The inaugural fantasy literature festival was held in Ruse, Bulgaria over the weekend of May 23-25, 2026. The festival was organized and hosted by the Luben Karavelov Regional Library, with the theme of The River of Stories and Worlds.
International guests in attendance included Dr. Marian Womack (Spain/UK), Lucie Lukačovičová (Czech Republic), and Alex Shvartsman (USA). They were joined by many popular Bulgarian authors, including Vasil Popov, Elena …Read More
Brazilian science fiction has existed since the mid-1800s, about 170 years. During that time it has generated a number of significant works from a large array of tendencies. Since the beginning of the 21st century, it has undergone an intense, prolific phase in book and magazine publishing in the wake of the young adult fantasy explosion triggered by the works of Suzanne Collins, Christopher Paolini, Rick Riordan, J.K. Rowling, …Read More
Episode 24a: In conversation with Nathan Ballingrud: The Good Husband
In a follow up to our previous podcast, we had the very great pleasure of chatting with the lovely Nathan Ballingrud, author of The Good Husband , about the themes and inspiration for his story about a …Read More
Episode 24: Transformative Horror: The Fruit of My Woman by Han Kang (translated by Deborah Smith) and The Good Husband by Nathan Ballingrud
Ballingrud’s work is frightening, Kang’s is surreal, and both are disturbingly beautiful in their portrayal of how a person’s radical transformation can destabilize their …Read More
Episode 23: In conversation with Ted Chiang: The Great Silence
Most people may know about Ted from Story of Your Life which was filmed asArrival, but his reputation with readers and writers as a top tier craftsman of the short form was well established before then. We had the pleasure of asking Ted some questions about a short (very short!) piece of his from 2015, part of an …Read More
Episode 22b: In conversation with Kij Johnson: The Privilege of the Happy Ending
Rounding off our triad of podcasts about the end of the world as we know it, we are honoured to welcome Kij Johnson to discuss her apocalypse-themed fantasy story (with strong hints of science fiction!) The Privilege of the Happy Ending . The research, the worldbuilding, and the structural and narrative choices that went …Read More
Episode 22a: In conversation with Daryl Gregory: Nine Last Days on Planet Earth
Even better than reading an excellent story is discussing with the author how and why they wrote it! We are so pleased to have Daryl Gregory with us to discuss the nuances, secrets and personal touches in his apocalypse-themed science fiction story Nine Last Days on Planet Earth . (But first listen to episode …Read More
Episode 22: The Everyday Apocalypse: Nine Last Days on Planet Earth by Daryl Gregory and The Privilege of the Happy Ending by Kij Johnson Apocalypse now, or some day soon when we least expect it? Karen and Karen compare and contrast two very different stories with a common theme – the end of the world as we know it. But apocalypse can mean many things when we consider the …Read More
Welcome to your authentic Crossing the Gulf experience! In one of our favourite discussions to date, Karen and Karen summarise, assess, dissect and digest the multiple-award-winning short story Welcome to Your Authentic Indian Experience™ by Rebecca Roanhorse. This richly layered and nuanced story rewards on so many levels. We provide perspectives from our own experiences, alternating roles as insider and outsider.
Reference is made to the film The Thirteenth Floor …Read More
When a dearly loved but challenging book becomes a movie, where do you set your expectations? Karen and Karen discuss the alchemy of transmuting text to screen and the choices that must be made if the story is to not merely translate, but flourish. We also talk about how much the book meant to us growing up, and our belief that Ava DuVernay has given us a film that will …Read More
A Marvel movie, an afrofuturistic dream, a box office phenomenon… and more? We take a side step from page to screen to comment on the many ways thatBlack Pantherworks, and works well. We also hint at future podcasts to compare text to film in other adaptations such asA Wrinkle in Time,Annihilation, andArrival(2016).
Download mp3 file.
Note: This podcast and all previous SF Crossing the Gulf episodes are available atthis archive …Read More
Back in October of 2017 we announced that that SF Crossing the Gulf podcast, hosted by Karen Burnham and Karen Lord, had been made available via a dedicatedarchive page.
At that time,we shared that the archive page featured short descriptions of each episode (and links to the full details at SF Signal) for Season One, and that the rest of the episodes would be following soon. We’re pleased to say …Read More
Announcing the new archive page for SF Crossing the Gulf podcast.
The podcast, hosted by Karen Burnham and Karen Lord, debuted in 2012 and ran for 18 episodes over the course of two seasons, originally hosted by SF Signal (the text descriptions are still available there, but no audio). Episodes include fascinating discussions of notable contemporary hard science fiction, classic writers such as Cordwainer Smith and Olaf Stapledon, weird stories, …Read More
