Luna Press Publishing – Everything Is Better With Dragons

Review: All That Is in the Earth, by Andrew Knighton

3rd February 2026
978-1-915556-67-7
£8.99

Description

Luna Novell #24


When Clifford crash lands on the planet of Abaddon, he might as well be dead: a terrible plague and a strict quarantine mean that no one leaves Abaddon alive. 

Clifford isn’t the only dead man walking. Corporate mercenaries and desperate survivors are looking for ways to live in a hostile world. Constantly on the run from flesh-hungry monsters, there’s no chance to escape or to build something more. 

But when Clifford makes a discovery that could change the meaning of Abaddon, loyalty clashes with survival in a story about how to live with the certainty of death.

The Author

Andrew Knighton is an author of short stories, comics, novellas, and the novels The Executioner’s Blade (Northodox, November 2024) and Forged for Destiny (Orbit, March 2025). As a freelance writer, he’s ghostwritten over forty novels in other people’s names, as well as articles, history books, and video scripts. He lives in Yorkshire with an academic and a cat, growing vegetables and dreaming about a brighter future. You can find more of his work and social media links at andrewknighton.com .

My Review

I read this novella at the end of March and my brain being what it is, totally forgot to write a review.

Today I went to York.

That is not the non sequitur it might appear. I went to York for a BFS Yorkshire and Humber regional group meet-up. We went on a book crawl after meeting at the amazing Portal Bookshop. My trains were horrendously late, and I had time for a lemonade and cake in the tiny café before we left for the next bookshop. I intend to do an order for the books I didn’t get round to buying when I next get some money. As we, a group of about 10 weirdos in a very strange city, strolled in the afternoon sun towards our second bookshop, The Minster Gate Bookshop, a gangly looking fella in a red Schrodinger’s Cat joke t-shirt, by the name of Andy, started talking to me. I should have run away right then, especially after he asked if I could review his book. Once he told me what it was called, I realised that ‘Andy’ was Andrew Knighton.

I informed Andy I’d already read it, and enjoyed it. We had a bit of a chat about the story and then went on to talking about how much we both love Luna Press Publishing. Not surprising, Andy has two Luna Novellas and I fell in love with Francesca at my first Fantasycon in 2021. Alright, I fell in love with the selection of academic and Tolkien-adjacent books they print, Francesca just happened to be standing behind the table. I spent so much money! I regularly buy books from Luna Press Publishing and I recommend them.

So, that’s how I met an author and remembered to review this novella.

Clifford crash lands on an interdicted planet as a spoil scientist working for an organisation that sounds really dodgy. Actually, the entire society sounds very dystopia and authoritarian. On the planet, he meets a priestess dying of cancer, and a mixed group who show him how to survive on a planet where a disease can mutate you into bizarre forms and will kill you in days. He’s terrified of dying and desperate to get off the planet.

He isn’t getting off the planet.

As part of his travels he discovers a possible cure for the disease and tries to use it as a bargaining chip to get off the planet.

He isn’t getting off the planet.

This story is a meditation on facing the inevitability of death and deciding to live. You get the one chance, and even if it’s short and possibly painful, you can still find a way to face it all and live.

The priestess is a delight in snarkiness and her wisdom helps Clifford see that life continues even in terrible circumstances and there are ways to make the best of things even when you want to despair. There is so much potential for the world Andy built in this novella, but this story works well in the novella format; it’s just the right length for the story.

I enjoyed it immensely. It was a satisfying little read for a midweek evening. Definitely recommend it.

I did not stay in my budget today, but I only bought eight books, one of which was a recommendation from Andy and another was a new edition of Carpe Jugulem, because I need a new copy. The trains were an absolute mess all day and I had to leave early to catch a train to Doncaster that would mean I could catch my originally planned TransPennine Express back to Grimsby. I finally got home just before 7 p.m., having been out for 10 hours! I am in pain! I ended up ordering take away because my brain refused to cook, even though I have a fridge full of food. It was UC and shopping day yesterday. Also, some scum bag racist put cheap, nasty looking flags on the lampposts during the night, it was quite disconcerting when I went out this morning. Going now, I need painkillers and to put rubbish in the bin.

TBR Pile Review: Spec Fic for Newbies Vol. 2, by Tiffani Angus and Val Nolan

Beam aboard your own Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror classroom with the next volume of the BSFA-shortlisted writing-guide series!

Join Tiffani Angus (Ph.D.) and Val Nolan (Ph.D.) for a whirlwind introduction to the storytelling basics of 30 more subgenres and major tropes from across the limitless realms of Speculative Fiction.

Learn about Space Opera, Folk Horror, Climate Fiction, Werewolves, Astronauts, Mythic Fantasy, Goblin Markets, Dragons, and many more with deep dives into each subgenre’s history and development, spotter’s guides to typical examples, pitfalls to watch out for in your own writing, and activities to help you get started! All derived from a combined two decades of university-level practices and experience!

Spec Fic for Newbies breaks genres into bite-sized pieces for students or for any budding writer. It offers a welcoming introduction to how writers, filmmakers, and other creatives can begin to explore the infinite potential of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror to create new stories beyond the boundaries of the ordinary.

This is not another dusty rulebook. This is a portal to endless other worlds!

TBR Review: Spec Fic For Newbies, vol. 1, by Tiffani Angus and Val Nolan

ISBN: 978-1-915556-12-7
Price: £16.99https://www.lunapresspublishing.com/product-page/spec-fic-for-newbies

Description

Release Date March 28, 2023.

Locus Recommended Reading List 2023
BSFA for Best Non-Fiction, Shortlist 2024
BFS for Best Non-Fiction, Shortlist 2024 

Spec Fic For Newbies: A Beginner's Guide to Writing Subgenres of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror. Tiffani Angus (Ph.D.) and Val Nolan (Ph.D.) met at the 2009 Clarion Writers’ Workshop in California and since then have collaborated many times as fans and scholars on panels for SFF conventions and writing retreats.Working together on this book and combining their experience as SFF writers and as university lecturers in Creative Writing and Literature made perfect sense!

Every year they see new students who want to write SFF/Horror but have never tried the genres, have tried but found themselves floundering, or, worse, have been discouraged by those who tell them Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror are somehow not “real” literature. 

This book is for all those future Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror writers. Tiffani and Val are approaching these three exciting fields by breaking them down into bite-sized subgenres with a fun, open, and contemporary approach.Each chapter contains 10 subgenres or tropes, with a quick and nerdy history of each derived from classroom teaching practices, along with a list of potential pitfalls, a description of why it’s fun to write in these subgenres, as well as activities for new writers to try out and to get them started!

My Review

I bought this book at FantasyCon 2023. I’ve got quite a collection of Academia Lunare books now, mostly genre stuff and Tolkien books. Look at the Luna Press Publishing website, under non-fiction and academic, to get a sense of the books I mean. Most of the are small, A6 size, usually with monographs on a uniting subject matter.

This book is different.

Yes, that’s me. I got the laptop camera to work properly. Yes, that’s the Pen & Sword TBR pile behind me.

It’s a guide to the sub-genres of SFFH, with two writing exercises for each sub-genre. I’m not exactly a ‘newbie’, but I don’t know all of the sub-genres, and it was interesting to read about the ones they included.

I enjoyed to quick tour and chatty writing style of this book, especially the genre and sub-genre histories. This book is informed by years of teaching by both authors, and it shows. They’ve clearly come across the same mistakes time and time again, but the enjoyment of both spec fic and teaching also really shines through. I could easily devour a volume on each sub-genre by these authors, but I’m weird like that. I like depth and breadth. I don’t think that’s a criticism of this book, but if you’re expecting in-depth discussions of the nuances of each sub-genre you’re not going to get that. The book provides broad overviews of each sub-genre with reference to specific tropes or movements within the sub-genre.

I enjoyed the tour of 30 sub-genres and the writing left me want more on some subject and no more about others (splatterpunk for example, is really not my thing). There’s enough to get you started on any sub-genre, and that’s what this book is for.

If you’re looking for something to read in a specific sub-genre, I think you could flip to the section in this book and find a place to start in a new sub-genre, because the authors provide lots of examples of works – both film and literary – that sit in a sub-genre.

There are also lots of references if you want to follow up on a particular statement or idea. I like references. More references and access to a database of papers, please. Because I don’t have enough to read…

I found the writing exercises prompted me to come up with new ideas and think it’ll be useful when I’m struggling to put an idea down on paper. I’ve got an idea about zombies and cruise ships, but it’s not going anywhere yet… Anyway, the activities make up a small section of each sub-genre entry, but the information packed in before them informs the activities. I think for a writer at any stage of their career, the activities will prompt the brain to try something new. If you’re a new writer they’ll give you a place to start, and for experienced writers they’re a reminder and refresher when your brain is fried. The writing advice found throughout the text is useful and explained well.

While I read this book from start to finish, I think it could be a good ‘dipping’ book, for those having a go at a new genre or sub-genre. There’s always something new to try – nobody could have written in all thirty of the sub-genres in this book – so dipping in and out as the mood takes you can give the writer practice in a variety of stories.

I have already recommended this book to a very new writer (my nibbling is doing creative writing as part of their OU Open Degree – I’m so proud!) and will be buying volume 2 at FantasyCon in three weeks – Francesca, make sure there’s a copy put aside for me, please!

I mentioned on my book Instagram that I was reading this book and Dr Angus kindly told me to contact her if I need any PhD advice, which I thought was lovely.