In 1973, Umberto Eco described ten ways that literature set in the Middle Ages could be used to negotiate contemporary needs, and many of those modalities apply just as well to science fiction’s thematic projects.

Archaeologists and historians are taught that context is all yet here we have a catalogue of objects deprived of context even as Garner swoops in to save them. I found it hard not to see him as some sort of historical bric-a-brac collector.

People who love Star Wars and haven’t watched Rebels are missing out, hands down.

This sideways lens governs the novel, producing a story that insists on effective communication and precise narrative logic; and that disrupts some of the more expected tropes of SF adventure narratives.

Like any fairytale, The Shape of Water expands the possibilities of personhood by provincializing humanity.

Each of the stories in Sisyphean examines how communities are thrust into uncertainty as they learn the true nature of their origins

Beagle is at his best when he mixes fantasy with comic farce.

In The Killing of a Sacred Deer, one clockwork universe is instead pitted against another clockwork universe, in the context of a brutally prolonged trolley problem.

Because this collection aspires to provide a view of where fantasy is going, it's hard to discuss without bringing up definitional questions about what qualifies as fantasy. I know few horses have been beaten so much, nor so long after their death, but this collection does provoke a few thoughts that hopefully are of interest.

Even more engaging than the author’s world-building and the rocky relationship between its protagonists is the novel’s focus on the storytelling process.