io9: Hg Wells

The 10 Most Unnecessary Giant Monster Movies Of All Time

Cyriaque Lamar — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 10:50:00 PST

Not every scifi film can star a Brobdingnagian shark or lizard. Some movies must make due with giant livestock, vermin, and apes who aren't named King Kong. Here are 10 of the most superfluous creature features ever made.

Great Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Who Never Wrote Sequels or Trilogies

Charlie Jane Anders — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 14:46:51 PST

Sometimes it seems like science fiction, and especially fantasy, are genres that lend themselves exclusively to trilogies and long-running series. But some of the greatest writers in speculative fiction have only written standalone novels, not series or trilogies. More »

Wild 1969 Japanese magazine art imagines the hellhole at Earth's core

Cyriaque Lamar — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 14:25:00 PST

Here's something that should appeal to fans of Gōjin Ishihara's profoundly weird children's art. In 1969. a Japanese magazine published these exceedingly intense depictions of life at the center of our planet. Taking cues from Journey to the Center of the Earth and The Lost World, these drawings and diagrams are the strange remnants of some plesiosaur-filled fever dream. I love the heck out of them all.

Did H.G. Wells do a better job predicting the future of warfare than the Pentagon?

Charlie Jane Anders — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 16:09:45 PST

H.G. Wells gave us many of our most beloved science fiction conceits — but did he also foresee how war would develop in the era of airplanes and advanced weaponry? And were his predictions more prescient than some of the Pentagon's attempts to forecast the changing nature of war have been? More »

io9's Field Guide to Martians

Alasdair Wilkins and Sophie Bushwick — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 13:05:10 PST

Science fiction is overrun with Martians, from monstrous invaders to shapeshifting superheroes to Santa-kidnapping buffoons. To make sense of over a century's worth of Martians, we present this grid ranking scifi Martians on their goodness and just how alien they are (click to expand). More »

10 Science Fiction Books That Changed the Course of History

Gordon Jackson and Charlie Jane Anders — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 10:00:00 PDT

Many science fiction books imagine strange new worlds — but only a few science fiction books have actually changed the world we live in. A few visionary authors have managed to make such an impression that they left the world a vastly different place. More »

Now we really want to see Warehouse 13's H.G. Wells spin-off!

Charlie Jane Anders — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 15:54:09 PDT

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You might recall that Syfy gave the green light to development of a Warehouse 13 spin-off starring H.G. Wells a while back. Back when this was announced, we were pretty excited — but that was before we saw last night's episode, guest-starring Torchwood's Gareth David-Lloyd. More »

Warehouse 13 is going to get trapped inside a genre-bending, wizard-obsessed video game!

Alasdair Wilkins and Katharine Trendacosta — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 08:00:00 PDT

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Yesterday's Warehouse 13 panel at Comic-Con revealed what the new guy means for the show, the details of the latest Eureka crossover, whether Mark Shepard will ever return, and (yes!) confirmation of a spin-off following HG Wells in the days of Warehouse 12! More »

Was Area 51 a conspiracy between Stalin and Joseph Mengele?

Cyriaque Lamar — Mon, 16 May 2011 07:40:00 PDT

Did two of the most evil Joes of the 20th century team up to troll America with fake child aliens? According to author Annie Jacobsen's new book Area 51, Stalin and Mengele collaborated on a Cold War of the Worlds. More »

A Warehouse 13 Spin-Off Starring H.G. Wells? Yes please!

Charlie Jane Anders — Thu, 12 May 2011 15:31:36 PDT

One of the best things about Warehouse 13's second season was the revelation that H.G. Wells was a woman — and she was a sassy inventor, who rivaled Doctor Who's River Song in the style department. More »

10 Greatest Libertarian Science Fiction Stories

Alasdair Wilkins — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 10:00:00 PDT

Looking for an antidote to Star Trek's utopian but overbearing Federation? Like your science fiction with a bigger emphasis on personal liberties? Then check out our list of the greatest libertarian science fiction. More »

10 Coolest Time Machines in the Space-Time Continuum

Charlie Jane Anders — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 10:00:00 PDT

Screw a spaceship, we want a time machine! Time machines rule, because they crack open the mysteries of the past and future. And each time machine has its own weird personality. And if you visited another planet, you'd probably suffocate. More »

Latest zombie literary mashup: "War of the Worlds Plus Blood Guts and Zombies"

Meredith Woerner — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 11:22:27 PST

Like the undead, these zombie novel mashups are hard to kill. Next up is The War of the Worlds Plus Blood Guts and Zombies, in which both alien invaders and humankind are forced to fight off the undead. More »

In the 1930s, cigarette packs predicted the future

Matt Novak -- Paleo-Future Blog — Sat, 27 Nov 2010 07:00:00 PST

In the 1930s, This Age of Power and Wonder was a collection of scifi prophecies that could be found in the curiousest of places — cigarette boxes. More »

Jason Stackhouse's pulls on the pleather for his superhero film Griff

Meredith Woerner — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 09:30:00 PST

Jason Stackhouse is a pivotal part of the True Blood team, thanks to Ryan Kwanten's two greatest assets: his abs and his acting. But can he pull off the role of social outcast/superhero in his latest flick Griff the Invisible? More »

15 classic science fiction and fantasy novels that publishers rejected

Charlie Jane Anders and Michael Ann Dobbs — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 15:36:26 PDT

Science fiction's greatest authors have brilliant ideas, storytelling mojo... and plenty of stubbornness. Many of the field's greatest writers were buried in rejection slips, before they finally broke in. Here are 15 classic novels that publishers didn't want to touch. More »

20 mad scientists who turned against their creations

Charlie Jane Anders — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 15:42:58 PDT

The greatest mad scientists dabble in forces that... wait for it... man (or woman) was not meant to meddle with. And many of them live to regret it. Here are 20 mad scientists whose journeys ended in remorse and despair. More »

New novel will show H.G. Wells grappling with mega-stardom

Charlie Jane Anders — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 11:20:00 PDT

Amazing news: One of Britain's funniest, cleverest authors is writing a novel about the life of H.G. Wells, and it comes out next April. David Lodge, author of the Booker-shortlisted Nice Work, will provide "fascinating insight" into Wells' life. More »

Warehouse 13 proves that its most powerful artifacts are its characters

Charlie Jane Anders — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 16:20:00 PDT

Last night saw an Earth-shattering conclusion to Warehouse 13's second season. Inescapable deathtraps, supervillainous masterplans, and tests of both wits and heart. It doesn't much better than this! Spoilers below. More »

Seeing the truth of the world via science fiction

Daniel Rourke — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 16:43:53 PDT

Science fiction takes us out of our own time and place, and confronts us with alien objects as well as incomprehensible future artifacts. By doing this, argues Daniel Rourke, SF brings us closer to seeing things as they really are. More »

The most unnecessary giant monster movies of all time

Cyriaque Lamar — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 14:00:32 PDT

H.G. Wells short story contest bans science fiction, and gets no entries

Charlie Jane Anders — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 08:30:00 PDT

What's the point of having a short fiction contest celebrating H.G. Wells if it doesn't allow science fiction? That's probably what a lot of potential entrants in Reg Turnill's short story contest were thinking. Turnill, a 94-year-old former journalist who once interviewed Wells himself, received a bunch of alien-invasion stories in last year's contest. So this year, he decided to ban science fiction from the contest for writers under 25, which carries a £1,000 prize. He also required entries be handwritten. But now that he's received no entries, he's decided to relax the rules, allowing science fiction and just giving extra points for handwritten entries. [Kent News via Boing Boing] More »

Reality TV artists reimagine H.G. Wells and Mary Shelley's book covers

Meredith Woerner — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 06:30:00 PDT

Last night on Bravo's Work of Art, the reality series commissioned a pack of artists to redesign the book covers of a few genre classics, from Frankenstein to the Time Machine. A few interpretations were just brilliant. Take a look! More »

A brief history of alternate history fiction

David Daw — Sun, 30 May 2010 10:00:00 PDT

This week we take a break from examining alternate timelines and recap the real-life origins of the alternate history genre. Did you know such historical luminaries as Benjamin Disraeli, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and H.G. Wells were alternate history aficionados? More »

19 fictional islands you can visit now that Lost is over

Mary R. — Fri, 21 May 2010 13:20:00 PDT

On Sunday, you'll have your last visit to Lost's mysterious island, so what fictional islands should you visit next? Luckily, science fiction is full of weird islands full of secrets, so call your metafictional travel agent today! More »

Great Moments In Alternate History: First Contact

David Daw — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 10:10:00 PDT

Alien fleets, rayguns and...Winston Churchill? Sure, we haven't met any aliens yet in our timeline (or they're being very discreet about close encounters), but alternate history authors won't let that stop them. First contact isn't just for the future anymore! More »

Download 700+ Free Scifi Books Onto Your iPhone

Cyriaque Lamar — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 12:03:43 PDT

Need to catch up on your reading? Like, a whole damn lot of reading? A new iPhone app offers 746 free public domain scifi books from authors such as Jules Verne, Edgar Rice Burroughs, and H.G. Wells. More »

An Alternate History Of H.G. Wells' Time Machine

Charlie Jane Anders — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 09:30:00 PST

When H.G. Wells' The Time Machine first appeared in the U.S., it had a drastically different text than the British edition. Was this a hatchet job, or did the U.S. publisher get an earlier Wells draft? We may soon know. More »

Lost's Time Travel Pedigree

StephenGoldmeier — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 10:00:00 PST

Whatever happened is fixed - or we rule our fates? Over 5 years, Lost has developed its philosophy of time-travel, influenced by works that came before. Here are 6 time-travel stories that are part of Lost's time travel pedigree. More »

H. G. Wells Strikes Back with 'Things To Come'

Emmett Plant — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 10:30:00 PST

H. G. Wells disliked Fritz Lang's Metropolis with a fiery passion, tearing it apart in a review for the New York Times. The movie Things To Come' is his brilliant celluloid riposte, and you can watch it online for free. More »

HG Wells and Jules Verne Battle Over the Future of Science Fiction

Lauren Davis — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 13:30:00 PST

Poor Jules Verne. All he wanted to do was tell scientifically plausible tales about great explorations and new technologies. Then HG Wells steps in with his fanciful time machines and alien invasions. What happens when their imaginary technologies face off? More »

Is This The Beginnings Of The First Megacity?

Charlie Jane Anders — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 11:36:36 PST

The idea of an arcology, a single hyper-structure that houses an entire town or city, has haunted science-fiction stories like H.G. Wells' The Sleeper Awakes, Judge Dredd comics and Larry Niven novels. But now they're building one in the desert. More »

Don't Ask The Wall Street Journal How To Wean Your Kids Off Reading Science Fiction

Charlie Jane Anders — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 07:20:00 PDT

Somebody wrote to the Wall Street Journal's book advice column to ask how you go about convincing your 13-year-old nephew to stop reading science fiction. Thank goodness the WSJ's in-house book nerd was smart enough to say: You don't. More »

Moonage Daydreamer: The Greatest Lunar Scenes

Gary Susman — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 17:16:42 PDT

In honor of Moon, opening today, we went kinda loony (get it?) coming up with our favorite lunar scenes in film and TV. (We restricted the list to our own planet's moon; sorry, Saturn and Endor fans.) Watch them here. More »

10 Greatest Libertarian Science Fiction Stories

Alasdair Wilkins — Fri, 15 May 2009 11:15:49 PDT

12 Coolest Deaths In Science Fiction History

Charlie Jane Anders — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 20:17:00 PDT

Click to viewIt's never great to watch a beloved science fiction hero die - but sometimes a memorable heroic death can help turn a science fiction story into a real epic. And some science fiction characters are unforgettable and bad-ass precisely because they died in a memorable way. Here's our list of the dozen greatest deaths in the history of science fiction. With some spoilers, natch. 12) Searle in Sunshine. Okay, I may be the only person who really loved Danny Boyle's blazing space opera about a doomed crew trying to reignite the sun. That's okay, I can be right all on my own. I especially love the way the character of Searle, the ship's psychiatrist, surprises you in his final moments. He's kind of a prurient asshole for most of the movie, obsessed with looking into the sun with as little filter as possible. He's a pretty terrible therapist. But when the chips are down, he knows he's the most expendable crewmember. When four crewmembers from the Icarus II get trapped on the wrecked ship Icarus I, with the airlock damaged, Searle agrees to stay behind so the rest of the away team can get back to the Icarus II. He helps blast the others out the airlock, then exposes himself to the sun, dying the same way as the Icarus I's crew. Click to view If you're going to be a creepy therapist, the least you can do is self-immolate to save the rest of us. 11) Woody in Mission To Mars. This is a pretty terrible movie overall, but a fantastic death scene. Our heroes have to abandon their vessel. And then Woody, played by Tim Robbins, leaves the others and launches himself at the Resupply Module (REMO), but after he attaches the line from the other astronauts at the REMO, he keeps moving towards the planet. His wife, Terri, wants to go after him, but Woody knows she'll die in the rescue attempt. So he takes off his own helmet and dies of depressurization rather than let her die for him. (Thanks to Meredith for the suggestion!) Runner up: Speaking of depressurization deaths, Graeme really wanted me to include Cally's death from Battlestar Galactica. But I didn't really think her death was awesome. Sorry, G. 10) Graham in "The Sleeper Wakes" by H.G. Wells. One of Wells' weirdest stories involves a man known only as Graham, who sleeps for over 200 years and wakes to find that he's not just the richest man in the world, but actually the owner of the entire world. He eventually discovers that the White Council, which governs in his name, is oppressing everyone, and he helps a revolutionary named Ostrog to mount a revolution. But afterwards, Ostrog starts oppressing people just as badly as the White Council had. So finally Graham gets mad. This time, it's personal - he gets into an airplane and rams a whole bunch of Ostrog's air fleet. (Remember, this was written in 1910.) Finally, he rams his plane into Ostrog's, then spirals to Earth, knowing that the revolution will prevail at last. Runner up: Someone suggested Hari Seldon from Forward The Foundation, but I haven't read that book and couldn't find much about it or track down a copy. Was his death truly awesome? Let me know. 9) The Controller in Doctor Who, "Day Of The Daleks" "Day Of The Daleks" is probably not on my list of the 100 greatest Doctor Who stories of all time, but it has a few really amazing moments. The greatest of these is where the Controller finally stands up to his Dalek masters. All along, the 22nd century bureaucrat has been fooling himself that he can help the Daleks govern the human race and actually do some good along the way, helping people when the Daleks aren't looking. But after a few chats with the Doctor, he finally realizes you can't work within the Dalek system. He helps the Doctor escape, and when his coverup fails, the Daleks decide to exterminate him. "Who knows?" he says. "I may have helped to exterminate you." Awesome. Runners up: Various people suggested the deaths of various Doctors, but none of them really jumped out at me as especially cool. One person suggested Adric, and I'll protect his/her identity, to save him/her from the inevitable scorn of the masses. 8) Lt. Paul Wang from Space: Above And Beyond. "Everybody's favorite tortured bipolar guy," Lt. Wang, callsign "Joker," gives his life to hold off the aliens while everyone else gets away. "This is for you!" he shouts as he pours ammo into the enemy. Commenter oconnellmd suggested this scene, and I can see why. 7) Certain people in Blake's 7, "Blake" I'm going to show an unusual degree of restraint and not say who dies in this episode. Let's just say it's an incredibly fitting end for the saga, one which makes all of the stuff that comes before seem cooler because it leads up to this. In my write-up on how to discover Blake's 7, I actually advocate watching the last episode first. At the very least, I think this is one spoiler that makes you appreciate the rest of the show more. But don't take my word for it: watch for yourself. 6) Pham Nuwen from A Fire Upon The Deep by Vernor Vinge. Pham Nuwen is animated by the Old One, a super-powerful artificial intelligence, and he dies fighting the Blight, another super-A.I. First Pham downloads as much of the Old One into his brain as possible, overclocking his human brain by containing this massive superhuman intelligence, which will inevitably destroy him. And then he launches the Countermeasure, an advanced weapon which moves the boundaries of the Slow Zone far enough to enclose and destory the Blight. But the Countermeasure also has the effect of terminating Pham at the same time:

The Countermeasure's writhing had slowed. Its light flickered bright and then out. Bright and then out. She heard Pham's breath gasp with every darkness. Countermeasure, a savior that was going to kill a million civilizations. And was going to kill the man who triggered it. Almost unthinking, she dodged past the thing, reaching for Pham. But razors upon razors blocked her, raking her arms. Pham was looking up at her. He was trying to say something more. Then the light went out for a final time. From the darkness all around came a hissing sound and a growling, bitter smell that Ravna would never forget.

(Thanks Annalee!) 5) The T-800 in Terminator II. After Arnold Schwartzenegger's T-800 helps Sarah and John Connor defeat Robert Patrick's mean T-1000 by blowing it up and knocking it into molten metal, Arnie knows he has to go too. If there's anything left of the T-800, the technology could be used to reconstitute Skynet and bring the badness down on our heads. So Arnie gets Sarah Connor to lower him - slowly - into the molten metal. He gives a thumbs up as he descends to his robo-fondue doom. (Thanks, Annalee!) 4) Biggs from Star Wars. I was seriously considering making Obi-Wan the coolest death from Star Wars, but really, screw that guy. First of all, as he points out himself, he comes back a thousand times more powerful afterwards. And secondly and more importantly, he's kind of a big martyr, as everyone points out in the awesome parody Hardware Wars. And Biggs doesn't have any super Force powers, or the ability to come back a thousand times more anything. All Biggs has is a X-ing, a can-do attitude, and an awesome porn-stache. And he's the greatest wingman ever, taking enemy fire and blowing up so that Luke can nuke the death star and get all the glory afterwards. And look how stoic Biggs is in this deleted scene from Episode IV, telling Luke he may never come home again because he's off to join the rebels: When does baby Biggs get his own episode of the Clone Wars cartoon? Preferably with a little baby mustache? 3) Spike from Cowboy Bebop. Martian bounty hunter Spike Spiegel gets into a duel with his former best friend, Vicious after Vicious' Red Dragon gang has killed Spike's girlfriend Julia. Spike finally decides to face the past with Vicious that he ran away from three years earlier, and he storms the Red Dragon headquarters, killing a bunch of its members as he climbs. Vicious manages to slash Spike with his katana, but then Spike shoots Vicious dead. Spike comes down the stairs, wounded and weakened, to face all the remaining members of the Red Dragon. Spike makes a gun with his fingers and says "Bang"... then collapses. Most people seem to assume Spike dies of his wounds, and it's not hard to find tons of people online listing this as one of the coolest death scenes in all anime, or all Asian films, let alone science fiction. 2) Someone from Anathem by Neal Stephenson. Since this book just came out and it's a bit of a major spoiler, I won't say who dies and how - click here if you've already read the book and/or don't care about spoilers. 1) Spock from Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan. I'm not putting the pointy-eared green blooded Vulcan first just because I know I'd get lynched otherwise. I'm not even including the death of Spock because I pretty much memorized all the dialog from that scene as a little kid. I'm including it because it's the template of how to do a memorable, important death in a science fiction epic. The movie isn't ABOUT Spock at all, but it still feels as though the whole film has been leading up to his death. A lesser film would have been more clumsy and obvious about giving Spock a bunch of cool moments leading up to his death, and trying to manipulate us into feeling the Spock love before he snuffs it. Instead, we do get plenty of cool Spock moments, including giving Kirk his present and mentoring Lt. Saavik. But it's woven into the rest of the movie, and the film's running theme of the "no-win situation" and the impossibility of cheating death every single time help to set up the death of Kirk's best friend way better than a scene where Spock talks about what he's going to do when he retires and goes back to Vulcan. The result is one of the most amazing moments in Trek history, one of those moments where you can really beleive Trek is a sweeping saga instead of just a zany adventure with green women and Saurian brandy. Runner up: I can't believe I left out Roy Batty in Blade Runner, as various commenters have pointed out. Especially since I went on a whole tangent about Roy's amazing death scene in my rant about why there shouldn't be a BR sequel earlier in the day. Suffice to say the Roy Batty death scene is definitely one of the all-time classic, and easily up there with Spock's. More »

Martian Statue Permanently Terrorizes Small English Town

Meredith Woerner — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 12:37:00 PDT

The first Tripod from scifi writer H.G. Wells' mind has a place of honor in the town it destroyed: Woking, England. This War of The Worlds sculpture is certainly a beautiful thing, giving respect and a tip of the hat to great scifi writers from the past. In that same vein, I think there should be a giant sandworm looped in and out of a desert somewhere for Frank Herbert, and an army of robots lined up, terracotta warrior style, as a tribute to Isaac Asimov. Click through for a gallery of pics of the beautiful invading tripod. More »

Dark Knight Scribe Turns Invisible Man Steampunk

Graeme McMillan — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 06:30:00 PDT

David Goyer, the co-writer of The Dark Knight that everyone always seems to forget about, is a busy man. Fresh from directing upcoming horror movie The Unborn, he's about to launch into an io9-centric two-fer, writing the scripts for X-Men Origins: Magneto and a new version of The Invisible Man which takes the familiar story in a much more contemporary-retro direction. More »

An Amazing Collection of "War of the Worlds" Book Covers

Annalee Newitz — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 09:28:36 PDT

One of the most widely-read science fiction novels across the globe, H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds has been in print continuously since the late nineteenth century. And it's had a lot of book covers: artistic, fancy, pulpy, and just plain strange. Now, over at Chez Zeus, there's a collection of over 100 (and growing) covers from the book that readers have sent in. You can browse them by date, artist, language, and image on the cover. By far my favorite collection of of the covers is grouped under the header "Huh?" See a few below. More »