Blog Archive
January 2018
Wed Jan 31
An Inkling of the Strange: Karin Tidbeck’s Jagannath
by Lee Mandelo
Finding A Book That Spoke My Feral Language: Richard Adams’ Watership Down
by Brooke Bolander
What Is Star Trek: Discovery Currently Implying About Elon Musk?
by Stubby the Rocket
Special Effects From Hell: Mira Grant’s “Rolling in the Deep”
by Anne M. Pillsworth and Ruthanna Emrys
Everything You Need to Know About Fighting in a Ballgown
by Stubby the Rocket
Five Books in Which Magic Has Consequences
by Melissa Albert
Melkor Is Rebranded (And Fëanor Goes Under Oath)
by Jeff LaSala
Identifying with “Uncool” Characters: Why I Love The Jungle Book’s Bagheera
by Emmet Asher-Perrin
Five Sci-Fi Books That Are More Relevant Now Than Ever
by Michael Moreci
Tue Jan 30
George R.R. Martin Sponsoring New Worldbuilder Scholarship for Clarion West Writers Workshop, Deadline is March 1st
by Stubby the Rocket
Lacking Personality: Markswoman by Rati Mehrotra
by Liz Bourke
The Precise Nature of the Catastrophe: Welcome to the Culture Reread
by Karin L Kross
A Short History of South Asian Speculative Fiction: Part I
by Mimi Mondal
The 1% Inherit the Earth in Karl Schroeder’s New Book The Million
by Tor.com
Sleeps With Monsters: Time Travel and Living Ships
by Liz Bourke
“Women, Along With Different Aliens”: What the Upcoming Jurassic Park Funko Pop!s Tell Us About How Toys Translate Pop Culture
by Jonathan Alexandratos
Watch the Wasp in Action in the First Trailer for Ant-Man and the Wasp
by Stubby the Rocket
Read Jo Walton’s “Sleeper”
by Jo Walton
Mon Jan 29
Sam Raimi to Direct the Film Adaptation of Patrick Rothfuss’ The Name of the Wind
by Stubby the Rocket
Rereading the Vorkosigan Saga: Komarr, Chapters 7-10
by Ellen Cheeseman-Meyer
Riding is Easy, Right? SFF Equines and Horses as Plot Devices
by Judith Tarr
“We will not accept a no-win scenario” — Star Trek Discovery’s “What’s Past is Prologue”
by Keith R.A. DeCandido
Amal El-Mohtar Replaces N.K. Jemisin as The New York Times Book Review’s Otherworldly Columnist
by Stubby the Rocket
Malka Older’s Infomocracy Series Concludes September 2018 in State Tectonics
by Tor.com
6 Books to Read After The Only Harmless Great Thing
by Natalie Zutter
Almost-Classics: SF Concepts and Settings That Deserve Better Execution
by James Davis Nicoll
Joe Hill Lives Inside an Impulsive Organism. And It’s Studying Us.
by Joe Hill
Fri Jan 26
Always Be Uncomfortable: Brooke Bolander, Maria Dahvana Headley, and Amal El-Mohtar Talk Writing, History, and The Only Harmless Great Thing
by Leah Schnelbach
Why You Should Absolutely Watch The Neverending Story as an Adult
by Leah Schnelbach
Five SF Novels About Sheep
by Robert Kroese
A Subtle Apocalypse: Simon Jacobs’s Palaces
by Tobias Carroll
Resurrect Your Whimsy: The Adventures of Baron Munchausen
by Leigh Butler
Better Off Unreleased — Captain America (1990) and Fantastic Four (1994)
by Keith R.A. DeCandido
How Jordan Peele’s Get Out Made Low-Budget Horror Oscar-Worthy
by Alasdair Stuart
An Appreciation of the Works of Janny Wurts
by Stefan Raets
Thu Jan 25
The Amorphous Fictional Spaces of Ursula K. Le Guin
by Gabrielle Bellot
Creating a Tale of Sisterhood: Snow-White and Rose-Red
by Mari Ness
Thor: Ragnarok vs. the Real Ragnarök
by Michael Livingston and Samuel Livingston
Faith and the Fantastic: Revealing Kat Howard’s A Cathedral of Myth and Bone
by Tor.com
After the Tempest: Tor.com Publishing Acquires Katharine Duckett’s Miranda in Milan
by Carl Engle-Laird
Margaret Atwood’s MaddAddam Trilogy to Be Adapted for Paramount Television
by Stubby the Rocket
Lovecraftian Horror and The Alchemy of the New
by Robert Guffey
Introducing: The Oathbringer Reread!
by Alice Arneson and Lyndsey Luther
Wed Jan 24
Ursula K. Le Guin in 2014: “I think hard times are coming… We will need writers who remember freedom.”
by Katharine Duckett
Name-Dropping Nzoorl: Lin Carter’s “Something in the Moonlight”
by Anne M. Pillsworth and Ruthanna Emrys
[Spooky Ghost Noises]: Collected Ghost Stories by M. R. James
by Leah Schnelbach
The Science Fiction and Fantasy Community Remembers Ursula K. Le Guin
by Tor.com
Watch the New Pacific Rim: Uprising Trailer
by Stubby the Rocket
Bright the Hawk’s Flight on the Empty Sky: Ursula K. Le Guin
by Jo Walton
Tue Jan 23
Ursula K. Le Guin, 1929-2018
by Tor.com
Check Out the Cover for the Song of Ice and Fire 2019 Calendar!
by Stubby the Rocket
SFWA Names Peter S. Beagle as Newest Damon Knight Grand Master
by Stubby the Rocket
When Dragons Slay Reality: Chandler Klang Smith’s The Sky Is Yours
by Leah Schnelbach
Strange Magic: George Lucas’ Quietly Revolutionary Take On Love
by Charlotte Bond
Winter 2018 Anime: A Deal with the Devil
by Kelly Quinn Chiu
Sleeps With Monsters: Demons On A Mission
by Liz Bourke
Get Out and The Shape of Water Nominated for Best Picture Oscars
by Stubby the Rocket
Power and Memory: The Only Harmless Great Thing by Brooke Bolander
by Liz Bourke
Read an Excerpt from The Only Harmless Great Thing
by Brooke Bolander
Announcing Worlds Seen in Passing: Ten Years of Tor.com Short Fiction Anthology
by Irene Gallo
Mon Jan 22
Rereading the Vorkosigan Saga: Komarr, Chapter 6
by Ellen Cheeseman-Meyer
The End Is Nigh: Chuck Wendig’s The Raptor and the Wren
by Alex Brown
You Can’t Go Back to the Way Things Were — Star Trek Discovery’s “Vaulting Ambition”
by Keith R.A. DeCandido
After the Apocalypse: Andre Norton’s Daybreak — 2250 A.D.
by Judith Tarr
Beyond Ariel: 9 Stories You Can Tell With Mermaids
by Stubby the Rocket
Pull List: Iceman, Mister Miracle, and Existential Crises
by Alex Brown
Fighting Erasure: Women SF Writers of the 1970s, A Through F
by James Davis Nicoll
Fri Jan 19
Learning Narrative Structure from Video Games
by Sarah Maria Griffin
Five Books Featuring Weird Spies
by Max Gladstone
6 Theories About Star Wars: Episode IX
by Stubby the Rocket
Trapped in a World They Never Made — Howard the Duck and Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.
by Keith R.A. DeCandido
Neil Gaiman Reads “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe
by Stubby the Rocket
Thu Jan 18
Starting with the Womb: Octavia E Butler’s Dawn
by Aliya Whiteley
Aristocratic Necromancy: Reign of the Fallen by Sarah Glenn Marsh
by Liz Bourke
A Tale of Tiny Artistry: Thumbelina
by Mari Ness
What Star Wars Learned From Literary Fiction
by Mike Chen
Snuggled Up With Spaceships: The Best SFF Comfort TV
by Stubby the Rocket
C.L. Moore’s Northwest Smith Stories: Pulp Hero vs. Cosmic Horrors
by Alan Brown
Wed Jan 17
Up, Up and Away: Senlin Ascends by Josiah Bancroft
by Niall Alexander
Resistance is Futile: Peter Watts’s “The Things”
by Ruthanna Emrys and Anne M. Pillsworth
Star Wars: The Rebellion Won Because They Treated Their Droids Like People
by Emmet Asher-Perrin
Attention, Citizens: The Tick Is Getting a Second Season!
by Leah Schnelbach
“Gilead is Within You”: Watch the First Teaser for The Handmaid’s Tale Season 2
by Natalie Zutter
Valinor Darkens (and Ungoliant Sucks)
by Jeff LaSala
Coming Home: Nnedi Okorafor’s Binti Series
by Alex Brown
The Ghoul Goes West
by Dale Bailey
Tue Jan 16
Let’s Ponder the Official Synopsis for Solo: A Star Wars Story
by Stubby the Rocket
How Hello, Rain Builds on the Magic of Nnedi Okorafor’s “Hello, Moto”
by Stubby the Rocket
Rereading the Vorkosigan Saga: Komarr, Chapters 3-5
by Ellen Cheeseman-Meyer
Moving Forward with The Last Jedi
by Michael Moreci
An Invisible War: Revealing Caitlín R. Kiernan’s Black Helicopters
by Tor.com
Sleeps With Monsters: Magic Roadtrips, Graceful Space Opera, and a Bleak Take on Star Wars
by Liz Bourke
Small Stories, Big Worlds: Why I Love Epic Stories That Stay Personal
by Emmet Asher-Perrin
I Belong Where the People Are: Disability and The Shape of Water
by Elsa Sjunneson-Henry
Mon Jan 15
Gonzo Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles RPG Has Everything You’d Ever Want
by Mordicai Knode
“We are still Starfleet” — Star Trek Discovery’s “The Wolf Inside”
by Keith R.A. DeCandido
Precociousness and Telekinesis: Rereading Roald Dahl’s Matilda
by Mari Ness
When Tropes Go Bad, Australian Edition: Horses Acting Up Down Under
by Judith Tarr
The 10 Best Comics Written by Alan Moore
by Tim Callahan
Read Binti: The Night Masquerade, Chapter 1
by Nnedi Okorafor
Fri Jan 12
Conceptual Mass: Gnomon by Nick Harkaway
by Niall Alexander
7 Possible Candidates for Star Trek: Discovery’s Mysterious New Emperor
by Chris Lough
Hit Comics Properties that Became Movie Flops — Steel and Spawn
by Keith R.A. DeCandido
Announcing the Nominees for the 2018 Philip K. Dick Award
by Tor.com
Everything You Need to Know about Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams
by Alasdair Stuart
Charles Stross’s Dark State (Audio Excerpt)
by Tor.com
Thu Jan 11
“There’s More Here Than You’re Willing to See”: Watch the Altered Carbon Trailer
by Stubby the Rocket
Bookending Realism with Fairy Tale: The Vanishing Princess by Jenny Diski
by Mari Ness
Nnedi Okorafor’s Lagoon Makes the Alien Seem Familiar
by Mishell Baker
The First Sisters: Naondel by Maria Turtschaninoff
by Lee Mandelo
Beowulf on the Big Screen: Good, Bad, and Even Worse
by Michael Livingston
Raymond E. Feist’s New Epic Fantasy Series The Firemane Saga to Begin in 2018
by Stubby the Rocket
How Fantasy Candy Kingdoms Have Evolved Over 200 Years
by Stubby the Rocket
Black Widow Standalone Movie Reportedly Moving Forward with Writer Jac Schaeffer
by Stubby the Rocket
Two Improvised Fugues: Arthur C. Clarke’s The City and the Stars and Against the Fall of Night
by Paul Weimer
Snarky Spaceships and Big Guns: Revealing The Stars Now Unclaimed
by Tor.com
Wed Jan 10
The Wertzone Offers a Glance at The Wheel of Time That Never Was
by Stubby the Rocket
The Future Is the Past: Regressive Science Fiction
by Tobias Carroll
Never Mess With the Trees, Part 2: Nathan Carson and Sam Ford’s “The Willows”
by Anne M. Pillsworth and Ruthanna Emrys
White Knight: Anna Kavan’s Ice
by Leah Schnelbach
Pirates, Goddesses, and Killers in This Season’s New Young Adult Fiction
by Alex Brown
The 10 Best and Worst Philip K Dick Adaptations
by Ryan Britt
Wow, People Are Really Mad at Poe Dameron
by Emmet Asher-Perrin
Tue Jan 9
Five Fictional Games with Deadly Consequences
by Peter Tieryas
The Unstable Nature of Reality: The Job of The Wasp by Colin Winnette
by Leah Schnelbach
Black Mirror’s Shared Universe Focuses on the Rights of Digital Persons
by Natalie Zutter
The Evolution of Religious Iconography in Star Wars
by Leah Schnelbach
Sleeps With Monsters: Strange Differences and Unusual Similarities
by Liz Bourke
The Most Human Star Trek is the One With the Most Aliens
by Alvaro Zinos-Amaro
“Real” Is a Four-Letter Word: Seanan McGuire’s Wayward Children Series
by Alex Brown
Mon Jan 8
Rereading the Vorkosigan Saga: Komarr, Chapters 1 and 2
by Ellen Cheeseman-Meyer
Semiosis
by Sue Burke
The Phantom Menace Also Defied Star Wars Expectations
by Michael Moreci
Once Again, With Closure: Andre Norton’s Forerunner: The Second Venture
by Judith Tarr
A Brief History of the Big Dumb Object Story in Science Fiction
by James Davis Nicoll
Five Faerie Books for People Who Hate Faeries
by Holly Black
The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side — Star Trek Discovery’s “Despite Yourself”
by Keith R.A. DeCandido
Inter-dimensional Spy Games: Dark State by Charles Stross
by Liz Bourke
Brooke Bolander Brings The Only Harmless Great Thing to NYC
by Katharine Duckett
Divine Effort: Redemption in Indigo by Karen Lord
by Nisi Shawl
Fri Jan 5
Five Books That Blend Science and Fantasy
by J. Patrick Black
A Bizarre Date I Witnessed Between Wolf Girl and James Spader’s Lonely Doppelganger
by Sarah Gailey
The 8 Best Alternate Realities From Star Trek
by Chris Lough
Pamela Dean’s Tam Lin Changed My Life
by Seanan McGuire
Beneath the Sugar Sky Audio Excerpt
by Tor.com
19 Chilly Winter Books to Read by a Roaring Fire
by Stubby the Rocket
Thu Jan 4
All the Genre-Bending Books Coming Out in January
by Tor.com
Pixar’s First Minor Roadblock: Cars 2
by Mari Ness
Five Weird Books for the Jaded Reader
by Robert Brockway
Politics and Demons: The Infernal Battalion by Django Wexler
by Liz Bourke
Luke Skywalker Isn’t Supposed to Be “Nice”
by Emmet Asher-Perrin
The Most Beautiful and Brutal Snow Planets from Sci-Fi and Fantasy
by Tor.com
Revisiting Ringworld: Larry Niven’s Timeless Classic
by Alan Brown
Contaminated Stories: Revealing Jeff Noon’s The Body Library
by Tor.com
Wed Jan 3
Aurora Australis: Monsters, Reporters, and Knaves
by Alexandra Pierce
All the Science Fiction Books Coming Out in January
by Tor.com
Never Mess With the Trees: Algernon Blackwood’s “The Willows”
by Ruthanna Emrys and Anne M. Pillsworth
Child of a Mad God
by R. A. Salvatore
Black Mirror Uses Star Trek Tropes to Critique Male Nerd Fantasies
by Natalie Zutter
Enter the Silmarils! (U Can’t Touch Them)
by Jeff LaSala
Where Your Own Talents Lie: The Cruel Prince by Holly Black
by Lee Mandelo
Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn Proves it’s Okay to Have Some Serious Fun
by Michael Moreci
Tue Jan 2
Rereading the Vorkosigan Saga: Memory, Chapter 29 (Plus Komarr Book Covers)
by Ellen Cheeseman-Meyer
Quiet Space Politics: Emergence by C.J. Cherryh
by Liz Bourke
Boost Your Immune System with These 10 SFF Medical Thrillers
by Stubby the Rocket
Meet Spies, Bakers, and Psychic Warriors in Barnes & Noble Booksellers Picks for January
by Tor.com
All the New Fantasy Books Coming Out in January
by Tor.com
Sleeps With Monsters: Odd and Satisfying
by Liz Bourke
Five Books About Fighting For Broken Worlds
by Marie Lu
What’s the First Line of the First Book You’re Reading in 2018?
by Stubby the Rocket
Mon Jan 1
The Broad, Luminous Worlds of SFF Artist Richard Anderson
by Aidan Moher
Space Opera is More than “Fantasy in Space”
by Emmet Asher-Perrin
White Horse Between the Worlds: The Mystical Side of Sleipnir
by Judith Tarr
The Science of Desert Planets
by Alex Acks