Hey!
There are the usual reviews and happenings that caught my eye, my SFF reading recap for the month, plus what books I’m looking forward to in July.
And finally! It’s time for a call for book recs! It’s time to shout about your faves. What 2025 books do you want more people to read? What's your favorite SFF book published in 2025 so far? Send in a rec via the book rec form.
A-side
Climate Fiction Won't Save Us
This long essay from Jeff VanderMeer talks about climate fiction in its current moment. It’s a fascinating journey through past science fiction about climate change. I agree with his thesis (I think). The idea that any fiction—science fiction, climate fiction, or otherwise—can “save”, on a macro scale, anything, seems impossible to me on its face. Maybe it’s because I understand more about how policy at all levels gets implemented. Anyway, this is a good article for the book recs alone and well worth a read if you like climate fiction. It’s also good if you remember when that one dude bombarded SFF fans on Twitter for weeks demanding we use the term “cli-fi” which still, to this day, only makes me think of “clit fic”.
Small Press Dispatch: The Voice of the Hills
This essay by Roseanna is both a review of The Death of Mountains by Jordan Kurella, but also a call to action. I, surprisingly, had this book saved on Storygraph already, because it was a story-within-a-story book, which I often enjoy. What I didn’t know was that the characters themselves are a mountain and the Death of Mountains. I remembered when I read The Raven Tower and sobbed over a rock. This seems very different, tonally, but I immediately moved the book up my TBR based on Roseanna’s review.
The call to action refers back to the Hugo Award novella shortlist. Roseanna and I are apparently on the same obsessive wavelength about this. It’s not a great sign for the health of the field for an entire category to have the same house editorial perspective. Every place needs weirdos and outliers and experimentation—even award short lists.
June Reading & July Anticipations
I read two of the books on my June Hopefuls list, both non-2025 books. Sometimes the library holds just don't work out! Does anyone else keep a yearly TBR of the books that go on their monthly TBRs but don't get read, and then selects future mood reads from that list?
Here are the SFF books I read in June and whether I recommend them.
The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson
Yes! YES. Especially if you like the following:
V I B E S
absolutely bananas plot twists that leave you pacing around your house at 2AM with frantic energy that has nowhere to go
the politics of a royal court divided by very clear factions that have calcified over time into unmovable coalitions with so much inflexibility they can't see their doom slow rolling toward them
If you, like me, hunger for more autistic main characters who don't quite fit in places they really want to fit, are both annoying and endearing in equal measure, and refuse to capitulate and "just leave", I'd say give this a try. (JK no trying definitely read it ASAP)
Into the Riverlands by Nghi Vo
Yes, if you enjoyed the other entries in the Singing Hill Cycle, this one is just as good as the others. Cleric Chih travels through the Riverlands with some interesting companions and their stories, with a dramatic finish! I love all the different ways Nghi Vo writes women taking control of their stories.
Mammoths at the Gate by Nghi Vo
Heck yes! This was my favorite entry in the Singing Hills Cycle so far. Cleric Chih returns to the Singing Hills abbey to find most off on massive historical project, their childhood friend in a new position of power, the entire community in mourning for a beloved cleric, and mammoths and their riders threatening the abbey. My favorite character, Almost Brilliant, is here and there were so many delightful surprises, although the tone overall is one of reflection, loss, and how we keep moving forward despite hard changes.
When the Moon Hits Your Eye by John Scalzi
Maybe, if you like Scalzi's books. This is a departure from his recent work in that there are no central protagonists. The moon turns to cheese and we follow multiple recurring characters over time in various parts of U.S. life as they cope with the changes, from people in publishing to billionaires to regular folks just trying to get by. It seems like Scalzi wanted to do a philosophical, Earth-based approach to 1998's Armageddon…but with more cheese. That ending is going to be divisive.
Alien Clay by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Maybe! If you like stories about weird alien worlds, revolution, and government oppression, delivered to you by a snarky professor who has been sent hurtling through space to a labor camp where everyone inevitably dies while suffering the entire time, this may be for you. It's a brutal book, and the narrator, Human Thesaurus Arton Daghdev, is an entire pipsqueak for a good chunk, but he redeems himself throughout the novel. I wanted more time with the alien bits than the revolution because the revolution bits are pretty same-y. This was my first Tchaikovsky novel! I've done it, British friends!
Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko
Yes, if you like young adult fantasy. Tarisai is raised in isolation by her mother, known only as the Lady, in order to train and infiltrate the council of the future emperor. Once she gains his trust and joins his council, her mother orders her to murder him. I found the pacing of this novel to be a bit all over the place (it's a debut), but liked the slow reveal of all the injustices that Tarisai must overcome, including her own. One of the books in this series, The Maid and the Crocodile, is nominated for the Lodestar this year.
The Last Colony by John Scalzi
Maybe, if you like info dump space opera with minimal characterization. I used to read a lot of plays/screenwriting, and that’s what these books feel like. This is the third book in the Old Man's War series, and I'm rereading everything to prepare for The Shattering Peace coming out later this year. This one follows John Perry and Jane Sagan as they become administrators for a brand new colony. Except all is not as it appears once they arrive. All the books so far have had a little "a disembodied narrator tells you the story", but this one suffers a lot from this in the second half. The idea Scalzi had was much too big for one book, but come hell or high water he was going to make it fit. Sort of; he wrote a companion novel called Zoe's Tale not long after to round everything out. People say Zoe’s Tale is optional, but probably only the first half if you’re a series completionist.
Here are some of the books I'm looking forward to reading in July, provided the Library Hold Gods bless me.
July 15: A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna
July 22: Volatile Memory by Seth Haddon
July 29: The Memory Hunters by Mia Tsai
As always, if you have a anticipated book list posted somewhere, I would love to see it! You can email a link to intergalacticmixtape at gmail dot com.
Reviews
28 Years Later (Haley @ Nerds of a Feather)
The Dragon Next Door by Vanessa Ricci-Thode (Alex Brown @ Punk-Ass Book Jockey)
Eat The Ones You Love by Sarah Maria Griffin (Womble @ Runalong the Shelves)
Esperance by Adam Oyebanji (Harare Review of Books)
Hammajang Luck by Makana Yamamoto (Caelin @ The Lesbrary)
The Knight and the Moth by Rachel Gillig (Dina @ SFF Book Reviews)
KPop Demon Hunters (Alasdair Stuart @ The Full Lid)
KPop Demon Hunters (Kali Wallace @ Reactor)
Meet Me at the Crossroads by Megan Giddings (Abigail Nussbaum @ Locus)
Red Sword by Bora Chung, translated by Anton Hur (Niall Harrison @ Locus)
The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar (Archita Mittra @ Strange Horizons)
Saint Death's Herald by C.S.E. Cooney (Elias @ Bar Cart Bookshelf
Seventhblade by Tonia Laird (Alex Brown @ Punk-Ass Book Jockey)
Sheine Lende by Darcie Little Badger (Bonnie McDaniel @ Red Headed Femme)
Slow Gods by Claire North (Alexandra Pierce @ Locus)
A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher (Tar Vol on)
Swordheart by T. Kingfisher (Annemieke @ A Dance with Books)
The Two Lies of Faven Sythe by Megan E. O'Keefe (Daniel Roman @ Winter is Coming)
A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna (Beth & Nils @ The Fantasy Hive)
Witch World by Andre Norton Review (Niko'sBookReviews)
B-side
Ancillary Review of books posted Wow! Signal for June 2025, which contains lots of fun links for us nerds. Also available is their Call for Reviews and Essays for October 2025, and some of the titles they’re considering for coverage include some books I have on my TBR: Cry, Voidbringer by Elaine Ho and A Mouthful of Dust by Nghi Vo. And yet, I am not yet brave enough to be edited by that particular editorial team! Dina at SFF Book Reviews posted The State of SFF for July 2025 and reminded me I need to catch up on Moses Ose Utomi’s series. The first one was really good—I wonder why the series faded from discussion? Maureen shared her favorite books from the last few months and it included Rose/House by Arkady Martine, which I really enjoyed and hope more people try now that it’s had a wider release. Roseanna recapped her 2025 reading so far and shared a list of her favorite titles. I bought two titles based on her recs alone recently: Remember You Will Die by Eden Robins and The Incandescent by Emily Tesh. Nicholas Whyte had some thoughts about the Consulative Votes for the Hugo Awards. I missed the vote completely because I didn’t get an email reminder about it at all—I don’t know if that was a spam issue or what. I would have voted and reminded others if I had known! Alas, maybe next time. It looks like the Translated Hugo Award is going forward and they’re petitioning for people to join the team. Alex Brown has their regular recap of Murderbot, with episode eight, “Foreign Object”. I can’t believe there are only two episodes left! Everyone is planning their own massive Murderbot marathon once all the episodes are out, right?
You can read an excerpt of The Lighthouse at the Edge of the World by J.R. Dawson at Reactor. There’s also an excerpt of Sky on Fire by E.K. Johnston. Over at Reactor, there are multiple chapters posted of the upcoming novel by Sarah Beth Durst, The Enchanted Greenhouse. There’s an interview with Kate Elliott about The Witch Roads and a slew of book recs at the Orange County Register. Martha Wells did an interview over at Winter is Coming about Murderbot and her career. Anne Mare, author of Cosmic Love at the Multiverse Hair Salon, has an interview over at The Lesbrary. Aimee Ogden did a “My Favorite Bit” column about her new novella, Starstruck, where objects get a soul when hit by falling stars. The cover for A River from the Sky, the sequel to Ai Jiang’s A Palace Near the Wind, is live over at The Fantasy Hive. Books that caught my eye over on Netgalley: Lives of Bitter Rain by Adrian Tchaikovsky, The Sovereign by C. L. Clark, and Coldwire by Chloe Gong.
Bogi Takács, along with Charles Payseur, will be editing We're Here: The Best Queer Speculative Fiction 2025. FIYAH #35: Black Isekai is out now and there’s a playlist for it! The Strange Horizons Afrosurrealist Special Issue is live. The Year’s Best Speculative Ecofiction TOC was announced by Apex. Transfor Orbit has the Table of Content article for July if you’re a short fiction completionist. There’s a new edition of The WYRMHOLE with short fiction recs plus An Education on an entire array of foodstuffs with names like “wigan kebab“ and “smack barm pey wet“.
Octothorpe #138 is out for a listen. Arkady Martine was on A Meal of Thorns #27 and the discussion topic was 40,000 in Gehenna by C.J. Cherryh. Skiffy and Fanty discuss 1999’s The Mummy. Before you watch the trailer for Project Hail Mary (if you haven’t yet), Emma’s video clued me in to the fact that it spoils huge chunks of the book, so perhaps read the book before watching the trailer if you care deeply about spoilers. Kelsey from The Fancy Hat Lady Reads did a Hugo Awards version of “if you liked this, try that” with some of the 2025 finalists. Rachel over at The Shades of Orange did a recap of her favorite SFF recently. Bailey did a rec list of five SFF books with little to no romance, in case you’re fatigued by all the romantasy books/discourse. There’s a teaser for the Apple TV adaptation of Neuromancer by William Gibson, which looks cool. Having only watched Murderbot and Severance, both of which are excellent, I’m starting to think Apple TV is the place to be for cool SF work.
Finally, because we’re in the June/July transition, the lists dropped fast and furious. Helen Rhee posted her July collection of new books from Asian, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander authors, which includes a lot of SFF. Orbit books recapped everything they published in June. Reactor has July releases for Science Fiction books as well as Fantasy titles. Amazon has their list of SFF Editor’s Picks (but please buy them anywhere else). The NewScientist also has a list of their July 2025 picks, which has a few titles I hadn’t heard of yet. Gizmodo has a massive list of 82 July titles, including SFF and Horror. Transfor Orbit also has a short list of SFF titles. BookBub shared their best of list for SFF Summer reads. There’s lots of overlap across these lists, but I suspect it’s largely trad pub.
Art recs for this week! Dry gulch by Russell Mark Olson. Little Sparks by Mali. Galaxy dragon by Red-Izak. Little opossum hanging in a tree by Aled Thompson. A cute witch with their familiar living in their hat by Christina Gardner. Mystical Library by Maxine Vee. Paved with Love by Yuumei.
Outro
Don’t forget to submit your rec for your favorite 2025 SFF title. See everyone next week as we all get ready to say goodbye to the first season of Murderbot.
