2017 Wrap Up of Speculative Fiction

2017 Wrap Up of Speculative Fiction

2017 has been a year of ups and downs for many of us. But happily, it was a good year for speculative fiction reading in the Australian Women Writers Challenge. We had 233 reviews submitted to the Challenge, for 147 books by 115 authors. This is a nice increase from...
Spec Fic Focus on Historical Fantasy (and Steampunk)

Spec Fic Focus on Historical Fantasy (and Steampunk)

This month I am going to be focussing on historical fantasy. There’s quite a bit of overlap between historical fantasy and other categories that I’ve already talked about, such as epic fantasy and fairytale retellings. The main distinction is that...
Spec Fic Focus on Fairytale Retellings

Spec Fic Focus on Fairytale Retellings

Some of the oldest fantasy stories are fairytales. They are culturally so pervasive, in many parts of the world, that most people have had some exposure to them at some point in their lives, even if only through Disney movies. Fairytale retellings are the fantasy...
Spec Fic Focus on Portal Fantasy

Spec Fic Focus on Portal Fantasy

Even if you’re not an avid fantasy reader, chances are you’ve read or watched a portal fantasy book or movie. There’s a pretty good chance that it was the most famous international example of the subgenre: The Chronicles of Narnia, in which a group...