This is magnificent endeavour and a terrific list of reviewers. Some new to me who I am now following. We need more of this, and not necessarily for award validation but just to spread the word that genre criticism is in the midst of a golden age.

Coming in April: essays by Christopher Priest on his life in writing briardenebooks.uk/product/the-...

The Apple and the Pearl by Rym Kechacha: Review by Niall Harrison locusmag.com/review/...

There's a new Briardene Book coming! The Recollections: Fragments from a Life in Writing by Christopher Priest will be out on 2 April. Read more, and pre-order, here: briardenebooks.uk/2026/02/17/t...

Ok, so now you can read this review, which is the one before that review. Also: really enjoyed this book. locusmag.com/review/the-a...

The Year in Review 2025 by Alexandra Pierce locusmag.com/feature...

Really fine review to start the week from @yukondawn.bsky.social on CF Ramuz, whose Into The Sun has just been reissued by @ndbooks.bsky.social, in a translation by Olivia Baes and Emma Ramadan. “Ramuz’s sentences have the beauty of a beam of sunlight through swirling dust.”

A little something-something I acquired for LARB on Pat Cadigan's SYNNERS and Hollywood execs' dreams of AI content.

The recommended reading list is here, and I'm going to post links to reviews of the titles below, but you can vote for any eligible books (and you can also nominate these titles in other relevant categories, like Best SF Novel or Best First Novel, should you be so moved) locusmag.com/2026/02/2025...

Hopping on the back of this to highlight that the inclusion of Best Translated Novel in the recommended reading list this year means there is now also a Best Translated Novel category in the awards - so go forth and vote! Because if not enough people use the category, it might not be there forever.

Reading this novel in 2006 set me off reading a bunch of other Morris books; and eventually more travel writing in general. And I haven't actually re-read Hav in over a decade, and the combination of this excellent post with the 20th anniversary really, really makes me want to.

Hopping on the back of this to highlight that the inclusion of Best Translated Novel in the recommended reading list this year means there is now also a Best Translated Novel category in the awards - so go forth and vote! Because if not enough people use the category, it might not be there forever.

The Year in Review 2025 by Jake Casella Brookins locusmag.com/feature...

Loved this. Locus review won't be online for a bit, but here's the conclusion.

Hugo nominations are open; our eligible title this year is Paul Kincaid's Colourfields: Writing About Writing About Science Fiction, for Best Related Work

Check out Niall Harrison’s review of THE VILLAGE AT THE EDGE OF NOON by Darya Bobyleva: “it is about how stories can run in parallel, even among groups of good people who work and live closely together for years.”

This review starts and ends with comparison to another book, the review of which isn't online yet; but hopefully the rest of it is readable in isolation locusmag.com/review/the-v...

The Year in Review 2025 by Tim Melody Pratt locusmag.com/feature...

An unexpected detail in On the Calculation of Volume is that it seems to be set in a timeline or at a time when the much-promised, and much-delayed, Newcastle--Bergen passenger ferry route is actually operational.

The minimum word requirement for the Hugo Best Series category is 240,000. Has anyone tried to estimate when On the Calculation of Volume becomes eligible? I don't think it is on the basis of the first three vols; but maybe by the end of this year, when there are five?

Our February link round-up is live!

The Year in Review 2025 by Colleen Mondor locusmag.com/feature...

On the one hand, literary prizes with eligibility windows that don't line up with the calendar year are confusing, especially if their announcement cycle *does* line up with the calendar year. On the other hand, it makes for interesting juxtapositions. climatefictionprize.co.uk/longlist-2026/

The Year in Review 2025 by Ian Mond locusmag.com/feature...

@mondyboy74.bsky.social if it is still the case (per your review of She's Always Hungry) that you haven't read this, I think you might really enjoy it. Pairs interestingly with A Granite Silence in terms of what it's doing with true crime.

The Year in Review 2025 by Gary K. Wolfe locusmag.com/feature...

Happy to see Paul Kincaid's Colourfields: Writing About Writing About Science Fiction on the @locusmag.bsky.social recommended reading list! locusmag.com/2026/02/2025...

Until 14th February, buy every 2026 Honford Star title at a 40% discount. For more info about the 7 exciting new titles👉https://buff.ly/sr6SStq

Here are my thoughts and recommendations after considering the BSFA longlists. Voting closes on 19 Feb, so there is still time to have a look at some more works but I'm pretty firm on my four selections for Best Collection and both Non-Fiction categories and I know the critical conversations I want.

I had been doing ok this year, but thanks to a book event, a couple of pre-orders coming in, and then a trip to York to see friends, I have comprehensively fallen off the wagon

The New Scientist Book Club takes on Annie Bot www.newscientist.com/article/2513...

Welcome to the 2026 Criticism Special Issue! The Brackish Pool: Towards a Critical Practice of Reading Weird Fiction by Zachary Gillan @megapolisomancy.bsky.social Link ⬇️ strangehorizons.com/wordpress/no...

📣 It's here: the 2026 @strangehorizons.bsky.social Criticism Special! 💡 A whole week of critical insight, with a new essay and new review every day. A podcast, a roundtable, an *editorial*. 📚 The weird! Anthropology! Non-anglophone SFF! Plus thoughts on fantasy series, adaptations, film and more.

Very pleased to see Paul Kincaid's Colourfields: Writing About Writing About Science Fiction on the @bsfa.bsky.social longlist for long non-fiction: www.bsfa.co.uk/bsfa-awards-...

🚀 Congratulations to all those longlisted for BSFA Awards! Check out the complete list here 👇and enjoy this celebration of diverse and exciting works! bsfa.co.uk/bsfa-awards-...

Oh my goodness! One of my favorite stories; I’ve been wishing I could reprint it for many years. Glad to see it’ll be available!

Exciting review copy received: The White Desert by Luis López Carrasco trans. Rosalind Harvey (Granta, June)

“Simón López Trujillo’s PEDRO THE VAST (2021, trans. Robin Myers) is a short novel that simmers and then sears...” Niall Harrison reviews new work from Simón López Trujillo

I have not had the writing day I hoped, but I *have* booked several appointments and been for a run, so it's not a total bust.

First time I've managed to get a DOI into a review of a novel locusmag.com/review/pedro...

First time I've managed to get a DOI into a review of a novel locusmag.com/review/pedro...

Now reading the US edition of a novel by a British writer, set in London, in which the characters go to a hospital "emergency room". I will be checking the UK edition when it comes out to see if this irritation is included there.

I think Saraswati is very good, and this review gets at many aspects of its voicing that make it very good, but I don't think it has the novel's relationship with science fiction quite right.

After reading Last Letters From Hav (1985), the new book from acclaimed travel writer Jan Morris, some people wanted to visit Hav. The problem? There was no such place. This week's essay takes a look at this special work of social science fiction.

Farah Mendlesohn's Considering The Female Man by Joanna Russ, or, As the Bear Swore - artist Judith Clute. Out March 31, launch at Eastercon @easterconuk.bsky.social. You can pre-order now, paperback and ebook, in the Luna store and all other retailers. #booksfromscotland @effjayem.bsky.social

Misplaced in Translation: @coimeas.bsky.social looks at the techniques, concerns & connections of Djuna's COUNTERWEIGHT (@pantheonbooks.bsky.social / @vintagebooks.bsky.social, tr. Anton Hur)

"The narration is realist, but this does not detract from the estrangement that it provokes. The narrative proceeds through loops, repetitions, interjections" www.seizethepress.com/2025/03/29/w...

This is why I now stock up on the 1kg bags while they are available at the start of the year. (All mini eggs bags in a given year are best before 31 July of that year.)

Most interesting bit of this (with apologies to Gautam, who was also very good) was Bora Chung talking about how SF has developed in Korea, primarily since the 1980s, with a big upswing since 2018/19 and Kim Choyeop's debut (collection If We Cannot Go At The Speed of Light out in English in March)

Starting now!