Writing Speculative Fiction: Creative and Critical Approaches (Approaches to Writing, 5)

In this engaging and accessible guide, Eugen Bacon explores writing speculative fiction as a creative practice, drawing from her own work, and the work of other writers and theorists, to interrogate its various subgenres. Through analysis of writers such as Stephen King, J.R.R. Tolkien and J. K. Rowling, this book scrutinises the characteristics of speculative fiction, considers the potential of writing cross genre and covers the challenges of targeting young adults. It connects critical and cultural theories to the practice of creative writing, examining how they might apply to the process of writing speculative fiction. Both practical and critical in its evaluative gaze, it also looks at e-publishing as a promising publishing medium for speculative fiction.\nThis is essential reading for undergraduate and postgraduate students of creative writing, looking to develop a critical awareness of, and practical skills for, the writing of speculative fiction. It is also a valuable resource for creators, commentators and consumers of contemporary speculative fiction. Chapter 8, 'Horror and the Paranormal' was shortlisted for the Australasian Horror Writers Association (AHWA)'s 2019 Australian Shadows Awards.

Reference

Bacon, Eugen

Writing, Research & Publishing Guides

Bloomsbury Academic

Two authors, thirteen stories, a collection of literary speculative fiction. Wicked tales geared for strangeness.

Thirteen Wicked Tales

Literature & Fiction

E Don, Harpe

Literary

Fiction4all

A mind-blowing anthology of 18 stories bringing you the infinite Earths of the multiverse. Featuring Alastair Reynolds, Ian McDonald, Lavie Tidhar, Eugen Bacon and more. INFINITY. HERE. NOW. What if every decision you've ever made created a new reality. A new life, a new world of possibilities for what you could become? What if the best of all possible worlds is just around the corner? Or the worst? This anthology brings together an international cast of luminaries to explore the infinite worlds of what could be. The smashed together chaos of multiple Londons piled on top of each other; a world where a tunnel turns Japan and the United States into close neighbours; catastrophic accidents on multidimensional spacecraft; shadowy organisations and the merciless assassins they control; the unstoppable force of your infinite grandmothers. Explore the infinite beauties and terrors of the multiverse with the finest minds writing in science fiction today, and see what could have been...&nbsp; Featuring stories from: Alvaro Zinos-Amaro Charlie Jane Anders Eugen Bacon Clive Barker Paul Di Filippo Alix E. Harrow Rumi Kaneko (translated by Preston Grassmann) Ken Liu Ian McDonald Annalee Newitz Yukimi Ogawa Chana Porter Alastair Reynolds Jayaprakash Satyamurthy D. R. G. Sugawara Jeffrey Thomas Lavie Tidhar

Multiverses: An anthology of alternate realities

Anders, Charlie Jane

MCDONALD, Ian

Liu, Ken

Tidhar, Lavie

Di Filippo, Paul

Newitz, Annalee

Zinos-Amaro, Alvaro

Grassmann, Preston

Porter, Chana

Thomas, Jeffrey

Reynolds,Alastair

Barker/Clive

Harrow, Alix

Kaneko, Rumi

Genre Fiction

Titan Books

Something is happening to Green. He is an ordinary guy, time-jumping forward at a startling, uncontainable rate. He is grappling to understand his present; his relationship is wholly tattered; his ultimate destination is a colossal question mark. Zada is a scientist in the future. She is mindful of Green's conundrum and seeks to unravel it by going backwards in time. Can she stop him from jumping to infinity? Their point of intersection is fleeting but memorable, each one's travel impacting the other's past or future. And one of them doesn't even know it yet. Secondhand Daylight is a reverse story in alternate timelines between two protagonists whose lives must one day intersect. A titillating offering from World Fantasy Award-finalist Eugen Bacon, an Otherwise Fellowships honouree for 'doing exciting work in gender and speculative fiction'. In collaboration with three-time British Fantasy Society Award-winner Andrew Hook.

Secondhand Daylight: A Novel

HOOK, ANDREW

Cosmic Egg Books

A volume of exquisite prose poetry and speculative micro-lit pieces by internationally renowned author Eugen Bacon. Forty-eight compositions in all, comprising twenty-six previously published and twenty-two original pieces written specially for this book.\nComplementing the written word are a series of full page illustrations commissioned by the author from artist Elena Betti; thirty-five stunning images that enhance the reading experience.\n"Through the prism of sharp speculative fiction, the darkest hues of our world are revealed, reflected, refracted into a myriad of brilliant shards. Each piece dazzles, cutting quick and deep. Absolutely unforgettable." - Lisa L. Hannett, award-winning author of Songs for Dark Seasons\n"Such energy, boldness, and unexpected leaps and turns; whether going at a cracking pace or pausing reflectively, the fiction in this quirky work is vibrant and engaging. As a multi-media work, it is page-turning and confronting. Powerful stuff." - Dominique Hecq, award-winning poet, novelist, short story writer

Saving Shadows

NewCon Press

<div>Black Moon is an illustrated collection of speculative flash fiction interspersed with prose poetry. It carries themes of love and war, life and the afterlife, hope and despair. It is a philosophical assortment that questions normalcy, embraces opposition, and takes a keen interest on peculiarity. It will appeal to curious lovers of literary dark fantasy and all places in between.</div>

Black Moon: Graphic Speculative Flash Fiction

IFWG Publishing International

Dominion is the first anthology of speculative fiction and poetry by Africans and the African Diaspora. An old god rises up each fall to test his subjects. Once an old woman's pet, a robot sent to mine an asteroid faces an existential crisis. A magician and his son time-travel to Ngoni country and try to change the course of history. A dead child returns to haunt his grieving mother with terrifying consequences. Candace, an ambitious middle manager, is handed a project that will force her to confront the ethical ramifications of her company's latest project-the monetization of human memory. Osupa, a newborn village in pre-colonial Yorubaland populated by refugees of war, is recovering after a great storm when a young man and woman are struck by lightning, causing three priests to divine the coming intrusion of a titanic object from beyond the sky. A magician teams up with a disgruntled civil servant to find his missing wand. A taboo error in a black market trade brings a man face-to-face with his deceased father-literally. The death of a King sets off a chain of events that ensnare a trickster, an insane killing machine, and a princess, threatening to upend their post-apocalyptic world. Africa is caught in the tug-of-war between two warring Chinas, and for Ibrahima torn between the lashings of his soul and the pain of the world around him, what will emerge? When the Goddess of Vengeance locates the souls of her stolen believers, she comes to a midwestern town with a terrible past, seeking the darkest reparations. In a post-apocalyptic world devastated by nuclear war, survivors gather in Ife-Iyoku, the spiritual capital of the ancient Oyo Empire, where they are altered in fantastic ways by its magic and power.

Dominion: An Anthology of Speculative Fiction from Africa and the African Diaspora (PRIDE Anthologies)

Kurtz, Nicole Givens

Boatman, Michael

Dila, Dilman

Okungbowa, Suyi Davies

Knight, Zelda

Moore, Marian Denise

Aliyu, Rafeeat

Nyabundi, Odida

United States

Aurelia Leo

In this lush interplanetary tale, Novic is an immortal Sayneth priest who flouts the conventions of a matriarchal society by choosing a name for his child. This act initiates chaos that splits the boy in two, unleashing a Jekyll-and-Hyde child upon the universe. Named T-Mo by his mother and Odysseus by his father, the story spans the boy's lifetime ... from his early years with his mother Silhouette on planet Grovea to his travels to Earth where he meets and marries Salem, and together they bear a hybrid named Myra. The story unfolds through the eyes of these three distinctive women: Silhouette, Salem and Myra. As they confront their fears and navigate the treacherous paths to love and accept T-Mo/Odysseus and themselves, the darkness in Odysseus urges them to unbearable choices that threaten their very existence.

Claiming T-Mo

Romance

Paranormal

Meerkat Press, LLC

Product Description Eugen Bacon's work is deemed cheeky with a fierce intelligence in text that's resplendent, delicious, dark and evocative. NPR called her novel Claiming T-Mo 'a confounding mysterious tour de force.' The Road to Woop Woop and Other Stories imbues the same lushness in a writerly language that is Bacon's own. This peculiar hybrid of the untraditional, the extraordinary within, without and along the borders of normalcy will hypnotize and absorb the reader with tales that refuse to be labeled. The stories in this collection are dirges that cross genres in astounding ways. Over 20 provocative tales, with seven original to this collection, by an award-winning African-Australian author. Review "The Road to Woop Woop, plays with the genres of speculative fiction and magic realism. Using familiar tropes such as time travel, shapeshifting, and prescient characters, the stories typically refuse formulaic outcomes. . . . a highly entertaining and thought-provoking ride." -AUSTRALIAN BOOK REVIEW"A commanding and visionary collection of speculative shorts, encompassing surrealism, fantasy, science fiction, and gorgeous, painterly literary fiction. It would be a disservice to call any of these 24 stories the standout, as each is impressive and beautifully rendered in Bacon's distinct, poetic voice. . . . Bacon's impeccable work is sure to blow readers away." -PUBLISHERS WEEKLY (Starred Review)"Bacon's passion for language and her willingness to play with the short-story form, to never settle on one type of narrative or genre, make this an exciting collection that's well worth picking up." -Ian Mond, LOCUS MAGAZINE"In Australia, the slang expression 'woop woop' can be used to describe 'the middle of nowhere'. However, each of these twenty-four distinctive stories took me on a journey which always ended up somewhere, even if that final destination wasn't quite where I'd imagined it would be and, in a nutshell, that captures for me much of the magic of Eugen Bacon's awesome storytelling." -Linda Hepworth, NB MAGAZINE (5 stars)"An exciting and transcendent literary experience with an air of magic anybody should be able to appreciate." -Maddison Stoff, Aurealis Reviews

The Road to Woop Woop and Other Stories

From what began as a dialog between two adventurous writers curious about the shape-shifter called a prose poem comes a stunning collection that is a disruption of language-a provocation. Speculate is a hybrid of speculative poetry and flash fiction, thrumming in a pulse of jouissance and intensity that chases the impossible. One might describe some pieces as complex, relentless, but above all, speculating or crossing borders in the fantastic playground of language. We invite you to leap onto the stage of your own imaginings, plunge into what Henry James called the house of fiction. This is how we envision ours: A single detached house tossed out of Speculate settles across your dreams. Skin, paper-thin, desiccated and scripted like a collage, covers the absence of doors, thresholds, verandas, stairways and footpaths. But there are windows and louvers that look out to rain-licked grasslands. This is a house unsealed, with the sky art and earth art washed or rolled into each other on adjacent floors and walls. The roof, unlettered, is made of two sliding suns of creamed panels, foundation-like. Round the back is a rope ladder that will win you over. Up, up you go. Enter with care as you would any fiction that blurs the boundaries of genre, mode or form, that goes beyond the written and borrows from the unwritten. Together we can interweave art with language and watch it shape itself anew in an endless process of spontaneity and play because we can be here and there and away, all at once. -Dominique Hecq and Eugen Bacon

Speculate: A Collection of Microlit

Hecq, Dominique

Meerkat Press

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