Using real world settings brings your uncanny fiction closer to home for readers, says Alex Davis
Something I often hear from those seeking to deride science-fiction, fantasy and horror – and they are still out there, despite the genres’ growth – is that stories in the field simply aren’t realistic. Not an easy one to argue against, given the proliferation of alien technology, mystical creatures and hideous monsters than can inhabit them. One of the ideas of science-fiction is of course that it could be real some day, and horror can have a distinctly human aspect in many cases. However there are readers who look down upon or struggle with stories set in unrecognisable, altered or parallel worlds.