2025 was another great year for African short fiction! Author @wtalabi.com recommends 10 highlights across science fiction, fantasy, and horror, from "magic-for-wealth schemes" to an unsettling religious organization (in space). And if there's some ties in there...? We're not complaining.

Why 16 Oscar nominations for SINNERS matters, and why you've probably never heard of the oldest written Black vampire tale in North America. Happy Black History Month to all who celebrate!

Why 16 Oscar nominations for SINNERS matters, and why you've probably never heard of the oldest written Black vampire tale in North America. Happy Black History Month to all who celebrate!

Why do actors in film/TV scenes stand so close to each other while speaking? I know it's for the shot, but it always puts me off, as I'll be thinking, "Why so close? Nobody stands that close to someone they're just asking a question. Step back!"

Funniest (saddest?) part is I'm 100% sure someone out there who meets this criteria WILL take the job.

These books needed their own post due to being stuck in my head throughout the year. Whether they were unsettling, a prediction for the future, or just straight up unhinged, these are the books from 2025 I couldn't stop thinking about. 💙📚 #booksky

Just spotted this: CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS for emerging BIPOC writers in Canada: an opportunity to work with Lindsay Wong arsenalpulp.com/News/2025/CA...

Completing final edits for SEASON OF THE SERPENT (out in August!) Drafting Book #9 right now, likely to finish...summer? Already outlined Book #10. Waiting for the signal. That's how we do it! No secret sauce, just crossed fingers and nose to the grindstone.

We have to practice solidarity. We have to recognize when we're being played and used, and what makes us strong and what makes us weak. Empires are always trying, *inside and outside*, to make the very people they oppress and threaten complicit in their evils and dependent on their structures.

A year ago, I worried about a US invasion. These days, I worry about something that actually scares me more: that our government (and other governments) will decide that we have to do whatever the US regime demands, and what they demand will be ever more fascist alignment.

Sometimes you need a poem by @nikitagill.bsky.social.

Happy New Year.

Well, that was 2025. Let's see what the next 365 days hold. suyidavies.com/updates/suyi...

I find myself thinking about historian Robert Paxton’s 2004 definition of fascism far too often than I’d like these days. Note that these sentences were written back when Donald Trump was a NYC playboy libertine who donated to Democrats.

"This promise of an AI future, is really just a collective anxiety that wealthy people have about how well they're gonna be able to control us in the future." - @tressiemcphd.bsky.social with an absolute mic drop moment about AI bullshit. Incredible words. Listen to all of it!

Please take the time to check out, contribute, and share his @gofundm3.bsky.social. every interaction helps. www.gofundme.com/f/support-ma...

It's the Most Listerful Time of the Year, so if you're making reading lists for next year, might I interest you in the fact that SEASON OF THE SERPENT, the final novel in the Nameless Republic trilogy, releases on August 11?

Wrapping my own damn self, in lieu of being wrapped by a machine: suyidavies.com/updates/suyi...

Today, I went to the library to look for a specific kind of book about a specific topic. On the same shelf, I found a *different* book on a *different* aspect of the same topic---an aspect I didn't even know existed. I went with the 2nd book.

I think of Manusos (in Pluribus) as that one character that supercharges a novel, that makes you sit up when you first encounter them. The sheer strength of their singular conviction raises twofold intrigue: tension (what will they do NOW?) & suspense (what happened to make them this way?).

"From idea to story" is the first lesson in my advanced fiction class because, while idea inertia happens to everyone, emerging writers can often get stuck there, while seasoned authors know the hard work is in distilling said hodgepodge of ideas into a story that has clarity and direction.

Welcome to THE BEST BOOKS OF 2025: REVIEWER'S CHOICE!! Reactor's book reviewers have come together to recommend their favorite 2025 reads. How many have you picked up?

Wrapping my own damn self, in lieu of being wrapped by a machine: suyidavies.com/updates/suyi...

I've known a lot more non-readers than readers. The conditions that spawn lifelong readership need constant nurture & nourishment, & the conditions that disrupt it are ubiquitous, neverending & must be constantly battled, requiring a practice & fortitude many, sadly, cannot afford / will not accord.

Hey yall! We're looking for ✨youtubers or streamers✨ who'd be interested in playing the cooperative card game Prosper with Dragons on their channel. Reply or DM if you're interested or know someone who could help this game find its audience! 📣 More info: www.kickstarter.com/projects/115...

I'm the kind of practiced hater who will pop out of hiding places and bonk people on the head with an empty water dispenser bottle: <bonk> Stop. <bonk> Using. <bonk> That.

Started reading Son of the Storm yesterday. Absolutely hooked! So excited to see where the story goes.

It's the Most Listerful Time of the Year, so if you're making reading lists for next year, might I interest you in the fact that SEASON OF THE SERPENT, the final novel in the Nameless Republic trilogy, releases on August 11?

Honored to be a Special Guest at @laworldcon.bsky.social next year! 🚀💫💜 I hope to use the space to champion the amazing work of speculative poets and Canadian BIPOC SFF writers!

You've still got two weeks to add some HEAT to your holiday game nights! 🔥🔥🔥🐲 Prosper with Dragons Holiday Sale: $25 thru Dec 13th! (Free US Shipping!) www.kickstarter.com/projects/115... ✨ Makes a great stocking stuffer! ✨

Congratulations to friend of the con @suyidavies.com for his 2025 Nommo Award win! Suyi's work is amazing and you should read all of it.

Spotlight: 2025 Nommo Award winners The ASFS announced this year’s winners at the Aké Arts & Book Festival in Lagos. The awards celebrate exceptional talent in African speculative fiction across four categories. #AfricanSFF 🪐📚💙

“Lost Ark Dreaming” by @suyidavies.com won the 2025 Nommo Award for Best Novella. 🔗 torpublishinggroup.com/lost-ark-dre...

Massive congrats winners of the 2025 Nommo Awards! Best Novel: Womb City by Tlotlo Tsamaase @tlotlotsamaase.bsky.social Best Novella: Lost Ark Dreaming by Suyi Davies Okungbowa @suyidavies.com Best Short Story: From Across Time by Chisom Umeh @izom-chisom.bsky.social #AfricanSFF 🪐📚💙 #booksky

So the biggest request we got our first time selling Prosper with Dragons was MORE LORE! Well, we've got you covered! We'll have some great story to accompany this gorgeous art soon! In the meantime, you can support real artisits and creatives by grabbing a game: www.kickstarter.com/projects/115...

"We often frame the loss of Indigenous knowledge as a tragedy only for the local communities who held it. But ultimately, the loss is not just theirs to bear, but belongs to the world at large too." aeon.co/essays/gener...

My first book deal, guys!🥹❤️❤️❤️❤️. Thank you to everyone who has read and critiqued over the years. And thank you to @ruadanbooks for giving my book a home. Coming soon in 2026 You can read the full gist here. ruadanbooks.com/author-naomi...

✨ Please join SFWA in celebrating the announcement of our latest Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award: N. K. Jemisin. ✨ Learn more here about @nkjemisin.bsky.social, the Grand Master Award, and how the work goes on after the accolades for all we've already done: www.sfwa.org/2025/11/16/p...

“Don’t let the bastards grind you down. I love you all.”

Happy Book Birthday! One year today! 🍾🥂 @bloomsburyacad.bsky.social, @aniyonsenga.bsky.social, @nerinedorman.bsky.social, @nuzo.bsky.social, @shingai-be-like.bsky.social, @stephenembleton.bsky.social, @suyidavies.com, @tobiogundiran.com, @xanwriter.bsky.social www.bloomsbury.com/au/afrocente...

"Consider the contemporary cannibal as metaphor. There’s a long artistic tradition of using physical appetite to symbolise emotional appetite...be it wanting to exploit, wanting to enact revenge, or wanting as loving desire." @wenyilee.bsky.social reactormag.com/tender-is-th...

Best fictional band ever, if you ask me.

ever since I learned about three-cueing I've developed infinitely more patience for replies on social media. mfers literally do not know how to read. people are walking around conjuring random meanings into words they don't know, and they don't know a lot of words. it's crazy

The number of messages I've failed to respond to this year must be a personal record. If I never* responded to you, I apologize. *chances are that I still might, but you maybe want to take that with a grain of salt, lol.

@niadavenport.bsky.social has been an incredible part of the SSF community. She's someone who has helped many others, including myself. Please donate, if you can, to help her and her family through this awful loss. www.gofundme.com/f/support-ni...

SFF author Nia Davenport has tragically lost her husband; please consider contributing to her GoFundMe www.gofundme.com/f/support-ni...

Process > product.

"The AI industry’s most important product at this moment is not a chatbot or a video generator; it’s the story the AI industry is telling about itself." www.theringer.com/2025/11/04/t...

The Treasury of British Comics Annual is out on the 12th November, featuring MYTEK THE MIGHTY, by: 📝 Script: @suyidavies.com ✏️ Pencils: @neocomicart.bsky.social 🎨 Colours: Barbara Nosenzo 🗨️ Letters: Jonathan Stevenson Available to pre-order now: https://bit.ly/44E9Eib