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Original Fiction

Arbitrium

Anjali Sachdeva

Wed May 25, 2022 9:00am 4 comments 5 Favorites [+]

Vashti is a pathogenic diplomat—an ambassador to the world of viruses, whom she communicates with through a machine that can translate their chemical signals into images, tastes, smells, sounds, and memories. She begins a negotiation between the US Government and a diplomatic contingent from Arenavirus, a virus which has just begun spreading a deadly mutation in Florida. If Vashti is successful, she and Arena will reach a diplomatic agreement; if not, the Arenavirus infection will continue to spread, and humans will have to race to try to find a vaccine or treatment. As she navigates the diplomatic discussions, Vashti is also trying to connect with her daughter Alma, who lives on the other side of the country in a technology-averse commune. By the time the negotiation ends, Vashti discovers that Arenavirus have learned some impressive and deadly tricks from their interactions with humans.

Original Fiction

Hearts of Stone

Wed May 18, 2022 9:00am 7 comments 10 Favorites [+]

For over 35 years, the Wild Cards universe has been entertaining readers with stories of superpowered people in an alternate history. In Emma Newman’s “Hearts of Stone”, a young woman learns how to control her deadly powers from an unlikely ally.

Kerry —a.k.a Stonemaiden— is a monster. Or at least… she thinks she is. Ever since she turned her parents into granite statues, she lives in constant fear of hurting other people. To prove herself a hero–someone worthy of joining the Silver Helix–she embarks on her first field mission to Central London where she’s tasked with surveying a Russian diplomat named Kazimir Nazarenko. When she finally comes into contact with Kazimir, it becomes evident everything is not what it appears, leading her to question everything she’s been led to believe.

Note from the author: This story contains references to, and characters from, Russia and Ukraine. It was written in 2020, and was inspired by my fear of what was then a potential war, rather than any of the devastating events unfolding in Ukraine as a result of the Russian invasion in 2022.

Series: Wild Cards on Tor.com

Original Fiction

The Long View

Wed Apr 27, 2022 9:00am 14 comments 32 Favorites [+]

A university student seeks special accommodations for her new support animal, causing havoc all around her.

Original Fiction

Men, Women, and Chainsaws

Stephen Graham Jones

Wed Apr 20, 2022 9:00am 1 comment 28 Favorites [+]

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.

Original Fiction

The Dominion of Leviathan

Wed Apr 13, 2022 9:00am 9 comments 22 Favorites [+]

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.

Original Fiction

Sword & Spore

Dominica Phetteplace

Wed Apr 6, 2022 9:00am 4 comments 24 Favorites [+]

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.

Highlights from the Blog

The SF Path to Higher Consciousness

Arrival Wonders What We’d Do If Life Came with Spoilers

Tue May 24, 2022 12:00pm 14 comments 14 Favorites [+]

At the risk of sounding self-indulgent, let me point out that film criticism is not born in a vacuum. Much as I try to keep myself “pure”—not reading reviews, not consulting PR synopses (at least before my first viewing), going all the way to tackling people who say they’ve already seen the film to keep them from revealing what they thought of it—I still go into a screening with expectations and prejudices. I carry my personal baggage wherever I go, and there’s a lifetime in every word I write—including, to radically paraphrase Mary McCarthy, “if,” “and,” and “but.”

Cognizance of where I’ve been steers where I’m going. If I feel that A Monster Calls (2016) is a grievously undervalued film, I can’t discount that that opinion may well have roots in a particularly devastating event in my own life. The question I’m obligated to confront is: Do I factor my personal biases into my reviews and temper my evaluation accordingly, or do I accept them as a part of the things that form me, and stand by my judgement? How much do I let cognizance of the past alter my present…and future?

Science Fiction

Five SF Books Featuring Flights Into Exile

James Davis Nicoll

Tue May 24, 2022 3:00pm 27 comments 3 Favorites [+]

History is full of stories about folks who dislike (or fear) their governments, have no way to alter said governments, and must relocate (or flee): Huguenots fleeing persecution in France, Irish fleeing famines that English colonialists ignored, and the Pilgrims fleeing Dutch religious tolerance all come to mind.

It’s no surprise, therefore, that numerous science fiction authors have written about politically-motivated migration. Consider the five following works, representing only a small sample from a well-populated category…

Mark as Read

Travel and Reading: A Vacation in Pages

Molly Templeton

Thu May 26, 2022 11:00am 7 comments 2 Favorites [+]

Is it still vacation when you go somewhere you used to live? For the first time in two years, I did a bit of traveling, and it was weird. Weird to be on planes. Weird to remember all the awkward dances of cramming into tiny places with strangers, a weirdness exponentially compounded by pandemic anxiety. Weird to get on the subway, weird to return to a place I haven’t been since before the pandemic began. All the weirdnesses of the last two years, compacted and intensified in my old home, now far from home.

Traveling is reading time. All that between-time, the between-spaces of planes and airports and trains and every other mode of transit: Since I was old enough to read, I’ve filled those places with pages. Thousands of miles on Greyhound buses, moving between parents, is equal to hundreds of books read. Flying home from college, reading things entirely different than what I’d read for class. Commuting on the subway with a book carefully held in one hand. (Anyone who’s ever commuted in New York knows how many ways you can find to hold a book and turn pages single-handed, if you must. And often, you must.)

But travel reading is not unchanged by the last few years, either.

television reviews

Obi-Wan Kenobi Brings the Hurt in Its Two-Part Premiere

Emmet Asher-Perrin

Fri May 27, 2022 1:53pm 4 Favorites [+]

Screenshot: Lucasfilm

Oh wow, okay wow, it is Friday, I am wearing a Super Yaki crop top that reads “in 1999 duel of the fates spent 11 days on trl,” the air smells like allergens, I drank a strawberry coffee, I am ready for this. Are you ready for this? Let’s go.

awards

Announcing the Shortlist for the 2022 Nommo Awards

Fri May 27, 2022 11:17am 3 Favorites [+]

The Nommo Awards, given annually by the African Speculative Fiction Society, recognize works of speculative fiction by African writers. This week, the ASFS announced the shortlist for this year’s awards.

Congratulations to all the shortlisted authors!

Horror

Vincent Price: Horror’s Original Evil Genius

Fri May 27, 2022 11:00am 18 comments 2 Favorites [+]

Screenshot: American International Pictures

In a career that stretched from 1938 to 1995, Vincent Price captivated audiences with a debonair manner that brought smooth sophistication to his evil ways. Although he certainly played heroic, and even romantic roles at times, Price excelled as an evil genius. His elegant presence and rich voice brought a new and impressive level of menace to the devilish tortures his characters devised.

If we look at Price’s six best villain performances, we can find plenty of moments that surely set the standard for modern horror movie geniuses of every stripe…

Jude Law Joins Star Wars: Skeleton Crew

Molly Templeton

Fri May 27, 2022 10:32am 4 comments Favorite This

Another Star Wars series is coming to Disney+, and this one stars the Young Pope himself. Lucasfilm announced yesterday that Jude Law will star in Skeleton Crew, which—like The Mandalorian and Ahsoka— is set in the post-Return of the Jedi era. According to Vanity Fair, “Inside Lucasfilm, the show is being described as a galactic version of classic Amblin coming-of-age adventure films of the ’80s.”

Terry Pratchett Book Club

Terry Pratchett Book Club: Maskerade, Part III

Emmet Asher-Perrin

Fri May 27, 2022 10:00am 12 comments 3 Favorites [+]

I would very much like my own bouquet of ghost roses, is the thought I’d like to begin with this week.

Series: Terry Pratchett Book Club

trailers

The Teaser for Willow, the Sequel to Willow, Goes Into the Unknown

Molly Templeton

Fri May 27, 2022 9:49am 11 comments 1 Favorite [+]

Once upon a time—in 1988—there was a fantasy film called Willow. It was neither a total blockbuster (it did fine) nor critically adored, but it was made by George Lucas (who provided the story) and Ron Howard (who directed) and Bob Dolman (who wrote the screenplay, but does not have the name recognition of the first two).

Willow is about a baby who might grow up to defeat a sorceress; the sorceress’s daughter; a mercenary; and Willow Ufgood, played by Warwick Davis, who finds the magic baby. If you are of a certain age, you probably have very fond memories of the film. And that’s exactly what Disney+ is banking on with Willow, the series sequel to Willow, still starring Davis as Willow.

The Rebellion Is Growing in Ominous New Trailer for Andor

Leah Schnelbach

Thu May 26, 2022 3:20pm 15 comments 2 Favorites [+]

We’ve got our first teaser trailer for Andor, and a release date! And while the clip is short on detail, it packs a lot of ominous tone into a few short scenes.

Excerpts

Read an Excerpt From Rosaria Munda’s Furysong

Thu May 26, 2022 3:00pm Post a comment 2 Favorites [+]

A new revolution is underway, and nobody will emerge unscathed.

We’re thrilled to share an excerpt from Furysong, the epic conclusion to Rosaria Munda’s Aurelian Cycle trilogy, out from G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers on August 9.

star trek: strange new worlds

Giant Gas Cloud of Death — Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: “Memento Mori”

Keith R.A. DeCandido

Thu May 26, 2022 2:00pm 103 comments 4 Favorites [+]

Image: CBS

The Gorn were introduced in the original series’ “Arena,” and while they’ve been seen briefly here and there since then—in the animated series’ “The Time Trap,” Lower Decks’ “Veritas” (GORN WEDDING!) and “An Embarrassment of Dooplers,” and Enterprise’s “In a Mirror, Darkly, Part II”—there’s been very little done with them of any depth (outside the tie-in fiction, anyhow).

Using the Gorn on Strange New Worlds was always going to be fraught because the implication in “Arena” was that this was first contact with the Gorn. Yet part of La’an’s backstory on SNW is that she was the sole survivor of a Gorn attack. We get the details of that this week in a thrill-ride of an episode that is one of the best space-battle episodes of Trek you’re ever likely to see.

[You just turned a compass into a radar.]

classic science fiction

Hal Clement at 100: Five Favorites From a Master of SF

James Davis Nicoll

Thu May 26, 2022 1:00pm 19 comments 5 Favorites [+]

Harry Clement Stubbs was born May 30, 1922, a century ago, more or less (or exactly, if you’re reading this on May 30^th). Readers of a certain age know him as the science fiction author Hal Clement. Younger readers may not know him at all, because Clement died on October 29, 2003, and death often confers obscurity. Which is too bad, because younger readers are missing out on some fine stories. Here are five works by Clement that are well worth reading.

news

A Horizon Zero Dawn Series Is in the Works at Netflix

Molly Templeton

Thu May 26, 2022 12:19pm 4 comments 1 Favorite [+]

Halo, The Last of Us, Twisted Metal: The flurry of game-to-series adaptations isn’t slowing down any time soon. The latest video game in development as a series is Sony’s Horizon Zero Dawn, which is in development at Netflix.

cover reveals

Revealing The Lost Metal, a Mistborn Novel From Brandon Sanderson

Thu May 26, 2022 12:00pm 5 comments 13 Favorites [+]

If no one steps forward to be the hero Scadrial needs, the planet and its millions of people will come to a sudden and calamitous ruin…

We’re thrilled to share the cover of The Lost Metal: A MISTBORN Novel by Brandon Sanderson—publishing November 15, 2022 with Tor Books.

Mark as Read

Travel and Reading: A Vacation in Pages

Molly Templeton

Thu May 26, 2022 11:00am 7 comments 2 Favorites [+]

"The Travelling Companions" by Augustus Egg (1862)

Is it still vacation when you go somewhere you used to live? For the first time in two years, I did a bit of traveling, and it was weird. Weird to be on planes. Weird to remember all the awkward dances of cramming into tiny places with strangers, a weirdness exponentially compounded by pandemic anxiety. Weird to get on the subway, weird to return to a place I haven’t been since before the pandemic began. All the weirdnesses of the last two years, compacted and intensified in my old home, now far from home.

Traveling is reading time. All that between-time, the between-spaces of planes and airports and trains and every other mode of transit: Since I was old enough to read, I’ve filled those places with pages. Thousands of miles on Greyhound buses, moving between parents, is equal to hundreds of books read. Flying home from college, reading things entirely different than what I’d read for class. Commuting on the subway with a book carefully held in one hand. (Anyone who’s ever commuted in New York knows how many ways you can find to hold a book and turn pages single-handed, if you must. And often, you must.)

But travel reading is not unchanged by the last few years, either.

news

Speed Racer Is Getting the Live-Action Treatment Again—This Time as a Series

Molly Templeton

Thu May 26, 2022 10:35am 5 comments Favorite This

Screenshot: Warner Bros.

To answer the first and most important question about any new live-action Speed Racer creation: No, the Wachowskis are not involved. The next version of Speed Racer comes from Apple TV+, executive producer J.J. Abrams, and writers/co-showrunners Ron Fitzgerald (co-creator of the new Perry Mason) and Hiram Martinez (a producer and writer on Snowpiercer).

Will it be candy-colored and bright? Will the villain be capitalism? Or will we get a dark and gritty Speed Racer that takes its cues from, say, the Fast and/or Furious franchise? So much remains to be seen.

The Stormlight Archive

Rhythm of War Reread: Chapter Eighty

Alice Arneson and Paige Vest

Thu May 26, 2022 10:00am 19 comments 1 Favorite [+]

Welcome back, y’all. It’s Thursday again, so here we are! This is a weighty chapter: pain and agony, but also beauty and humor. Weird combo, eh? It’s Kaladin’s only POV in Part Four. (The rest of his arc is told through the eyes of his Bridge Four companions.) There’s a brutal nightmare, a ray of hope, a plunge into despair, brightness, an elegant Cryptic, and Wit’s story entry for this book. Come on in and join the discussion!

[Dogs can’t be dragons!]

Series: Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson