Spec Fic for Newbies: A Beginner's Guide to Writing Subgenres of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror by Tiffani Angus

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Tiffani Angus (Ph.D.) and Val Nolan (Ph.D.) met at the 2009 Clarion Writers' Workshop in California and since then have collaborated many times as fans and scholars on panels for SFF conventions and writing retreats. Working together on this book and combining their experience as SFF writers and as university lecturers in Creative Writing and Literature made perfect sense! Every year they see new students who want to write SFF/Horror but have never tried the genres, have tried but found show more themselves floundering, or, worse, have been discouraged by those who tell them Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror are somehow not "real" literature. This book is for all those future Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror writers. Tiffani and Val are approaching these three exciting fields by breaking them down into bite-sized subgenres with a fun, open, and contemporary approach. Each chapter contains 10 subgenres or tropes, with a quick and nerdy history of each derived from classroom teaching practices, along with a list of potential pitfalls, a description of why it's fun to write in these subgenres, as well as activities for new writers to try out and to get them started! show less

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Jon_Hansen 1,328 reviews

A survey book with overviews of the most popular subgenres of spec fic. It's pretty good, with enough history and examples to be interesting and written in an entertaining style, but I have to say (because it's bugging me): the section of Cosmic Horror has a paragraph is extremely misleading. It begins:

The original cosmic horror stories by Lovecraft introduce a loose pantheon of Great Old Ones with such colourful names and identities as Ammutseba, Devourer of Stars; the mutagenic, foul-smelling cloud known as The Colour; Gog-Hoor, Eater of the Insane; the coiled, writhing tentacle mass Kassogtha, Bride and Sister of Cthulhu; the larva-like exile Nycrama, The Zombifying Essence; as well as Other or Outer Gods such as Yog-Sothoth, an

all-knowing conglomeration of glowing spheres.

The problem is only one of these named Great Old Ones was actually introduced by Lovecraft (Yog-Sothoth). All the others were invented by later authors. It feels a bit sloppy, and irritates me as a result. show less

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