It’s been two years since Jenna’s ex-boyfriend left her alone in East Texas heartbroken. Now he’s back in town and she wants to payback. One night, she stumbles upon a bloodthirsty Camaro that may be the key to carrying out her revenge.
Lord Ajax! First and greatest Ascendant; conqueror of the Martian machine-minds; mighty Steward of Leviathan’s Dominion! For a thousand years, Ajax has ruled the solar system’s worlds and moons with an iron fist. But history catches up with everyone—even an immortal tyrant. On the frozen dwarf planet Ceres, a scribe composes a record of his millennium-long rule. Unbeknownst to Ajax, her account contains a coded message that will spark a revolution.
This is how magic left the Kingdom and made room for democracy. Three supernatural beings created by an Omnipotent Mushroom God travel the multiverse until they are abandoned on a planet of stunning ecological diversity. They use their magic to rule over humans, but as their powers wane and a climate disaster looms, a young illiterate man is able to take the throne.
A reporter travels to the Norwegian Arctic to cover an unusual sled race with the undead leading the living into unknown territory.
Jenny returns to her home planet in the midst of civil unrest. A stay-at-home order has been issued in the wake of anti-alien protests, and only she can escort her neighbor Katika, a Razuli girl, home safely.
The third place winner of the LeVar Burton Reads writing contest, as co-presented by FIYAH Literary Magazine and Tor.com
K’Mori has died once already. Brought back to life, she struggles with the limits of her reanimation while the world struggles with its meaning.
Here’s a version of the Indian epic the Ramayana: Rama is born to King Dasharath of Kosala, who has three wives including Kaikeyi, mother of Bharata. Just as Rama is about to take the throne, Kaikeyi convinces Dasharath to send Rama into exile so that Bharata can be king. Rama’s wife, Sita, and brother accompany him into exile in a faraway forest. Several years into the exile, a demon king, Ravana, who has long coveted Sita, kidnaps Sita and takes her to his kingdom of Lanka. With the help of allies, Rama journeys to Lanka and battles Ravana and his armies. After days of fighting, Rama kills Ravana and reunites with Sita. Rama and Sita return home and become king and queen of Kosala.
I’d like to think that’s one of the least controversial paragraphs on the Ramayana one could write. But this “simple” version, widely accepted by many Hindus, omits beloved characters, overlooks several plot elements, and fails to grapple with the epic’s true complexity. The Ramayana has taken on a life of its own both in Hindu culture and religion, and in Indian political movements. The Ramayana that feeds into these movements is also, in many ways, a fiction, constructed piecemeal out of the original epics to support an uncomplicated narrative where Rama is the hero and Rama’s world is something to aspire to. But there is a long tradition of telling and retelling the Ramayana, one that does not always conform to the mainstream.
Animated films are responsible for bringing so many different kinds of stories to life, and are responsible for so many iconic cinematic moments cherished by children and adults alike. For those of us who love music and musicals, some of Hollywood’s all-time best earworms can be found within this medium, appealing to viewers of all ages. These singalongs and show tunes have stood the test of time—film buffs and even the most casual fans can point to so many scenes that have spelled movie magic, whether it’s Timon, Pumbaa, and Simba head-bopping across a log or SpongeBob’s Patrick Star posing in fishnet stockings and heels.
The animated films of the last few decades have dealt with everything from fairy tales to family trauma, from falling in love to making the world a better place. And when it comes to family-friendly fare, there’s often truly memorable music to be found, be it a revamped classic or an original number, giving these movies a chance to prove that they’re as rich in epic tunes as any live-action musical.
Below, I’ve rounded up the eleven of my favorite animated movie moments that are sure to spark a dance party! From The Little Mermaid to Hotel Transylvania to Encanto, these stirring showstoppers and goofy, feel-good gems are guaranteed to get you moving…
The sea is wild and untamed, and she gives life to numerous beings who live in her embrace and occasionally step out of it. These creatures are sometimes sweet, like Disney’s Ariel, but more often than not, they’re terrifying, unfathomable entities with societies and cultures that are very different from our own. However, they can be identical to us in other ways as they navigate love, betrayal, grief, belonging, and trauma.
From mermaids and sirens to sea gods, demi-gods, and monsters of the deep, dive in below (get it?) and check out my picks for the 12 best books about fascinating sea creatures.
In Jurassic World Dominion, the dinosaurs are living among us in the continental United States, and it’s not going so well for all involved! While we know from one of the movie’s trailers that the T-Rex likes to crash drive-in theaters, we don’t know exactly where the other dinosaurs like to roam.
If this is a question you’re dying for an answer to, don’t worry—director Colin Trevorrow has tweeted out a map of where different Jurassic World dinosaurs are hanging out, these days.
Haven’t heard of Mork Sphincter before? That’s not surprising, but if you’ve seen Moon Knight you’ve definitely seen him on screen.
Something’s out there. Out there… in the backyard. In Night Sky (formerly called Lightyears), J.K. Simmons and Sissy Spacek star as Irene and Franklin York, whose backyard holds an inexplicable secret: a gateway to another planet.
Naturally, it proves impossible to keep this a secret.
So you’ve lived through an ecological disaster that’s drastically changed the world (or at least some corner of it): the water’s dried up, the bees have disappeared, temperatures are soaring, multiple pandemics ravaged the earth, and the oil reserves have gone poof. Now what? Here are eight books that not only take climate change as a given, but that skip ahead a bit and show us the aftermath of environmental cataclysm. A few even offer some possible solutions…
We’ve been performing Shakespeare’s plays for 400 years, but we’ve been telling stories about the Bard himself for nearly as long. From a starring role in a big budget alt-history romance to a cameo appearance as a Master Builder in The Lego Movie, we relish the chance to rub elbows with “Shakespeare” in any number of unexpected settings. Below, we’ve gathered some of the best (and weirdest) stories that make merry with history and turn the Swan of Avon into a legend.
We’re back! Let’s not waste time with pleasantries! Unless they’re your thing, in which case, you look lovely today!
Who among us would not casually thumb through the Necronomicon, were it to hand when no other reading material presented itself? (The alternative would be not reading!) However, a moment’s entertainment could come at the cost of a dreadful, unforgettable revelation—one from which madness would be no escape.
The world is filled with information that can only leave the learner less happy. Authors have long been aware how plot-friendly such dreadful revelations can be. Consider these five examples.
There are different ways to make a narrative gripping. One way is to give a sense of the bigger picture—to show how a particular character’s choices and actions have an impact on a much larger scale. Another is to zero in on something much more specific and showcase a highly limited perspective—something where the why of it all matters less than the breakneck pace it requires to get there.
It looks like we’ll be getting at least two genre movies starring Chris Hemsworth this summer! The first is obviously Marvel’s Thor: Love and Thunder, and the second one is a Netflix film called Spiderhead.
Wizards of the Coast has announced a whole bunch of Dungeons & Dragons news today, not least of which is a Dragonlance trailer narrated by The Expanse’s President of Earth, Chrisjen Avasarala (a.k.a. Shohreh Aghdashloo).
In the middle of Budapest, there is a river. Csilla knows the river is magic.
We’re thrilled to share an excerpt from This Rebel Heart by Katherine Locke, an historical fantasy set during the Hungarian revolution in post-WWII Communist Budapest—available now from Knopf Books for Young Readers.
There was a theory flying around over the last week that Jay Karnes’s FBI agent who arrested Picard and Guinan at the end of “Monsters” was, in fact, another Q. Me, I was holding out hope that he might be connected in some way to one of Trek‘s previous time-travel adventures—the descendent of, say, one of the people at Area 51 in DS9‘s “Little Green Men” or on the base Kirk and Sulu infiltrated in the original series’ “Tomorrow is Yesterday” or on the aircraft carrier Enterprise in The Voyage Home or something like that. There was also the possibility that Karnes was once again playing Ducane, the thirty-first-century time agent he played on Voyager‘s “Relativity.”
While that particular plot thread does have a reference to a Trek episode that took place in the twentieth century, it wasn’t the one I was expecting.
Time travel. It might look like fun, sometimes, but it sure isn’t a good time for Henry (Theo James) in The Time Traveler’s Wife. “It’s not a superpower,” Henry says of his unusual ability. “It’s a disability. It’s what’s wrong with me.”
With the release of the show’s full trailer, HBO has finally announced the premiere date for Stephen Moffat’s adaptation of Audrey Niffenegger’s novel: Prepare to get swoony on May 15th.
Vampires have been a staple of the Gothic and horror traditions, with iconic texts including Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla (1872), Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897), and a host of Hollywood incarnations, from Nosferatu (1922) to Bela Lugosi’s iconic performance in Universal Pictures’ adaptation of Dracula (1931). While vampires are perennially popular, these creatures of the night were particularly ubiquitous in 1990s pop culture, including Buffy the Vampire Slayer (both the 1992 feature film and the hit television series), Francis Ford Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992), Neil Jordan’s film adaptation of Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire (1994), Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez’s From Dusk Till Dawn (1996), and the Wesley Snipes franchise Blade (1998-2004). What is particularly notable about ‘90s incarnations of the vampire is the way in which these films negotiated or subverted traditional conceptions and expectations, whether through exploring the depths of vampire subjectivity or creating space in these narratives for women and people of color.
Lightyear, the cinematic story of the person who inspired the Buzz Lightyear toy from Toy Story, continues to be a real movie. The latest trailer for the Disney/Pixar film reveals a lot more about Lightyear’s epic adventure—not least that Buzz seems to be on a bit of a time travel trip? Which obviously makes the casting of Chris Evans even funnier.
