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All Volumes available to order in paperback and ebook!
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Have you ever wondered just HOW to get started writing SF, Fantasy or Horror, or were curious about tackling certain subgenres or tropes? These books are for you! Each is chock-full of info on 30 different subgenres or major tropes! For each, you'll find:
Written by Tiffani Angus (that's me! PhD in Creative Writing) and Val Nolan (PhD in Contemporary Literature), who have combined their two decades of experience teaching writing--with a huge focus on SFF/H--along with their experiences as workshop attendees and published authors.
The Table of Contents for Vol 1 (also includes a book intro & intros for each chapter):
The Table of Contents for Vol 2 (also includes a book intro & intros for each chapter):
The Table of Contents for Vol 3 (also includes a book intro & intros for each chapter):
IZPod (the Interzone Show podcast): A Chat with Tiffani Angus and Val Nolan
A podcast/videocast interview with me & Val on Daniel Willcocks's The Writer's Chair: TIFFANI ANGUS & VAL NOLAN on: Writing Speculative Fiction. Genre, Craft, and Finding Your Story
From a review of Volume 2 in Interzone 303: "As with the first book, the style is informal, chatty; anyone who knows or has met either of the authors, or heard them speak, will inevitably imagine the book in their voices. ... But the lighthearted style is very much in keeping with the authors’ position that the divisions between subgenres are in fact largely artificial, matters of convenience, and that much of the most interesting work is done at the edges."
Vol 1 listed as one of Fantasy Hive's Most Anticipated SFF Books of 2023!
From a review of Volume 1 in Runalong the Shelves: "The style is light, witty and enthusiastic and its pacy. This is a book you can explore your favourite genres in but also dip your toes into other areas as well. It’s also useful to remember playing with genre, subverting it and arguing it does need you to still be aware of the genre’s characteristics and failings so this book is helpful – especially if you’re a literary fiction author not aware that time travel or parallel worlds are not new (to say but two infamous examples I can think of!)"
From Alexander Glass's review of Volume 1 in Interzone: "The authors draw out the richness of each subgenre, but most interesting are the connections made between different genres and subgenres – noting, for example, that the Borg – Star Trek again – are closely related to zombies. The links are so numerous, and so clearly set out, that it is clear the walls between subgenres – and even between genres – are low, and apt to crumble at a touch. If there are gates, Angus and Nolan have no interest in keeping them."
Author Pete Sutton in his Writing About Writing About Writing review says of Volume 1: "there's a sense of fun and exploration that you don't always get from dusty 'let's teach you how to write' books."
Co-author Val and I did a podcast with Dan at Coffee in Space after Volume 1 came out! We nerd out about apocalyptic fiction and toilet paper, word count restrictions, the subjectivity of squicking people out, the permeability of subgenres, considering your audience and genre context, the fact that ancient humans weren't idiots, theme (which we cover in the book intro!), how our conscious and subconscious minds don't play together well, and having too many writing projects at once.
After Volume 1 came out, we did a videocast with Lauren McMenemy at Horrortree, where we talked about writing the book, how subgenres are porous (they're rivers, Val insists!), and how writing SFF/H is really writing about us now.
Read more about Vol 1 on our Big Idea post in 2023 John Scalzi's Whatever blog, and here on our 2024 Big Idea post about Vol 2.
Volumes 1, 2 & 3 of Spec Fic for Newbies are available in paperback and eBook in the UK and US and Volume 3 is available for pre-order in both formats. Find various places to order on this linktree!
- a quick history of each subgenre/trope
- a list of things to watch out for
- an explanation of why that subgenre/trope is fun to write
- other info such as spotter's guides and writing element spotlights
- activities to get you started
- and random silly jokes and puns!
Written by Tiffani Angus (that's me! PhD in Creative Writing) and Val Nolan (PhD in Contemporary Literature), who have combined their two decades of experience teaching writing--with a huge focus on SFF/H--along with their experiences as workshop attendees and published authors.
The Table of Contents for Vol 1 (also includes a book intro & intros for each chapter):
- Spaceships
- Aliens
- Big Dumb Objects
- Robots, Androids, and Artificial Intelligence
- Military SF
- Utopia
- Dystopia
- Apocalyptic Fiction
- Cyberpunk
- Solarpunk
- Folktales and Fairy Tales
- Witches
- High Fantasy
- Sword & Sorcery
- Grimdark
- Historical Fantasy
- Steampunk
- Urban Fantasy
- Paranormal Romance
- Time Travel
- Gothic Horror
- Supernatural Horror
- Vampires
- Psychological Horror
- Body Horror
- Zombies
- Suburban Horror
- Techno Horror
- Splatterpunk
- Cosmic Horror
The Table of Contents for Vol 2 (also includes a book intro & intros for each chapter):
- 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
The Table of Contents for Vol 3 (also includes a book intro & intros for each chapter):
- Space Academies
- Superheroes
- Terraforming Tales
- Mad Scientists
- Space Westerns
- SF Procedurals
- Meta SF
- SpyFi
- Searches for God in Space
- End of the Universe
- Dinosaurs
- Archaeologists
- Hollow Earth
- Elves
- Magic Schools & Dark Academia
- Wizards & Sorcerers
- Magical Realism
- Anthropomorphic Fantasy
- Fantasy of Manners
- Swashbuckling Fantasy
- Weird Fiction
- Urban Gothic
- Shapeshifters
- Birthing Monsters
- Alien Abductions
- Fungal Horror
- Bugs!!!
- Kaiju
- Deals With the Devil
- Near Death Experiences
IZPod (the Interzone Show podcast): A Chat with Tiffani Angus and Val Nolan
A podcast/videocast interview with me & Val on Daniel Willcocks's The Writer's Chair: TIFFANI ANGUS & VAL NOLAN on: Writing Speculative Fiction. Genre, Craft, and Finding Your Story
From a review of Volume 2 in Interzone 303: "As with the first book, the style is informal, chatty; anyone who knows or has met either of the authors, or heard them speak, will inevitably imagine the book in their voices. ... But the lighthearted style is very much in keeping with the authors’ position that the divisions between subgenres are in fact largely artificial, matters of convenience, and that much of the most interesting work is done at the edges."
Vol 1 listed as one of Fantasy Hive's Most Anticipated SFF Books of 2023!
From a review of Volume 1 in Runalong the Shelves: "The style is light, witty and enthusiastic and its pacy. This is a book you can explore your favourite genres in but also dip your toes into other areas as well. It’s also useful to remember playing with genre, subverting it and arguing it does need you to still be aware of the genre’s characteristics and failings so this book is helpful – especially if you’re a literary fiction author not aware that time travel or parallel worlds are not new (to say but two infamous examples I can think of!)"
From Alexander Glass's review of Volume 1 in Interzone: "The authors draw out the richness of each subgenre, but most interesting are the connections made between different genres and subgenres – noting, for example, that the Borg – Star Trek again – are closely related to zombies. The links are so numerous, and so clearly set out, that it is clear the walls between subgenres – and even between genres – are low, and apt to crumble at a touch. If there are gates, Angus and Nolan have no interest in keeping them."
Author Pete Sutton in his Writing About Writing About Writing review says of Volume 1: "there's a sense of fun and exploration that you don't always get from dusty 'let's teach you how to write' books."
Co-author Val and I did a podcast with Dan at Coffee in Space after Volume 1 came out! We nerd out about apocalyptic fiction and toilet paper, word count restrictions, the subjectivity of squicking people out, the permeability of subgenres, considering your audience and genre context, the fact that ancient humans weren't idiots, theme (which we cover in the book intro!), how our conscious and subconscious minds don't play together well, and having too many writing projects at once.
After Volume 1 came out, we did a videocast with Lauren McMenemy at Horrortree, where we talked about writing the book, how subgenres are porous (they're rivers, Val insists!), and how writing SFF/H is really writing about us now.
Read more about Vol 1 on our Big Idea post in 2023 John Scalzi's Whatever blog, and here on our 2024 Big Idea post about Vol 2.
Volumes 1, 2 & 3 of Spec Fic for Newbies are available in paperback and eBook in the UK and US and Volume 3 is available for pre-order in both formats. Find various places to order on this linktree!