Report from Iridescence: The Recollections is launched and Colourfields is a BSFA Award winner! briardenebooks.uk/2026/04/08/r...

Off the back of the 'mantasy' daftness du jour, this is a fab wee state of the market perspective thread 👇🏽

Big news! ARB's first fundraiser is officially live! We're shooting for the very modest goal of $1k, with lots of stretch goals in mind. Your support is of course appreciated, and any help in spreading the word would be wonderful!

Coming up on Argyle Street! Speculative fiction to sci-fi legends, ancient history to modern anxiety, we’ve got something for everyone. 🎟️ Grab your ticket to a fascinating night out at Waterstones.com

This is a very cool thing from a generous publisher - Rabbit Hole books in Korea has published a revised edition of Bora Chung's fantastic novel Red Sword; they asked if they could use a quote from my Locus review, and have now sent me the new edition and some other promotional materials!

Today's book post. And the first line of my @locusmag.bsky.social review: "I turned the last page of the latest installment of Solvej Balle’s rich and resonant On the Calculation of Volume and thought to myself, Tara Selter, you should meet Fitz Wahram." The rest is in the April issue!

This made for an excellent epilogue to Eastercon on the way home

Big night last night! Thrilled that Paul Kincaid's Colourfields won a BSFA Award, and then had a fabulous discussion launching The Recollections with Paul and with Una McCormack. Still in the @easterconuk.bsky.social dealers' room for a couple of hours if you haven't got your copies yet!

We have reached the stage of the convention where my Garmin thinks I have fully exhausted myself and can only muster "do your best today!" as its morning message

Oh hey, we're living in an OK timeline today

Congratulations to Paul! I think the launch for The Recollections (19.30, Sussex) may now be a joint launch and celebration 🎉

Today at 3pm: meet the author! Paul Kincaid will be signing (not singing, autocorrect) copies of his BSFA-shortlisted book Colourfields on the Briardene table in the @easterconuk.bsky.social dealers' room! #eastercon

For @easterconuk.bsky.social attendees who want to buy @drkarenlord.bsky.social, @older.bsky.social, and @annaleen.bsky.social's anthology We Will Rise Again, especially after the excellent panel earlier, @portalbookshop.bsky.social have you covered! the-portal-bookshop.square.site/product/-pre...

Enjoying my bespoke badge ribbon courtesy @chloroformtea.bsky.social

I called a book "slipstream" in last month's column, I see @casella.bsky.social has done it this month, and now @thehubble101.bsky.social has spontaneously used the term during a breakfast conversation at Eastercon. IT'S COMING BACK.

It's @easterconuk.bsky.social time guide.eastercon2026.org/people/0166

You can also find Paul on the panel "Industrial Landscapes in SF and Fantasy" on Saturday morning, and at the @bsfa.bsky.social awards on Sunday at 6, where Colourfields is a finalist!

The Recollections is out tomorrow! We'll be at @easterconuk.bsky.social over the weekend; find us in the dealers' room, or join us for the official launch on Sunday at 19.30, when Paul Kincaid and @unamccormack.bsky.social will be in discussion about the book

Bought mine today. Go thou and do likewise. It captures CP's voice so well. Some of the pieces I had already, some were new to me, but overall a compelling deep dive into his life, work and attitudes to writing. That he cared, deeply and genuinely, about good writing is the main takeaway.

Publication day! The Recollections by Christopher Priest is out today. Get your copy from our website or in other places where books are sold. briardenebooks.uk/product/the-...

If you're travelling to EasterCon and want something to read, I've individually reviewed all of the books on the shortlist for the BSFA Award Best Novel of 2025. I'll thread them here (but they're also in the linktree in my bio). Beginning with E. J. Swift's When There Are Wolves Again. (1/-)

Great piece on Cameron Reed's What We Are Seeking: www.newyorker.com/books/under-...

This month Locus let me go on about Solvej Balle's Calculation of Volume (nominally book IV, but actually the whole thing), which everyone should be reading; John Chu's The Subtle Art of Folding Space, which I really enjoyed; and Sylvain Neuvel's The Many, which is also in the column.

John Clute, perhaps somewhat unexpectedly, on Jack Reacher: open.substack.com/pub/encyclop...

US readers, When There Are Wolves Again is the best science fiction novel of 2025.

It's all award nomination deadlines all the time at the moment

Presenting the shortlist for the #InternationalBooker2026, supported by Bukhman Philanthropies. Find out more about the books, authors and translators: thebookerprizes.com/ibp2026

The Recollections isn't the only upcoming Priest book - at the time of his death he was working on a biography of JG Ballard, which Nina Allan has completed. @waterstonesargyle.bsky.social in Glasgow will be hosting a discussion of both on 23 April - tickets here: www.waterstones.com/events/a-cel...

Reports that The Prestige is available on iPlayer for the next month to tie in with the release of The Recollections, which contains Priest's long essay "The Magic" about the adaptation, may be exaggerated, but available it is, so you should probably take advantage briardenebooks.uk/product/the-...

The new @strangehorizons.bsky.social special issue on Fungi in SFF is out! A mycelial network of stories, poetry, essays and reviews. Read the special issue here: strangehorizons.com/wordpress/is... And my introduction to it here: strangehorizons.com/wordpress/no...

"I hate being thought so little of that I must be talked down to, that I must have the message repeated to me three times until it sticks. Not just for my pride, but for what it says about the author’s approach to fiction (and ours generally, as an ecosystem that lauds these books)."

"I have a lingering suspicion that many people who read books about SF aren’t really looking for an introduction to the field so much as for a good fight" locusmag.com/review/trace...

Nice discussion of The Recollections as part of the latest Outlaw Bookseller video (starts at about 07.20). youtu.be/mQP6NdiGP8Q?...

Seems to me that genre-related non fiction is starting off 2026 pretty strong

Next question: the English translations began in 2024, so is Solvej Balle eligible for the Astounding Award?

Lots to chew on in here, including the novel's relationship to Banksian SF, and indeed the place of Banksian SF in the contemporary field overall.

Latest in the "when is it climate fiction / literary realism / science fiction" debate. Also just a very fun and lively read, I raced through this when I read it. locusmag.com/review/short...

Latest in the "when is it climate fiction / literary realism / science fiction" debate. Also just a very fun and lively read, I raced through this when I read it. locusmag.com/review/short...

One week to launch! Finished copies of The Recollections are in, and pre-orders have started to go out. Get yours from the Briardene shop. briardenebooks.uk/product/the-...

The Misheard World by Aliya Whiteley: Review by Ian Mond locusmag.com/review/...

Not long now! The Recollections is out next week. Pre-order from our website, including an option to collect at @easterconuk.bsky.social if you're going to be there (and if you are, we have a launch event at 19.30 on Sunday evening!) briardenebooks.uk/product/the-...

NEWS: The Otherwise Award is pleased to announce the winner of the 2025 Award: the novel "Luminous" by Silvia Park @silviapark.bsky.social Read about the winner, the Honor List and Long List at otherwiseaward.org/2026/03/anno...

The Iron Garden Sutra by A.D. Sui: Review by Niall Harrison locusmag.com/review/...

Happy 80th birthday to @garykwolfe.bsky.social. One of the great critical careers, telling the story of SF and fantasy for over thirty years now.

Introducing Found in Translation: a new column at Reactor focusing on science fiction, fantasy, and horror in translation! Our first installment brings in author @hachepueyo.bsky.social to discuss Hiroko Oyamada's surrealist novella The Factory!

Happy 80th birthday to @garykwolfe.bsky.social. One of the great critical careers, telling the story of SF and fantasy for over thirty years now.

Christopher Caldwell Wins Crawford Award

A reminder that Foundation is publishing a special autumn issue on pulp sf to mark the centenary of Amazing Stories. We'd love to have your essays (the deadline is potentially negotiable). call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2025/08/...