Charlie Jane Anders

io9BooksScience Fiction

There’s Absolutely Nothing Wrong With Saving the World

There’s one phrase I’ve been using a lot, as I’ve been promoting my young adult space-opera Victories Greater Than Death: “Save all the worlds.” Because I love the idea of a group of kids who are mostly LGBTQIA+ and come from cultures all over the world get to be the ones to help “save all … Continued

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Forget Strong Female Characters! We Need Complicated Female Characters Who Screw Up (A Lot)

Every few months like clockwork, it happens again: the never-ending debate over Strong Female Characters. [Editor’s Note: io9 is proud to publish this guest post today from io9 co-founder Charlie Jane Anders. -Jill P.] At this point, it’s become a cliche, and an in-joke, and a T-shirt, and a comic, and still we debate endlessly … Continued

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io9 Was Founded on the Idea That Science Fiction Belongs to Everyone

When I started working on io9 in 2007, we didn’t have a name for the site yet. We hadn’t come up with any real plans for how we were going to cover science fiction, science and futurism. But there was already a central idea that the site was based around: That science fiction is for … Continued

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There’s Only One Way You Could Personally Visit an Exoplanet

Sorry, Han Solo and Mr. Sulu. Based on everything we know right now, you’ll never be able to punch a button and travel through “hyperspace,” or go to warp speed. Traveling faster than light is almost certainly impossible. According to scientists, the only way you could personally visit other stars is by taking a long, … Continued

io9Movies

Ratchet & Clank Will Keep Your Kids Distracted, and You Won’t Claw Your Face Off

We all know the drill. There are three kinds of movies for kids: 1) Ones that are for adults, just as much as kids (Pixar, etc.) 2) Ones that adults can get some enjoyment out of. 3) Ones that kids like, but adults will claw their faces off. Ratchet & Clank belongs to the second … Continued

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Guy Gavriel Kay Shares His Secrets For Turning Real-Life History Into Fantasy

Guy Gavriel Kay has carved out a unique niche, writing fantasy novels that take real-life historical settings and transforming them into something new and different. His latest novel, Children of Earth and Sky, takes place in a version of 16th century Europe that’s under threat from a version of the Ottoman Empire, and includes a … Continued

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Person of Interest’s Final Villains Are Mark Zuckerberg and Isaac Asimov

For years, Person of Interest has been right on the cutting edge between commenting on current events and speculating about the future. With its final season, the show is depicting a futuristic nightmare—and yet, it’s also more topical than ever before. We talked to producers Jonathan Nolan and Greg Plageman, and they told us the … Continued

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The Clarke Award Shortlist Includes Some Great Surprises

The UK’s Arthur C. Clarke Award just announced its six book finalists for 2016—and the result is a combination of books you might not expect, and books you probably haven’t read yet. Here’s the list of finalists: The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet – Becky Chambers (Hodder & Stoughton) Europe at Midnight – … Continued

io9Television

Jonathan Nolan: ‘Nothing That I Have Done Prepared Me’ for the Challenge of Westworld

We’ve been anxiously awaiting HBO’s Westworld for what feels like forever. Originally, we hoped Westworld would arrive in 2015, then we heard 2016. And then production was shut down, and we heard it might be 2017 instead. What’s going on? We talked to showrunner Jonathan Nolan, and he filled us in. We were talking to … Continued

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I’m Starting to Think the Greatest Hero in Game of Thrones Is Brienne of Tarth

Last night’s Game of Thrones begins with the sightless gaze of Jon Snow, right where we left him last year. But the most striking moments of the episode—including its final shocker—involve the gazes of women, usually without any words at all. There weren’t any dragons or zombies, and only a couple glimpses of a direwolf, … Continued

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Here’s the Heart-Stopping Moment That Changes Everything in Tonight’s 12 Monkeys

Tonight’s 12 Monkeys is a huge turning point for the show. I can’t tell you any more than that—but if you’ve been drifting away from the show because you weren’t sure if all this time-jumping was ever going to lead to anything… Well, just watch this exclusive clip. The clip should be pretty self explanatory. … Continued

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Where’s Arya? Catch Up on Game of Thrones in Three Minutes With Our Video Recap

It’s been just one year since season five of Game of Thrones, but it feels like forever. And there are so many fiendish details to recall, before season six begins on April 24. Who’s dead? Who’s down and out? Who’s on top? Watch our handy three-minute video recap! And wow, there are a lot of … Continued

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The Huntsman: Winter’s War Is So Bad, It’s Fantastically Wonderful

Back in 2012, a movie called Snow White and the Public Domain IP unexpectedly made almost $400 million. And that’s why today sees the release of a second film, Huntsman: The Contractual Obligation Movie (although for some reason the posters call it The Huntsman: Winter’s War. Go figure.) The Contractual Obligation Movie is about as … Continued

io9Comics

That Time Prince Became an Actual Superhero

Prince always had superpowers. You only had to witness him picking up a guitar or sitting down at a keyboard to know it. His voice could encompass Curtis Mayfield, Stevie Wonder, and Mick Jagger, while remaining recognizable as its own thing. But around the time he created his own musical fantasia out of Tim Burton’s … Continued

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George Lucas’ Wild Theory About the Narrator of Star Wars Makes So Much Sense

We all know who the main characters of George Lucas’ six Star Wars films are: Anakin Skywalker, his son and daughter, and their friends. But who’s the narrator? Turns out Lucas had a crazy theory that makes total sense. On the set of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, Lucas shared his ideas … Continued

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How to Fix What’s Wrong With Game of Thrones

Winter hasn’t arrived yet on Game of Thrones, but there’s still a bit of “winter of our discontent” going on. Season five veered way off George R.R. Martin’s road, with shall we say mixed results. Here’s how to get Thrones back on its game. Spoilers for everything that’s aired on television or published in book … Continued

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Prince Was One of the Greatest Fantasy Storytellers of All Time

“Prince está muerto. Prince is dead.” A female voice announces these words in a sing-song, matter-of-fact tone during The Gold Experience, Prince’s 1995 album. Prince hadn’t actually died, of course—he had changed his name to a symbol and created a brand new identity. He reinvented himself, as he did so many times before and since. … Continued

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Agents of SHIELD Actually Managed To Make Grant Ward Even Creepier

You thought it couldn’t be done! But they totally did it. First Grant Ward was a dead-eyed psycho who killed his family and betrayed his friends (and may have killed an adorable dog). Then he turned into Daisy’s obsessed stalker, with a weird relationship with the Agent 33 and a penchant for brainwashing. After he … Continued

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This Fall, All Your Book-Buying Money Totally Belongs to Ursula K. Le Guin

Chances are, you already have a whole shelf full of Ursula K. Le Guin books. You’re not a monster, right? But you’re going to have to make some room on that shelf this fall, because two very special titles are coming down the pike. First off, in September, The Library of America (which has been … Continued

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13 Live-Action Fairytale Movies That Miraculously Don’t Suck Fairy Balls

In a couple of days, Hollywood will unleash its latest fairytale movie on the world. The Huntsman: Winter’s War is the followup to Snow White and the Huntsman, one of many fairytale movies that missed the entire point of making such a movie in the first place. Is it even possible to make a decent … Continued