Speculative Fiction Writers Association
An Online Critique Group with Members from Coast to Coast
Chris Marker’s 1962 film, La Jetée, clocks in at a mere twenty-eight minutes, but once seen, will stay with its viewers forever. In French, the phrase la jetée denotes “a pier,” and it is one man’s childhood memory of standing on a pier, watching planes take off, that forms the linchpin of this sf …
The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet, by Eleanor Cameron, has been in print since the 1950s. It features the adventures of Chuck and David, two boys who travel to the alien planet Basidium in their homemade spaceship. This classic, primarily for children, is fun for adults, too, and you’ll …
A fantastic source of knowledge and inspiration for writers is other writers. Those who have been through it before can share their knowledge and experience with those who are just starting out or new to a certain area. From planning, writing, and editing to querying, publishing, and marketing—and everything in …
Warning: Contains Spoilers The Setup Actress Millie Bobby Brown, as the titular heroine Elodie, lives in an impoverished country with her non-royal family. She narrates the movie, and describes herself as a damsel in distress who cannot depend on a knight in shining armor, and must rescue herself from imminent …
This much-awaited sequel to Rebecca Yarros’ Fourth Wing entitled Iron Flame was released November 7, 2023. Early special editions include “sprayed” black page edges. The book’s blurblet cover tagline reads: “Burn. It. Down.” Fourth Wing won most major awards, so this book was highly anticipated. Trilogy Theme The trilogy focuses …
Award Winning Novel Written by Martha Wells, this series has won the Nebula and Hugo. All Systems Red is the first novella of the series. Emotional Portrait of One Robot In sharp contrast to the classic I, Robot novel by Asimov—an intellectual exercise tied together by loosely related short stories—All …
Red Rising, by Pierce Brown, takes place in a dystopian version of our galaxy, where a dying Earth sent pioneers to terraform the other planets in the solar system and altered their genetics to ensure their success, using hair and eye color to differentiate between the different levels of hierarchy. …
Riot Baby by Tochi Onyebuchi is one of the more creative and insightful works of science fiction I have read in years. Rarely has an author so successfully weaved the painful racial history of African Americans in the United States with the science fiction mainstay of superhuman abilities. Supernatural Powers …
Review by Matthew Cushing Garth Nix explores Earth in a slightly-alternate 1983 London for his latest fantasy The Left-Handed Booksellers of London. The story follows Susan, a young woman looking for her father–a man she has never met. With only a few memories from her mother and a list of …
I love science fiction, but I’m a terrible fan of it. I love spaceships and technology and new ideas and robots and aliens, but I could not save a conversation by talking with any kind of fluency about representations in books about any of them. I’ve always been better at …