WHY DO AUTHORS WRITE SPECULATIVE fiction? One reason is aesthetic, a sense of being drawn towards fantastical worlds, places that are an escape from day-to-day reality. As Rivers Solomon puts it, “There is that delicious childish impulse to want to live in another world, one with more magic, more novelty”.
In Solomon’s extraordinary new novel Sorrowland, this involves crafting a world that has a distinctly – and distinctive – gothic quality, and something of the quality of a fairy tale. “I wanted something that felt dark, tense, and full of energy but with all the lushness and richness of a period drama,” fae (Solomon’s preferred pronoun) says.
At its heart lies Vern, an albino teenager from a Black family who flees a cultish religious community, Cainland, to live in the woods. On one level “she’s simply a young girl who ran away”, but she’s also a tough cookie, an outsider and a survivor. “I wanted to lean into her difference,” says Solomon. “I’m very fond of extraordinary heroines, partly because of wish fulfillment, but also because I think everyone has it in them to be a heroine at one point or another, if they’re set up for it, if the fates allow it.”
Denne historien er fra May 2021-utgaven av SFX.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra May 2021-utgaven av SFX.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
PURE AND SIMPLE
IN THE FINAL PART OF OUR EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW, SHOWRUNNER RUSSELL T DAVIES TALKS RELAUNCHING DOCTOR WHO
TO CAP IT ALL OFF
CELEBRATING 40 YEARS OF THE BBC SERIES THE TRIPODS
FRENCH REVOLUTION
THE WALKING DEAD SPIN-OFF SHOWRUNNER DAVID ZABEL ON BEING GIVEN THE TOUGH TASK OF REUNITING DARYL AND CAROL IN FRANCE
SILENT KILLERS
THE DIRECTOR OF HOLLYWOOD'S SPEAK NO EVIL REMAKE ON HORROR, COMEDY AND JAMES MCAVOY
BRING OUT YOUR DEAD
THE GHOST WITH THE MOST RETURNS FINALLY - IN BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE
TEENAGE DREAM
JOE LOCKE HITS THE ROAD RUNNING
MOB RULE THE PENGUIN
GOTHAM'S UP FOR GRABS IN BRUISING NEW CRIME SAGA BUT WHERE IS THE BATMAN?
SEASON OF THE WITCH
AS MARVEL TELEVISION CARVES OUT A NEW PATH FOR ITSELF, WE SPEAK TO CREATOR JAC SCHAEFFER, PLUS A CAST OF STARS LED BY KATHRYN HAHN AND JOE LOCKE, ABOUT THE MAGIC OF WANDAVISION'S SPIN-OFF AGATHA ALL ALONG
Ghouls Allowed
Even silence can't save you at this year's Halloween Horror Nights
Those '70s Shows
James Swallow takes a trip back in time with his new Space: 1999 and UFO novellas