Tag: fiction
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Review: Mr Palin, to get at The Truth, dig deeper
In The Truth, Michael Palin explores hero-worship through protagonist Keith Mabbut, an adrift writer who misunderstands truth while pursuing a murky biography of environmentalist Hamish Melville.
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Review: Christopher Priest’s ‘The Adjacent’ is confusing, maybe unfinished
Cosmologists and fiction explore multiverses, paralleling realities, while Christopher Priest’s The Adjacent intertwines narratives but leaves many threads unresolved.
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Is climate fiction a genre, a theme, a motif, or what?
Dan Bloom, who coined “cli-fi,” explores climate fiction’s definition as a genre, theme, or motif, highlighting its focus on humanity’s environmental impact and potential for literary categorization.
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Review: A Being Darkly Wise is sometimes thrilling, sometimes pendantic
Environmentalists and religious devotees share intense dedication to their causes, explored through characters in Atcheson’s psychological thriller, A Being Darkly Wise.
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Review: A Wrong Turn at the (Australian) Office of Unmade Lists
In this charming, but puzzling novel, Jane Rawson explores the Australian landscape post-climate change, which has become a fantastical world. I remember a lecture in a college philosophy class about a medieval scholastic who wrote that if you can imagine something, it’s possible for it to become real. The artist Picasso took the idea a…
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Review: Lisa Devaney’s ‘In Ark’ warns against a benign eco-ideology
Climate fiction explores dystopian futures shaped by climate change, with Devaney’s “In Ark” illustrating the dangers of isolationist ideologies.
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Three things Raymond Chandler taught me about writing
The author reflects on insights gained from Raymond Chandler’s writing while revising their sci-fi novel. They admire Chandler’s dialogue, character descriptions, and simile use, finding inspiration for their own work.
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Review: ‘Fleet’ revives sci-fi’s nautical tradition
Science fiction’s nautical tradition, highlighted by Jules Verne and diminished by films like Waterworld, is rejuvenated by Andrew D. Thaler’s Fleet.
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Thoughts on the climate fiction genre from a writer and publisher
Mark Nykanen, author of Primitive, Carry the Flame, and other environmentally themed novels, and Mary Sands Woodbury, editor at Moon Willow Press, offered their thoughts on climate fiction and its future in publishing.
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Six rules for putting climate change into your fiction
Climate fiction focuses on long-term climate change impacts on society, rooted in science. Writers are encouraged to explore creativity without strict rules while maintaining relevance to Earth’s challenges.
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Review: Water’s Edge is a plausible YA climate yarn
Rachel Meehan’s novel Water’s Edge transforms abstract climate change concepts into relatable narratives, depicting its profound effects on human relationships and communities.
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Review: Shackleton’s Man Goes South has a queer combination
Shackleton’s Man Goes South, while ambitious, combines fiction and non-fiction on climate change but ultimately falls short in execution and coherence.
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Young adult fiction: Character Sketches from Bet: Stowaway Daughter
(Author’s note: Bet: Stowaway Daughter was published in a second edition on 10/1/2025 titled The Stowaway’s Secret.) Here are some character sketches from my novel for young adults, Bet: Stowaway Daughter. Lisbet ‘Bet’ Lindstrom Lisbet “Bet” Lindstrom – As the daughter of an experienced sea captain, 13-year-old Bet is familiar with life at sea, but…
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Review: Hell Around the Horn is a helluva journey
Rick Spilman’s novel, Hell Around the Horn, explores maritime history, character stereotypes, and resilience amid dangerous sea conditions.
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Review: Gather the Shadowmen fictionalizes the American privateers
Benjamin Franklin’s diplomatic efforts included commissioning Irish privateers like Luke Ryan, who became a smuggler impacting America’s Revolutionary War.
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Review: ‘Betrayal’ is book 13 of the Thomas Kydd series
Julian Stockwin’s Betrayal explores Kydd’s expedition to invade Buenos Aires, paralleling historical fiascos with unfulfilled character development and a disappointing ending.
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Review: Julian Stockwin’s ‘Conquest’ takes the reader to colonial Africa
Julian Stockwin’s ‘Conquest’, another in the Thomas Kydd series, takes on Great Britain’s role in the struggle by European countries to control Africa. Dramatic retellings of the struggle between Great Britain and France under Napoleon often end with Nelson’s victory at Trafalgar, as if everything naval in the Napoleonic Wars that happened after the great…
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Review: ‘On Stranger Tides’? Yo-No-No!
The Pirates of the Caribbean movie series shows no signs of slowing down, though I wish someone would finally hole the franchise below the waterline. Nothing has done as much to revive the popular interest in the Golden Age of Piracy than Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, which started in 2003 with Pirates of…
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2010 Moby Dick review: Yarrr… It blows!
You know a movie like 2010 Moby Dick has a problem when you have to watch the “making of” featurette to understand the story. Ok, maybe I’m being a bit harsh: the new “re-imagining” of the classic Herman Melville novel Moby Dick doesn’t entirely blow. It mostly blows. The premise of the direct-to-DVD release from…