SFX

1 min read

Neal Shusterman’s latest, GAME CHANGER (out now, Walker) centres on a teenage American football player, who’s… oh right, you’ve lost interest before I mention how he bounces into parallel worlds, right? Fair enough. Hannah Mathewson’s debut WITHERWAR

SFX

1 min read

RELEASED 6 FEBRUARY 352 pages | Paperback/ebook/audiobook Author Luke Arnold Publisher Orbit Fans of Black Sails will likely find the name Luke Arnold familiar. He played John Silver in the pirate series, as well as being a mainstay on numerous other

Writing Magazine

3 min read

Verily is a US web journal for women. The editorial team ‘sifts through the noise of the world to elevate what is honest, real, and beautiful for the modern woman’. Columns requiring subs are Travel with a Local about the ‘hidden gems’ in your neighb

ImagineFX

1 min read

Author Dian Hanson Publisher Taschen Price £150 Web www.taschen.com Available Now Taschen’s Masterpieces of Fantasy Art showcases imaginative art primarily from the 20th century, in a mammoth, highly produced hardback. Yet this mouth-watering prospec

SFX

1 min read

Leiber’s father (also Fritz) was a successful actor, most notably playing Franz Lizst in Universal’s Phantom Of The Opera (1943). The book was expanded from The Pale Brown Thing, first published in the Jan/Feb 1977 editions of Fantasy And Science Fic

Popshot Magazine

1 min read

ISSUE 25 — FANTASY AUTUMN 2019 There are no limits on fantasy. Yet, in literature it is so heavily steeped in genre it’s impossible not to think of warring kingdoms, dragons, unicorns, witches and other supernatural tropes. Fantasy with a capital F i

SFX

1 min read

MEET THE COMPLIANCE MANAGER BEHIND YA FANTASY NOVEL KINGDOM OF SOULS Tell us about your protagonist. Arrah hails from a powerful family of witchdoctors, but doesn’t have magic of her own. When the Demon King threatens her kingdom, she must trade year

SFX

1 min read

As ever, there’s tons more books we couldn’t fit in. Almost-human wolves and a living ship made of bones are among the delights of Laird Hunt’s dark fairytale in THE HOUSE IN THE DARK OF THE WOODS (out now, One). Alison Littlewood’s MISTLETOE (out no

Writing Magazine

1 min read

FableCroft Publishing is an Australian independent press of speculative fiction. The editorial team has been ‘so tipped upside down and shaken in ways we could barely have imagined, except perhaps in the post-apocalyptic and dystopic worlds of story.

Writer's Digest

2 min read

David Burns says the reason why fantasy is such an old but thriving literary genre is that fantasy stories speak to emotional truths. “A good fantasy story is going to make you feel something and resonate about subjects such as love, family and the n

SFX

1 min read

RELEASED OUT NOW! 344 pages | Paperback/ebook Author Steve Feasey Publisher Bloomsbury A magic sword, an abandoned baby of mysterious origins, and a malevolent sorcerer looking to plunge the world into chaos… Dark Blade ticks off a lot of epic fantas

The Writer

13 min read

All fiction is speculative to some extent, posing a “what-if” question, which serves as the premise and drives the plot. But for fantasy author Kij Johnson, winner of both the Hugo and Nebula Award, the specific genre of speculative fiction adds its

Writing Magazine

1 min read

The University of Glasgow School of Critical Studies has launched the Centre for Fantasy and the Fantastic. The new venture’s inaugural event was a free Zoom lecture on 16 September by fantasy author Ellen Kushner, followed by a discussion panel on f

SFX

1 min read

Pick of the paperbacks this time: Adrian Tchaikovsky’s CAGE OF SOULS ( , out now, Head Of Zeus). Set when the sun is dying and less than 100,000 humans survive in the last city, it centres on a rebel confined on an island prison in a predator-filled

SFX

1 min read

Words have mystical power in Jay Posey’s space opera EVERY SKY A GRAVE (out now, Harper Voyager). Set in a future where mankind has mastered the Deep Language of the universe, it centres on an adept sent to a world that’s become corrupted. The world

Writing Magazine

1 min read

Portal Books are launching a new imprint devoted to fantasy and science fiction. While all subgenres of speculative fiction will be considered, the editorial team of Taran Matharu (author of the multi-million selling Summoner series), Michael Miller

Edge

1 min read

We often hear complaints that games don’t reflect the real world. To a point, that’s true, but it’s an attitude that can betray snobbery towards science fiction and fantasy. These genres often address contemporary themes through allegory – for childr

Literary Hub

3 min read

“Allen marries several distinct genres to produce an insight into what it means to be a person with a psychiatric diagnosis—as opposed to a novelist toying with the boundaries of thought … Meta-biographical writing is at such a peak of sophistication

Writing Magazine

1 min read

US small press Sliced Up is looking for short stories involving menopause for a horror fiction anthology, Bodies Full of Burning: An Anthology of Menopause-Themed Horror. Stories, 1,000-4,000 words, must include menopause as the main plot point. Subm

ImagineFX

3 min read

LOCATION: France MEDIA: Photoshop, Clip Studio Paint, Procreate WEB: www.artstation.com/lauffray “My priority is to work as a storyteller,” says freelance illustrator and concept artist Mathieu. “I put myself in the mindset of a character, then focus

Writing Magazine

1 min read

Cast of Wonders is a podcast producing young adult speculative short fiction. Each week it presents short stories in the genres of ‘hard science fiction… urban fantasy, horror, steampunk, superheroes and more.’ The team want stories with ‘deep emotio

The Writer

3 min read

Seven years ago, Kentucky author Stephen Zimmer launched an event that offered the atmosphere of a convention combined with the content of a major writing conference. He titled it “Imaginarium.” “I wanted it to be inclusive of all genres,” he says. “

Literary Hub

2 min read

It is entirely possible that I have never had an accurate sense of what is called realism in that I do not, as a reader, discriminate between it and fantasy. My earliest reading was Greek mythology. As with my prayers, nothing was ever deleted, but

Writing Magazine

1 min read

Various authors and publishers are making books and stories freely available to keep readers entertained during the pandemic. Though the magazine closed down last year, Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show has put all 69 issues of the scien

NPR

5 min read

Asian fantasy has been increasingly popular over the past few years, but some authors shelved in that category are wondering whether it's really a useful way of describing a vast and varied subgenre.

PC Gamer

1 min read

Made up of humans, dwarves, and elves, the Alliance are the all-rounders with tech, magic, and knights. The orcs, trolls, and tauren faction is full of melee bruisers backed up by shamanistic magic powers. The undead Scourge is fuelled by necromant

You South Africa

1 min read

1 What colour is an emerald? 2 In which Italian city do you find this tower that’s famous because it leans over? 3 What’s the name of the witchcraft and wizardry school in the Harry Potter books and movies? 4 This is the flag of which of South

Writing Magazine

3 min read

The Common Tongue magazine publishes dark fantasy and speculative fiction online, plus fantasy anthologies. They like a multicultural mix of work and welcome subs from authors anywhere, but are particularly keen on ‘writers whose voices give better u

The Atlantic

5 min read

A much-anticipated young-adult debut taps into a tradition of speculative fiction rooted in African culture.

Writing Magazine

6 min read

We’ve explored numerous aspects of fantasy and science-fiction here over the years, and one thing we know is that – on average – books in these genres tend to be longer than those in other forms. There are numerous reasons for this – you could argue