Sorry this has taken me a bit. Life has been busy with medical emergencies (not mine, but my daughter’s boyfriend sustained burns over 22% of his body in a mass burn event – 7 “kids” (18-25) – at a bonfire on the 4th of July), vacation, and long delayed memorial services. But I’m finally back with the final day of Media Mentions from Narrativity 2026.
“Who’s been painting my roses red?” Building your setting
Books/Book Series
The Book of Three – Lloyd Alexander
Dune – Frank Herbert
The Wake – Paul Kingsnorth (setting only comes up when it’s needed)
Suruga-jo Gozen Jiai – Norio Nenjo (setting only comes up when it’s needed – Japanese only, there is no English translation as this time)
Name of the Rose – Umberto Eco
Pillars of the Earth – Ken Follett
Magician’s Nephew – CS Lewis
Wizard of Earthsea – Ursula K Le Guin
Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets – JK Rowling
Amber Spyglass – Phillip Pullman
Clockwork Orange – Anthony Burgess
Poirot mysteries – Agatha Christie
Lord of the Rings – JRR Tolkien
The Once and Future King – TH White
Book of the New Sun – Gene Wolfe
Game of Thrones – George RR Martin
Television/Movies
Downton Abbey
ET
Podcasts/Stand-up Comedy
Charlies Berens (comedian)
Writing About Dragons & Shit (podcast)
Never imagine yourself not to be otherwise than what it might appear to others that what you were or might have been was not otherwise than what you had been would have appeared to them to be otherwise.” Is Sci-Fi just other genres in a trench coat?
Non-fiction works
Ursula K Le Guin’s essays on writing
Books/Book Series
John Carter of Mars – Edgar Rice Burroughs
This Time of Darkness – HM Hoover
Frankenstein – Mary Shelley
Celestial Matters – Richard Garfinkle
The Curse of Chalion – Jois McMaster Bujold
Flowers for Algernon – Daniel Keyes
The Neutronium Alchemist – Peter F Hamilton
Lord of Light – Roger Zelazny
The Legacy of Heorot – Jerry Pournelle, Larry Niven, Steven Barnes
Star Trek novels – James Blish
Star Wars expanded universe – Timothy Zahn
Robot books – Isaac Asmimov
Temeraire series – Naomi Novik
Pit Dragon trilogy – Jane Yolen
Authors
Jules Verne
HG Wells
Patricia Wrede
Operas
The Mikado – Gilbert & Sullivan
“I haven’t the slightest idea” That’s another panel – How to write your ending (do you know it in advance)
Non-fiction works
On Writing – Stephen King
Books/Book Series
The Last Unicorn – Peter S Beagle
Use of Weapons – Iain M Banks (good ending)
The Curse of Chalion – Jois McMaster Bujold (master ending)
The Tombs of Atuan – Ursula K Le Guin
The Cold Equations – Tom Godwin
Temeraire series – Naomi Novik (goes on too long)
Television/Movies
Memoir of an Invisible Man
Body of Proof (tv show – bad ending)
Midnight Mass (mini-series directed by Mike Flanagan – bad ending)
The Turn of the Screw (movie – bad ending, based on the novella by Henry James)
Christopher Guest mockumentaries