Tag Archives: Fantasy

Zelazny’s Chronicles of Amber televised

Posted on 10th August 2016 by William the Bloody

I have to confess I’m not usually a fan of high/epic fantasy, but I make an exception for Roger Zelazny’s Chronicles of Amber series, where the quasi-medieval world of Amber overlaps with our own and a host of shady worlds … Continue reading →

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SF and Romance

Posted on 6th August 2016 by William the Bloody

The worlds of science fiction and romance may seem antithetical but, as in the encounter of Gothic with romance that generates paranormal romance, the romance genre insinuates its way into the, perhaps, masculine, rationalist world of SF. Here, Gail Carriger, … Continue reading →

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Crossing genres in fantastic fiction – some new novels

Posted on 5th August 2016 by William the Bloody

I am fascinated by what emerges when genres meet, combine, come into conflict. Genres bring with them ways of looking at the world and fiction that doesn’t settle easily into any one genre can result in complex and subtle perspectives. … Continue reading →

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Essays on Fantastic Fiction and SF

Posted on 11th June 2016 by William the Bloody

This is a very useful web page, with short reviews of books of essays on science fiction and other fantastic literature, covering such fields as steampunk and Afrofuturism, and by such authors as Neil Gaiman, Ursula Le Guin, Octavia Butler, … Continue reading →

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YA Fiction and Style

Posted on 14th May 2016 by William the Bloody

Too many YA novels, more so, I suspect, in the very commercial realm of paranormal romance, are let down by their style–even among the most interesting and complex ones. Too often, these fictions are narrated in the first person and … Continue reading →

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Terry Pratchett Symposium, Dublin City University, 28 May 2016

Posted on 13th May 2016 by William the Bloody

The CFP for this symposium on Terry Pratchett has closed now–I’m not sure whether we saw it and posted it. But it still looks to be a brilliant event and well worth attending.

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Arabian Nights Vol 1: The Restless One review

Posted on 7th May 2016 by William the Bloody

From Peter Bradshaw’s enthusiastic review here, and others elsewhere, this looks to be a brilliant film. Miguel Gomes’s film shows contemporary Portuguese life obliquely through the framed tale structure of The Thousand and One Nights. The Nights is another of … Continue reading →

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Jane Eyre’s Fantastic Origins

Posted on 7th May 2016 by William the Bloody

More on Jane Eyre (it is, after all, the 200th anniversary of Charlotte Brontë’s birth) and its complex intertextual relationships with other texts and genres (following my post below). Here, Emma Butcher traces the novel’s origins in Brontë’s (and her … Continue reading →

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Women Writing SF and Fantasy

Posted on 7th May 2016 by William the Bloody

Some of the most interesting and innovative writing in speculative fiction, science fiction, and fantasy have been women, despite these genre’s domination by men and, possibly, the prevalence of masculine values (especially true of SF). This is a list of … Continue reading →

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Adaptation Again! Neverland and Wonderland

Posted on 7th April 2016 by William the Bloody

Literature is a fluctuating web of reinvention, translation, and reworking, of plots and genres. Classic literary fictions can be adapted as well as myths and folklore; here’s a review of five YA variations on Peter Pan and the Alice books, … Continue reading →

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