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Some people's futures are determined by popular vote: American Idol contestants, class presidents, and people who want to get gay married in California. But what if every aspect of our lives was determined by our reputation and popularity? Would our futures be better, or would the tyranny of the popular spin us into dystopia? More »
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Sarah Hall, author of the Tiptree Award-winning novel Daughters of the North, narrates a fantastic two-part BBC radio series, Cat Women of the Moon, all about "the popular motif in science fiction of an all-women society surviving without men." The first half is more about "relations between the sexes," while the second half is about various weird kinds of reproduction and "the different ways of continuing the human race." Participants include China Mieville, Iain M. Banks and Ursula K. Le Guin. Particularly lovely: the moment where Geoff Ryman confesses, "I've done a lot of male pregnancy." [BBC, thanks Matthew!] More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5875286&view=rss&microfeed=true If you like the 1980s pop group Duran Duran, you'll also love China Miéville's latest novel, Embassytown. At least, Embassytown is the latest pick from Duran Duran's Simon Le Bon, who writes a passionate (and awesome) defense of reading science fiction: More »
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Who says giant, thrilling space opera is dead? British author John Love just sold his debut novel, Faith, to Nightshade Books, and it has a huge widescreen premise that sounds like the perfect mix of space battles and politics. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5822400&view=rss&microfeed=true The Guardian's book section has been running a slew of interesting and thought-provoking articles about science fiction books, including excerpts of rare interviews with Isaac Asimov and Douglas Adams, great authors choosing their favorite books, and a terrific China Mieville profile. Well worth checking out. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5802152&view=rss&microfeed=true The Locus Awards announced their 2011 finalists, and the slate is pretty similar to the Hugo Awards finalists — except noticeably a bit less female-dominated. In particular, the "best novel" nominees are the same except that Mira Grant and N.K. Jemisin are replaced by William Gibson and Iain M. Banks. Here's the full list: More »
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Not only is Iain M. Banks very generous with his time, he's also the author that British fans most want to see on the big screen. More »
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In April, the io9 Book Club read Iain M. Banks' Surface Detail. Now Banks is coming to answer your questions about the book on Monday, May 9. More »
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Welcome to the monthly meeting of the io9 Book Club. In April we read Iain M. Banks' novel Surface Detail. Jump into comments to get started talking about it! More »
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The io9 Book Club meets once per month to discuss a book, and then the author usually joins us for a chat. In May, we're meeting on the 3rd to discuss Surface Detail by Iain M. Banks. Watch for a post that day announcing the book club, and jump into comments for discussion! There's still time to read the book, too. More »
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Britain's BBC 2 had a whole evening of book-related programming in celebration of World Book Night, including the promisingly titled The Books We Really Read: A Culture Show Special. So why did the featured books not include genre fiction? More »
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Iain M. Banks' novel Consider Phlebas helped recharge the genre of space opera, and launched the Culture series. And now you can read it for just 99 cents. More »
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Iain M. Banks' new novel, Surface Detail, is some of the best work he's done in his galaxy-spanning Culture universe. A story of virtual Hell and true resurrection, it's about the consequences of technology that makes religious afterlives possible. More »
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To celebrate the release of Iain M. Banks' new novel Surface Detail, we're reprinting our handy primer for you on the Culture, the pan-galactic civilization whose members and ex-members are the subjects of so many Banks novels, including Surface Detail. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5663293&view=rss&microfeed=true Orbit Books just unveiled its new e-book promotion, The Orbital Drop, and it looks like you might want to sign up for this one. Here's the spiel: More »
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October is a science fiction thrill ride, and here's your survival manual. The io9 calendar for October includes the returns of Caprica and Sanctuary, the launch of The Walking Dead, and Iain M. Banks' new Culture novel. Plus conventions galore! More »
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Can't wait to get your hands on Iain M. Banks' new novel Surface Detail, coming out early next month? Well, you'll be in a frenzy after reading the first chapter of the book, available on the Orbit Books website. More »
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Great science fiction and fantasy novels don't just expose us to other worlds and alternate timelines — they expand our minds and give us compass to steer by. Here are our favorite bits of advice and maxims from SF books. More »
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We've been waiting for Iain M. Banks' next Culture novel for several years, and now it's almost here. October sees the release of Surface Detail. Here's the cover image, and we've got some more plot details below. Spoilers ahead! More »
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We don't find out what our science fiction/fantasy heroes are made of, until everything seems hopeless and their backs are against the wall. The greatest SF stories also contain the greatest "all seems lost" moments, and here are our favorites. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5523771&view=rss&microfeed=true The iPad and other devices may have revolutionized the short story publishing market, judging from a new announcement by Orbit Books. The genre publisher, whose authors include Iain M. Banks and Gail Carriger, is going to start publishing its authors's short fiction electronically — but Orbit's not going the Tor route, where stories are posted online for free. Instead, reading between the lines, it sounds like Orbit wants to publish stories for handheld devices and other sources, through "major retail channels." So instead of buying a collection of an author's stories — or an anthology containing many different authors — you might see that there's a new Joe Abercrombie story and pay a dollar or two to download it. This sounds like a great way to get more people reading short fiction, but not such a great way to help people discover new short fiction authors. But we'll have to wait for more details before passing judgment — here's the Orbit press release: More »
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At Eastercon over the weekend, Iain M. Banks announced he'd just finished his latest novel in the Culture series, to be called Surface Detail. It will come out in February 2011. More »
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A truly great infodump is a work of art. The best science fiction authors can brief you on everything you need to know about their worlds, without making you feel lectured. Here are 20 great examples of the smooth infodump. More »
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The Guardian's Damien G. Walter issues a passionate plea to Iain M. Banks to complete an unofficial Culture trilogy that began with Consider Phlebas and Look To Windward. But really, Walter seems to want the Culture to die. More »
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Movies may thrill us with their huge ideas and set pieces, but you always know that anything a movie did, a novel did it first... and better. If you liked these dozen recent movies, here are some books you'll love. More »
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Iain M. Banks' Culture novels helped energize a whole new movement in vast, thrilling space opera. But the news of a big-screen Culture adaptation makes me nervous. Will the celluloid version of the Culture lose its Minds? Spoilers below. More »
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Have we gone multiverse crazy? Iain Banks' latest novel, Transition, is just the latest of a long line of sideways-traveling books, and this theme is more prevalent than ever. Here are some of my favorites, with spoilers and foul language. More »
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Iain M. Banks' latest novel Transition, in bookstores this week, will jelly your brains in brilliant weirdness. Banks turns political world-building on its head in this exciting tale of an Earth-based multiverse in turmoil, where dimension-hopping assassins jockey for power. More »
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Iain Banks' free podcast of his new novel Transition just launched in the U.S. today, and it's already #11 on the iTunes Top 20 in the U.K. The author is reading 15-minute installments from an abridged version twice a week. More »
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Iain M. Banks is a giant of modern-day science fiction, so it's dispiriting to read his slightly down-at-the-mouth interview in the Guardian. His book advances are getting smaller, but the good news is he'll be writing more books in response. More »
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Iain M. Banks, one of the best writers of contemporary science fiction, has an evil twin: Iain Banks, without the M, crafts sadistic, often surreal, novels about religion, politics and disturbed families. Here's why science-fiction afficionados should read both Bankses. More »
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Science fiction is the literature of the future. So the best SF novels have endings that resolve the story and leave you feeling as though it continues after the last page. Here are our favorite last lines from SF books. More »
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Some of the hottest hot-shot pilots in space opera are women. It's a longstanding tradition in science fiction to show women taking the controls of starships, space fighters and star-cruisers, and here are our favorite badass female cockpit jockeys. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5311916&view=rss&microfeed=true Interviewed by BoingBoing's readers, New Wave legend Michael Moorcock says he's disconnected from science fiction that gets too abstract: "I'm not entirely sure about transhumanist fiction. It holds no attractions for me. Assuming I really know what it is. I've only really ever been interested in 'humanist' fiction. That is, fiction about people. As I've said, I don't read sf for pleasure and very little of it for review, so I'm no expert. I think I'm probably sympathetic to the writers you mention, but personally believe political fiction should be set in at least some version of the here and now. [...] This was always my argument about sf — that generally, by abstracting it, putting it in some 'other place', you lost some of the relevance. That said, I haven't been vastly interested in technological advance since I was young. I have every sympathy with Banks, Mcleod et al, but to be honest I've been no more able to read more than a page of their stuff than I have Heinlein's or Asimov's. The moment a spaceship turns up, you've lost me." — BoingBoing via Tachyon via Ken McLeod. More »
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Inventing an alien language? Easy. Creating an entire writing system to go along with it? Now that's impressive. Here are thirteen alien alphabets (complete with downloadable fonts!) you should totally use to write your novel. More »
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Should science fiction make more of an effort to keep up-to-date with science fact? As part of the UK's National Science and Engineering Week, that's the question that the BBC asked four well-known SF authors. More »
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They're ambitious, those Brits — the Guardian newspaper has been publishing a listing of 1000 books you must read, and now it includes every must-read science fiction novel. Let the canon-shredding commence! More »
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For years the property of geeks and nerds, now science fiction is suffering the ultimate indignity: Becoming the next big "sexy" thing for British actors. Is this the beginning of the end for the genre? More »
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At last, the most important works of science fiction are being determined scientifically. New Scientist magazine is doing a special science fiction issue on Nov. 15, and the magazine is polling its science-boffin readers as to the greatest books and movies in the genre. The magazine's own staff have already voted, and you might not be surprised by the books they put first. But you may have some issues with their most hated movies and books. More »
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