@kateelliottsff.bsky.social and Suzan Palumbo discuss their works in a new bonus piece at Speculative Insight! www.speculativeinsight.com/extras Reimagining Alexander the Great and The Count of Monte Cristo in space, as women.

🎧 NEW PODCAST TO PUT IN YOUR EARS. 🎧 In this month’s Critical Friends, @kateem.bsky.social and Duncan Lawie talk about reading writers with back catalogues: how to start, how to you think about them, what to do when they publish another new book? On oeuvres (with apologies to the French language):

This week #GUFF delegate @effjayem.bsky.social is in Brisbane, testing out the tourism. This is the view from Kangaroo point.

@kateelliottsff.bsky.social and Suzan Palumbo discuss their works in a new bonus piece at Speculative Insight! www.speculativeinsight.com/extras Reimagining Alexander the Great and The Count of Monte Cristo in space, as women.

ICYMI, a new issue of Salon Futura went live last night

Dear USA, are you after a summer read full of scrambling shenanigans, but also kinda angry? Maybe a queer romance cherry on top? Been thinking of picking up NOTORIOUS SORCERER for these or other excellent reasons? Available digitally for $2.99 today (1st June) only! (Amazon, Kobo, maybe others!)

Sneaking this announcement out before the weekend: We are pleased to announce the ToC and share the cover for We're Here: The Best Queer Speculative Fiction 2025! www.neonhemlock.com/news/cover-r...

I had a very fun time having this chat with Kate about gender flipped space operas. Kate's career is inspiring for me so I'm very lucky I got to do this with her! Thanks for having me/ us, Speculative Insight Journal!

2026 Locus Awards Winners locusmag.com/2026/05...

@kateelliottsff.bsky.social and Suzan Palumbo discuss their works in a new bonus piece at Speculative Insight! www.speculativeinsight.com/extras Reimagining Alexander the Great and The Count of Monte Cristo in space, as women.

@kateelliottsff.bsky.social and Suzan Palumbo discuss their works in a new bonus piece at Speculative Insight! www.speculativeinsight.com/extras Reimagining Alexander the Great and The Count of Monte Cristo in space, as women.

@kateelliottsff.bsky.social and Suzan Palumbo discuss their works in a new bonus piece at Speculative Insight! www.speculativeinsight.com/extras Reimagining Alexander the Great and The Count of Monte Cristo in space, as women.

@kateelliottsff.bsky.social and Suzan Palumbo discuss their works in a new bonus piece at Speculative Insight! www.speculativeinsight.com/extras Alexander the Great and The Count of Monte Cristo in spaaaaaace... and gender-flipped...

@kateelliottsff.bsky.social and Suzan Palumbo discuss their works in a new bonus piece at Speculative Insight! www.speculativeinsight.com/extras Reimagining Alexander the Great and The Count of Monte Cristo in space, as women.

@kateelliottsff.bsky.social and Suzan Palumbo discuss their works in a new bonus piece at Speculative Insight! www.speculativeinsight.com/extras Alexander the Great and The Count of Monte Cristo in spaaaaaace... and gender-flipped...

And I got to meet the publisher and the artist of @scyllapublishing.bsky.social ! I’m feeling very smug!

@kateelliottsff.bsky.social and Suzan Palumbo discuss their works in a new bonus piece at Speculative Insight! www.speculativeinsight.com/extras Why Alexander, and why The Count of Monte Cristo? Why space opera? Come find out...

@kateelliottsff.bsky.social and Suzan Palumbo discuss their works in a new bonus piece at Speculative Insight! www.speculativeinsight.com/extras Alexander the Great and The Count of Monte Cristo in spaaaaaace... and gender-flipped...

@kateelliottsff.bsky.social and Suzan Palumbo discuss their works in a new bonus piece at Speculative Insight! www.speculativeinsight.com/extras Why Alexander, and why The Count of Monte Cristo? Why space opera? Come find out...

Perth, I have arrived. Time for #swancon !

The Shirley Jackson Award nominees have been announced! Massive congrats to everyone on the list - and especially Aussies @angelaslatter.bsky.social and @kaaronwarren.bsky.social! www.shirleyjacksonawards.org/2026/05/28/n... #OceaniaSFF #AustralianSFF

Question for not-Aussies. Is there an org you know of that is specifically concerned with looking after the families of deceased veterans? Not government assistance, but an org that will help with Life Stuff.

@kateelliottsff.bsky.social and Suzan Palumbo discuss their works in a new bonus piece at Speculative Insight! www.speculativeinsight.com/extras Why Alexander, and why The Count of Monte Cristo? Why space opera? Come find out...

... I'm one of many SFF fans in the Southern Hemisphere who would love to see an in-person Worldcon Down Under, for the first time in 18 years. #AustralasianSFF #brisbanein28 #meanjinin28 #worldcon

Time to meet one of our co-chairs: Jo Van! I live in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand. Toitū te Tiriti. I'm one of the Co-chairs of the Brisbane in 28 Worldcon Bid. I was part of the CoNZealand team in 2020, when the con had to go entirely virtual due to the pandemic. ...

154. The Secrets of Wishtide, by Kate Saunders My sympathies lie more with the demi-monde than the upper ten-thousand...

New writing prize! For "an outstanding unpublished manuscript by an emerging Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander writer" - AUD$10,000 sponsored by Simon & Schuster Australia and ms development with a First Nations editor. www.simonandschuster.com.au/p/BundyiAUPr...

ICYMI

"Through speculative storytelling, writers reconstruct stolen pasts and embed them within visions of alternative futures, refusing the idea that Black history ends in dispossession..." Subscribe to read Praise Afolabi's essay now: AUD30/year (~USD21 or GBP16) www.speculaiveinsight.com/subs

In this new subscriber essay, Praise Afolabi explores the ways in which Afro- & Africanfuturist texts present & use collective memory, from Octavia E Butler to Samuel Delany & Nnedi Okorafor. Subscribe for AUD30/year (~USD21 / GBP16) and get an extra essay a month: www.speculativeinsight.com/subs

ICYMI

This one is a departure: instead of rereading a book that at least one of us knows by heart, we are reading an early DWJ novella that neither of us had ever encountered before. So please enjoy watching your friendly neighbourhood podcast hosts losing their minds in real time.

I am still reeling from the surprise and joy. So, this happened. Wolf's Path is an award finalist for Best Collection in the 2026 British Fantasy Awards. Many grateful thanks to @atthisarts.com and @britfantasysoc.bsky.social ❤️

And she just started reading the third one.

@jolantru.bsky.social ! @genni.bsky.social !

How Afro- and Africanfuturist texts use and re-imagine the past, for the future, is explored in this new essay from Praise Afolabi. Subscribe now to read it for AUD30/yr (~USD21 or GBP16) www.speculativeinsight.com/subs

"Through speculative storytelling, writers reconstruct stolen pasts and embed them within visions of alternative futures, refusing the idea that Black history ends in dispossession..." Subscribe to read Praise Afolabi's essay now: AUD30/year (~USD21 or GBP16) www.speculaiveinsight.com/subs

First published in January 2024 as a subscriber essay, it's by @joanneanderton.bsky.social (who has a new novel out, did you know? joanneanderton.com/wordpress/no... )

What better way to mark a new #Murderbot novel from @marthawells.com than launching our From the Vault series? First published in January 2024, you can read about why Murderbot binges media here: www.speculativeinsight.com/from-the-vault/nice-safe-emotions

In this new subscriber essay, Praise Afolabi explores the ways in which Afro- and Africanfuturist texts present & use the idea of collective memory. Subscribe for AUD30/year (~USD21 / GBP16) and get an extra essay a month: www.speculativeinsight.com/subs

It's not 1536, but Anne Boleyn has taken over the news. Recently a team of computer scientists, electrical engineers and a historical novelist think they have discovered the “true face” of Anne (& her mother) by applying AI-based computational facial recognition to Holbein sketches. The catch? /1

AND THEN I also read Book 2 of The Lord of the Rings! Which I still loved! randomalex.net/2026/05/21/l...

Praise Afolabi considers how Afro- & Africanfuturist texts think about the past and the future in this new essay - and why history is vital... Subscribe to read: AUD30/yr (~GBP16 / USD21) to read this and an extra essay every month. www.speculativeinsight.com/subs

In this new subscriber essay, Praise Afolabi explores the ways in which Afro- and Africanfuturist texts present & use the idea of collective memory. Subscribe for AUD30/year (~USD21 / GBP16) and get an extra essay a month: www.speculativeinsight.com/subs

The boundaries are thin at Niarbyl Bay. Ben and Lilly Duffy are about to cross them. 'First Contact' written by me and part of the new Sheridan Tapes season, crowdfunding now!

... Love the Arts precinct at Southbank with the galleries and State Library. Love the Yeronga Bakery because they have excellent neenish tarts. #AustralasianSFF #meanjinin28 #brisbanein28

Meet @angelaslatter.bsky.social! Based in Brisbane, Slatter's work runs the gamut from contemporary horror to folk horror to gothic fantasy and fairytales. Recurring themes are the position of women in society, female agency, redemption, recovery, sisterhood, revelation of long-buried secrets.

In this new subscriber essay, Praise Afolabi explores how Afro- and Africanfuturist texts present & use the idea of collective memory Subscribe for AUD30/year (~USD21 / GBP16) and get an extra essay a month: www.speculativeinsight.com/subs

How Afro- and Africanfuturist texts use history and memory for future community and survival is part of what Praise Afolabi explores in this new subscriber-only essay. You can read it now by subscribing for AUD30/yr (~USD21 or GBP16) - go to www.speculativeinsight.com/subs

ICYMI