Personally, I'm pretty amused by WB desperately trying to wring a movie out of any stray comma in LOTR, while just out of reach lie the rich treasures of The Silmarillion, which they can never touch as cosmic punishment for pulling the Hollywood accounting trick on the Tolkien estate 25 years ago.

The Great Tolkien Reread is a double-chapter post today, discussing "At the Sign of the Prancing Pony" and "Strider", a rare glimpse into how the war of the ring, and its attendant crises of refugeeism and displacement, are affecting ordinary people. wrongquestions.blogspot.com/2026/03/the-...

NEWS: The Otherwise Award is pleased to announce the winner of the 2025 Award: the novel "Luminous" by Silvia Park @silviapark.bsky.social Read about the winner, the Honor List and Long List at otherwiseaward.org/2026/03/anno...

The Great Tolkien Reread is a double-chapter post today, discussing "At the Sign of the Prancing Pony" and "Strider", a rare glimpse into how the war of the ring, and its attendant crises of refugeeism and displacement, are affecting ordinary people. wrongquestions.blogspot.com/2026/03/the-...

Black Arts comes out on September 8th. It's a short story collection that has shipwrecks, exploding husbands, a Bluebeard retelling, spirits, and Black women trying to understand themselves as artists. You can get a 25% off pre-order right now at Barnes & Noble www.barnesandnoble.com/w/black-arts...

New blog post: a roundup of reviews includes two stabs at the neo-Gothic, a delightfully raunchy superhero romantasy, a mind-bending SF novel about anti-memes, and a book whose solution to the abortion problem is genetically engineering women to lay eggs. wrongquestions.blogspot.com/2026/03/rece...

New blog post: a roundup of reviews includes two stabs at the neo-Gothic, a delightfully raunchy superhero romantasy, a mind-bending SF novel about anti-memes, and a book whose solution to the abortion problem is genetically engineering women to lay eggs. wrongquestions.blogspot.com/2026/03/rece...

The Great Tolkien Reread takes a swerve into shlock horror with "Fog on the Barrow-Downs", a chapter that wouldn't feel out of place in a pulp magazine, but which is also a major turning point for Frodo in his relationship to danger.

The Great Tolkien Reread takes a swerve into shlock horror with "Fog on the Barrow-Downs", a chapter that wouldn't feel out of place in a pulp magazine, but which is also a major turning point for Frodo in his relationship to danger.

Please read Pip Adam’s AUDITION

I tend to think of Invincible as being on the more intelligent end of the “superheroes, but grown up” scale, but I’m not sure its writers have fully thought through the fact that 2 of the first 3 eps of S4 appear to have the message of: “if you try to commit genocide, make sure to get them all”.

Hugo nominations are still open. Nominating is fun, maybe go do that. On a related point, I am eligible for Best Fan Writer, and write/edit for @nerdsofafeather.bsky.social who are eligible for Best Fanzine. I'd be delighted if you considered me/us for your nominating needs. Post with links here.

This is pernicious, racist nonsense, but it’s an opportunity to consider that Zionism got a huge boost at the turn of the 20th century from antisemitic incidents such as the Dreyfus affair, which demonstrated that even assimilation was not enough to protect Jews. Zionism is born of antisemitism.

Can we take a moment to admire Briardene Books? Four years, four books, all impeccably edited and full of chewy, insightful SFF criticism (full disclosure, one of them is mine). And all with absolute banger covers by Tom Joyes.

Not only is this true, but if your kneejerk response to seeing discussions of this is “but remember that not all criticism of Israel is antisemitism!” you are, at the very least, part of the problem. At worse you’re starting to look pretty suspicious yourself.

New blog post: Ian McEwan's What We Can Know is half some of the most exciting climate fiction I've read in months, half a rather pointless metafictional gag. I have some thoughts on the book's strengths, and its puzzling choices. wrongquestions.blogspot.com/2026/03/rece...

New blog post: Ian McEwan's What We Can Know is half some of the most exciting climate fiction I've read in months, half a rather pointless metafictional gag. I have some thoughts on the book's strengths, and its puzzling choices. wrongquestions.blogspot.com/2026/03/rece...

My review of Aliya Whiteley's The Misheard World is up at @locusmag.bsky.social. This was the first great SFF novel I read in 2026, and a standout even in Whiteley's top-notch bibliography.

This is an interesting shortlist - I was blown away by the Thien, less engaged by the Philips, and am looking forward to the others. But it is getting more and more noticeable how little climate fiction is published by genre publishers, and how little attention it garners from the SFF community.

The Great Tolkien Reread takes a swerve into shlock horror with "Fog on the Barrow-Downs", a chapter that wouldn't feel out of place in a pulp magazine, but which is also a major turning point for Frodo in his relationship to danger.

I realize things have happened in the interim, but it’s a bit surprising that everyone is fine with Iran participating in the World Cup only a month after they killed thousands of their own citizens for protesting for their rights.

Designing the cover, part one: Tom Joyes has provided brilliant covers for all of Briardene's books to date, and this week I want to take a moment to acknowledge the various influences and choices that went into the striking cover for The Recollections. His website is tomjoyes.studio

The Great Tolkien Reread takes a swerve into shlock horror with "Fog on the Barrow-Downs", a chapter that wouldn't feel out of place in a pulp magazine, but which is also a major turning point for Frodo in his relationship to danger.

My review of Aliya Whiteley's The Misheard World is up at @locusmag.bsky.social. This was the first great SFF novel I read in 2026, and a standout even in Whiteley's top-notch bibliography. locusmag.com/review/the-m...

My review of Aliya Whiteley's The Misheard World is up at @locusmag.bsky.social. This was the first great SFF novel I read in 2026, and a standout even in Whiteley's top-notch bibliography.

I had honorable intentions of watching all the Oscar nominated movies in March before the awards ceremony. Then [gestures at state of the world], so please enjoy my thoughts on the four movies I managed to get around to. www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2026/03/last...

My review of Aliya Whiteley's The Misheard World is up at @locusmag.bsky.social. This was the first great SFF novel I read in 2026, and a standout even in Whiteley's top-notch bibliography. locusmag.com/review/the-m...

I think this site also needs a come to Jesus moment on the fact that the Biden admin was restraining Netanyahu's government.

The Great Tolkien Reread takes a swerve into shlock horror with "Fog on the Barrow-Downs", a chapter that wouldn't feel out of place in a pulp magazine, but which is also a major turning point for Frodo in his relationship to danger.

This is part of a larger conversation that I don't really feel like getting into, but just as a public service announcement: false flag attacks are not a thing. There's maybe one or two instances in history that could semi-plausibly be described that way, but mostly they're the stuff of fiction.

Prompted by @abigailnussbaum.bsky.social’s (excellent, correct) letter of comment to @octothorpecast.bsky.social reminding us to cast our nets wider in nominating novellas for the Hugo awards, I’m just re-upping my thread in which I suggest some excellent options. Small press novellas: still great.

This is a minor complaint in the grand scheme of things, but the fact that certain internet leftists have become incapable of hearing the term “settlement” (anywhere people live) without turning it into “illegal West Bank settlement” in their heads is so unbearably tedious.

Lots of dunks on this news on my feed, but we're all going to be eating crow when it turns out Winslet is playing Shelob

The entire series is excellent, but this is particularly good

The Great Tolkien Reread takes a swerve into shlock horror with "Fog on the Barrow-Downs", a chapter that wouldn't feel out of place in a pulp magazine, but which is also a major turning point for Frodo in his relationship to danger.

The Great Tolkien Reread takes a swerve into shlock horror with "Fog on the Barrow-Downs", a chapter that wouldn't feel out of place in a pulp magazine, but which is also a major turning point for Frodo in his relationship to danger.

The Great Tolkien Reread takes a swerve into shlock horror with "Fog on the Barrow-Downs", a chapter that wouldn't feel out of place in a pulp magazine, but which is also a major turning point for Frodo in his relationship to danger.

The Great Tolkien Reread takes a swerve into shlock horror today with "Fog on the Barrow-Downs", a chapter that wouldn't feel out of place in a pulp magazine, but which is also a major turning point for Frodo in his relationship to danger. wrongquestions.blogspot.com/2026/03/the-...

The Great Tolkien Reread takes a swerve into shlock horror today with "Fog on the Barrow-Downs", a chapter that wouldn't feel out of place in a pulp magazine, but which is also a major turning point for Frodo in his relationship to danger. wrongquestions.blogspot.com/2026/03/the-...

My review of Rie Qudan's Sympathy Tower Tokyo (trans. Jesse Kirkwood) appeared in the September issue of Locus. After some back and forth, I was informed that the review would not run on the magazine website, so I am reprinting it on my blog.

On the latest installment in the Great Tolkien Reread, we arrive in the house of Tom Bombadil, Tolkien's most divisive character. Despite my best efforts, I'm afraid I come down on the hater side, and I try to express why in this essay.

בהתפתחות שאף אחד* לא היה יכול לחזות אותה, האיראנים יודעים באיזו שעה גוש דן רבתי נמצא על הכבישים בדרך לעבודה. * כל אדם במדינה הזו שאינו אוכל חינם

My review of Rie Qudan's Sympathy Tower Tokyo (trans. Jesse Kirkwood) appeared in the September issue of Locus. After some back and forth, I was informed that the review would not run on the magazine website, so I am reprinting it on my blog.

On the latest installment in the Great Tolkien Reread, we arrive in the house of Tom Bombadil, Tolkien's most divisive character. Despite my best efforts, I'm afraid I come down on the hater side, and I try to express why in this essay.

My review of Rie Qudan's Sympathy Tower Tokyo (trans. Jesse Kirkwood) appeared in the September issue of Locus. After some back and forth, I was informed that the review would not run on the magazine website, so I am reprinting it today on my blog. wrongquestions.blogspot.com/2026/03/symp...

My review of Rie Qudan's Sympathy Tower Tokyo (trans. Jesse Kirkwood) appeared in the September issue of Locus. After some back and forth, I was informed that the review would not run on the magazine website, so I am reprinting it on my blog.

My review of Rie Qudan's Sympathy Tower Tokyo (trans. Jesse Kirkwood) appeared in the September issue of Locus. After some back and forth, I was informed that the review would not run on the magazine website, so I am reprinting it on my blog.

My review of Rie Qudan's Sympathy Tower Tokyo (trans. Jesse Kirkwood) appeared in the September issue of Locus. After some back and forth, I was informed that the review would not run on the magazine website, so I am reprinting it today on my blog. wrongquestions.blogspot.com/2026/03/symp...

you wanna hear some good news

On the latest installment in the Great Tolkien Reread, we arrive in the house of Tom Bombadil, Tolkien's most divisive character. Despite my best efforts, I'm afraid I come down on the hater side, and I try to express why in this essay.