The fantasy genre has been inspiring and enchanting readers for hundreds of years. In 1858 Scottish author George MacDonald wrote Phantastes: A Faerie Romance for Men and Women, which is often thought of as the first "modern" fantasy novel. That perfectly titled book would go on to influence many of the authors that we consider some of our all time favorite authors. Lord Dunsany would be the next writer to reshape fantasy with one of JRR Tolkien's favorite books The King of Elfland's Daughter. In 2025 readers are just as enchanted and eager to escape into worlds that they can barely imagine, following their favorite writers down the rabbit hole to find strange and beautiful locations filled with surreal characters and never before seen creatures. So it's the perfect time to look back on some of the most influential fantasy authors of all time and explore just why they've made such an impact through the vibrant and imaginative stories that they've told. J.R.R. TolkienThere's no question that J.R.R. Tolkien is one of the most influential writers of all time, fantasy or not. His groundbreaking Lord of the Rings books revolutionized the fantasy genre and his world building and deftness at creating new languages have enraptured fans for almost a century. Inspiring everyone from George Lucas — who literally quotes The Hobbit in the original script for Star Wars — to iconic authors on our list like Ursula Le Guin and George R.R. Martin, Tolkien is almost synonymous with fantasy as he was one of its earliest breakthrough authors. Many of the things that you love about fantasy from the often religious overtones, to the gorgeous landscapes, and unique fictional languages, were all popularized by Tolkien and his sprawling works of Middle Earth. Even adaptations of his work have influenced others as Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings films inspired a decade plus of fantasy imitators.The Lord of the Rings Deluxe Illustrated EditionSee it at AmazonThe Hobbit And The Lord Of The Rings: Deluxe Pocket Boxed SetSee it at AmazonThe Hobbit Deluxe Illustrated EditionSee it at AmazonThe Silmarillion Deluxe Illustrated EditionSee it at AmazonC.S. LewisC.S. Lewis' enchanting tales of the mystical world of Narnia have had a magic-like hold on children's literature and fantasy since The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was first published in 1950. Over the next six years he would release six more books, Prince Caspian, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, The Silver Chair, The Horse and His Boy, The Magician's Nephew, and The Last Battle completing his Chronicles of Narnia series. Since their original publication the books have achieved the incredible feat of never going out of print with over 100 million copies in circulation in nearly 50 different languages. Interestingly Lewis cited Phantastes: A Faerie Romance for Men and Women as a huge influence on him, and the Narnia books would go on to inspire children around the world including some of your favorite authors like Bridge to Terabithia's Katherine Paterson. The series has been adapted multiple times, from the classic BBC TV specials to the Disney movies, and soon we'll be getting another version of the classic kids tales from the mind of Greta Gerwig at Netflix. Includes 7 Books The Chronicles of Narnia Book SetSee it at AmazonIncludes 7 Books The Chronicles of Narnia Hardcover SetSee it at AmazonKindle Edition The Chronicles of NarniaSee it at AmazonAudiobook Edition The Chronicles of Narnia Complete Audio CollectionSee it at AmazonUrsula Le GuinThis groundbreaking writer is behind some of the most acclaimed fantasy novels of all time. Her Earthsea series follows a young mage as he tries to find his place and freedom in the fictional world of Earthsea. The books made Le Guin the first woman to win both Hugo and Nebula awards for best novel, introducing her already popular books to an even wider audience. Philosophical and whimsical, Le Guin also inspired some of your favorite creators like Hayao Miyazaki and his son, the latter of whom would go on to adapt Earthsea to film.Ursala Le Guin wasn't just a leader in the fantasy field but she was also a famously radical thinker, imagining a better world not just on the pages of her stories but also in the lives of the people who read them. Even after her death in 2018 she regularly finds viral fame as people share videos and quotes of her optimistic thoughts on the end of Capitalism and hope for humanity. A powerful advocate and one of our great authors, Le Guin's work is still just as powerful in 2025.Book 1 of the SeriesA Wizard of EarthseaSee it at AmazonThe Books of Earthsea: The Complete Illustrated EditionSee it at AmazonBoxed SetUrsula K. Le Guin: The Hainish Novels and StoriesSee it at AmazonBlu-ray + DVDTales From EarthseaSee it at AmazonGeorge R.R. MartinHis epic fantasy novels that encompass his Game of Thrones series are not only massively successful bestsellers but also changed the face of television forever introducing a new era of extremely high-budgets, extreme gore, and of course extreme nudity. What really makes him so influential though is his epic world building which has long been seen as some of the best that fantasy has to offer. From his sumptuous renditions of Westeros to his expansive fictional histories, texts, and ephemera, Martin loves to immerse readers in his worlds. Outside of the smash-hit cultural phenomenon of Game of Thrones, Martin has shaped both TV and Film writing on shows like the 00s reboot of The Twilight Zone, the cult smash Max Headroom, and the desperately underrated 1989 Beauty and the Beast series starring Ron Perlman and Linda Hamilton! More recently his chilling supernatural noir Dark Winds was adapted at AMC and was already renewed for its fourth season.A Song of Ice and Fire Book SetSee it at AmazonA Game of Thrones: The Illustrated EditionSee it at AmazonA Clash of Kings: The Illustrated EditionSee it at AmazonA Storm of Swords: The Illustrated EditionSee it at AmazonOctavia ButlerAlthough she has in recent years finally become widely recognized for her pioneering science-fiction prowess, Octavia Butler is also a vital part of the fantasy canon. Her breadth of imagination spanned from vampires to time travel and everything in between. Butler herself called her most well known book Kindred "a kind of grim fantasy." And it's a great example of what makes her such a unique and trailblazing author. Butler is never afraid to bring real world experiences into her genre fiction, with her stories traversing time travel, vampires, and dystopias all the while melding these new worlds with the realities of racism and sexism. Her ability to deal with relatable issues while also building and imagining real futures make her one of the most influential and powerful genre authors of all time. And it's fantastic to see her finally being recognized as the trailblazer that she really is.KindredSee it at AmazonKindred: A Graphic Novel AdaptationSee it at AmazonParable of the SowerSee it at AmazonParable of the Talents: A Graphic Novel AdaptationSee it at AmazonTerry PratchettHis Discworld books took the cozy charm of Tolkien's hobbits and mixed it with absurdist comedy and vibrant fantasy. Never afraid to wrap some satirical commentary in with his wild worlds and magical creatures, Terry Pratchett has long been at the forefront of the now thriving cozy fantasy movement, and one of the most awarded-writers in fantasy full stop. Like many of the authors on our list, Pratchett didn't just create fictional worlds but he wanted to change our real one too. As he famously put it, "Fantasy isn't just about wizards and silly wands. It's about seeing the world from new directions", Pratchett saw fantasy as a tool for not only comfort and entertainment, but to open the reader's mind to different experiences and points of view. He was also an outspoken advocate for human rights causes and after his own Alzheimer's diagnosis, the right for people with terminal illnesses to die with dignity.5-Book CollectionTerry Pratchett Discworld NovelsSee it at AmazonThe Color of MagicSee it at Amazon Night WatchSee it at AmazonEqual RitesSee it at AmazonDiana Wynne JonesOne of Pratchett's biggest inspirations, the author behind Howl's Moving Castle and the Chronicles of Chrestomanci is one of the most underrated authors on this list. Her children's books have nourished generations of rabid readers who want to traverse dreamworlds that they can imagine themselves in. Even those who don't instantly recognize her name have surely discovered her works thanks to a globally beloved adaptation in the shape of Studio Ghibli's fantasy masterpiece Howl's Moving Castle. It's not just readers whose minds she's shaped but authors too, as many readers believe that the boy who lived might never have existed if it wasn't for Jones' truly British take on magic, growing up, and discovering your own power.Howl's Moving CastleSee it at AmazonThe Chronicles of ChrestomanciSee it at AmazonUnexpected Magic: Collected StoriesSee it at AmazonA Tale of Time CitySee it at AmazonRosie Knight is a contributing freelancer for IGN covering everything from anime to comic books to kaiju to kids movies to horror flicks. She has over half a decade of experience in entertainment journalism with bylines at Nerdist, Den of Geek, Polygon, and more.

Apple introduced support for dedicated transit cards in Apple Wallet around six years ago, and since then – it’s slowly expanded. In the US, you’re able to utilize transit cards in Apple Wallet with San Francisco’s Clipper card, Washington DC’s SmarTrip card, and Los Angeles’ TAP card. Canada’s PRESTO card supports Apple Wallet as well. In due time, New York City’s OMNY card will join in on the fun of Apple Wallet integration, per the MTA. OMNY rollout Over the past five years or so, New York City has been phasing out its physically-swiping MetroCard system in favor of a new tap-to-pay system, dubbed OMNY. At first, the system only supported tap-to-pay with your own debit or credit card. It also supported express transit in Apple Wallet. However, in more recent years, they rolled out physical cards. This allows customers to reload a card up front, whether that be with cash or with a debit/credit card. This would also save you the hassle of having dozens of $2.90 transactions show up on your banking/credit card statements. Now, the MTA is set to phase out the MetroCard fully within the next year or so. That requires having OMNY widely available and easy to use. Transit card in Apple Wallet In the upcoming capital program meeting (notes linked here), the MTA is going to announce major updates involving the OMNY rollout, including: Launch of a mobile virtual OMNY card (for normal commuters and for students) in Q4 2025 New integration within the MTA app to manage your OMNY card Both of these things will be available by December 2025, which is when the MTA would like for the OMNY rollout to reach “substantial completion.” So, if things go according to plan, you’ll be able to add an OMNY card to Apple (or Google) Wallet in the coming months, just like you can in Washington, DC and San Francisco. 9to5Mac’s Take I’m particularly excited for the rollout of OMNY in Apple Wallet, primarily because I’d love to simply preload the card every once in a while, rather than seeing a $2.90 transaction in my banking app for every single one of my subway taps. This’ll also be huge for students, who currently have to deal with a cheaply-produced and often defective paper card to take advantage of their free subway/bus rides to school. If you live in New York City and ride the subway, this’ll certainly be something to look forward to. My favorite Apple accessories on Amazon: Follow Michael: X/Twitter, Bluesky, Instagram Add 9to5Mac to your Google News feed.  FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.You’re reading 9to5Mac — experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Don’t know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel

As if the job market weren't already bad enough, applicants are now forced to compete with AI-generated employment seekers.As CBS News reports, scam artists are using AI to cook up headshots and write fake résumés and sites to fit the specifics of a given job opening.Sometimes, those AI scammers end up getting hired — and once they're there, they can steal trade secrets and sabotage a company's systems with malware.A few months ago, Dawid Moczadlo, the co-founder of the cybersecurity firm Vidoc, posted a now-viral video on LinkedIn showing him interviewing a candidate who he realized was using some sort of AI filter to obscure their face.Moczaldo asked the seemingly scamming candidate to put their hand in front of their face to see if it would "break" the deepfake filter. When the person refused, he ended the call immediately.In an interview with CBS, the Vidoc cofounder said he felt a "little bit violated, because we are the security experts" — though ultimately, he was glad the scammer didn't get further.According to researchers Moczadlo spoke to after the incident, the phony applicant appeared to act in a similar way to North Korean hacker networks that create fake identities to work remote jobs in the United States. Though the incident is still being investigated, the Vidoc cofounder believes it could have been worse."We are really lucky that we are security experts," Moczaldo said. "But for companies that have regular people like hiring managers or regular startup founders, it's really hard for them to spot something like this.""Sometimes," he continued, "it takes a hacker to find a hacker."Unfortunately, that was not the first time Vidoc had encountered an AI applicant. After it happened again, as seen in Moczadlo's LinkedIn video, the company decided to change its hiring practices and now flies top candidates out to San Francisco for in-person interviews at Vidoc's offices, complete with travel expenses covered and pay for the trial day of work.While it's great to know that employers are trying to filter out these AI scammers, it's still pretty bad news for real people on the other end of hiring processes. Between companies laying off staff in hamfisted attempts to streamline their work with AI and generative phonies gumming up the application process, it appears that the rise of generative AI now has job applicants stuck between a rock and a hard place.More on AI and work: Investor Creates AI Employee, Immediately Sexually Harasses ItShare This Article

When photo quality is a top consideration, the best phones from Apple and Samsung are amazing. But which is better? It's time to find out.

The fifth and final season of Netflix's live-action The Witcher show is in production, and we've finally had a peek at Liam Hemsworth in the titular role. Read more

You can trust VideoGamer. Our team of gaming experts spend hours testing and reviewing the latest games, to ensure you're reading the most comprehensive guide possible. Rest assured, all imagery and advice is unique and original. Check out how we test and review games here The meta will change once again in Marvel Rivals, as its developer announced several buffs and nerfs coming soon. Season 2 has been out for two weeks, yet many players are unhappy with the dive meta. On top of that, the community believes that the performance-based ranking system is not exactly fair, which is why NetEase will address all of these issues. The next week’s update will bring changes to at least five heroes. Furthermore, the game developer will buff a couple of Strategists, increasing their effectiveness on the battlefield. The upcoming Marvel Rivals update will bring several buffs and nerfs Captain America, who’s currently the hero with the sixth-highest win rate in Marvel Rivals Season 2, will be nerfed with the next update. NetEase revealed that his survivability will be nerfed, which is also the case with Groot, another popular Vanguard. Furthermore, the range of Spider-Man’s Amazing Combo (uppercut) will be decreased. On a positive note, Winter Soldier and Doctor Strange will both get buffed. Interestingly, NetEase nerfed these two characters with the release of Season 2, so the upcoming update should make them more effective. Doctor Strange and Winter Soldier will benefit from the new Marvel Rivals buffs. Image by VideoGamer The Vanguard will require less energy for his ultimate, Eye of Agamotto. Considering that this is one of the best ultimate abilities in Marvel Rivals, this will be a significant buff for the hero. Winter Soldier, on the other hand, will get two buffs. One will improve his Tainted Voltage (E) ability, while the other will buff his Team-Up with Captain America. Finally, the upcoming Marvel Rivals update will bring buffs for several Strategists. NetEase hasn’t revealed details yet, but we do know that the patch will “enhance the damage capabilities of certain Strategists to elevate their threat levels.” The release date of the update hasn’t been revealed yet, but we expect it to come out on Thursday, May 1. Marvel Rivals Platform(s): macOS, PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X Genre(s): Fighting, Shooter Subscribe to our newsletters! By subscribing, you agree to our Privacy Policy and may receive occasional deal communications; you can unsubscribe anytime. Share

In recent months, Elon Musk’s DOGE has attempted to hollow out America’s federal bureaucracy. After firing droves of workers and attempting to downsize prominent agencies, the billionaire-backed effort is attempting to create a new governance model that prioritizes automation. On Friday, Wired reported that, in a flailing attempt to modernize the agency, a new ChatGPT-style bot was integrated into agency staffers’ workflows. The Agency Support Companion is supposed to “assist employees with everyday tasks and enhance productivity,” an internal email viewed by the magazine reads. However, the chatbot does not seem to work very well. “Honestly, no one has really been talking about it at all,” a source who works at the agency told Wired. The app’s launch was reportedly accompanied by a hilariously terrible training video (seen here) that involved a poorly animated, four-fingered woman. The video, which was supposed to explain to staffers how to use the app, neglected to tell them a very critical piece of information: that they should refrain from uploading sensitive personal information to the program. This oversight forced the agency to send out an apologetic email to staffers that highlighted the missing context: “Our apologies for the oversight in our training video,” it read. “I’m not sure most of my coworkers even watched the training video,” the SSA source told Wired. “I played around with the chatbot a bit, and several of the responses I received from it were incredibly vague and/or inaccurate.” They added: “You could hear my coworkers making fun of the graphics. Nobody I know is [using it]. It’s so clumsy and bad.” If Musk’s plan is to automate the SSA, there is plenty of evidence (aside from the terrible new app) that suggests it’s a bad idea. Indeed, a similar attempt at automating social services in Brazil shows why over-reliance on algorithms to operate welfare programs may result in worse outcomes for everybody. Rest of the World reports that an attempt by the Brazilian government to reduce bureaucracy by replacing officials with algorithms hasn’t always produced the best results. Brazil has an app, Meu INSS, that was developed by a state-owned company, Dataprev, and is designed to handle social security claims. The app, which was launched in 2018, uses computer vision and natural language processing to analyze documents submitted to the government by claimants. Unfortunately, the app has a habit of rejecting legitimate claims based on minor errors. Those automated decisions can kick off lengthy legal battles that take many months to resolve. The outlet documents the experience of one former sugarcane worker, 55-year-old Josélia de Brito, who filed for her retirement benefits through the app but was mistaken for a man by the automated system and had her benefits denied. “I have all the documents proving my health condition, proving everything, and [the benefit] still gets denied. It’s a humiliation,” De Brito told the outlet. The nation’s rural farmworkers have struggled with the increasingly digital face of social services, the outlet notes. “People out here cannot [even] work with Gmail, Facebook, Instagram,” Francisco Santana, president of the Union for Rural Workers at Barra do Corda, told Rest of World. “Processes are [getting] more and more automated, and society wasn’t made ready for it, especially further away, in the outskirts, for people that live in rural areas.” Other nations’ struggles with automation are a potential warning for the U.S., whose social services are currently being “modernized” by technocratic minions deployed by the Trump administration. Musk’s DOGE has attempted to gut agencies across the federal bureaucracy, including the SSA. In place of full staff, DOGE has sought to institute an “AI-first” strategy that would cut the federal workforce in half and replace human workers with software. “Everything that can be machine-automated will be. And the technocrats will replace the bureaucrats,” a person knowledgeable about DOGE’s activities recently told the Washington Post. Far from resulting in greater efficiency, however, DOGE’s changes have so far helped to spur dysfunction and chaos at many agencies, including Social Security. Indeed, a recent incident at the SSA, in which DOGE workers reportedly marked “countless” living benefit recipients as “dead” and cut off their benefits, is just one example.  “[DOGE staffers] went into the system and they killed off people,” Rennie Glasgow, a longtime claims technical analyst at the agency, told The Daily Beast. “About 4 million people, they marked them as dead. But they’re not sure if those people were supposed to be marked as dead, so they’re sending us an email saying, ‘If these people come into the office with their identification, you can reinstate them,’” Glasgow told the outlet. “We have to go through this long process to resurrect them, to get them back as alive, which can take about three to four days,” Glasgow added. DOGE also recently announced that it would attempt to rewrite the entirety of the SSA’s codebase in a matter of months. Sources have suggested that, at the breakneck speed at which they plan to work, DOGE would almost certainly have to rely on AI to do this. While writing code with AI has become a more common practice, it’s also one that needs heavy supervision due to the degree to which the software makes mistakes. Given how many mistakes that DOGE’s human operators have made during their blitzkrieg of the government, it stands to reason that an automated rewrite of the SSA’s codebase could be a disaster. Of course, some speculate that making mistakes is the point. Those critics believe DOGE isn’t attempting to “modernize” or improve the SSA at all, but is actually attempting to destabilize and destroy the agency so that it can be privatized. If that’s the case, then everything is going to plan.

In Brief Posted: 12:01 PM PDT · April 26, 2025 Image Credits:Matthias Balk/picture alliance / Getty Images Google will stop supporting early Nest thermostats on October 25 Google announced this week that beginning on October 25, it will no longer support or release software updates for the first and second generation Nest Learning Thermostats. And it will completely stop launching new Nest products in Europe. That means owners of the Nest thermostats released in 2011 and 2012 (as well as the version released in Europe in 2014) won’t receive updates, and their devices will no longer be supported in the Nest and Home apps. They will, however, be able to adjust temperature and schedules directly on their devices. “To fully invest in [future] advancements and bring you the most cutting-edge features on our latest generation of Nest thermostats, we will be transitioning away from supporting three of our oldest devices, each over a decade old,” Google said. As for why it will no longer launch Nest thermostats in Europe, the company added, “Heating systems in Europe are unique and have a variety of hardware and software requirements that make it challenging to build for the diverse set of homes.” Existing Nest devices will still be sold in Europe while supplies last. Topics

Making a Sketchbook for the first time! Please give your advice or feedback to any of my works they are truly appreciated! I’ll be uploading this thread bit by bit with my work and I will try to stay as active as I can. Thumbnail: Study of Honkai Star Rail VFX - A RecreationUnity VFX - Butterfly Soul Study Original Work:Unity VFX - White Dawn 1 post - 1 participant Read full topic

One of the best horror games ever made could be coming to PS Plus in May.