Jeffrey Somers
ThoughtCo
Hoboken, NJ, United States
Contact Jeff
Discover and connect with journalists and influencers around the world, save time on email research, monitor the news, and more.
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Past articles by Jeff:
The Greatest Works of Russian Literature Everyone Should Read
Russian literature is a rich and ongoing literary tradition any serious reader needs to explore. Here are the essential Russian books you must read. → Read More
25 Sci-Fi & Fantasy Debuts to Watch for in 2018
If 2017 disappointed us in a lot of ways, we can't say it didn't introduce to a whole stack of amazing debut novels, and we have no reason to expect that 2018 → Read More
The Best Science Fiction & Fantasy Books of January 2018
For two decades, Jim Killen has served as the science fiction and fantasy book buyer for Barnes & Noble. Every month on Tor.com and the B&N Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog, Jim shares his curated list of the month’s best science fiction & fantasy books. Iron Gold, by Pierce Brown (January 1 → Read More
10 Times Sci-Fi & Fantasy Went Looking for Love Outside Our Species
As anyone who has ever been single can attest, finding love isn’t easy. In fact, sometimes it seems like finding one person out of the billions here on Earth → Read More
10 Fiendishly Clever Sci-Fi Locked Room Mysteries
The locked room whodunnit is a stalwart of the mystery genre—the seemingly impossible crime committed inside a sealed-off room. Agatha Christie had several → Read More
10 Numbers-Obsessed Sci-Fi & Fantasy Novels for Math Geeks
Math: it either excites your mind or fills you with a boredom-tinged dread. For many, math is something to be survived through years of schooling, them promptly → Read More
In The Spark, David Drake Finds New Magic in Old Legends
In his preface to The Spark, David Drake notes the Arthurian tales that inspired his new novel offer a nearly infinite source of raw material for any writer. → Read More
13 Books That Offer a Master Class in Sci-Fi & Fantasy Writing
It's almost November,which means it's almost National Novel Writing Month, those 30 glorious, frustrating, enervating, nerve-wracking days when writers everywhere → Read More
Kazuo Ishiguro Wins The 2017 Nobel Prize in Literature
The announcement that Kazuo Ishiguro has been awarded the 2017 Nobel Prize in Literature is the sort of news that makes you frown and think, wait, he hasn’t → Read More
7 Hidden Cameos in Sci-Fi & Fantasy Books
Once in a while, a writer loves someone else’s work so much, they decide to honor it by slipping a subtle cameo into their own books as both a tribute and → Read More
50 Short Stories That are Like Mini-Novels
The novel is a big canvas. It allows for complexity and a deep dive into character—ample space for readers to explore and contemplate. The price for this → Read More
Science Fiction & Fantasy's Most Delightful Government Agencies
Though ostensibly genres of escapism, some of the best and most entertaining government agencies—hardly two words synonymous with "fun"—ever conceived were → Read More
The Massacre of Mankind Cleverly Updates an H.G. Wells Classic
Back in 1995, Stephen Baxter wrote a sequel to H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine. Unthinkable, right? But The Time Ships, a temporal saga that dwarfs the original → Read More
5 SFF Stories in Which Translators Are the Heroes
In sci-fi and fantasy, heroes tend to wield huge two-handed swords or have bandoliers of ammunition strapped over their impressive physiques as they rocket → Read More
A Space Opera Actually Based on an Opera (and 9 More Inspired by Classics)
Cover detail of The Gap into Power, by Stephen R. Donaldson (artist Stephen Youll) Spaceship battles! Political intrigue! Romantic subplots! Everyone loves → Read More
8 Fantasy Novels About the End of Magic
Magic as a concept has been with us for as long as our history records, and there was a time when it undoubtedly seemed real—a visceral, undeniable explanation → Read More
The Best Science Fiction & Fantasy Books of July 2017
For nearly two decades, Jim Killen has served as the science fiction and fantasy book buyer for Barnes & Noble. Every month on Tor.com and the B&N Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog, Jim shares his curated list of the month’s can’t-miss new SFF releases. Dark Sky, by Mike Brooks (July 4, Saga Pres → Read More
This Beloved Classic Might be The Most-Adapted Book of All Time
"Anne of Green Gables" has been adapted into various mediums almost 40 times, making it a contender for most-adapted novel of all time. → Read More
12 Must-Read Indie Novels Coming This Summer
People like to write think pieces on “peak TV,” referring to the flood of high-quality programs filling up our television screens. What’s often overlooked → Read More
10 Writers Who Played a Key Role in the Rise of the Short Story
Novelists seem to get all the hype. The short story was once considered just as important as the novel—think Hemingway or Chekhov—but at some point, there → Read More