Editor’s note: Joel is reading his way through the finalists for the 2012 Nebula Award for best sci-fi/fantasy novel. Read his introduction here. The mainstream success of Game of Thrones aside, it’s easy to see why many readers might find reading fantasy embarrassing and/or intimidating: not only do the books [...]

For the past 25 years, millions of fantasy fans worldwide have followed R.A. Salvatore—and his signature character, the introspective dark elf Drizzt Do’Urden—through countless adventures and existential and spiritual awakenings in the sprawling realm of Abeir-Toril. This saga—two dozen novels long and counting—is easily one of the very best adventure [...]

We are in the midst of a glorious Golden Age of paranormal fantasy—the last ten years, specifically, in genre fiction have been nothing short of landscape-changing. The days of rigidly defined categories (romance, fantasy, horror, etc.) are long gone. Today, genre-blending novels reign supreme: narratives with virtually limitless potential that [...]

Leprechauns, the mischievous creatures from Irish folklore, are undeniably entrenched in American pop culture—or at least their homogenized stereotypes are. There is Lucky, the breakfast cereal mascot for Lucky Charms, who is obsessed with hording sweet confections shaped like pink hearts, purple moons, blue diamonds, and green clovers (“they’re magically [...]

The Nebula Awards are one of my favorite dorky events of the year.