Hey!

There was so much to read this week and my to-read backlog is still packed. I stopped counting the number of reviews I was listing at some point (sorry not sorry).

Also, months later, I’m close to finishing up the compilation of the 2025 Intergalactic Mixtape Survey! I could tinker with it more but I’ve decide to embrace the imperfections so it can come out before it’s time for the 2026 survey. Stay tuned to the outro in June for the link; I’m posting it elsewhere because it got too long (shocking, I know).

A-Side

Exploring the Other: The Language of Liars by S.L. Huang
I loved The Language of Liars by S.L. Huang. When I love a book this earnestly, it’s hard for me to make my way inside to critique it and see the angles I might be missing, alternate readings that would enrich the text, or problems I glossed over. This is why I appreciate critiques like this by Jenny. They give me a window into a work I wouldn’t otherwise have. It does a great job of highlighting all the incredible swings Huang took while not compromising on her experience of the novella. Ugh, y’all, I just love Jenny’s writing so much and I’m so happy to see people critically engaging with Huang’s work. Because this review is spoilery and I want everyone to read it, that also means you need to read the book. And that’s why critique also sells books, or at least drives up library check outs. :P

The 100 best novels of all time & My Top 40 Fantasy Series/Books
The Guardian dropped this list and caused a small puff of Book Discourse. There’s a few genre options, but the reason I like rec lists is something that big, mixed genre lists can’t capture well. The one general list I like the most is the version NPR releases every year, because they do try to loosely break things down by genre and books that are in conversation with each other. For me, I want rec lists to reveal new-to-me authors, hidden gems, or books that never got their due during the rush of new releases. I want people’s niche favorites and most importantly, I want the why of the rec. I won’t say no to a rec list, not even this one, but I always dream of my favorite kind when these pop up. As if the universe heard my desire, I stumbled across the second link in this rec. I especially love lists that were done before, but are being revisited to update them. *verklempt* I love recs so much.

The Great Unsexy Fairy Book Recommendations Video
There was no way I was going to resist this video from Kelsey at The Fancy Hat Lady Reads. The recs are diverse, too, with a good mix of authors and a few books I hadn’t heard of yet. If you have your own unsexy fairy books you love, I’m sure Kelsey would appreciate your comments! And of course, I love recs on a theme where people dig into why they feel it meets the theme.

Reviews/Discussions

All Hail Chaos by Sarah Rees Brennan (Rob B. @ SFF World)
The Apple and the Pearl by Rym Kechacha (Anushree Nande @ Strange Horizons)
Blood Over Bright Haven by M.L. Wang (Sally Berrow @ Grimdark Magazine)
Disgraced Return of the Kap’s Needle by Renan Bernardo (Roseanna Pendlebury @ Ancillary Review of Books)
The Elsewhere Express by Samantha Sotto Yambao (Maya C. James @ Locus)
Enchanting the Fae Queen by Stephanie Burgis (Liz Bourke @ Locus)
The Geomagician by Jennifer Mandula (Celeste @ A Literary Escape)
The Girl With A Thousand Faces by Sunyi Dean (Womble @ Runalong the Shelves)
The Hospital at the End of The World by Justin C. Key (Ian Mond @ Locus)
Ignore All Previous Instructions by Ada Hoffman (Trish Matson @ Skiffy and Fanty)
The Iron Garden Sutra by A.D. Sui (Christine D. Baker @ Ancillary Review of Books)
The Killing Spell by Shay Kauwe (Narrated Podcast)
The Language of Liars by S.L. Huang (Kathryn Raver @ Ancillary Review of Books)
The Language of Liars by S.L. Huang (Tar Vol on)
The Last Contract of Isako by Fonda Lee (Joshua MacDougall @ Geekly Inc)
Mortedant's Peril by R.J. Barker (Eddie Clark @ Nerds of a Feather)
Mortedant’s Peril by R.J. Barker (Paul Weimer @ Skiffy and Fanty)
The Nameless Land by Kate Elliott (Elias @ Bar Cart Bookshelf)
On the Calculation of Volume IV by Solvej Balle, translated by Sophia Hersi Smith & Jennifer Russell (Niall Harrison @ Locus)
Palaces of the Crow by Ray Nayler (Marlene Harris @ Reading Reality)
Palaces of the Crow by Ray Nayler (Mark Yon @ SFF World)
Platform Decay by Martha Wells (Marion Deeds @ FanLit)
Platform Decay by Martha Wells (Bonnie McDaniel @ Red Headed Femme)
Platform Decay by Martha Wells (Galen Strickland)
The Rainseekers by Matthew Kressel (Alexandra Pierce @ Locus)
The Republic of Memory by Mahmud El Sayed (Jacqueline Nyathi @ Harare Review of Books)
The Republic of Memory by Mahmud El Sayed (Stewart Hotston @ Nerds of a Feather)
The Republic of Memory by Mahmud El Sayed (Jess @ Into the Volcano)
Sisters of the Lizard by Jackson Ford (Vinay Vasan)
Southern Reach by Jeff VanderMeer (Zachary Gillan @ Ancillary Review of Books)
The Subtle Art of Folding Space by John Chu (Alex Brown @ Reactor)
The Wanderer by Fritz Lieber (Hugo History Podcast)

B-Side

At Transfer Orbit, Andrew Liptak has another list of May book releases. Book Riot has a list of new queer SFF, some already out and some releasing later this year. Am I stoked for The Feywild Job by C.L. Polk? Does a bear live in the woods? And it’s official: The Speculative Fiction in Translation website is ten years old, and Rachel Cordasco has launched Small Planet: The SF in Translation Magazine. It’s lovely to watch fan projects like this thrive and expand. Meanwhile, the Galactic Journey crew arrived in May 20, 1971 and looked at an issue of Fantasy and Science Fiction.

2026 Awards Seasons continues, with the Clarke Award publishing a list of all the submissions. It was the biggest submission year yet! Niall Harrison had some thoughts about the long list, plus recs for novels that weren’t submitted. Nicholas Whyte ran the data on which books have the most engagement on a few of the book socials. The bottom of the list is great if you really want to find some lesser known SF. He also shared his choices for BDP - Short Form in the Hugo Award. I have successfully convinced Dina to mainline the entirety of Scalzi’s Old Man’s War series since it’s a finalist for the Hugo in Best Series, and she finished The Last Colony and Zoe’s Tale, but she still had time to look at the Best Poem category, too! Galen Strickland reviewed The Incandescent by Emily Tesh, a Best Novel finalist. The folks at the Narrated Podcast discussed all of the Best Novella finalists. Rich Horton wrote at length about the Short Story finalists (Substack). Shaun Duke and Trish Matson, on the Skiffy and Fanty Show, discussed the whole Hugo ballot.

In response to a Goodreads SF list, Angela at Literature Science Alliance built her own list of her 12 favorite science fiction books of the last five years. I’m very tempted to steal this idea. Stitch & Bitch had their May liveshow. The Year of J.R.R. Tolkien continues with Roseanna’s love letter to Faramir, Abigail’s wicked cool explication of a piece of Gandalf’s dialogue, and Alexandra Pierce’s thoughts on Book 2 of The Lord of the Rings. The other Tolkien item I found this week was this thread by Gareth Hanrahan: The Lord of the Rings from Sauron’s perspective. I yowled.

Via Reactor, I learned about Hope, a rad looking alien invasion film. I was also blown away by the trailer for Wildwood. I normally don’t do theaters for COVID reasons, but watching this style of animation makes me want to wear a mask, sneak in a portable air purifier, and risk it. Liz Barr recapped For All Mankind S5E8, and I admit I read this because I was tempted in by the Connor Storrie mention. :D Camestros Felapton has a review of The Sheep Detectives, which I’m so happy to hear such great things about. Soon.

Over in short fiction, GigaNotoSaurus will be opening for submissions on June 15. Anathema has a few days left on their Kickstarter and they’re almost to their goal. Alex Brown shared their recs for the Must Read Short Speculative Fiction out in April 2026. Emmie Christie has spotlights on a few different writers: Josh Pearce, Marc A. Criley, and A.P. Howell. As usual, these come with recs/reviews and short interviews! Brian Collins looked at “The Persecutor’s Tale” by John M. Ford, with some bonus historical context. Tar Vol on has a review of If We Cannot Go at the Speed of Light by Kim Choyeop (translated by Anton Hur), Clarkesworld, and GigaNotoSaurus. Maria Haskins reviewed issues of Lightspeed and Flash Fiction Online, and recced her favorite stories.

Wole Talabi is putting together a rec list as part of the promo for his upcoming novel, The Fist of Memory, so hop over and share if you have any books that meet his criteria. Suzanne Palmer will launch her new novel, Ode to the Half-Broken, on June 9 in South Hadley, MA. If you’re in London on June 4, you can catch E. J. Swift, Mahmud El Sayed, Stewart Hotston and Tom Hunter in conversation about writing and optimism in the face of bleak social media/news. Stephanie Burgis wrote about her experience being nominated for/winning the Romantic Novelists’ Association’s award for her book, Wooing the Witch Queen. People Magazine has the cover reveal for Tananarive Due’s new book, Mazywood, which I missed when it dropped. Via Vajra Chandrasekera, Usman T. Malik will have a debut novel out next year.

Jordan Kurella was a guest at Nerds of a Feather for their Six Books feature. Caitlin Rozakis has a Big Idea column over at Whatever. Prepare yourself emotionally for this interview with Martha Wells at Reactor if you love The Murderbot Diaries. FanFiAddict has an interview with Jackson Ford. The Turn the Page Podcast had interviews with Cheri Radke and Ada Hoffmann. Andrew Liptak shared interviews with Ray Nayler and Ann Leckie at Transfer Orbit. Naomi Kritzer and Amal El-Mohtar were guests on The Functional Nerds. Mahmud El Sayed has an interview at Jam Reads and was also on the Long Story Short Podcast. Shannon Chakraborty was on the SFF Addicts Podcast, Sunyi Dean on the Skiffy and Fanty Show, Jeremy Szal had an interview at SFF World, R.J. Barker chatted with folks at The Fantasy Hive, and Reena McCarty did a quick Q&A at The Nerd Daily. Finally, you can read an excerpt of The Rainshadow Orphans by Naomi Ishiguro at The Fantasy Hive.

For more SFF links, hit up Wombling Along!

Art recs: A friend in an alleyway by indui; Sunbeam hour by Olivia When; Sunset of Cockatiel by Athanaca; hands you a pile of shrews by ascalaphid; skeleton offering cookies to a capybara by Guilherme Nunes; grizzled raccoon by SKD; Lil bee-butt for you today by Kristin Askland; HUNTR/X by Mike Maihack

Outro

I finally collected my thoughts together about the novella field re: publishers, award shortlists, and the award electorate at Lady Business. The comments have been great; they gave me a lot to think about.

I hope everyone is doing well, getting enough rest, and reading great books. Have a good weekend! — Renay

Recent Reading:

(Last) Shroud by Adrian Tchaikovsky (100% getting an A in Hugo reading)
(Now) Slow Gods by Claire North
(Next) The Lies of the Ajungo by Moses Ose Utomi