Hey!

Today is a big day! It’s the 50th issue of Intergalactic Mixtape and Intergalactic Mixtape is a Hugo finalist for Best Fanzine! More shouting about this in the Outro. This week, there’s award commentary (please send in your own posts/pods/etc so I can inhale them), reviews, cool short fiction projects, and some fun fan questions (which is the best use of social media).

A-Side

2026 Hugo, Lodestar & Astounding Awards Finalists
In my fun game of “how many finalists can I predict?” I was only foiled by the surprise appearance of Death of an Author by Nnedi Okorafor. I’m counting Tchaikovsky because I was certain he’d be there but I had no way of knowing which book the voters would choose. And! My beloved, The Raven Scholar, made the final ballot. I’ll have more thoughts because this year I made it a goal to read every Best Novel finalist; since I’ve read so many already (4/6) I may add in Best Novella or the Le Guin Award to this goal in order to feel Accomplished.

No Wrong Schedules
This short essay by Nghi Vo is lovely. I, too, have tried schedules for work, but can never make them stick for very long because I’m always agreeing to host a meeting, cover for someone, or hop on Zoom to help my volunteer-work colleagues. Ultimately, like Vo, I have freed myself from “am I doing this wrong?” and have embraced doing things in a way that works for my current life and being happy for people when they talk about their own routines (or lack thereof). After all, no one will know if I write this newsletter on my couch at 10pm or at the library at 2pm.

Women, Aliens, and Dangerous Things: Female Bodies in Alien 3
The only film in the Alien franchise I didn’t enjoy is Prometheus, and the farther I get from it the more it grows on me as a place for considering storytelling, bodies, and legacy. Part of the problem is the lack of Ripley, who was integral to the success of these films (yes, I’m one of the weirdos who likes Alien Resurrection). This essay is a fascinating analysis of Alien 3. One thing this franchise does really well is explore different types of violation, and this piece captures that very well.

Reviews/Discussions

Apparently, Sir Cameron Needs to Die by Greer Stothers (Maya Gittelman @ Reactor)
First Mage on the Moon by Cameron Johnston (Elias @ Bar Cart Bookshelf)
A Forest, Darkly by A.G. Slatter (Ian Mond @ Locus)
Climate Imagination edited by Joey Eschrich and Ed Finn (Seamus Sullivan @ Strange Horizons)
On the Calculation of Volume IV by Solvej Balle, translated by Sophia Hersi Smith and Jennifer Russell (Rachel Cordasco @ Ancillary Review of Books)
Green & Deadly Things by Jenn Lyons (Steph Kingston @ Geekly INC)
The Language of Liars by S. L. Huang (Roseanna Pendlebury @ Nerds of a Feather)
The Language of Liars by S. L. Huang (A.C. Wise)
The Language of Liars by S. L. Huang (Narrated Podcast)
The Lighthouse at the End of the World by Philip A. Suggars (Eddie Clark @ Nerds of a Feather)
Love Galaxy by Sierra Branham (Sia @ Every Book a Doorway)
The Obake Code by Makana Yamamoto (Alexandra Pierce)
The Photonic Effect by Mike Chen (Paul Weimer @ Nerds of a Feather)
Psychopomp and Circumstance by Eden Royce (Tar Vol on)
Rabbit Test and Other Stories by Samantha Mills (Trish Matson @ Skiffy and Fanty)
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (A Meal of Thorns Podcast)
Seasons of Glass and Iron: Stories by Amal El-Mohtar (Abigail Stevens @ The Fantasy Hive)
Seasons of Glass and Iron: Stories by Amal El-Mohtar (Galen Strickland)
Seasons of Glass and Iron: Stories by Amal El-Mohtar (Bill Capossere @ FanLit)
Ten Thousand Stitches by Olivia Atwater (Dina @ SFF Book Reviews)
This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me by Ilona Andrews (Vinay Vasan @ The Fantasy Hive)
Voidverse by Damien Ober (Paul Di Filippo @ Locus)
Way Station by Clifford D. Simak (Hugo History Podcast)

B-Side

In awards news, the Astra Book Award is a new award given by Hollywood Creative Alliance to books! John Scalzi won for When the Moon Hits Your Eye, and I heard about it from him. The full list of books across genres is here and they streamed the awards on Youtube, but here’s Scalzi speech section. The Aurora Awards finalists are also out, for speculative work by Canadians. Congrats to Premee Mohamed, who netted noms in three categories! Alert, Canadians who love SFF: you can join the club and vote!

With the release of the Hugo finalists, the commentary season has begun! Stitch & Bitch did a live reaction show. Camestros Felapton had a few thoughts about the finalists. At SFF Book Reviews, Dina shared her perspective on the fiction finalists. Nicholas Whyte did what he does best and collected some data on how the finalists stack up on three different reading platforms. Heather Rose Jones did some more data work on the 2026 finalists within the frame of her ongoing project about the history of Best Related Work, which is extremely nerdy and great. Cora Buhlert also wrote an essay about the finalist list.

Octothorpe had the finalist list early because they got press access (fancy) so had a long discussion and released the episode as soon as the official announcement went out. Of course, they talked about me and were really kind, but immediately hit my #1 Fear re: accepting a nomination for the Hugo Spreadsheet of Doom, which is: the WSFS voter propensity of self-referential nomination for Hugo topics in Best Related Work. In the end, I…agree with them? Ha! We do like navel-gazing. I accepted because a) people chose it so I would like to respect their votes and b) I don’t think of it as only a Hugo project anymore. I encourage non-WSFS folks to participate and we accept recs for lots of SFF media that ends up not being eligible, and I try not to let those be deleted, just debated/marked as ineligible. It’s a collaborative, community rec list for SFF media that will live for as long as I can keep it online as a historical document. Me, until the heat death of the universe: people coming together to rec things they love is 🎶 critical practice. 🎶 Anyway, the Octothorpe folks know a lot of Hugo Lore and their discussion is thorough. Tune in!

And a reminder: anyone can become a WSFS member and vote for the Hugo winners! There’s a cool voter packet and everything. There will be lots of us reading/watching/discussing the fiction over the next few months, which is like a giant media club.

I will not be seeing Animal Farm. Maybe I’ll rewatch Spirited Away again if I need some anti-capitalism. However, I will be watching Dust Bunny, which looks fun. Congrats to everyone who is excited for Clayface, because it took me three tries to get through the trailer. The movie is likely not in my future (I’m a wimp) unless I watch it with someone who can handle me pausing constantly to screech or hitting mute randomly.

In cool projects news, Fansplaining will be relaunching next week! They’ll be moving from a podcast project to full on journalism. This is the other magazine/publication I’ve been excited to support once I heard they were going pro! Women in SF&F Month at Fantasy Cafe trucks on, with essays from Tesia Tsai and Isabel J. Kim; I linked to Nghi Vo’s essay up in A-Side. There’s a call for abstracts for what sounds very cool: Sinners Reader: The Blues, Black Horror, and the Jim Crow South edited by DuEwa M. Frazier. The deadline is May 15 and I know there are some folks reading this newsletter who have material along these lines. Don’t self-reject and share this link with your writing pals.

Fun threads on Bluesky with lots of neat answers:

• This wasn’t a thread, but rather a question to John Scalzi, but a few people quoted it: What is one book that didn’t get its audience when it came out and you would love to rescue from obscurity and promote the hell out of? I have too many to choose from!

• What NICHE IP do you want to write for? There are so mnay cool genre answers!

• I asked people to rec some space adventures and the recs poured forth!

Stitch & Bitch also did their monthly liveshow for April, separate from their Hugo finalist opinions, talking about their recent media. On Episode #721 of the Coode Street Podcast, Jonathan and Gary wind their way through the conversational woods but also discuss two books: Nonesuch by Francis Spufford and The Language of Liars by S.L. Huang. Via Charlie Jane, someone created a playlist of all the music she listened to while writing Lessons in Magic and Disaster. Mike Chen shared an illustration of the spaceship in his new release, The Photonic Effect, by Marina Charalambides. At Pages Unbound, the weekly discussion topic was “Do you have any favorite subgenres of fantasy such as urban fantasy, historical fantasy, etc.?” and there are several responses to read. This is one I have no clue how to answer because my fantasy tastes are so all over the place. Whatever Kate Elliott writes, I guess!

In short fiction, Issue #42 of The Deadlands is out. There will be an issue of Eye to the Telescope about aliens, so submit all your alien-relevant poetry. Sword & Kettle Press, for queer & intersectional speculative fiction, is running a Kickstarter to fund a ten year anniversary anthology. The call for submissions for Thyme Travellers 2 is open until August 31. Womble reviewed Pseudopod. Paula Guran reviewed issues of Weird Horror, Uncanny Magazine, and The Deadlands. A.C. Wise digs into the Jan/Feb issue of Asimov’s.

Reactor has an excerpt of And Side by Side They Wander by Molly Tanzer. Shannon Chakraborty had some sold out events in London and Bath, but the venues changed and added more seats. Folks across the pond can grab a ticket as long as they last. Lightspeed has an interview with Ashok K. Banker. Locus has a short interview with Tananarive Due. S.L. Huang, author of the new release The Language of Liars, has interviews at Nerds of a Feather and The Nerd Daily. Samantha Mills has an interview with Paul Semel, plus a Big Idea column at Whatever. Cameron Johnston was also at Whatever for his own Big Idea essay. Andrew Liptak scored an interview with the men behind James S.A. Corey, Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck.

For more great SFF links, don’t miss Wombing Along.

Art recs: Late night at the art studio and Sheltering the littlest flames by Devin Elle Kurtz; Tree of orbit by Tatyana Spark; Happy earth day!!!! by Gwen; Zombify and Burst Lightning by Eleonor Piteira; Where the Quiet Still Blooms by Yves; Prairie Spirits by Up On Goblin Hill; This Too Shall Pass by Caleb

Outro

I know a lot of people who read Intergalactic Mixtape nominated it for Best Fanzine. Thank you all so much. I wrote about the origin of the newsletter and my reaction to the nomination at Lady Business, where I could go on at length. Warning for rampant earnestness.

I didn’t expect this at all, because IGMX is so new! But it has clearly resonated with a ton of people. I’m very grateful for the support everyone has shown my nerdy little project, I’m very delighted to be a finalist in Best Fanzine again, I’m excited to keep finding more cool things to share, and I hope to make everyone proud! — Renay