I finished reading the transcript of the wonderful Critical Friends podcast @strangehorizons.bsky.social (strangehorizons.com/wordpress/po...) featuring @readingtheend.bsky.social, @danhartland.bsky.social and @anushreenande.bsky.social. There's a lot in here to think about.

what's happening why are we talking about mantasy

I don’t know. You do a podcast about romantasy and suddenly everyone’s on to the next big thing. @readingtheend.bsky.social on “mantasy” avant la lettre: “sexism is always in play when people talk about romance because it's perceived as a girl genre, which isn’t true, of course.”

Excellent read! 👇 (There's a transcript, thank god, for those of us who can't focus on audio.)

So I took all of 90 minutes or so to repost this, and it’s already smashed its goal. Which, y’know: fully deserved. ARB is a spearhead of the spec-fic criticism (and therefore, criticism period) renaissance, and its readers obviously value that. So. Let’s get them to their stretch goals, yes? Yes!

Incisive, economical review by Kyle R. Garton here, of a really interesting alt.history fantasy romance from Wen-yi Lee: "The book’s lushly realized, immersive world allows the reader not only to feel the varied textures of the city but to think critically about it."

This was so interesting! I had not considered before @readingtheend.bsky.social’s very true point that the cosies do tend to have more queer pairings. And I do love the thought of bringing in readers new to the genre.

This was really interesting, and I'd add to this, if you're interested in that kind of thing, this 2024 article from Uncanny: www.uncannymagazine.com/article/roma...

people love having me on podcasts because I say sexy, SEO-optimized remarks like "none of this is new" and answer all their questions with "it depends"

@danhartland.bsky.social and @readingtheend.bsky.social made recording this such a nerves-free experience for me! You can listen to our chat below. #booksky #romance #romantasy

Because I don't read romantasy, I try to get my hands on every discussion of it that I can. And I was super happy to listed to Dan, @anushreenande.bsky.social, and @readingtheend.bsky.social teach me a bunch. One thing I'd love to see ppl discuss is the women sff authors of the 1960s/1970s who...

the quest for the hermesmooshic circle continues

🎙️NEW CRITICAL FRIENDS JUST DROPPED🎙️ I sit down with the @anushreenande.bsky.social and @readingtheend.bsky.social to think critically about romantasy, in my case from outside looking in - and also to consider with scepticism the critical response to it. Lots to dig into that isn’t dug enough atm.

My review of Joy Sanchez-Taylor's Dispelling Fantasy: Authors of Color Reimagine a Genre is up at Strange Horizons: 'this book makes a compelling case for dispelling fantasy and I recommend both it and the fiction it discusses to readers who want to move on from the outdated norms of the past'

This shortlist was really good, so Paul has won out in a very strong field. Congratulations to him - and to @briardenebooks.bsky.social, for whom this is the third of their books to be shortlisted in consecutive years, and the second to win. You can read @shinjinidey.bsky.social on the book in SH.

Final review of the week sees the welcome return of Nileena Sunil to SH, writing about the work of Brionni Nwosu, and on fiction's approach to the "deal with the devil".

This is not a joke. Thyme Travellers: An Anthology of Palestinian Speculative Fiction will be an ongoing series! And we’re open to submissions for the second volume starting today: soniasulaiman.com/thyme-travel...

Nice review of Rose Biggin's Make-Believe and Artifice in @strangehorizons.bsky.social by @williamshaw.bsky.social - and not just because it tags me and @runalongwomble.bsky.social in! Honestly, this is a really good collection that you'll enjoy.

“Reading Make-Believe and Artifice, the new short story collection by Rose Biggin, I often found myself thinking about confectionary.” @williamshaw.bsky.social is always especially essential on short fiction. Here he is on Rose Biggin’s collection from NewCon Press.

Very excited to get my copy of the newest from @briardenebooks.bsky.social

Official fundraiser announcement: it's kicking off April 8! Shares appreciated!

You should be paying attention to @strangehorizons.bsky.social this week, since it's our special issue on fungi. ("Perhaps all speculative fiction is just looking for "a shortcut to mushrooms'!" suggests @gautambhatia88.bsky.social.) There is fiction, poetry, nonfiction. There are mushrooms.

Eric Primm figuring out Charlotte Bicks figuring out Stephen King: "While she analyzes each of the five selected works individually, she also personalizes each analysis. I found this engaging: King’s writings have been with me through my life, too." A nonfiction review by a fiction reader:

Wednesday’s review is from @alexyquest.bsky.social, on AD Sui’s The Iron Garden Sutra (@erewhonbooks.bsky.social), which “manages to weave poignant relationships and psychological realism into a gripping thriller.” Some proper genre-mashing here.

Over at @strangehorizons.bsky.social today, @daviddaviddavid.com on the @lambdaliterary.org nominated Beings by Ilana Masad, a novel that presents “an experience any queer reader can instinctually recognise: the fear of recognition alongside the need for it.”

The best kind of mail; thank you @theignyteawards.bsky.social.

Can we take a moment to admire Briardene Books? Four years, four books, all impeccably edited and full of chewy, insightful SFF criticism (full disclosure, one of them is mine). And all with absolute banger covers by Tom Joyes.

Close out the reviews week at SH with Electra Pritchett on Veronica Roth: "If you think of the genre as a whole, Polish-inspired fantasy isn’t a particularly robust category (particularly if you set aside The Witcher series). Roth seems to have struck a rich vein of inspiration for these books."

A new INTERNOVA: INTERNATIONAL SCIENCE FICTION! This issue focuses on German SF internova.worldculturehub.net #SFinTranslation

New @strangehorizons.bsky.social column just up! Spec Fic and the Politics of Identity - The Call of Sauúti. 💞 @sauutiverse.bsky.social , @flametree.bsky.social , @meerkatpress.bsky.social #sauuti strangehorizons.com/wordpress/no...

ARB fundraiser, coming soon! We'd love your support in taking the magazine to the next level, and just spreading the word helps a ton!

This from @amritesh.bsky.social places Hendrix in the context of post-1970s horror, as well as the ongoing fight for women's bodily autonomy which animates the plot of his latest. "Witchcraft for Wayward Girls sits at that uncomfortable intersection where past and present collapse into each other."

There is a great line in this review about the future: 'In Clarke, we had the anticipation of the future and wonder at the universe. There is no “future” in Crisis at Proxima to wonder at, or fear.' Basically the future is not to be found in 21C Clarkean SF; it's elsewhere.

Really interesting review to start the week at SH: Andy Sawyer on Crisis At Proxima from @baenbooks.bsky.social. Andy didn't love the book, but he reads it sympathetically - he tries to understand what books like this attract a readership. And in that effort, he uncovers what works against it.

"In recent times, there is an ever-present temptation to human-wash the fae, to attribute to them human emotions and appearance and nature. I’m happy to report that this book makes no such attempt." @anushreenande.bsky.social on Reena McCarty for Strange Horizons.

Belatedly and delightedly caught up on this exceptional discussion of style in science fiction from @strangehorizons.bsky.social / @danhartland.bsky.social . Great stuff. (props for including a transcript; I didn't have to stop walking every five minutes to take note of my new favourite bon mot.)

@p-bhatt.bsky.social is raising funds for HIV and aging and eldercare services! A worthy cause! www.charityvest.org/community-fu...

Love me a review of the final volume in a series, but it can be a tough ask for a reviewer. Who do you call for so intrepid a critical task? You call @chloroformtea.bsky.social. "The thing about politics in the novel is … it’s just people. Bethany Jacobs has grasped this in the Kindom Trilogy."

Just finished my contributor copy of @wasafirimag.bsky.social 125. The editorial says my story is “a delightfully hybrid mix of colonial languages (English and French) telling a distinctly W. African story” Here's some of my messy process

As ever, a great listen. Especially glad to hear @dickowalexander.bsky.social speak more about French SF, which as he mentions he looked at for the recent SH Criticism Special - a great essay which I commend to you, especially on the subject of the different SFs available to us.

First review of the week @ SH is a lot more besides. Pieces by @octavia-cade.bsky.social are always worth stopping for, but - really - this one is urgently good. “There’s only so much empathy that can be felt before it does become exhausting, and we harden ourselves so easily.” On warning fatigue:

Thanks to @johncoxon.bsky.social of @octothorpecast.bsky.social for his contribution at the close of the latest podcast. In our last episode, @tristanbeiter.bsky.social and co discussed the space for criticism in fandom. I was curious for a second opinion. Critical Friends: it's for conversation.

Some very good work on this list. And my book! locusmag.com/2026/03/2025...

Good thoughts here. @yukondawn.bsky.social says something similar in the latest Critical Friends: “anything that has a really distinctive style that’s so noticeable to the reader is polarizing, right? So readers will love it or hate it, but it’s a strong flavor.”

Closing out the week with Tina S. Zhu on The Valley of Vengeful Ghosts by Kim Fu (@tinhouse.bsky.social). "Many of Fu's stories revolve around real and imagined technologies’ effects on how people connect with each other. The story here is not an exception to this trend in Fu’s work."

In this first of two essays, Amritesh Mukherjee gives an overview of Indian feminist SF - starting in 1905, with _Sultana's Dream_, then jumping to the 1980s, and following several themes over the next three decades... Read now! It's free ! www.speculativeinsight.com

decided it’s my new mission to make Ducks, Newburyport a Mother’s Day staple gift, much like the egg of Easter

I enoyed this, on 'science fiction's difficult relationship with style', and SF reviewers tackling -- or avoiding -- the question of style. The 'plainness' that was a white, male, American voice (even when the writers weren't). Is talking about style as easy as ... what engages you, how you feel?