This year's science fiction books are going to rock. John Scalzi returns to the Old Man's War universe, there's a brand new Neil Gaiman novel, and Stephen King's long-awaited sequel to The Shining. Plus brand new books from Austin Grossman, Nalo Hopkinson, Christopher Priest, Diana Gabaldon, Robert J. Sawyer, Joe…

A recent article in Slate deals with the question of whether the internet could ever become the first artificial intelligence, perhaps by "waking up" one day as a mind. Dan Falk, the author of this article, was clearly inspired by Robert Sawyer's WWW trilogy, about just this scenario. Falk interviews Sawyer, as well as…

Science fiction and fantasy books are bigger than ever. A Dance With Dragons and Stephen King's time-travel saga rule the bestseller lists. Literary authors all flock to write about zombies, apocalypses and time travel. And by all indications, 2012 is going to be an even greater year for genre books.

What do April's books have in store for you? Naomi Novik's superhero high school, Frederik Pohl's volcanic terrorism plot, and two disturbing looks at a near-future post-apocalyptic world. Plus superpowered parents and the African Harry Potter!

Today's the day when we celebrate the life of visionary leader Martin Luther King, Jr. But the civil-rights legend is also an important figure in science fiction... as an influence, and an occasional character.

Now that young-adult fiction is where most of great dystopian stories are being told, there are two awesome discussions going on. Kaitlin Ward asks what's the difference between dystopian and apocalyptic fiction. And Angie Smibert wonders where the utopias are.

The Earth existed for four billion or so years before humans showed up and started recording history. Why limit ourselves to the what-ifs of the past few thousands years? In these alternate reality tales, continents and dinosaur empires rise and fall.

Robert J. Sawyer's "Above it All" is a horror story that takes place on the Mir spaceship. What makes Sawyer's choice of venue odd is the year the story was written, 1996. What's so significant about this year?

April's new science fiction books take you on a trip across a transformed Mars, and to the heart of a British battle against mutant Nazi orphans. Also, a couple of steampunk adventures jostle for a space in your to-be-read pile.

The main problem with a book club, of course, is getting the book. Even in this iPad/Kindle era, it still costs money to get the darn thing. But with Weekend Short Story Club, we're taking the free culture route.