Johnny Lynas

My work fits under the broad and nebulous ‘speculative fiction’ umbrella, ranging in scope from far future dystopias and alternate worlds to the everyday terrors of modern Britain. I take particular inspiration from authors such as George Saunders, Shirley Jackson, Aliya Whiteley, and M. John Harrison. My stories have been published in Strange Horizons, Electric Literature’s Recommended Reading, Kaleidotrope, and The North American Review, amongst others, and I have been nominated for both the Kurt Vonnegut Prize in Speculative Literature and the Moth Short Story Prize. My first chapbook, ‘Topsoil’, was published in November of 2024.

Much of my academic life was spent at the University of Warwick, where I received my BA, MA, and PhD in Literary Practice. During my PhD and after, I taught Creative Writing at an undergraduate and postgraduate level, specialising in contemporary fiction, sci-fi and fantasy writing, creative nonfiction, and video game narrative design.

My PhD research considered the role of cosmic horror in contemporary literature, examining the ways that weird fiction has changed (and failed to change) since the time of H. P. Lovecraft. My creative work considers the abandonment of the post-industrial North, the rise of the far-right, and the inherent problems of masculinity. It is also funny and strange and not nearly as dour as the previous sentence makes it sound, featuring such oddities as a haunted football pitch and a theme park for corpses. I am interested, particularly, in giving speculative fiction the respect it deserves in a literary scene which often overlooks it. The same can be said of video games, a medium I am deeply passionate about, and through which some of the most impactful and innovative narratives of the 21st century have been told.

PhD in Literary Practice, University of Warwick – ‘Shadows Out of Time: Honesty, Masculinity, and Failure in the New Weird’

MA in Creative Writing, University of Warwick

BA (Hons) in English Literature and Creative Writing, University of Warwic