Blazing Worlds

The Blazing World by Margaret Cavendish is a wild allegorical tale of travelling to another world, reminiscent of not just Gulliver’s Travels but contemporary science fiction and fantasy works that seek to understand our world by contrasting it with fantastical places, people and societies. As possibly the earliest example of Science Fiction written in English, Cavendish’s work has passed the test of time and its topics and conventions will be familiar to anyone reading science fiction and fantasy in the 21st Century.

The Blazing Worlds anthology collects together 12 inspiring stories from some of today’s most exciting science fiction and fantasy authors in conversation with Cavendish’s original work: RJ Barker, Ian Green, James Alistair Henry, Stewart Hotston, Shona Kinsella, Juliet McKenna, Emma Newman, Marie O’Regan, Louie Stowell, Allen Stroud, E.J. Swift and Lorraine Wilson.

In this anthology put together by the BSFA in partnership with English Heritage and published by Flame Tree, you’ll find stories tackling climate change and melting glaciers, revolution and utopias that aren’t enough. You’ll also find stories that are no more than the challenges of simply going to work as well as the challenges of trying to be yourself in times and places where that isn’t possible. There are stories about the science of travelling to another world, about how dragons power trains, about how other worlds might be the lifeline you need when your own is a painful place to be.

Be prepared to see other worlds and meet the strangest of creatures.