Hey!

This week, there’s a grab bag of link round-ups, lists, and the obligatory Murderbot content. The B-side got a little wild because things I was interested in Kept Happening. There’s also a special section on my SFF reading in May.

Meanwhile, who else is behind on their Hugo reading?

A-side

Call for Reviews & Essays for September 2025
Even if you’re not a writer, Ancillary Review of Books provides a list of books people can select for potential coverage. Lists of books = TBR gold. It always reveals something I didn’t yet know was happening in publishing. I’ve heard from reliable sources that their editing team is very thorough, but kind, so maybe reach out if anything on there looks like something you might want to write about!

Wow! Signal: May 2025
Also from Ancillary Review of Books, their Wow! Signal column captures critique and analysis across a wide range of sources. This column was one of the reasons I thought that maybe! a science fiction and fantasy newsletter might work! (TBD) But Wow! Signal is like if Intergalatic Mixtape went to graduate school. Where else will you find a round up that links both to critical essays about Elon Musk’s bad Culture takes (I argue that we can always make him suffer more) and “a symposium on alternative governance in science fiction”? 15/10 stars.

Reading the Hugos 2025: Best Novel
Dina covers the 2025 Hugo finalists (which she has read all of) and ranks them. Since I have read zero she joins the ranks of the Responsible WSFS Members along with several of my friends. I definitely agree with the final take that literally all Robert Jackson Bennett had to do to have a powerful chance to take the Hugo home, was not say anything about AI, especially during a moment the Worldcon was having its own AI drama. Although I truly don’t think it will matter because Bluesky is such a small community! I’m (Certified genAI hater) still going to give his book a shot if I have time and rank it. It’s still Tchaikovsky I’m annoyed with (in a joking way, mostly). :P

The 2025 Hugo Award Best Graphic Story Finalists, Part 1
At Skiffy and Fanty, Stephen Geigen-Miller digs into three of the finalists for Best Graphic Story. Depending on your “don’t want to be spoiled before reading things” tolerance, this might be a post to skip until you’ve read everything. However, I did resonate with his point about Monstress. I’ve followed the comic from the beginning (I still get the floppies, and I’m so far in I’m just going to keep getting them), so I feel justified in saying that I feel so overwhelmed by the story. I’m like this with Saga, too. I’m sure if it’s getting nominated even after all this time, there’s worthy stories there, but I’m very tired. 😅

A Meal of Thorns 25 – The Hugo Novels & Novellas
Jake Casella Brookins is joined by Roseanna Pendlebury (my pal!) to discuss the Hugo finalists. This is a wide-ranging, in-depth discussion of the Hugo itself and the finalists. There’s critique! There are mentions of other potential finalists in case your TBR isn’t a mile long! I would have listened to a full two hours of this, as I told Roseanna, but obviously we don’t want to lock Jake into the podcast editing mines. One of my favorite parts of the discussion is about the novella category, and the fact that Tor swept this year, and what, if anything, can really be done about it. My answer is, of course: more rec lists. 😈

Murderbot, Episode 4 from the Evil!Survey SecUnit’s Perspective
I had to make up a title for this because I need it to stand out so people will read it. This is a great example of why fandom is so great. Fans are lovely and creative! This perspective makes the episode sound bananas. To be fair, it was, but in the good way. SPACE NOKIA!!! I’m wheezing.

Murderbot Is Glitching in “Escape Velocity”
As per usual, Alex Brown’s Murderbot recap is excellent and full of insights and highlights of things I missed on my first watch (which means I got to watch it again, for Science). They dig into the AI/sentience vein here and I agree with their takeaways, especially this: “One of the things I think a lot about in terms of AI is how so often people most excited about it talk about the tech as if it were a slave at the mercy of their every whim.”

May Reading & June Anticipations

I had hoped to make more progress on my Hugo reading in May. Alas, it was not to be. I’ll be joining the last minute club with y’all who love a good deadline to really rev up the motivation. Despite that, it was a pretty good month overall! Here’s what I read and my recommendations.

The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo
Yes! Especially if you like stories about women, their friendships, and revenge. This was my second time through the book and even though this is a short novella, it’s a rewarding reread.

When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain by Nghi Vo
Yes! This is the sequel to The Empress of Salt and Fortune. This story finds Chih accosted by tigers who they hold off from eating them and their companions by trading stories of a legendary tiger and a scholar.

North Continent Ribbon by Ursula Whitcher
Yes, especially if you like collections of interconnected stories that build toward a larger whole. There’s changes to cultures over time, musings on the ethics of algorithms and AI, and all the messy ways people can fit together. There's collective organizing in the last story! My favorite.

Old Man's War by John Scalzi
Maybe! If you are looking for a fast-paced space adventure story and can roll with Boomer humor, that is mostly in service to book (most of the characters are meant to be 75+). It’s…quippy…and the world building is going at plaid speed. There are definite critiques of this book, but it was foundational for me getting back into SF after a long break, so I’ll always have a soft spot for it. I’m rereading the series to be ready for The Shattering Peace, dropping this fall. The politics of the early aughts and the politics of 2025 are so different, so I’m curious how that will reflect in the world building of the new entry.

The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi
Yes! This is the sequel/companion book to Old Man's War that made me go, “Oh, so THEY'RE the baddies!” which is slightly present in the first book but it's much more explicit here. We also get more development of a character from the first book who got short shrift due to the pacing/length of Old Man's War. Also, I would like to take this moment to register my complaints about moving away from mass market paperbacks.

What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher
Yes, if you like retellings and don’t mind additional world building and a slow start to the action. I loved the reveals around our main character’s culture. I didn’t find this scary in the jump scare way, but it might be in the body horror way if that squicks you out. Science fiction is really having a moment with mushrooms. It makes me wonder what other mushroom stories are out there…waiting.

What Feasts at Night by T. Kingfisher
Maybe, if you like true crime. There's still plenty of supernatural spookiness, but this sequel to What Moves the Dead is heavier on the characterizations of its original characters (maybe for more books in this series?) and meanders more than the first. It feels less structured since I don’t think it’s a retelling of anything specifically. Please take precautions when disturbing your local haunts.

Here are some of the books I’m looking forward to that come out in June (everyone IS going to read The Witch Roads with me, right?):

June 3: A Song of Legends Lost by M.H. Ayinde (S&S/Saga Press)
June 3: The Two Lies of Faven Sythe by Megan E. O'Keefe (Orbit)
June 10: The Witch Roads by Kate Elliott (Tor)

If you (yes, you) have a Anticipated Books list for June or a potential TBR list (they don’t have to be June books), I would like to see the baby, please. Blog/tumblr post, Bluesky thread, video, whatever! You can email a link at intergalacticmixtape at gmail dot com if you have one!

Reviews

Amplitudes: Stories of Queer and Trans Futurity edited by Lee Mandelo (Jessica Finn @ Ancillary Review of Books)
Anji Kills A King by Evan Leikam (Liz Bourke @ Reactor)
Greenteeth by Molly O’Neill (Liz Bourke @ Locus)
Hammajang Luck by Makana Yamamoto (Susanne Salehi @ The Lesbrary)
The Incandescent by Emily Tesh (Rachel Friars @ The Lesbrary)
The Incandescent by Emily Tesh (Molly Templeton @ Reactor)
The Knight and the Moth by Rachel Gillig (ladybug.books)
One Message Remains by Premee Mohamed (Gary K. Wolfe @ Locus)
The Potency of Ungovernable Impulses by Malka Older (Trish Matson @ Skiffy & Fanty)
The Scratch Daughters by H. A. Clarke (Dina @ SFF Book Reviews)
Reviews of Samovar and Strange Horizons (Charles Payseur @ Locus)

B-side

Kate Elliott, author of The Witch Roads, was a guest on Niko’s Book Reviews. You can read an excerpt of A Song of Legends Lost by M.H. Ayinde on Reactor. Maria Haskins wrote What to Read – the Monster Edition, for everyone in need of more monster fiction in their life. Antonia Hodgson, author of The Raven Scholar, was interviewed by The Fantasy Hive. I just finished this book and it is bananas. C. S. E. Cooney, author of Saint Death’s Herald, was also interviewed. Paz Pardo, author of The Shamshine Blind, was interviewed for The Cosmic Cheeto (what a great name).

Issue 062 of Luna Station Quarterly is available for purchase. You can also get June issues of Clarkesworld, Lightspeed, Locus, and more! All of The Deadlands, Issue 68, is available to read online. Fantasy Magazine is back! The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of 2025 (So Far) from Barnes & Noble dropped. I’ve read zero, continuing my trend of being five steps behind New Release Buzz. There’s also some Lodestar contenders on the YA list. James Cameron acquired the rights to Joe Abercrombie’s The Devils Congrats to him; I continue to beg Hollywood bros to read more books by women. The Mythopoeic Awards posted their finalists on Bluesky.

Dina from SFF Boom Reviews dropped her State of SFF post June 2025, which covers some AI drama I missed and has some upcoming books. Mona Lisa Overpod discussed Murderbot (discussion starts 18:30 minutes in). This bit of linguistics re: the Japanese translation of The Murderbot Diaries was really neat. Tar Valon or Bust is switching gears and will now be Tar Valon or Bust Presents, with the first reread being The Arthurian Saga by Mary Stewart. There’s a new issue of THE WYRMHOLE, full of short fiction recs.

Helen Rhee has a big list of all the AAPI books out in June, with lots of SFF options (they’re all listed in the caption). Andrew Liptak drops 16 books out in June 2025 in the latest edition of Transfer Orbit. His new column, Table of Contents, which collects the TOCs of genre magazines, is also available for June/summer issues. Reactor has a big list of all the fantasy books out in June. Book Riot has its own list of ten SFF titles out this month.

I’m going to be insufferable in 2026 when One Piece Season 2 debuts, because they’ve revealed Chopper and I’m very pleased. I 100% buy this theory that Sinners is a recession indicator. This Bluesky post about “The Flanderization of ghibli” captured what troubles me the most about all the AI copying the art style while erasing the rest of what makes the art style full of so much soul. The final season of Stranger Things has release dates and it will be, bogglingly, in three volumes across…Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years? I would’ve loved to be a fly on the wall of that bonkers marketing meeting. Meanwhile, Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein looks tonally appropriate.

Cute, illustrated orange cat. Pride cat (the long way). Very cute pride bear (with wings!) Happy, quiet, chill Pride (a vibe). An extremely rad kelp forest quilt. Follow the cat? [Yes/No]. Beach day. croissant shark. sightseer of the night. Leaf dragon (this is SO pretty! those greens!). I feel this piece of FFVII art very deeply. This illustration inspired by NASA photos is gorgeous. They say some mother cats will adopt anything… (DRAGON!) Spring has begun; life is rekindled… (More dragons!). Space cake (I love this artist so much, one day I am going to have so many prints.)

Outro

Eventually, I’m hoping to add a themed recs section to the newsletter for books and original fiction. I’m still working out the logistics! I’m trying this wild thing where I think about new projects before ADHDing into them with abandon. :D Stay tuned to this space.

That’s it for this week. Take it easy and enjoy Murderbot Friday if you watch!