There are alternate histories, traditionally considered a subset of science fiction—stories that tweak the past, imagine changes wrought by events twisting differently than the history we know. Then there are alternate histories with dragons. Or magic. Or mermaids. What if the Civil War resurrected magic? What if the Napoleonic Wars had been fought with flying beasts? […]

Here’s the story of a man named Charles, who was bringing up some very lovely mutants. And it’s the story of a guy named Magneto, who was busy with mutants of his own. Till one day when Charles met Magneto, and Wolverine had much more than a hunch, that this group must somehow solve a […]

A strange plague is spreading around the world in Kenneth Calhoun’s Black Moon, released earlier this month to rave reviews: insomnia. And while initially never sleeping sounds like kind of a good deal (think of all that extra reading time!), it brings with it a host of problems, like, oh, creeping insanity, fits of rage, […]

Puppies be damned—the hottest topic during this year’s Hugo Award (which will be handed out tomorrow night at WorldCon 75 in Helsinki, Finland) is sure to be the inaugural Best Series Award. Each year, the World Science Fiction Society has the authority to introduce new Hugo categories for a trial run; if they work out, […]

The alternate history is fertile ground in science fiction, the ultimate “what if” that lies at the core of all stories writ large. Most of them go big with their premises, latching onto history’s biggest villains and biggest moments and positing a simple tweak to events, then following the infinite threads it generates to their logical conclusions. And that’s all […]