In this episode, Daniel sits down with speculative fiction powerhouses Tiffani Angus and Val Nolan — writers, educators, and co-authors of the bestselling Spec Fic for Newbies series from Luna Press.
Together, they dive deep into the ever-expanding world of speculative fiction, exploring how genre works, why it matters, and how writers can better understand where their stories fit. With the release of Spec Fic for Newbies Vol. 3, this conversation blends craft, teaching, collaboration, and a whole lot of joyful nerdiness.
From academia to publishing, pandemic-era book deals to writing about pirates, space procedurals and dark academia, this is a lively, insightful look at what it means to write across genres — and why speculative fiction remains one of the most exciting playgrounds for storytellers today.
💀 In this episode you’ll discover:
• How Spec Fic for Newbies began during the pandemic and grew into a three-book series
• Why understanding genre can transform your writing (and your confidence)
• The role academia and teaching played in shaping the books’ accessible approach
• How speculative fiction overlaps with crime, romance, fantasy, horror and beyond
• Why joy, curiosity and “nerdiness” are essential tools for writers
• The realities of writing collaborative non-fiction — and keeping it fun
• How the series helps writers who don’t have access to formal creative writing education
Links & Resources:
Tiffani Angus website: https://www.tiffani-angus.com
Val Nolan website: https://illusorypromise.wordpress.com/
Luna Press: https://www.lunapresspublishing.com
Spec Fic for Newbies series (Luna Press): https://www.lunapresspublishing.com
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📚 About the Guests
Tiffani Angus (PhD) is a multi BSFA- and BFS-award finalist for her debut novel Threading the Labyrinth and for non-fiction (with co-author Val Nolan) for Spec Fic for Newbies: A Beginner’s Guide to Writing Subgenres of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Vol. 1 (2023) and Vol. 2 (2024), both of which also made the Locus Recommended Reading List. Volume 3 launches March 2026. She spent over a decade teaching creative writing at universities in the US and UK, most of that time as a Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing and Publishing at ARU in Cambridge (UK). She works as a freelance editor and proofreader, runs the typesetting/formatting business Book Polishers, leads various writing workshops in person and online, and is currently at work on novel, a novella, and a scandalous secret project.
Val Nolan is the author of Neil Jordan: Works for the Page (UCC Press, 2022) and co-author of the Spec Fic for Newbies trilogy (Luna Press Publishing, 2023, 2024, 2026). He has published academic articles in Science Fiction Studies, Foundation, Journal of Graphic Novels and Comic Books, Irish University Review, Irish Studies Review, symplokē, and Dictionary of Literary Biography. His fiction has appeared in Year’s Best Science Fiction, Best of British Science Fiction, Unidentified Funny Objects, the ‘Futures’ page of Nature, Andromeda Spaceways, ParSec, and Interzone (for which he also writes the ‘Folded Spaces’ column about the history of Science Fiction criticism). He has been shortlisted for the Theodore Sturgeon Award (for his story ‘The Irish Astronaut’), twice been a finalist for the BSFA Awards, and twice shortlisted for the British Fantasy Awards. He is currently a research fellow at Aberystwyth University in Wales where he was awarded Lecturer of the Year in 2022. His next project is Space Opera: The First Hundred Years, due from Luna Press Publishing in 2028.
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