Intergalactic Mixtape #29
Hey! There’s lots of article recs this week, some film trailers I’m excited about, plus the usual collection of recent reviews.
Also, CRITICAL NEWS: one of my favorite artists, Devin Elle Kurtz, has her shop open for a week to get prints. I want everything and have to limit myself to two, so if you hear wailing and rending of garments, that’s me trying to choose.
A-Side
N. K. Jemisin named a Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master
This was incredible news and very well-deserved. I was in the audience in Kansas City for her Hugo win for The Fifth Season, and then again for the win for The Stone Sky. It’s hard to explain to people who didn’t read these books as they were published the vibe shift these books caused, and how for lots of us they changed how we would read fantasy forever. Also, these wins came at a time when white nationalists and Nazis were trying to drag SFF fandom to hell, and her wins felt like a win for all of us who had been fighting for years for more diverse, inclusive spaces and stories. It’s not only her fictional work, either; before blogs collapsed, her insights into genre, publishing, and the future of SFF were some of my favorites to read. I’m so happy she won this award and I’m even more pleased we’ll get to enjoy her work for decades to come.
not ALL romantasy
Over on TikTok, my FYP was dominated by an author calling romantasy fans stupid. I don’t know more details than that because her video was promptly deleted and replaced with a different video, but I saw plenty of frustrated stitches of the beginning from romantasy readers. Anyone on the bookish internet longer than a month can tell you coming for the neck of any category of romance fan without a well-constructed argument sword in hand is a fool’s errand and a way to get an intellectual walloping. Truly, have the old ways been lost? Do people not realize this is why group chats exist? Alas, most of the excellent rebuttals are in short form video format, but Marines took the time to write an essay that summarizes some of the problems we’re facing. It’s a great analysis. One section, about her experience at a con, made me gasp out loud. It feels very strange to live through yet another round of women writers being erased, but this time, the people doing the erasing are other women.
Living in Public and Other Modern Agonies
This longer essay captured something about the Internet that I’ve been feeling for a long time. I see a lot of my own self in the reaction to the platforms this essay outlines. I’ve reread it three times and have found something new to consider each time. It’s not specifically about book culture or SFF, except in the way it might be about science fiction. It feels relevant to the messy ways that technology, the maw of capitalism (see: all of these corporate social media sites), and human beings interact long term.
Fiyero Is Kind of the Christ of Oz, If You Think About It
I have been uncertain about seeing the second Wicked movie, because I find the second act to be a weaker story. But I’m glad for its existence, because we get essays like this. I wasn’t all in on this theory until the bread argument, but that convinced me.
Reviews/Discussions
All That We See or Seem by Ken Liu, narrated by Kat Cleave (Narrated Podcast)
All That We See or Seem by Ken Liu (Gary K. Wolfe @ Locus)
Blood for the Undying Throne by Sung-il Kim, translated by Anton Hur (Nils Shukla @ The Fantasy Hive)
Cinder House by Freya Marske (Marion Deeds @ FanLit)
Cinder House by Freya Marske (Randomly, Alex)
Cinder House by Freya Marske (Maya Gittelman @ Reactor)
Downbelow Station by C.J. Cherryh (Alan Brown @ Reactor)
The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow (Dina @ SFF Book Reviews)
Esperance by Adam Oyebanji (Eric Hendel @ Strange Horizons)
Frankenstein (2025) (Haley Zapal @ Nerds of a Feather)
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova (A Meal of Thorns)
The Keeper of Lonely Spirits by E.M. Anderson (Alex Brown @ Punk-Ass Book Jockey)
The Merge by Grace Walker (Mahvesh Murad @ Reactor)
The Merge by Grace Walker (Tarvolon)
The Nameless Land by Kate Elliott (Green Team of the Legendarium)
A Rebel’s History of Mars by Nadia Afifi (Ian Mond @ Locus)
The Salt Oracle by Lorraine Wilson (Womble @ Runalong the Shelves)
Slow Gods by Claire North (Sia @ Every Book a Doorway)
The Sovereign by C.L. Clark (Maya C. James @ Locus)
The Strength of the Few by James Islington (Rob Bedford)
B-Side
The big fannish news for me this week is the announcement of the new contributors to Nerds of a Feather. I’m especially pleased for Eddie Clark, who knows so much about queer SFF. I fear we’re going to need fan historians more than ever In These Times.
Speaking of the times and/or a case of the Baader–Meinhofs, cannibalism has cropped up on my feed a few times. I started thinking about it in the context of the current U.S. political moment, then Bailey did a video about ending the trend in books (I don’t read the right books to notice, but she’s in publishing so, fair). And a few days later, Wen-yi Lee wrote an essay (very good) about cannibalism in fiction. Then this video popped up on my FYP with a theory about why cannibalism is rising in fiction at this specific moment. It’s never a bad time for literature to get weird about bodies, IMO.
Over at Classic SF With Andy Johnson, there’s a guide to the Hainish Cycle by Ursula K. Le Guin, with some analysis and further reading. I hadn’t realized just how deep the series was. Kirsten from Fantasy Cafe did another recommendation series with the Ashland Public Library, and the recording is available on Youtube. Locus Magazine’s New Books video is live, too, if you want to see what new SFF is on offer this week.
At Speculative Fiction in Translation, Rachel Cordasco reflected on the ten year anniversary of the blog. One benefit of Intergalactic Mixtape for me has been the re-discovery of dedicated fans still talking about the niches they love so I can discover cool things. At Transfer Orbit, there’s another list of SFF books out this month. I’m most excited for Slow Gods, which I picked up last week. Liptak also covered the potential new Stargate series (I know it’s announced but I have trust issues so…), complete with a mini history of the universe. I loved my time in Stargate: Atlantis fandom so much. In general, I miss long form (22 episode), multi-season television, especially in SFF, which aren’t common anymore in the age of streaming. (I’m not saying this just because I want Season 2 of Murderbot to have 12 episodes so we can have fun filler episodes with all the new pals.)
The Sunrise on the Reaping teaser trailer dropped. I had plans to reread the first three books and catch up on the prequels that was derailed by [gestures to world], because I’m increasingly fascinated by the ways Collins is building out the mythology of the world while watching ours. There’s a new trailer for We Bury the Dead with Daisy Ridley, which uses repetition in both dialogue and scenes in a way that felt deliberate (but could also mean nothing). The Hoppers trailer is out. I admit, after watching the trailer for the live-action Moana, I’m pathetically grateful we’re still getting original ideas somewhere? (I still miss the classic animation style a lot.)
In book and author news, A.C Wise continues the list of author eligbility/visibility posts for the year. Caskey Russell, author of The Door on the Sea, has an interview over at Nerd Daily. You can read an excerpt of Son of the Morning by Akwaeke Emezi at Reactor. There’s a cover reveal for Trollheim: Tale of Sýstir by Georgia Summers, and you can also check out an excerpt of her new book, The Bookshop Below. R.B. Lemberg was on Strange Horizons @ 25 for an interview with Kat Kourbeti. Freya Marske wrote a deeply personal essay about Cinder House, her new novella from Tor. It’s beautiful. Finally, this essay and update from author Scott Edelman about publishing with The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction is dire. Capitalists ruin everything and we should eat them (oh, hello again, cannibalism).
For more news and happenings, check out last week’s Wombling Along!
Art recs: In the Name of Venus be gdbee; Be nice to pigeons! by Kate; this book cover for Love, Gods, and Sinners by Camille Chong by Deb JJ Lee; what if it's not me? by ingenium; Leafcutter ants and Shy shrimp by pikaole; The legendary bird of fire by Dominique Ramsey; ART, this unfathomable Creature™ of a bot brain by foxish-draws
Outro
The end of the year lists have begun, and I, a Certified Nerd, am keeping track of the speculative books that get mentioned (Katabasis is ahead so far). I’m mostly looking at large book site lists so far, so if you see a favorites or best of list (or you write one as an SFF fan), send it to me!
Who else out there has been personally victimized by a Twenty One Pilots Drag Path edit, like this one?
See everyone next week!
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