Karen Osborne’s debut is part sci-fi adventure, part love story, and 100% critical of unfettered corporate capitalism.
Read moreResistance Is Not Futile: On Jeff VanderMeer’s “Dead Astronauts” and Fighting the Good Fight
In a world on the brink of collapse, a quest to save the future, one defeat at a time.
Read more“Network Effect”: Self-Determination Is a Pain in the Ass
Volume five of The Murderbot Diaries, reviewed.
Read moreWilliam Gibson’s “Agency”: Cooperate or Die
What does it mean to have agency when we find ourselves at the mercy of events utterly beyond our control?
Read moreThomas Ligotti and the Derangement of Creation
An underappreciated master of horror, appreciated.
Read more"Exit Strategy": Beware the Wrath of Murderbot
In volume 4 of The Murderbot Diaries, Murderbot’s climactic showdown with an evil corporation pushes the rogue SecUnit to its limits, and beyond.
Read more"Rogue Protocol": This Heartless Killing Machine Is All Heart
Murderbot is back. Its mission: help to bring down GrayCris, the evil corporation that has made thievery and killing a business model.
Read more“The Strange Bird”
Jeff VanderMeer’s spare, heartbreaking novella soars through the world of Borne.
Read more"49 Buddhas": An Unlikely Detective, Searching for Enlightenment
A reincarnated Buddhist monk, armed with the wisdom of many lifetimes (and a little black magic), tries to solve a murder mystery and bring enlightenment to all beings.
Read moreThe Creative Destruction of "Annihilation"
On the page or on screen, Annihilation will test the limits of what you know about the world and yourself.
Read more“Borne”: A Biotech-Apocalypse Love Story
Jeff VanderMeer's new novel is a rare science fiction treasure.
Read moreIn "Mapping the Interior," Native Fathers and Sons, Haunted by the Past
Native American ghost story? Psychological thriller? Portrait of a young mind struggling to cope with unspeakable grief and existential rage? Stephen Graham Jones's haunting novella is all of the above, and more.
Read moreThe Heroic Ideals of "The Grace of Kings"
In praise of complicated heroes in Ken Liu's epic fantasy.
Read more"The Dark Forest": Cixin Liu Takes Humankind to the Brink of Annihilation
Paradoxes and chains of suspicion abound in the second book of Cixin Liu's Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy.
Read more"The Peripheral": The Past, Present, and Future Diverge
If you could communicate with the past without changing the present, would you do it? Of course you would.
Read more"Slade House": David Mitchell's Horror-Fantasy Hybrid
David Mitchell appropriates the tropes of horror fiction to pose questions about greed, privilege, and power.
Read more"The Strange Library": A Dream-Labyrinth of Grief
The Strange Library, a novella by Haruki Murakami with illustrations by Chip Kidd, urges the reader to delve deeper in search of its hidden meaning. Once this odd, beautiful little book catches your eye, you can't look away.
Read moreLove and Rockets: Simon Pegg Blows up the Internet
The Internet thinks Simon Pegg is worried science fiction and genre stories are responsible for the dumbing down of society. But is he really? Fiction Unbound thinks not.
Read more"The Road": Carrying the Fire
Finding hope among the ashes of Cormac McCarthy’s post-apocalyptic masterpiece.
Read more