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‘3 Body Problem’ Premieres on Netflix on March 21st

A young woman’s fateful decision in 1960s China reverberates across space and time to a group of brilliant scientists in the present day. As the laws of nature unravel before their eyes five former colleagues reunite to confront the greatest threat in humanity’s history. Watch trailer

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Science Fiction Awards Held in China Under Fire for Excluding Authors

A prestigious literary award for science fiction, which was hosted in China for the first time, has come under fire for excluding several authors from the 2023 awards, raising concerns about interference or censorship in the awards process. The New York Times bestseller Babel by RF Kuang, an episode of the Netflix drama The Sandman and the author Xiran Jay Zhao were among the works and authors excluded from the 2023 Hugo awards, which were administered by the World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon) in Chengdu in October. Read more

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‘Poor Things’ Will Be in Theaters on September 8th

From filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos and producer Emma Stone comes the incredible tale and fantastical evolution of Bella Baxter (Stone), a young woman brought back to life by the brilliant and unorthodox scientist Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe). Under Baxter’s protection, Bella is eager to learn. Hungry for the worldliness she is lacking, Bella runs off with Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo), a slick and debauched lawyer, on a whirlwind adventure across the continents. Free from the prejudices of her times, Bella grows steadfast in her purpose to stand for equality and liberation. Watch trailer

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Counterweight by Djuna

An efficient, fast-paced cyberpunk story . . . The novel’s speculations about human agency resonate in the current moment, when American tech C.E.O.s oscillate between issuing sonorous warnings about the existential risks of the A.I. systems they’re developing and breathless hype about brain-computer interfaces. The book imagines the imminent emergence of companies run by artificial intelligence—companies as intelligence, a fusion of technology and economic logic that will definitively outrun humanity. Read more

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Ode to Samuel Delany

The Ballad of Beta-2 is a mysterious tale about generational starships taken over by superstition, paranoia, and misinformation, eventually descending into horrific acts of genocide. It also contains elements of the supernatural, or perhaps the alien, in the form of the Destroyer, an entity responsible for catastrophe aboard the ships, whose actions are misattributed to the marginalized population derisively known as the “One-Eyes.” Read more

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How Octavia Butler Inspired a Pathbreaking Black-Owned Pasadena Bookstore

On Nov. 22, after weeks of trying to find the right space for her dream, Nikki High signed a lease for a 621-square-foot space on North Hill Avenue. This is where she began in earnest to plot out her independent bookstore. Octavia’s Bookshelf would feature books by Black, Latino, Indigenous writers and other authors of color in the same neighborhood where Octavia E. Butler, the store’s namesake, lived and found inspiration for her novels. Read more

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