Fantastical Creatures of Greek Mythology: The Lamia
Faith M. Boughan
In this series, I plan to explore some lesser-known creatures and monsters of classical mythology, many of which are reminiscent of modern-day monsters and beasts in fantasy literature. While many…
history
The Battle of Science and Magic – Part One: Particles and Pixie Dust
Victoria Hooper
For a long time we have separated magic and science, drawing a line between fantasy and science fiction, associating magic with the past – usually a pre-industrial society – and…
Magic In Fantasy – Part Two: Real Magic
Leo Elijah Cristea
This is the second in our Magic In Fantasy series. If you missed part one you can read it here. First off, shall we—cynic, dreamer and scholar alike—agree, for at…
The Chaotic Champion – Part Two: The Wandering Hero
Nyki Blatchley
This the second in our Chaotic Champion series. You can read the first article here. A gunslinger rides alone across the prairies, coming from nowhere special and going wherever the…
The Creatures in the Shadows – Part Two: South and East Africa
James Calbraith
This is the second article in our Creatures in the Shadows series. You can read the first one on West African creatures here. South and South-East Africa is a land…
YA Science Fiction & Fantasy – Part One: The Introduction
This is the first in a series of articles talking about YA science fiction and fantasy. In the coming months we’re going to look at YA as a sub-genre of…
Consider Worldbuilding
Adrian Faulkner
One of the great joys of fantasy are the worlds those stories inhabit. In many of our beloved classics, the worlds are as important as the characters themselves. But the…
The Chaotic Champion – Part One: Introducing the Champion
The honest, hardworking peasants of a village are being harassed by bandits and decide they’ve had enough. They can’t actually do anything about it themselves, so they hire a group…
The Creatures in the Shadows: West Africa
Elves, trolls, dwarves, goblins… There’s no denying that the Western fantasy is strongly entrenched in a Northern European mindscape: those ancient myths of the Celtic and Germanic people that inspired…
The Evolution of Sexuality, Homosexuality and Gender in SFF – Part Four
In this, the final article of this series, I want to not only round up what’s been considered in the previous parts, but firstly to consider any issues that might…
Manipulating the Mythos
Rachel Riegel
There is an ongoing argument among fantasy lovers as to whether or not you can take a long-standing myth and manipulate it into something different. We all know that things…
The Evolution of Sexuality, Homosexuality and Gender in SFF – Part Three
Arguably one of the main issues hounding the progress and subsequent filtration of LGBT themes into “mainstream” SFF is something that mirrors the treatment of “alternative” sexualities and genders in…