Hey!

This week there are essays about the future of science fiction, how to define science fiction, and some criticism.

I did not acquire any books because I was iced into my home. Thanks, polar vortex! However, I did give myself an October Daye hangover by rereading the first seven books in the series in five days. :D

A-Side

Science Fiction is Dying. Long Live Post Sci-Fi?
This essay about the death of science fiction is a neat historical journey. It was fun getting to see the connections the author made. For me, there were pieces missing, as there always are in these pieces about the end of science fiction: there are vibrant science fiction communities everywhere, they’re just outside the publishing house/Western convention structure, and mostly maintained by women, non-binary, and queer folks. They wind up invisible. Are SF publishing houses the “old model” or just one type of old model? I’m also not convinced that science fiction “dying” is bad, because is it dying or just repurposing itself in ways we can’t contextualize yet? Plus, everyone is exhausted by the speed of technological invasiveness, we’re in a moment of fantasy ascendency, and publishing itself is reacting to volatile culture shifts. It’s hard to imagine the future right now when everything is so difficult day-to-day and uncertainty reigns. How can younger, up-and-coming writers imagine the future? Do they feel like that have one? Feels relevant!

Strange Horizons Criticism Special ft. Quacking Like A Genre
The January issue of Strange Horizons is full of criticism! Everything is long and chewy, if you like that sort of thing. Not all features are released yet, but I jammed Roseanna’s essay into my eyeballs as soon as it was live. After I finished, I reread the first essay I recced again. I came away agreeing with Roseanna the most, especially since I’m more interested in defining subgenres rather than science fiction, because my understanding of science fiction changes depending on the community I’m in. It depends on what the people there are doing with the themes and tropes already defined by writers and fans who’ve come before. As Roseanna says, “What is SF? Idk, vibes. That is the answer I yearn to give, if ever I am asked, and I think it is the truest one that underpins all attempts at more specific classification.”

The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow
I finished The Everlasting earlier this month. I rated it highly because I had a lot of child/parent feelings and I loved Hen (a beleaguered horse, totally justified in his rage). I had some problems around emotional distance, because Harrow tends to zoom out when I would prefer her to zoom in. The book rose to the surface for me on TikTok, where its young, diverse fans, especially reviewers I trust deeply, hyped it up enough that I bought a copy. Then I read this review from Stewart Hotston. The critiques I’ve seen don’t approach the critiques in this review, though, which are fascinating—we really bring our whole selves to the books we read—and turn the book to a different angle for examination.

Reviews/Discussions

City of Others by Jared Poon (Alex Brown @ Reactor)
Enchanting the Fae Queen by Stephanie Burgis (Paul Weimer @ Nerds of a Feather)
Fate’s Bane by C.L. Clark (Elias @ Bar Cart Bookshelf)
Forever Desert series by Moses Ose Utomi (Niko’s Book Reviews)
Halcyon Years by Alastair Reynolds (Cat Treadwell @ The Fantasy Hive)
Halcyon Years by Alastair Reynolds (Russell Letson @ Locus)
Hearthspace by Stephen Baxter (Alexandra Pierce @ Locus)
On Sundays She Picked Flowers by Yah Yah Scholfield (Trish Matson @ Skiffy and Fanty)
On Sundays She Picked Flowers by Yah Yah Scholfield (Rob B. @ SFF World)
Nine Goblins by T. Kingfisher (Becky @ Becky’s Book Blog)
Nine Goblins by T. Kingfisher (Mark Yon @ SFF World)
Song of Spores by Bogi Takács (Ian Mond @ Locus)
To Ride a Rising Storm by Moniquill Blackgoose (Kathryne Slant @ The Lesbrary)
To Ride a Rising Storm by Moniquill Blackgoose (Trish Matson @ Skiffy and Fanty)
To Ride a Rising Storm by Moniquill Blackgoose (Sia @ Every Book a Doorway)
To Ride a Rising Storm by Moniquill Blackgoose (Narrared Podcast)
The Starseekers by Nicole Glover (Alex Brown @ Reactor)
The Wolf and His King by Finn Longman (Roseanna Pendlebury @ Nerds of a Feather)
The Wolf and His King by Finn Longman (Liz Bourke @ Locus)
The Works of Vermin by Hiron Ennes (Jonathan Thornton @ The Fantasy Hive)

B-Side

Last week, the BSFA long lists dropped. Nicholas Whyte had some thoughts about the long list’s existence and structure. The nominees are out for the Saturn Awards, for film/TV, and at least there’s one nod for Murderbot, but I looking suspiciously at some of these other finalists. Sinners broke the record for Oscar nominations with 16, and now I need it to win at least 12. The deadline for becoming a WSFS member to nominate in the Hugo Awards is now! By the time of my next newsletter, it will be too late to join for nomination purposes (although you’ll still be able to join and vote). Come join our Nerdy Media Club.

The lists continue! I’m behind on reading my archive (y’all love lists), but we persist! Here are some January 2026 releases from Transfer Orbit. Esquire has a list of anticipated 2026 releases, featuring some genre titles (The Subtle Art of Folding Space has the best cover). There’s a list of January/February romantasy so you can prepare for Valentine’s reading at Reactor. Dina has her list of anticipated books for the first half of the year at SFF Book Reviews.

I didn’t expect The Full Lid to connect Alton Brown and 28 Days Later: The Bone Temple. Surprise! Neon Hemlock has a Kickstarter for What Elegant Stars, a space opera anthology with this comp: “Ninefox Gambit meets The Devil Wears Prada”. I’m into it. Two book rec threads caught my eye and damaged my TBR this week: this one by Malka Older and this one by Womble. I listened to Coode Street #716 where they discussed dystopia and cozy fiction. There’s a new episode of Octothorpe, full of con news.

In short fiction, Womble read and discussed issue #36 of FIYAH as well as Psuedopod for October/November 2025. Vanessa Fogg has short fiction recs from November/December 2025. At Tar Vol on, there are some reviews of stories from Asimov’s and Kaleidotrope.

Apple TV acquired the Cosmere Universe. I’m happy for the fans, but also wondering when someone will see my superior vision for The Broken Earth trilogy!! It’s true, any time a property by a dude gets picked up for adaptation, I will repeat this complaint.

At Prospective Cultures, Nick Hubble writes about deliberately reading The Lord of the Rings as a sequel to The Hobbit. Abigail Nussbaum follows Frodo on his journey out of the Shire in the next part of her readalong. In yet another example of The Lord of the Rings rereads being in the water/air/cultural consciousness, Roseanna gave me this link to Marsh Davies’s newsletter talking about his reread of the books and discussion of them.

Over at Whatever there are two new The Big Idea columns from Salinee Goldenberg, author of Way of the Walker, and A.C. Wise, author of Ballad of the Bone Road. A.C. Wise was also at Nerd Daily for a Q&A. There was a loud bang from several of my group chats and it was people being very normal and calm that Kai Ashante Wilson has a new novel coming, titled (possibly, per his post it’s still early days) The Fall of Elvenesse.

Nicole Glover, author of The Starseekers, was interviewed on NPR. Jim Butcher, author of The Dresden Files, has an interview at Nerd Daily. Moniquill Blackgoose has two interviews out, one at Nerd Daily and the other on the Fiction Fans Podcast. Martha Wells was interviewed about Platform Decay.

For more SFF links, check out Wombling Along.

Art recs: You don’t have to do it alone by Sam Posnick; the energy i’m bringing into the year by Alex Plante; The Silver Lizard Of Helelot by Emily Hare; Professional mouser for hire! Inquire below by Simkaye; Sunshine Capybara by Dhiyanah; An armor called fantasy by Robson Michel

Book Recs

After many long months, we have four book recs! Thanks to everyone who sent in a rec and then patiently waited for me to collect three more for this list.

Rakesfall by Vajra Chandrasekera
Summary: We follow two beings through various lives and times. A lot of material were stories published in magazines and connected with the framing mechanism of the story of the two beings.
Rec: You need to fully focus to get the full impact of the images being presented. It can go surreal and there are lovely moments with the characters.
From: RainbowWarrior

Awake in the Floating City by Susanna Kwan
Summary: In a near-future San Francisco where endless rain has disastrously flooded the city, depressed artist Bo takes a job as a caretaker for a lonely elderly neighbor to procrastinate leaving the city where her mother disappeared.
Rec: This book is quietly doing so much! It's part tender family and found-family portrait, part history of Chinese immigrants in San Francisco, and part examination of the artistic process, set against the constant low-level warning of tremendous ecological change. And it's just so beautifully done, so patiently and gently written!! Even though on paper it sounds like a big downer and I did ugly cry about it (and I'm tearing up again right now), there's very little hopelessness here. Everything is tinted with a little bit of light.
From: Rachel

The Craft Sequence by Max Gladstone
Summary: What if corporations were gods, lawyers were necromancers, and magic was currency? Tara, a young necromancer, investigates the death of a goddess and assists her mentor in the attempts to revive what’s left of the corpse.
Rec: The Craft Sequence has some of the most interesting world building I’ve ever encountered! I also appreciate the range of interesting and active female characters, especially in the novel Full Fathom Five, which stars Kai, a trans priestess/banker who builds idols for clients to store belief.
From: Sarah Waites

Burden of Power by Caren Hahn
Summary: Combining the intertwining plots of a Brandon Sanderson epic with the nuanced relationships of a Jane Austen drama, the Wallkeeper Trilogy is a perfect escape for fans of slow burn romance who like their fiction richly layered and deeply satisfying.
Rec: I love the rich world of cultures and complex characters. The women are strong, but in feminine ways rather than being men substitutes. The men are in charge, but clearly not the ones with all the power. And I love the incredibly slow burn romance and oblivious male characters.
From: Merrilee

Outro

Two changes!

I have collected all the past book rec columns, as well as the Bonus Track issues, into tags on my Pinboard. These will live on the newsletter landing page. Now you can more easily look back since I apparently can’t keep my Book Recs sections consistently titled for adequate archive searching. 😅

Second, there’s a new drop down on the book rec form to let you select where to put your book recs. Right now the options are: general recs, January 2026 favorites, and favorite romantic fantasy (February approaches). Drop book recs in the form if you’ve got them!

If you were in the path of the the bad weather in the U.S., stay safe and warm! Have a great weekend. — Renay