Hey!

I finally watched Project Hail Mary and it was wonderful. I don’t like Weir’s books much, but I sure do like the well-funded fanfiction based on his books. I also failed to watch Obsession, not because it was bad (I’m sure it’s as good as everyone says!), but because I’m a big soft-hearted wimp. I lasted five minutes. 😅

A-Side

Acclaimed Apple TV Series “Murderbot” at Texas A&M
This was an excellent panel with Martha Wells, plus two guys from the TV adaptation. Wells choosing her college based on fandom? Icon. Also, Worldhoppers CONFIRMED.

Con Reports: Worldcon 2026
I must live vicariously through convention attendees, and luckily there’s a few different reports! The most interesting one was from the Hot Tropiks folks, who came to their first Worldcon. Hugo, Girl! shared their experience (which included a Hugo win!). Jake Casella Brookins has his excellent interview series with various attendees via A Meal of Thorns. It’s a bunch of mini con reports in a nicely produced package! The Octothorpe folks talked about their Worldcon adventures and The Full Lid has an adjacent report via all the delicious food they got to try. You really do need a lot of calories for conventions. Kate Elliott shared her Worlcon recap, as well: part one and part two, if you’d like an author’s perspective! If there are any others out there (or someone else collecting recaps), feel free to send them in. :)

Finding Your Recipe for Literary Comfort Food
This essay by Molly Templeton grabbed me because I’m also having a very weird reading year. It’s not that I’m not finishing books, but I’m reading things and they’re just…fine. Or I’m bouncing off of everything I was excited to read, both 2026 releases and back list titles I bought myself. I think, looking at my common rereads, my list would be books about people finding community, being cared for, and learning to trust it won’t be ripped away. Is it also in space and queer? Perfect. The community doesn’t have to be big, either—it can be finding a small cohort of people. Even when the books are dark in some way, as long as the community element is a through-line, it’s very likely that the book has a chance to succeed for me. Anyway, this will be why my 2026 reading will be rereads all the way down. :D

Avatar: Seven Havens
After watching this, I immediately realized that unlike the original series, I don’t own Legend of Korra at all and have no clue where to watch it. I forget why I didn’t watch it initially, but I suspect it was because I was much too attached to Aang still to be willing to have a bunch of emotions about his legacy. But now I’m tempted by The Lore so will have to track it down so I can watch this third iteration one day.

We do really need to consider this from Farai’s POV though
If The Murderbot Diaries were from the perspective of Dr. Mensah or her family, it would immediately become a story like The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon and people would say it was too over the top with the deus ex machina.

Reviews/Discussions

All Systems Red by Martha Wells (Workers’ Lit Podcast)
The Book of Bots by James Patrick Kelly (Paul Di Filippo @ Locus)
The Demon Star by Jesse Aragon (Dan Smith @ FanFiAddict)
A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett (Stewart Hotston)
A Dubious Clamor by Marissa Lingen (Paul Weimer @ Nerds of a Feather)
The End of Everything by M. John Harrison (Cheryl Morgan @ Salon Futura)
The End of Everything by M. John Harrison (Roseanna Pendlebury @ Nerds of a Feather)
The End of Everything by M. John Harrison (Ryan Elliott @ Strange Horizons)
Engines of Reason by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Tar Vol on)
Exit Party by Emily St. John Mandel (Maureen Corrigan @ NPR)
The Eye of Leviathan by M.A. Carrick (Vanessa Armstrong @ Reactor)
Foundling Fathers by Meg Elison (Niall Harrison @ Locus)
The Fractured Dark by Megan E. O’Keefe (Esmay Rosalyne @ Grimdark Magazine)
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson (Lashaan @ Roars and Echoes)
The Hunger of Those Who Built It by Wendy Waring (Alexandra Pierce)
The Hunger of Those Who Built It by Wendy Waring (Jan Priddy @ Strange Horizons)
The Inevitable Undoing of Zahara Douglass by Leslye Penelope (Jenny Hamilton @ Reactor)
Killswitch Protocol by M. J. Kuhn (Pippin Took @ FanFiAddict)
The Killing Spell by Shay Kauwe (Bonnie @ Red Headed Femme)
The Language of Liars by S.L. Huang (Eric Primm @ Strange Horizons)
Massif by Garth Nix (Mark Yon @ SFF World)
Palaces of the Crow by Ray Nayler (An Unofficial Hugo Book Club Blog)
Radiant Star by Ann Leckie (Wizards Vs. Lesbians Podcast)
Slow Burn by Amal Singh (Womble @ Runalong the Shelves)
Sour Cherry by Natalia Theodoridou (Dina @ SFF Book Reviews)
The Tongue I Dream In by Sheree Renée Thomas (Sullivan Summer @ Ancillary Review of Books)
A Trade of Blood by Robert Jackson Bennett (Alex Puncekar @ Grimdark Magazine)
Twig's Traveling Tomes by Gryffin Murphy (Marlene Harris @ Reading Reality)
What We Are Seeking by Cameron Reed (Anne @ The Lunar Flaneur)
Wickhills by Premee Mohamed (Galen Strickland)

B-Side

Special review section two weeks in a row! This is very exciting. This time, it’s the buzzy new release from Freya Marske, Bodies of Magic. Although the plots are different, it feels like this might be a nice pairing with the new release from last week, Wickhills by Premee Mohamed. Something about the covers and the miasma of ~secrets~ gives me similar vibes. Someone who has read both, write in and let me know if I’m right (without spoilers). I’m in the Hold List Abyss for both of these books. You can read the first chapter of Bodies of Magic over at Reactor.

Reviews/Discussions:
— geraniums-red
— Fiona Denton @ Grimdark Magazine
— Bill Capossere @ FanLit
— Becky’s Book Blog
— Annie @ A Bookish Type
— Sia @ Every Book a Doorway
— Elias @ Bar Cart Bookshelf

ScifiMonth 2026 is coming! Every year I want to participate and every year I get derailed for some reason, but it’s always a great way to find recs. Via Ed Morland, I was reminded that it’s always a great time to slide by and rec some worthy books for the Otherwise Award. If you’re into academic work, Rachel Cordasco from SF in Translation has a book out, Speculative Fiction in Translation from Around the World. There’s also a new issue of THE LODESTAR.

Mingwei Song has a list of five Chinese SF recs over at Five Books. Jo Walton shared her August 2026 reading list at Reactor. Alex Brown has a list of the notable YA SFF dropping in September and October. Kristen at Fantasy Cafe shared some of her anticipated reads for the rest of the year, several of which I hadn’t heard of yet. Lisa Tuttle shared some recs of recent SF in the Guardian.

One of the big reasons I didn’t finish my book this week (sorry, book) was because I was catching up on the Year of Tolkien from various folks rereading the books and writing/discussing their thoughts. If you’ve been following my journey wondering whether these folks were going to convince me to read The Lord of the Rings…well, I have a big honking compilation of all the books, so…maybe. If I do, it will be a process. Roseanna has two recaps up in her reread series: Episode 19 and Episode 20 (her titles continue to be the best). Abigail Nussbaum covered Unfinished Tales (I did not know this existed) and “The Departure of Boromir.” Shelved by Genre finished Return of the King, the Appendices (also new to me), and started The Silmarillion (which I knew existed but have never paid much attention to). Alex also shared some shorter thoughts on her re-read, post the breaking of the Fellowship. It’s fascinating to see all the different ways people approach and interpret this story.

In short fiction, Tar Vol on reviewed issues of Clarkesworld and GigaNotoSaurus and recced four stories. A.C Wise reviewed the June issue of Clarkesworld and recced one story. Maria Haskins reviewed issues of Otherside and Beneath Ceaseless Skies from June and recced five stories. Emmie Christie is back from her Writer Spotlight column break and I ended up with a backlog of rec lists and interviews, but there’s four I haven’t linked yet: Risa Wolf, Jennifer Hudak, Matthew Rettino, and Rachel Ashcraft. V. Aster Solomon has their two weekly short fiction recs up. Alan Dell reviewed “Shoeshine Boy & Cigarette Girl” by P.A. Cornell. There’s a new crowdfunding campaign for a collection of time loop stories, plus one for Lightspeed and Nightmare magazines. There’s also a surprise new issue of THE WYRMHOLE, full of delicious short fiction recs, so anyone who likes short fiction should subscribe. This issue has so many short fiction recs!

You can grab a Humble Bundle collection of books from Greg Bear. SciFiNow has the cover reveal for the UK version of Code and Codex by Yoon Ha Lee. Myna Chang has a short interview with P.A. Cornell. Marissa Lingen wrote a Big Idea essay for her new book, A Dubious Clamor. Coode Street had James Patrick Kelly and Michael Swanwick on to chat. Emily St. John Mandel has an interview at The Guardian and a short Q&A at Electric Lit. Paul Semel interviewed Premee Mohamed; she was also a guest on the Turn the Page Podcast. M.A. Carrick, the pen name for authors Marie Brennan and Alyc Helms, did an Ask Me Anything on Reddit. The Friends Talking Fantasy Podcast did an interview with M.J. Kuhn. Ray Nayler did a long interview in the Los Angeles Review of Books.

If you’re looking for more SFF links, check out Wombling Along.

Art recs: Tide Maker by Mali; the last unicorn by Johanna T; Cozy Cat by Joy; Know-it-Owl by Christina Gardner

Outro

That’s all for this week! Have an excellent weekend. — Renay

Recent Reading

(Last) Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells
(Now) The Feywild Job by C.L. Polk
(Next) In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan