The roiling debate over PEN's decision to honor Charlie Hebdo, with some commentary on free self-expression from speculative classics.
Read more"The Handmaid's Tale": I Think, Therefore I Have the Power to Resist
The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood’s dystopian masterpiece about a fundamentalist Christian theocracy that overthrows the U.S. government and enslaves women to be childbearing “Handmaids”, turns 30 years old this fall. The novel remains as relevant—and as haunting—today as it was when it first appeared in 1985.
Read moreThe Power to Choose: Neil Gaiman's The Sleeper & The Spindle
Neil Gaiman dreams up a new version of the classic Sleeping Beauty story in his The Sleeper and the Spindle, illustrated by Chris Riddell.
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.
2015 Pulitzer Prize Winner: Doerr's ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE
All the Light We Cannot See (2014), by Anthony Doerr.
The 2015 Pulitzer Prize in Fiction was awarded to All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr (Scribner). The Pulitzer announcement blurb: "...an imaginative and intricate novel inspired by the horrors of World War II and written in short elegant chapters that explore human nature and the contradictory power of technology."
Read moreHBO's Game of Thrones: There's a Little Lannister in All of Us
Amanda Baldeneaux and Lisa Mahoney ponder what makes A Game of Thrones, the HBO series based upon George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire so popular around the world.
Read moreQueen of the Tearling: Strong Women Rule
What happens when a strong-willed teenaged queen confronts the corrupt rule of a neighboring queen? The Unbound Writers followed and admired Kelsea's heroic journey from obscurity to power and generosity.
Read moreCaptain Cosmos?! "Just Finish the Book, George!"
Like most interested parties, the Unbound Writers fear that working on another HBO mini-series will further delay George R. R. Martin's publication of the much-anticipated The Winds of Winter, the 6th book of the Song of Ice and Fire fantasy series.
Read moreDisinterring the Buried Giant: More Thoughts on Ishiguro's Latest
"Shall we take a funny one?"
More speculations on The Buried Giant and its woolly layers, from your fearless adventurers at Fiction Unbound.
Read moreTrope Reversals and Smart Smut: Gabaldon's OUTLANDER Merits the Hype
Social media hype for all things Scottish is escalating in anticipation of the second season premiere of OUTLANDER, the Starz TV adaptation of Diana Gabaldan's book, in which an intrepid WWII British ex-combat nurse, Claire Randall, travels back in time to the rebellious Scottish Highlands of 1743. After binge watching the first season and customizing our own 'I Like it Scot' poster, Unbound Writers, Amanda Baldeneaux and CH Lips weigh in on the pivotal topics: Claire as Superheroine, Novel vs. Show and an astute Smut Ranking of the book/show's hottest moments.
Read more"The Buried Giant": A Quest to Remember
Kazuo Ishiguro's latest novel, The Buried Giant, follows an elderly Briton couple, Axl and Beatrice, as they travel through a vaguely Arthurian landscape of ogres, pixies, and a mist that makes everyone forget—which, given the generations of bloodshed between Britons and Saxons, may not be such a bad thing. Unbound Writers Lisa Mahoney, Theodore McCombs, CS Peterson, and Mark Springer debate whether the novel is, you know, good.
Read moreGOLDEN SON Swings Hard – and Then It Swings Hard Again
This solid sequel to Red Rising never slows down, but the turns are pretty hard.
Read moreThirty Birds Make a Man: Porochista Khakpour's THE LAST ILLUSION
Zal, the hero of Porochista Khakpour’s The Last Illusion, must remind himself again and again he is “not a bird not a bird not a bird.” Our protagonist’s conflict is a wonderfully specific one.
Read moreNeil Gaiman's TRIGGER WARNING: Ghost Stories Fit for Summer Campfires
Neil Gaiman’s most recent collection of short stories are calculated to chill to the bone. The collection is appropriately titled Trigger Warning. Triggers, Gaiman says in the introduction, refer to “those images or words or ideas that drop like trapdoors beneath us, throwing us out of our safe, sane, world into a place much more dark and less welcoming.” So, beware. The book is chock full of stories that would do well at a summer camp for adults, sitting around the campfire, engaged in a friendly competition to frighten each other to jelly before bedtime.
Read more"The Road": Carrying the Fire
Finding hope among the ashes of Cormac McCarthy’s post-apocalyptic masterpiece.
Read moreSir Terry Pratchett, Fantasy Author, Died Today at Age 66
pinterest.com
Today, Fiction Unbound joins the literary world in mourning the passing of one of its giants, best-selling author of the Discworld series, Sir Terry Pratchett. In his words: "It is said that your life flashes before you eyes just before you die. That is true, it's called Life." -The Last Continent.
Read moreAll My Friends are Dead: Finding Home in a Post-Pandemic World
FUN examines the search for home through stories in the post-pandemic worlds of Station Eleven, Year of Wonders, and The Dog Stars.
Read moreWhale Riding
Paikea is also the Maori word for the humpback whale. Photo: U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Public Domain.
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.
Read moreIshiguro and Le Guin: the Genre Gendarmes and Gender
Ursula K. Le Guin calls out Kazuo Ishiguro's genre anxiety around his just-released novel, The Buried Giant--which is #TotallyNotFantasy
Read more"The Bone Clocks," Mitchell's Scintillating, Sprawling Adventure: Is This The Future?
THE BONE CLOCKS left us impressed, stressed and breathlessly engaged, while lighting one possible way toward the future of fiction.
Read moreFrog Princesses & Other Oddities in New Fairy Tale Collection
A new collection of recently re-discovered fairy tales compiled by Franz Xaver von Schönwerth has been translated by Maria Tatar and published by Penguin. Prepare to have the evil step-mother trope trampled on with an iron dancing shoe, worn by a man with golden locks.
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