Even if you’re sick of teenage dystopias, this paranoid mind-wiping novel will thrill you
There is something vertiginous about a great British dystopia. Perhaps it’s just that extra layer of distance between Americans and Brits. Perhaps it’s just being culturally closer to seminal works like George Orwell’s 1984 or, more recently, Alan Moore’s V for Vendetta. Or perhaps it has something to do with insularity, with the feeling that…
WondLa: Probably Your Kid’s New Favorite Science Fiction Book Series
Middle grade science fiction has always been a somewhat underserved genre, compared to young adult SF. Luckily, Tony DiTerlizzi’s second WondLa book came out recently, to provide some great sci-fi adventures for the 8-12 year-olds in your life. The science fiction aimed at this age group tends to be in the comic vein (who didn’t…
The Most Interesting Fairy-Tale Adaptation of the Year
This is the year of the fairy-tale adaptation, from dueling Snow White movies to Grimm and Once Upon a Time. But quite possibly the most memorable take on fairy-tale archetypes isn’t on any screen yet — it’s Cinder, the cyborg Cinderella story by new author Marissa Meyer. Spoilers ahead… There’s a reason we’re not seeing…
Why Hunger Games Is The New Little House on the Prairie
At a recent New York panel on historical young adult fiction, a group of authors and moderators began by insisting that reports of the subgenre’s death were greatly exaggerated. And yet, the truism that historical fiction is dead to teenagers is widespread in the industry. Anyone who has walked into a bookshop lately knows that…
The Origins of Post-Apocalyptic Island America
When the continental United States becomes uninhabitable, the last survivors of America have to move to an island, in Anna North’s bleak, beautiful America Pacifica. Here’s an exclusive excerpt, in which some street performers reenact the end of our world. America Pacifica, out today, is the debut novel from Iowa Writers Workshop graduate (and Jezebel…