Elwin Cotman 89 pages Nomadic Press (2023)

Read this if you like: mythic fantasy, punk poetry, Haruki Murakami tl;dr summary: Combination poetry collection and story about a galaxy-traveling wizard

See the book on Bookshop

F. G. Haghenbeck 282 pages Oceano (2018)

Read this if you like: Magical realism, Mexican culture, speculative non-fiction

tl;dr summary: Frida Kahlo’s life story, mostly.

See the book on Bookshop

Chris Tarry 128 pages Red Hen Press (2015)

Read this if you like: Kelly Link, Raymond Carver, Haruki Murakami tl;dr summary: Quirky merger of cryptids and fantasy with real-world settings and emotions.

Read the full summary on Bookshop

One of my favorite things about Jordan Peele’s movies as a whole is that they don’t fit neatly into any genre box. A big reason for this is Peele’s worldbuilding style and prowess. His films take place in worlds that are just slant of reality: normal on the surface, but with one strange, horrifying difference lurking below—quite literally, in the case of Us, and metaphorically in his debut Get Out. It’s a similar thought experiment model that underpins many episodes of Twilight Zone, and it makes sense that Peele is at the helm of that reboot.

(Note: Thar be spoilers past this point. If you haven’t seen Nope and care about such things, probably best to stop reading now.)

Monica Byrne 608 pages Harper Voyager (2021)

Read this if you like: Maya civilization, anarchist utopias, long-view fiction tl;dr summary: A story across three timelines spanning 2,000 years, from a dying dynasty in the Maya empire to a nomadic far-future civilization and a teenager on vacation in Belize in the middle.

Read the full summary on Bookshop

The term worldbuilding is very familiar to most genre writers, especially those working in sci-fi and fantasy. A basic definition is that it’s the work of creating the reality of your story. Realistic fiction writers do this, too, the great ones often with the same methodical approach and depth as any genre writer. Despite this, worldbuilding isn’t taught as a crucial skill for those working in the real-world.

Haruki Murakami 400 pages Kodansha International (1985)

Read this if you like: Unicorns, cross-genre experiments, simulated worlds

Tl;dr summary: Part surreal fantasy, part sci-fi detective story, all wonderfully bizarre—and masterfully constructed.

Read the full summary on Bookshop