Vol 1 Issue No. 17: June 2025

PD's Alternative Fiction

Jun 24, 2025

Quick Hits

New Book Releases:

“Alone Together” by S.S. Fitzgerald - It's been brewing, spreading for months. Now the line between soldier and civilian is blurred.
In the cities, more than a third of the population is carrying the contagion and turning into hyper-aggressive predators, with their family, friends, and neighbors as their prey. Now a group of survivors must band together and face the chaos of the new world.
“The Rewilding” by Robert Evans - In the quiet of the Scottish countryside, a young boy has been killed. Nobody is sure how...or by what. This inexplicable death piques the interest of field biologist Steph Patel who, motivated by the chance of a money maker, pursues the boy's story.
“The No‑End House” by Jeremy Bates - In the tradition of Saw and Eli Roth’s Hostel, but with the evil supernatural twists of Stephen King, Alma Katsu, and Christopher Golden, two strangers unwittingly volunteer for the ultimate haunted house challenge in Barcelona’s Gothic Quarter. Nine rooms. Nine tests. One chance to get out alive.
“Glass Girls” by Danie Shokoohi - A former child medium is called home to help protect her niece from possession, forcing a reckoning with the traumas of her past and the magic she left behind.

New Movie Releases:

Osiris - Linda Hamilton leads a commando team on an alien spacecraft in this sci-fi action-thriller.
Star People - Based on the 1997 Phoenix UFO sighting. A photographer’s obsession unearths unexpected and deadly revelations.

New TV Show Releases:

Ironheart - Genius teenage inventor Riri Williams creates the most advanced suit of armor since Iron Man.

Top 10 List:

Monster Movies with Sci-Fi Elements

In-depth exploration of a specific theme, trope, or topic:

The Ethics of Terraforming — Colonization or Survival?

Premise

Terraforming—the hypothetical process of modifying a planet’s environment to make it habitable for Earth-like life—has long been a staple in science fiction. From Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles to more modern works like The Expanse and Red Mars, it symbolizes both human ambition and ethical ambiguity. But at what point does "survival" become "invasion"?

Sci-Fi Case Studies

Kim Stanley Robinson’s Mars Trilogy
A foundational terraforming saga that pits “Red Mars” purists (keep Mars untouched) against “Green Mars” terraformers. It's less about science and more about who gets to decide the future of a world.
James Cameron’s Avatar
Though not traditional terraforming, the corporate exploitation of Pandora evokes the colonizer’s arrogance: if a world doesn’t suit us, we’ll either reshape it or destroy it trying.
Doctor Who (Various Episodes)
Earth’s future sees countless alien races trying to terraform the planet for their own species. The irony? Terraforming isn’t always humanity's tool—sometimes we’re the targets.

Themes & Ethical Dilemmas

Colonial Mindset in Disguise - Terraforming is often framed as survival—but is it just repackaged colonialism? Many sci-fi works draw parallels to Earth's own history: settler expansion, disregard for native life, and the assumption of ownership.
Ecocide and Biocide - What rights do existing ecosystems—even microbial—have? Sci-fi increasingly asks whether it’s morally defensible to erase alien biospheres in favor of human-compatible environments.
Scientific Hubris - Do we understand enough to play God on another world? Terraforming stories often critique humanity’s confidence in bending nature to its will—and the unintended consequences that follow.
Survival vs. Stewardship - Is survival reason enough to destroy another planet’s integrity? The 100, Interstellar, and even WALL-E all question whether we should be fixing Earth instead of burning bridges (or planets).

Why It Still Resonates

In a time of climate crisis, terraforming stories act as a futuristic mirror. They don’t just ask "What if we could?"—they demand, "Should we?" The sci-fi genre thrives in this space: moral ambiguity, existential stakes, and the thrill of a future that may be closer than we think.

Industry Analysis & Insights on New Trends:

Horror Leads the Charge

28 Years Later recorded record-breaking presales in its first 24 hours—outpacing rivals like Sinners and Final Destination Bloodlines (boxofficepro.com+4insighttrendsworld.com+4sherwood.news+4).
Horror remains the strongest genre at the U.S. box office this year, bolstered by original hits like Sinners and franchise entries like 28 Years Later (sherwood.news).
Overall summer box office is surging—$12.4 billion globally, with $4.2 billion in North America as of June 21 (seo.goover.ai).

Weekly Quiz:

What Kind of Horror Villain Are You?

1. Your ideal hideout is:

A) A rundown cabin in the woods
B) A hidden underground lab
C) A dimension that bends time and logic
D) A quiet suburban home—you blend in

2. What triggers your rage?

A) Teenagers ignoring ancient warnings
B) Betrayal or abandonment
C) Someone disturbing your resting place
D) You're not angry… you're curious

3. Your weapon of choice?

A) An old-fashioned blade or farm tool
B) Mind control and experiments
C) Reality warping and illusions
D) Psychological games and gaslighting

4. What’s your origin story?

A) A tragic accident or unjust death
B) A scientific breakthrough gone wrong
C) You’ve always existed—you’re older than time
D) Trauma, neglect, and a twisted need for connection

5. What scares you the most?

A) Fire
B) Losing control of your creation
C) Being forgotten
D) Being seen for what you really are

Tally Your Results

Mostly A: The Slasher

You’re the knife-wielding embodiment of vengeance. Think Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers, or Leatherface. You don’t talk much, but your legacy is written in blood and final girls.

Mostly B: The Mad Scientist

You twist logic and biology into abominations. Think Dr. Frankenstein, Herbert West, or The Fly. You break taboos in the name of "progress"—and maybe revenge.

Mostly C: The Cosmic Entity

You are incomprehensible. Think Pennywise, The Thing, or The Babadook. Your existence alone fractures reality, and your victims die screaming or insane.

Mostly D: The Psychological Manipulator

You haunt minds, not just houses. Think Norman Bates, The Invisible Man, or Pearl. You smile on the outside, but inside you're a storm of unresolved trauma and precision cruelty.

Historical Tidbit:

The Real "Snuff Film" Panic — How Urban Legends Reshaped Horror Cinema

In the late 1970s, an underground urban legend spread like wildfire: that somewhere out there, real murders were being filmed and sold as entertainment—so-called snuff films. While no confirmed snuff film has ever surfaced, the rumor infected the horror genre like a virus.

What Sparked the Fear?

It began with the 1975 movie Snuff, a low-budget exploitation film originally titled Slaughter, shot in Argentina. The producers tacked on a fake “real murder” at the end and rebranded it as authentic. It was pure marketing—a lie—but Snuff made a fortune and ignited a moral panic.

Cultural Fallout

The panic grew, especially during the rise of VHS. Parents, politicians, and religious groups claimed that tapes were circulating with real deaths—fueling debates around censorship and leading to the UK’s infamous “Video Nasties” list, which banned films like Cannibal Holocaust and The Evil Dead.

Horror’s Response

Filmmakers leaned into the hysteria. Found-footage horror (Man Bites Dog, August Underground, The Poughkeepsie Tapes) was born directly from the fear that cameras were capturing atrocities too real to fake. The rise of torture porn in the 2000s (Hostel, Saw) was just the next logical step.

Legacy

The snuff film myth exposed a cultural nerve: the fear that we, as an audience, might not be watching fiction anymore—and maybe we never were. It blurred the line between voyeurism and violence, and that tension still haunts horror to this day.

We are accepting submissions for the second issue of Terrors and Tales, dropping this July from PD’s Alternative Fiction. We’re looking for bold, bizarre, blood-stained voices—short stories that crackle with pulp energy, menace, mystery, or mayhem. Horror, sci-fi, fantasy—we want it all. Keep your stories lean and mean (3,000 words or less), but don’t hold back on style, suspense, or strangeness.

We’re also accepting poetry of any length. No theme restrictions. If it haunts, hypnotizes, or hits like a spell—send it.

Whether you’re a seasoned author or a first-time scribbler of the weird and uncanny, this is your invitation to step into the shadows with us.

Deadline: July 1, 2025
Genres: Horror, Sci-Fi, Fantasy
Word Limit: Up to 3,000 words for short stories (no limit for poems)
Submit To: Email your submission to PD Alleva. In the subject line write: Terrors and Tales Submission and include the title of your work and the word count. Paste your submission into the body of your email. No word documents or pdfs please and no attachments.

Dare to write something unforgettable. Let’s make this summer one hell of a page-turner.

Thank you for reading. If you are an independent publisher, author, or film maker and have a new release please feel free to send your information to pd@pdalleva.com so that we can include you in our newsletter.

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