Though I’ve never had children, even I know that the worst thing imaginable would be for a parent to outlive their kid. But it is out of great tragedy that we sometimes get great art. In his new science fiction novel A Life Twice Given (paperback, digital), writer David Daniel has tried to deal with the death of his son by imagining what he, as a father, might’ve done if human cloning was a reality. But in talking to Daniel about the book, he revealed that immortalizing his son in a science fiction novel isn’t the only way he’s dealing with this immense loss.
Category: Books
While such fantasy novels as The Lord Of The Rings and George R.R. Martin’s A Song Of Fire And Ice series take the genre seriously, there’s no reason you can’t have a little fun with your fantasy. Consider The Dragon Lords: Fools Gold (paperback, digital), the new novel by Jon Hollins (who’s also known as Jonathan Wood, the author of the “Hero” series: No Hero, Yesterday’s Hero, Anti-Hero, and Broken Hero). Though set in a realm of dungeons and dragons, the book is actually a lighthearted heist tale that reads like something the Monty Python guys might’ve written if they were trying to write a Holy Grail sequel after watching Oceans 11, 12, and 13.
In his debut novel Welcome To Deadland (hardcover, digital), writer Zac Tyler Linville sets a coming of age story in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. But while his story is infested with the infected, in talking to Linville about his book — which was co-published by The Nerdist and Inkshares after winning their first publishing contest — it’s clear, as he puts it, that Deadland is “a book with zombies, not a book about zombies.”
One of the joys of being a kid who reads is tearing through one of those Chose Your Own Adventure books. But like with comics, cartoons, and video games, there’s no reason you have to put those books aside just because you’re not a kid any more. You just have to read ones made for adults. Ones like Max Brallier’s Highway To Hell (paperback, digital), the spiritual sequel to his similarly multiple choice tome Can YOU Survive The Zombie Apocalypse? Though in talking to Brallier about his new book, he admitted that no, it’s not about you trying to survive a zombie apocalypse because you have AC/DC tickets.
There are a lot of reasons to stay indoors. Bees. Rowdy teenagers. Wild Pokémon running amok. But for those who aren’t afraid of the great outdoors, might I recommend you read Drew Magary’s weird new horror/sci-fi novel, The Hike (hardcover, digital), in which a guy has a terrible, no good, very bad day because he decided to take a walk in the woods. To find out more about this cautionary tale, I spoke to Magary about the impetuous and influences behind this freaky and oddly semiautobiographical story.
The idea that there are parallel universes where other versions of us exist is one that’s been explored in everything from Michael Moorcock’s Elric novels and both DC’s and Marvel’s comics to such movies and TV shows as Star Trek, Family Guy, and The Flash.
But just as there may be infinite versions of our universe, so too are there infinite ways to explore the multiverse in fiction. Which is why, in this universe — and maybe others — I spoke to Wayward Pines writer Blake Crouch about his smart and engaging new multiverse-exploring novel Dark Matter (paperback, hardcover, digital).
If there’s one constant in the nearly dozen Star Wars novels released since Disney reset the canon of the expanded universe, it’s that’s the best ones have been those most connected to the movies. It’s why Claudia Gray’s original trilogy-overlapping Lost Stars and Greg Rucka’s Force Awakens prequel Star Wars Before The Awakening have been the strongest, while Chuck Wendig’s “it’s post-Return Of The Jedi but where did everybody go?” Star Wars Aftermath, though entertaining, is one of the weakest. Thankfully, for the second book in his Aftermath trilogy, Star Wars Aftermath Life Debt (hardcover, digital), Wendig is bringing back some old friends for a much more exciting and satisfying adventure.
Though it only lasted long enough for fourteen episodes and a movie, Joss Whedon’s space Western TV series Firefly and its cinematic continuation Serenity has been far more influential than you might expect. Consider Mike Brook’s sci-fi novel Dark Run (paperback, digital), which follows a group of intergalactic smugglers who, in a different life, would probably rub elbows with Mal Reynolds, Zoe, and the crew of Serenity‘s titular spaceship. Though in talking to Brooks about the book, it seems there was a bigger influence on Dark Run than Whedon’s cult TV show.
In his debut novel, A Hundred Thousand Worlds (hardcover, digital), writer Bob Proehl follows a mother and son as they travel the comic book convention circuit from New York to Los Angeles. But while the book is steeped in comic book culture, fandom, and comic book convention lore, it’s not just a collection of Spider-Man references and Superman jokes, as I learned when I spoke to Proehl about the book.