Jubilee reading, fit for a queen
Elizabeth II's reading habits are largely a mystery – what would you recommend as a diamond jubilee page-turner for Her Maj?Have you ever seen a photograph of the Queen carrying a book? Me neither. It's quite possible that the Queen has a dog-eared p...
The rise of Eastercon
A policy of inclusivity has changed the face of the British National Science Fiction Convention, with an equal gender split and a distinct lack of Klingons"The first time I went to a convention, all I could see was a sea of white, male faces, says Rita...
Cuddly Cthulhu: how HP Lovecraft’s dark materials turned soft
The Lovecraft merchandising machine has transformed the horror writer's muck-encrusted god, Cthulhu, into fluffy toys and after-dinner mints. Whatever next?For a writer who created a race of malevolent mushroom-based life-forms inhabiting a distant wor...
Deathless prose
The Horror Writers Association has shortlisted six contenders – do they hit the right vein?In these post-Twilight days, vampires are so ubiquitous that it's hard to believe they were once confined to a dark corner of the horror genre. But this mainst...
Fox goes into battle with Batman
DC Comics' superheroes come under attack in news report with echoes of 50s witchhuntThought the Joker was bad? Batman now has a bigger enemy, in the shape of Rupert Murdoch, whose Fox News – reviled by the left, but with a reach into more than 100m ...
The Kitschies’ Tentacles in the best genre fiction
As this year's shortlists show, the Kitschies are brilliant at highlighting the most inventive new writingOne thing the science fiction and fantasy genre is not short of is awards. There's the Hugo, the Nebula, the Arthur C Clarke, the British Fantasy,...
Mapping the storyverse
A new website provides some unexpected route maps by hooking up the characters that move from one fiction into anotherThe concept of a "metafictional reality" – a sideways universe in which characters in books know they are characters in books – is...
SF geeky? Tell that to Simon le Bon
When I was growing up, the supposedly cool scoffed at SF. If only they'd known then about its famous fansA few months ago I was interviewing the comics writer Mark Millar, creator of the graphic series which became hit movies Kick Ass and Wanted. We ch...
‘Watchmen 2′ prequel rumours
Reports of further Watchmen books, written without creator Alan Moore's involvement, are rousing strong feelings among fansFor a medium that deals largely with the fantastic, mainstream superhero comics have often been hidebound by a number of "rules"....
Are Frank Miller’s politics visible in his comics?
His tirade against the Occupy movement 'scum' has startled some, but his superheroes' ideals have always been a little ambiguousAmerican comic creator Frank Miller has never shied away from controversy. He's arranged Superman and Wonder Woman in a tita...
MR James’s ghost stories: celebrate Halloween the old-fashioned way
Every year I'm drawn back to Montague Rhodes James – his quietly creepy prose hints so effectively at what lurks just beyond the light of the hearthA fellow whom I have never met but whose work continues to exert a heavy influence upon me, especially...
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