David O'Mahony: The real world is quickly surpassing any horror speculative fiction can create

One writer I've come across has a dystopian trilogy finished, but says it will never see the light of day because all its twists about who runs the world have come true

I think of the girl in Ukraine doing her schoolwork while sitting in the shattered remains of a house. She looks like she is living in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. File photo: AP/Evgeniy Maloletka

A danger of writing speculative fiction — that’s anything from fantasy and science fiction to alternate histories — is that real life can catch up, and even eclipse it. And, regrettably, here we are.

If you saw our front page on Tuesday, Stolen Innocence (check the epaper if you haven’t, I’ll wait), you’ll have seen not just the suffering of children in so many war-torn countries, but their attempts to retain some elements of daily life in spite of, or alongside, conflict.