Intergalactic Mixtape #23
Hey!
This week, the most mentioned book by far is a book that, as far as I can tell, doesn’t have a U.S. release date yet. That’s fine! I don’t suffer from FOMO or anything!
We also have our first Monthly Favorites book list! I took the liberty of sliding in my own rec, too. Thanks to all the readers who contributed. I wish you all cool pillows and three five star reads in October.
A-Side
SciFiMonth 2025
It’s almost time! Every November, a collection of delightful book bloggers join forces to host a month-long science fiction celebration. I love this project so much even though it always falls on a month where I’m either a) busy with elections or b) still recovering from elections. But it’s always fun to make a science fiction reading list and see what other books people are picking up. I find great recs. If you don’t have any other reading plans for November, this might be up your alley.
2025 Otherwise Award Recommendations
The Otherwise Awards are open for recommendations of 2024 and 2025 SFF media that examines gender from different perspectives. It’s a neat little award doing its own niche thing, and I always enjoy what it turns up. Check out the guidelines and rec something if you’ve got a book that fits the bill in your pocket; the deadline is November 15.
Reviews/Discussions
Alchemy of Secrets by Stephanie Garber (Mark Yon @ SFF World)
All that We See or Seem by Ken Liu (Paul Weimer @ Nerds of a Feather)
Burning Bright by Melissa Scott (A Meal of Thorns)
The Entanglement of Rival Wizards by Sara Raasch (Cameron Miguel @ Strange Horizons)
The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow (Gary K. Wolfe @ Locus)
Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea by Rebecca Thorne (Mik @ The Lesbrary)
A City on Mars by Kelly and Zach Weinersmith (Ruthanna Emrys @ Reactor)
The Folded Sky by Elizabeth Bear (Bonnie McDaniel @ Red Headed Femme)
Good Boy (2025) (Leah Schnelbach @ Reactor)
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (Fiction Fans Podcast)
The Investigations of Mossa and Pleiti by Malka Older (Liz Bourke @ a garden from the libraries)
Psychopomp & Circumstance by Eden Royce (Trish Matson @ Skiffy and Fanty)
Realm of Thieves by Karina Halle (Bonnie McDaniel @ Red Headed Femme)
Spiderlight by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Womble @ Runalong the Shelves)
The Summer War by Naomi Novik (Vanessa Armstrong @ Reactor)
The Summer War by Naomi Novik (Annemieke @ A Dance with Books)
Sunward by William Alexander, narrated by Lindsey Dorcus (Narrated Podcast)
To Bargain with Mortals by R.A. Basu (Realms of My Mind)
TRON: Ares (2025) (Kate Sánchez @ But Why Tho?)
The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead (Tarvolon)
When There Are Wolves Again by E. J. Swift (Roseanna @ A Reader of Else)
When There Are Wolves Again by E.J. Swift (Paul March-Russell @ Strange Horizons)
When There Are Wolves Again by E. J. Swift (Jonathan Thornton @ The Fantasy Hive)
When There Are Wolves Again by EJ Swift (Womble @ Runalong the Shelves)
When They Burned the Butterfly by Wen-Yi Lee (Sritama Sen @ The Lesbrary)
The Witch Roads by Kate Elliott (Electra Pritchett @ Strange Horizons)
B-Side
Kissing Books has dropped for real! We are so back. The first issue, with some romantasy recs, is here. If you’d like to subscribe via RSS, copy this link and paste it into your reader of choice: https://kissing-books.ghost.io/rss/
As we dip into October, I fear I should warn everyone that I love a list and the end of the year has so many. I will try to be discerning about which ones I share, but please forgive me if I get overly excited. This week, Helen Rhee has her usual monthly list of books by authors from the continent of Asia or the Pacific Islands. There’s always some speculative titles, but tons of other stuff to check out. Reactor has a list of all the the fantasy out in October. Transfer Orbit has another October list. Paste compiled their own list of the best new fantasy books of October.
Leticia Urieta shared a list of creepy mushroom stories, furthering my belief that we’re seeing the start of a new subgenre. Over at Crime Reads, Paz Pardo has a list of upcoming speculative thrillers. At The Portalist, Archita Mittra has a guide to R.F. Kuang’s work. If you’re looking for fantasy books with footnotes, Kayleigh Donaldson has a wide-ranging rec list. For fanfic readers, the Rec Center has a list of vampire fanfic recs in Issue #509.
In awards news, the Ditmar Award winners were announced. This award is great if you’re curious about what Australian SF folks are up to. The Lambda Literary Awards winners are also out. The awards have a wide range of categories, and Metal From Heaven by August Clarke took home the speculative fiction award. The other SFF awards I follow that I’m still waiting for: the Ignytes, Le Guin, and World Fantasy. The SFADB has the most nominated titles for this year.
There’s a new episode of Critical Friends, talking about the length and depth of stories we read and how we relate to them when we feel like they’re too short/too long. The Hugo History podcast discussed Fritz Lieber's The Big Time.
Over in Author-Land, Nghi Vo, author of the Singing Hills Cycle, was interviewed on the pod On Wednesdays We Read. Paul Semel also has an interview with Vo. Additionally, Semel has an interview with Cadwell Turnbull, author of A Ruin, Great And Free. Ken Liu, author of All That We See or Seem, was on the Coode Street Podcast. Myna Chang interviewed Fate’s Bane author C.L. Clark and Best Poetry Hugo winner Marie Brennan. S.A. MacLean, author of Voidwalker, did a short Q&A over at The Nerd Daily. Yume Kitasei and Mia Tsai were on the Fiction Fans Podcast to talk about the Traveling SFF Book Festival, which starts next week.
Bogi Takács is looking for reviewers for eir upcoming space opera, Song of Spores. Premee Mohamed will be a Guest of Honor at WisCon Online in 2026. Cameron Reed’s What We Are Seeking, out in 2026, has a cover. Angry Robot did a cover reveal for Cameron Johnston’s First Mage On The Moon. Over at The Nerd Daily, there are excerpts from Fate’s Bane by C.L. Clark and The Night That Finds Us All by John Hornor Jacobs. Aliette de Bodard has relaunched her newsletter, and you can read the latest issue for news about upcoming work and appearances. Finally, submissions are open for Year's Best Canadian Fantasy & Science Fiction! The deadline is February 28, 2026.
As always, if you want even more links of things happening around SFF fandom, don’t miss Wombling Along from one of my favorite book tempters.
Art recs: trick or treat by Rii Abrego; ghost latte by Mary Ann; cat in a drawer by Djamila Knopf; sketch of a tree with a human by LK; honk if you like cake by Mali; sharing is caring by Adam; magic hour by Ian McQue; just passing through by Abigail Larson; Behold!!! My ultimate form by MossyPine; Jellyfish by Dominique Ramsey; barn owl with jack-o-lantern by lochnessieart
Favorite Books from September 2025
I did a call for your favorite books of September! I was a little nervous that it would be the first rec call to flop because talking about books we love is hard (why is it so hard?) but y’all came through! Here’s what some Intergalactic Mixtape readers (and one writer) loved last month.
The Practice, The Horizon, and The Chain by Sofia Samatar
Summary: An unnamed boy and an unnamed woman, two halves of life on a spaceship, confront the price and necessity of freedom.
Rec: Samatar's writing is so beautiful and here she examines the hidden human cost of luxury and academia in a way that's brutal and hopeful. With the focus always on the unlikely strength of community and finding a way towards freedom, she tells a story that feels both timely and timeless.
From: Maureen
The Lighthouse Duet by Carol Berg
Summary: Valen, a magician on the run from his estranged family, thinks he has finally hit his life's lowest point when his partner and fellow deserter from the army of a prince on the losing side of civil war leaves him grievously wounded at the gates of a monastery with only his grandfather's magical book of maps, which he can't read, left to his name, but it turns out there's some substance to the rumors that the world itself might be ending and he has a key part to play in the proceedings.
Rec: Flesh and Spirit and Breath and Bone showcase the duology structure at its best: if you can get past its gruesomeness (typical of women's dark fantasy in the 90s-00s: content warnings include plot-relevant eye gouging and similarly graphic violence, sexual assault, torture, murder of children, drug addiction) and a sluggish beginning as the dominoes are set up in book one, you'll be rewarded with some gripping twists, turns, and revelations once the dominoes start falling and don't ever let up throughout the rest.
From: Sandstone
Uncertain Sons and Other Stories by Thomas Ha
Summary: Gorgeous stories full of surprises.
Rec: The writing and the ideas beautifully come together.
From: Womble
The Hands of the Emperor by Victoria Goddard
Summary: A career civil servant in a magical empire works to incrementally reform the government while developing a deep friendship with the untouchable emperor mage he serves.
Rec: This book is unapologetically utopian in a way that made me believe in the power and worth of tirelessly working to reform systems from the inside. It is also a beautiful and moving depiction of someone who maintains loyalty to his culture of origin even while living within a dominant culture that disparages his own.
From: Aislinn Brophy
An Entanglement of Rival Wizards by Sara Raasch
Summary: This is a cute gay grad school romance, with magic and family issues.
Rec: I usually hate enemies to lovers, and almost put the book down at the first chapter. But the two main characters did a lot of work on themselves in a believable fashion, and by the end I was cheering them and their HEA on.
From: Anonymous Constellation
Thief of Night by Holly Black
Summary: Con artist Charlie Hall hunts rogue shadows for a magical organization in western Massachusetts. Too bad she's also in love with a rogue shadow.
Rec: Who can resist a magical heist story, which is basically what the Book of Night/Thief of Night duology is? I also have a soft spot for contemporary fantasy generally and western Mass settings specifically. Finally, Charlie and Red are super hot.
From: Dee
Kushiel's Avatar by Jacqueline Carey
Summary: Courtesan/spy Phèdre's gods call on her to go on a difficult, dark quest in the third book in the first Kushiel's Legacy trilogy, set about 10 years after the end of the second novel.
Rec: Phèdre's voice is so gorgeously written, and I think this is my favorite book in the first trilogy. I loved the story and characters, and I really appreciated that the narrative still sounds like Phèdre but also shows how she's matured in the decade since the last book.
From: Kristen
Sorcery and Small Magics by Maiga Doocy
Summary: Leovander Loveage and Sebastian Grimm, academically opposed, get matched as partners for a magic class. When they encounter a forbidden spell that risks both their futures, they must team up for an adventure to a dangerous forest to find a counter spell.
Rec: Every part of this book was lovely. From the characterization of the main duo down to the tertiary characters, to the reluctant partnership between Leo and Grimm, and the slow drip of characterization and world building, it was all a delightful, pitch-perfect package. Although it's the first book in a series, the first book manages to not drop readers off a cliff, so the wait is bearable!
From: Renay
Angel Maker by Elizabeth Bear
Summary: Karen falls in love with a horse (normal horse-girl style). Her wife is framed for murder. Shenanigans.
Rec: Karen Memery. The voice. The shenanigans.
From: Liz Bourke
Outro
Solidarity to all out there, like me, who are facing down all their library holds (both physical and on Libby) coming in at once now that Q3 Book Season is finally upon us. I wish you all luck and proper hydration for this marathon. o7
Before I wrap: EJAE, Audrey Nuna and Rei Ami were together to a) perform Golden for the first time live and b) be told they have a platinum record. The performance was great and the interview was so wholesome. I love this for them.
That’s it for this week! Stay golden. :)