Books

The Gorgeous RPG Shadows of Esteren Gets A Whole New Occult Sourcebook

Shadows of Esteren is a tabletop fantasy RPG with some of the most gorgeous art and design we’ve ever seen. The upcoming Occultism book lets characters gain esoteric knowledge, but life is Esteren is plenty dangerous even when you know the unknowable. Billed as, “somewhere between Ravenloft, Game of Thrones and Call of Cthulhu,” Shadows…

From Lazarus Long To Capt. Jack Harkness: Bisexuality In Science Fiction

Why were there so many bisexual heroes in the 1970s (including Robert A. Heinlein’s Lazarus Long), and was bisexuality viewed as “futuristic”? More to the point, why did bi heroes mostly vanish throughout the 1980s and 1990s, and what brought them back? Erotic science fiction author and Circlet Press publisher Cecilia Tan explains. https://gizmodo.com/this-erotica-book-might-actually-be-the-years-most-dang-5969540 Tan…

C.J. Cherryh Explains The Key To Creating Terrific Female Characters

How do you go about creating female characters that have the same charisma and depth as the male ones? People debate this endlessly, and come up with complicated arguments about one aspect or another. But Downbelow Station author C.J. Cherryh has a refreshingly simple answer to this question. Writer and regular io9 contributor Andrew Liptak…

You Only Have 24 Hours To Read This Self-Destructing Book

If you thought blockbuster movies were the only form of entertainment that relied on over-the-top publicity stunts, you were wrong: It’s alive and well in the book world as well. James Patterson’s new thriller, Private Vegas, will not only be made available as 1,000 free digital copies that will self-delete after 24 hours. There will…

Your next urban fantasy TV or movie obsession? The other day, we reviewedDaniel Jose Older’s fun, inventive Half-Resurrection Blues. Now, the book’s been optioned for TV or movies by Tony Award-winning actor Anika Noni Rose (who also costars in The Good Wife).

The Originals Wields Irony Like A F–ing Straight Razor

To most people, The Originals is a wacky spinoff of the “vampire love triangle” show The Vampire Diaries — in which the ancient vamps from TVD go to New Orleans, have a magic baby, and get caught up in endless power struggles. But to devotees, The Originals is a reliable supplier of hilariously bitter irony.…

The Best Ways To Honor The 50th Anniversary Of Star Trek

Next year marks the 50th anniversary of space opera’s grandest and most ambitious media series. But will Star Trek have a 50th birthday in keeping with its proud heritage? Here are a bunch of ways that we hope Star Trek’s birthday gets celebrated. Top image by Sam Woolley Doctor Who’s 50th anniversary was a pretty…

Adorable Desk Lamp Bookmark Sheds Light On the Last Page You Read

If you needed a good reason to hold onto your collection of classic tomes instead of replacing them all with a Kindle, here it is. The folks at Peleg Design have created what has to be one of the most adorable bookmarks ever with this tiny reading lamp that casts its soft beam onto whatever…

Discover House Of Stairs, One Of The Most Underrated YA Dystopias

When people talk about classic dystopian novels for young readers, the same titles come up again and again: The Giver. City of Ember. A few others. But one classic book in that subgenre deserves a lot more love: House of Stairs by William Sleator, librarian Mina Hong tells io9. Last week, we asked booksellers and…

R.I.P. Alice K. Turner, Who Made Playboy The Home Of Great Stories

For decades, Playboy was known as the home of some of the best short fiction published anywhere — including a lot of groundbreaking work by Ursula K. Le Guin, Ray Bradbury and Doris Lessing. This was largely due to the strong editorial hand of Alice K. Turner, who died yesterday of pneumonia. Turner joined Playboy…

What Are You Reading?

There are so many books out there, but only a few of them are the books that you’re reading. So tell us about them. We want to know what you’re reading — both now, later, and not-so-long ago. Tell us in the comments the title, author, and what you thought of the latest books to…

An Urban Fantasy Novel That Shows Cities In A Way You’ve Never Seen

The urban fantasy genre isn’t just set in cities — it’s one of the main places that genre fiction engages with our urbanized existence, picking up the baton dropped by cyberpunk. But you don’t often see cities depicted the way Daniel José Older does in his new novel Half-Resurrection Blues. https://gizmodo.com/why-do-so-many-former-cyberpunk-authors-now-write-dark-5795217 Image via Daniel José…

Ernie Cline Is Writing Another Ready Player One Novel

We still don’t know when Armada, Ernie Cline’s next book, is coming out. But now we have something else to look forward to — he’s writing a followup to his novel about people in a dark future who are obsessed with 80s video games, Ready Player One. Top image: Ready Player One movie promo artwork…

10 Great Novels That Aren’t About What You Heard They Were About

Science fiction and fantasy novels become famous for all sorts of reasons. Maybe they catch the zeitgeist, or maybe they have one idea that everybody falls in love with. But sometimes, we all fixate on something that’s not the actual point of the book. Here are 10 great novels that aren’t about what everybody thinks.…

Paddington‘s Journey To The 21st Century Shows How Cynical We’ve Gotten

The original Paddington stories have a certain fairytale quality. This bear just shows up in a London train station, with a tag that says “Please look after this bear,” and a kindly family instantly takes him in. We apparently can no longer believe in such a simple story of generosity, judging from the new film.…

A New Day at F&SF Charles Coleman Finlay became editor of theMagazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, after guest-editing a couple of issues over the past year. He’s the ninth editor of the magazine since 1949, and his tenure begins with the March-April issue. Top image: F&SF cover by Alex Schomburg.

First Trailer For Syfy’s Expanse Has Zero-G Sex, And Hints Of Space War

Here it is: Your first look at The Expanse, Syfy’s huge adaptation of the book series by James S.A. Corey. Including a lot of insanely beautiful visuals, but also a ton of intense drama as the “Belters” at the edge of the solar system chafe under the control of Earth and Mars. What do you…

Are There Any Michael Crichton Books Left To Turn Into Movies Or TV?

Michael Crichton is one of the authors with the best track records of being adapted successfully to movies and television, from Andromeda Strain to Jurassic World. So it makes sense that super-agency ICM has signed a deal to develop his work, especially previously unfilmed works. But what’s left to adapt? Image via Maverik Education According…

Good News: Angry Robot Books Gets Back To Full Speed In A Couple Months

Angry Robot Books has published some of our favorite books of the past few years, including Ramez Naam’s Nexus and Madeline Ashby’s vN. But since Angry Robot got bought last fall, a lot of books were delayed, and Ashby ended up taking her next standalone book to Tor. The good news is, Angry Robot’s signed…

A Recipe Book For the Coolest DIY Projects You Never Knew How To Do 

Building an anechoic chamber. Mapping the Wi-Fi in your building. Listening to the Earth with piezo microphones. These are all fascinating projects, and we’ve featured artists and engineers who have done them here on Giz before. But now, there’s a book in which they explain how. I was researching how to build a piezo mic—eg,…