In recent years, shapeshifting characters in literature, film and television have been on the increase. This has followed the increased use of such characters as metaphors, with novelists and critics identifying specific meanings and topics behind them. This book aims to unravel the shapeshifting trope. Rather than pursue a case-based study, the works are grouped around specific themes--adolescence, gender, sexuality, race, disability, addiction, and spirituality--that are explored through the metaphor of shapeshifting. Because of its transformative possibilities and its flexibility, the shapeshifter has the potential to change how we see our world. With coverage of iconic fantasy texts and a focus on current works, this work engages with the shapeshifting figure in popular culture from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia.

Australia has been a frequent choice as the location for narratives about the end of the world in science fiction and speculative works, ranging from pre-colonial apocalyptic maps to key literary works from the last fifty years. This critical volume explores the role of Australia in both apocalyptic literature and film. Topics covered include On the Beach and Mad Max, as well as children's literature, Indigenous writing, and cyberpunk. The text explores how apocalypse is used to undermine complacency, foretell environmental disasters, critique colonization, and act as a protest for minority groups. Australian apocalypse imagines Australia at the ends of the world, geographically and psychologically, but also proposes spaces of hope for the future.]