Hey!
This week, I have a wildly diverse set of book reviews, my favorite Murderbot Diaries headcanon so far, and lots of autumnal art recs!
With the Serial Numbers Filed Off: The Problem with Trad Pub Fanfic
With this essay, Jenny managed to capture and explore several complicated topics around fandom, capitalism, and creativity. There have been so many words spilled about the rise of high profile pull-to-publish Dramione fanfics becoming books all in a row. I’m not opposed to pull-to-publish, depending on the canon. Most of the time we’re not dealing with a situation where the authors and the publishers are doing so much to make people aware of the book’s origins so they can do the cash grab of the original IP’s fans. The current iteration feels new and as Jenny says, cynical. I really liked the way she thought through the intersections of all the issues.
Network Effect from Seth’s Perspective
The first time I read this I laughed and the second time I read it I laughed so hard I teared up a bit. Honestly, imagining so many parts of these books from a human perspective is wild. It’s easy to miss because we’re so rooted in SecUnit’s perspective, but step outside it even a little and it’s a jungle of incredibly fun but very Unhinged Narrative Choices.
Among the Burning Flowers by Samantha Shannon (Lacy Baugher Milas @ Paste)
The Castaway and The Witch by Ioanna Papadopoulou (Womble @ Runalong the Shelves)
Clarkesworld (September 2025) (Tarvolon)
To Clutch a Razor by Veronica Roth (Samantha @ ladybug.books)
Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor (Randomly Yours, Alex)
A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett (Dina @ SFF Book Reviews)
The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin (A Meal of Thorns)
Final Fantasy Tactics – The Ivalice Chronicles (Matt Sowinski @ But Why Tho?)
Frankenstein (2025) (Walter Chaw @ Film Freak Central)
Gifted & Talented by Olivie Blake (Subham Rai @ Strange Horizons)
Harmattan Season by Tochi Onyebuchi (Bonnie McDaniel @ Red Headed Femme)
A Honeymoon of Grave Consequence by Stephanie Burgis (Bethan Hindmarch @ The Fantasy Hive)
If The Stars Are Lit by Sarah K. Ellis (Womble @ Runalong the Shelves)
Immaculate Conception by Ling Ling Huang (Archita Mittra @ Locus)
Katabasis by by R. F. Kuang, narrated by Morag Sims & Will Watt (Narrated Podcast)
Katabasis by R.F. Kuang (Dina @ SFF Book Reviews)
The Knight and the Moth by Rachel Gillig (Cat Treadwell @ The Fantasy Hive)
The Maiden and Her Monster by Maddie Martinez (Kat Marsh @ The Fantasy Hive)
Mapping the Interior by Stephen Graham Jones (Phoenix Scholz @ Strange Horizons)
Queen Demon by Martha Wells (Paul Weimer @ Nerds of a Feather)
A Rebel’s History of Mars by Nadia Afifi (Jenny Hamilton @ Reactor)
The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar (Rob Maslen @ The City of Lost Books)
A Ruin, Great and Free by Cadwell Turnbull (Elias @ Bar Cart Bookshelf)
Saltcrop by Yume Kitasei (Mark Yon @ SFF World)
Uncertain Sons and Other Stories by Thomas Ha (Vanessa Fogg @ It's a Jumble)
Well of Shiuan by C.J. Cherryh (Nathaniel Harrington)
You Weren’t Meant to Be Human by Andrew Joseph White (Alex Brown @ Reactor)
I love space opera so finding a Bluesky thread with space opera recs, but weird, was great (I had some on my TBR but I have now added more). The Stitch and Bitch crew did their September 2025 liveshow. Sword & Laser dropped Episode #520. Last week, The Full Lid dropped their weekly issue. The Rec Center #507 is out with a call for spooky recs, if you have them (I had one only, because I am a wimp).
Over at Shades of Orange, Rachel has a list of favorite backlist SFF. Hugo, Girl! has a triple con report. Roseanna continues her close reading of The Lord of the Rings. Tar Valon Or Bust Presents has the most recent episode of their deep dive into Mary Stewart’s Arthurian Saga. If you’re doing a Le Guin related project (like a group readalong of the book prize titles), the estate wants to know about it.
We’re all mad at Disney right now (they deserve it), but the trailer for The Mandalorian and Grogu is very fun. The Astronaut trailer is creepy, and I do love a good sci-fi horror. I admit now I haven’t seen Wicked yet, but I love the set design and color of these films, and the trailer for Wicked: For Good is no different.
In author interviews, Ciel Pierlot was on the Fiction Fans Podcast to talk about her new book, Terms of Service. Freya Marske was on Mind the Tags and of course my first reaction was, “wait, she’s considering writing SPACE OPERA? TAKE MY MONEY.” I got very distracted before I could finish the episode. Louis Sachar was on The Functional Nerds podcast to discuss his latest book, The Magician of Tiger Castle. Myna Chang has an interview with Y.M. Resnik, author of The Elysium Heist, as well as Jason Sanford, author of We Who Hunt Alexanders. At Nerd Daily, there’s a large collection of Q&A’s: Bitter Karella, author of Moonflow; Cadwell Turnbull, author of A Ruin, Great and Free; Ngozi Ukazu, author and illustrator of Flip.
The Animorphs books by K. A. Applegate are getting new covers. At SFF World, there’s an excerpt from Cinder House by Freya Marske. At Reactor, there’s an excerpt of A Philosophy of Thieves by Fran Wilde as well as an excerpt and cover reveal of for the First Mage on the Moon by Cameron Johnston. At Civilian Reader, there’s an excerpt from short story collection The Universe Box by Michael Swanwick. Nerd Daily has an excerpt of To Clutch a Razor by Veronica Roth. Over at Whatever, there’s several Big Idea columns: Cadwell Turnbull, William Alexander, L. D. Colter, and Delilah S. Dawson.
And as always, if you would like more SFF links, don’t miss Wombling Along.
Art recs: Hang in there! 화이팅! by bunchabears; Autumn Wind by Maxine Vee; A merfolk sitting on some coral & Steady by Serena Malyon; Apple Cat by Rowan MacColl; Burger by Melody; Happy fall stoat day by Anaïs Faë; Rumi Mira and Zoey (KPop Demon Hunters) by Deb JJ Lee; a soirée of seals!! by renée; puuuuppycat by christa; Guardian by Chan Chau
Thanks to everyone who shared their super nice responses to the launch of Bonus Track last week. If you missed it, check it out. :)
I’m also looking for recs of SFF author newsletters (as long as they’re not on Substack) and blogs. If you have any, drop them in the link suggestion form.
That’s all for this week. Have a great weekend!