#Tordotcom Publishing

[torpublishinggroup]

Monk and Robot by Becky Chambers

It's been centuries since the robots of Panga gained self-awareness and laid down their tools; centuries since they faded into myth and urban legend. Now, one returns to ask a tea monk: “What do people need?” They don’t have an answer yet, but together, they’re determined to find one. In a world where people have what they want, does having more matter?

The Bones Beneath My Skin by TJ Klune

It’s the spring of 1995, and Nate Cartwright has lost everything. Retreating to his family’s cabin in Oregon after hitting rock bottom, he expects solitude—until he finds a man named Alex and a girl who calls herself Artemis Darth Vader. And Artemis is anything but ordinary. As cultists and agents close in, Nate must choose: stay lost in the past or fight for a future he never saw coming.

Eat the Ones You Love by Sarah Maria Griffin

After losing her job and fiancé, Shell Pine moves back home and starts working at a flower shop in the mall. The flowers lift her spirits—and so does Neve, the alluring and secretive shop manager. But something sinister grows behind the scenes: a sentient orchid with a taste for manipulation, a hunger that can’t be sated, and a plan that could uproot them all.

But Not Too Bold by Hache Pueyo

The old keeper of the keys is dead, and the creature who ate her? Anatema, an enormous humanoid spider with a taste for laudanum and human brides. Now her protégée, Dália, must tend to Anatema’s memory drawers and uncover the truth behind her mentor’s execution. But there’s one problem: Anatema can’t resist a beautiful woman, and she eventually devours every single bride that crosses her path.

The Mimicking of Known Successes by Malka Older

On a remote, gas-wreathed outpost of a human colony on Jupiter, a man goes missing. Investigator Mossa follows his trail to Valdegeld, home to the colony’s university—and to her former girlfriend, Pleiti, a scholar of Earth’s pre-collapse ecosystems. As Mossa enlists Pleiti’s help, the two embark on a twisting path where the future of life on Earth—and their future together—may hang in the balance.

The Entanglement of Rival Wizards by Sara Raasch

Will they conjure love or evoke chaos? Two rival wizards are about to find out.

Ali Hazelwood meets Dungeons & Dragons in this enemies-to-lovers fantasy academia romcom where rival grad student wizards are forced to work together without killing—or falling for—each other.

Out on August 26, 2025!

Sandymancer by David Edison

Caralee Vinnet lives in a world of dust, where water is rare and the elements are tightly controlled. She has a secret: magic in her bones that lets her command the sand. But when she uses it, she summons the god-king who broke the world 800 years ago…and who’s now wearing her best friend’s body. Caralee will risk everything to save her friend—if her new companion doesn’t kill her first. Lucky Day by Chuck Tingle

Four years ago, an unthinkable disaster struck. In what became known as the Low-Probability Event, 8 million people died in bizarre, improbable ways. Vera, a former statistics professor, lost everything that day. But when a special agent arrives, investigating an impossibly lucky casino, Vera realizes she may be the only one who can stop another deadly improbability from happening again.

Coming August 12, 2025!

Not enough books? Check out our other list!

[agentpeggycartering]

Happy Belated Valentine's day, tumblr! Have some chaotic valentines, inspired by the wonderfully chaotic queer pirates in Running Close to the Wind by Alexandra Rowland, which comes out this June! Check out a sneak peek here.

HUGE shoutout to @starful02 for the wondeful fanart of Avra, Tev, and Julian, as well as for a few of the puns. And shoutout to Danielle, Hobbit, and Sawfish for their help with puns and ideas for the cards, and everyone else who was hyping me up in the Chants and the Wide World Discord. (You can join us here if you're curious about the book!)

[cristinabencina]

I illustrated a cover for Freya Marske's book, Cinder House, published by tordotcom. I was tasked with combining a woman and a house together with a ghostly environment. Thanks Christine for the opportunity!

Follow Cristina Bencina and the rest of her work on instagram!

[nzbookwyrm]

Martha Wells is profiled in the New Yorker, and there’s mention of the next Murderbot book!

The first “Murderbot” novella, “All Systems Red,” was published by Tordotcom in 2017. The demand was so overwhelming, and so instantaneous, that a publicist had to scour the company’s offices for spare copies. The publisher had contracted Wells to write two novellas, but she couldn’t get the character out of her head, and a month later her agent sent along book three. The next year, two decades after her first award nomination, she won a Nebula, and then a Hugo. She now has a trophy shelf in her entranceway. The Murderbot series now comprises seven books—six novellas and one full-length novel—and Wells recently completed the eighth, “Platform Decay.”

[literary-illuminati]

I'm going to be real with you Tordotcom publishing if I wasn't already committed to reading this then this marketing copy on the jacket might have made me put it down

[victoriajanssen]

Nebula Award Finalists for 2024 works:

Nebula Award for Novel

Sleeping Worlds Have No Memory, Yaroslav Barsukov (Caezik SF & Fantasy) 

Rakesfall, Vajra Chandrasekera (Tordotcom)

Asunder, Kerstin Hall (Tordotcom) 

A Sorceress Comes to Call, T. Kingfisher (Tor; Titan UK)

The Book of Love, Kelly Link (Random House; Ad Astra UK)

Someone You Can Build a Nest In, John Wiswell (DAW; Arcadia UK)

Nebula Award for Novella

The Butcher of the Forest, Premee Mohamed (Tordotcom)

The Tusks of Extinction, Ray Nayler (Tordotcom)

Lost Ark Dreaming, Suyi Davies Okungbowa (Tordotcom)

Countess, Suzan Palumbo (ECW)

The Practice, the Horizon, and the Chain, Sofia Samatar (Tordotcom)

The Dragonfly Gambit, A.D. Sui (Neon Hemlock)

Nebula Award for Novelette

The Brotherhood of Montague St. Video, Thomas Ha (Clarkesworld 5/24)

Katya Vasilievna and the Second Drowning of Baba Rechka, Christine Hanolsy (Beneath Ceaseless Skies 4/18/24)

Another Girl Under the Iron Bell, Angela Liu (Uncanny 9-10/24)

What Any Dead Thing Wants, Aimee Ogden (Psychopomp 2/24)

Negative Scholarship on the Fifth State of Being, A.W. Prihandita (Clarkesworld 11/24)

Joanna’s Bodies, Eugenia Triantafyllou (Psychopomp 7/1/24)

Loneliness Universe, Eugenia Triantafyllou (Uncanny 5-6/24)

Nebula Award for Short Story

The Witch Trap, Jennifer Hudak (Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet 9/24)

Five Views of the Planet Tartarus, Rachael K. Jones (Lightspeed 1/24)

Why Don’t We Just Kill the Kid in the Omelas Hole, Isabel J. Kim (Clarkesworld 2/24)

Evan: A Remainder, Jordan Kurella (Reactor 1/31/24)

The V*mpire, PH Lee (Reactor 10/23/24)

We Will Teach You How to Read | We Will Teach You How to Read, Caroline M. Yoachim (Lightspeed 5/24)

Andre Norton Nebula Award for Middle Grade and Young Adult Fiction

Daydreamer, Rob Cameron (Labyrinth Road)

Braided, Leah Cypess (Delacorte)

Benny Ramírez and the Nearly Departed, José Pablo Iriarte (Knopf)

Moonstorm, Yoon Ha Lee (Delacorte; Solaris UK)

Puzzleheart, Jenn Reese (Henry Holt)

The Young Necromancer’s Guide to Ghosts, Vanessa Ricci-Thode (self-published)

Nebula Award for Game Writing

A Death in Hyperspace, Stewart C Baker, Phoebe Barton, James Beamon, Kate Heartfield, Isabel J. Kim, Sara S. Messenger, Naca Rat, Natalia Theodoridou, M. Darusha Wehm, Merc Fenn Wolfmoor (Infomancy.net)

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, Hidetaka Miyazaki (From Software)

The Ghost and the Golem, Benjamin Rosenbaum (Choice of Games)

1000xRESIST, Remy Siu, Pinki Li, Conor Wylie (Fellow Traveller Games)

Pacific Drive, Karrie Shao, Paul Dean (Ironwood Studios)

Restore, Reflect, Retry, Natalia Theodoridou (Choice of Games)

Slay the Princess -- The Pristine Cut, Tony Howard-Arias, Abby Howard (Black Tabby Games)

Yazeba's Bed & Breakfast, Jay Dragon, M Veselak, Mercedes Acosta, Lillie J. Harris (Possum Creek Games)

Ray Bradbury Nebula Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation

Doctor Who: "Dot and Bubble" by Russell T. Davies (BBC)

Dune: Part Two by Jon Spaihts, Denis Villeneuve (Warner Bros)

I Saw the TV Glow by Jane Schoenbrun (A24 Films LLC)

KAOS by Charlie Covell, Georgia Christou (Netflix)

Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 5 by Mike McMahan (Paramount+)

Wicked by Winnie Holzman, Dana Fox (Universal Pictures)

[wearethekat]

May Book Reviews: Fate's Bane by CL Clark

I received a free copy from Tordotcom via Netgalley in exchange for a fair review. Publish date September 30th.

I was excited to see a new standalone novella by CL Clark! In Fate's Bane, Agnir has been held hostage by an enemy clan since she was a child. Growing up among the enemy, Agnir becomes close to the chief's daughter Hadhnri--but blood ties pull her elsewhere, and peace sits uneasy on the fens...

This was a short and intense novella with a plot that suited the length (I say, as someone who frequently complains that novellas should have been a short story, or a full novel.) Clark does an excellent job depicting the war-torn Fens, which felt bit adjacent to Beowulf. This impression was strengthened by the prose, which tended towards the sort of rhythm--"filth-crusted and fear-stinking", "gentle as a feather-kiss"--which echoes some of the better verse translations. There was also a surprising amount of detail about early leatherwork.

This is also a story that's strongly centered around the sapphic romance. Hadhnri's father doesn't trust an enemy hostage, even one raised by his clan from a child, and Agnir's father is set on war. With the diverging ties of family, Hadhnri's and Agnir's loyalties are inevitably and tragically set at odds. And ultimately, this is a story about history fading into myth. We get glimpses of the contradictory fragments of the clan origin myth interspersed throughout the text. And like their ancestor, Agnir and Hadhnri's fate is left teasingly ambiguous.

An intense and powerful novella. Recommended for sapphic fantasy fans.

[cognito-mode]

Hey! So, @tordotcom generously agreed to publish an essay I wrote. It's about The Locked Tomb series, how we define magic, and how (I think) Muir's conception of necromancy contributes to the themes of her books.

Tumblr makes a cameo.

Also discussed: Ursula K Le Guin's Earthsea series and ancient ideas of magic vs religion and science.

Give it a read if you're interested! And if you want to play a fun little game with it, try defining "magic" to yourself and see what you come up with. The essay references a definition of magic once proposed by the great Ted Chiang, so see how close your own definition comes to his!

[ash-and-books]

Rating: 4/5

Book Blurb:

With an armored, oath-bound hero reminiscent of The Mandalorian and the Asian-inspired epic fantasy of She Who Became the Sun, Neon Yang’s Brighter than Scale, Swifter than Flame is a stunning queer novella about a dragon hunter finding home with a dragon queen.

Few know the true identity of the masked guildknight of Mithrandon.

She barely remembers herself.

The masked guildknight—Yeva—was thirteen when she killed her first dragon. With her gift revealed, she was shipped away to the imperial capital to train in the rare art of dragon-slaying. Now a legendary dragon hunter, she has never truly felt at home—nor removed her armor in public—since that fateful day all those years ago.

Yeva must now go to Quanbao, a fiercely independent and reclusive kingdom. It is rumored that there, dragons are not feared as is right and proper, but instead loved and worshipped. It is rumored that there, they harbor a dragon behind their borders.

While Yeva searches for the dreaded beast, she is welcomed into the palace by Quanbao’s monarch, Lady Sookhee. Though wary of each other, Yeva is shocked to find herself slowly opening up to the beautiful, mysterious queen.

As they grow closer, Yeva longs to let Lady Sookhee see the person behind the armor, but she knows she must fulfill her purpose and slay the dragon. Ultimately, she must decide who—or what—she is willing to betray: her own heart, or the sacred duty that she has called home for so long.

Review:

A skilled dragon hunter finds her world turned upside down when she encounters the beautiful queen who is rumored to have a dragon in her kingdom... but the dragon might be closer to her than she could ever imagine. Duty, friendship, and freedom are all on the line as a warrior must figure out where her heart lies when the truth is revealed. This gave off Chinese mythology x mandalorian vibes in this short novella. I definitely could have used a bit more romance at the end for a HEA but I enjoyed it regardless. It's a easy read and the story was a fun one to read.

Release Date: May 6, 2025

Publication/Blog: Ash and Books (ash-and-books.tumblr.com)

*Thanks Netgalley and Tor Publishing Group | Tordotcom for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

[torpublishinggroup]

The Library at Hellebore by Cassandra Khaw

The Hellebore Technical Institute is for the gifted: Anti-Christs, Ragnaroks, and monsters in the making. But on graduation day, the faculty feast on their students. Trapped in the school’s vast library, Alessa Li—kidnapped and forcibly enrolled—must lead her classmates in something they were never taught: how to survive.

Out July 22, 2025!

Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V. E. Schwab

From V. E. Schwab, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue: a new genre-defying novel about immortality and hunger.

Santo Domingo de la Calzada, 1532.

London, 1827.

Boston, 2019.

Three young women, their bodies planted in the same soil, their stories tangling like roots. One grows high, and one grows deep, and one grows wild. And all of them grow teeth.

Don't Sleep with the Dead by Nghi Vo

Nick Carraway has built a quiet life in 1930s New York. He's good at watching high society and pretending: pretending to be straight, to be human, to have forgotten the summer of 1922. But when a familiar face appears one dark night, he realizes Gatsby, dead or not, isn’t finished with him. In all paper there is memory, and Nick's ghost has come home.

Brighter than Scale, Swifter than Flame by Neon Yang

With an armored, oath-bound hero reminiscent of The Mandalorian and the Asian-inspired epic fantasy of She Who Became the Sun, Neon Yang’s Brighter than Scale, Swifter than Flame is a stunning queer novella about a dragon hunter finding home with a dragon queen.

Infinity Alchemist by Kacen Callender

Only an elite few are legally permitted to study the science of magic—so when Ash is rejected by Lancaster College of Alchemic Science, he is forced to learn alchemy in secret. Caught by brilliant apprentice Ramsay Thorne, Ash is sure he's about to be arrested—but instead she makes him an offer: help her find the legendary Book of Source, a sacred text that gives its reader extraordinary power, and she’ll keep his secret.

The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar

In the small town of Thistleford, the Hawthorn family tends enchanted willows and honours an ancient compact to sing to them in thanks for their magic. Sisters Esther and Ysabel are devoted to the trees, and even more to each other. But when Esther rejects a forceful suitor for a lover from Faerie, the bond between them—and their lives—are put at risk.

Notes from a Regicide by Isaac Fellman

After losing the parents who saved him from an abusive home, Griffon Keming is left with a single journal—his father’s, written from death row. Bloodstained and grief-soaked, it tells a love story between two artists on fire. Notes from a Regicide is a heart-wrenching tale of trans self-discovery with a sci-fi twist from award-winning author Isaac Fellman. 

Tell Me I’m Worthless by Alison Rumfitt

Three years ago, Alice spent one night in an abandoned house with her friends, and her life has spiraled since. Memories of that night torment Alice, but when asked to return to the House, she knows she must go. Alison Rumfitt’s Tell Me I’m Worthless is a dark, unflinching haunted house story that confronts both supernatural and real-world horrors through the lens of the modern-day trans experience.

Not enough books? Check out our other list!

[booksandchainmail]

hugo nominees thoughts:

Best Novel:

Alien Clay by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Orbit US, Tor UK)

The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley (Avid Reader Press, Sceptre)

Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Tordotcom)

Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell (DAW)

A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher (Tor)

The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett (Del Rey, Hodderscape UK)

I've read 4/6 of these, and the other two (the Bradley and Kingfisher novels) were on my radar as potential nominees. I did nominate Alien Clay, happy to see it on here. The Tainted Cup was on my longlist and just barely missed a slot (I think, annoyingly I don't seem to have been sent a copy of my nominating ballot so I'm relying on my draft notes for what I nominated). I'd read Service Model and Someone You Can Build a Nest In, didn't nominate either and they weren't on my longlist. I'm particularly sad that my nominations of Exordia and Those Beyond the Wall didn't go through, both excellent books that I hoped would make it. I'm not surprised that neither Feast While You Can or Metal From Heaven made it in, those were always longshots

Best Novella

The Brides of High Hill by Nghi Vo (Tordotcom)

The Butcher of the Forest by Premee Mohamed (Tordotcom)

Navigational Entanglements by Aliette de Bodard (Tordotcom)

The Practice, the Horizon, and the Chain by Sofia Samatar (Tordotcom)

The Tusks of Extinction by Ray Nayler (Tordotcom)

What Feasts at Night by T. Kingfisher (Nightfire)

Brides of High Hill was an easy call for nominees, as was probably The Butcher of the Forest. Haven't read any of the others but Aliette de Bodard, Ray Nayler, and T Kingfisher are all names I've seen before. I'm a bit disappointed that Countess and The Dragonfly Gambit from my ballot didn't make it, but they'll have to be satisfied with their Nebula nominations. My other two nominees I didn't think would make it on to begin with (Demon Daughter and The Transitive Properties of Cheese)

Best Novelette

“The Brotherhood of Montague St. Video” by Thomas Ha (Clarkesworld, May 2024)

“By Salt, By Sea, By Light of Stars” by Premee Mohamed (Strange Horizons, Fund Drive 2024)

“The Four Sisters Overlooking the Sea” by Naomi Kritzer (Asimov’s, September/October 2024)

“Lake of Souls” by Ann Leckie in Lake of Souls (Orbit)

“Loneliness Universe” by Eugenia Triantafyllou (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 58)

“Signs of Life” by Sarah Pinsker (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 59)

I don't really read novelettes, though I guess I had read the Leckie one in the collection. No real thoughts here.

Best Short Story

“Five Views of the Planet Tartarus” by Rachael K. Jones (Lightspeed Magazine, Jan 2024 (Issue 164))

“Marginalia” by Mary Robinette Kowal (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 56)

“Stitched to Skin Like Family Is” by Nghi Vo (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 57)

“Three Faces of a Beheading” by Arkady Martine (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 58)

“We Will Teach You How to Read | We Will Teach You How to Read” by Caroline M. Yoachim (Lightspeed Magazine, May 2024 (Issue 168))

“Why Don’t We Just Kill the Kid in the Omelas Hole” by Isabel J. Kim (Clarkesworld, February 2024)

We all knew the Kim Omelas story was getting in, right? Otherwise a bunch of familiar names, but nothing else I've read. I actually nominated some stories this year, but didn't expect them to get since they were in a small-press collection rather than an easily-accessible online magazine (that said, everyone go read A Canyon of Blood for the Normalest Man Alive, published in Embodied Exegesis)

Best Series

Between Earth and Sky by Rebecca Roanhorse (Saga Press)

The Burning Kingdoms by Tasha Suri (Orbit)

InCryptid by Seanan McGuire (DAW)

Southern Reach by Jeff VanderMeer (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson (Tor Books)

The Tyrant Philosophers by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Ad Astra)

literally no overlap with my nominees, but nothing really surprising here? McGuire is basically always nominated for this, Tchaikovsky is having a moment, Sanderson is wildly popular even if not particularly in the hugo crowd, VanderMeer is really well regarded, Roanhorse and Suri just wrapped up notable trilogies. I'm going to have a lot of reading to do for this one...

A bunch of my nominees were older/lower-profile series that just got a new installment, so wasn't really expecting much. I didn't really think my nomination for Kate Elliott's fantastic early 2010s Spiritwalker trilogy (eligible due to a short story collection) would go anywhere, but it would have been nice...

Best Graphic Novel

The Deep Dark by Molly Knox Ostertag (Graphix)

The Hunger and the Dusk: Vol. 1 written by G. Willow Wilson, art by Chris Wildgoose (IDW Publishing)

Monstress, Vol. 9: The Possessed written by Marjorie Liu, art by Sana Takeda (Image)

My Favorite Thing Is Monsters, Book 2 by Emil Ferris (Fantagraphics)

Star Trek: Lower Decks: Warp Your Own Way written by Ryan North, art by Chris Fenoglio (IDW Publishing)

We Called Them Giants written by Kieron Gillen, art by Stephanie Hans, lettering by Clayton Cowles (Image)

once again a lot of names I recognize, but nothing I've read. In case anyone is wondering, volume 1 of The Power Fantasy just missed the publication window and will be eligible next year

Best Related Work

“Charting the Cliff: An Investigation into the 2023 Hugo Nomination Statistics” by Camestros Felapton and Heather Rose Jones (File 770, February 22, 2024)

r/Fantasy’s 2024 Bingo Reading Challenge (r/Fantasy on Reddit), presented by the r/Fantasy Bingo team: Alexandra Forrest (happy_book_bee), Lisa Richardson, Amanda E. (Lyrrael), Arka (RuinEleint), Ashley Rollins (oboist73), Christine Sandquist (eriophora), David H. (FarragutCircle), Diana Hufnagl, Pia Matei (Dianthaa), Dylan H. (RAAAImmaSunGod), Dylan Kilby (an_altar_of_plagues), Elsa (ullsi), Emma Surridge (PlantLady32), Gillian Gray (thequeensownfool), Kahlia (cubansombrero), Kevin James, Kopratic, Kristina (Cassandra_sanguine), Lauren Mulcahy (Valkhyrie), Megan, Megan Creemers (Megan_Dawn), Melissa S. (wishforagiraffe), Mike De Palatis (MikeOfThePalace), Para (improperly_paranoid), Sham, The_Real_JS, Abdellah L. (messi1045), AnnTickwittee, Chad Z. (shift_shaper), Emma Smiley (Merle), Rebecca (toughschmidt22), smartflutist661

“The Spectacular Failure of the Star Wars Hotel” by Jenny Nicholson (YouTube)

Speculative Whiteness: Science Fiction and the Alt-Right by Jordan S. Carroll (University of Minnesota Press)

Track Changes by Abigail Nussbaum (Briardene Books)

“The 2023 Hugo Awards: A Report on Censorship and Exclusion” by Chris M. Barkley and Jason Sanford (Genre Grapevine and File770, February 14, 2024)

I think only two retrospectives on the 2023 Hugos is actually quite restrained. Not sure how I feel about that book bingo being nominated. Two nonfiction books and a meaty video essay is pretty good though.

Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form

Dune: Part Two, screenplay by Denis Villeneuve and Jon Spaihts, directed by Denis Villeneuve (Legendary Pictures / Warner Bros. Pictures)

Flow, screenplay by Gints Zilbalodis and Matīss Kaža, directed by Gints Zilbalodis (Dream Well Studio)

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, screenplay by George Miller and Nick Lathouris, directed by George Miller (Warner Bros. Pictures)

I Saw the TV Glow, screenplay by Jane Schoenbrun, directed by Jane Schoenbrun (Fruit Tree / Smudge Films / A24)

Wicked, screenplay by Winnie Holzman and Dana Fox, directed by Jon M. Chu (Universal Pictures)

The Wild Robot, screenplay by Chris Sanders and Peter Brown, directed by Chris Sanders (DreamWorks Animation)

No surprises here, all well-regarded sff movies none of which I've seen bc I mostly don't watch movies. I'm kinda surprised there's no tv seasons included, but this was a strong year for movies for this category.

Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form

Fallout: “The Beginning” written by Gursimran Sandhu, directed by Wayne Che Yip (Amazon Prime Video)

Agatha All Along: “Death’s Hand in Mine” written by Gia King & Cameron Squires, directed by Jac Schaeffer (Marvel, Disney+)

Doctor Who: “Dot and Bubble” written by Russell T Davies, directed by Dylan Holmes Williams (BBC, Disney+)

Star Trek: Lower Decks: “Fissure Quest” created by Mike McMahan and written by Lauren McGuire based on Star Trek created by Gene Roddenberry, directed by Brandon Williams (CBS Eye Animation Productions for Paramount+)

Star Trek: Lower Decks: “The New Next Generation” created and written by Mike McMahan, based on Star Trek created by Gene Roddenberry, directed by Megan Lloyd (CBS Eye Animation Productions for Paramount+)

Doctor Who: “73 Yards” written by Russell T Davies, directed by Dylan Holmes Williams (BBC, Disney+)

this category returns to its roots with star trek and doctor who... man I need to finish watching lower decks. I think I might have tossed some anime episodes into this category bc I also don't watch western tv shows

Best Game

Caves of Qud, co-creators Brian Bucklew and Jason Grinblat; contributors Nick DeCapua, Corey Frang, Craig Hamilton, Autumn McDonell, Bastia Rosen, Caelyn Sandel, Samuel Wilson (Freehold Games); sound design A Shell in the Pit; publisher Kitfox Games

Dragon Age: The Veilguard produced by BioWare

The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom produced by Nintendo

Lorelei and the Laser Eyes produced by Simogo

Tactical Breach Wizards developed by Suspicious Developments

1000xRESIST developed by sunset visitor 斜陽過客, published by Fellow Traveller

second year for these as a proper category! I haven't played any but looks like a decent slate

Editors, Artists, Writers, Zines, Poems, and Casts:

I'm not listing these all out. Nothing jumped out at me but also I have no broad knowledge of these fields.

Lodestar:

The Feast Makers by H.A. Clarke (Erewhon)

Heavenly Tyrant by Xiran Jay Zhao (Tundra Books)

The Maid and the Crocodile by Jordan Ifueko (Amulet)

Moonstorm by Yoon Ha Lee (Delacorte Press)

Sheine Lende by Darcie Little Badger (Levine Querido)

So Let Them Burn by Kamilah Cole (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)

fuck yeah Feast Makers! Zhao, Ifueko, Lee, and Little Badger have all been on hugo ballots before, though I had only heard of Heavenly Tyrant of these books. Kamilah Cole I don't know but I think I've heard of, looks like this was her debut and it sounds neat.

every year I hope that hugo audiences will have discovered Andrew Joseph White, but it hasn't happened yet...

Astounding:

Moniquill Blackgoose (2nd year of eligibility)

Bethany Jacobs (2nd year of eligibility)

Hannah Kaner (2nd year of eligibility)

Angela Liu (2nd year of eligibility)

Jared Pechaček (1st year of eligibility)

Tia Tashiro (2nd year of eligibility)

Blackgoose is no surprise, she had my vote in last year's hugos. Kaner is also returning, though I wasn't wild about her novel last time. Pechacek is new but got some attention for his excellent debut novel. The other three I haven't heard of, looks like Liu and Tashiro are short fiction writers which explains it, and is always nice to see make the ballot.

Conclusions:

I guess overall nothing on this ballot feels surprising? No big unexpected inclusions or exclusions, nothing I really feel was dramatically slighted (rip Exordia I guess). It feels like a lot of returning authors, but I don't want to say anything firm there without more stats to go off of. Honestly, the Hugos could probably use a quiet year...

[mostlysignssomeportents]

The Canadian Miracle

"The Canadian Miracle" is a short story published today by @tordotcom; it's set in the world of The Lost Cause, my forthcoming @torbooks novel.

I'm serializing it on my podcast! Here's part one.

Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.

— Fred Rogers (1986)

It’s a treat to beat your feet on the Mississippi Mud.

— Bing Crosby (1927)

I arrived in Oxford with the first wave of Blue Helmets, choppered in along with our gear, touching down on a hospital roof, both so that our doctors and nurses could get straight to work, and because it was one of the few buildings left with a helipad and backup generators and its own water filtration.

Humping my bag down the stairs to the waterlogged ground levels was a nightmare, even by Calgary standards. People lay on the stairs, sick and injured, and navigating them without stepping on them was like an endless nightmare of near-falls and weak moans from people too weak to curse me. I met a nurse halfway down and she took my bag from me and set it down on the landing and gave me a warm hug. “Welcome,” she said, and looked deep into my eyes. We were both young and both women but she was Black and American and I was white and Canadian. I came from a country where, for the first time in a hundred years, there was a generation that wasn’t terrified of the future. She came from a country where everybody knew they had no future.

I hugged her back and she told me my lips were cracked and ordered me to drink water and watched me do it. “This lady’s with the Canadians. They came to help,” she said to her patients on the stairs. Some of them smiled and murmured at me. Others just stared at the backs of their eyelids, reliving their traumas or tracing the contours of their pain.

“I’m Alisha,” I said.

“Elnora,” she said. She was taller than me and had to bend a little to whisper in my ear. “You take care of yourself, okay? You go out there trying to help everyone who needs it, you’re going to need help, too. I’ve seen it.”

“I’ve seen it, too,” I said. “Thank you. I hope you don’t mind if I give you the same advice.”

She made a comical angry face and then smiled. She looked exhausted. “That’s all right, I probably need to hear it.”

My fellow Blue Helmets had been squeezing past us, trudging down the staircase with their own bags. I shouldered mine and joined them. Elnora waved at me as I left, then bent to her next patient.

I stepped out into the wet, heavy air of the Mississippi afternoon, the languid breeze scented with sewage, rot, and smoke. My clothes were immediately saturated with water sucked out of the ambient humidity, and I could feel myself pitting out. Squinting, fumbling for my sunglasses, it took me a moment to spot the group of angry men standing by the hospital entrance. Red hats, open-carry AR-15s. It was the local Maga Club. On closer inspection, a few of them were women, and while they skewed older, there was a smattering of young adults, and, heartbreakingly, a good number of small kids, holding signs demanding foreign agitators out of mississippi!

Bekka, a Cree woman from Saskatchewan who’d been my seat buddy on the helicopter ride, leaned in. “Straight outta central casting.”

At first, I thought she was right. Weather-beaten, white, unhealthy in that way poor Americans are, lacking access to basic preventative care. They looked so angry. Plus, the guns. But there was something else there, and I couldn’t put my finger on it until I spotted a sign being held aloft by a heavyset, middle-aged guy with wraparound shades and a sweat-sheened face: our lives matter too.

I knew he meant it in a gross way, but I couldn’t argue with it.

Read the rest on Tor.com, or listen to it on my podcast!

[reviewsthatburn]

UNDER THE SMOKESTREWN SKY brings Avery, Zib, and their companions to the Land of Ash and Embers. As fire is the most obviously transformational of the four elements in this series, I appreciate how this book focuses on transformations and the endpoints after major decisions.

As the final book in the quartet, UNDER THE SMOKESTREWN SKY wraps up many dangling narratives, including but not limited to the fate of the missing queen, whether Avery and Zib make it out of the Up-and-Under, and whether any of them reach the Impossible City. There’s a mostly new storyline which didn’t appear in the other three books, as the general goal of finding the missing queen becomes their specific task at hand. To this end they begin searching the Land of Ash and Embers on their way to the Impossible City. There’s a crisis related to Zib which is introduced and resolved in this book. As the story nears its end, Baker's narration is at times concerned as much with the emotional state of the reader as she is with the decisions made by any of the characters. A foundational assumption in Seanan McGuire's writing is that knowing something changes the person who finds it out. This is said quite explicitly in the narration as Baker discussing how you can only read the story for the first time once, after that you'll never view it the same way again.

Full Review at link

[books-coffee-and-the-woods]

re: 2023 new releases. hope you're ready for a long message because there were a lot.

hot new releases/things that were relatively popular

He Who Drowned The World, Shelley Parker Chan (Chinese mythological historical, very gay, very stabby a la Baru Cormorant. Book 2 of 2. A particular favorite of mine from this year)

Witch King, Martha Wells (New fantasy book by author of murderbot fame. I didn't actually click with this one but I'd be remiss to leave it off)

House With Good Bones, T Kingfisher (Southern gothic rose horror by the very talented Ursula Vernon)

Translation State, Ann Leckie (high sf alien horror regency romance. Wheeeeee. I had a lot of fun reading this. You can read it as a standalone, but you get deeper context if you've read the ancillary justice series, also highly recommended)

Will of the Many, James Islington (futuristic roman empire aesthetic rigged murder school. Not precisely good but appallingly catchy, I read all six hundred pages in pretty much one sitting. If you liked red rising you'll like this, if you hated red rising you will Not)

OH YEAH THE ACTUAL NEW MURDEBOT NOVEL (System Collapse)

A Power Unbound, Freya Marske (book 3 of 3, magic alt edwardian romances with murder. This is more romance proper but it's about equal with the action plot and Marske is very good. I don't think you've read these so you'd have to start at book 1)

Some Desperate Glory, Emily Tesh (The book that absolutely knocked my socks off, my pick for the best sff release of the year. I forget if I've already told you about this one)

Starling House, Alix Harrow (Southern gothic house drama. Similar feel to Ninth House or The Book of Night)

The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi, Shannon Chakraborty (Divorced lady pirate adventure-drama a la Arabian Nights.)

Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries, Heather Fawcett (Charming, heavily fairy tale trope themed, vaguely reminiscent of the Lady Trent books)

more obscure new releases from this year that I thought were cool, but not in the Hot New Reads You Can't Miss Because Everyone's Read Them category

Under Fortunate Stars, Ren Hutchings (sf timey wimey space shenanigans with aliens. Immensely cool premise.)

Small Miracles, Olivia Atwater (fallen angel sent to tempt a too good mortal. Extremely charming)

The King Is Dead, Naomi Libicki (vaguely persian flavored fealty romance, very heavy to the fealty. Original, thorny, and intriguing)

The Deep Sky, Yume Kitasei (What if we terribly traumatized everyone going on a generation ship by making them go to viciously competitive boarding school together and then act surprised when a murder mystery occurs. Heads up that it's more interested in the human drama than the SF worldbuilding)

The Saint of Bright Doors, Vajra Chandrasekera (early modern fantasy world anti-imperialism fever dream narrated by a cult survivor. Brilliantly written, spectacularly original, one of the best books I read this year)

Things for 2024, content warning for being (obviously) things I haven't read and thus without quality control

The Warm Hands of Ghosts, Katherine Arden

The Familiar, Leigh Bardugo

The Dead Cat Tail Assassins, P Djeli Clark

Long Live Evil, Sarah Rees Brennan

Goddess of the River, Vaishnavi Patel

The Woods All Black, Lee Mandelo

Exordia, Seth Dickinson

A Sorceress Comes To Call, T Kingfisher

Running Close To The Wind, Alexandra Rowland

Wow tumblr just lets me keep writing words. I didn't think they let me have this many in asks. Oh, and pro tip-- keep an eye out for tordotcom's most anticipated upcoming books for the first six months of 2024. They should be publishing it within the next week or so and I always add masses of books to my tbr from there.

oh holy crap, thanks!! I'll have to check these out!

thoughts on a few of em:

He Who Drowned The World - still have to read She Who Became the Sun lol but hopefully I'll get to em next year!

Witch King - Martha Wells has been recced by like All my sci-fi mutuals now lmao I REALLY gotta get into her!

House With Good Bones - THIS ONE IS ACTUALLY ON MY SHELF!! I just didn't fucking read it this year whoops. Very excited for new Kingfisher

Starling House - I was on the fence about this one since I really didn't like Once and Future Witches, but those comparisons give me hope! I'll add it to the library list!

Some Desperate Glory and Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries are 2/3 of the books published in 2023 that I actually managed to read (the 3rd is The Woman in Me lmao), I can't remember if you recc'd Some Desperate Glory, but it was SOOOOOOOO GOOD OMFG

Small Miracles - my aunt has been trying to convince me to read Atwater for quite a while, I'll have to give this one a try!

The Saint of Bright Doors - I have this one on hold!! Saw a post for it a week or so ago and it sounds absolutely delightful!

The Familiar - SO SO EXCITED for this one! I hope Bardugo is maybe...slowly....extricating herself from the Grishaverse and going to write more books not related to it... (not that they're all bad, I loved the Six of Crows duology, I'm just not into it anymore and I reeeealllly like her adult books lol)

Running Close To The Wind - oh yay new Rowland! I still haven't read her last book (the one with the guy on the cover who looked EXACTLY like my boss to the point where it became an Office Meme that [Boss] Is A Gay Romance Cover Model, still meaning to get a UK version of it but haven't yet) but I'll have to look this one up!

[librarycomic]

Three Novellas!

The Fireborne Blade by Charlotte Bond. Tordotcom, 2024. 9781250290311. 167pp.

I love the cover of this book, and there seem to be shelf talkers praising it at every bookstore I visit (and it holds up to the hype). It's the story of a female knight, Maddileh, out to regain her honor by claiming a legendary sword, the Fireborne Blade, from the lair of a dragon. Accompanying her is a page who seems a little…off. This is a quick, original take on the dungeon crawl (though it's a cave here); alternating chapters recount historic encounters between knights and dragons.

We Speak Through The Mountain by Premee Mohamed. ECW, 2024. 9781770417335. 145pp.

This sequel to Mohamed's post-apocalyptic novella The Annual Migration of Clouds follows Reid as she enrolls in a university filled with technology and resources (and hidden from the rest of the world). Her relationship with the parasite that infects her changes because of the university's medical tech. I loved seeing her and other students from the outside deal with the realities of life with technology and enough to eat, though it lacks many things, too.

I really hope there's another book or three coming in this series. This is my favorite novella of the year, but if it sounds good to you, start with the first book in the series.

The Monster of Elendhaven by Jennifer Giesbrecht. Tor.com, 2019. 9781250225689. 160pp.

This book has so much I enjoyed: a murderous immortal, an outlaw wizard, a polluted coastline straight out of Miéville's New Crobuzon, dark legends, mutant sea creatures, bloody violence, and a fallen city that's either about to rise again or is where the end of the world will begin. There's an unlikely "romance" of sorts, too, if that's your thing, as well as a horrific plague. I enjoyed every page of this novella, and I can't believe I missed it when it was published.

[musingsofmonica]

March 2025 Diverse Reads

March 2025 Diverse Reads

•”Dream Count” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, March 4, Knopf, Literary/Romance/Family Life/Friendship/Women/Political/Feminism & Feminist Theory/Women's Studies/Cultural & Social/Social Themes/Cultural Heritage/African American & Black/World Literature/USA/Nigeria

•”The Dream Hotel” by Laila Lalami, March 4, Pantheon, Literary/Science Fiction/Speculative Fiction/Fantasy/Dystopia/Dystopian Thriller/Women

•”Goddess Complex” by Sanjena Sathian, March 11, Penguin Press, Literary/Mystery/Psychological Thriller/Suspence/Humor/Satire/Feminist/Women/Cultural Heritage/Asian American/Indian American

•”The Immortal Woman” by Su Chang, March 4, House of Anansi Press, Literary/Historical/Multigenerational/Cultural Heritage/Asian American/World Literature/USA/China

•”The Persians” by Sanam Mahloudji, March 4, Scribner, Literary/Family Life/Friendship/Women/Political/Humor/Satire/Saga/Multigenerational/Political/Cultural & Social/Social Themes/Cultural Heritage/Persian/Muslim/World Literature/USA/Iran

•”Stone Angels” by Helena Rho, March 4, Grand Central Publishing, Literary/Historical/Saga/Multigenerational/Family Life/Women/Political/Cultural Heritage/Asian American/World Literature/USA/Korea

•”Aunt Tigress” by Emily Yu-Xuan Qin, March 18, DAW, Fantasy/Magical Realism/Horror/Supernatural/Mythology/LGBTQ

•”The Buffalo Hunter Hunter” by Stephen Graham Jones, March 18, S&S/Saga Press, Historical/Horror/Fantasy/Cultural Heritage/Native American & Aboriginal

•”The Mysterious Disappearance of the Marquise of Loria” by José Donoso, translated by Megan McDowell, March 4, New Directions Publishing Corporation, Literary/Historical/Coming of Age/Erotic/World Literature/Nicaragua/Spain

•”The River Has Roots” by Amal El-Mohtar, March 4, Tordotcom, Fantasy/Fairytale/Romance/LGTBQ

•”Theft” by Abdulrazak Gurnah, March 18, Riverhead Books, Literary/Historical/Cultural & Social/Social Themes/World Literature/Tanzania

•”Our Beautiful Boys” by Sameer Pandya, March 18, Ballantine Books, Literary/Family Life/Sports/Society & Current  Affairs/Social Themes/Cultural, Ethnic & Regional/Race & Ethnic Relations/Discrimination & Race Relations

•”God-Disease” by An Chang Joon, March 11, Sarabande Books, Short Stories/Short Story Collection/Literary/Horror/Gothic/Politics/Society & Current  Affairs/Social Themes/Cultural, Ethnic & Regional/Race & Ethnic Relations/Ethnic Studies/Discrimination & Race Relations/Cultural Heritage/Asian Korean/Korean Diaspora

•”Luminous” by Silvia Park, March 11, Simon & Schuster, Science Fiction/Speculative Fiction/World Literature/Korea

•”Counterattacks at Thirty” by Won-Pyung Sohn, translated by Sean Lin Halbert, March 11, HarperVia, Contemporary/Office Politics/Society & Current  Affairs/Social Themes/World Literature/Korea

•”I'll Love You Forever: Notes from a K-Pop Fan” by Giaae Kwon, March 18, Henry Holt and Co., Memoir/Biography —— essay collection, a meditation that blends memoir and cultural criticism to explore how the author’s love affair with K-pop has shaped her sense of self, charting K-pop’s complex coming-of-age through some of its biggest idols.

•”Sucker Punch: Essays” by Scaachi Koul, March 4, St. Martin's Press, Memoir/Biography — essay collection, meditation on love & marriage

•”Guatemalan Rhapsody: Stories” by Jared Lemus, March 4, Ecco, Literary, Short Stories, Short Story Collection, Cultural, Ethnic & Regional/Race & Ethnic Relations/Ethnic Studies/Discrimination & Race Relations/Social Themes/World Literature/USA/Guatemala

•”Hangry Hearts” by Jennifer Chen, March 18, Wednesday Books, Contemporary/YA/Romance/Romantic Comedy/LGBTQ/Cultural Heritage/Asian American/

•”I Leave It Up to You” by Jinwoo Chong, March 4, Ballantine Books, Contemporary/Romance/Suspense/Family Life/LGBTQ/Cultural Heritage/Asian American