I really enjoyed 'Cast Long Shadows' by Cat Hellisen—a tense fantasy novel of court politics and women's lives in a quasi-medieval setting. app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/4fa9... #fantasy #books #booksky @clhellisen.bsky.social @lunapress.bsky.social

'Count Brass' is the last of Michael Moorcock's disavowed 'Tale of The Eternal Champion' series: the Hero with a Thousand Faces meets its mystical Apocalypse. Loosely written, but fun and thought-provoking. app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/f179... #fantasy #eternalchampion #michaelmoorcock #books

'The Arrival' by Shaun Tan is a wonderful wordless comic, that uses surreal fantasy worldbuilding to explore the immigrant experience. He's an incredible artist and it's a thing of great beauty. app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/1900... #comics #illustration #books #booksky #shauntan #thearrival

I'm looking for my socks, as they've been knocked off by 'The Works of Vermin' by Hiron Ennes. A baroque, New-weird-ish, twisty, beautifully written dark fantasy in which nothing is what it seems. app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/5092... #fantasy #newweird #books #booksky @hironennes.bsky.social

'The Essential Cuisines of Mexico' combines the 3 best known books by Diana Kennedy, the grand dame of Mexican food-writing in English. A fascinating, mouth-watering read. app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/a4c7... #food #mexico #mexicanfood #dianakennedy #theessentialcuisinesofmexico #books #booksky

'Wiliam Blake Now' by John Higgs is a short, erudite and inspiring argument for the continuing relevance of Britain's most contested poet. app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/68a1... #blake #poetry #art #johnhiggs #williamblakenow #books #booksky

Tasha Suri's 'The Lotus Empire' vol 3 of her 'Burning Kingdoms' trilogy, was less involving than the earlier books for me, but still some of the best-written, most vivid contemporary epic fantasy I've read. app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/c721... #fantasy #tashasuri #thelotusempire #books #booksky

In 'The Mark', Fríða Ísberg uses some well-drawn characters and a low-key SF premise to explore some important ideas around the cultural divisions currently troubling wealthy societies. I enjoyed it a lot. app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/158d... #sciencefiction #themark #fríðaísberg #books #booksky

I picked up this book on a whim in Hive Books in Norwich. It's a beautiful chapbook containing a single, exquisitely wrought SF short-story in translation. Lucid, polyvalent and ambiguous. app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/a0b1... #sf #sciencefiction #sabrinahuang #linking @strangerspress.bsky.social

I'm exploring some of Ursula K Le Guin's lesser known books, and loving them. 'The Beginning Place' is a beautiful, subtle and perceptive allegorical portal fantasy about the passage into adulthood. app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/7690... #fantasy #ursulakleguin #thebeginningplace #books #booksky

I found some notes from when I was last making up a language. I can’t remember what I was stressing about, but it reminded me what a slippery business saying things is when you start trying to pin it down… #languageconstruction #conlang #conlanging #linguistics #grammar

This book is about people like me—probably the first time a psychologist has identified my 'type' of person. It should be a fascinating read for anyone. app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/9ea5... #psychology #personality #otrovert #nonfiction #ramikaminski #thegiftofnotbelonging #books #booksky

Forty years late, I've finally read Iain Banks's 'The Wasp factory'—turns out to be as good or better than anything he wrote later. Just wow (but bring your puke bag). app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/cfa9... #fiction #iainbanks #thewaspfactory #books

N.K. Jemisin Named SFWA Grand Master locusmag.com/2025/11...

I've just discovered this wonderful periodical, which publishes fiction in the format of the research abstract. My life is a little bit more complete! journalofimaginaryresearch.home.blog #fiction #shortfiction #microfiction #imaginaryresearch

'Quantum Radio' by A.G. Riddle is a fast, entertaining SF thriller, but I couldn't buy into its plot, characters, or SF elements, and the prose is so pedestrian it kept booting me out of the story. app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/73e5... #sf #sciencefiction #agriddle #quantumradio #books #booksky

Michael Moorcock's 'Earl Aubec' is a bulky grab-bag of his short fiction, written over several decades, and although the standard is patchy, it contains some real gems. app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/1825... #eternalchampion #michaelmoorcock #earlaubec #fantasy #sf #sff #books #booksky

And it's time for the #WorldFantasyAwards2025 presented by Ellen Datlow. Ellen is thanking the jurors. This year’s judges are James Brogden, Jessica Day George, Lee Murray, Jonathan Oliver, and Molly Tanzer. For more information, see the WFC website.

I loved @emilymandel.bsky.social 's 'Sea of Tranquility' so much I'll just sound gushy if I try to say why. Hard recommend. app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/03e8... #sf #scifi #sciencefiction #seaoftranquility

Le Guin's 'The Eye of the Heron' is a beautiful fable, that uses SF mechanics to explore some political ideas, through her usual beautiful prose and heartrending character portraits. app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/ed71... #sf #sciencefiction @ursulakleguin.com #theeyeoftheheron #books #booksky

'The City We Became' is a contemporary urban fantasy which concludes @nkjemisin.bsky.social 's duology mapping good vs. evil onto tolerance vs. the alt right. It's a lot of fun! app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/422a... #fantasy #urbanfantasy #theworldwemake #books #booksky @nkjemisin.bsky.social

Unsolicited writing advice, no. 235: Stop equating wealth and fame with your value as a writer. Some of the writers we now admire were unknown in their lifetimes; just as many once-bestselling writers are now forgotten and unread. Making good art is not the same as making good money.

I absolutely loved 'Under The Moon', a short, beautifully written SFFH story collection by E.M. Faulds. Small in size, enormous (sublunary) in scope, and frequently moving. app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/71eb... #fantasy #sf #horror #sffh #UnderTheMoonEMF #books @bethkesh.bsky.social

'The City We Became' is a wonderfully written contemporary urban fantasy that redraws the map of good vs. evil to reflect the state of early 21st century politics. app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/623b... #fantasy #urbanfantasy #nkjemisin #thecitywebecame #books #booksky

Around 2011 @jamesbeaudreau.bsky.social sent me three CDs. Beautiful artefacts from which came lasting friendship. He recently released a solo guitar record, & it's a thing of strange, true beauty. Old reviews: olidabass.blogspot.com/2011/03/albu... jamesbeaudreau.bandcamp.com/album/workbe...

I enjoyed @annaleen.bsky.social ’s latest column in @newscientist.com It reminded me how weird it was to go out into the real world in the 1990s, after my upbringing in a feminist bubble, to discover that the battle for gender equality wasn’t completely done and dusted! #wheresmyjetpack #feminism

I was underwhelmed by 'Earthsong', final book in Suzette Haden Elgin's 'Native Tongue' 3logy. No sign of the first book's radicalism. I enjoyed it, but I doubt I'll remember it. app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/8a33... #sf #sciencefiction #suzettehadenelgin #earthsong #nativetongue #books #booksky

I was knocked-out by Marlon James's 'Moon Witch Spider King'—a stonking follow-up to the first book in the series. Dense, intricate language, wonderful worldbuilding, and no holds barred. app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/4a40... #fantasy #marlonjames #darkstar #moonwitchspiderking #books #booksky

I'm trying to get The Shape of Monsters tagged with the LGBTQ+ lable as I think it's struggling to find its queer readers. Hopefully that tag will also help avoid the "1 star woke bs" reviews Listen to The Shape of Monsters by C L Hellisen on Audible. www.audible.co.uk/pd/B0FGDJ5X1...

Just finished Michael Moorcock's 1993 'Stormbringer' omnibus. Much fun, occasionally profound—best story was the 1991 'Revenge of the Rose'. app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/a883... #michaelmoorcock #elric #eternalchampion #chaos #stormbringer #fantasy #swordandsorcery #books #booksky

Publishing hot take: traditional publishing is really hard, and self-publishing is really hard, and everyone deserves a sandwich and a nap.

Bluesky doesn't penalize you for using links, tags, using key words like Patreon or commissions, and doesn't have a central algorithm on your following feed, which means all the power rests on you to help your favourite creators be seen!

I've got a new favourite book! 'Black Leopard Red Wolf' by Marlon James is one of the best novels I've read, and the most accomplished contemporary fantasy book I've encountered. app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/1af4... #fantasy #marlonjames #blackleopardredwolf #books #booksky

This is today’s office.

A v. interesting article on Marvel's foundational era, which seems to confirm Alan Moore's hilariously vitriolic take on the US comics industry (c.f. 'What We Can Know About Thunderman' in 'Illuminations'). flaminghydra.com/a-swingin-su... #marvelcomics #stanlee #ronwhyte @flaminghydra.com

I found 'The Kingdom of Gods' by N.K. Jemisin a beautifully crafted, thematically complex work of grown-up fantasy fiction. app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/b401... #fantasy #fantasyfiction #books #nkjemisin #theinheritancetrilogy #thekingdomofgods

I loved this sumptuous English language re-launch of Metal Hurlant, jam-packed with a mix of classics and new stories. Favourites were Moebius's 'Is Man Good?', James Stokoe's 'Red Planet Tomatoes', and Yuri Campos's 'Lacuna'. #comics #metalhurlant #bandedessinée #humanoids #moebius #comicsky

If the bill being voted on by the UK parliament today gets through, it will become a potentially imprisonable offence for you to say you support Palestine Action, or even to praise any of its actions, or say you think it has a point. What's the name for this kind of government again? Democratic?

I'm making my way through Tad Williams's 'Memory, Sorrow and Thorn'. 'To Green Angel Tower: Siege' contains some good writing, and was really enjoyable to read, but for me it's a LOT longer than it needs to be. app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/e433... #fantasy #epicfantasy #books #booksky

Wishing everyone a joyous Midsummer Day ❤️

We're so proud to reveal the beautiful cover for @ioannapauthor.bsky.social‬'s forthcoming novella, The Castaway and the Witch, hand-illustrated by the fantastic @dorywhynot.bsky.social‬ The Castaway and the Witch is available to pre-order now: bit.ly/4mTp7mJ More retailers to follow!

Ursula K. Le Guin's 'Steering The Craft' is both a creative writing manual, and a manifesto for the importance of good writing. It's as beautifully written as her fiction. app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/bb4c... #creativewriting #ursulakleguin #steeringthecraft #books #booksky

I was quietly but powerfully moved by Ursula K. Le Guin's 'Orsinia', a beautifully crafted cross between Realist historical fiction and Ruritarian romance. app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/3c91... #fiction #ruritarianromance #shortstories #ursulakleguin #orsinia #books #booksky

Just read @interzone.press #298 (about a year late). Loved every story, but Mame Bougouma Dieme’s ‘Perpetual Motion Sickness’ in particular was utterly devastating. #sf #sciencefiction #fantasy #sff #specfic #interzone #shortfiction #shortstories #books

I had Lord Dunsany on my TBR 4 a long time. I found 'Time & The Gods' very enjoyable & was amazed at how much of Dunsany's influence I could detect in some of my favourite writers. app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/0e38... #fiction #fantasy #lorddunsany #timeandthegods #thegodsofpegana #books #booksky

So, two days ago, @michaelwoodman.bsky.social released this utterly brilliant album, and everyone should hear it. michaelwoodman.bandcamp.com/album/hiss-o... #music #avantprog #crazyamazingness

Latest read: 'The Book of Gold' by Ruth Frances Long—an entertaining fantasy heist story. I especially enjoyed the world, closely based on Renaissance Europe, and the focus on books, libraries and scholarship. #fantasy #fantasyfiction #romantasy #books #thebookofgold @rflong.bsky.social #booksky

James S.A. Corey's 'Cibola Burn' is another gripping, fast-paced entry in their SF-adventure 'Expanse' series. I enjoyed it enormously. app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/5435... #sf #sciencefiction #jamessacorey #theexpanse #cibolaburn #books