I had so much fun talking about one of my favorite authors of all time. Thank you @mealofthorns.bsky.social!

I'm so moved by Rob Maslen's long, deep reading of THE RIVER HAS ROOTS. Pleased to be read through Rosemary Jackson, who "famously described fantasy itself as a kind of engine driven by desire", & I love insights like "Every aspect of El-Mohtar’s story looks two ways." Many thanks.

Not even halfway through my reread of The Historian and I've already got nearly 4k words of notes. This reread is really challenging me -- I genuinely no longer know what I think about this novel and I vacillate wildly between "man, this sucks" and "ok, I'm enjoying this again."

Episode 33: N.K. Jemisin's THE FIFTH SEASON, with @jsanchez-taylor.bsky.social! We talk about dystopias with utopian glimmers, meta-genre play, and much more: ancillaryreviewofbooks.org/2025/09/23/a...

When I don't have any new podcasts to listen to, I go back to my favorite episodes of SFUltra. Here's my top 5: - Electric Forest by Tanith Lee: allunits.libsyn.com/sfultra-3-el... - We Who Are About To by Joanna Russ: allunits.libsyn.com/sfultra-9-we...

We are in the final moments of voting for the Rhysling and Elgin Awards! If you're a member of the SFPA, don't forget to cast your ballots!

I'm over the moon that Arthur Sze has been named our 25th U.S. Poet Laureate. Arthur was on the show for his new & collected The Glass Constellation and we looked back across his life as a poet in honor of it. ICYMI: 📻 tinhouse.com/podcast/arth... @coppercanyonpress.bsky.social

Octothorpe 143 is slightly late! We welcome Alison back to the podcast and read a bumper mailbag before getting into discussion of @seattlein2025.org, @laworldcon.bsky.social, and @montrealworldcon27.bsky.social. Our artwork is by Atom! Listen here: octothorpe.podbean.com/e/143-a-majo...

I think it's really funny that Cameron asked this question, gets as far as one answer that technically predates the example we're discussing, and we call it a day

So pleased to share the incredible conversations of this upcoming podcast, talking to friends who work on topics like the intersection of food systems & climate; the takeover of Afghanistan; gender inequality; and how all of these fit into our understanding of disasters~ I hope you enjoy listening

Whitby-maxing, everybody’s doing it, he’s the weird guy for our times. Whose job is it to fire him?!?

someone asked for our take on these posts so I (Erik) will give one

It's finally upon us—although perhaps we shouldn't be so certain about when and where it exists: @megapolisomancy.bsky.social is on the pod to talk about Jeff VanderMeer's AUTHORITY! ancillaryreviewofbooks.org/2025/09/08/a...

possibly final Episode 32 preview:

Over the years, I've been told it's tough to keep track of all the podcast stuff I've done. I used to joke that even a brief summary would take like 3000 words. I finally wrote said post and can definitively say I was wrong. It actually took 5000 words. Read them here www.patreon.com/posts/where-...

A book that means a huge amount to me. So glad we got to do this.

Hey @casella.bsky.social. I really loved your Worldcon recap on A Meal of Thorns! The discussion with the person on the org committee was v informative. Also really enjoyed the ambient sound inserts that you put into the episode. Just lovely. Thanks! (For anyone hasn't listened, a link:)

🎧 New Critical Friends for your listening devices! This month, Sneha Pathak and @tansyg.bsky.social talk to me about texts often dismissed as too slight to review - books, films, genres with which we might be accused of merely passing time. How should critics approach this sort of work? And why?

Absolutely delightful deep dive into one of my formative science fiction writers, C.J. Cherryh, by two excellent critics. And as somebody who cowrote an entire trilogy arguing with Pern, I'm salivating over the promised dragonrider deconstruction.

In this week’s newsletter, we revisit C.J. Cherryh’s essay from Wonderworks as we approach the release of the remastered digital edition of my first published art collection. theartofmichaelwhelan.substack.com/p/an-introdu...

For real. Amazing project: theamericanvandal.substack.com/p/the-jameso...

More Episode 32 previews:

Dispatches from Seattle WorldCon! hugospodcast.com/podcast/disp... It was great to meet up with JW Wartick, @dmoren.com, @pematson.bsky.social, @rainbowwar71.bsky.social, @hugogirlpodcast.bsky.social, @casella.bsky.social, and others!

apparently we are now a Hugo-winning podcast! a fact which is thanks entirely to a.) Diana Wynne Jones, for her consistent ability to make us think, wonder, and delight and b.) all of you, for taking time out of your lives to join us in reading her as deeply as she deserves

Octothorpe 142 is here with stunt Alison, Lori Anderson of @hugogirlpodcast.bsky.social! We discuss some of the pronunciation snafus at the Hugo Awards Ceremony before getting into a happier discussion of panels, the winners themselves, and books. Listen here! octothorpe.podbean.com/e/142-a-lot-...

What an amazing excuse to revisit these! Written as a type of post-Arthurian "medieval fantasy," Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn is at many turns, a story about the inevitable loss of institutional knowledge, and a clever subversion of Tolkien

jack straw cultural center mentioned!

New episode is out! It's a Seattle Worldcon report, featuring interviews with @therisingtithes.bsky.social & @kaitlyncasimo.bsky.social, coffee & hiking sidequests, and sounds around town: ancillaryreviewofbooks.org/2025/08/25/a...

Interesting discussion here of what a novella is/is not, picking up on me on AMOT, presumably saying that Service Model felt like it could have done with being a novella. I don't remember exactly saying that, but that does sound like the sort of opinion I would have.

Thoroughly enjoyed the latest episode of the However Improbable podcast. This edition focused on Silver Blaze, which is the Holmes story with the actual dog that didn’t bark. Listen! Especially agree with @marmercurio.bsky.social that this is one in which Holmes’ navigating class figures heavily.

I continue to be bad at promoting work, but got to say., the last few @horrorvanguard.bsky.social episodes I've got to do with @laborkyle.bsky.social have been really good stuff.

so I finally got some time post-travels to listen to this, and I need a disclaimer. Not saying this because these two are so incredibly kind about ARB & A Meal Of Thorns: this is a really cool project. Tons of great thoughts from two really thoughtful people.

I’m on the latest issue of the incredible Dark n Light Zine podcast, talking about Indian SF, THE SENTENCE, and more. Check it out! 👇🏼

Haven't watched this since I did it. Gotta talk to phenomenal writers more often! youtu.be/EfA3FzmpGFg?...

🎧 So excited to launch our latest podcast episode, Capitalism Hates You, on horror film and Marxist theory, with the incredible @joshuagooch.bsky.social and Johanna Isaacson. Available on Spotify, Apple, the usual places, or right here: share.transistor.fm/s/535654e1

Today we're wrapping up our second season with A Tale of Time City! a real butter-pie of a book: delicious ice cream froth on the outside, but full of surprisingly rich ideas once you actually bite into it zencastr.com/z/8P9vM1fI

Good morning #Worldcon, I say to you, from the depths of an east coast circadian rhythm! I'm not on any panels today, but I'll be trying to snag a few quick interviews for A Meal of Thorns, and handing out badge ribbons for translatedhugo.org!

I have a project I've been working on all of this year: it's called DESCRIBE WORLD. it's made up of zines and free games and a new podcast feed where I do whatever the hell I want. the first pod ep is a 6 hour episode about criticism with @nochorus.bsky.social ckunzelman.com/describe-wor...

Do I have time this year to nostalgia reread 2363 pages of epic fantasy trilogy... This is definitely a podcast making me consider it. Wonderful to listen to this runover of a book/series that was a memorable part of my post Tolkien reading and reassuring to hear there's something to come back to.

If you're attending (virtually or in person) @seattlein2025.org, check out these panels with ARB & A Meal of Thorns contributors:

It's 608 pages, it's WaldenBooks-core: @kjy1066.bsky.social joins to discuss Tad Williams' STONE OF FAREWELL, with many musings on mass market fantasy: ancillaryreviewofbooks.org/2025/08/11/a...

This interview with Vajra is really really good open.spotify.com/episode/5JBn...

Wrapping up Monday's episode on Memory, Sorrow, & Thorn, with @kjy1066.bsky.social, like

ICYMI — a new episode of Eating the Fantastic went live this morning with @benjaminrosenbaum.com. Join us and learn why the story he found the most difficult to sell became his most-read work, the reason he couldn’t write for a while after his first Nebula nomination — and more. pod.link/1083737796

Also hello I forgot to tell you that our Diamond Age episode dropped today! That book is long! Here you go! hugogirl.libsyn.com/episode-83-t...

This is a great listen, & well timed, as I've been revisiting Cherryh's work this year.

🎙️ Also today at @strangehorizons.bsky.social, another episode of Critical Friends, the Reviews department’s podcast! It was a pleasure to convene a conversation between @mlclark.bsky.social & @octavia-cade.bsky.social, jumping off their two most recent reviews for us. On writing amid challenge:

Trying something out. This is me describing what surprised me about Naked Lunch. It's a clip from episode 2 of Right Where You Are Sitting Now, my podcast series on William Burroughs. To hear more, you can click this link: www.patreon.com/posts/rwyasn... or search SFULTRA on the usual podcast places

Enjoyed this latest episode about @casella.bsky.social 's adventures in Readercon and the area around.

this is the kinda subtweet i appreciate