Alvaro Zinos-Amaro

The Young H.G. Wells: Changing the World, Claire Tomalin (Penguin Press 978-1984879028, $28.00, 272pp, hc) November 2021.

Our literature on H.G. Wells is fast ap­proaching the volume of Wells’s own output, no small feat considering that the uber-prolific writer published some 50 novels, 70 non-fiction books – including a two-volume autobiography, much-mined by those writing about his life – and around one hundred short stories in dozens of collections. ...Read More

Diverse Futures: Science Fiction and Authors of Color, Joy Sanchez-Taylor (Ohio State University Press 978-0814257975, $29.95, 188pp, pb) August 2021.

In her Introduction to Diverse Futures, Joy Sanchez-Taylor writes that this “project hopes to draw attention to science fiction authors of color who are often overlooked by critics and pub­lishers when categorized into strict ethnic literary subgenres rather than being included in the broader genre of science fiction.” ...Read More

The Modern Myths: Adventures in the Ma­chinery of the Popular Imagination, Philip Ball (University of Chicago Press 978-0226719269, $30.00, 368pp, hc) May 2021.

Though I endeavor, in this space, to bring to your attention genre-related volumes of only the most recent or imminent vintage, I would be remiss to let Philip Ball’s The Modern Myths pass unnoticed, even if I’m a little tardy to the party. Ball’s fascinating study ...Read More

Remainders of the American Century: Post-Apocalyptic Novels in the Age of U.S. Decline, Brent Ryan Bellamy (Wesleyan University Press 978-0819580313, $24.95, 256pp, pb) June 2021.

In this fascinating study of primarily US post-apocalyptic fiction from the end of WWII through the 2007-8 financial crisis, Brent Ryan Bellamy engages with “the fields of American studies, science fiction studies, and print culture studies” to unpack how these narratives have changed over ...Read More

Roger Zelazny, F. Brett Cox (University of Il­linois Press 978-0-252-08575-8, $27.95, 224pp, pb) May 2021.

F. Brett Cox’s superlative entry in the Modern Masters of Science Fiction series contains a circular arc of sorts, perhaps in a subtle nod to the narrative games often played by the subject of Cox’s study, Roger Zelazny. Our initial sense of Zelazny the professional writer, and the close, caring friend of notable figures ...Read More

After Human: A Critical History of the Hu­man in Science Fiction from Shelley to Le Guin, Thomas Connolly (Liverpool University Press 978-1800348165, $130, 240pp, hc) May 2021.

What is meant, or assumed to be meant, by human, non-human, and whatever division between them stands the test of various philosophical and science fictional thought experiments, falls centrally within this book’s ambit. As Thomas Connolly states in the Introduction to his ...Read More

Vivid Tomorrows: On Science Fiction and Holly­wood, David Brin (McFarland 978-1-4766-8338-6, $29.95, 241pp, tp) March 2021.

In addition to his well-established body of fictional work, David Brin has been writing genre-related non-fiction since the 1980s. More recently, he co-edited the anthologies King Kong Is Back! An Unauthorized Look at One Humongous Ape (2005) and Star Wars on Trial (2006) – his con­tributions to both of which are reprinted here ...Read More

Pocket Workshop: Essays on Living as a Writer, Tod McCoy & M. Huw Evans, eds. (Hy­dra House 978-0997951073, $17.95, 196pp, pb) February 2021.

Gathered here are 28 essays (six reprints, 22 originals) by instructors of the Clarion West Writers Workshop, intended, as Tod McCoy explains in his foreword, as “a way to give back to a community who may not be able to attend the workshop by delivering thoughts ...Read More

Horror Fiction in the 20th Century: Explor­ing Literature’s Most Chilling Genre, Jess Nevins (Praeger 978-1440862052, $50.00, 277pp, hc) January 2020.

Over the course of 16 chapters split into three sections – “1901–1939, The Golden Age”, “1940–1970, Midcentury Frights”, and “1971–2000, The Boom Years” – Jess Nevins proves that he is not only a well-documented, reliable chronicler of the story of modern horror, but also a sharp observer of previous ...Read More

Science Fiction: Documents of Contemporary Art, Dan Byrne-Smith, ed. (The MIT Press 978-0262538855, $24.95, 240pp, pb) April 2020.

The question of who the intended readership is for the non-fiction anthology Science Fiction, edited by Dan Byrne-Smith for the Documents of Contemporary Art MIT Press series, kept nagging at me throughout. The series, we are told, focuses on subjects ‘‘of key influence in contemporary art internationally’’ and seeks to ...Read More

Monster, She Wrote: The Women Who Pio­neered Horror and Speculative Fiction, Lisa Kröger & Melanie R. Anderson (Quirk Books 978-1683691389, $19.99, 288pp, hc) September 2019.

“Why are women great at writ­ing horror fiction?” ask Lisa Kröger & Melanie R. Ander­son in the Introduction to this excellent primer on women writers and the history of horror. One possible answer: “Maybe because horror is a transgressive genre…. In any era, women ...Read More

Hidden Wyndham: Life, Love, Letters, Amy Binns (Grace Judson Press 978-0992756710, $14.95, 304pp, pb) October 2019.

In the Preface to his biography of Somerset Maugham, who was notoriously uncooperative with biographers, Ted Morgan recounts how Maugham directed his executors to prevent the publication of his letters. “Maugham,” writes Morgan, “who had spent most of his long life prying into the affairs of humankind, did not want his own affairs ...Read More

The Time Machine Hypothesis: Extreme Science Meets Science Fiction, Damien Broderick (Springer 978-3030161774, $27.99, 244pp, pb) July 2019.

J. Richard Gott III’s epigraph in Damien Brod­erick’s engaging survey may contain a mission statement of sorts: “To appreciate what scientists are studying now, an excellent first step is to explore major time-travel themes in science fiction, where many ideas in this arena were first advanced.” Brod­erick undertakes this exploration with ...Read More

Lost Transmissions: The Secret History of Sci­ence Fiction and Fantasy, Desirina Boskovich, ed. (Harry N. Abrams 978-1419734656, $29.99, 288pp, hc) September 2019.

Desirina Boskovich, who with Jeff VanderMeer previously authored the informative and visually sumptuous The Steampunk User’s Manual (2014), here brings us a delightful potpourri of 80 essays and interviews on all manner of things imaginary, with dazzling complementary illustra­tions. The book’s subtitle, “The Secret History of Science ...Read More

Aliens in Popular Culture, Michael M. Levy & Far­ah Mendlesohn, eds. (Greenwood 978-1440838323, $94.00, 335pp, hc) March 2019.

Back in the antediluvian days of high school, I’d look forward to lazy Saturday mornings spent perusing Peter Nicholls & John Clute’s landmark The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. I mention this not merely for nostalgia’s sake, but because my recent experience reading the encyclo­pedic volume on hand is the closest ...Read More