Jason Heller

Horror may not be readers' first choice in times like this, but Emma J. Gibbons' new collection, influenced by both punk rock and classic literature, is full of great characters and genuine scares.

Has the end of Game of Thrones and the long wait for the next Song of Ice and Fire book got you, uh ... dragon? We've rounded up some of this year's best scales-and-wings reads to help fill the void.

Arthur Herman's new book zooms in on Vladimir Lenin, Woodrow Wilson, and the vast, conflicting historical forces they embodied — and which came to a head in the fateful year of 1917.

Harvard professor Richard F. Thomas teaches a popular class on the importance of Bob Dylan, and now he's turned it into a book, full of stories, personal history and the occasional comparison to Ovid.

Each track on The Black Keys singer's new album sparkles like a long-lost AM radio gem.

Glen Weldon's new book lays out the history of Batman — from pow-biff-zap camp icon to dour Dark Knight — with the witty, informed perspective of a diehard fan. To the Batcave, readers!

Orson Welles' radio hoax famously convinced America that Martians had landed in New Jersey, right? A. Brad Schwartz's new Broadcast Hysteria argues that panic may have been blown out of proportion.

It rained in California this week. That might not sound like news, but the state is experiencing a record-setting drought. Jason Heller turns to science fiction to reflect on the strange weather.

Geeks rule — a fact celebrated in two new books: Vikram Chandra's Geek Sublime and xkcd creator Randall Munro's What If? Reviewer Jason Heller says both books share a bone-deep belief in science.

Lucius Shepard's posthumously published novel ties together a career's worth of stories about the town of Teocinte and the ancient, slumbering dragon Griaule who curls around it like a vast hill.