Books

Tumblr user Vermin Disciple bought a used copy of Diane Duane’s Star Trek novel The Romulan Way, only to discover that the previous owner had done a bit of censorship. The results areamazing.

It’s “Cats In Space” Week!

The blog WTF Bad Science Fiction Covers has declared Cats in Space Week, and these are just a few examples of the riches awaiting you over there. Although nothing can be better than the cat sitting in a space command chair that has a hole for its tail. Awww.

Award-Winning Designer Picks Some of Science Fiction’s Best Book Covers

Australian book cover designer WH Chong has won numerous awards for his book designs. And speaking to Spook Magazine, he singled out some of his favorite book cover designs for classic science fiction. (Which also happen to be for some of the best books ever written.) About the book cover above, Chong writes: There is…

Ken Liu Explains Why The Social Messages In Fiction Depend on the Reader

Ken Liu’s debut novel The Grace of Kings has sparked lots of interest with its coinage of a new genre, Silkpunk. But is it a novel of social commentary? Does it comment on contemporary social issues? The New York Times asked Liu, and he delivered an interesting perspective on the ability of fiction to critique…

Exclusive Excerpt From Robin Hobb’s Fool’s Quest: Will Fitz EVER Learn?

FitzChivalry Farseer just can’t resist taking in orphans and creatures in need. And that trait will continue to get him into major trouble, judging from our exclusive excerpt from Fool’s Quest, the second book in Robin Hobb’s Fitz and the Fool trilogy. Excerpted from Fool’s Quest, book II of the Fitz and the Fool Trilogy,…

In Case You Missed It, Lois McMaster Bujold Published a Fantasy Novella

It’s called “Penric’s Demon,” and it came out about a month ago in e-book format. This novella, the longest she’s yet written, takes place in her “World of the Five Gods” universe, with all new characters. Basically, on Penric’s wedding day, he has an unfortunate run-in with a dying sorceress, and gets infested with a…

The Cover Art That Most Missed The Point of Man in the High Castle

Philip K. Dick’s classic novel The Man in the High Castle offers cover designers a few creative directions to go in. There’s Nazi imagery. Japanese flags. Images of an occupied United States. But as Atlas Obscura shows, some overseas designers went in a decidedly different direction. Apart from the three selections above—swinging travelogue, green blobby…

io9 Book Club Is In Session: Let’s Talk About Naomi Novik’s Uprooted!

Welcome to the monthly meeting of the io9 Book Club. This month, we’ve read Uprooted by Naomi Novik. Jump into comments to get started talking about it! What is this io9 Book Club all about? We meet once a month to discuss a book we’ve all read together, and then we have an online chat…

Humans Are the Most Dangerous Animals on This Week’s Zoo

“This is What it Sounds Like” raises the expectation that we might hear some Prince on Zoo this week, but don’t hold your breath for any more Purple Rain references beyond the episode title. Instead, hold your breath during the following: bear attacks, macho stand-offs, a horrifying bit of ocular surgery, and a big-ass betrayal!…

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Books You Absolutely Must Read in August

The summer is almost over—but the beach reads keep on coming. Including brand new series by N.K. Jemisin and David Drake. A brand new Christopher Moore book, plus tons more of your favorite authors. Here are the books you must read in August. Note: Before anybody asks, The Shepherd’s Crown by Terry Pratchett isn’t on…

The Victorian Hugos: 1893 Was to Books What 1977 Was to Movies

Science fiction books in 1893 are where science fiction film was in 1977. In both cases, the genre was… perhaps “in the doldrums” is too harsh a judgment. Certainly, enough significant work had appeared before 1893 and 1977 that one could, in those years, speak of the science fiction genre, in both media, as a…

Which Children’s Series Do You Have to Be an Adult to Appreciate Fully?

Everybody can name lots of stories aimed at kids that adults can also appreciate. But sometimes it goes further than that, and you get kids’ series that only adults can get a full appreciation of. Which TV show, comic, movie, book or other thing aimed at kids really can only be fully appreciated by adults?…

Under the Dome Wasted Its Chance to Make You Love Me. Screw Everything!

I’m a sad Dome here. I’ve spent the past few years waiting for everyone to realize how awesome I was, because all along it was clear that eventually something terrible would happen, and I would get to do what Domes do best. And then it finally did, and… sigh. Spoilers ahead. So anybody who was…

10 Books You Pretend to Have Read (And Why You Should Really Read Them)

Science fiction and fantasy offer a rich legacy of great books—but that abundant pile of reading material can also be daunting. So sometimes, it’s easier to fake it. We asked some of our favorite writers, and they told us the 10 books that everyone pretends to have read. And why you should actually read them.…

The Victorian Hugos: 1892

Welcome back to the Victorian Hugo Awards, what I hope will be a semi-regular column in which I award honorary Hugo Awards to the best novels and short stories of the Victorian era. When I wrote about the slate of nominees for the 1891 Hugo, I undoubtedly sounded underwhelmed and disappointed. If I did, it’s…

What Are You Reading This Summer?

Stop making us covertly peer over your shoulder and just tell us already: What books are you reading this summer? Gather up your recent reading list—both the books you’ve just finished as well as the ones that you have yet to crack—and tell us what they are, who wrote them, and what made you pick…

This Fan Book Trailer For Max Gladstone’s Two Serpents Rise Is Wonderful

Max Gladstone’s novel Two Serpents Rise came out in 2013, but Glinda Chen has put together a wonderful animated book trailer for the first installment of his Craft Sequence novels. We reviewed Gladstone’s third Craft Sequence novel, Full Fathom Five last year, and this trailer perfectly captures his style and vision for the world he’s…

Under The Dome Shows The Worst Scenario For A Hillary Clinton Presidency

Hey, it’s me. The Dome. Sorry I haven’t been around much. I’ve been kind of busy. You know how it is. They wanted to bring me to San Diego Comic-Con and put all of Hall H under me, as a publicity stunt. But then people got all squirrely about my plan to put J.J. Abrams…

Ursula K. Le Guin, Fyodor Dovstoevsky, and the Snuggly Comfort of Evil

Ursula K. Le Guin’s most famous short story is probably “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas.” It’s a modified version of a thought experiment from Fyodor Dovstoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov, and in turn it’s helped inspire a raft of similar stories. But “Omelas” isn’t just an interesting idea—it’s a provocation. In Karamazov, Dovstoevsky poses…

Read The First 4 Chapters Of My New Science Fiction and Fantasy Novel

My novel All the Birds in the Sky is coming out in January, and I’ll be writing more about the process of writing this book, and what I learned from doing it, as the publication date approaches. For now, though, you can read the first four chapters at Tor.com. And yes, I meant to write…