Literary fiction awards rarely go to works of science fiction and fantasy. We review a lot of genre fiction on Pop-Verse. Mainly science fiction and fantasy. These books might be lauded in their own fields but are, with some exception, ...
Read More »The Cheltenham Literature Festival: Part 2
Following on from yesterday, here’s a further breakdown of some more of the events at one of the year’s biggest literary celebrations: Julian Barnes The Man-Booker winner was talking about his latest piece of non-fiction, Keeping An Eye Open: Essays ...
Read More »Lost Girls and the nature of filth
Literary ascension is an objective of many genres. Science fiction and fantasy continually battle to have their literary entries recognised, more unconventional media like comic books lobby for validation of their literary qualities, and the digital era may produce new ...
Read More »The boys’ club: Why literary awards are so problematic
Awards on any creative works are always going to be controversial – how can you call anything the ‘best’ of its kind when enjoyment and appreciation of creative works are entirely subjective? We take the same approach to awards as ...
Read More »Fantasy novelist? Me? The debate around The Buried Giant
Man Booker prize-winning author Kazuo Ishiguro has got a new novel out, The Buried Giant, which is causing something of a furore in literary circles. The battle is on the much-contested grounds of genre and is proving a classic example ...
Read More »Why science fiction and fantasy works deserve more accolades
Urusla Le Guin’s speech at the National Book Awards last year reminded me of the long-standing snobbery when it comes to genre fiction, especially SFF (if you haven’t seen her speech, you can watch it here). When I first started ...
Read More »Erotic fiction’s bad reputation
Erotic fiction has long been popular amongst readers, though it may not always have been so unashamedly read on the public transport commute to work. With the rise in popularity of erotic works, I find it sad that people dismiss ...
Read More »The serious novel is not dying it’s just changed its spots
Last week, Will Self wrote a frustratingly arrogant piece in The Guardian on the death of the serious novel. Arguments like his have a tendency to get my goat, as they use broad, sweeping strokes to dismiss 90% of written endeavors ...
Read More »Eminem, art, and the literal interpretation of lyrics
Every now and then I go flicking through my music collection and listen to something I’ve not listened to in a while. One of the most common artists to get revisited is Eminem. I love him. Always have. I can ...
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