Release Date 2 July 2024
Available in paperback and digital (through all major retailers).
Locus Recommended Reading List 2024
BSFA Awards LongList
Beam aboard your own Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror classroom with the next volume of the BSFA-shortlisted writing-guide series!
Join Tiffani Angus (Ph.D.) and Val Nolan (Ph.D.) for a whirlwind introduction to the storytelling basics of 30 more subgenres and major tropes from across the limitless realms of Speculative Fiction.
Learn about Space Opera, Folk Horror, Climate Fiction, Werewolves, Astronauts, Mythic Fantasy, Goblin Markets, Dragons, and many more with deep dives into each subgenre's history and development, spotter's guides to typical examples, pitfalls to watch out for in your own writing, and activities to help you get started! All derived from a combined two decades of university-level practices and experience!
Spec Fic for Newbies breaks genres into bite-sized pieces for students or for any budding writer. It offers a welcoming introduction to how writers, filmmakers, and other creatives can begin to explore the infinite potential of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror to create new stories beyond the boundaries of the ordinary.
This is not another dusty rulebook. This is a portal to endless other worlds!
Spec Fic for Newbies vol 2
Space Opera
Astronauts
First Contact
Climate Fiction
Pandemic Fiction
Uplifted Animals
Submarine Stories
Mysterious Islands
Biopunk
The Multiverse
Mythic (aka Mythological) Fantasy
Fairies
The Goblin Market
Enchanted Clothing
Dragons
Cryptozoology
Body Swapping
Portal Fantasy
Carnivalesque
Comedic Fantasy
Folk Horror
Ghost Stories
Werewolves
Possessed, Haunted, and Cursed Items
Animals That Attack
Evil Children
Ecohorror
Gendercide
Places People Shouldn’t Go
Last Person Left Alive
Spec Fic for Newbies Vol 2
"While the newbies of the title will bewell catered for, there is plenty here formore experienced writers, especially ifthey are looking to venture into asubgenre new to them. Also, the book has a lot to offer non-writers as it willcertainly add to their reading list. There is surely scope for at least a third volume." Gary Couzens for Parsec 12
"... volume I was interesting and fun and useful for newbies and more experienced writers alike, and the latest volume, SpecFic for Newbies II continues in this vein... Spec Fic For Newbies III is in the works; if it is anything likeas enjoyable as the first twovolumes, it will be one to lookforward to."
Alexander Glass for Interzone 303
Praise for Volume 1:
Locus Recommended Reading List 2023
BSFA for Best Non-Fiction, Shortlist 2024
"There are other studies of genre fiction on the market, and other writing guides, but there is no book combining the two in quite this way, or breaking down genres and tropes in similarly concise but granular detail." Interzone Digital
