For much of this year (and the tail-end of last year) I’ve been at work on a book called A Long Year’s Dreaming: Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror in 2020. The book will be a collection of essays (some new, some previously published at either this blog or WWAC) discussing the fantastical books, comics, films and TV that came out in 2020 alongside the real-world events of that year. It’ll be self-published with all proceeds going to charity, although I have yet to finalise the details there.
I have a bad habit of announcing large-scale projects before I’ve been able to put substantial work into them, hence why I’ve left off talking about A Long Year’s Dreaming. At this point I can confirm that the bulk of the writing is done, and the flexibility of the subject means that I’ll have ample room to hold my hands up and say “that’s it, no more is needed.”
My pencilled-in goal was to have the book out in December. I’m not sure how viable that is: this’ll be my first time pulling together an entire book by scratch and publishing it myself, so I may well find that editing, cover design and other technical considerations will push it into 2022. Still, my every aim is to have the writing completed in time for my original deadline.
As a teaser, here’s a partial list of essays you can expect to see turning up:
- Copter Crash: Isabel Fall and the Transgender SF Controversy
- Coronaphobia: Horror Films in Lockdown
- 2020 A.D.: Reviving the British Anthology Comic
- MAGA 2020 and Beneath: The Strange World of Trumpist SF
- Broken Futures: Iron Man 2020
- Investing in the Gods: Jiang Ziya and the Fengshen Cinematic Universe
- Out with the Old: The 2020 Hugo Awards
- Dragons and Death Cults: The 2020 Dragon Awards
- Untitled Superhero Film Essay
- Wit, Weirdness and Warped Ethics: Megan Giddings’ Lakewood
- Cannibal Women, Laughing Lords and Ownvoices Iconoclasm
- First Lady: Lilith as Icon of 2020
- The Last Laugh: Animated Films Before the Pandemic
- Prophets of Doom: Did Authors Predict COVID-19?
- Red Brains: Zombies in 2020
- Blue Veins: Vampires in 2020
- For Better or Worse, the Film of the Year: Tenet
I intend to add much more besides, but as I say, there’s still a large degree of flexibility. Stay tuned for updates…
Doris V. Sutherland 