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The rise in steam power in the late 18th century led to the imagined possibility that humanity might finally be freed from dependence on muscle and wind as sources of energy. Novels of the near- and far-future, in which new forms of energy, including steam, would lead to new technology and new cultures, expressed this imagined possibility. As early as 1802, in Johannes Daniel Falk's Elektropolis, or The Sun City, electricity was seen as something which would power a utopian civilization. (In Elektropolis even the sun has been removed and replaced with an enormous "electrophor"). More »
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One generation's master is the next generation's hack. One generation's classic is the next's punch-line. Witness the case of Edward George Earle Bulwer, Baron Lytton of Knebworth–or, as he became known to later generations, Bulwer-Lytton. More »
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In Nobuhiko Obayashi's 1977 horror classic, House (a.k.a. Hausu), a band of plucky vacationing schoolgirls make the fatal mistake of spending summer vacation at a very hungry haunted house. More »
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Jim Jarmusch's 1999 thriller Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai is a stunning meditation on race, death, cultural cross-pollination, and Forest Whitaker killing gangsters. But what's most intriguing about Ghost Dog is how Jarmusch transforms the film's flesh-and-blood samurai into a nigh mythical wraith. Here's why this film has become a must-see classic in just twelve short years. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5772478&view=rss&microfeed=true It's not enough that Peter Jackson's The Hobbit will be filmed in 3-D — now your favorite science fiction books will have 3-D covers too. Are you excited yet? Vintage Classics is reissuing five books with 3-D covers: Planet of the Apes by Pierre Boulle, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Jules Verne, The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle and The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Tales by H.P. Lovecraft. And yes, the books will come with 3-D glasses. Says Random House Group Creative Director Suzanne Dean: More »
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Ever wondered the geographical origins of such dissimilar stories as Doctor Faustus and Jaws? This map charts the evolution of four classic tales as they traversed continents, centuries, and cultures. More »
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A lost second volume of the early science fiction novella called The Great Romance has been discovered in New Zealand, and it reveals early thoughts of crazy alien sex, plus airlocks, space shuttles and space suits. All this, long before we had even devised a scientific way to the moon besides jumping really, really high. But what's really important about this novel is it's the first serious narrative where humans leave Earth to colonize other planets, instead of getting attacked War of The Worlds-style. More plot details after the jump. More »
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Arthur C. Clarke's weird science fiction novel Childhood's End could soon be a movie directed by Kimberly Peirce (Boys Don't Cry, and the upcoming Stop-Loss). Peirce says she's attracted to the challenging themes of Clarke's 1953 novel, but she'll have a hard time turning it into a big-budget movie. The novel inspired songs with the same title by Iron Maiden and Pink Floyd, but it's probably too dated for 21st. century audiences. More details after the jump. More »
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