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Thu Dec 31
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It's a Wonderful Life Takes a Trip Through the Multiverse
If you've grown bored of watching It's a Wonderful Life for the hundredth time, then perhaps it's time to read Robert Reed's twist on the classic film. In "A Woman's Best Friend," Clarence isn't an angel but a dimension-hopping hoaxster. More »"This Is Batman, Not Jonathan Swift"
Here's an easy way to lose an afternoon: Someone has put the Writer's Bible for Batman: The Animates Series online, including never-revealed backstory and 22 early ideas for episodes. [Batman: The Animated Series Writers Bible PDF] (Via)Want To Read Some Cutting-Edge Hard Science Fiction? Check Out MedGadget's Contest Winners
The Last Field On Earth
It's rare to find an eco-catastrophe story that strikes a note of hope (or that doesn't have explosions), but novelist Lydia Millet has done it in her short story "Alpha," which you can listen to free online. More »Children Can Build Their Mechanical Parents, But Can't Put Them Back Together
Rob Davis' illustrated short "How I Built My Father (And Where I Went Wrong)" is a beautiful and sad bit of magical realism, set in a world where children build their parents from scratch, but still can't always fix them.The Best Places To Find Your Next Free Book Online
You need some science fiction, and you need it now. Unfortunately, you don't have a ton of money to spend. But as long as you have an internet connection, these resources will help you get free books and stories online. More »A Story About Computer Failure Came Before The First Robot Conquest Story
This year is the 100th anniversary of the first story about the Internet going wrong. E.M. Forster (better known for A Passage To India) wrote "The Machine Stops" in 1909, and you can read it online. More »Fishing For Mermaids And Displaying Your Prehensile Tail For Strangers: It's A Living, Sort Of
If you love the work of Kelly Link, you owe it to yourself to check out "Six From Downtown," a collection of six vignettes about despair and alienation by Philippine writer Dean Francis Alfar. Plus, a poet explains magic realism! More »Acidic Bullets Vs. Disintegrating Flame, In "The Werewolves Of War!"
Possibly the most gripping science-fiction story of all time has gone up online, featuring daredevil air pilots hurling acidic bullets against the implacable Slavs and their disintegrating flame. It's the futuristic year of 1938, in "Werewolves Of War." More »What If the Beatles Never Broke Up?
Christopher Bird imagines an alternate reality where the Beatles stage an impromptu concert on SNL in 1976 and continue to make beautiful music. How might the face of music, television, and politics have changed if the Beatles had stuck around? More »Alternate Histories Collide In Onion Nazi Piece
Anarchy In The U.P.?
If you're feeling that science fiction is just a little too organized for your tastes, NWSFS has the recommended SF reading list from this month's Seattle Anarchists Book Fair for you. If you need more, Bruce Sterling happily obliges.Before "Paranormal Activity," There Was "Whisper," The Original Sleepcam Horror Story
Did the sleepcam in Paranormal Activity freak you out? Then you need to read Ray Vukcevich's short story "Whisper," published by Small Beer Press in 2001. It's not always a good idea to find out what happens while you sleep. More »Rediscover A Hard SF Classic With "Superluminal"
Vonda McIntyre, author of Dreamsnake, has been a major force in the science fiction book world since the 1970s. Now you can rediscover McIntyre's classics, like her tale of posthuman FTL pilots in Superluminal, for free online. More »When Earth Becomes a Nature Preserve, Where Do Humans Go?
When Earth is declared an off-limits nature preserve, humans settle in a giant ring encircling the planet. Inside, posthumans jockey for status while a young window-washer looks on. Welcome to Saturn Apartments - a manga series that's free online. More »Jonathan Lethem's Crazy Friendship With Philip K. Dick
Literary scifi nerd Jonathan Lethem, author of Fortress of Solitude, has just published an essay about his lifelong relationship with the work of Philip K. Dick. It's wistful and weird, and now it's also available for free on his website. More »Passive-Aggressive Aliens Want to Steal Your Gravel
In the latest issue of The New Yorker, an alien civilization announces its intentions to visit our planet. But they're not a benevolent race out to share their technology; they're actually quite passive aggressive and have designs on our gravel. More »Why Supervillains Hate Global Warming
The melting of the polar ice caps has supervillains all in a panic. It's not just that global warming has stolen their thunder (though that doesn't help). The melting ice has also revealed their secret Arctic lairs. [The Onion]Discover The Origins Of 2000AD - For Free
Looking for something to read while you wait for the weekend to finally arrive? What about the first appearances of some of the greatest science fiction comic characters of all time? And what if you could do it for free? More »The Most Depressing Robot Comic You'll Read All Day
Brian Clevinger, creator of Atomic Robo, offers a much more dismal view of robot-human relations in Warbot in Accounting, about a desperately lonely, decommissioned military robot trying to adjust to office life without a voice, thumbs, or proper social skills.Dave Eggers' "Where the Wild Things Are" Just Doesn't Have the Same Ring to It
The New Yorker has the first chapter of Dave Eggers' novelization of the Where the Wild Things Are screenplay. As if a novelization of an adaptation of a children's book wasn't odd enough, one edition will be covered in fur. [via Metafilter]