Thank you to everyone who recommended Sorcery and Small Magics. It was my read on a plane ride. The flight flew by, but I also cried. I mean, tears streaming down my face, crying. That f—ing ending!! I was agog. Highly recommend @orbitbooksuk.bsky.social @maigadoocy.bsky.social

There are a ton of great-looking books coming in 2026, and I've rounded up the ones that I'm looking forward to the most, including space operas, interstellar art heists, unicorns, dinosaurs, and plenty more. Here's the full list: www.andrewliptak.com/sci-fi-fanta...

If verification gets completed today, we *should* announce the 2026 Splatterpunk Awards Ballot (for works published in 2025) by tomorrow evening. Stay tuned.

Anyone read The West Passage by Jared Pechacek? I found it so weird and interesting and want to talk about it! Also any essays or reviews or interviews about it would be good too, there seems to be so little that really engages with it.

I used to enjoy doing author blog interviews.

I awarded ‘prizes’ to my favourite books I read last year, inc: Best of Found Families Best Ensemble of ‘Monsters’ Best Parent Fighting for Their Child Best use of humour to present a horrific thing Best use of a family holiday Best Slow-Burn Reveal Best Questioning of ‘If AI is alive’?

1st 26 read: @cstross.bsky.social’s novella A Conventional Boy. The lore is loring, and I think I need to reread some other works from The Laundry in order to do a review justice. Even if you’re not acquainted with the series, it’s a brilliant tale of what happens when TTRPGs get a little too real.

I last second FOMO’d and luckily @greenmangaming.com had extended the sale on Civ VII. I am a lover of V and VI but I’m not a strategic player so I am curious how I will find the changes in mechanics, and I think they’ve had enough updates to smooth out a lot of the issues.

My brain and Enemies-to-Lovers romance tropes are not natural bedfellows. This constant conflict and straight-to-bad-take-meetings do not give me cosy vibes: they put me on constantly on edge.

I wrote my Sunday Summary late last night as I knew I wouldn’t be able to work on it today. Spoiler for this week: I have DNF’d my current book. Spoiler for next week: I have done @runalongwomble.bsky.social ‘s challenge but it’s literally my latest book… and I have read almost 180 pages today.

SFF I have pre-ordered: City of Others (The DEUS Files)by Jared Poon Apparently, Sir Cameron Needs to Die by Greer Stothers The Apple and the Pearl by Rym Kechacha The Astral Library by Kate Quinn The Rainseekers by Matthew Kressel The Soul-Catchers by Naoko Higashi (translated by Lucy North)

For the love of god, don't make this mistake. If you track your spending, do not check how much you spend on books in 2025 and then look over at your overflowing TBR...

Ok, so the Romantasy I’m reading has a 🌶️🌶️🌶️ spice level, but I wasn't expecting it to call a spade a spade quite as much as it does. Is there a website that notes the spice level of these??

Ebooks are reading. Audiobooks are reading. Graphic novels are reading. Pulp reading is reading. Adults reading YA is reading. It's all good, my friends. Don't let anyone tell you different.

In this Year of Reading, a gentle reminder: The best way to get your kids reading is to let them see *you* reading. The way to *stop* your kids reading is to criticize their choices, or to make reading a competition, or a punishment, or a race, or a learning tool. Let it be fun. Let them read.

I need to work out what's SFF and what's a paperback release but apparently past me has preordered over 50 books, so I must be interested in those 🙈

Now we’re in 2026, I’m looking ahead to what’s coming out this year and I think there are some gaps in my awareness. So, what are you looking forward to in SFF coming in 2026? I’d be extra interested in any good romantasy and in genre-blurry/hard to define fantasy stuff. (My current list for ref)

Call for Reviews and Essays: April 2026

I had such fun discussing the shortlists with Casella, and do not even slightly regret running into the mural with gleeful abandon.

Oh gawd it's January, which means my book is coming out in paperback on the 29th! Waterstones are doing an exclusive edition with red edges, a prequel chapter AND the first chapter of the sequel, The Hoard and can be pre-ordered THUSLY: www.waterstones.com/book/pagans/...

Does anyone have any nominations for Best Parent Fighting for Their Child?

I had a fun time giving awards to most of the books I read last year. What awards would you give out?

🚨99p ebook deal🚨 If you’re in the U.K. Katanasis should be 99p at your favourite retailer. Today only. For that price, I’m sticking in the TBR uk.bookshop.org/p/books/kata...

Over 275 authors, editors, critics and diehard readers came together over the last month to vote on their favorite transfeminine books of the year. It's my honor to present the 2025 TFR Reader's Choice Awards! Congratulations to the winners, and thank you to everyone who voted 🩷

I’ve been sitting on this news for so long I can hardly believe it’s finally ‘out the bag’… If you’ve read the trade press you may already have spotted that @twolinespress.com will be launching in the UK next April! In case you missed it, read here: www.thebookseller.com/news/two-lin...

Do you know the best gadget I have bought this year for reading? Not the Boox Palma, which is a great phone-sized e-ink tablet perfect for ebooks as it has the Google App Store, but a Bluetooth remote that I can use to turn the pages without touching the screen. Game changer for ebooks.

Based on my 2025 reading, I have handed out a bunch of 'best of' awards on my blog. The one with the most 'winners' was Best Questioning of ‘If AI is alive’? I didn't realise that had been a theme in my reading until I made up the category. What are your categories and winners?

Paul Kincaid's reading year: wp.me/p1LlAH-Wb

People of Bluesky, you have been amazing in 2025. I have really enjoyed you company, insight and enthusiasm. Let us do it some more in 2026.

I am reading an enemies-to-lovers romance, and despite my confusion at the deep dive into enemies vibes, I am also smiling at some of the encounters. More silliness in 2026, please.

It's the national year of reading in the uk in 2026. Instead of asking "why don't kids read any more", ask "how can I help them find the stories (and non fic) they will fall in love with". Less "get off my lawn whippersnappers" and more "come, sit on the lawn, here's a comic".

My final blog post of 2025 answers the question: will I blog more in 2026? gavreads.co.uk/2025/12/31/e...

People of Bluesky, you have been amazing in 2025. I have really enjoyed you company, insight and enthusiasm. Let us do it some more in 2026.

EoY 2025: Will I be back in 2026? If you're reading this, we both made it to the end of 2025—well done to us! The blog did too, which feels like a small miracle. Will I be back in 2026? Absolutely. Will I be posting more in 2026? That I’m not so sure about—but I do plan on reading more. What's…

My round-up post needs a graphic from @thestorygraph.com, which i am hoping to generate tomorrow.

Ann is both very smart and very good at what she does. Heed her.

It’s the end of 2025, which means it’s time for me to talk about my favorite books of the year! buttondown.com/singinglight...

Reading, listening, watching and doing in 2025. Onwards.

Round-up post on my 2025. The year in which I left paid academic employment, but still produced quite a lot of academic work. I also wrote some other good stuff. On balance, I think I have survived the transition and plan to build on many fronts next year (more news on which in January) #AcademicSky

There are 5.5 hours left in 2025, but nevertheless I'm going to take the chance that my year's reading is concluded. Here are my best reads of 2025, an idiosyncratic bunch of choices in a year that did not seem to have many big, zeitgeisty books. wrongquestions.blogspot.com/2025/12/2025...

It’s the end of the year! (At last) I look back on my reading year, the stats, the challenges and my favourite reads of 2025! www.runalongtheshelves.net/blog/2025/12...

"Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested; that is, some books are to be read only in parts; others to be read, but not curiously; and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention." Francis Bacon, ever relevant on reading habits.

Well that was fun. Prof Roberts explorers a possible answer to why UFOs are perennially fascinating and yet they don't exist. Or do they, Comrade? There was a slightly farcical element that nearly went too far for my liking but 'nearly' is the operative word there. Enjoyed. 🪐📚💙

Something for every genre lover.

I am having a bit of a pre-New Year clear out, which means: -Emptying my all my wish lists - watching as many saved TikTok videos as I can before just unfavouriting the rest. I do have pre-orders in but I’m trying to let 2026 surprise me.

An historical novelist who can see ghosts…

Can confirm it's on Amazon fr, not sure about the rest

Here we are folks: my Top Five Sci-Fi/Fantasy Books of 2025 - New Releases! Murder mysteries, windswept romances, secret alchemical syndicate wars, and more await! @orbitbooks.bsky.social @sagapressbooks.bsky.social @torbooks.bsky.social

The software I used and the Art I made 🎨

Today's reading. Loving everything about this one - punky tone, exaggerated yet horribly plausible setting, exploration of broken capitalism & its discontents, wonderfully messy characters. Spooky approves of the fact that I'm sitting still for hours to read it.