Expanding the Universe, Literally: John Scalzi – The Last Colony I did not expect this to happen. Sure, some part of me intended to read as many of the Best Series Hugo Award finalists this year as possible, but I didn't think I'd just dive into my first series and just... keep going. Yet here I…

Fun With Clones… in Space: John Scalzi – The Ghost Brigades Okay, it's been a minute since I read Old Man's War, so I was not exactly on the up and up when it cames to the world building for John Scalzi's longest series. But as it's a finalist for this year's Best Series Hugo Award and I thought…

Underwhelming on Every Level: Annalee Newitzi – Automatic Noodle I was so pumped for this novella with the brightly colored cover and a premise that would make any cozy SFF reader's heart soar. As a long-time fan of Annalee Newitz's non-fiction/podcast work, I was certain I would love this. Sadly,…

Welcome to Planet Soundscape Horror: Adrian Tchaikovsky – Shroud Ah, Adrian Tchaikovsky. He certainly has a type, doesn't he? Weird planets with... interesting types of life, usually not super hospitable to humans. I am far from having read everything the author has written (he's prolific), but I…

Capitalism Sucks Even With Magic: Jordan Ifueko – The Genie Game If I told you this was a Middle Grade novel that feels like a Black Mirror episode, but in a fun way, would you believe me? Because that is the best way I can put it. Jordan Ifueko managed to boil down capitalism into a fast-paced,…

#WyrdAndWonder26 Fantastic Fives: Transformations It's time for me to join this year's Wyrd and Wonder for some wonderful and weird reads, prompts, and other fun activities. Moon magic by Varvara Gorbash TRANSFORMATIONS This prompt is about tales of change, not shapeshifters (those come later in…

Orilium Magical Readathon Spring Equinox 2026: Wrap-Up Phew! We made it through another semester at Orilium Academy and, this time, we're pursuing a Higher Calling. I didn't think I would have as much fun as I did, but I was very lucky when it came to the books I picked up. Also, thanks again to…

The State of SFF – May 2026 Welcome to May, everyone. The Orilium Magical Readathon is over, and this marks the beginning of Wyrd & Wonder. I don't know about you, but I love monthly reading events, whether I'm participating or not. And for me, May is also the beginning of the period in which I…

What a Wild Ride: Fonda Lee – The Last Contract of Isako I don't want to sound surprised, because I'm not, but Fonda Lee's new standalone corporate espionage in space, with peacoat-wearing samurai who follow a Code, was absolutely stunning. The short recommendation is: If you liked the Green Bone…

A Very Ghostly Cinderella: Freya Marske – Cinder House And thus begins my read-through of this year's Hugo Award finalists, starting with the novella category, simply because it fit really well with my readathon prompts. I had three novellas left to go and this fairy tale retelling sounded like…

Excellent Start, Then Fizzles Out: Naomi Novik – The Summer War I didn't really expect any of the Best Novella finalists in this year's Hugo Award to topple The River Has Roots in my ranking, but this one by Naomi Novik at least had similar vibes and themes and was also set on the edge of the…

The Art of Drawing Creepy Crawlies: T. Kingfisher – Wolf Worm By now, everybody knows and loves T. Kingfisher and for very good reason. But - and I said this in my review of Snake-Eater which I loved way more than I anticipated - we all have favorite Kingfisher sub-genres. The woman is prolific! I…

I Can’t Believe This is a Debut: Cameron Sullivan – The Red Winter I stumbled across this book first because Alix E. Harrow recommended it on her Instagram. It already sounded like something I might like, then the cover got me even more interested, and when I heard there were footnotes, it was all…

My Thoughts on The Hugo Award Finalists 2026 It's that time again. Took a while this year, but here we are. Congratulations to the Hugo Award Finalists 2026!!! As always I'm going to talk a little bit about the categories that I care most about and let others discuss the rest. The entire list of…

(53/55) Lodestar Award Finalists for Best YA Book 💫 (cont.) Oathbound by Tracy Deonn (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers) Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins (Scholastic Press) They Bloom at Night by Trang Thanh Tran (Bloomsbury US; Bloomsbury UK)

(52/55) Lodestar Award Finalists for Best YA Book 💫 Among Ghosts by Rachel Hartman rachelhartmanbooks.com (Random House Books for Young Readers) Coffeeshop in an Alternate Universe by C.B. Lee (Feiwel & Friends) Holy Terrors by Margaret Owen @what-eats-owls.bsky.social (Henry Holt; Hodderscape UK)

(29/55) Best Professional Artist 🚀 Lulu Chen Kelly Chong @afterblossom.bsky.social Dave Kellett @davekellett.bsky.social Tran Nguyen @mynameistran.bsky.social John Picacio @johnpicacio.bsky.social Tom Roberts

(47/55 ) Best Fancast 🚀 (cont. 2) Worldbuilding for Masochists @worldbuildcast.bsky.social, presented by Marshall Ryan Maresca mrmaresca.com, Cass Morris cassmorriswrites.com, and Natania Barron

(46/55) Best Fancast 🚀 (cont.) Octothorpe @octothorpecast.bsky.social, presented by @johncoxon.bsky.social, Alison Scott, and Liz Batty The Coode Street Podcast, presented by Jonathan Strahan and @garykwolfe.bsky.social

We’ll be revealing the finalists for the 2026 Hugo Awards right here in just one hour! If you want to vote on the Hugo Awards this year, information about registration is available at lacon.org/register.

Orilium Magical Readathon: Week 3 Check-In Look at how time flies when you're having fun. I have to say, I was a bit worried that the Higher Calling and its narrow prompt theme would leave me bored after a while, but my TBR is large enough to offer some variety even within the subgenres of…

guys, this is how you lose the time war

Tune in right here on April 21 at 10 a.m. Pacific Time to find out who the finalists are for the 2026 Hugo Awards for Science Fiction.

A Perfectly Cozy Regency Faerie Romance: Olivia Atwater – Ten Thousand Stitches When I read Half a Soul by this author in 2023 (jeez, it does not feel that long ago), I was pleasantly surprised by pretty much everything about it. I went in with no particular expectations and got a delightful fairy…

Orilium Magical Readathon: Week 2 Check-In Another readathon week is over and it's time to check in on my progress. If I want to become a Mythologist in just one year, I'll need to get a move on. I would kind of like to do that, but if it takes me two years, that is perfectly fine. One year is…

After The War Is Another Type of War: Tochi Onyebuchi – Rebel Sisters It's been too long since I read the first book in this duology, War Girls, which was my first Tochi Onyebuchi book ever. I have since become something of a fan of the author, even though I believe he is too smart for me to fully…

Better Than a Gatsby Party: Nghi Vo – The Chosen and the Beautiful Nghi Vo is such a treasure. I may have first fallen in love with her Singing Hills Cycle novellas, but I've been meaning to read her novels ever since The Empress of Salt and Fortune. When I didn't love Siren Queen, that made me…

Orilium Magical Readathon: Week 1 Check-In Here we are, (almost) one week into my favorite readathon on the interwebs, and I'd like to do a little check-in post to see where we stand, whether I'm on track for reaching my goals, what's going on with the book club read, and so on. STATS At this…

Rapunzel, Meet Aladdin: Sarah Pinborough – Magic A long, long time ago, I read three little books that played around with fairy tales, mashed them up, put them together in new and interesting ways, and added a little bit of spice. At that time, Romantasy wasn't a thing and the few smutty scenes…

The State of SFF – April 2026 We are back on track, this post is going up on the first of the month, just how I like it and we have news, everyone. Awards, adaptations, new books, there's a little bit of everything. And although I'm sure there are bad things happening in the book world, too, I…

Let’s Give Them Hell: Leigh Bardugo – Hell Bent This book prompted me to ask my partner why I sometimes did that thing where I love a book so much, eagerly wait for the sequel, and then let that sequel sit on my shelves unread for a criminal amount of time for no sensible reason. I do have…

Orilium Readathon: Spring Equinox 2026 – Higher Callings and my TBR We're back in the magical world of Aeldia and G. has come up with something new and shiny for us graduates of Orilium Academy. I briefly thought about starting a brand new career with my character Sistani, but now that there is a…

A Glimpse Into the Past of the Clans: Fonda Lee – Jade Shards Yeah yeah, so I wasn't quite ready to let go of the Green Bone Saga, even though I finally finished the trilogy in January. I had almost forgotten about this little gem of a short story collection set in the Green Bone Universe. So…

Mini Reviews: Two Novellas and a DNF Novellas usually go one of two ways with me. Either I have so much to say about it that it warrants a full review - that could be either because I loved or hated it, mind you - or it's just the kind of easy to digest, nothing to write home about, but mostly…

My First Favorite of the Year: Shen Tao – The Poet Empress I love it when a year begins not only with a great book, but a breathtaking debut. The Poet Empress garnered rave reviews prior to its publication in January, and having now finished it, I can see why. Let me join my voice to those singing…

Now We’re Talking: V. E. Schwab – Vengeful My history with V. E. Schwab is... strained. I love some of her books, find others vastly overrated, and the Villains series was the last one of hers I wanted to give a try before I gave up on her completely. I found the first book a bit shallow, with…

The Cozy Horror I Didn’t Know I Needed: T. Kingfisher – Snake-Eater You can't ever really go wrong with a T. Kingfisher book, but us fans of hers definitely have our favorite corners. Some gravitate heavily towards the romances (I love them), some prefer the fairy tale retellings (love those,…

The State of SFF – March 2026 Well, there goes February. If a month passes without me being sick, you can bet that my kid will be. Life is very busy at the moment, which is why this post is late and a little sparse. I hope to get back on track with both posting and especially my reading during…

2 Cottage, 2 Twee: Jessie Sylva – How to Lose a Goblin in Ten Days I was so hyped for this novel. It promised to be a Hobbit-ified romcom, a cozy enemies-to-lovers roomate romance, filled with banter and silly pranks, and set in a world that has Halflings and Goblins. So really, what's not to…

Shouldn’t Work, But Does: Antonia Hodgson – The Raven Scholar Easily one of the buzziest books of 2025, The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson promised to combine a lot of tropes within only one story that, technically, shouldn't have worked together but ended up meshing really well. I thought for…

A Powerful Trilogy: Nnedi Okorafor – She Who Knows, One Way Witch, The Daughter Who Remains Readers are weird sometimes. I actually received a hardback copy of this book a week before it came out from Nnedi Okorafor herself (signed and personalized, no less), but it has taken me this long to…

Look what's on NetGalley... Just saying. #thesourdoughcompendium #agslatter #netgalley #titanbooks

Annual reminder of the True Meaning and Origin of Valentine’s Day and why it’s still completely wonderful whether you have a partner or not: catvalente.substack.com/p/on-valenti...

You can’t get anything for $2 these days, not even plain coffee. EXCEPT DEATHLESS, GUYS, GO GET IT FOR TWO BUCKS

The State of SFF – February2026 I am currently home sick, which is why this post is a little late. January was a good month for me personally, although I could have done without the cold that caught me right at the end. I turned 40 (it still feels weird to say this), I'm keeping up with all my…

An Epic Ending to a Magnificent Trilogy: Fonda Lee – Jade Legacy Okay, okay, so it took me a little longer than expected to finish the Green Bone Saga trilogy. I read the first and second books when they came out, then took a break and reached the point where I was so fuzzy on the details of those…

When Little Thieves Grow Up: Margaret Owen – Painted Devils Striking the fine balance between humor and serious themes, as well as straddling the line between YA and books that are equally appealing to adults, is no small feat. But Margaret Owen already proved she could do it once, so why not do…