Jennifer Lynn Barnes’s top 10 supernatural families
From the boisterous Weasleys to LJ Smith's warring brothers, the Raised by Wolves author picks 10 fantastical filial fictionsJennifer Lynn Barnes was raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She has been a competitive cheerleader, a volleyball player, a teen model a...
From the archive, 1 November 1938: Radio play upsets Americans
Originally published in the Manchester Guardian on 1 November 1938NEW YORK, OCTOBER 31A wireless dramatisation of Mr H. G. Wells's fantasy "The War of the Worlds" – a work that was written at the end of last century – caused a wave of panic in the ...
The Complete Accomplice, by Steve Aylett – review
By Keith BrookeAylett is one of the great eccentrics of British genre fiction. Here, in an omnibus edition of the four Accomplice novels, there is science fiction, fantasy, political satire, crime, thriller, adventure romp, comedy and, above all, an ai...
Haunted house highlights
Such tales of 'dark and stormy nights' may sound rather dated, but they can still deliver a bracing chillAt this time of year, I especially love a good dollop of supernatural fiction, whether it comes in anthology or brick-thick blockbuster form – zo...
Dracula is the only vampire with real bite
His legion descendants are everywhere at the moment, but none provide the same masterly blend of suspense and horrorI grew up loving vampire tales, in books, television, films – even our own little stories, told round campfires, involving a personall...
In praise of Brenda and Effie
Imagine Alan Bennett writing the X-Files and you get some idea of the offbeat genius of Paul Magrs's Whitby fantasiaFour years ago, if someone had told me that I would have a special place on my bookshelf for the adventures of two ladies of a certain a...
Surface Detail by Iain M Banks – review
Naomi Alderman on other-world warsIain M Banks has never been known to spare his characters suffering. Across his previous Culture novels, major and minor players have been blown up, tortured, hacked to pieces and, in one particularly gruesome example,...
Why Hollywood can’t get the hang of science fiction
Wherever and whenever it's set, this genre's most special effect is its ideas – things that Tinseltown generally leaves on the cutting-room floorIf science fiction is a genre of ideas, is there any wonder Hollywood doesn't get it?Look. There are are ...
Can books be compared with works of art?
China Miéville's fantasy novel Kraken begins in the Natural History Museum and features pickled creatures, a la Damien Hirst. But what would his book be like as an art installation?I cannot think of a better place to begin a London novel than the Natu...
Eric Brown’s science fiction choice – reviews
Dark Matter, by Michelle Paver (Orion, £12.99)It's 1937, and Jack Miller applies for the post of radio operator on an Arctic expedition run by four amateur Oxbridge explorers. Even before they set off, disaster strikes when one of the four drops out. ...
Stephen King explains how to make vampires ‘scary again’
The horror master offers tips on how to re-inject some bite into a genre 'hijacked by a lot of soft-focus romance'"Here's what vampires shouldn't be: pallid detectives who drink Bloody Marys and work only at night; lovelorn southern gentlemen; anorexic...
Mashing up children’s books with monsters
Whatever you think of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, letting monsters loose on classic children's books has got to be a good ideaI despaired when I first heard about Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and imagined the rest of the world would follow sui...
