Although the virtual convention FIYAHCON has been on hiatus since 2021, one of its draws has carried on unabated: the annual Ignyte Awards. The 2023 iteration of these awards, which celebrate diverse science fiction and fantasy, took place on Saturday 21 October. The Ignytes have three novel categories, divided by age range. The category for…
Space Opera, Social Commentary and Twisted Fairy Tales Win at China’s First Hugo Awards
The winners of the 2023 Hugo Awards were announced this Saturday. A whole year’s worth of science fiction and fantasy talent as voted for by members of the World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon) were duly honoured with gleaming trophies in the shape of a panda with a rocket. The winner of the Hugo Award for…
ESSAY: Dead at 55: Zombi 3 (1988)
Continuing a series that celebrates the fifty-fifth anniversary of Night of the Living Dead with a look at the classic zombie film and its many follow-ups. While American zombie films were growing increasingly silly, as seen in the Return of the Living Dead series, their Italian counterparts were also facing problems. The poor health of Italian…
ESSAY: Dead at 55: Return of the Living Dead Part II (1988)
Continuing a series that celebrates the fifty-fifth anniversary of Night of the Living Dead with a look at the classic zombie film and its many follow-ups. How appropriate that The Return of the Living Dead, itself an alternative to Dawn of the Dead, would beget an alternate Zombi 2 – namely, the awkward quasi-sequel that is…
ESSAY: Dead at 55: The Return of the Living Dead (1985)
Continuing a series that celebrates the fifty-fifth anniversary of Night of the Living Dead with a look at the classic zombie film and its many follow-ups. While George Romero was building his trilogy, his former collaborator John Russo was following a tangled route towards the production of his alternative sequel, the details of which are covered…
ESSAY: Dead at 55: Day of the Dead (1985)
Continuing a series that celebrates the fifty-fifth anniversary of Night of the Living Dead with a look at the classic zombie film and its many follow-ups. Nine years passed between Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead, after which another seven years went by until Day of the Dead was released in 1985….
Timothy Zahn and Martha Wells Among Winners of 2023’s Rejigged Dragon Awards
The Atlanta convention Dragon Con handed out its eighth set of Dragon Awards on Sunday. Voted for by the public via an online poll, the awards have been a fixture of the annual convention since 2016 and celebrate science fiction and fantasy storytelling across a variety of media. The Best Science Fiction Novel category was…
ESSAY: Dead at 55: Zombi 2 (1979)
Continuing a series that celebrates the fifty-fifth anniversary of Night of the Living Dead with a look at the classic zombie film and its many follow-ups. Back in the seventies and eighties, if a genre of action or horror film left its mark, then there was one sure testament to its success: a slew of Italian…
ESSAY: Dead at 55: Dawn of the Dead (1978)
Continuing a series that celebrates the fifty-fifth anniversary of Night of the Living Dead with a look at the classic zombie film and its many follow-ups. The 1978 film Dawn of the Dead is, in certain quarters, regarded as belonging to that hallowed category of sequels better than their originals. There is little point in debating…
ESSAY: Dead at 55: Return of the Living Dead (1978)
Continuing a series that celebrates the fifty-fifth anniversary of Night of the Living Dead with a look at the classic zombie film and its many follow-ups. What was the first sequel to Night of the Living Dead? Most horror fans would reply Dawn of the Dead. Yet there is another contender for this honour: Return of…
ESSAY: Dead at 55: Night of the Living Dead (1968)
Beginning a series that celebrates the fifty-fifth anniversary of Night of the Living Dead with a look at the classic zombie film and its many follow-ups. Back in 1968, the zombie apocalypse was only beginning. We can see this in just how fresh-faced and clean-cut the living dead were at the time. Today, if you…
Carmilla’s Kindred: Countess Dolingen and Dracula’s Guest
Women Write About Comics celebrates the 150th anniversary of J. Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla with a series of posts on female vampires in nineteenth-century literature. This is the last in the series. No discussion of female vampires in nineteenth-century literature would be complete without mentioning “Dracula’s Guest”, even though this story did not see publication…