China Miéville’s novel Kraken is a meandering fantasy comedy full of political themes and a love for weird monsters. How does this author manage to weave together so many themes and genre into one book? And why does he think J.R.R. Tolkien is a “wen on the arse of fantasy”?
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While examining Jonathan Hickman and Nick Dragotta’s sci-fi/western comic EAST OF WEST, we consider big ideas, character development and representation of diversity in storytelling. Also, with all its violence, sex and philosophy… would this make the perfect HBO series?
Every year science fiction writer and futurist Bruce Sterling gives a “state of the world” presentation at SXSW Interactive. We consider his remarks from this year and what they mean for politics, social media, and surveillance.
The 2015 Hugo Awards showed us what happens when science fiction/fantasy fandom turns on itself. A year later we look back at the arguments and manipulations of all the parties involved: Sad Puppies, Rabid Puppies and everyone else. Given how similar this controversy’s rhetoric is to the 2016 presidential election, should we look at cultural moments like this as predictors of larger issues in society?
Is media better when its creators have total control? We look at the first volume of SAGA and explore issues of ownership, censorship and salesmanship with this near perfect comic book.