Books

The Books You Hoard In Order To Give Them Away

Which books do you buy extra copies of on sight, especially if they’re used — knowing you’ll want to give them to someone else soon? Jo Walton has sparked a great discussion of book hoarding and giving over at Tor.com. Walton says, among other things, she always snaps up extra copies of Walter Jon Williams‘…

Books & Comics Charlie Jane Anders

7 Last Minute Geeky Holiday Gifts You Can Buy Or Make

Running out of time and money this holiday season? Don’t worry – we’ve got some cheap and heartfelt replacements for the nerd shopper who is out of cash, time or luck. Trust us, they’ll love it. Sold Out: Harry Potter And The Half Blood Prince Toys or DVD Instead: Homemade Butter Beer Can’t find the…

Movies Meredith Woerner

The 2009 Science Fiction Power List

It’s our second annual science fiction power list, featuring the 20 most powerful people and teams in the world of science fiction. Yes, science fiction can wield great power. These are the people who take responsibility for that. This is not a list of io9’s “favorites,” or a compendium of people we think should have…

Movies Annalee Newitz

The Epic Movie-Making Adventures Of James Cameron

James Cameron’s rise, from driving trucks to directing some of Hollywood’s biggest epics, parallels the epic journeys of his characters, from Sarah Connor to Jake Sully. And you won’t believe how crazy the stories in his biography, The Futurist, are. Here are some of the weirdest Cameron facts, from The Futurist by Rebecca Keegan, as…

Movies Charlie Jane Anders

Was Arthur C. Clarke An Amateur Writer?

Arthur C. Clarke‘s big, famous novels are “dull, slow and passionless,” but you have to admire the fertility of his imagination, writes Robert Silverberg. But there’s still something to love about an early Clarke novel, Against The Fall Of Night. Silverberg’s new essay in Asimov’s Science Fiction comes down pretty harshly on the novels that…

Books & Comics Charlie Jane Anders

William Gibson Explains The Secret Of SF Writing Success To Paolo Bacigalupi

“I’d stalked William Gibson at one point at a book signing and had asked him what his secret to success was. You know I was a very hungry, very needy sort of writer and was just looking for any kind of a clue about how the whole thing worked. I sort of hovered over his…

Books & Comics Charlie Jane Anders

Connie Willis Explains How Science Fiction Came Back From Its Near-Death Experience

Connie Willis talks to Publishers Weekly about her forthcoming time-travel duology, Blackout/All-Clear. And she explains that when she started writing SF, 30 years ago, she was warned she’d come too late to a dying genre. Says Willis: At my very first writer’s conference, George R.R. Martin said to me, “It’s a pity you’re getting into…

Books & Comics Charlie Jane Anders

Is Peter Jackson Secretly Preparing To Film Philip Reeve’s Traction Cities Epic?

Rumor has it Peter Jackson‘s not content with filming Lovely Bones, Lord Of The Rings and Tintin. He’s also secretly working on a movie of Philip Reeve‘s Mortal Engines, about cities that become mobile and try to eat each other. Stuff NZ reports: The hush-hush project is understood to be in early development, with work…

Movies Charlie Jane Anders

Science Fiction-Themed Book Classics You Can Safely Namedrop At Home

Soon you’ll venture back into the bosom of your family — who may not have heard of any science-fiction books you’ve read lately. Fear not: Here are five books with science-fiction influences you can talk to your Uncle Clarence about. Not Now but Now by MFK Fisher Food writer MFK Fisher’s only novel follows a…

Books & Comics Kiala Kazebee

The Gizmodo Reading Room: Books We Love

A synonym for “nerd” used to be “bookworm,” but it’s lost in today’s broadband ADHD society. We still read, though. Voraciously. Here we present a collection of books, new and old, that we’ve enjoyed over the course of this year. The Dark Pasts of Our Geekiest Treasures There’s that old expression about those who forget…

Books & Comics Rosa Golijan

Rumor: Nook Update to Focus On Performance, Page Refresh Rates

A “reliable” source has claimed at Engadget today that the Barnes & Noble Nook will soon be on the receiving end of a “major update.” Updated. The update will address many of the quirks users have experienced thus far with the new e-reader. Topping the alleged list are performance improvements and a faster page refresh…

Books & Comics Jack Loftus

Overrated SF Of The Decade? You Tell Us

You’ve seen our top 10 sci-fi disappointments of the decade, but what about the things everyone else seems to love but you just can’t understand why? Tell us your picks for the most overrated SF of the last ten years! https://gizmodo.com/top-10-science-fiction-disappointments-of-the-past-deca-5420137 It’s a dicey proposition, calling something overrated, not least of all because it can…

Movies Graeme McMillan

Half Of The Decade’s Top Selling Books Were Science Fiction and Fantasy

The 00s were all about scifi and fantasy at the movies, with blockbuster flicks featuring giant robots and pubescent wizards. And the craze for fantastical worlds shaped bestseller lists too. Five of the decade’s biggest books were fantasy or scifi. According to About.com, which compiles a weekly bestseller list based on combining data from major…

Books & Comics Annalee Newitz

Terminator Vs. Grizzly Bear: Who Wins? And Can Khan Come Back?

The latest Terminator novel features Terminator-vs-grizzly-bear battles, train robbery, Terminator snowmobiles, a Terminator train, and dogsled chases. We asked writer Greg Cox about who’d win a Terminator/bear fight, novelizing Final Crisis and whether Khan should be in the next Trek. Greg Cox is one of the most prolific, and successful, authors of media tie-in novels,…

Books & Comics Charlie Jane Anders

Give Generously, And Bring Home Your Own Personal Vision Of Hell

It’s not every day that you get to help out refugees and get your own personalized piece of the apocalypse at the same time. Total Oblivlion, More Or Less author Alan DeNiro has come up with a novel fundraising idea. Total Oblivion, which has been getting rave reviews so far, deals with the problems of…

Books & Comics Charlie Jane Anders

Book Covers That Are Ashamed To Be Science Fiction

Check out this new cover for Sureblood by Susan Grant… You’d never know it’s a swashbuckling adventure about space pirates. As the genre of science-fiction romance explodes, publishers are trying to hide the fact that these books are science fiction. Here’s the back-cover copy for Sureblood: Torn apart by lies and deception… Five years ago,…

Books & Comics Charlie Jane Anders

The Greatest Nerdy Gift Books In The Galaxy

If you’re looking for an awesome gift for the uber-geeks in your life, then nothing is better than a book. We’ve collected a gift guide, covering everything from SF classics to Star Wars to astronaut lore, for your favorite nerds. Deluxe Editions Of Science Fiction/Fantasy Classics Should you wish to view this in non-gallery format,…

Books & Comics Charlie Jane Anders

6 Minutes Of Proof That Cloudy Is This Year’s Most Underrated Film

It’s no secret we loved Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs. Now the movie’s entire intro is online and we can finally show you all just how this exceedingly clever and heartfelt picture won us over. https://gizmodo.com/cloudy-is-the-cherry-on-top-of-this-summer-5363018

Movies Meredith Woerner

Star Trek/Dickens Mashup And Clockwork Zombie: Now That’s What We Call A Literary Mashup!

BoingBoing is giving a free HP Envy laptop to the writer of the best literary mashup, and the 100+ entries so far include a mash-up of Star Trek and Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Plus A Clockwork Orange with zombies. And Edgar Allan Poe’s Hamlet. The best, though, might well be Thoreau’s Walden as reinterpreted by…

Books & Comics Charlie Jane Anders

A Case of Conscience Makes a Case for Science

How much does the “science” in “science fiction” matter, really? Let’s mull that over while we consider A Case of Conscience, by James Blish, the Hugo-winning novel from 1959. There is a long-standing debate about how important science is to science fiction. Basically, the argument goes: If your technology is indistinguishable from magic — if…

Books & Comics Josh Wimmer

The Books You Hoard In Order To Give Them Away

7 Last Minute Geeky Holiday Gifts You Can Buy Or Make

The 2009 Science Fiction Power List

The Epic Movie-Making Adventures Of James Cameron

Was Arthur C. Clarke An Amateur Writer?

William Gibson Explains The Secret Of SF Writing Success To Paolo Bacigalupi

Connie Willis Explains How Science Fiction Came Back From Its Near-Death Experience

Is Peter Jackson Secretly Preparing To Film Philip Reeve’s Traction Cities Epic?

Science Fiction-Themed Book Classics You Can Safely Namedrop At Home

The Gizmodo Reading Room: Books We Love

Rumor: Nook Update to Focus On Performance, Page Refresh Rates

Overrated SF Of The Decade? You Tell Us

Half Of The Decade’s Top Selling Books Were Science Fiction and Fantasy

Terminator Vs. Grizzly Bear: Who Wins? And Can Khan Come Back?

Give Generously, And Bring Home Your Own Personal Vision Of Hell

Book Covers That Are Ashamed To Be Science Fiction

The Greatest Nerdy Gift Books In The Galaxy

6 Minutes Of Proof That Cloudy Is This Year’s Most Underrated Film

Star Trek/Dickens Mashup And Clockwork Zombie: Now That’s What We Call A Literary Mashup!

A Case of Conscience Makes a Case for Science

This Amazon Smart Plug Deal in the Spring Sale Makes Alexa Smart Home Setup Almost Too Easy and Cheap

Anker’s 100W Power Bank Hits Its Lowest Price of the Year on Amazon, Packing 25,000mAh and 3 Ports

Beats Solo 4 at 40% Off Is Now Apple’s Lowest-Cost Headphone Pick During Amazon’s Spring Sale

Now the Oscars Aren’t Just Moving to YouTube, They’re Moving Out of Hollywood

Fitbit Versa 4 Drops to a Record Low as Google Makes Another Push into Fitness Smartwatches Following the Pixel Watch

JBL Boombox 4 Speaker Didn’t Stay at Full Price for Long as Amazon’s Spring Sale Pushes It Close to Used Pricing

Final Call: Get NordVPN at $266 Off + Amazon Gift Card (Few Days Left)

C-3PO’s Head From ‘Empire Strikes Back’ Sold for a Cool Million

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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