I hate Man of Steel so much that I tried to write this review three times before rage quitting. This is my fourth attempt.

Like Superman Returns, Man of Steel is a response to the two Richard Donner Superman movies. But where Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns was both a sequel and slavish homage to Superman I and II, Zack Snyder and David Goyer’s Man of Steel is a cynical retelling that hits the major plot points of the two movies, from the destruction of Krypton to the invasion of General Zod, but strips out all of the fun, color, and emotion. As the title suggests, Man of Steel is a cold machine of a summer blockbuster, so lacking in empathy that the final act is a brutal emotional assault on the audience.

Honestly, it is hard for me to list all the things I hate about Man of Steel, but in many ways it comes down the decision to make Clark Kent (Henry Cavill) a deeply distrustful person, so terrified of humanity’s possible response to the existence of super-beings that Clark hides his powers for thirty three years, only saving people if he happens upon them while they are in mortal danger. That’s not the character I know, not the character I love.

[SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS]

“Bargaining” (P1 by Marti Noxon, P2 by David Fury)

Spike, Giles and Tara are chasing a vampire. Am I right in thinking there’s a combat trio you wouldn’t have guessed at a couple years ago? Actually, the whole gang’s out with them. There’s more than one vamp on the prowl, but they’re still just the story equivalent of an appetizer, a been-there, dusted-that prelude to get us all in the mood.

As Spike incinerates one vamp and the Buffybot skewers the other, we see what’s been up in Scoobyland over the course of the summer. The gang, led by Willow, is perpetrating the myth that the Slayer is still alive so that demonkind won’t come calling and Social Services won’t make off with Dawn.

Put another way: it’s been another Slayerless summer in Sunnydale. (I was hoping that phrase might make a good tongue-twister, but it’s actually pretty easy to say.)

[Read More...]

A new novel by the author of The Hum and the Shiver further explores the world of the Tufa—descendants of faerie living in present-day Appalachia. Rob Quillen only seeks a song from the Tufa to ease the grief he feels for his deceased girlfriend, but he soon finds himself being drawn into their culture as he tries to help a troubled girl.

Read an excerpt of Wisp of a Thing here, watch the newest book trailer here, and come see Alex Bledsoe on tour in one of these cities:

[Read more.]

When Dungeons & Dragons co-creator Gary Gygax published his now-classic Advanced D&D Dungeon Master’s Guide in 1979, he highlighted “Inspirational and Educational Reading” in a section marked “Appendix N.” Featuring the authors that most inspired Gygax to create the world’s first tabletop role-playing game, Appendix N has remained a useful reading list for sci-fi and fantasy fans of all ages.

Tor.com writers Tim Callahan and Mordicai Knode decided to revisit Gygax’s favorite authors with Advanced Readings in Dungeons & Dragons, a weekly reread of selections from the list. To celebrate this awesome new series, we want to give you one of our five gorgeous sets of D&D dice from Chessex. These 7-die sets from Chessex’s Gemini and Scarab lines are perfect for D&D newbies or seasoned Dungeon Masters, so comment in the post to enter!

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. A purchase does not improve your chances of winning. Sweepstakes open to legal residents of fifty (50) United States and the District of Columbia, who are 18 or older. To enter, comment on this post beginning at 12:00 pm Eastern Time (ET) June 17, 2013. Sweepstakes ends at 12:00 p.m. ET June 21, 2013. Void outside of the 50 US, and DC where prohibited by law. Please see full details and official rules here. Sponsor: Tor.com, 175 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10010.

When Dungeons & Dragons co-creator Gary Gygax published his now-classic Advanced D&D Dungeon Master’s Guide in 1979, he highlighted “Inspirational and Educational Reading” in a section marked “Appendix N.” Featuring the authors that most inspired Gygax to create the world’s first tabletop role-playing game, Appendix N has remained a useful reading list for sci-fi and fantasy fans of all ages.

In Advanced Readings in D&D, Tor.com writers Tim Callahan and Mordicai Knode take a look at Gary Gygax’s favorite authors and reread one per week, in an effort to explore the origins of Dungeons & Dragons and see which of these sometimes-famous, sometimes-obscure authors are worth rereading today. Sometimes the posts will be conversations, while other times they will be solo reflections, but one thing is guaranteed: Appendix N will be written about, along with dungeons, and maybe dragons, and probably wizards, and sometimes robots, and, if you’re up for it, even more. Welcome to the second post in the series, featuring a look at Three Hearts and Three Lions by Poul Anderson.

To celebrate this awesome new series, Tor.com is giving away five gorgeous sets of D&D dice from Chessex. Check out the sweepstakes post for more information on how to enter!

[Read more.]

“Go, then. There are other worlds than these.”

—Jake Chambers

Welcome to A Read of the Dark Tower series. Join me each week as I, Constant Reader, tackle the magnum opus of Stephen King’s career for the first time. If you want to discuss in general terms or talk about these first sections, join me by commenting here.

Last week, our ka-tet’s number dwindled when Susannah fled through the door in the cave, taking Black Thirteen, the Chap, and her alter personalities with her. “And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, slouches toward New York to be born.”

[Read this week’s post.]

Tonight’s premiere marks the first time True Blood has been without its creator, Alan Ball. Left in the hands of a new creative team, is it too much to hope that really turns the show in a new, improved direction? Perhaps not. But it’s too early to tell. The missteps of the fifth season linger, but are growing faint as everyone—audience included—adjust to some drastic changes.

Bloody spoilers after the cut.

[Read more...]

As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve only been able to read through this series once (and that was years ago) so there are going to be books coming up where it will feel like I am reading them for the first time. I’m actually looking forward to that feeling.

Shadows Linger is not one of those books. I’ve read it a few times now and it has become my favourite book in the whole series (yeah I know, even though there are books that I can barely remember reading). For me, Shadows Linger is the most personal book of the series by a long way and that’s something I hope to talk about a little here. It’s also awesome for a whole load of other reasons which will be mentioned as well.

[Read more.]

There was an internet kerfuffle last week when people discovered that George Takei, the iconic actor, LGBTQ-rights activist, internment-camp-educator, and general amazing person, maybe doesn’t have the time to write every single one of his Facebook posts.

[We’re pleased, however, that Mr. Takei is able to write all of the posts attributed to Stubby the Rocket.]

Any remaining Starks can breathe a little easier now that Game of Thrones is done for the season. But what about us, the people who have suffered along with them? A bit less bloodily, perhaps, but still, if you cut our favorite characters, do we not bleed? In our imaginations? In an effort to help you feel an emotion similar to happiness when thinking about Westoros, we have gathered some of the fandom's responses to this season. 

Seriously, who could be sad when presented with the cuddly Starks and their cuddlier direwolf puppies?

[Read More]

“If Wishes Were Horses”
Written by Neil McCrue Crawford & William L. Crawford and Michael Piller
Directed by Robert Legato
Season 1, Episode 15
Production episode 40511-416
Original air date: May 16, 1993
Stardate: 46853.2

Station log: Quark is annoyed that Odo is hovering in the bar even though it’s mostly empty and tries to talk him into a holosuite program. But Odo has no interest in imaginations or wishes or dreams. (Foreshadowing!) Odo is also aghast when he sees Jake (carrying a bat and what Quark amusingly calls a “baseball mitten”) goes to a holosuite, but Quark explains that it’s a program Sisko brought from his previous assignment. Jake plays baseball with some of the greats of the game.

Elsewhere in the bar, Bashir is trying to convince Dax that he can think of nothing but her, to the detriment of his ability to focus. Dax points out the other women she’s seen him flirt with, which he unconvincingly dismisses as poor substitutes for her. She then just-friends him and heads to ops, where there’s an odd thoron emission.

O’Brien is reading the story of Rumpelstiltskin to Molly before she goes to sleep. But then Rumpelstiltskin himself shows up in her room, to O’Brien’s horror. He shoos Keiko and Molly from their cabin and calls security. The little man manages to evade being grabbed by the guards. Meanwhile, Harmon “Buck” Bokai, a baseball player, follows Jake home from the holosuite, and Dax appears in Bashir’s bed and starts kissing and caressing him. Bashir resists at first, then gives in, then, when Kira calls all senior officers to ops, assumes it’s a practical joke. Dax insists she has no idea what he’s talking about as they go to ops together.

[Why do we tell her stories about evil dwarves who want to steal children?]

Plus did we mention the cardboard spaceships and SPARKLERS?

[Step through the door and discover the only power that matters.]

E3 2013 came and went in LA this week, bringing with it a slew of new game announcements, trailers, and catty console rivalries. So what looked cool? We’ve compiled a list of some of our favorite show highlights for your viewing pleasure. Fair warning: the following post is chock-full of shiny new gameplay and trailer-y goodness, so grab a coffee or two give yourself a few minutes to peruse. Or an hour. Hey, it’s Friday.

Without further ado, let’s take a look at some of the highlights from this year’s E3 conference.

[Come take a closer look at Sony vs. Microsoft, Diablo III, Outlast, Star Wars: Battlefront, Super Smash Bros. 4, The Witcher 3, Destiny, and more...]

This is probably a moot point, as all of you are going to be seeing Man of Steel this weekend, but there’s a terrifically fun picture playing (in North America; it opens the 28^th worldwide) called This Is The End. It’s the funniest thing Seth Rogen’s done in years, and a fine directing debut for him and his longtime writing partner Evan Goldberg. Their previous collaborations have featured some awkward moments with genre—The Green Hornet and The Pineapple Express were both close to being good and were quite appealing in places but suffered from artificial plotting—but This Is The End, with the exception of a minor lull in the middle, is a much smoother ride. It’s one of the better apocalypse movies, to say nothing of apocalypse comedies, in a long time, and it is this because of its characters.

[Read more.]

Welcome to the Malazan Re-read of the Fallen! Every post will start off with a summary of events, followed by reaction and commentary by your hosts Bill and Amanda (with Amanda, new to the series, going first), and finally comments from Tor.com readers. In this article, we’ll cover the first part of Chapter Fifteen of Toll the Hounds (TtH).

A fair warning before we get started: We’ll be discussing both novel and whole-series themes, narrative arcs that run across the entire series, and foreshadowing. Note: The summary of events will be free of major spoilers and we’re going to try keeping the reader comments the same. A spoiler thread has been set up for outright Malazan spoiler discussion.

[Read more.]

When the government worries us, it would seem that people turn to literature for guidance: the discovery of PRISM, an online surveillance program developed by U.S. intelligence organizations, has led to a remarkable spike in sales for George Orwell’s dystopian classic, 1984.

[Big Brother very well may be watching...]

Get ready, Fangers. HBO’s Southern-fried vampire drama True Blood returns with new episodes this Sunday.

Scream-queen Anna Paquin reprises her role as Sookie Stackhouse, the fairy waitress of Bon Temps, Louisiana. Picking up right where season five left off, with her former lover Bill transformed into a supervamp after drinking the blood of the first vampire, Lillith, Sookie is on the run with her brother Jason, her best friend Tara, and her other former lover Eric Northman (the hideously deformed Alexander Skarsgård) All of them are caught in the middle of an full-on human vs. undead war.

[Season 6 Trailer Within.]

A new trailer for Neill Blomkamp’s Elysium has been released and it promises a sci-fi film that we will almost certainly be talking about long after we’ve seen it. The story itself is simple: it is the mid 22nd century and the haves live in a heaven of their own creation called Elysium while the have-nots live on a hot, hardscrabble Earth. Where the movie excels—and which the trailer goes out of its way to show you—is in displaying the system of cruel indifference that has been set in place to care for, and discipline, the population. If you want to better your life you have two options: drugs, or try to sneak on to Elysium. The latter means certain death, as the citizens of Elysium are merciless in maintaining their separation from Earth.

And that’s just where the trailer begins! There’s Jodie Foster and Matt Damon being awesome, cybernetic implants, snippy robots, and not one idiot screaming something like “Tonight we take Elysium!”

[Watch the new trailer for Neill Blomkamp’s Elysium]

The problem with Superman has always been that the ability to lovingly accept him demands a lack of cynicism—something that we have in abundance, more and more every day. Yet fans of DC’s proclaimed “Boy Scout” are typically capable of casting off that mantel of suspicion when they talk about Clark Kent. And Man of Steel’s job, as a film, was to see if it could get the rest of the world to do the same, to remind us what makes him the first superhero who’s name every child learns.

So I’ll spare you the suspense: It succeeds.

[“Welcome to the Planet.”—NON-SPOILER REVIEW]