Hey!
This week there are so many reviews! You know that feeling when in your heart you’re sure of something and then you get validated? Yeah, that’s me this week re: writing about science fiction and fantasy online. Take that, pivot-to-video (that said, there are lots of great videos in here! But writing lives on!).
I also share my three favorite books from July, the regular news and happenings that came across my desk, some book recs from some generous folks, and a call for book recs with a new theme!
Unbury the Future
Janet McKenna Lowry unearthed this 2017 speech by Martha Wells in her search for more Murderbot (I heavily identify with this). I had a lot of feelings while reading this! I have been in bookish spaces for so long (so long). I reread the speech a few times and this line constantly pinged me: “We remember again that we were here, they were here, I saw them, I knew them.” I’m so happy for Martha Wells that she will, as she’s deserved for so long, be remembered.
What Is the Difference Between Hard Sci-Fi and Soft Sci-Fi?
I remember these discussions on a loop back in the day, which was only new to me and other SFF babies. I apologize to the pre-exhausted people of the past who lived through their own debates and then mine, which I’m sure was insufferable. I was new and energetic! Here the author writes of hard science fiction, "The science is accurate,” then goes on to list several books under the “hard” science fiction label that involve magical fantasy space travel (sometimes drug assisted). I giggled. I also found the racial distinctions between the lists interesting? White women have graduated to the “hard SF” category, perhaps? Anyway, there should be an SFF Discourse Bingo and “hard SF versus soft SF” should be on it.
Revealing Ode to the Half-Broken by Suzanne Palmer
“Renay,” you ask, “why is a cover reveal on A-side? It’s a cover reveal for a book not out until 2026.” That’s because it’s a cover reveal for Suzanne Palmer, author of one of my favoritest ever space opera series, the Finder series. In this new book there’s a robot, a cyborg dog, and the blurb suggests emotions. Given that it isn’t out until 2026, that leaves you plenty of time to read Finder and all its sequels and join my Fergus Ferguson fan club. No pressure, though*.
*a small amount of pressure
I spent a chunk of July rereading the Old Man’s War series by John Scalzi to prepare for The Shattering Peace in September, because I’m a sucker for commercial space opera.
The biggest surprise: The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett is at the top of my list. I’m a sucker for a morally gray disabled queer tightwad and weird plant magic! Big surprise. I was conflicted about reading this due to some bad takes, but luckily this book was mostly just a fun romp through a world with weird magic and giant beasts. I’m reserving judgment on the politics until the sequel. :P
Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark is a novella where Black ladies—one of them a Chosen One who I want five more novellas about—murder demons disguised as racist white people. Someone give Clark two million dollars so he becomes independently wealthy and can spend the majority of his time writing incredible books. Thanks in advance.
The Dragonfly Gambit by A.D Sui is a very short novella (it reads like a novelette? It’s so slim!) which is a queer revenge story set on a military spaceship with double and triple crosses. It’s so short do writing about it is hard without lots of spoilers!
All of these are dealing with different types of corruption, futility, and oppression, but in drastically different ways.
The three books I’m looking forward to in August are:
Teo's Durumi by Elaine U. Cho — sequel to Ocean’s Godori, where the fallout from the events in the first book continues. Looks like we’re getting more world building in a universe where Korea unified and became a space power, which was one of my favorite parts of the first novel.
House of the Beast by Michelle Wong — Beauty and the Beast, but make it a dark revenge tale with a monstrous ally only the heroine can see.
The Entanglement of Rival Wizards by Sara Raasch — magical college rivals and competitors for the same grant? What could be worse? Oh, having to share the grant and work together. No one better develop any feelings! (They will absolutely develop feelings.)
Abeni and the Kingdom of Gold by P. Djèlí Clark (Alex Brown @ Punk-Ass Book Jockey)
Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz (Misha Grifka Wander @ Ancillary Review of Books)
Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz (Narrated Podcast)
Casual by Koji A. Dae (Alex Brown @ Punk-Ass Book Jockey)
Constantine (Kill James Bond Podcast)
Dark Diamond by Neal Asher (Russell Letson @ Locus)
The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson (Hugo, Girl! Podcast)
A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett (Bonnie McDaniel @ Red Headed Femme)
The Enchanted Greenhouse by Sarah Beth Durst (Vanessa Armstrong @ Reactor)
The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow (Liz Bourke @ a garden from the libraries)
Fantastic Four: First Steps (Frantz Jerome @ Black Nerd Problems)
House of the Beast by Michelle Wong (cozyinthenook)
The Incandescent by Emily Tesh (Dina @ SFF Book Reviews)
The Isle in the Silver Sea by Tasha Suri (Sue @ Page Chewing)
Katabasis by R.F. Kuang (carlareadsnyc)
Katabasis by R.F. Kuang (Gary K. Wolfe @ Locus)
The Kingston Cycle by C.L. Polk (Robin @ Books That Burn)
Love at Second Sight by F.T. Lukens (Alex Brown @ Locus)
The Mask of Mirrors by M.A. Carrick (poetry.shaman)
The Memory Hunters by Mia Tsai (Rebecca Fraimow @ Ancillary Review of Books)
The Mercy Makers by Tessa Gratton (Paul Weimer @ Nerds of a Feather)
Notes from a Regicide by Isaac Fellman (Amy Nagopaleen @ Strange Horizons)
One Hundred Shadows by Hwang Jungeun, translated by Jung Yewon (Roseanna Pendlebury @ Ancillary Review of Books)
Pearl City by Julia Vee and Ken Bebelle (Elias @ Bar Cart Bookshelf)
Portalmania by Debbie Urbanski (William Shaw @ Strange Horizons)
The Queen's Thief Series by Megan Whalen Turner (Samantha @ ladybug.books)
rekt by Alex Gonzalez (Archita Mittra @ Locus)
Sọmadịna by Akwaeke Emezi (Alex Brown @ Punk-Ass Book Jockey)
Superman (2025) (Rachel Kessler @ Reactor)
Volatile Memory by Seth Haddon (Patricia Elzie-Tuttle @ Book Riot)
War of the Worlds (2025) (Arturo Serrano @ Nerds of a Feather)
A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna (Roseanna Pendlebury @ Nerds of a Feather)
Here’s your weekly TBR Godzilla rec thread from Womble (good luck, don’t get stomped). One final reminder: on Thursday, August 21, Kristen from Fantasy Cafe will be doing a livestream with the Ashland Public Library and will rec some SFF titles on Zoom. Hope to see some folks in the chat! Cora Buhlert dug into the Dragon Award finalists. Camestros Felapton also posted about the awards, but the discussion is in the comments, so scroll down a bit. In other award news, the Mythopoeic Award winners were announced and the WSFA Small Press Award finalists were released.
Dina from SFF Book Reviews posted her State of SFF column for August 2025. The Full Lid has a new issue and The Rec Center posted Issue 500! Many congrats to them. It’s full of guest rec lists, which feels perfect. There’s one for The Murderbot Diaries in case you were considering sliding into the fandom after the show. Ancillary Review of Books posted their call for Reviews & Essays for November 2025. Someone who is not me read/review There Is No Antimemetics Division by qntm and tell me how bananas it is.
It’s a short fiction domination kind of week. A good place to start is the regular monthly column from Transfer Orbit, Table of Contents, that collects the TOC from several SFF magazines. Review-wise, Womble covered The Dark #123 and Parsec #14. In Locus, Charles Payseur reviewed Cast of Wonders, Escape Pod and Strange Horizons. Also in Locus, Paula Guran reviewed stories from Reactor and The Sunday Morning Transport. Jay from Tarvolon has a grab bag of short fiction reviews from all over and Maria Haskins has a quarterly short fiction review round up at Strange Horizons. There was a new issue of the WYRMHOLE, but as I can’t find a public version it might have been for email subscribers only. You know what that means! You should subscribe so you don’t miss out on future issues! If you like short fiction recs and a HOLE lot of puns, it’s a fun time and not spammy at all. You can even use my referal link so they know I, specifically, love them, and showed you how to love them. Or you can just subscribe regularly.
I’m finally rebuilding my stable of SFF podcasts! Mythcreants discussed the 2025 Hugo novel finalists. Hugos There talked about SFF Novelizations. Tar Valon or Bust Presents continues their deep dive into Mary Stewart’s Arthurian Saga. Mona Lisa Overpod tackles the legacy of The Matrix Revolutions and The Matrix Resurrections. Antimatter Pod talk about Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, episode 3.04, which pairs nicely with this article by Gavia Baker-Whitelaw about the obsession with giving Spock a girlfriend (I don’t like it).
It’s a new month, so that means book lists! New Scientist has a short list of SFF and adjacent titles. At Reactor, there’s a list for new science fiction and new fantasy. Transfer Orbit has a list of 16 SFF titles. Gizmodo has their usual list of everything plus the kitchen sink.
Author interviews and Q&As: Paul Selmel has interviews with Ryan Melsom, author of Gods Of A New World and Wendy N. Wagner, author of Girl In The Creek. Annalee Newitz was on SFF Addicts to talk about their new book, Automatic Noodle. Over at Nerd Daily, there are Q&A’s with Michelle Wong (House of the Beast), Maria Z. Medina (Mistress of Bones), and Emma Hamm (The Deathless One). Locus has a review excerpt with Silvia Moreno-Garcia.
Books excerpts I saw this week: Accomplice to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer, An Embroidery of Souls by Ruby Martinez, Audition for the Fox by Martin Cahill, and Honeyeater by Kathleen Jennings. Over at Paste, you can read an excerpt and view the cover (and the sprayed edges) of The Year of the Mer by L.D. Lewis.
Over on the Eight Days of Diana Wynne Jones pod, co-hosts Rebecca Fraimow and Emily Tesh were joined by Freya Marske to discuss Howl’s Moving Castle. There’s a new Critical Friends episode, with Dan Hartland talking to Octavia Cade and M. L. Clark about writing in hard times, which feels very connected to “How To Be A Resilient Writer” by Charlie Jane Anders.
Sonia Sulaiman is launching Night Market, a quarterly fantasy fiction magazine. Uncanny Magazine will be open for submissions: poetry (August 9 to August 26) and short stories (August 25 to September 8). They’re also looking for slush readers. Habitats Volume 2, an optimistic science-fiction and fantasy magazine, has an ongoing fund drive on Kickstarter. There’s a fundraiser to help Nisi Shawl write the book of their dreams (I would like to read this book).
Olivia Waite’s Murder by Memory is getting a large print copy with a new cover. Would you, as I did, like to cry over a book announcement for a book we don’t get to read until 2027? You can do that over this video Katie Wu made about the acquisition of her book, Madder Lake. It comes out in 2027. I swear, all I do on TikTok these days is lizard and cry.
Art recs: STORMBRINGER by Spider Samurai. The many fabulous poses of my cat by Adam. the goatherd's daughter by Abigail Larson. Dragon by c3rmen. Tamagotchi shark by Requinoesis. Sunny Lake by Mali. One more hat by Lauren Walsh. Xu-Ifit, Osteoharmonist by Ashley Mackenzie. condors - 2023 by Arthur Baron-Clément. Rumi and the kitty by deeg. Capybara in Fall (time lapse) by Joy.
This week we have a collection of recs from 2025. One of them is a rec for a book coming in October. Advanced reccing!
The Adventures of Mary Darling by Pat Murphy
Summary: Mary Darling is determined to save her children from Peter Pan. Her uncle, John Watson, and his friend, Sherlock Holmes, and her husband "help" her on this quest.
Rec: Retelling of Peter Pan about what happens to the lost boys by focusing on the stories of the women and side characters and those left behind. It has pirates, generational trauma, and so many different kick-ass women. Mary Darling is my new hero.
From: Heather
Queen Demon by Martha Wells
Summary: Follow up to Witch King, as Kai and Ziede face the Hierarchs. Once again time is split between two timelines, the fight to unite against the Hierarchs, and the after-effects of their battle 60 years later.
Rec: The novel feature more of the rich and deep worldbuilding of the first novel. We learn more about Kai and Ziede, past and present and continue their story. Strong themes of resisting authoritarianism and grasping power, and also a strong raised question of how to rebuild and move on once the danger is defeated.
From: Princejvstin
The Works of Vermin by Hiron Ennis
Summary: A city built in a massive rotting tree stump has a pest problem. Corporate takeover of pest control company, combined with the discovery of a new, deadly kind of beastie that mutates humans into monsters (interpret that how you will!), leads to revolution.
Rec: Wildly imaginative, narratively clever book that does its reader the courtesy of expecting them to be intelligent, attentive, and able to keep up. The social inventiveness, in which artistic works structure everything to do with power and society and politics and influence, and political movements and regimes are themselves called things like, 'Extemporist' and 'Revivalist', was brilliant. The toxic sludge of rot and decay and verminous infestations reminds me of Kameron Hurley, and the use of scent as mode of expression, armour, attack, and defense, was a stroke of genius.
From: Ergative Absolutive
Of Monsters and Mainframes by Barbara Truelove
Summary: The intelligent ship Demeter keeps having her passengers killed by Dracula; she must team up with other monsters to exact revenge and safe herself from getting scrapped.
Rec: This book does not want to teach you any lessons; it just wants you to have a great time. It's funny, and a witty remix of other texts and films, but also with its own sweetness and a satisfying conclusion.
From: Lilybeth
The Memory Hunters by Mia Tsai
Summary: Generational memory mage unearths a memory that upends everything she thought she knew about her world.
Rec: Uncovering suppressed history is always fun, and there’s great thematic work on the ownership of cultural artifacts.
From: Jay (tarvolon)
Thanks to everyone who sent in a rec! 💜
The next rec theme is: absolutely bananas. Please rec the wildest, weirdest SFF book you, personally, have ever loved. Here is the book rec form. I’ll include at least one of my own favorites, which I rate on a scale of bananas. The challenge is set! Let’s go! 🍌
That’s all for this week! Enjoy the song I’ve had on repeat since she dropped the studio version.