Questions of science and literature
This week on the Books podcast we're in pursuit of answers – how to grapple with the big issues of science, whether we should worry about our talent for getting things wrong, and what kind of story you can make out of a bunch of questions.We begin wi...
Angelica Lost and Found by Russell Hoban – review
Russell Hoban's latest novel is wildly entertainingNearly five years ago, I reviewed Russell Hoban's Linger Awhile and made much fuss about a late surge of productivity by the octogenarian writer. He'd hit a purple patch of eight novels in a 10-year pe...
Stranger than science fiction
Realist fiction struggles to grasp a world increasingly ruled by unreality. We need science fiction and the strange inventions of fantasy to help us understand the modern worldIt's all too easy to dismiss science fiction and fantasy stories as escapist...
No more Harry Potter, JK Rowling ‘promises’ Daniel Radcliffe
Star of Harry Potter films says author JK Rowling told him by text she would write no more stories about the schoolboy wizardWill she or won't she? Author JK Rowling appears to have ruled out writing another Harry Potter novel just weeks after sparking...
EC Tubb obituary
Science-fiction writer with a bleak view of humanity's futureEC Tubb, who has died aged 90, was an author of many names, his work hidden behind some 65 pseudonyms during his 60 years as a freelance writer. This army of pen names met the demands of publ...
At the Mountains of Madness by Lovecraft/Culbard – review
Thanks to this superb graphic novel, you can now experience the thrill of HP Lovecraft without having to wade through his proseThe American writer HP Lovecraft, who died in 1937, has been called "the man who scares Stephen King". A writer of horror and...
The Dark End of the Street, edited by SJ Rozan & Jonathan Santlofer – review
by Cathi UnsworthShort-story collections usually benefit from strong editorial directive, so the twin themes of sex and crime given to the authors of this collection seems rather general – what else is noir fiction made of? Interesting, then, that so...
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 – review | Xan Brooks
School's out for Harry, Hermione and Ron – and so is any sense of wit or warmth, writes Xan BrooksFuneral wreaths at the ready, for Harry Potter is bowing out. The record-breaking film series, adapted with a stentorian reverence from the JK Rowling b...
Harry Potter revival idea fails to grab Daniel Radcliffe
Actor 'very doubtful' about playing Harry Potter beyond Deathly Hallows, despite J K Rowling's hint about writing more booksWhen author JK Rowling revealed last month that she had not ruled out writing more Harry Potter books, it was the news that mill...
Hannu Rajaniemi: the science of fiction
The author of this year's most exciting SF debut, The Quantum Thief, talks about how 24 pages of an unfinished first novel won him a three-book deal, his split writing personality and why science fiction is more honest than the mainstreamSitting in his...
Dune rights holders set to desert Paramount
Film adaptation of Frank Herbert's science fiction bestseller could be shelved as pressure builds for production to beginA new film adaptation of Dune, the book often cited as the best-selling science fiction novel of all time, looks likely to be shelv...
Antimatter? Not such a big deal | Roz Kaveney