Modern vampire fiction has been shaped in large part by female authors: Anne Rice, Charlaine Harris, Nancy Collins, Laurell K. Hamilton, Stephenie Meyer and others each played a part in establishing vampire literature as the thriving commercial genre that it is today. In terms of both authorship and readership, it is safe to say that…
Vampires on the Margins: The Black Vampyre
The development of vampire fiction throughout the nineteenth century is often boiled down to four key authors. Dr. John Polidori established the genre in 1819 with his short story “The Vampyre”. James Malcolm Rymer demonstrated that vampires could find popular success through longer-form storytelling with his penny dreadful saga Varney the Vampire, completed in 1847….
Inaugural Ignyte Awards Celebrate Diverse Fantasy and Science Fiction
This year, the world of science fiction and fantasy has become home to a new set of prizes: the Ignyte Awards. Presented at the 2020 Fiyahcon, a convention held under the banner of Fiyah: Magazine of Black Speculative Fiction, the Ignyte Awards have the stated aim of celebrating diversity within speculative fiction:
[PATREON EXCLUSIVE] Fumetti Nightmares: Belzeba, Italy’s Intersex Imp
Our monthly Patron-exclusive essay series continues. You can read all of these incredible analyses for as little as a dollar a month on our Patreon. The erotic-horror fumetti published in Italy through the seventies and eighties may seem arcane to outsiders. The plots of these comics are built around sex, violence and combinations of the two,…
Remembering Charlee Jacob: Dark Moods
In Charlee Jacob’s fiction, the modern landscape of mass media and urban sprawls is never far from the barbarism of the ancient world. An earlier age of weird divinities and brutal religious rites is present just below the surface of those millennial cityscapes, ready to burst forth into the lives and minds of contemporary humanity….
2020 Dragon Award Winners: Thousands Vote Despite Right-Wing Backlash
Atlanta’s Dragon Con was one of many science fiction and fantasy conventions to become a purely online event for 2020, but — just like the Hugo Awards at Worldcon — its annual Dragon Awards went ahead as scheduled this Sunday. Decided via a free online poll, the Dragon Awards recognise science fiction and fantasy novels,…
Remembering Charlee Jacob: Geek Poems and Wormwood Nights
In 2005, the same year that Vestal was published, Charlee Jacob’s novella Wormwood Nights was given a limited edition run by Bloodletting Press.
REVIEW: The Tammy & Jinty Special 2020 Brings Back a Beloved British Heroine
Summer 2020 has been far from ideal, to put it mildly, so it comes as a true pleasure to see a tradition from British summer times past make a comeback: the children’s comic special. Published by Rebellion, the Tammy & Jinty Special 2020 continues the legacy of two beloved comic anthologies that enthralled generations of…
2020 Hugo Awards Reflect Struggle Over History
The weekend saw the presentation of the 2020 Hugo Awards at CoNZealand, this year’s iteration of the World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon, for short). Although the ongoing pandemic prevented CoNZealand from being held in physical form, like many similar events, it adapted to the situation by offering a virtual convention – and the Hugos were,…
2020 Hugo Awards Reviews: Novels – Part 3
Welcome to the final post in a series examining the contenders in the main prose categories for the Hugo Awards. So far, the Best Novel selection has shown an interesting set of recurring themes along with some stark contrasts. Two of the finalists, Seanan McGuire’s Middlegame and Alix E. Harrow’s The Ten Thousand Doors of…
2020 Hugo Awards Reviews: Novels – Part 2
Continuing our reviews of the 2020 Hugo Awards finalists in the Best Novel category, we move on to Middlegame by Seanan McGuire and The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow.
2020 Hugo Awards Reviews: Novels – Part 1
Welcome to another instalment of the WWAC series that takes a close look at the finalists for the 2020 Hugo Awards. Previous posts have examined the contenders for Best Short Story, Best Novelette and Best Novella; now, we reach the final stretch. Here are two of the six finalists for Best Novel: Kameron Hurley’s The…