Briardene Books

Colourfields is a wide-ranging, deeply knowledgeable, cheerfully argumentative exploration of how historians, critics, biographers have thought about the many interweaving traditions of science fiction. In the reviews and essays collected here, Paul Kincaid examines the changing stories told about SF, asks how different theoretical approaches are useful (or not) to readers, and demonstrates why in the end, it’s each individual perspective – each individual work – that really matters. Paul Kincaid has been writing about science fiction in one form or another for nearly half a century. In that time he has twice been a Hugo finalist, twice won the BSFA Best Non-Fiction Award, and has received the Thomas D. Clareson Award from the Science Fiction Research Association. He has written acclaimed books on Brian Aldiss, Iain M. Banks, and Christopher Priest, as well as critical studies of Mythago Wood by Robert Holdstock and Pavane by Keith Roberts. “Not a survey so much as an excavation, this book examines the art of SF criticism itself … Why is it that we are drawn again and again to theorise, proselytise and re-invent the perennial arguments about science fiction? Paul Kincaid is here to help us find out. This is a fascinating and essential volume that every fan and critic will want to read.” – Nina Allan “The clarity of Kincaid’s thought, allied to the precision of his prose, has made him one of the central voices of science fiction criticism … Kincaid is always authoritative without being pompous, generous without being sentimental. Read this latest collection and then read everything else.” – Paul March-Russell, editor, Foundation: The International Review of Science Fiction

Colourfields is a wide-ranging, deeply knowledgeable, cheerfully argumentative exploration of how historians, critics, biographers have thought about the many interweaving traditions of science fiction. In the reviews and essays collected here, Paul Kincaid examines the changing stories told about SF, asks how different theoretical approaches are useful (or not) to readers, and demonstrates why in the end, it’s each individual perspective – each individual work – that really matters. Paul Kincaid has been writing about science fiction in one form or another for nearly half a century. In that time he has twice been a Hugo finalist, twice won the BSFA Best Non-Fiction Award, and has received the Thomas D. Clareson Award from the Science Fiction Research Association. He has written acclaimed books on Brian Aldiss, Iain M. Banks, and Christopher Priest, as well as critical studies of Mythago Wood by Robert Holdstock and Pavane by Keith Roberts. “Not a survey so much as an excavation, this book examines the art of SF criticism itself … Why is it that we are drawn again and again to theorise, proselytise and re-invent the perennial arguments about science fiction? Paul Kincaid is here to help us find out. This is a fascinating and essential volume that every fan and critic will want to read.” – Nina Allan “The clarity of Kincaid’s thought, allied to the precision of his prose, has made him one of the central voices of science fiction criticism … Kincaid is always authoritative without being pompous, generous without being sentimental. Read this latest collection and then read everything else.” – Paul March-Russell, editor, Foundation: The International Review of Science Fiction

Colourfields is a wide-ranging, deeply knowledgeable, cheerfully argumentative exploration of how historians, critics, biographers have thought about the many interweaving traditions of science fiction. In the reviews and essays collected here, Paul Kincaid examines the changing stories told about SF, asks how different theoretical approaches are useful (or not) to readers, and demonstrates why in the end, it’s each individual perspective – each individual work – that really matters. Paul Kincaid has been writing about science fiction in one form or another for nearly half a century. In that time he has twice been a Hugo finalist, twice won the BSFA Best Non-Fiction Award, and has received the Thomas D. Clareson Award from the Science Fiction Research Association. He has written acclaimed books on Brian Aldiss, Iain M. Banks, and Christopher Priest, as well as critical studies of Mythago Wood by Robert Holdstock and Pavane by Keith Roberts. “Not a survey so much as an excavation, this book examines the art of SF criticism itself … Why is it that we are drawn again and again to theorise, proselytise and re-invent the perennial arguments about science fiction? Paul Kincaid is here to help us find out. This is a fascinating and essential volume that every fan and critic will want to read.” – Nina Allan “The clarity of Kincaid’s thought, allied to the precision of his prose, has made him one of the central voices of science fiction criticism … Kincaid is always authoritative without being pompous, generous without being sentimental. Read this latest collection and then read everything else.” – Paul March-Russell, editor, Foundation: The International Review of Science Fiction

Colourfields is a wide-ranging, deeply knowledgeable, cheerfully argumentative exploration of how historians, critics, biographers have thought about the many interweaving traditions of science fiction. In the reviews and essays collected here, Paul Kincaid examines the changing stories told about SF, asks how different theoretical approaches are useful (or not) to readers, and demonstrates why in the end, it’s each individual perspective – each individual work – that really matters. Paul Kincaid has been writing about science fiction in one form or another for nearly half a century. In that time he has twice been a Hugo finalist, twice won the BSFA Best Non-Fiction Award, and has received the Thomas D. Clareson Award from the Science Fiction Research Association. He has written acclaimed books on Brian Aldiss, Iain M. Banks, and Christopher Priest, as well as critical studies of Mythago Wood by Robert Holdstock and Pavane by Keith Roberts. “Not a survey so much as an excavation, this book examines the art of SF criticism itself … Why is it that we are drawn again and again to theorise, proselytise and re-invent the perennial arguments about science fiction? Paul Kincaid is here to help us find out. This is a fascinating and essential volume that every fan and critic will want to read.” – Nina Allan “The clarity of Kincaid’s thought, allied to the precision of his prose, has made him one of the central voices of science fiction criticism … Kincaid is always authoritative without being pompous, generous without being sentimental. Read this latest collection and then read everything else.” – Paul March-Russell, editor, Foundation: The International Review of Science Fiction

WINNER OF THE 2025 BSFA AWARD FOR NON-FICTION SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2025 HUGO AWARD FOR BEST RELATED WORK Incisive and thought-provoking, Track Changes collects Abigail Nussbaum’s best writing about books, films, and TV. It demonstrates how some of science fiction and fantasy’s core themes – from the exploration of space, to the invention of fantastic worlds, to our fluid understanding of what it means to be human – have been refreshed by a new generation of writers, and in so doing it provides an essential map of the interactions between the fantastic genres, politics, and culture. Abigail Nussbaum is a Hugo Award-winning critic and the author of the blog Asking the Wrong Questions. Her writing has appeared in The Guardian, New Scientist, The Los Angeles Review of Books, and Strange Horizons, among others, and she is a regular contributor to the progressive culture and politics blog, Lawyers, Guns and Money. “A tour de force, as good an account of the evolving world of twenty-first century science fiction and fantasy as I have read. These essays are full of insight, context, wisdom and judgement, all written with the ardour and panache of someone who really cares. Indispensable.” – Adam Roberts “Thoughtful, intelligent, and perceptive, Abigail Nussbaum is one of the most interesting people talking about science fiction today, and Track Changes is essential reading for anyone interested in the field.” — Jonathan Strahan “She makes criticism art. There’s no one better” — Catherynne M. Valente “One of the best within the genre and beyond” — Ian Mond, Locus Magazine

WINNER OF THE 2025 BSFA AWARD FOR NON-FICTION SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2025 HUGO AWARD FOR BEST RELATED WORK Incisive and thought-provoking, Track Changes collects Abigail Nussbaum’s best writing about books, films, and TV. It demonstrates how some of science fiction and fantasy’s core themes – from the exploration of space, to the invention of fantastic worlds, to our fluid understanding of what it means to be human – have been refreshed by a new generation of writers, and in so doing it provides an essential map of the interactions between the fantastic genres, politics, and culture. Abigail Nussbaum is a Hugo Award-winning critic and the author of the blog Asking the Wrong Questions. Her writing has appeared in The Guardian, New Scientist, The Los Angeles Review of Books, and Strange Horizons, among others, and she is a regular contributor to the progressive culture and politics blog, Lawyers, Guns and Money. “A tour de force, as good an account of the evolving world of twenty-first century science fiction and fantasy as I have read. These essays are full of insight, context, wisdom and judgement, all written with the ardour and panache of someone who really cares. Indispensable.” – Adam Roberts “Thoughtful, intelligent, and perceptive, Abigail Nussbaum is one of the most interesting people talking about science fiction today, and Track Changes is essential reading for anyone interested in the field.” — Jonathan Strahan “She makes criticism art. There’s no one better” — Catherynne M. Valente “One of the best within the genre and beyond” — Ian Mond, Locus Magazine

WINNER OF THE 2025 BSFA AWARD FOR NON-FICTION SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2025 HUGO AWARD FOR BEST RELATED WORK Incisive and thought-provoking, Track Changes collects Abigail Nussbaum’s best writing about books, films, and TV. It demonstrates how some of science fiction and fantasy’s core themes – from the exploration of space, to the invention of fantastic worlds, to our fluid understanding of what it means to be human – have been refreshed by a new generation of writers, and in so doing it provides an essential map of the interactions between the fantastic genres, politics, and culture. Abigail Nussbaum is a Hugo Award-winning critic and the author of the blog Asking the Wrong Questions. Her writing has appeared in The Guardian, New Scientist, The Los Angeles Review of Books, and Strange Horizons, among others, and she is a regular contributor to the progressive culture and politics blog, Lawyers, Guns and Money. “A tour de force, as good an account of the evolving world of twenty-first century science fiction and fantasy as I have read. These essays are full of insight, context, wisdom and judgement, all written with the ardour and panache of someone who really cares. Indispensable.” – Adam Roberts “Thoughtful, intelligent, and perceptive, Abigail Nussbaum is one of the most interesting people talking about science fiction today, and Track Changes is essential reading for anyone interested in the field.” — Jonathan Strahan “She makes criticism art. There’s no one better” — Catherynne M. Valente “One of the best within the genre and beyond” — Ian Mond, Locus Magazine

WINNER OF THE 2025 BSFA AWARD FOR NON-FICTION SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2025 HUGO AWARD FOR BEST RELATED WORK Incisive and thought-provoking, Track Changes collects Abigail Nussbaum’s best writing about books, films, and TV. It demonstrates how some of science fiction and fantasy’s core themes – from the exploration of space, to the invention of fantastic worlds, to our fluid understanding of what it means to be human – have been refreshed by a new generation of writers, and in so doing it provides an essential map of the interactions between the fantastic genres, politics, and culture. Abigail Nussbaum is a Hugo Award-winning critic and the author of the blog Asking the Wrong Questions. Her writing has appeared in The Guardian, New Scientist, The Los Angeles Review of Books, and Strange Horizons, among others, and she is a regular contributor to the progressive culture and politics blog, Lawyers, Guns and Money. “A tour de force, as good an account of the evolving world of twenty-first century science fiction and fantasy as I have read. These essays are full of insight, context, wisdom and judgement, all written with the ardour and panache of someone who really cares. Indispensable.” – Adam Roberts “Thoughtful, intelligent, and perceptive, Abigail Nussbaum is one of the most interesting people talking about science fiction today, and Track Changes is essential reading for anyone interested in the field.” — Jonathan Strahan “She makes criticism art. There’s no one better” — Catherynne M. Valente “One of the best within the genre and beyond” — Ian Mond, Locus Magazine

SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2024 HUGO AWARD FOR BEST RELATED WORK, THE 2024 BSFA AWARD FOR NON-FICTION AND THE 2024 LOCUS AWARD FOR NON-FICTION This retrospective collection of in-depth reviews and essays looks at sf between 2005 and 2014. It includes discussions of work by authors as varied as Stephen Baxter, Liu Cixin, Bernadine Evaristo, and Kelly Link, painting a portrait of an increasingly international and diverse community of writers grappling with technological, political, social and ecological issues that in most cases remain only too relevant today. Niall Harrison is a former editor of Strange Horizons and Vector: The Critical Journal of the BSFA. His work has appeared in those venues as well as The New York Review of Science Fiction, The Los Angeles Review of Books, Foundation: The International Review of Science Fiction, and others. He was a judge for the Arthur C. Clarke Award in 2006 and 2007. Published in association with Beccon Publications (beccon.org). Price includes UK shipping and a copy of the ebook (epub). Praise for All These Worlds: “Frankly, we need all the reviewers like Niall Harrison that we can get.” – Paul Kincaid, Interzone “A rich retrospective of Harrison’s criticism … each review an opportunity to engage, to start a conversation” – Ian Mond, Locus “Thought-provoking and erudite” – Steven French, BSFA Review “The best non-fiction SFF book of the year … a brilliant critical intelligence, attentive both to the particularities of the books he discusses and to larger questions of the evolving nature of the genre across the twenty-first century” – Adam Roberts “It was reading Niall Harrison’s reviews and commentary that made me start to become passionate about science fiction criticism. How wonderful then, to have such a generous selection of his best work to date available in a single volume” – Nina Allan “All These Worlds is a big book but seems short. It is so good to see things so clearly, through these eyes, at this time” – John Clute

SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2024 HUGO AWARD FOR BEST RELATED WORK, THE 2024 BSFA AWARD FOR NON-FICTION AND THE 2024 LOCUS AWARD FOR NON-FICTION This retrospective collection of in-depth reviews and essays looks at sf between 2005 and 2014. It includes discussions of work by authors as varied as Stephen Baxter, Liu Cixin, Bernadine Evaristo, and Kelly Link, painting a portrait of an increasingly international and diverse community of writers grappling with technological, political, social and ecological issues that in most cases remain only too relevant today. Niall Harrison is a former editor of Strange Horizons and Vector: The Critical Journal of the BSFA. His work has appeared in those venues as well as The New York Review of Science Fiction, The Los Angeles Review of Books, Foundation: The International Review of Science Fiction, and others. He was a judge for the Arthur C. Clarke Award in 2006 and 2007. Published in association with Beccon Publications (beccon.org). Price includes UK shipping and a copy of the ebook (epub). Praise for All These Worlds: “Frankly, we need all the reviewers like Niall Harrison that we can get.” – Paul Kincaid, Interzone “A rich retrospective of Harrison’s criticism … each review an opportunity to engage, to start a conversation” – Ian Mond, Locus “Thought-provoking and erudite” – Steven French, BSFA Review “The best non-fiction SFF book of the year … a brilliant critical intelligence, attentive both to the particularities of the books he discusses and to larger questions of the evolving nature of the genre across the twenty-first century” – Adam Roberts “It was reading Niall Harrison’s reviews and commentary that made me start to become passionate about science fiction criticism. How wonderful then, to have such a generous selection of his best work to date available in a single volume” – Nina Allan “All These Worlds is a big book but seems short. It is so good to see things so clearly, through these eyes, at this time” – John Clute

SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2024 HUGO AWARD FOR BEST RELATED WORK, THE 2024 BSFA AWARD FOR NON-FICTION AND THE 2024 LOCUS AWARD FOR NON-FICTION This retrospective collection of in-depth reviews and essays looks at sf between 2005 and 2014. It includes discussions of work by authors as varied as Stephen Baxter, Liu Cixin, Bernadine Evaristo, and Kelly Link, painting a portrait of an increasingly international and diverse community of writers grappling with technological, political, social and ecological issues that in most cases remain only too relevant today. Niall Harrison is a former editor of Strange Horizons and Vector: The Critical Journal of the BSFA. His work has appeared in those venues as well as The New York Review of Science Fiction, The Los Angeles Review of Books, Foundation: The International Review of Science Fiction, and others. He was a judge for the Arthur C. Clarke Award in 2006 and 2007. Published in association with Beccon Publications (beccon.org). Price includes UK shipping and a copy of the ebook (epub). Praise for All These Worlds: “Frankly, we need all the reviewers like Niall Harrison that we can get.” – Paul Kincaid, Interzone “A rich retrospective of Harrison’s criticism … each review an opportunity to engage, to start a conversation” – Ian Mond, Locus “Thought-provoking and erudite” – Steven French, BSFA Review “The best non-fiction SFF book of the year … a brilliant critical intelligence, attentive both to the particularities of the books he discusses and to larger questions of the evolving nature of the genre across the twenty-first century” – Adam Roberts “It was reading Niall Harrison’s reviews and commentary that made me start to become passionate about science fiction criticism. How wonderful then, to have such a generous selection of his best work to date available in a single volume” – Nina Allan “All These Worlds is a big book but seems short. It is so good to see things so clearly, through these eyes, at this time” – John Clute

SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2024 HUGO AWARD FOR BEST RELATED WORK, THE 2024 BSFA AWARD FOR NON-FICTION AND THE 2024 LOCUS AWARD FOR NON-FICTION This retrospective collection of in-depth reviews and essays looks at sf between 2005 and 2014. It includes discussions of work by authors as varied as Stephen Baxter, Liu Cixin, Bernadine Evaristo, and Kelly Link, painting a portrait of an increasingly international and diverse community of writers grappling with technological, political, social and ecological issues that in most cases remain only too relevant today. Niall Harrison is a former editor of Strange Horizons and Vector: The Critical Journal of the BSFA. His work has appeared in those venues as well as The New York Review of Science Fiction, The Los Angeles Review of Books, Foundation: The International Review of Science Fiction, and others. He was a judge for the Arthur C. Clarke Award in 2006 and 2007. Published in association with Beccon Publications (beccon.org). Price includes UK shipping and a copy of the ebook (epub). Praise for All These Worlds: “Frankly, we need all the reviewers like Niall Harrison that we can get.” – Paul Kincaid, Interzone “A rich retrospective of Harrison’s criticism … each review an opportunity to engage, to start a conversation” – Ian Mond, Locus “Thought-provoking and erudite” – Steven French, BSFA Review “The best non-fiction SFF book of the year … a brilliant critical intelligence, attentive both to the particularities of the books he discusses and to larger questions of the evolving nature of the genre across the twenty-first century” – Adam Roberts “It was reading Niall Harrison’s reviews and commentary that made me start to become passionate about science fiction criticism. How wonderful then, to have such a generous selection of his best work to date available in a single volume” – Nina Allan “All These Worlds is a big book but seems short. It is so good to see things so clearly, through these eyes, at this time” – John Clute