Jason Sheehan

There are a fair number of people out there who've been waiting for this novel for a good, long time. Because of who Ben Metcalf is (an outspoken essayist, the former literary editor for Harper's Magazine, an all-around light of the word-slinging world), there were a lot of people waiting ...

We saw a lot of dystopias in both films and books this year. Author Jason Sheehan has had enough. He plans to celebrate the new year with some science fiction that's actually hopeful about the future.

Metrophage is not a new book. That's important to understand right from the start.

Metrophage is, in fact, 26 years old. Published originally in 1988, it was Richard Kadrey's first novel. If you know Kadrey today, it's likely from his much more recent Sandman Slim books — which tread some ...

Post-elections, Molly Antopol and Jason Sheehan reflect on the results by turning to their favorite political books, Elect Mr. Robinson for a Better World and Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail.

There was a time when William Gibson was the man. When, if you were talking about science fiction, you couldn't have a conversation that didn't invoke his name. When, to readers of certain tastes and a certain (reasonably innocent) age, his futures were the ones that got woven into our ...

Michel Faber's best-seller, The Crimson Petal and the White, captured the feel of Victorian London. His latest is a literary science-fiction tale that might disappoint hard core sci-fi fans.

At first, I wanted to write this review of Chuck Palahniuk's new book, Beautiful You, as a letter. A lament, really, from a former fan and dedicated Palahniuk loyalist to the author who brought Fight Club to the page like he was writing in fire. Because I am a man, ...

First things first: You remember that movie from a while back called Three Kings? It was a David O. Russell picture about Gulf War soldiers who find a map that leads them to a treasure, which they then have to smuggle out of Iraq in the middle of a war.

...

It's literary awards season. The Nobel, the National Book Awards shortlists, and the Man Booker Prize were all recently announced. Author Jason Sheehan recommends some reading on all this reading.

Director David Cronenberg's debut novel is about two journalists chasing after sensational stories. This book is admirable in its unflinching gaze and beautiful in its depiction of a twisted reality.

On the Continent, no one is allowed to talk about their gods. No one can display their signs or symbols. They certainly can't be worshipped. No one is even allowed to know the history of the Divinities who once walked among the people, performing miracles left and right, though scrubbing ...

Perfidia is a sprawling novel that takes place in 1940s LA. There are Pearl Harbor, internment camps, schemes within schemes. Ellroy weaves an epic tale that evokes an ugly time and an awful place.

According to a new study, cutting back on carbs can lead to weight loss. Dana Goodyear and Jason Sheehan explore how to eat enjoyably, by recommending Tartine Bread and The Gastronomical Me.

We have to backtrack a little here, right at the start.

Acceptance, book three in Jeff VanderMeer's Southern Reach trilogy, is hitting the shelves soon, and I want very badly to talk about it. But before I can do that, I have to talk about the first two books. To ...

When I'm reading for fun and not sitting up in my ivory tower reviewing books for NPR, I generally gravitate toward two kinds of stories: science fiction and procedurals. In both cases, I like my books grimy and lived-in. I have no love for utopias, shiny spaceships where nothing is ...

Nick Harkaway's new novel mixes up a heady brew of comics, longing, tea, murder, post-colonial guilt and mystical tigers. Reviewer Jason Sheehan says it's "not just good, it's shake-a-granny good."

Cibola Burn is a big book. Huge, really, both in terms of pages (nearly 600 in the version I got), and in pure authorial chutzpah. It is part four in the Expanse series, which has, thus far, included three books and a smattering of novellas. And it represents, for dedicated ...

In years past, if someone asked me, "Hey, I found this Tom Robbins book lying around, so should I read it?" I would've said yes. No hesitation. No equivocation. "That guy," I'd say, "is a stylist. And I mean that in the best possible way."

Because that's what Tom Robbins ...

It is so rare to find yourself at home in any book.

I mean, that's the soft sell, right? The promise, rarely fulfilled, of every story: That it will, for a moment or an hour, lift you effortlessly from where you are and deposit you somewhere completely elsewhere. Like dreaming. ...

The question you have to ask yourself is, how juicy do you like your science fiction?

And I mean that in terms of a spectrum. To me, classic space operas are saltines — dusty and dry and fit only as a calmative after a long binge of weirder, more foreign ...