About a million years ago, I had a chance to visit Cartagena, Colombia. It’s a magical city, with 16th century walls that were built to keep out Caribbean pirates; vibrantly colored Spanish colonial architecture—and when I was there, the great author Gabriel García Márquez had a home in the city. As you may well know, he’s the author of such extraordinary novels as One Hundred Years of Solitude and famous for his magic realism writing style. Some may say that magic realism doesn’t qualify as fantasy, but to my mind, it does. And I count One Hundred Years as one of the most cherished books on my shelves.
I was in Cartagena on business, wearing my “hat” as a journalist. A Colombian colleague told me that you could just knock on Márquez’s front door, and if he was in town, he might invite you in for a chat.
My now-ex-husband, Robin, who is a scholar of magic realism, was there with me at the time. I was too busy with work to do much else. But how could Robin squander such a rare opportunity as that little knock on the door?
So, Robin went to see if he could roust Márquez. A housekeeper answered the door and explained that the master of the house had a terrible throat problem that left it hard for him to speak. And Robin went away without seeing him.
When I heard the story, I had to laugh. It sounded like our hero had written a piece of fiction just for us. But we later learned that Márquez had, indeed, had surgery on his throat not long after Robin’s knock.
In the end, the experience reminded me of Márquez’s books, with their blend of fantastic and realistic elements. It sometimes requires some study to tell what’s real and what’s fantasy in the literary giant’s work.
Truth be told, gritty little seeds of truth are the aspect of science fiction and fantasy stories that I love the most. It’s something that fuels my own novels—including my work in progress, which is out with some beta readers as I write this. (Early feedback is really positive!)
Now, on to what I’ve been doing, reading and watching of late.
‘Lanterns’ Series Glows on HBO
A buddy superhero comedy adventure within the DC Comics universe
Aaron Pierre and Kyle Chandler in Lanterns. Photo by John Johnson/HBO Max
Not going to lie. I have limited interest in comic book characters turned into Hollywood franchises. That said, so far I’m quite taken with the new series Lanterns, a sci-fi comedy adventure now streaming on HBOMax.
Lanterns is faring well on Rotten Tomatoes, with 94% critic and 82% regular-viewer scores. That is a lot better than the 2011 movie Green Lantern, which starred Ryan Reynolds, which earned 25% and 45% ratings, respectively.
The buddy series stars Aaron Pierre and Kyle Chandler and is in the very capable hands of showrunner Chris Mundy (Ozark, True Detective). As the series begins, Pierre’s character, John Stewart, is an apprentice to Chandler’s Hal Jordan, rock star superhero among mortals on Earth, where the series largely takes place.
Chandler squeezes out the comedy by portraying Jordan as equal parts annoying and charming. That gives Pierre lots to work with, mixing silent frustration with an ironclad resolve as he deals with an extremely difficult boss in order to earn his stripes—which a lot of people can probably relate to.
There’s a certain frisson between Chandler and another character as well, a small-town sheriff played by Kelly Macdonald, which is also amusing to watch.
Outcasts Battle Fiendish Gods in ‘Queen of Days’
Greta Kelly penned this epic fantasy about a band of rogues
AdobeStock image by Mr_Marcom
I’ve been taken with the podcast SFF Addicts for quite some time, largely because of the funny, whip-smart trio of cohosts. Their interviews with science fiction and fantasy authors give me ideas about what I should be reading next. And their well-chosen questions spark deep revelations from authors about the craft.
Among the cohosts is Greta Kelly, who has a quiet, thoughtful demeanor—when she isn’t cracking up over one of the other cohosts’ quips. I decided to give her own writing a go and just finished reading her epic fantasy novel The Queen of Days. I used a double-barreled approach, switching back and forth between the audio and e-book versions. It was one of those novels that just seemed to whoosh by, because the momentum never flagged.
If you enjoy books like The Priory of the Orange Tree, then Queen of Days might be for you. It’s the tale of a band of rogues, led by one Balthazar Vadalen, better known as Bal. He’s the son of a powerful governor who was killed during a coup, along with most of his inner circle. Bal managed to escape and was reduced to thievery, along with his friends and family pals.
They take on a job for a patron that would seem next to impossible, if they weren’t asked to team up with a masked being with powers of magic. Known as the Queen of Days, she is as much an outcast as the rest of them—although in decidedly different ways.
The assignment pits the gang against powerful gods and threatens to tear apart their strong bonds. And, oh yeah, they might get killed in the process. In particular, I found Kelly’s unusual use of time in the novel to be quite compelling.
In the end, Queen of Days is about family—finding it, saving it, and cherishing it. It’s a fun read, with stakes about ten miles high.
Horror Meets Heart in ‘The Last House’
Mysterious creatures imprison a family in this Netflix series
(L-R) Noah Alexander Sosnowski, Wagner Moura, Greta Lee, and Riley Chung in The Last House. Photo Credit: Chris Baker/Netflix © 2026
When The Last House showed up on my Netflix feed, one name at the top of the cast list was all I needed to dig in: Wagner Moura. He has lots of credits, but the movie that made me a huge fan is The Secret Agent, which was nominated for four Academy Awards this year, including one for Moura himself.
The premise of Last House kind of reminds me of A Quiet Place. But rather than a family dealing with monsters who hunt down human prey with acute hearing capabilities, the family is trapped in their home, unable to break open any door or window. They are terrorized by creatures that emerge whenever it rains. And as you might imagine, there’s plenty of water in this movie.
The family includes Moura as the dad, and the mom is played by Greta Lee. I became an admirer of her talent while watching her performance in Past Lives, and I loved seeing her in Last House. Together with their children, they manage to survive a long, long time with inventive ways to survive and a refusal to go completely bananas. There’s humor and a whole lot of love and camaraderie among them. And that balances out the horrifying scenes, deepening the movie as a whole.
The ending of the movie I’m not so sure about. If you’ve watched it, I’m curious what you think. One thing’s for sure, the final moments leave the survivors’ future open-ended. Depending on how popular the movie proves to be, it may be the first of several movies that carry the storyline forward.
Also on My Radar
Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon Rein In Price Rises—Deadline
NASA Launches a Telescope ‘Discovery Machine’—Wired
Janet Sightings
Lancer Kind’s Scifi Thoughts — a six-part podcast series about my work
MetaStellar’s annual anthology features my “Imaginary Children” short story
Worldcon — traveling to the giant con in Anaheim this week. If you’re also going drop me a line!