Hey!

This week, there’s award news and commentary (so excited for commentary season!), I caught up on my interview reading list, and there are fun new projects afoot.

A-Side

The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow
The Everlasting dropped and exploded on BookTok. Everyone cited the love story. I thought, “Okay, let’s see who discusses it in writing or in long form discussion.” Turns out: a lot of people (22 in the IGMX archive before Roseanna’s analysis). I read The Everlasting last year, and it was fine! The story was heavy handed where it needed a lighter touch and where it needed to go deeper it failed and left me feeling bemused, but I was entertained for a few hours. I’m also not up on my Greek mythology or Arthuriana. You know who is? Roseanna. I didn’t make one connection that seems obvious once pointed out. I won’t spoil it, though. You can sit and stare into the middle distance for a few minutes just like I did. There are spoilers for the whole book in this critique, so be careful! If you want even more, there’s some discussion in Roseanna’s thread on Bluesky.

Introducing Women in SF&F Month 2026
Kristen is once again organizing this month long essay project at her blog. I always forget that part of its origin story is me being incredibly overbearing re: gender diversity in hobbyist SFF book reviews. People who were there in the past, forgive me. I was a baby with faulty internet parental controls, Google Sheets, and a shiny new print-on-demand copy of How to Suppress Women’s Writing. Kristen has kept this project going for years; this is a perfect example of why fan organizing is so critical. You can follow along by adding Kristen to your RSS reader: http://feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/fantasycafe (and I will share things, too, so no one misses out). The first essay, by Lorraine Wilson (author of The Salt Oracle), is out now!

The Theory of Related-ivity: A History and Analysis of the Best Related Work Hugo Category
I promised people a break from Hugo commentary, but I fear you will need to wait until I’m neck deep in reading for the awards. I was delighted to find this series looking at Best Related Work last week. This analysis is looking at the history of the category through various name/scope changes. This is the first part, and publication is ongoing. It’s very data heavy and therefore is for Big Hugo Nerds. If you are not a Big Hugo Nerd, your brain will melt.

Reviews/Discussions

Ancillary Mercy by Ann Leckie (Anne @ The Lunar Flaneur)
Cabaret in Flames by Hache Pueyo (Misha Grifka Wander @ Ancillary Review of Books)
The Faraway Inn by Sarah Beth Durst (Mylee J. Miller @ SFF Insiders)
The Faraway Inn by Sarah Beth Durst (Galen Strickland)
Green & Deadly Things by Jenn Lyons (Rob B. @ SFF World)
The Geomagician by Jennifer Mandula (Trish Matson @ Skiffy and Fanty
House of Frank by Kay Synclaire (Para @ To Other Worlds)
The Iron Garden Sutra by A. D. Sui (Alex Kingsley @ Strange Horizons)
The Lies of the Ajungo by Moses Ose Utomi (Gryftkin)
The Lighthouse at the End of the World by Philip A. Suggars (T.O. Munroe @ The Fantasy Hive)
Murder by Memory by Olivia Waite (Her Hands, My Hands)
Nonesuch by Francis Spufford (Alexandra Pierce @ Randomly, Alex)
Nonesuch by Francis Spufford (Ian Mond @ Locus)
The Obake Code by Makana Yamamoto (Narrated Podcast)
On the Calculation of Volume III by Solvej Balle, translated by Sophia Hersi Smith & Jennifer Russell (Roseanna Pendlebury @ A Reader of Else)
Pretenders to the Throne of God by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Abigail Nussbaum @ Locus)
The Rainseekers by Matthew Kressel (Andrew Liptak @ Transfer Orbit)
Seasons of Glass & Iron: Stories by Amal El-Mohtar (Alex Brown @ Reactor)
Snake-Eater by T. Kingfisher (Dina @ SFF Book Reviews)
Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein (Hugo History Podcast)
The Summer War by Naomi Novik (@geraniums-red)
This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone (Meagan Kimberly @ The Lesbrary)
Trace Elements by Jo Walton & Ada Palmer (Gary K. Wolfe @ Locus)
The Works of Vermin by Hiron Ennes (Stewart Hotston @ Nerds of a Feather)

B-Side

Ancillary Review of Books has their Call for Reviews & Essays out for July 2026. Dina dropped her State of SFF for April. Bailey shared books she’s looking forward to and she always introduces me to books I haven’t heard of yet. Gizmodo has the big list of SFF and Horror out in April. There’s a lot of big releases this month. I’m most excited for The Subtle Art of Folding Space by John Chu, What We Are Seeking by Cameron Reed, The Photonic Effect by Mike Chen, The Faith of Beasts by James S.A. Corey, and The Language of Liars by S.L. Huang, but there are so many good choices.

Awards commentary continues on! Jake Casella Brookins had some musings about Hugo overlap with other awards. Cora Buhlert has some advice for Hugo finalists, which she shares every year, and refreshed for 2026. You can also propose a writer for the Crawford Award if you read any first-time fantasy novel authors this year that are stand out.

On the eve of Eastercon, Womble did an overview of the BSFA Best Novel Shortlist, but also reviewed A Granite Silence by Nina Allan and Edge of Oblivion by Kirk Weddell. Nick Hubble at Prospective Cultures has been churning out reviews of the finalists, too, as the award announcement bears down: Project Hanuman by Stewart Hotston; Edge of Oblivion by Kirk Weddell; The Salt Oracle by Lorraine Wilson; and A Granite Silence by Nina Allan. They reviewed When There Are Wolves Again by E.J. Swift a few weeks ago. Nicholas Whyte shared his thoughts about the BSFA vote for short work.

With the end of nomination season for the 2026 Hugo, the old Hugo recs spreadsheet goes into read-only slumber…but don’t worry! The 2027 Hugo Spreadsheet of Doom is waiting. Don’t be afraid to list things, even if it feels “too early”. You’ll thank past you for dropping things in niche categories in January 2027! Also, no, you don’t have to be a WSFS member to rec things. It’s a rec resource for everyone! Add SFF media you like so WSFS members and others can know it exists.

The Special Fungi Issue of Strange Horizons is out. I’m stoked for this one, but I haven’t dived in yet except for the editor introduction, which is a worthy essay all its own. At Reactor, there’s a roundup of indie speculative fiction for March and April. Abigail Nussbaum did a recent reading roundup, and I’m going to end up reading There Is No Antimemetics Division by qntm; Abigail and my partner, two drastically different readers, liked it. That crossover can’t be ignored. The Fantasy With Friends discussion for the week was “What is an underrated fantasy book you would recommend?” I’m not a strong fantasy reader; I tend to read what rises to the top of commentary. I wish I saw more people talk about The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie (people may have read it and just not talked about it!), The Keeper's Six by Kate Elliott, Sorcery and Small Magics by Maiga Doocy (shout out to Jenny for that rec, very solid, you’re a reccing star), or The Killing Moon by N.K. Jemisin.

Ursula K. Le Guin’s blog will be a podcast called In Your Spare Time, which is very cool (h/t to Charlotte for the head’s up). Octothorpe #156 covered fan fund news, the Nebula Awards, and the financial model for Locus. Overinvested #335 discussed Alien (one of my faves). The Hugo, Girl! crew discussed Battleship (2012). Once Upon A VHS is soliciting audio recordings about Labyrinth for a future episode, which sounds very cool!

Andrew Liptak has the new Table of Contents column for April 2026 out in Transfer Orbit. As per usual, he’s updated the March edition with new links. flameswallower on Tumblr has a set of short fiction recs for March 2026. If you need a few years worth of recs for queer short fiction ASAP, don’t panic! Charles Payseur absolutely has you covered. Womble reviewed FIYAH #37, the Winter 2026 issue. At SFF Remembrance, Brian Collins reviewed “Omega” by Amelia Reynolds Long. The structure of these reviews makes the historian in me happy. Over at Tar Vol on, there’s a quick roundup of five magazines: Adventitious, Asimov’s, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Otherside, and Strange Horizons. I was then jumpscared by the April 1971 issue of Analog.

Amal El-Mohtar was on Turn the Page, which is the podcast of a public library in New York. I’m familiar with online library events, but this is the first podcast I’ve seen. Does your library have its own book podcast? Suzanne Palmer has an interview in Clarkesworld, and your honor, she’s my new favorite SFF author and I’m going to read everything she writes forever. Paul Semel is somehow an interviewing machine? I caught interviews with Soraya Bouazzaoui, Adrian Tchaikovsky, Josh Eure and Craig Lincoln of Darkly Lem, Tao Wong, and Olivia Waite. Tao Wong was also on Episode #698 of The Functional Nerds.

In Weird Author News, Andy Weir went viral for his comments about Star Trek on a podcast and from an interview published ages ago. The reaction has been on a spectrum from, “Huh?” all the way to “Why were you on the channel of a right-wing weirdo who complains about women and Black folks in movies in the first place?” Luckily for me, Foz Meadows did some contextualizing (warning: Substack link). This sort of thing seems connected to the rise in anti-intellectualism. It feels like a deliberate, forced lack of curiosity in order to convince folks you’re staying above the grind of social and political culture so you can never be accused of standing for anything. It’s a bit alarming when it’s coming from an influential SFF writer whose properties are being regularly adapted for mass audiences, though! If you see a lot of people talking about how it’s not possible to write without putting social/political commentary in their writing, this is why.

I read the excerpt of Boy, With Accidental Dinosaur by Ian McDonald, but I can’t get past the title, which colors my reaction every time I come across it. I have too much second-hand embarrassment for titles like this. Then I also read a short part from The Language of Liars by S.L. Huang, and y’all, I’m desperate for my preorder to arrive.

I watched the longer trailer for Backrooms and there’s found footage! My weakness. I’m also excited for Exit 8, which is based on a indie horror video game. I haven’t played it, to be clear, because I’m a wimp. Films are less immersive for me and therefore, safer. I’m curious how well these concepts will translate, but I’m excited to see people try. The Supergirl trailer is John Wick in space, and I get that reference now because I finally watched John Wick. I don’t know how people handled that movie without spoilers because it could not be me, the person with does the dog die bookmarked on her browser toolbar.

For more great SFF links, hit up last week’s Wombling Along.

Art recs: Green Jay by Emily L'Orange; What's he saying? by Mali; my childhood pets as adventurers by shafer brown; kissing in a bathtub by SimzArt; xix - the sun by meyo; spring light by Rii Abrego; here, forever and always 🏳️‍⚧️ by Chaobu; DON'T LET THE BASTARDS GET YOU DOWN 🏳️‍⚧️ by Starite; I AM THE BIG RAT THAT MAKES ALL OF THE RULES by Natasha Tara Petrović

Outro

That’s it for this week! I hope everyone survived Internet Lie Day and had a few laughs, but no terribleness. Have a terrific weekend!