On the page or on screen, Annihilation will test the limits of what you know about the world and yourself. 

With the exciting film release of A Wrinkle in Time, the Fiction Unbounders went back to the source material and re-lived some childhood magic.

In Liani Taylor's lyrical and dark fantasy, killing your enemies doesn't solve anything and there are no easy answers. 

Le Guin dreamed whole realities that forced us to reexamine assumptions we took for granted, and to see new ways forward.

From recent takes to enduring classics, we love time travel stories.

Pairing Guillermo del Toro's water monster romance with Sofia Samatar's celebrated 2013 selkie story.

The Unbound Writers look back on the wild ride that was 2017 and gear up for what comes next.

When the weather outside gets frightful, make the most of the atmosphere by treating yourself to one of these cold-weather classics of speculative fiction. 

The Unbound Writers go trick-or-treating down Memory Lane for Halloween horror recommendations.

This Friday the 13th the Fiction Unbounders discuss their favorite Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark and how these tales became the source material for favorite childhood nightmares.

If you have a craving for lush, high-fantasy there is no one better than Patricia A. McKillip

Rounding out our coverage of the 2017 Hugo winners, with special congratulations to Lois McMaster Bujold for winning the first-ever "Best Series" Hugo Award.

In Miller's poignant debut novel the power to control and the power to discover truth are superhuman abilities in a world where everything is in doubt.

The Unbound Writers appreciate Hugo Award nominee short stories.

This week we take a peek at the year’s best novellas. The Unbound Writers threw the titles of the Hugo Award nominations for Best Novella into a hat and passed it around. We found they're all worth a read.

No one is reading more dark fiction than Ellen Datlow. Her knowledge of the horror genre is deeper than mine or yours.

Helen Oyeyemi proving once again that she is a magical fairy tale spinner with her short story collection, What is Not Yours is Not Yours. 

Brenna Yovanoff's Gothic monsters are full of teeth, and she is an author full of surprises.

In praise of complicated heroes in Ken Liu's epic fantasy.

It's Lent. What better time to contemplate Catholics in space? Theodore McCombs and CS Peterson discuss The Sparrow, A Canticle for Leibowitz and The Book of Strange, New Things.

The Reader is a meta-meditation on the mystical act of reading itself. With pirates. And assassins.

Family, identity, and the trouble with relatives living and dead.

Gemma Webster and Theodore McCombs conclude their three-part appreciation of Octavia Butler's groundbreaking Xenogenesis trilogy.

After a politically tumultuous 2016, Jon seeks solace in the fantasy worlds of Beth Cato and V.E. Schwab.

Our favorite books and posts from Year Two.

In our second appreciation of Octavia Butler's Xenogenesis trilogy, we look at the second generation of Lilith's Brood and his embrace of self-determinism, even at the highest costs.

Is the world ready to say goodbye to the docile black man trope?

Unbound Writers, Theodor McCombs and Gemma Webster, bring you the first installment of their appreciation of the Xenogenesis trilogy: Dawn

Fairy tale elements and symbolism in Yaa Gyasi's debut, Homegoing

If you could communicate with the past without changing the present, would you do it? Of course you would.

Tremble before the Cyclopean obscenity of our Valentine's Day recommendations!

Some holiday traditions are better than others. 

The Unbound Writers picked their favorites to recommend books that will see you and your friends and families through the holiday season and beyond.

Neil Gaiman’s Norse Mythology pairs perfectly with a visit to “Vikings: Beyond the Legend” at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.

Need some book recommendations for Valentine's Day? Well, frak, don't ask us.

Magic and miracles on a long dark night. We recommend some great books to keep you and yours company until the sun returns.

"Luminous beings are we," says Yoda. Star Wars and the Power of Costume at the Denver Art Museum celebrates the creative process that brought to life a modern myth.

Looking to lose a little time? The best links from around the web, according to us. This edition is dedicated to readers--our most favorite people!

Ah, summer! It stretches out before us with plenty of lazy afternoons to get lost in a book. But what to read? We have a few suggestions.

What would you pack for the end of the world?

Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived in the Castle and Charles Lambert's The Children's Home both want to know, "Are you my mummy?" (and if you're not, then please tell me where you've stashed her and DON'T mention poison).

The Unbound Writers read a lot of speculative fiction, but listening to it sometimes adds another layer of satisfaction. Here are some of our faves.

The holidays are all about magic and miracles in the midst of a cold dark night. What better way to while away the evenings than with a book that leads you into dreams of other worlds? Books are the perfect gift. The writers here at Fiction Unbound have suggestions for every speculative fan on your list.

Ever notice how your books sometimes talk to you? No? Well, maybe it's just us here at Fiction Unbound. 

Looking for a great summer read? The Unbound Writers have you covered. (Photo by EM Gonzalez.)

Fiction Unbound went to its first Comic Con last weekend, and our Unbound contributors are here to talk cosplay, comics artists, and the special salience of our nerdiest literary medium.

Many people have read Witi Ihimaera's book, Whale Rider, or seen the movie adaptation of the same name. Paikea’s whale riding legend informs the story throughout as the original whale rider. But there is more to the tale than just Paikea riding a whale.

In honor of speculative-fiction venerable Jules Verne, born this day in 1828, here are three stories of submarine adventures from long, long before the Nautilus.

Adeyemi's breakout debut features a richly drawn world inspired by West African traditions, compassionate social commentary, and a new take on magic.

How much more Gothic could The Atrocities be? None. None more Gothic.

Going from beloved classic book to blockbuster movie is a tricky proposition. The writers at Fiction Unbound weigh in on what worked, and what didn't.

Kelly Robson's new novella cannily links time travel escapism to our ecological crisis.

With the exciting film release of A Wrinkle in Time, the Fiction Unbounders went back to the source material and re-lived some childhood magic.

The Unbound Writers review and revel in the newest Marvel super hero film: Black Panther

Pairing Guillermo del Toro's water monster romance with Sofia Samatar's celebrated 2013 selkie story.

The Last Jedi turns expectations upside down and fans inside out.

S.A. Chakraborty's debut novel sweeps readers away on a flying carpet to the magical city of Daevabad, where Cairo orphan Nahri will learn the truth - both the incredible and the ugly - about her family's history.

Blake Crouch's Dark Matter is a light science fiction adventure about the road not traveled. Let's dive in!

Need an epic fix while you wait for the Game of Thrones finale? Look no further than the beauty and bluntly rendered brutality of Linnea Hartsuyker's adrenaline-fueled historical novel set in ninth-century Norway.

Read Strange Weather with a nice warm blanket you can hide under.

Paolo Bacigalupi's Tool of War examines questions of biological determinism, free will and the unforeseen consequences of genetic engineering.

Carmen Maria Machado's astonishing short story collection queers reality itself.

The Twilight Pariah, part ghost story, part murder mystery, swings from the craftily conventional to the truly inventive.

Whether reading online or listening to podcasts during your commute, some of the best writing in speculative fiction is debuting in online venues.

Jeff VanderMeer's new novel is a rare science fiction treasure. 

In the second book of Sarah Beth Durst's The Queens of Renthia fantasy series, an ordinary woman finds that to save her family she may first have to save the world. 

Native American ghost story? Psychological thriller? Portrait of a young mind struggling to cope with unspeakable grief and existential rage? Stephen Graham Jones's haunting novella is all of the above, and more. 

Death's End brings Chinese science fiction luminary Cixin Liu's mind-blowing trilogy to its inevitable and spectacular end.

Catherynne M. Valente's salty collection of comic-book women in refrigerators, reviewed.

Fiction Unbound's 2017 summer reading recommendations. Look no further for great speculative fiction to dive into this summer.

Neil Gaiman’s Norse Mythology pairs perfectly with a visit to “Vikings: Beyond the Legend” at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.

Lidia Yuknavitch's dystopian fever dream, reviewed.

Fiction Unbound staff close the books for a night of adaptation television with Neil Gaiman's American Gods' premiere on Starz

Fiction Unbound reviews Ann Claycomb's debut novel The Mermaid's Daughter

Think fairies are cute? Not when Sarah Beth Durst gets a hold of them. These woodland sprites have a bite. Only one woman will be able to keep these wild things under control, will it be our hero?

The Seven Autopsies of Nora Hanneman is a haunting collection of surreal turns and beautiful emotional honesty.

It's Lent. What better time to contemplate Catholics in space? Theodore McCombs and CS Peterson discuss The Sparrow, A Canticle for Leibowitz and The Book of Strange, New Things.

"The Expanse" frightens and thrills with a plot as old as literature: an unstoppable monster threatens to kill everyone but is resisted by imperfect heroes. 

An exploration of Southern Gothic speculative literature.

Wild, raging girls seem to be everywhere these days, from movies like Logan to books like The Girl with All the Gifts. 

In honor of Ishiguro's Nobel lecture last night, we revisit our woolly musings on 2015's The Buried Giant.

Everybody loves SF/F adaptations these days. We'd like to see these.

What do Logan, the noir-Western superhero film featuring the classic brooding antihero of the X-Men, and Hillbilly Elegy, the memoir by J.D. Vance, have in common? Put on some Jonny Cash, pour yourself a bourbon and let's talk.

An Unbound writer comes back from the Clarion SF/F Writers Workshop and into a dystopian moment.

Steven Millhauser's short story "Phantoms” invites readers to consider the phantoms that haunt them.  Jon considers his phantoms and how they expose his complicity in perpetuating prejudice against trans people.

At the cultural crossroads of Cambodian folklore, belief and speculative literature, with emerging author Kay Chronister

After a politically tumultuous 2016, Jon seeks solace in the fantasy worlds of Beth Cato and V.E. Schwab.

Gem and Jon wade through the tired tropes that television can’t get enough of.

Is the world ready to say goodbye to the docile black man trope?

Lisa Mahoney looks for common themes in Bhutanese folktales and finds... the phallus town.

The ambitious cosplay of devoted fans, contrasted to the quiet insecurities of blockbuster writers. 

Panelists at the Lighthouse Writers Workshop's LitFest '16 debate “The Resurrection of Dystopian Lit,” and The Unbound Writers speculate.

An ambitious masterpiece of Chinese science fiction, reviewed.

Speculative fiction’s disruptive potential, and an Unbound dispatch from #AWP16

Time travel novels Kindred and The River of No Return question how the evolving ethics of society shape our sense of self.

In "Revolt 1680/2180," an exhibition at the Denver Art Museum, artist Virgil Ortiz explores a post-apocalyptic world informed by the Pueblo Rebellion of 1680, where the future echoes the past.

Questions of corruption and its ability to change and control us take center stage in Naomi Novik's latest, Uprooted, which reminds us how easy it can be to forget to see the (evil) forest for the (evil) trees.

How the abortion debates of the 20th century delivered a new Gothic aesthetic

How does the modern Gothic novel stack up against 1797's finest? Fiction Unbound uncovers some dark secrets.

The Musical Brain, a new collection by Argentine avant-gardist César Aira, reviewed. With monkeys.

After reading Sarah Boxer's article "Why are all the Cartoon Mothers Dead?" in The Atlantic, Fiction Unbound urges authors of speculative fiction to break the pattern of orphans and buddy-buddy fathers. Bring on the power moms! 

A look at how slavery haunts the speculative imagination, from Mat Johnson's Pym to Star Trek: Voyager's holographic Doctor.

The Internet thinks Simon Pegg is worried science fiction and genre stories are responsible for the dumbing down of society. But is he really? Fiction Unbound thinks not. 

The roiling debate over PEN's decision to honor Charlie Hebdo, with some commentary on free self-expression from speculative classics.

The Sleeper & the Spindle is a richly illustrated modern fairy tale that blends the stories of Sleeping Beauty and Snow White into an almost unrecognizable retelling. Neil Gaiman has tackled the subject of sleeping and dreams before, but what he hasn’t done previously, is concoct a fairy tale retelling that speaks directly to children as much as adults, with veiled Grimm-like warnings about the trouble with misbehaving. In this retelling, though, the ones misbehaving are the elders.
 

More speculations on The Buried Giant and its woolly layers, from your fearless adventurers at Fiction Unbound.

FUN examines the search for home through stories in the post-pandemic worlds of Station Eleven, Year of Wonders, and The Dog Stars.