Trivial fiends and ordinary grace in Hilary Mantel's literary fright show.
Read moreSublime Scale in Cixin Liu’s "The Three-Body Problem"
An ambitious masterpiece of Chinese science fiction, reviewed.
Read moreGenrequeer
Speculative fiction’s disruptive potential, and an Unbound dispatch from #AWP16
Read moreThe Story of "The Story of My Teeth"
Mexican novelist Valeria Luiselli's critically acclaimed work of dental fabulism is a sophisticated if remote pleasure.
Read more2015 Unbound: Our Favorite Books and Posts from Year One
A look back at the year that was. At least, the cool stuff.
Read moreKafka's Social Insecurity: "The Metamorphosis" and Worker's Comp
Was "The Metamorphosis" the worst worker's comp claim, ever? Theodore McCombs talks Kafka as author by night, insurance adjuster by day, and introduces his own homage to poor Gregor Samsa on the 100th anniversary of this seminal story's publication.
Read moreCelebrate the #SamsaCentennial on 100th Anniversary of Kafka's "The Metamorphosis"
Kafka's "The Metamorphosis" turns 100! Run your antennae over these links for articles and events in celebration of a haunting masterpiece.
Read moreChildbirth Gothic: BELOVED, ALIEN, and ROE v. WADE
How the abortion debates of the 20th century delivered a new Gothic aesthetic
Read moreMarisha Pessl’s NIGHT FILM, Ann Radcliffe’s THE ITALIAN, and the Legacy of the Gothic Romance
How does the modern Gothic novel stack up against 1797's finest? Fiction Unbound uncovers some dark secrets.
Read moreThe Origamist: César Aira’s Folded Fictions
The Musical Brain, a new collection by Argentine avant-gardist César Aira, reviewed. With monkeys.
Read moreCongratulations to the 2014 Shirley Jackson Award Winners!
Jeff VanderMeer and others win big for literary horror.
Read moreSpeculative Slavery: Two PYMs and an Irritating Hologram
Illustration for The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket, A.D. McCormick (1898).
A look at how slavery haunts the speculative imagination, from Mat Johnson's Pym to Star Trek: Voyager's holographic Doctor.
Read moreWoman Inherits the Earth: the Heroics of Y: THE LAST MAN
When a plague kills off all the men on earth but Yorick Brown, it's the women who show him heroes are made of everything nice.
Read moreThe PEN/Hebdo Protest, and What Speculative Literature Has To Say About It
The roiling debate over PEN's decision to honor Charlie Hebdo, with some commentary on free self-expression from speculative classics.
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 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 moreBefore 20,000: Submarine Stories from the Ancient World
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.
Read more"Possession" and A.S. Byatt's Uses of Enchantment
In her Booker-winning Possession, A.S. Byatt interweaves wild fairy tales and romantic poetry among a stolidly realist novel. But who can say 'no' to a beautiful mermaid-dragon?
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