In a near-future San Francisco where the gig economy has made work more precarious than ever, Edwina is an average twenty-something scrambling to hold down her job with a major skin care brand. Until her awful boss does something you should never do—angers the fae on social media—and the struggles of her job take on an even nastier shade.
As the Cold War stalls and the threat of nuclear warfare dominates the news, small-town misfits Laurie and Fell bond over a shared love of music and the mystery of the erratic radio messages that hint at the existence of a future worth reaching out for.
For over 25 years, the Wild Cards universe has been entertaining readers with stories of superpowered people in an alternate history.
When a mysterious stranger approaches Wally Gunderson, a.k.a Rustbelt, about running for Jokertown City Council, he doesn’t think twice about it. His first move? Hiring an unlikely campaign manager – Mordecai Albert Jones, the Harlem Hammer. Together they’ll discover the ins and outs of local politics, and whether conspiracy theorist Sparkjob is actually crazy… or just on to something?
A man sets out to tell a story of his ex, which in turns becomes a story of the world. If only he could change that story—find the moment where it all began and alter the past. But what if he can’t find the beginning—or even the end?
An academic’s whimsical decision to take a DNA test leads her into uncharted territory, where she discovers some extraordinary truths about herself and new possibilities for her future.
No vampire is ever innocent…
The wandering Judge Dee serves as judge, jury, and executioner for any vampire who breaks the laws designed to safeguard their kind’s survival. This new case in particular puts his mandate to the test.
Every Halloween, an elderly woman hands out candy to a young trick-or-treater who’s dressed as a witch each time, looking exactly the same age. With each passing year, the woman grows more attached to the little witch and her odd nature. But she is no ordinary child, and an uncanny relationship develops between the two of them that may prove dangerous and deadly.
2020 was a weird year for movies: closed theaters, no Marvel movies, and the new Bond movie and The Fast and the Furious sequel pushed to 2021.
But limitations on theater attendance not only pushed studios to experiment with their releases, but also allowed some smaller genre movies to attract attention that usually would have been taken by blockbuster franchise films. In other words, 2020 made room for some great new genre movies, and gave viewers more of an opportunity to watch them.
Here are ten of the best sci-fi and horror movies of 2020 (in no particular order), all of which you can watch right now.
What could be better than a retelling of your favorite fairy tale? How about a retelling of two of your favorite fairy tales? How about a retelling that incorporates a bunch of your favorite fairy tales?
One of my favorite types of narrative is the mashup, wherein a bunch of existing characters or storylines mingle together, resulting in brand-new flavors, new adventures, and if you’re lucky, fresh nuances to explore.
As I was putting together this list, a pattern started to form. Some of the funniest books I’ve read were also the darkest. I’ve always gravitated to stories about evil in our world…how do we respond when we’re confronted by the corrupt politician, an organization eating away at our societal values, a monstrous act? The problem with these weighty topics is that they can sometimes feel… well, too weighty. The authors I admire most know this, and balance that darkness with a comic tone, aware that stories can become too bleak, and veer into unrealistic territory. No person is all good or all bad, and these moments of levity remind us of that.
So, without further ado, here are five books that made me laugh out loud.
2021 has been an amazingly, mind-blowingly, devastatingly chaotic year so far—and it’s still only January. In the US we’ve swerved from deadly insurrection to presidential impeachment to presidential inauguration, with a brutal sidecar of pandemic. On top of all that, the city of Tucson commemorated the tenth anniversary of the shooting in front of a supermarket that killed six people and severely injured several more, including our congresswoman, Gabby Giffords.
I remember that day all too clearly. I came home from Saturday-morning errands to the news that had been clanging through the multiverse: that a member of the US Congress had been shot in front of a supermarket. She was dead. She wasn’t dead. Others were dead, wounded. This many, that many. Shooter in custody. Lone gunman, had an accomplice, not political, yes political, nobody knew, though speculation was rampant.
That was my congressperson. That was my city that had been reduced to sound bites. The shock to us all was profound and lasting—just as it has been everywhere else that has seen its peace shattered by violence.
For me on the farm, surrounded by animals, and especially horses, the effect was not at all muted. But it was transmuted.
I did not choose this fate. But I will not walk away from it.
We’re excited to share an excerpt from Intisar Khanani’s young adult fantasy novel The Theft of Sunlight—publishing March 23rd with HarperTeen.
Though there’s still no release date for Barry Jenkins’ much-anticipated adaptation of The Underground Railroad, there is a new teaser for the show—a slow, eerie glimpse of scenes that run entirely backwards.
“Extreme Risk”
Written by Kenneth Biller
Directed by Cliff Bole
Season 5, Episode 3
Production episode 197
Original air date: October 28, 1998
Stardate: unknown
Captain’s log. Torres is doing orbital skydiving on the holodeck, albeit with the safeties disengaged. In mid-free-fall, she’s summoned to engineering, but she fobs off her duties onto Seven, to the latter’s surprise.
Voyager is launching their fancy-shmancy new multispatial probe, incorporating Borg design elements Seven has provided. However, while it’s gathering data, a Malon freighter snags it in a tractor beam. Tuvok is able to command the probe to send a polaron burst to shake off the tractor beam, at least, but the Malon refuse to respond to hails, and Voyager is two hours away. Kim is able to direct the probe into a gas giant; the Malon follow and are destroyed—the Borg shielding keeps the probe safe.
Honestly, it’s kind of amazing it took this long. According to The Hollywood Reporter, HBO Max executives have been meeting with writers about a possible Harry Potter (pictured above) live-action television series. It’s unclear whether this would be another adaptation of the books or something new set in the Wizarding World. “Sources say broad ideas have been discussed as part of the early-stage exploratory meetings,” according to the report.
Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman are officially returning to the Dragonlance franchise. Weis announced today that she and her writing partner will be writing a new trilogy set to follow their classic fantasy novels with Del Rey Books, with the first installment to tentatively hit stores later this year.
Hades was going to be a beloved game no matter when it was released. The game has rich, complex, and deep characters with a charming, queer hero at the center of the story, where building relationships with those around him is just as important as knowing what weapons to use. There is gorgeous artwork and voicework of gods, monsters, and men, quenching those thirsty legions of the internet and pulling players deeper into the story, and lore that encourages replay again and again, revealing more as you make your way up through the layers of Hell. All of this and more would make Hades a fan-favorite, and already, it sits with the top games I’ve ever played.
But the more I think about it, the more I’ve realized: Hades has become such a wild success because in so many ways, it has functioned as a template about not just how to survive 2020, but how to thrive in what many would consider a truly hellish year.
The American Library Association is currently holding its annual midwinter meeting and exhibits conference, and part of the event is its Youth Media Awards—which houses the Alex Awards, a slate of prizes that are handed out “to ten books written for adults that have special appeal to young adults, ages 12 through 18,” from the prior year.
The ALA just announced this year’s Alex Award winners, and it includes a number of science fiction and fantasy titles.
In previous columns, I’ve explored how intercultural communication works in the first and second trilogies of CJ Cherryh’s Foreigner series. In the third trilogy (Destroyer, Pretender, Deliverer), the focus is mostly on politics, and there’s not a whole lot of linguistic content to comment on. Bren spends the first book on the run, the second getting to Shejidan, and the third chasing a missing person. And somehow, all of this takes place in about a week! But we get our first real atevi POV: Cajeiri, Tabini’s 8-year-old son, and through him, we gain a lot of insight into atevi culture and man’chi. [Read more]
Black Lightning is tired of being everyone’s savior. In the newest trailer for the fourth and final season, he makes it clear that he wants someone else to take up the mantle of Freeland’s resident hero. But although there are a couple of candidates around, they may not be enough to save the city.
[Read more]
Naturally, Tor.com’s rocket logo, Stubby, has always been in space—metaphorically speaking. But thanks to NASA’s Mike Hopkins, the little rocket that could actually made its way up among the stars.
One of the two upcoming Witcher prequels has found its star: Jodie Turner-Smith (Nightflyers) is set to play Éile, described as “an elite warrior blessed with the voice of a goddess,” in the limited series The Witcher: Blood Origin.
As I was putting together this list, a pattern started to form. Some of the funniest books I’ve read were also the darkest. I’ve always gravitated to stories about evil in our world…how do we respond when we’re confronted by the corrupt politician, an organization eating away at our societal values, a monstrous act? The problem with these weighty topics is that they can sometimes feel… well, too weighty. The authors I admire most know this, and balance that darkness with a comic tone, aware that stories can become too bleak, and veer into unrealistic territory. No person is all good or all bad, and these moments of levity remind us of that.
So, without further ado, here are five books that made me laugh out loud.
Ever since it was announced, Warner Bros.’ Godzilla vs. Kong has held the promise of some titanic action between its two titular monsters.
With the film set to release in just over a month, Warner Bros. has finally given us our first look at the upcoming match-up, showing off what looks to be some spectacular action scenes as the two monsters go head to head onboard an aircraft carrier in the middle of the ocean.
We’re thrilled to share the cover of Freya Marske’s historical fantasy A Marvellous Light—arriving November 2nd from Tordotcom Publishing!
