In school, your child is reading poetry, plays, and fiction, starting to complete book reports, and reading to learn. She may also be making trips to the library with her class and selecting her own books. To foster a love for reading, fill your home library with a wide variety of nonfiction and fiction books that she can enjoy. Parent s Checklist: How does the book look? Chapter books for this age group often have pictures within them to make the …

My latest space opera novel, The Returning, follow up to last year’s The Worker Prince, wound up being modeled after thrillers like Robert Ludlam’s Bourne novels and got me thinking a lot about great science fiction and fantasy thrillers. Obviously science lends itself well to the thriller genre, and the thriller genre is one of the easiest and most fun to cross-mix with other genres. So based in part on Amazon listings and recommendations from friends …

This was a virtually impossible task. Put together a list of 50 must-read science fiction books and don’t make anyone angry. Science fiction is the most discussed and argued over genre in literature but it actually goes way beyond books and into film, TV, video games and even toys. Here are the criteria I used. One book per author, so that was hard on the big three of science fiction – Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov and Arthur C Clarke, who each have …

In 1932, English writer Aldous Huxley published Brave New World and foretold a future in which individualism is abhorred, the population is permanently limited and everyone is strung out on a hallucinogen known as soma. Many critics today describe this anti-utopian story as a science-fiction classic. But another 10 years or so would pass before mainstream publishers began embracing sci-fi as a genre. The years before, during and after World War …

In 1963, when I was 12, science fiction began imprinting on my brain, so that science fiction from the 1950s is how I define the genre. All science fiction novels I’ve read in the succeeding fifty years are measured against those stories I first discovered in my early teens. That’s why I so completely understand the statement, “the Golden Age of Science Fiction is 12.” Younger generations of science fiction fans have since imprinted on science fiction …

In 1932, English writer Aldous Huxley published Brave New World and foretold a future in which individualism is abhorred, the population is permanently limited and everyone is strung out on a hallucinogen known as soma. Many critics today describe this anti-utopian story as a science-fiction classic. But another 10 years or so would pass before mainstream publishers began embracing sci-fi as a genre. The years before, during and after World War …

Recently, I’ve been on a huge sci-fi kick. Hahahahahaha. Ha. Ha. Okay, sorry. It’s just that I said “recently”, and if you know even a little bit about me you know that sci-fi fandom runs in my blood perhaps more dominantly than comic book nerdism. It’s such a major part of my life that I even have a Star Wars tattoo – yeah, I represent the Fett. But while my obsession and love for the crazy futuristic is always there, my specialized fixations come …

S When you finally sneak away from family gatherings this weekend, you re going to want some adult science fiction to take your mind off things. That s why we ve got the ultimate holiday counterprogramming for you: 10 kinky science fiction novels that you can hide in your book bag or e-book reader and enjoy late at night when the kids and parents are in bed. Kushiel s Dart, by Jacqueline Carey The first novel in a trilogy about Phedre, a spy/courtesan …

2012 has seen a wealth of science fiction novels released throughout the year. There s no shortage of great reads out there to add to the ever-growing to-read pile well into 2013. Here s 15 novels that are sure to please. Throne of the Crescent Moon, Saladin Ahmed Saladin Ahmed has made a name for himself in fantasy’s short-fiction circles, and has recently released his debut novel. Throne of the Crescent Moon takes epic fantasy to an inventive new …

Check out this excerpt from Peter Watts science fiction book, Starfish: A lot of it happened while he was sleeping. Every night they d give him an injection, to help him learn, Scanlon said. Afterwards a machine beside his bed would feed him dreams. He could never exactly remember them but something must have stuck, because every morning he d sit at the console with his tutor — a real person, though, not a program — and all the text and diagrams …