Avid readers are familiar with the joys and sorrows of film and tv adaptations: for every awesome movie that brings your favorite characters to life, there’s another one that tries to destroy them. Given that the next few years promise to be absolutely saturated with adaptations, the smart book nerd will buckle up now, because […]
John Scalzi made a name for himself writing science-fiction in one of its classic forms: warfare in space. His excellent Old Man’s War series is a thoughtful roller-coaster ride through interstellar firefights against alien civilizations that doesn’t ignore the human element: his characters think and feel and interact realistically, even at the height of their outlandish adventures. It’s epic space opera that maintains an intimate […]
Four years on, I’m still shocked by the massive success of HBO’s Game of Thrones. Sure, I expected it to look pretty (it’s HBO after all), and as a fan of George R.R. Martin’s books, I knew the story and characters could more than sustain a weekly narrative. But the fantasy trappings—court politics, warring kings, magical priestesses, heroes […]