Books

In “Above It All,” Reaching For the Stars Won’t Help Anybody

Robert J. Sawyer’s “Above it All” is a horror story that takes place on the Mir spaceship. What makes Sawyer’s choice of venue odd is the year the story was written, 1996. What’s so significant about this year? That’s the year the U.S started to have a continuous presence on the station- in other words,…

Books & Comics David Grossman

The New Eclipse Trailer: Let The Wild Vampire-Werewolf Rumpus Begin!

It’s war in Forks for the Twilight kids. Bloody, acrobatic, kung fu-vampire war. Watch as an army of underwater-walking newbie vampires attack a flock of were-puppies. Leave your shirts at the door — it’s the new Eclipse trailer. See it in full screen HD hotness over at Oprah and watch it on Ms. Winfrey’s show…

Movies Meredith Woerner

“Changes” Gives The Dresden Files Series A Welcome Shakeup

After what seemed like an interminable lull, Jim Butcher uses his new novel, Changes, to blow the lid off of Harry Dresden’s hard-won but stable world. The Dresden Files are Jim Butcher’s long-running series about Harry Dresden, a wizard private detective in Chicago. It’s an engaging, modern-noir fantasy series that follows Harry as he deals…

Books & Comics Chris Braak

How To Fix Today’s Ebook Readers

Kindle and iBooks on iPad still have a long way to go. Craig Mod, publishing experimenter, breaks them down, tells us what needs fixing and offers up some future functionality for digital books. Let’s not talk about video integration. Or new ‘interface paradigms.’ These aren’t CD-ROMs from 1993. Let’s talk about text. Let’s talk about…

Books & Comics Craig Mod

Read An Alternate History of Jesus’ Birth, And Help Volcano Refugees

SF writer Lavie Tidhar has just published the first installments of his online serial “Jesus & The Eightfold Path,” which imagines what would have happened if the “three wise men” of the New Testament nativity story had actually been Buddhists. Tidhar writes: “Jesus & The Eightfold Path” was first written when I was living in…

Books & Comics Annalee Newitz

Terry Gilliam Was An Unsung Steampunk Pioneer

Paul Di Filippo, whose Steampunk Trilogy originally made me fall in love with the subgenre, surveys the state of steampunk literature, and he is pleased. In his witty essay, he points to Monty Python’s Terry Gilliam as a steampunk progenitor. Writing for Barnes & Noble Review (and, via republishing, Salon), Di Filippo assesses the literary…

Books & Comics Charlie Jane Anders

First Look At The Brand New Justice League, And More

Check out the Cartoon Network’s first ever live-action show, about a prison school. Plus DC comics’ brand new animation Young Justice, a show that should’ve been called Bender’s Wonder Years, and the number one show you should avoid while high. The Cartoon Network announced its new line-up this morning. Here’s the full list of new…

Television Meredith Woerner

The Most Beautiful Books You’ve Ever Seen

Philip Smith is one of the world’s most famous book binders, who has transformed book binding into an incredible form of art. And one of his favorite subjects is Lord of the Rings, whose covers he’s reimagined several times. Here you can see a selection of his covers, including many versions of the Lord of…

Books & Comics Annalee Newitz

Sometimes The Best Way To Figure Out Your Book’s Story Is By Writing It

“I happened across a blog post … and the writer was describing these super-detailed outlines he uses, so detailed that the outline winds up about half the length of the finished book. Then (I guess) the writer just has to fill description and dialogue and maybe write those transition scenes where you get a character…

Books & Comics Charlie Jane Anders

Read The First 6 Chapters Of The “Steampunk Superhero” Novel Online

George Mann’s Ghosts Of Manhattan claims to be the first “steampunk superhero” novel, and now you can judge its pulpy, Jazz-age noir sensibility for yourself. Pyr Books has the first six goggle-wearing, thug-punching chapters online for free. As a fan of Mickey Spillane and various other ultra-pulpy writers, I’m easily seduced by the kind of…

Books & Comics Charlie Jane Anders

“Dune” Started As A Nonfiction Article About Oregon’s Ecosystem

If you’re fascinated by Frank Herbert’s Dune novels, you’ll definitely want to read Scott Timberg’s latest article in the Los Angeles Times, chronicling the book’s origins and legacy. Plus there’s great commentary from Kim Stanley Robinson. Timberg writes: The novel was sparked when, in the late 1950s, Herbert flew to Florence, Ore., in a small…

Books & Comics Annalee Newitz

4 Danger Signs To Search For, Before Sending Off Your Novel

Congratulations! Your epic space-opera novel is finished, and you’re preparing to fire off your query letters to agents. But even though you’ve read your manuscript a hundred times, you still may have missed some weaknesses. Here’s how to find them. I’ve been struggling with this very issue for the past few days, as I prepare…

Books & Comics Charlie Jane Anders

2009’s Best SF Novelists: Kage Baker, Nancy Kress, Cherie Priest, Robert Charles Wilson And Kim Stanley Robinson

Locus Magazine announced the finalists for its reader-selected Locus Awards — and the five best science fiction novels of 2009 include three female authors. The winners will be announced during the Science Fiction Awards Weekend in Seattle WA, June 25-27, and tickets are still available. Here are the finalists: Science Fiction Novel * The Empress…

Books & Comics Charlie Jane Anders

The Man Who Designed Tron’s Lightcycles Will Rock Our Worlds Again

Syd Mead didn’t just work on Blade Runner’s dirty-neon future L.A., he also designed Tron’s original lightcycles — check out this original concept art. So a new Mead book, full of concept art, is a cause for major celebration. The Tron concept art above comes from a display at the Aero Theater in 2007, and…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders

A Whole Blog Dedicated To The Worst SF/Fantasy Book Covers

What do you think is happening on this book cover? Even the poor unicorn looks confused. Our new favorite blog is Good Show Sir, in which the worst SF and fantasy book covers are thrust in our faces. (Possibly NSFW.) Good Show Sir is an addictive time sink, featuring scores of incredibly embarrassing book covers.…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders

Great Moments In Alternate History: The Discovery Of Magic

WWI fought with dragons? England as the land of Faerie? A space flight that runs on mummy dust? It was only a matter of time until fantasy figured out that everything’s better with a little bit of magic, even history. Susanna Clarke’s fantastic Johnathan Strange & Mr. Norrell has probably done more to tie magic…

Books & Comics David Daw

Grand Junction: A Bold Idea Hampered by Its Execution

Maurice Dantec’s Grand Junction is a metaphysical cyberspace epic; a Dickian post-apocalyptic future that questions our reliance on machines as a metaphor for human preoccupation with the material. Or, at least, it’s supposed to be. Certainly, Dantec intends it to be, and he does a decent job of steeping Grand Junction in the recognizable characteristics…

Books & Comics Chris Braak

Is The Universe The Creation Of Asimov’s Bored Robot?

For this installment of Weekend Short Story Club, we’ll be looking at Isaac Asimov’s “The Last Question.” Short stories are an oft-forgotten part of literature, and “The Last Question” showcases every reason why they should stay relevant. Originally published in 1956 in the short-lived Science Fiction Quarterly, Asimov privately thought “The Last Question” the best…

Books & Comics David Grossman

Riverworld: Where You Can Fuck Mark Twain If You Want To

Who knew there was this much raunch in Syfy’s adaptation of Philip José Farmer’s Riverworld books? Tahmoh Penikett is naked/in bondage, while another character practices Kama Sutra on Mark Twain’s steamboat. This weekend’s Riverworld promises to be quite the experience. This Sunday at 7 PM, Syfy is running a four-hour long block of Riverworld. It…

Television Meredith Woerner

11 Science Fiction Novels For Fantasy Fans

If you’re a fantasy lover who’s avoided science fiction novels, maybe you just haven’t found the right gateway drug. Here are 11 novels that bridge the gap between fantasy and science fiction, by fitting into both categories. I am a child of the late 80’s/early 90’s. I came to fantasy fiction in the era where…

Books & Comics John Ottinger III

In “Above It All,” Reaching For the Stars Won’t Help Anybody

The New Eclipse Trailer: Let The Wild Vampire-Werewolf Rumpus Begin!

“Changes” Gives The Dresden Files Series A Welcome Shakeup

How To Fix Today’s Ebook Readers

Read An Alternate History of Jesus’ Birth, And Help Volcano Refugees

Terry Gilliam Was An Unsung Steampunk Pioneer

First Look At The Brand New Justice League, And More

The Most Beautiful Books You’ve Ever Seen

Sometimes The Best Way To Figure Out Your Book’s Story Is By Writing It

Read The First 6 Chapters Of The “Steampunk Superhero” Novel Online

“Dune” Started As A Nonfiction Article About Oregon’s Ecosystem

4 Danger Signs To Search For, Before Sending Off Your Novel

2009’s Best SF Novelists: Kage Baker, Nancy Kress, Cherie Priest, Robert Charles Wilson And Kim Stanley Robinson

The Man Who Designed Tron’s Lightcycles Will Rock Our Worlds Again

A Whole Blog Dedicated To The Worst SF/Fantasy Book Covers

Great Moments In Alternate History: The Discovery Of Magic

Grand Junction: A Bold Idea Hampered by Its Execution

Is The Universe The Creation Of Asimov’s Bored Robot?

Riverworld: Where You Can Fuck Mark Twain If You Want To

11 Science Fiction Novels For Fantasy Fans

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

Anthropic and OpenAI Just Gave Us a Glimpse Into the Future of Model Pricing

Amazon Slashes 63% Off Acer Aspire Desktop for a Limited-Time Spring Sale, With Keyboard and Mouse Included

Smart Glasses Now Have One of the Vision Pro’s Best Features

Marvel Just Put ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ Season 2 in a Very Weird Place in the MCU Timeline

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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