Books

io9 Book Club Reminder: Meet Sept. 1 To Discuss Kim Stanley Robinson’s Aurora!

Just a quick reminder—the io9 book club is meeting on Tuesday to talk about Kim Stanley Robinson’s novel Aurora. In the meantime, here’s a video of Robinson talking about the ideas behind the book. Contact the author at [email protected] and follow her on Twitter @CharlieJane.

What is the worst science fiction novel that you’ve ever read? It’s probably not worse than 2004’s Atlanta Nights, which was purposefully designed to be awful, for a specific reason: to expose a vanity publisher by getting it published. Barnes and Noble has a full rundown.

All the Most Thrilling Science Fiction and Fantasy Books Coming This Fall

Your “to read” pile is about to get much more massive. This fall’s science fiction and fantasy books include new titles by legends like Margaret Atwood, Salman Rushdie, Stephen King, Jim Butcher and Tanya Huff. You’re not ready for this! Which is why we’re getting you ready, with our guide to fall books. Note: I…

Scandinavian Children’s Books Get Away With Way More Sex and Violence

Scandinavians are just a lot more relaxed about certain things. Like, one popular Norwegian book for eight-year-olds includes lessons on how to masturbate. Author Ingelin Røssland, writing in the Guardian, explains just how far children’s and young-adult titles can go in Scandinavia. Røssland writes: Traditionally, Scandinavian authors take a child’s world very seriously. Think of…

This Urban Fantasy Story Will Make You Realize Just How Creepy Psychic Gifts Can Be

The Apex Book of World SF 4, available now as an ebook for just $4.49, contains 28 stories from all over the world. We’re proud to feature one of them, “The Good Matter” by Swedish author Nene Ormes, as an exclusive excerpt here at io9. Learn just how twisted someone with a psychic ability can…

Ray Bradbury’s FBI File Shows That He Was a Threat To Our Emotional Security

Ray Bradbury’s FBI file is not newly uncovered—it first appeared online in 2012 at Muckrock—but it’s been making the rounds this week. And as Slate’s Future Tense points out, it seems particularly timely given all of the debates over politics in science fiction. The FBI actually investigated Bradbury twice, with more than a decade between…

This Cover Art Game Invites You To Literally Judge a Book By Its Cover

We’ve all heard the idiom, “don’t judge a book by its cover.” But a new site called PlayJudgey.com encourages users to do just that—and its creators, Nate Gagnon and Dean Casalena, seem to have a moral of their own in mind: buy more books. The site displays a book cover, which you then rate on…

Which Science Fiction or Fantasy Book Was So Much Fun You Couldn’t Stand It?

Some books keep you turning pages with suspense. Others keep the pages flipping with their deep character studies. But then there are those books that are just so much damn fun, you can’t do anything but keep reading and laughing out loud. But which science fiction or fantasy book is just the most fun ever?…

This New Game of Thrones Theory Is Almost Certainly Wrong, But It’s Still Fascinating

A shocking new theory about Jon Snow is floating around the nerdosphere. It’s actually not about his mysterious parentage, but rather whether he, being Game of Thrones’ equivalent of Luke Skywalker, might have a twin sister kicking around Westeros as well. Basically, the theory—which, again, I sincerely doubt is correct—starts with the very popular, almost…

There’s a Hidden Conveyor Belt Under the Capitol That Was Just for Moving Books

Most people who work in the U.S. Capitol don’t know about the 100-year-old book conveyor tunnel underneath them that used to connect the building to the Library of Congress. It’s long since abandoned, but it’s still down there. Before the separate library was finished in 1897, books had been kept in the Capitol itself, and…

This Surprisingly Empowering Retelling of Sleeping Beauty Stars a Hamster Princess

How on Earth do you tell a story about a princess under a Sleeping Beauty-type curse and make her truly heroic? You put her in the hands of Hugo and Nebula Award-winning writer and cartoonist Ursula Vernon, whose new book Hamster Princess: Harriet the Invincible finds the silver lining of the soporific curse. Vernon has…

The Victorian Hugos: 1895 Sees The Triumphant Arrival Of H.G. Wells!

I like writing this series. I really do. It’s rewarding in a number of respects. But some years are less enjoyable to cover than others. 1894, for example, had A Prisoner of Zenda, but not much else that was fun. 1895, on the other hand, has a splendid array of science fiction and fantasy, both…

An Algorithm Can Quickly Find the Killer in an Agatha Christie Mystery

She’s still widely regarded as one of the greatest mystery writers ever, but coming up on what would be her 125th birthday, a group of academics has managed to create an algorithm that can accurately predict which character will turn out to be the killer in an Agatha Christie novel. A panel of academics, including…

Science Fiction Writers Explain How to Write Videogames That Never Feel Dated 

An imagined future is supposed to tell us something about the world to come, but how we imagine it usually ends up telling us a lot more about our present than our future. Here, several different science fiction writers explain how to create videogame worlds that feel timeless. Some of the authors behind the new…

Lois Lane Is Getting a Second Thrilling Young-Adult Novel!

Despite getting to reveal one of the biggest secrets in comics, Lois Lane isn’t getting that much exposure in DC Comics lately—it’s been ages since she had her own title. So it’s great news that the acclaimed prose novel, Lois Lane: Fallout by Gwenda Bond, is getting a sequel. Lois Lane: Fallout got a starred…

Cat + Cute Robot = The Absolute Best Thing Ever

A tiny robot comes to life, and immediately is full of curiosity about the world, in our exclusive excerpt from the graphic novel Little Robot by Ben Hatke, creator of Zita the Spacegirl. But maybe not surprisingly, the robot’s explorations start with a cat that gets maybe too friendly. Here’s the official description for Little…

Ask the Press Start to Play Authors Anything You Want about Videogames In Science Fiction

Authors Daniel H. Wilson, Chris Kluwe, Rhianna Pratchett, Austin Grossman, Chris Avellone, and John Joseph Adams are all here to answer your questions about the future of videogames, gaming in science fiction, and their new short story collection, Press Start to Play. Wilson, Kluwe, Pratchett, Grossman, and Avellone, who all have new stories in the…

This Is What The 2015 Hugo Ballot Should Have Been

Last night, the Hugo Awards were handed out. And the fans rejected the attempt of a small minority to impose its ideology on the nominations via slate-voting. But last night, we also learned which works would have been on the ballot, if the nominations hadn’t been rigged. As we covered in last night’s liveblog, the…

Here’s A Big Collection Of Some Very Small Books

Hungarian bibliophile Jozsef Tari has a small hobby: collecting miniature books. Since 1972, he’s been collecting the smallest books ever printed, and in that time, has acquired over 5,200 individual titles. I’ve heard of tiny books before, but I had no idea that they existed in large numbers like this. Tari noted that his books…

It’s a Party! We’re Liveblogging the 2015 Hugo Awards!

After months of excitement and a wee bit of drama here and there, they’re finally here: the 2015 Hugo Awards! Because this is such a fascinating, unpredictable year, we’re going to liveblog the shit out of this one. Join us! Top image via Evan J. Peterson First off, here is the official livestream of the…