Books

Where’s Waldo Wallpaper Is the Best Work Distraction

We’ve all got something on our desks we like to fiddle with when work gets boring, be it a traditional Newton’s Cradle, or just the good ol’ internet. But neither can compare to the wonderful waste of time that is a giant Where’s Waldo scene filling an entire wall of your office. Even after you…

Books & Comics Andrew Liszewski

Some Of Your Favorite Authors Are Writing James Bond Stories!

Here in the United States, we’re excited because James Bond has another big movie coming up. But in Canada, James Bond just entered the public domain. Or at least, Ian Fleming’s books did. To celebrate, ChiZine Publications is putting out a book of “unauthorized” James Bond stories. Licence Expired: The Unauthorized James Bond is edited…

Books & Comics Charlie Jane Anders

Which Writer Deserves More Credit For Revolutionizing SF and Fantasy?

Science fiction and fantasy don’t lack for heroes, especially among the writers who’ve helped to shape them. We all celebrate people like Joss Whedon, Frank Herbert and Ursula K. Le Guin. But which writers deserve way more credit for their roles in revolutionizing science fiction or fantasy? Please include a book cover, comics panel, movie…

Movies Charlie Jane Anders

Do You Buy Books Anymore?

We’re talking the old-fashioned kind. A “new” Dr. Seuss book, What Pet Should I Get? is cause for rejoicing, and likely the purchase of a paper copy, if you’re into Dr. Seuss. But do you really buy books these days? When digital books first came out, I was among the purists who turned my nose…

Commerce Kaila Hale-Stern

Which Series Continued After a Long Hiatus… And Was Actually Good?

Films like Fury Road (which came 30 years after the previous entry in the Mad Max series, Beyond Thunderdome) and TV shows like Doctor Who (over a decade between old and new eras) proved that a series’ return after a long wait can be cause for much celebration. As we all sit with nervously gritted…

Movies Cheryl Eddy

How Lycos Almost Won the Search Engine Wars

It was exhilarating to be back in the game again, a 20-year-old college dropout with stock options, working at the center of the internet revolution. But I was overwhelmed. I’d only ever worked on a team with a half-dozen people, and Lycos was a huge company with hundreds of employees. All the developers seemed much…

Tech News Jim Gilliam

How to Deal With Harsh Criticism of Your Writing

There’s nothing more vulnerable than the act of making up stories. Whether it’s an introspective personal story or a seat-of-your-exploding-pants thriller, you’re taking something out of your unfiltered imagination and putting it into the form of a product. That people then criticize. How do you handle that? Learning to deal with criticism is one of…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders

Which Book From Today Is Destined to Become a Classic?

Some books are timeless—but even timeless books have to get their start somewhere. Today we want to know about the books that you believe are new classics. Tell us in the comments what the book is and who wrote it. Be sure to include what about it makes it so likely to stand the test…

Books & Comics Ria Misra

Read The Best Gay Speculative Fiction of the Year!

Want to explore some strange new worlds that are genuinely new? Then you’re in luck—because Wilde Stories: The Year’s Best Gay Speculative Fiction has just been published! Contributor Craig Laurance Gidney posted the table of contents, which includes some of our favorite LGBT authors—including former io9 contributor Katharine Duckett! Here’s the full TOC: “The Love…

Books & Comics Charlie Jane Anders

Which Dystopia Would You Want To Be One Of The Evil Rulers Of?

Just remember… your dystopia is someone else’s utopia. For the people on top of the heap, life in an oppressive regime can be actually kind of sweet. Which dystopia do you think you’d actually enjoy being one of the privileged few in? Please include a picture, poster, clip, book cover, comics panel, or other visual…

Movies Charlie Jane Anders

What Zen Cho Learned From Throwing Two Novels Away

Zen Cho’s new debut novel Sorcerer to the Crown is getting all kinds of buzz (and we’re dying to read it.) But it’s not her first novel. She wrote two others, which she “binned” before even trying to publish them, as she explains her blog. Her whole blog post about tossing out two completed novels…

Books & Comics Charlie Jane Anders

David Gerrold Says The Next Chtorr Book Will Be Finished In September

Forget The Winds of Winter! There’s one book that fans have been awaiting fervently, for years, now—and it’s finally coming. David Gerrold tells io9 that A Method For Madness, the fifth book in his Chtorr series, will be done in a couple of months. The Chtorr series, which tells of an invasion of Earth by…

Books & Comics Charlie Jane Anders

Game Of Thrones’ Conleth Hill Tells Us Why Varys Might Beat Littlefinger

We’ve advanced the theory, in the past, that all of Game of Thrones is the war between Varys and Littlefinger. When we caught up with Conleth Hill, who plays Varys, we had to ask him about this. Plus Hill told us why Varys and Littlefinger are opposites, but Varys and Tyrion are the same. Warning:…

Television Charlie Jane Anders

Your Favorite George R.R. Martin Moments Just Got A Bit More Exciting

Now that Game of Thrones has depicted most of the major events from George R.R. Martin’s books, it’s harder and harder to picture those characters and situations any other way. Maybe this will help. The 2016 A Song of Ice and Fire Calendar is going on sale July 28, and we’ve got the first exclusive…

Television Charlie Jane Anders

Can Ser Davos Help Clean Up One of Game of Thrones’ Biggest Messes?

We’ve got a long wait until Game of Thrones comes back, and there are a lot of situations we’re going to be freaking out about until then. Ser Davos Seaworth is in the middle of about three of them. So when we caught up with actor Liam Cunningham, we had a lot of questions for…

Television Charlie Jane Anders

Author Ken Liu Explains “Silkpunk” to Us

Ken Liu’s new novel The Grace of Kings is a sprawling fantasy set amidst war, rebellion, and border-crossing intrigue. But it also features a truly fresh technological world to explore. Here, Liu explains to us where that technology came from—and just what exactly “silkpunk” means. Ria: One of the most striking things about the book…

Books & Comics Ria Misra

Author Ken Liu Is Here to Talk About The Grace of Kings

This month, io9 read Ken Liu’s novel The Grace of Kings. Today, from noon – 1 p.m. (Pacific time) he’ll be joining us to answer our questions about writing epic stories, tales of war and rebellion, and whatever else we want to know. In addition to his new novel, Liu was also the translator for…

Books & Comics Ria Misra

Armada Will Make a Great Movie, But the Book Is Disappointing

Ernie Cline’s Ready Player One is one of my favorite books. I’ve read it multiple times and the first time I devoured it in a single sitting. So it goes without saying I was very excited about his follow-up, Armada. Unfortunately, while I think it’ll make a great movie, I was ultimately left disappointed. In…

Books & Comics Germain Lussier

How Ex Machina‘s Director Wants To Film VanderMeer’s Crazy Annihilation

Ex Machina rocked our world with its story of artificial intelligence and messed-up dynamics. And its director, Alex Garland, is in line to direct the movie of Jeff VanderMeer’s acclaimed book Annihilation next. Is that really going to happen? How do you pull that off? We asked him. Yesterday, we were lucky enough to talk…

Movies Charlie Jane Anders

What Did Pythagoras Mean By “All Things Are Number”?

We all know that numbers can help us understand the beauty of nature. But in this excerpt from the new book A Beautiful Question: Finding Nature’s Deep Design by Nobel Prize-winning physicist Frank Wilczek, he shows how it goes a lot deeper than that. Did the ancient mathematician Pythagoras know something we don’t? ALL THINGS…

io9 Frank Wilczek

Where’s Waldo Wallpaper Is the Best Work Distraction

Some Of Your Favorite Authors Are Writing James Bond Stories!

Which Writer Deserves More Credit For Revolutionizing SF and Fantasy?

Do You Buy Books Anymore?

Which Series Continued After a Long Hiatus… And Was Actually Good?

How Lycos Almost Won the Search Engine Wars

How to Deal With Harsh Criticism of Your Writing

Which Book From Today Is Destined to Become a Classic?

Read The Best Gay Speculative Fiction of the Year!

Which Dystopia Would You Want To Be One Of The Evil Rulers Of?

What Zen Cho Learned From Throwing Two Novels Away

David Gerrold Says The Next Chtorr Book Will Be Finished In September

Game Of Thrones’ Conleth Hill Tells Us Why Varys Might Beat Littlefinger

Your Favorite George R.R. Martin Moments Just Got A Bit More Exciting

Can Ser Davos Help Clean Up One of Game of Thrones’ Biggest Messes?

Author Ken Liu Explains “Silkpunk” to Us

Author Ken Liu Is Here to Talk About The Grace of Kings

Armada Will Make a Great Movie, But the Book Is Disappointing

How Ex Machina‘s Director Wants To Film VanderMeer’s Crazy Annihilation

What Did Pythagoras Mean By “All Things Are Number”?

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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