Hey!
This week felt chaotic in media discussion and I wonder if it’s because we’re getting closer to summer in the U.S. Summer reading has arrived in the northern hemisphere!
This week there’s a few essays, but lots of reviews and art (so much art). Enjoy!
Enemy Mine Is the Queer, Anti-War Sci-Fi You’ve Been Missing
Did I know I needed a stirring defense of Enemy Mine, a classic SF film I loved without understanding why (it was the inherent queerness and acceptance of the other but I didn’t get that until later), that zero of my friends at the time would give the time of day? I did not know. But this summary of the film by Meg Elison definitely healed something in me when she wrote, “Art is sometimes spent too soon on an audience that is not ready to receive it.”
Murderbot Heads to DeltFall in “Risk Assessment”
I loved this analysis of Murderbot and Gurathin in the latest episode of the adaptation. Before going into the show, I thought about all the ways the writers could create more depth in the Preservation crew, since in the books we get such a limited perspective from Murderbot, and here there’s a great dive into why deepening Gurathin’s character specifically makes for a more engaging story.
Domestic Labor and Community Building Rec List
There’s some frustration percolating under the surface of this essay by forestofglory that I absolutely share especially when it comes to the dismissiveness. Reading through this a few times helped me get a little closer to my own problems with tradpub cozy fantasy. It’s still early, so I could be wrong and reserve the right to change my mind, but it feels like some publishers are finding short fantasy novels and slapping the “cozy” label on them because they’re short fantasy novels and cozy fantasy is having a moment. It’s length rather than topic. Then readers who want cozy fantasy read them and go, uh, wait a sec. Anyway, that’s a thesis I’m still cooking. This essay is also a rec list. As we say in my corner of fandom after being taught well by forestofglory, reccing is critical practice.
Hearticho's Fanfic Trope Sorter
Via Saathi on Bluesky, I took this quiz to determine my favorite tropes. I was Not Surprised. In order of preference, my top ten included: found families, oblivious idiots mutally pining for years, fake dating/marriage, and they were roommates!, coffeeshop/bookstore/tattoo parlor/etc AU, temporary amnesia, enemies to friends to lovers, co-workers or teammates, next door neighbors, royalty/arranged marriage AU. Honestly, things like this are why I love the internet so much. People are so creative (complimentary)!
The Greekchoir Book Box
This is a very indulgent video (my fave) of a reviewer and critic I follow creating her dream book box line. I’m not into book boxes (because $$$$$), but I love the concept of them a lot. I would get the Greekchoir book box because of her February pick alone. I’m not caught up on 2025 books enough to speculate on what I might put in my book box, except for The Witch Roads by Kate Elliott. Not that the cover for the book isn’t great, but I just know, having read the book, that I could absolutely keep the cover and take everything else to the next level.
A Two Book Deal…With No Book????
If you’re on BookTok (are you? come say hi), the latest debacle was impossible to escape over the last week. This video was the first I found that summarized things in a way that I could follow, because most of the reactions were (valid) rage-fueled rants. An attractive white man joined BookTok, built a following on…asking for recs? reading spicy fantasy? looking cute? it’s still unclear! and was recently given a two book deal even though no book exists. This was not surprising to anyone who watched #PublishingPaidMe go down, but a lot of younger reviewers, critics, and writers are coming into their first big, horrid realization about the publishing industry. Everything old is indeed new again.
Stitch & Bitch - May 2025
Stich & Bitch Sundays are one of my favorites. I can’t always catch the liveshow as it happens and participate in the chat, but the discussions are always great even after the fact. There’s book, Hugo finalist, and Murderbot discussion. Honestly, that’s a bit reductive because it’s a two hour show. They touch on so much genre media, so if you need a longer listen for your walk/chores/etc, highly recommend.
Reading the Hugos 2025: Best Novelette
Over at SFF Book Reviews, Dina tackles the Best Novelette category. My progress with this category is better left unmentioned (lolsob). This recap mirrors something I’ve been seeing across social media as people read the category. Very few and sometimes none of the stories are getting low ratings. People talk about each story in positive terms. Novelette is an interesting category, too, living between the quick bite of a short story and novellas, which often now end up bound into physical copies on shelves. Kritzer has a lot of momentum in the Hugo short fiction categories, right now, so I wonder if she won’t take this one home.
Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab (Adrienne Martini @ Locus)
Harmattan Season by Tochi Onyebuchi (Roseanna @ nerds of a feather)
The Knight and the Moth by Rachel Gillig (Kristen @ Fantasy Cafe)
A Letter From the Lonesome Shore by Sylvie Cathrall (Dina @ SFF Book Reviews)
The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar (Mayri @ bookforager)
The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar (Womble @ Runalong the Shelves)
The Scapegracers by H.A. Clarke (Dina @ SFF Book Reviews)
Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell (Roseanna @ A Reader of Else)
The Witch Roads by Kate Elliott (Liz Bourke @ Locus)
Clarkesworld: Short Fiction Reviews (A.C. Wise @ Locus)
Martha Wells was on the Skiffy and Fanty podcast and also the Tanya Acker show. Adam Oyebanji had a Big Idea article out for his book, Esperance and if it sounds good, you can read an excerpt over at Reactor. Also at Reactor, an excerpt from Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab. Caitlin Rozakis did a Q&A and talked about The Grimoire Grammar School Parent Teacher Association. After watching the third episode of Murderbot, I reread Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory by Martha Wells, a piece of short fiction from Mensah’s POV. Freya Marske gives us a teeny preview in some upcoming work. Mia Tsai announced ConCurrent, a one-day alternative to Worldcon. Nghi Vo did an interview with Strange Horizons (there is a transcript). The Locus Mag fundraiser is almost over. Thanks to Caitlin’s video, I learned about The Two Lies of Faven Sythe by Megan E. O'Keefe, which is a standalone space opera that comes out on June 3. In a year where I’m doing a space opera reading challenge it feels illegal that I didn’t know about it. I’m excited about 50007 by Jon Bois, especially since it took some time for 17776 to grow on me.
The Best Cyberpunk Novels, a rec list/interview by editor Jared Shurin. The World in Worldcon is a long essay full of history and data about Worldcon and musing about a Best Translated Work Hugo (I can feel the WSFS abyss stirring at the mere mention of a new category). Rachel from Shades of Orange shared her favorite SFF authors, books included! Tiny Bookshop will be out on August 7 and I am very ready. Via Coreo, The Murderbot soundtrack is on Bandcamp and is perfectly ambient. This read on SecUnit and ART rings really true to me. Speculative Insight is 17 months old (happy 17 month birthday!) and has lots of free essays to read. The Ignyte Awards are SOON!
Cute otter, not to be outcuted by dragon otter. Spooky forest. Pet flame dragon (it took me so long to notice the dragon, I liked the color work so much). Cats with wing ears! I haven’t played Dredge, but this pixel fanart is incredible. Space Nighthawks, which also has a print available (I want it! The small details are amazing). A very creepy, beautiful kelpie. Another pulp-inspired piece of Murderbot fanart—I love this immensely. This fanart of Jin from BTS has all my favorite colors. This catdragon? has the sweetest face, and once again it took me ages to note the flames were doing a thing. Porcelain Bugs (the detail here is WOW). This Super Mario RPG fanart is gorgeously done. I have forgotten if I’ve shared these koi, but even if I have I will share them again because I keep reopening this post to stare at them. kid jin ling and fairy playing in the rain.
That’s it for this week, which I thought was going to be lighter. I had less time online because of various offline committee meetings but apparently when I was online I overdosed on art.
Music this week is Don’t Say You Love Me from Jin, which is good but it’s so weird to hear him sing in English only.