Last week, I explored two early plague-themed stories of the apocalypse in webcomic form. This week, we're once again going back in time to look at the very earliest tales of the end of the world, this time delving into tales in which the Earth reaches its expiration date. In this short comic, I trace these modern…

When we try to imagine the world after an apocalypse, we often end up thinking of a particular era from history. It's not surprising — because the end of the world as we know it often means we'll lose a lot of the fruits of progress. People often talk about bombing someone "back to the Stone Age," for example.

Railsea, the new young adult novel by China Miéville, is quite literary but playful — with vast molehills of brilliant worldbuilding & lots & lots of ampersands. Utterly unlike any of the many shmoopy vampires & dystopian romances out there, one wonders whether this novel will find an eager audience among teenaged…

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…

The Register asked its readers to name the best science fiction books that haven't been turned into movies, and hundreds of nominations came in. Now the Register has whittled the list down to the 50 that got the most votes.

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.

It's December, when the days get shorter and colder. But there's no frigate like a book, and this month your ship's come in: The month's new books include cut-throat tailors, steampunk Wyatt Earp, and zombie Star Wars.

Cugel the Clever is one of the great archetypal figures in SF literature, the vain trickster in Jack Vance's post-apocalyptic Dying Earth stories. Kage Baker wrote a new Cugel story for a Dying Earth anthology, and it's up at Tor.com.

It used to be, science fiction took place in the future and fantasy in the past. But lately, more science fiction takes place in the past. So we can't help wondering whether there'll be more fantasy set in the future.

A pirate ship slices through space in concept art from the lost Dune movie of the 1970s. Artist Chris Foss crafted covers for some of science fiction's greatest books, reshaping how we see spaceships and robots. Check out our gallery.