So despite–or perhaps because of–the giant racist orange elephant in the American political room right now, the bookish world has been surprisingly interesting of late. One thing a strong whiff of fascism will do is get everybody who cares to squad up behind diversity and shout loudly, and that seems to be what’s going on, worldwide.
Glad we’re not all taking this lying down.
So, let’s talk about the books. Also, to keep it 100%, in an unusual turn of events, the first three links are about me. That always feels a bit self-aggrandizing but hey, if I can’t promote my own work on my own site, where else can I?
- First, I wrote up a little something to encourage us reader folk in the US during this weird, weird, un-wonderful time. [Equal Opportunity Reader]
- Second, I’ve been reviewing genre fiction over on Lightspeed Magazine for about six months now, and have been lucky enough to discover some bangers along the way. Most recently, I’ve shared the future Hawaiian queer sci-fi caper novel Hammajang Luck (awesome and SO much fun!) and the Appalachian A.I. war meditation Mechanize My Hands To War (sad, thought-provoking, not at all what I was expecting). Thanks in advance for taking a look, beautiful people.[Lightspeed Magazine]
- Third–and this is amazing and unexpected and really, really, cool–Ol’ Big Head, a story I wrote that was kindly published on Lightspeed in December 2024, has somehow made it onto the preliminary ballot for superior achievement in long fiction for the 2024 Stoker Awards. Yikes. Also, whoa. It’s an honor to be included with so many incredible writers (I’m in the same category with Eden Royce. Whoaaaaaa!) and I’m thrilled about it. [Bram Stoker Awards]
Okay, now on to other people’s bookish business, a.k.a one of my favorite things…
- Nigerian writer Wole Talabi created an excellent list of 10 great African speculative fiction short stories from last year. These are all on my #tbr, immediately. [Reactor]
- I thought about including a link to a booklist by Latine writers on immigration here, but in retrospect, that seems a bit insensitive and frivolous. Also, I think it’s notable that there don’t seem to be any new ones on any of the major book news outlets.
- Quick detour: Social media is having a bad broligarchy moment, and has been for some time. I haven’t really decided where exactly I land on all of of this except to pull as far back as I can from Meta and get off Twitter entirely. Interestingly, Joseph Gordon-Levitt (yeah, the actor, who has also edited some cute story collections) wrote the most sensible thing I’ve seen on this shift in internet gatherings so far. [Hit Record]
- Fantasy Magazine is back! The classic short fiction magazine shut down last year due to funding issues, but it’s back, under the editorial eyes of Arley Sorg and Shingai Njeru Kagunda. Excited to see how this shiny new version of the magazine looks and all the writers they platform.[Fantasy Magazine]
- I live in Boston and haven’t been shy about how much I dislike the city, but I have to admit that the cultural and literary legacy here is undeniable. This article about the women who were poetic contemporaries of Emerson and Thoreau and the incredible literary community-building work that they did is a great example of that. [New York Times]
- Okay, we have to talk about the elephant a little bit. I have been heartened by some of the things that people in the bookish world have said and done lately, like this passionate letter to readers, writers, publishers, and bookshops from a Massachusetts bookseller. [LitHub]
- I also quite enjoyed this mutual aid primer from O. Henry Award winner Madeline ffitch.[LitHub]
- Also, let’s not forget that there is finally a cease-fire in Palestine. There should have been one over a year ago. Also, I’m not sure I love the political chatter around the current ceasefire–sounds a lot like relocation to me–but bitterness solves little, so instead I’ll share this excerpt from the new anthology SUMŪD: A New Palestinian Reader.[7 Stories]
- A final thing: the recent fires in California have the internet abuzz with a wide variety of takes on Octavia E. Butler, whose seminal Parables series begins with a fire in a California suburb and leads the reader through the fall of America. This article, from January of last year, has one of the more holistic explanations of her work and how it relates to current events that I’ve seen. [The Atlantic]
That’s it for this week’s roundup, fellow readers. Take care of yourselves and your loved ones, and read something good! Peace!
Equal Opportunity Reader 