Category Archives: Journalism

What is Rule 34?

Rule 34 is a science fiction novel about cybercrime, maker culture and porn. But most of all, it’s a novel about you. It’s 9:30am on a painfully dull Thursday morning in the office. The boss has retreated behind her wall of pot plants after hovering over your shoulder like a huge and bothersome horsefly, peeringContinue reading “What is Rule 34?”

A Game of Egos

A wealthy dynasty brought to its knees by popular revolt, the highest in the land caught in a web of corruption, and at the heart of it all a powerful woman with remarkable hair. If you see the Murdoch clan, Chipping Norton set and Rebekah Brooks in these archetypes then you have clearly been spendingContinue reading “A Game of Egos”

Weird Things

I’ve been dying to talk about this for weeks but have had to wait until the right time…which is now! Weird Things is my new column for The Guardian which I will be writing fortnightly. It’s all about the weird ideas in SF and Fantasy novels or any book with a weird idea at itsContinue reading “Weird Things”

Star Trek II – The Wrath of Khan

  Originally published on Fantasy Matters. In my regular blog for The Guardian, I’m on record as saying that there are only two truly great science fiction movies. These are, of course, 2001 and Bladerunner. And if I think about science fiction as a ‘genre of ideas’ then I stand by that statement. No otherContinue reading “Star Trek II – The Wrath of Khan”

Mieville, Embassytown and radical SF

Is SF becoming cool? If it is, as China Miéville claims, then the award-winning author, whose new novel Embassytown hit the shelves yesterday, may have something to do with it. In our current era of austerity, with the largest-ever protest march on the nation’s capital and a previously apathetic youth culture rallying to the UKContinue reading “Mieville, Embassytown and radical SF”

War. What is it good for?

War. What is it good for? No, seriously, what? If you, like I, responded “absolutely nothing”, then it is likely that you will react to the existence of Baen books with kindly bemusement. Baen is the world’s leading publisher of military science fiction, with a stable of authors who regularly top the New York TimesContinue reading “War. What is it good for?”

New women’s worlds in fantasy fiction

Continuing the slow progress of archiving my pieces from The Guardian. It’s interesting to think that three years on from this piece, women writers now seem (to me at least) stronger than ever in all the genres of speculative fiction. I hope it’s a trend that continues. It’s also interesting for me to see howContinue reading “New women’s worlds in fantasy fiction”

Can fantasy tell the truth?

There is nothing wrong with escaping reality now and again. Like a well brewed ale, or a good malt whisky, a finely crafted escapist fantasy can be a thing of joy and beauty. But while the occasional tipple can be a good thing, most of us recognise that a bottle of Jameson’s a night isContinue reading “Can fantasy tell the truth?”

Has social media changed how we write?

Writing is such an old and fundamental human activity that it is easy to forget how much it has changed over time. Only a few thousand years ago the written word had to be carved on to stone tablets, and could only be read by an elite priesthood. Just a few centuries ago the printingContinue reading “Has social media changed how we write?”

REPOST: The new world of New Weird

I have decided to repost my Guardian articles on this blog, simply because I want to keep a record of the full texts as published. I know it’s unlikely that the Grauniad will disappear any time soon, but stranger things happen… Three years on from the original publication of this piece, and more than aContinue reading “REPOST: The new world of New Weird”