Books

Six or so degrees of great geniuses…and Kevin Bacon.

How is Mary Shelley linked to Buckminister Fuller? What tied Mark Twain to Pablo Picasso? What’s Kevin “Hollow Man” Bacon’s connection to Samuel Beckett? Consult this chart. (Say what you will, but Tremors was transcendent). [Lapham’s Quarterly via GOOD]

Books & Comics Cyriaque Lamar

Where are all the good alternate history movies?

We’ve got tons of alternate history books, comics, and video games, and yet we have so few committed alt-history motion pictures. On this Sunday’s Great Moments in Alternate History, we’re going to the movies! Before we explore the above questions, I should take a moment to explore the state of alternate history cinema. Excluding films…

Movies David Daw

Is Starship Troopers a trenchant war parable for 2010, a cheesy excuse for coed showers, or both?

Some of us think of Starship Troopers as a brilliant satire, others consider it a bastardization of Robert Heinlein’s novel. Scott Tobias of The Onion AV Club considers the 1997 film an apt metaphor for 21st-century nationalism and militarism. Says Tobias: It seems absurd now to write it off as some silly piece of escapism,…

Movies Cyriaque Lamar

Two fascinating discussions about the nature of dystopia from young-adult authors

Now that young-adult fiction is where most of great dystopian stories are being told, there are two awesome discussions going on. Kaitlin Ward asks what’s the difference between dystopian and apocalyptic fiction. And Angie Smibert wonders where the utopias are.

Books & Comics Charlie Jane Anders

Did aliens take a preacher into space, just to convert him to their weird alien religion?

Science fiction books are having a resurgence in Korea, according to a new article in the Korea Times. And some of the titles described sound pretty amazing, including a preacher who converts to an alien religion, and a wizard who turns a man’s friend into a pig. Let’s hope some of these titles turn up…

Books & Comics Charlie Jane Anders

Jazz Age New York Is Full of Vampires in Alaya Johnson’s Moonshine

There are two things you need to know about this book: It’s set in the 1920s, and the heroine is known around town as the “Singing Vampire Suffragette.” Also, it’s awesome. Zephyr Hollis is a social activist in Progressive-Era Manhattan. She teaches basic literacy to immigrants and volunteers at the local soup kitchen and engages…

Books & Comics Kelly Faircloth

Studio Ghibli, creators of Totoro, tackle beloved miniature person epic “The Borrowers”

Studio Ghibli, founded by beloved animator Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away, Ponyo), has just released this teaser for its adaptation of Mary Norton’s classic novel The Borrowers. It’s about miniature people who survive by “borrowing” food and shelter from oblivious families. Slashfilm reports: The film will mark the directorial debut of animator Hiromasa Yonebayashi, who will…

Trailers Annalee Newitz

Nnedi Okorafor’s “Who Fears Death” is a postapocalyptic vision of genocide and sorcery

N.K. Jemisin, author of The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, reviews the first adult novel from award-winning writer Nnedi Okorafor. Who Fears Death is a tale of post-apocalyptic Africa, where water is scarce and genocide shapes a young woman’s magical abilities. I’ve been a fan of Nnedi Okorafor’s for awhile now; I love her seminal children’s fantasy…

Books & Comics N.K. Jemisin

The Gadgets That Preserve Our Memories

The woman in this photo is an employee at the Library of Congress. She is using a high-tech scanner to map the individual chemical components of a century-old book in order to learn how to better preserve it. Boing Boing’s Rob Beschizza visited the two Library of Congress departments dedicated to keeping our memories safe:…

Books & Comics Rosa Golijan

In praise of seat-of-the-pants storytelling

People act like the worst accusation you can hurl at storytellers is “They made it up as they went along.” As if having a Master Plan is the same as good storytelling. In fact, it’s frequently the other way around. Often the best storytelling is improvisational, like jazz or chess. Whether you’re talking about books,…

Movies Charlie Jane Anders

20 minute sneak peek at Harry Potter’s real-world theme park

Haven’t made it down Florida to see The Wizarding World of Harry Potter for yourself? Then check out this very detailed video peek at the new park, stuffed with concept art, pictures and cast interviews.

Movies Meredith Woerner

Scott Sigler’s book trailer goes for the Full Horror

Book trailers are always a bit like low-budget short films, but this trailer for Scott Sigler’s bio-horror film Ancestor relishes its exploitation movie cred. It’s flesh-rippingly awesome, and more than enough to get you primed for mad-science nastiness.

Movies Charlie Jane Anders

Alan Moore’s Cthulhu comic is coming. Gird brain for explosion.

Alan Moore’s H.P. Lovecraft-inspired comic series Neonomicon is set to debut later this year, but series artist Jacen Burrows recently dropped some knowledge on the cyclopean horror that readers can expect. Neonomicon has been in the works for a while, but Bleeding Cool talked with the Crossed illustrator about creating the visuals for Moore’s scripts.…

Books & Comics Cyriaque Lamar

Why are young people so obsessed with violent dystopias?

The publishing industry is rushing to put out as many dystopian novels for teenagers as possible. Why is this? These grim survival-of-the-fittest worlds reflect teenagers’ real lives, argues Laura Miller in a must-read New Yorker essay.

Books & Comics Charlie Jane Anders

John Carpenter is coming back to save the vampire genre

Vampires is always highly watchable, even with James Woods as the vampire slayer lead. Can Carpenter’s new flick Fangland save the vampire genre from itself? Shock Till You Drop is reporting that Carpenter will be adapting John Marks’ Fangland. Which has been in development for a while, and even had Hillary Swank signed up for…

Movies Meredith Woerner

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows trailer debuts

The first trailer from Harry Potter’s big two part finale premiered on the MTV Movie Awards tonight. Watch as our Hogwarts students prepare for their big finale. imdb Synopsis: Voldemort’s power is growing stronger. He now has control over the Ministry of Magic and Hogwarts. Harry, Ron, and Hermione decide to finish Dumbledore’s work and…

Movies Meredith Woerner

How can a scifi story’s language reflect its far-flung setting?

In “Language and science fiction,” Paul Kincaid notes a curious predicament science fiction authors face — often, scifi stories occur in the unfathomable future or another world, so how can a book’s language sound exotic (and not anachronistic)? In a comment to me on this post, John said: “I’d love to see a survey from…

Books & Comics Paul Kincaid

Great moments in alternate history: the non-fall of the Roman empire

The Roman Empire has given speculative fiction authors plenty of fodder for alternate history tales. There are dozens of stories in which the fall of Rome is delayed or prevented, and technology advances at an alarming pace. For example, there’s Jacek Inglot’s Quietus in which a Roman Empire that has rejected Christianity has steamships by…

Books & Comics David Daw

The truth is self-evident: Ursula Le Guin’s Left Hand of Darkness isn’t about gender

It’s 1970, and with this Hugo winner — Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness — we finally got the ladies up in here! And the men too! And of course, the menwomen. So this is daunting. I mean, these are always daunting, but The Left Hand of Darkness — that’s daunting. It’s…

Books & Comics Josh Wimmer

So what comes next after steampunk and zombies?

Our imaginations are caught between two unstoppable empires: the retrofuturistic world of steampunk, and the shambling hordes of zombies. The only thing more popular than a steampunk world or a zombie world is steampunk with zombies. But what’s next? Lately, it’s been occurring to me that maybe the love of steampunk and the fascination with…

Books & Comics Charlie Jane Anders

Six or so degrees of great geniuses…and Kevin Bacon.

Where are all the good alternate history movies?

Is Starship Troopers a trenchant war parable for 2010, a cheesy excuse for coed showers, or both?

Two fascinating discussions about the nature of dystopia from young-adult authors

Did aliens take a preacher into space, just to convert him to their weird alien religion?

Jazz Age New York Is Full of Vampires in Alaya Johnson’s Moonshine

Studio Ghibli, creators of Totoro, tackle beloved miniature person epic “The Borrowers”

Nnedi Okorafor’s “Who Fears Death” is a postapocalyptic vision of genocide and sorcery

The Gadgets That Preserve Our Memories

In praise of seat-of-the-pants storytelling

20 minute sneak peek at Harry Potter’s real-world theme park

Scott Sigler’s book trailer goes for the Full Horror

Alan Moore’s Cthulhu comic is coming. Gird brain for explosion.

Why are young people so obsessed with violent dystopias?

John Carpenter is coming back to save the vampire genre

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows trailer debuts

How can a scifi story’s language reflect its far-flung setting?

Great moments in alternate history: the non-fall of the Roman empire

The truth is self-evident: Ursula Le Guin’s Left Hand of Darkness isn’t about gender

So what comes next after steampunk and zombies?

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

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Trump Drops $1B to Kill 2 Wind Farms, Then Watches a Bigger One Go Online

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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