Fantasy

Once upon a time not so very long ago, any board games beyond the household staples like Monopoly and Scrabble were the exclusive property of, well, nerds. And during this not so very long time ago nerds dwelled on the sidelines, wallflower-like: by near definition they were the opposite of popular.

In November 1971, a debut novel from a young author was published, to a small but not insignificant splash. Set in a world of tiny people who live in a carpet, it was described by the book trade journal Smith's Trade News as "one of the most original tots' tomes to hit the bookshops for many a decade", while Teachers' News called it a story of "quite extraordinary quality".

I've been a huge fan of Jeff VanderMeer's fiction since his noir fantasy novel Finch. In the years since, I've grown to admire-and envy-his range as an author, along with the depth of his imagination and his ability to send chills down my spine while enthralling me with his prose.

A group of more than 80 science fiction and fantasy authors are protesting at the possibility of one of the genres' biggest conventions being held in Saudi Arabia in 2022, saying that "the Saudi regime is antithetical to everything SFF stands for".  Read more

As lockdown eases around the world, George RR Martin has revealed he is currently isolating in "an actual cabin in the mountains" and hopes to finish his long-awaited fantasy novel The Winds of Winter "next year".