Hey!

We’re halfway through January (how?) and I’ve only read four books and am behind on IGMX survey analysis. Part of this is, as I told John Coxon recently, living in the fascist imperial core. I’m tired of this, grandpa!

Here’s the books that have come through my door since the last issue. No, I haven’t finished the previous library books I brought home. No, I can’t say no when I go to the library for Friends of the Library tasks.

Also, if you get this email twice, I’m sorry! I don’t feel like I’m being any more long-winded than usual, but Buttondown clearly disagrees.

A-Side

Fanfiction Made Me a Literary Scholar
I loved this personal essay about the journey the author took toward literary theory, creative writing, and engaging with texts. My path was similar. Before the AP English and writing classes, there were fandom discussions, analysis of dialogue, explications of scene after scene, and heated arguments about what I would later learn were Watsonian versus Doylist interpretations of texts. I love reading about people reflecting on their journey from fandom to professional life.

Europa Report: Stress and Sincerity in Space Exploration
Space horror is a genre I’m picky about, but when I love it I really love it; this really surprised my partner when I was like, “heck yeah, Event Horizon!” Europa Report is a little different. It’s not horror; what happens to the scientists is horrific, but the thread of knowledge weaves through everything to keep it grounded as an adventure story and a quest narrative to learn more about our universe. I loved this essay exploring what makes it so successful by Kali Wallace. I also liked her take on this genre, Salvation Day.

Fansplaining’s Next Chapter
I was excited to read this announcement from Elizabeth Minkel about Fansplaining relaunching as a weekly publication. As Elizabeth outlines, for awhile there we did have good coverage of transformative fan communities, but just like every other category, it’s taken a beating as newsrooms and websites get shuttered. The new Fansplaining looks like it will operate similar to lots of others paid mailing lists/newsletters. I hope there’s a hunger out there for more fan writing!

Murderbot doesn’t want to be a pet
The pet thing comes up in the first arc of The Murderbot Diaries (All Systems Red through Exit Strategy). Fans have interpreted this in a myriad of ways. I love all of them, like this one from elegantheartdaze. My entire Tumblr is just Murderbot headcanons at this point (premium quality entertainment).

Call for Recs
I’ve had two book recs in the hopper for awhile now; I like to have 4-5 recs to publish a list. If there’s a SFF book you’ve loved that’s already out you’d like to rec, drop it in the book rec form under the “General Recs” category.

Reviews/Discussions

Daedalus is Dead by Seamus Sullivan (Sneha Pathak @ Strange Horizons)
The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow (Alexandra Pierce @ Randomly, Alex)
Letters From An Imaginary Country by Theodora Goss (Misha Grifka Wander @ Ancillary Review of Books)
Letters From An Imaginary Country by Theodora Goss (Alexis Ong @ Reactor)
Monsters and Mainframes by Barbara Truelove (Narrated Podcast)
Nine Goblins by T. Kingfisher (Gary K. Wolfe @ Locus)
The Poet Empress by Shen Tao (Becky @ Becky’s Book Blog)
The Poet Empress by Shen Tao (Bill Capossere @ Fantasy Literature)
The Poet Empress by Shen Tao (Mark Yon @ SFF World)
The Poet Empress by Shen Tao (Sia @ Every Book a Doorway)
The Poet Empress by Shen Tao (Realms of my Mind)
The Poet Empress by Shen Tao (Emily M. @ The Nerd Daily)
The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson (Jo @ Jo’s Book Blog)
Self-Portrait with Nothing by Aimee Pokwatka (Arturo Serrano @ Nerds of a Feather)
Slow Gods by Claire North (Bill Capossere @ FanLit)
Twelve Months by Jim Butcher (Vinay Vasan @ The Fantasy Hive)
Twelve Months by Jim Butcher (Rob B. @ SFF World)
An Unlikely Coven by AM Kvita (Jenny Hamilton @ Reactor)
We Who Are About To. . . by Joanna Russ (Tar Vol on)
The Will of the Many by James Islington (Green Team of the Legendarium Podcast)
The Witch Roads by Kate Elliott (Womble @ Runalong the Shelves)

B-Side

The British Science Fiction Association (BSFA) Awards dropped their long list. BSFA members can vote until February 19 (I have several pals and mutuals on these lists; congrats, y’all!).

Eddie Clark has a list of anticipated queer dude SFF; he always finds books that sound interesting. He links to another resource, a queer SFF masterlist, by Kila Green, which I didn’t know existed. Jackpot. (This is why we link to projects we love repeatedly.) The Lesbrary shared a huge list of sapphic books dropping in 2026, and you can load the spreadsheet and sort by genre. Locus Magazine has their New Books video for the week of 1/20 out. At Ancillary Review of Books, Jeremy Brett has a list of SFF recs based on his library work (I need to get to the Cat Rambo myself). Jo Walton shared her December 2025 reading list over at Reactor, and Tobias Carroll shared a list of upcoming indie SFF for January and February. If you’re looking for genre middle grade recs, my pal Maureen has a three month supply. At Galactic Journey, they recap several SF stories from…1971. Predictably, the book with the cover I like the most got the worst rating. From the second column, I learned that they’ve been doing Greek mythology in space forever. People complaining about Disney franchises don’t even know how good they have it. There are only three numbered Cars films.

WisCon is solicting panel suggestions! On Episode #151 of Octothorpe, the crew talked about several cons, including Worldcon. They also talked about Hugos, but I talk to readers of this newsletter about that constantly, so anyone interested in already prepared (right? 👀)! From them, I learned about Kat Kourbeti’s rec list, which is incrediblely thorough. Sword & Laser dropped Episode #526 and recapped some genre news. The Full Lid is back for 2026! The Rec Center is prepping for Femslash February, rec them if you’ve got them.

Alex Brown has must read speculative fiction from December of 2025. At Tar Vol on, there are reviews for January issues of Clarkesworld and GigaNotoSaurus. At Book Riot, Lyndsie Manusos has collected a rec list six SFF stories from the end of 2025 to read for free. There’s a new issue of FIYAH, and this magazine has been around ten years! I’m so happy for them. Eugenia Triantafyllou has a massive rec list of 2025 short fiction.

Over at Shelved by Genre, they’re continuing their Tolkien reread with chapters 5 - 9 of The Hobbit. Generally I don’t link to paywalled material here (unless I can get a gift link), but now that everyone is doing these rereads, my completionist streak is alert! If you’re interested in all the Tolkien Rereads and subsequent Tolkien Postings, Jared Pechaček has one going on his Patreon.

Recent excerpts: SFF World has a PDF excerpt of Enchanting the Fae Queen by Stephanie Burgis. The Nerd Daily has an excerpt from The Elsewhere Express by Samantha Sotto Yambao. The Fantasy Hive has an excerpt of The Red Winter by Cameron Sullivan. At Reactor, there’s an excerpt from The Hospital at the End of the World by Justin C. Key.

Over at The Functional Nerds, Seamus Sullivan, author of Daedalus Is Dead, is the podcast guest. At Nerd Daily, Jared Poon, author of City of Others, has a quick Q&A, as well as Maria Ingrande Mora, author of A Wild Radiance. K.V. Johansen, author of Breath and Bone, has an interview with Paul Weimer at Nerds of a Feather. Myna Chang has an interview with P.A. Cornell, author of the upcoming novellette, Shoeshine Boy & Cigarette Girl. At The Fantasy Hive, Adrian Tchaikovsky took a break from writing 60 books a month to give an interview.

For more SFF links, don’t miss last week’s Wombling Along!

Art recs: kitty in clover by Eski; Lilo and Stitch by JLMeyer; Mushroom friends by MossyPine; Link from Tears of the Kingdom riding Epona by Johanna Taylor; wave painting by Nimasprout; Skol al louarn by Umbohr; strawberries tutorial by Nou; I just want to watch my shows by Pork-Sly; ART being brought back in Network Effect by bleeding-seraphic

Outro

I collected all the reviews in the mixtape archives for the Philip K. Dick Award finalists. The newsletter was just a baby last year, so it’s not robust, but it’s interesting to see everything together and look for the commonalities.

That’s it for this week. Have a safe weekend. — Renay