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paracyclops's review against another edition
informative
lighthearted
medium-paced
4.0
No novice writer is going to learn to write well in a speculative fiction genre by reading this book. Nor will any reader be fully informed regarding any of the tropes, themes, styles and subgenres addressed by the sections of its three chapters. But writers of any standard wanting to find out about speculative fiction genres with a view to working in them should find this a useful book, and for those readers that don't intend to write in these modes, it is a fascinating taxonomy of speculative fiction.
What I find most interesting about its account of speculative fiction is that it doesn't simply offer a list of sub-genres, as a publisher might. This taxonomy, broken down into three long chapters on science-fiction, fantasy, and horror, is designed to be useful to writers rather than scholars, and it is intended to be pragmatic rather than definitive. For this reason, some of its subsections are devoted to subgenres such as cyberpunk, or high fantasy, and others to narrative objects, such as witches or zombies. The SF chapter has four such sections, on spaceships, aliens, 'big dumb objects', and 'robots, androids, and artificial intelligence'. If I harbour any dissatisfaction with the book, it's in thinking that the fantasy and horror chapters could have done with more of these, for example on dragons, magical artifacts, or edifices.
The writing style is light and humourous throughout, but by no means frivolous. The authors are scholars, and they cite sources rather than making pronouncements as though out of the clear blue sky. Sources are footnoted, and collected in a reference list at the end of the book. I would have also liked to see a bibliography and an index, but these things cost money, and this is a lot cheaper than most academic books, so I'm not complaining. I do think a chronological reading list of primary texts would have been a useful addition at the end of each section, however (at the time of writing I'm going through the book with a fine toothcomb to build my own!)
I found this book an entertaining and eminently readable tour of themes, tropes and styles within the three main strands of speculative fiction. It's erudite, informative, practical, generous in spirit, and a great deal of fun to read.
What I find most interesting about its account of speculative fiction is that it doesn't simply offer a list of sub-genres, as a publisher might. This taxonomy, broken down into three long chapters on science-fiction, fantasy, and horror, is designed to be useful to writers rather than scholars, and it is intended to be pragmatic rather than definitive. For this reason, some of its subsections are devoted to subgenres such as cyberpunk, or high fantasy, and others to narrative objects, such as witches or zombies. The SF chapter has four such sections, on spaceships, aliens, 'big dumb objects', and 'robots, androids, and artificial intelligence'. If I harbour any dissatisfaction with the book, it's in thinking that the fantasy and horror chapters could have done with more of these, for example on dragons, magical artifacts, or edifices.
The writing style is light and humourous throughout, but by no means frivolous. The authors are scholars, and they cite sources rather than making pronouncements as though out of the clear blue sky. Sources are footnoted, and collected in a reference list at the end of the book. I would have also liked to see a bibliography and an index, but these things cost money, and this is a lot cheaper than most academic books, so I'm not complaining. I do think a chronological reading list of primary texts would have been a useful addition at the end of each section, however (at the time of writing I'm going through the book with a fine toothcomb to build my own!)
I found this book an entertaining and eminently readable tour of themes, tropes and styles within the three main strands of speculative fiction. It's erudite, informative, practical, generous in spirit, and a great deal of fun to read.
elysianbud's review against another edition
challenging
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
A throughly educational yet also entertaining book, offering readers a concise but interesting look at thirty different subgenres/categories from across science fiction, fantasy, and horror.
In between the wonderful quips that kept the mood upbeat, conversational, and engaging, readers can expect to find plenty of useful information on a wide variety of topics. It's a great place to get inspiration from, thanks to the numerous examples from a variety of media for each section, providing readers with lots of potential options for further research should a particular subgenre or category strike their fancy.
In addition, each section ends with two activities to guide the reader for further practice and each encourages playful twists on the tropes of discussed category, prompting real engagment with the text and what the reader has learned. Personally, I'm looking forward to taking a proper crack at the epistolary story prompt from the Gothic Horror section.
I also appreciated the fact that this book reminds the reader throughout that as a writer you have to be aware of things such as racist tropes and other potentially problematic issues when writing a story. For example, I particularly liked the bit in the 'Aliens' section that warned against the stupid idea that aliens built things like the pyramids, because, as the authors say, "just because White people didn't do it doesn't mean it was aliens" (p.21).
Also, I will say that it's very fun before you read a section to take a guess at what books or films they might mention and see if you're right. I was super pleased when I guessed correctly that they would mention Grady Hendrix's 'The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires' in the suburban horror section.
Overall, this was really helpful read that's made me feel more motivated about my own writing. I was particually happy to see splatterpunk was included under the horror section because I've been reading some lately and have been considering dipping my toe in to writing some myself.
In between the wonderful quips that kept the mood upbeat, conversational, and engaging, readers can expect to find plenty of useful information on a wide variety of topics. It's a great place to get inspiration from, thanks to the numerous examples from a variety of media for each section, providing readers with lots of potential options for further research should a particular subgenre or category strike their fancy.
In addition, each section ends with two activities to guide the reader for further practice and each encourages playful twists on the tropes of discussed category, prompting real engagment with the text and what the reader has learned. Personally, I'm looking forward to taking a proper crack at the epistolary story prompt from the Gothic Horror section.
I also appreciated the fact that this book reminds the reader throughout that as a writer you have to be aware of things such as racist tropes and other potentially problematic issues when writing a story. For example, I particularly liked the bit in the 'Aliens' section that warned against the stupid idea that aliens built things like the pyramids, because, as the authors say, "just because White people didn't do it doesn't mean it was aliens" (p.21).
Also, I will say that it's very fun before you read a section to take a guess at what books or films they might mention and see if you're right. I was super pleased when I guessed correctly that they would mention Grady Hendrix's 'The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires' in the suburban horror section.
Overall, this was really helpful read that's made me feel more motivated about my own writing. I was particually happy to see splatterpunk was included under the horror section because I've been reading some lately and have been considering dipping my toe in to writing some myself.
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