Unquenchable Fire by Rachel Pollack
Jonathan Thornton
“By its own reality, ecstasy makes people see that suffering is real. And without purpose. Ecstasy is a light that illuminates pain.” In Unquenchable Fire (1988), Rachel Pollack imagines an…
fantasy
The Masked City by Genevieve Cogman
Lucy Hounsom
I loved Cogman’s first novel, which introduced us to the Library, a vast repository of books collected from multiple alternate worlds. Irene is one of its agents, posted to a…
In Defence of the Chosen One
Victoria Hooper
One of fantasy’s most commonly mocked tropes is the chosen one. This makes sense; it’s also one of fantasy’s most recurring tropes, and there are a lot of very good…
The Aeronaut’s Windlass by Jim Butcher
Stephen Rhodes
The Aeronaut’s Windlass is the latest offering from the talented Jim Butcher. I have been a fan of Butcher’s work for a long time, as I’m sure many of you…
Grandmothers of Fantasy
Nyki Blatchley
It’s often said that, until the past two or three decades, both fantasy and SF were completely male-dominated genres. To a large extent this is true, but not entirely. For…
The Seat of Magic by J. Kathleen Cheney
Jo Niederhoff
The Golden City was a wonderful historical fantasy murder mystery set in an alternate Portugal where selkies and sirens (called sereia) secretly roam the streets and magic can be used…
Fantasy-Faction Turns Five!
Jennie Ivins
Fantasy-Faction began as Marc Aplin’s way to geek out about the fantasy books he’d discovered way back in 2010. His first adventure into the world of fantasy was The Way…
Signal To Noise by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
And that was that. You don’t get to rewind your life like a tape and splice it back together, pretending it never knotted and tore, when it did and you…
Cold Iron by Stina Leicht
Richard Bray
“Perfection lacks opportunity for growth. Learn the value of error, especially the errors of others. Do not equate good luck with virtue, and do not indulge in superiority. Above all,…
Nimona by Noelle Stevenson
Steff Humm
The popularity of Noelle Stevenson’s 2012 webcomic Nimona led to its release as a printed graphic novel earlier this year, which immediately leapt to the top of the New York…
Painting With Grey: The Development and Popularity of “Gritty Fantasy”
Idlewilder
In the last ten years, the fantasy community has seen an upsurge in the popularity of so-called “gritty fantasy”. However, this sub-genre of fantasy is evident even earlier than this.…
The Builders by Daniel Polansky
Zachary A. Matzo
Daniel Polansky is an interesting guy. I say this having never met the man and reading exactly 50% of his published output. He reminds me of Warren Ellis (the writer,…