“We need books…because we are all, in the private kingdoms of our hearts, desperate for the company of a wise, true friend.” – Steve Almond Fiction Matters! I was an undergraduate taking a Shakespeare class when the professor said something that rang so true that I still remember the gist of his words years later. […]
Who Started the Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Genres?
And the Answer Is: A woman! Most people credit Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus Unbound as the first science fiction novel. I’d venture a guess that most people think of early science fiction authors as male and would have guessed that a man started the genre. I’m in the middle of reading […]
Why Are YA Stories, Dystopias, and Superheroes Popular? Part 3
Superheroes Mainstream critics often disparage superhero stories as escape literature, superficial entertainment versus literature that tells us about the human condition. Are these stories superficial? Maybe. Maybe not. They are often exciting adventure stories. On the surface, they appear to be pure escapism, having little to do with reality. After all, humans can’t fly or […]
What Is Speculative Fiction?
A week or so ago, my daughter asked, “What’s speculative fiction?” She wasn’t exactly sure, and I had to reshape my definition a couple of times before she said, “Oh, I get it.” That started me thinking. Since my site’s subtitle is Exploring Speculative Fiction, and there are people who don’t know the term, I’d […]