Influencer Culture

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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