Liz Bourke holds a Ph.D. in Classics from Trinity College, Dublin. An active and engaged critic in the field of science fiction and fantasy, she writes the Sleeps With Monsters column at Tor.com on a regular basis. Her reviews have appeared in Locus magazine, at Tor.com, Strange Horizons and Ideomancer.com, as well as in Vector (the magazine of the BSFA) and The Cascadia Subduction Zone.
In 2014, she was nominated for the BSFA Award for Best Non-Fiction for “Sleeps With Monsters,” a year in which the award was won by Jeff Vandermeer’s WONDERBOOK. She was also nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Fan Writer in 2014. In 2017, her first book, Sleeping With Monsters: Readings and Reactions in Science Fiction and Fantasy, was published by Aqueduct Press. In 2018, it was a finalist for the Best Related Work Hugo Award.
Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea 
Hi Liz,
Cal here from Writers’ Island. We’re a UK based writing retreats and events business. I was just looking over Twitter and found my way here. Really enjoying reading through some of your content :).
Also, I was just curious: “Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea.” Are you a fan of Black Stone Cherry as well? :).
Take care.
Dear Liz,
I read through some of your reviews and comments with interest, having had my attention drawn to your work by a couple of authors you were quite critical of. While I enjoyed their work more than you did, I do see a validity to some of the criticisms you made, My own reading experience was that the merits outweighed the demerits.
However, I am curious about what you consider makes for the most effective presentation and treatment of female characters in fantasy fiction. ,
Dear Ms. Bourke,
Read your thoughtful piece on Willful Child. Thanks. Sorry you hated the book.
Best Regards
Steven Erikson
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Weirdly enough, I enjoyed your review of Judenstaat more than you enjoyed my novel, mostly because you read it so carefully, even as you were irritated by it. That’s a rare thing. Apparently, I don’t seem to be the only author who has written that sort of response, which is pretty funny and says a lot about you as a reader (and maybe also about us writers). Thanks!
Simone Zelitch