Looking for a great summer read? The Unbound Writers have you covered. (Photo by EM Gonzalez.)
Read moreInvasion of the Tearling -- on Secret-Keeping and Tearling as Moses
The second book of Erika Johansen's trilogy, published by HarperCollins in June of 2015.
"The Invasion of the Tearling" is the second book in Erika Johansen’s "The Queen of the Tearling" trilogy. We discuss character and story development, biblical allusions...and propose spoiler-ridden speculations about the upcoming final book.
Read moreSpeculative Fiction Off the Page
Fiction Unbound's own C.S. Peterson fends off an angry dragon hungry for barbecue and takes a selfie with a magical unicorn at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science's Mythic Creatures exhibit.
Set the book down for an hour and visit one of these speculative happenings in Metro Denver this summer.
Read moreABOVE US ONLY SKY: An Interview With Author Michele Young-Stone
Prudence Vilkas was born with wings in 1973 Nashville. The doctors said they were a birth defect and her wings were surgically removed leaving small scars on her shoulders. But the ghost of her wings remains and ties her to generations of winged women across the sea. Author Michele Young-Stone and CS Peterson sit down to talk about winged women, historic horror, transcendence and the craft of writing.
Read moreNeil Gaiman's AMERICAN GODS Reaches the Starz
Longtime fans of Neil Gaiman's AMERICAN GODS will soon get to see Shadow, Mr. Wednesday and the rest of the immigrant pantheon as the team of Bryan Fuller (HANNIBAL) and Michael Green (HEROES, THE RIVER) write and produce the story for a new Starz TV series.
Read moreSpeculative Slavery: Two PYMs and an Irritating Hologram
Illustration for The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket, A.D. McCormick (1898).
A look at how slavery haunts the speculative imagination, from Mat Johnson's Pym to Star Trek: Voyager's holographic Doctor.
Read moreSuperheroes, Enchantment, and Double Narratives: Comics in Novels
We make the connection between the golem of Prague and post-apocalyptic science fiction.
Read moreBBC Mini-Series Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell Premiers in America on 6/13
From the BBC's publicity pages: Carvel as Jonathan the young upstart, and Marsan as Mr. Norrell.
The BBC mini-series based on Susanna Clarke's first novel, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, premiers on 6-13 in America. The alternate history fantasy tells of two rival magicians in Napoleonic England.
Read moreField Notes from Denver Comic Con 2015
Fiction Unbound went to its first Comic Con last weekend, and our Unbound contributors are here to talk cosplay, comics artists, and the special salience of our nerdiest literary medium.
Read moreDown the Rabbit Hole
Get in Trouble, Stories by Kelly Link
A Twisting Warren of Speculative Fiction News
Read moreGraphic Novels and Comics We Heartily Recommend
In anticipation of Denver ComicCon 2015, the Unbound Writers appreciate some of the best comics and graphic speculative fiction around. See you at the Con!
Read moreLove and Rockets: Simon Pegg Blows up the Internet
The Internet thinks Simon Pegg is worried science fiction and genre stories are responsible for the dumbing down of society. But is he really? Fiction Unbound thinks not.
Read moreIf Stories Can Reduce Prejudice Against Minorities, Should They?
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling. Consciousness-raising?
Speculative fiction has a history of challenging a protagonist's biases through encounters with diverse characters and settings. It turns out that readers can be deeply affected by these vicarious encounters. So what is a writer's responsibility?
Read moreWoman Inherits the Earth: the Heroics of Y: THE LAST MAN
When a plague kills off all the men on earth but Yorick Brown, it's the women who show him heroes are made of everything nice.
Read moreThe PEN/Hebdo Protest, and What Speculative Literature Has To Say About It
The roiling debate over PEN's decision to honor Charlie Hebdo, with some commentary on free self-expression from speculative classics.
Read more"The Handmaid's Tale": I Think, Therefore I Have the Power to Resist
The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood’s dystopian masterpiece about a fundamentalist Christian theocracy that overthrows the U.S. government and enslaves women to be childbearing “Handmaids”, turns 30 years old this fall. The novel remains as relevant—and as haunting—today as it was when it first appeared in 1985.
Read moreThe Power to Choose: Neil Gaiman's The Sleeper & The Spindle
Neil Gaiman dreams up a new version of the classic Sleeping Beauty story in his The Sleeper and the Spindle, illustrated by Chris Riddell.
The Sleeper & the Spindle is a richly illustrated modern fairy tale that blends the stories of Sleeping Beauty and Snow White into an almost unrecognizable retelling. Neil Gaiman has tackled the subject of sleeping and dreams before, but what he hasn’t done previously, is concoct a fairy tale retelling that speaks directly to children as much as adults, with veiled Grimm-like warnings about the trouble with misbehaving. In this retelling, though, the ones misbehaving are the elders.
2015 Pulitzer Prize Winner: Doerr's ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE
All the Light We Cannot See (2014), by Anthony Doerr.
The 2015 Pulitzer Prize in Fiction was awarded to All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr (Scribner). The Pulitzer announcement blurb: "...an imaginative and intricate novel inspired by the horrors of World War II and written in short elegant chapters that explore human nature and the contradictory power of technology."
Read moreHBO's Game of Thrones: There's a Little Lannister in All of Us
Amanda Baldeneaux and Lisa Mahoney ponder what makes A Game of Thrones, the HBO series based upon George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire so popular around the world.
Read moreQueen of the Tearling: Strong Women Rule
What happens when a strong-willed teenaged queen confronts the corrupt rule of a neighboring queen? The Unbound Writers followed and admired Kelsea's heroic journey from obscurity to power and generosity.
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