Raymond Chandler was one of the greatest writers to come out of pulp fiction, but he also had some snobbish tendencies of his own. Notably, in a 1953 letter to his agent, he makes fun of science fiction for being kind of ridiculous. But Chandler also inspired tons of science-fiction writers.
Some of the best children's books are actually quite strange, even dreamlike. And this is especially true of kids' books from the 1960s and 1970s. In an interview with BoingBoing, author Jonathan Lethem talks about the kids' books that he loved, including the "mysterious and rich" Rabbit Hill by Robert Lawson (above).
"He understood real people, not just science fiction characters," says science fiction Grand Master Robert Silverberg of legendary author Theodore Sturgeon. Regarded as one of the godfathers of contemporary science fiction and dark fantasy, Sturgeon's stories are considered classics of speculative fiction, and have…
This September 22-23, you can mingle with Philip K. Dick fans and friends at the annual Philip K. Dick Festival at San Francisco State University. Jonathan Lethem is the guest of honor, and other guests include Dick's former editor Marc Haefele as well as Dick-influenced cultural critic/visionary Erik Davis.…
If you love both literary fiction and "genre" fiction, and want to be able to read inventive new takes on both things, then you'll welcome a new literary annual called Unstuck that aims to blur the lines.
Just who are these weird people that you see when you put on the mysterious sunglasses in They Live? What do they want? More importantly, what do they mean? Novelist Jonathan Lethem investigates, in three excerpts from his new book analyzing They Live.
What happens when the one you love is in love with a black hole? Body horror legend David Cronenberg's is about to find out, as he's adapting Jonathan Lethem's love story As She Climbed Across the Table.
China Miéville's detective story The City And The City is well on its way to being the award-winningest novel of the year. But it's not the only great novel about science fiction/fantasy sleuths. Here are 10 other SF detective classics.
Jonathan Lethem's science fiction/noir Gun With Occasional Music has been optioned by the producers of the surprisingly good Bad Lieutenant: Port Of Call New Orleans. Can they do justice to this Philip K. Dick-meets-Raymond Chandler story? [THR]
Literary scifi nerd Jonathan Lethem, author of Fortress of Solitude, has just published an essay about his lifelong relationship with the work of Philip K. Dick. It's wistful and weird, and now it's also available for free on his website.
One of the frustrating things about science fiction is that everyone's seen the year's biggest movies: Even films like Transformers 2, which most people seemed to dislike. But how many books are there that everyone you know has read?
Motherless Brooklyn author Jonathan Lethem started his career channeling Philip K. Dick, and now Lethem is returning to Dick's orbit. Lethem is editing a collection of four Dick novels, and says his new novel is his most Dickian in years.
Why is Robert Silverberg's Dying Inside not spoken of in the same breath as Philip Roth's Portnoy's Complaint, or John Updike's Rabbit Run?
Can't wait for Watchmen? Spend your afternoon reading superhero stories online. The Free SF Reader updated its homepage, and there's a whole "superhero" section, including stories by Paul Di Filippo, Jonathan Lethem and Kelly Link.
Jonathan Lethem has a haunting new story of astronauts stranded on a space station in this week's New Yorker. "Lostronaut" is a depressingly bleak, yet beautiful, story told in the form of an astronaut's letters home to a loved one. It's the most science fictional thing I've seen from Lethem in ages, and also one of…
The book-focused scifi gathering Readercon starts on Thursday, and includes guests of honor Jonathan Lethem and James Patrick Kelly. It also includes the first public showing of the late Thomas Disch reading his poem sequence "Winter Journey," which he wrote after the death of his partner Charles Naylor. Based on…
Must-read comics are futuristic classics that shouldn't be missed. Of course, not every must-read is perfect. That's why we've rated them 1-5 on the patented "crunchy goodness" scale.
Title: Omega The UnknownDate: 2005 (reprinting material from 1976 - 1977)
Vitals: The essential 70s and existential incomplete…
