Gav Reads

A Web Log of Reading

Tag: writing

  • Sunday Summary: 12th Oct 25 Edition

    Womble from Runalong The Shelves has been doing a weekly “Wombling Along” and highlighting reviews and other articles that caught their attention over the past week.

    Sunday Summary is mostly going to be my personal log of books and bookish things that have caught my attention — and may also serve as a public memory prompt/bookmarking system.

    Halloween is Not Far Away

    And this means that both the British Fantasy Awards and the World Fantasy Awards are soon to be announced.

    The British Fantasy Awards will be presented on Saturday 1st November, in the evening, at the World Fantasy Convention in Brighton.

    And

    The World Fantasy Awards will be presented on Sunday 2nd November, in the afternoon following the banquet, also at the World Fantasy Convention in Brighton.

    I’ve just realised I have three weeks to finish reading my selected shortlists from each!

    I’m confident I’ll manage the novellas — I’ve read three and have two to go. I’m about halfway through the anthology reading. I’m planning to read the novels as a group and continue reviewing the anthologies individually.

    I am reading them in the order in which they are presented in the shortlists, and as a reminder, here they are:

    British Fantasy Awards 2025: Best Anthology

    • Nova Scotia 2, edited by Neil Williamson and Andrew J Wilson – Luna Press Publishing
    • I Want That Twink Obliterated!, edited by Trip Galey, C.L. McCartney, and Robert Berg – Bona Books
    • Fight Like A Girl 2, edited by Roz Clarke and Joanne Hall – Wizard’s Tower Press
    • Heartwood: A Mythago Wood Anthology, edited by Dan Coxon- PS Publishing
    • The Year’s Best African Speculative Fiction (2023), edited by Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki and Chinaza Eziaghighala – Caezik SF & Fantasy
    • Bury Your Gays – An Anthology of Tragic Queer Horror, edited Sofia Ajram – Ghoulish Books

    World Fantasy Awards 2025: Best Novella

    • Crypt of the Moon Spider by Nathan Ballingrud (Tor Nightfire/Titan Books)
    • In the Shadow of Their Dying by Michael F. Fletcher and Anna Smith Spark (Grimdark Magazine)
    • Yoke of Stars by R. B. Lemberg (Tachyon Publications)
    • The Woods All Black by Lee Mandelo (Tordotcom)
    • The Butcher of the Forest by Premee Mohamed (Tordotcom/Titan Books UK)

    I’m taking longer to read Heartwood than I expected. The themes explore similar emotional and mythic territory, though from completely different angles. Despite their varied perspectives, they overlap in meaningful ways, which is slowing my reading pace. That might also be due to the weight of the stories — they demand attention.

    I think it’s going to be my winner. Not because the other anthologies aren’t excellent, but because this is a unique collection, rooted in a powerful myth.

    I thought Crypt of the Moon Spider was going to be my novella winner before reading Yoke of Stars, and now I’m not so sure. Let’s see what the two tree-related stories do for me, as Ryhope Wood has entrances everywhere.

    Back to anthologies — they’ve put me in the mood to read more. I’ve already started The Crawling Moon: Queer Tales of Inescapable Dread, and I’ll have read Heartwood: A Mythago Wood Anthology. So, after the winner has been announced, do I read the other nominees in the World Fantasy Awards Best Anthology category? They are:

    • Heartwood: A Mythago Wood Anthology, ed. Dan Coxon (Drugstore Indian Press)
    • Discontinue If Death Ensues: Tales from the Tipping Point eds. Carol Gyzander & Anna Taborska (Flame Tree Press)
    • Northern Nights ed. Michael Kelly (Undertow Publications)
    • The Dagon Collection, ed. Nate Pedersen (PS Publishing)
    • The Crawling Moon: Queer Tales of Inescapable Dread ed. Dave Ring (Neon Hemlock Press)

    Newsy Things

    Ebooks – Now Available from Bookshop.org

    There is more in the press release, but these are the highlights:

    • For the first time ever, UK indies will be able to sell ebooks to their customers
    • The launch marks Bookshop.org’s fifth anniversary
    • Bookshops will make 100% profit on every ebook they sell
    • A much-awaited alternative to Amazon to buy ebooks, at no extra cost
    • Bookshop.org to launch audiobook sales next year

    I use an iPhone and a Boox Palma (which uses Google Play), and I’ve bought a couple of books to test it out. The whole process was slick and easy—especially with Apple Pay.

    The app offers lots of control over the reading experience, but there are two things you should know. By default, it:

    • looks terrible
    • overrides the publisher’s settings

    But don’t worry—there’s an easy fix if you have the patience. Try turning on the publisher settings or fiddling with the options until you get it looking the way you want. The initial appearance actually encourages you to change it, and once you do, the text looks stunning.

    So don’t let that put you off. It’s great to have more big-company options for buying ebooks, and I’m sure they’ll improve the app to make it a better out-of-the-box experience.

    Kickstarter #1: I want to see Welsh Heroes Return

    They are Still Here (Maen Nhw Yma O Hyd) will be an anthology of contemporary fantasy tales of resistance and resilience. The threats will be very modern, but the resolution will contain a hint or more of the fantastic.

    This one is live but the all or nothing deadline is:

    Thursday, November 6, 2025 at 9:47 AM GMT (UK local time)

    Back it here.

    Kickstarter #2: A New Trip Galey Novel

    This one is coming in 2026. I loved A Market of Dreams and Destiny, and while I’m waiting on a sequel —which Trip has just confirmed is written and likely out in 2027—I’m excited to get a new novel‑length work in 2026 to fill the gap!

    The Fall of the House of Valenziaga is a high-stakes, science-fantasy family epic. If you love lushly imagined settings, strange magics and impossible sciences, and queer characters that are both smart and sexy, you’ll live for this latest tale from Trip Galey!

    Click here to be notified when the Kickstarter launches.

    THE IGNYTE AWARDS 2025

    The Ignytes seek to celebrate the vibrancy and diversity of the current and future landscapes of science fiction, fantasy, and horror by recognizing incredible feats in storytelling and outstanding efforts toward inclusivity of the genre.

    Hot off the presss is the winners to this year’s awards:

    OUTSTANDING NOVEL: ADULT – For novel-length work (40,000+ words) intended for an adult audience
    Winner: The Sentence – Gautam Bhatia

    OUTSTANDING NOVEL: YOUNG ADULT – For novel-length (40,000+ words) works intended for the young adult audience
    Winner: Heir – Sabaa Tahir

    OUTSTANDING MIDDLE GRADE – For works intended for the middle grade audience
    Winner: The Last Rhee Witch – Jenna Lee-Yun

    OUTSTANDING NOVELLA – For speculative works ranging from 17,500–39,999 words
    Winner: Lost Ark Dreaming – Suyi Okungbowa Davies

    OUTSTANDING NOVELETTE – For speculative works ranging from 7,500–17,499 words
    Winner: We Who Will Not Die – Shingai Njeri Kagunda

    OUTSTANDING SHORT STORY – For speculative works ranging from 2,000–7,499 words
    Winner: We Will Teach You How to Read | We Will Teach You How to Read – Caroline M. Yoachim

    OUTSTANDING SPECULATIVE POETRY – For excellence in speculative poetry
    Winner: Reliving: Post Trauma of the Lekki Tollgate Massacre – Fasasi Ridwan

    CRITICS AWARD – For reviews and analysis of the field of speculative literature
    Winner: Maya Gittelman

    OUTSTANDING FICTION PODCAST – For excellence in audio performance and production for speculative fiction
    Winner: Podcastle

    OUTSTANDING ARTIST – For contributions in visual speculative storytelling
    Winner: Tran Nguyen

    OUTSTANDING COMICS TEAM – For comics, graphic novels, and sequential storytelling
    Winner: Lunar Boy – Jes and Cin Wibowo

    OUTSTANDING ANTHOLOGY/COLLECTED WORKS – For excellence in curated speculative fiction collections
    Winner: Thyme Travellers: An Anthology of Palestinian Speculative Fiction – Sonia Sulaiman

    OUTSTANDING CREATIVE NONFICTION – For works related to the field of speculative fiction
    Winner: Afro-Centered Futurisms in Our Speculative Fiction – Eugen Bacon, ed.

    THE EMBER AWARD – For unsung contributions to genre
    Winner: Sonia Sulaiman

    THE COMMUNITY AWARD – For outstanding efforts in service of inclusion and equitable practice in genre
    Winner: Authors Against Book Bans

    Out This Week in the UK – ish

    (I need to do better at this as this is a last minute list category)

    • Itch! by Gemma Amor
    • Good Boy by Neil McRobert
    • The Possession of Alba Díaz by Isabel Cañas
    • The Night That Finds Us All by John Hornor Jacobs
    • All of Us Murderers by KJ Charles
    • You’ve Found Oliver by Dustin Thao

    Books That Others have Tempted Me With:

    I List My Favourites Reads Since 2022

    Do you ever get the feeling that you don’t read enough? I had that earlier in the week, so I wrote up a list of my favourites going back to 2022. It turned out to be a longer list than I expected:

    1. Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk trans. Antonia Lloyd-Jones
    2. Auntie Mame by Patrick Dennis trans. by Anne Milano Appel
    3. Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delany
    4. ‘salem’s Lot by Stephen King
    5. The Old Woman With the Knife by Gu Byeong-mo trans. Chi-Young Kim –
    6. The Salvagers Trilogy by Alex White
    7. Magic For Liars by Sarah Gailey
    8. Alien: The Cold Forge by Alex White
    9. Siblings by Brigitte Reimann trans. Lucy Jones
    10. Death of a Bookseller by Alice Slater
    11. Broken Light by Joanne Harris
    12. What Abigail Did That Summer (Rivers of London #5.3) by Ben Aaronovitch
    13. The Indranan War by K.B. Wagers
    14. What Moves the Dead (Sworn Soldier #1) by T. Kingfisher
    15. What Feasts at Night (Sworn Soldier #2) by T. Kingfisher
    16. The Living and the Rest by José Eduardo Agualusa
    17. The Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff
    18. A Market of Dreams and Destiny by Trip Galey
    19. The Colony by Audrey Magee
    20. When Among Crows by Veronica Roth
    21. Starling House by Alix E. Harrow
    22. Calypso by Oliver K.
    23. Lake of Darkness by Adam Roberts
    24. The Drowned Woods by Emily Lloyd-Jones
    25. Rubicon by J.S. Dewes
    26. Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto tr. Megan Backus
    27. The Black Cloud by Fred Hoyle
    28. August Kitko and the Mechas from Space (The Starmetal Symphony #1) by Alex White
    29. The Undetectables (The Undetectables Series #1) by Courtney Smyth –
    30. The Stars Too Fondly by Emily Hamilton
    31. Goodnight Tokyo by Atsuhiro Yoshida tr. Haydn Trowell –
    32. Diavola by Jennifer Marie Thorne –
    33. The Last Hour Between Worlds (The Echo Archives #1) by Melissa Caruso
    34. The Grimoire Grammar School Parent Teacher Association by Caitlin Rozakis
    35. Crypt of the Moon Spider by Nathan Ballingrud
    36. All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries #1) by Martha Wells
    37. Artificial Condition (The Murderbot Diaries #2) by Martha Wells

    I feel better about myself after seeing this, I’m not gonna lie.

    Outro

    Well, that turned out to be a much longer post than I expected.

    Maybe, next week, I’ll get back to my bookmarks.

    Until then — happy reading!

  • Sunday Summary: 28th Sept 25 Edition

    Womble from Runalong The Shelves has been doing a “Wombling Along” post for the last few weeks, highlighting reviews and other articles that caught their attention over the past week.

    This is mostly going to be about books and book-ish things that have come to my attention — and possibly serve as my own public bookmarking system.

    Let’s start with this stack of… I’m genuinely not sure what to call it… books?

    A stack of books that contains: 1. Direct Descendant – Tanya Huff 2. Valid – Chris Bergeron 3. Seascape – Benjamin Wood 4. The Undead Complex – Courtney Smyth 5. The Two Lies of Faven Sythe – Megan E. O’Keefe 6. Of Monsters and Mainframes – Barbara Truelove 7. The Incandescent – Emily Tesh 8. Isabella Nagg and the Pot of Basil – Oliver Darkshire 9. A Song of Legends Lost – M.H. Ayinde 10. A Granite Silence – Nina Allan 11. Hammajang Luck – Makana Yamamoto 12. The Starving Saints – Caitlin Starling 13. Zofia Nowak’s Book of Superhero Detecting – Piotr Cieplak 14. The Listeners – Maggie Stiefvater

    It was inspired by Roseanna Pendlebury

    Thinking about the things I would love to have read by the end of the year, and pulling together a few piles to drawn from as an aspirational to do list.I will not read all of these. I mean, I possibly theoretically could. But I doubt it. They're just the ones I really want to get in, if I can.

    — Roseanna Pendlebury (@chloroformtea.bsky.social) 2025-09-22T12:44:56.787Z

    and then Niall Harrison

    Right then, excluding review copies, here's my pile of aspiration/despair.

    — Niall Harrison (@niallharrison.bsky.social) 2025-09-22T18:31:44.781Z

    I badged mine as “the stack of books it would be nice to have read by the end of the year.” I added three caveats:

    But since I’ve made the pile with the intention of prompting myself to read them, I’ve started with The Listeners by Maggie Stiefvater. One chapter in, I’m intrigued—but also wondering why I haven’t heard much about it from others.

    I haven’t reviewed my recent reads:

    • The Last Hour Between Worlds (The Echo Archives #1) by Melissa Caruso [2024]
    • Artificial Condition (The Murderbot Diaries #2) by Martha Wells [2017]
    • The Grimoire Grammar School Parent Teacher Association by Caitlin Rozakis [2025]

    If I get the time, a joint review of The Last Hour Between Worlds and The Grimoire Grammar School Parent Teacher Association might be fun. Both are excellent, and both explore parenting in a fantasy setting—though in very different ways. Each had great twists and turns, and both had me emotionally gripped. I highly recommend them.

    And if you’re looking for something cosy in an SF setting, The Murderbot Diaries is turning into just that. Nice to see that Martha Wells has the adventures of Murderbot well under control.

    It’s October this week. The clock is ticking to get my reading in before the World Fantasy Convention 2025 announces the various award winners. I’m seriously going to need to weave in some novellas alongside the anthologies.

    The issue I’m having with Heartwood is that all the stories centre on the mythos at the heart of the wood—and speeding through them would do them a disservice.

    I’m sure I’ll figure something out.

    The dive into my BookTok bookmarks is going to have to wait until next week.

    This week’s Wombling along contains:

    • A review of Network Effect by Martha Wells, which I’m going to avoid until I’ve got to it myself.
    • A takedown of The End of the World As We Know It: New Tales of Stephen King’s The Stand. I read the last paragraph, as I still hope to finish The Stand and then read the anthology.
    • More praise for Uncertain Sons and Other Stories by Thomas Ha
    • An older, very serious discussion on the absolute canon to read
    • And so much more!

    Next week, I may wade into “what’s a reviewer for?”—as that was today’s hot topic on Bluesky.

    Until then, Happy Reading!

  • Sunday Summary: 21st Sept 25 Edition

    Womble from Runalong The Shelves has been doing a “Wombling Along” post for the last few weeks, highlighting reviews and other articles that caught their attention over the past week.

    This is mostly going to be about books and book-ish things that have come to my attention — and possibly serve as my own public bookmarking system.

    Happy Sunday everyone, I hope you’ve managed to get some reading done this week.

    I kind of did—and kind of didn’t.

    I finished the excellent The Last Hour Between Worlds (The Echo Archives #1) by Melissa Caruso. It sets itself up perfectly for a sequel and absolutely delivered on what I was hoping for. But it also got me thinking about the formula it used to get there.

    That’s definitely more of a me problem than a book problem. Maybe writing a review will help get my thoughts in order. I am going to read the sequel, The Last Soul Among Wolves, at some point in the future—by which I mean, when the paperback drops.

    I got some train time this week and made more inroads into The Devils and I’m up 6% from last week’s update.

    I also picked up Artificial Condition by Martha Wells as my paperback, and I’m enjoying the cosy nature of it.

    As a reminder to me, The Murderbot Diaries chronology is:

    • “Compulsory”
    • All Systems Red [I’ve read this]
    • Artificial Condition
    • Rogue Protocol
    • Exit Strategy
    • “Rapport”
    • “Home”
    • Fugitive Telemetry
    • Network Effect
    • System Collapse

    I’ve just started Heartwood: A Mythago Wood Anthology but from what I’ve read so far the authors are embracing the spirit of the original but putting on their own twists. The bar is now high for the rest of the anthology.

    Did you know that Bluesky now has bookmarks?

    I just counted—I’ve collected 62 in the last two weeks!

    I’m trying to be better about revisiting the bookmarks I’ve saved, periodically going through them and actually using them for their intended purpose: reminding me to check something later.

    Reactor has an article on All the New Horror, Romantasy, and Other SFF Crossover Books Arriving in September 2025, and here are a few that stood out to me:

    1. Moonflow — Bitter Karella (Run For It) *
    2. The Haunting of William Thorn — Ben Alderson (Angry Robot)*
    3. House of Idyll — Delilah S. Dawson (Titan)
    4. Play Nice — Rachel Harrison (TItan)*
    5. The Macabre — Kosoko Jackson (Harper Voyager)
    6. You Weren’t Meant to Be Human — Andrew Joseph White (Daphne Press)
    7. Exiles — Mason Coile, Andrew Pyper (Baskerville)
    8. Veil — Jonathan Janz (Blackstone)
    9. Spread Me — Sarah Gailey (Nightfire) *
    10. Midnight Timetable — Bora Chung, tr. Anton Hur (Dialogue Books)
    11. What Stalks the Deep (Sworn Soldier #3) — T. Kingfisher (Titan) *
    12. The Autumn Springs Retirement Home Massacre — Philip Fracassi (Run for It)

    Apart from the ones marked with a *, I think the rest will have to wait until I get my physical TBR under control… though, by my calculations, I may need to shorten the time it takes me to finish a book from my current 16-day average to… something a lot shorter.

    I do and I don’t like a stat. Added more books to @thestorygraph—my physical TBR is now over 400. Maybe I’ll just do the ’25 releases? Only 48! If I read one every 2.5 days and never sleep again, I could do it? Any bets on me crying on New Year’s Eve, still buried in unread books?

    — @gavreads (@gavreads.co.uk) 2025-09-20T11:57:57.293Z

    The author & editor, Trip Galey, shared a link to his appearence on the Trope-ology Podcast:

    I stopped by the Trope-ology Podcast with @themythofchris.bsky.social to natter on about Goblin Markets! Have a listen if you fancy!Available in the usual places!open.spotify.com/episode/1cfs…

    — Trip Galey (@trip.bsky.social) 2025-09-14T08:01:28.453Z

    And Simon of Savidge Reads, shared his September Reading Horizons:

    #booksky let’s chat about what we’ve all read, are reading and what we may well read next over hereyoutu.be/u_Rg-FvETLk

    — Simon Savidge (@savidgereads.bsky.social) 2025-09-12T17:43:57.242Z

    SciFiScavenger has asked a great question about rereading:

    I was asked earlier how many books I re-read. Answer not v many, much as I'd like to, I have too much exploring to do, too many other books on my shelves, even more not yet acquired. I worked out that my re-read rate this year so far is around 3%.🪐📚 #scifbooks #sciencefiction

    — SciFiScavenger (@scifiscavenger.bsky.social) 2025-09-19T13:53:24.101Z

    My answer was:

    I’m at 10% for the year. I re-read two books from the Rivers of London series. I’d love to revisit a few more—there are always plans to do so—but I’ve never made the time.

    Finally, I want to share Niall’s stack of books:

    And here it is with some other recent acquisitions

    — Niall Harrison (@niallharrison.bsky.social) 2025-09-20T09:24:41.441Z

    He always gives me book envy—his picks are often ones I’d never have considered on my own.

    Next week, I’ll talk about my TikTok Bookmarks, which currently stands at 236…

    This week’s Wombing Along is here and is a A lovely write-up of their week which includes: A reminder of The Scour by Richard Swan (a prequel novella) Writing The Magic hasn’t been dispatched yet Slow Gods is one to look forward to And an answer to Why Anthologies? Plus lots of other temptations and insights.

    This week’s Wombing Along is here—a lovely write-up of their week, which includes:

    • A reminder about The Scour by Richard Swan (a prequel novella to An Empire of the Wolf )
    • News that Writing The Magic hasn’t been dispatched yet
    • Slow Gods is one to look forward to
    • An answer to “Why Anthologies?”
    • Plus lots of other temptations and insights

    Until next week—happy reading!

  • Sunday Summary: 14th Sept 25 Edition

    Womble from Runalong The Shelves has been doing a “Wombling Along” post for the last few weeks, highlighting reviews and other articles that caught their attention over the past week.

    And I thought I’d join in.

    I’m curious about a few things:

    • Whether I’ll be able to keep it up.
    • What looking back on these posts will feel like in a year or two.

    This is mostly going to be about books and book-ish things that have come to my attention — and possibly serve as my own public bookmarking system.

    Let’s start with a recommendation from one of my favourite BookTokers, Claire Linney. She recommended Blood Debts by Terry J. Benton-Walker. To borrow and paraphrase a bit of her summary — because that’s what got me hooked:

    Two 16-year-old twins are part of a magical bloodline, but a murder has doomed their name and stripped their mother of her throne. The story is told from the perspectives of both the twins and their adversaries. It features a magic system that’s used to comment on race, and the politics and policing around it.

    Please check out Claire’s full review here.

    I have downloaded it and it’s now on my overflowing ereader ready to read.

    @claire_linney

    Blood Debts and Blood Justice by Terry J Benton Walker – young adult for ages 13+ #diversebooks #blackauthors queerbooks #youngadultbooks #fantasybooks

    ♬ original sound – Claire Linney Author

    On Bluesky two posts on criticism have been shared:

    • One by New York Magazine
    • One by Reator Magazine (formly Tor.com):

    Do reviews draw readers? Boost subscriptions? Sell ads? And if the answer is ‘no,’ what then? Charlotte Klein explores the precarious state of cultural criticism.

    — New York Magazine (@nymag.com) 2025-09-08T09:10:36.872Z

    In the latest Mark As Read, @mollytempleton.com places The Death of the Critic into context. For how long has criticism has been dying, and how do we engage with discussions about art?reactormag.com/its-not-the-…

    — Reactor Magazine (@reactorsff.bsky.social) 2025-09-11T15:37:43.114Z

    I’m bookmarking these to digest later, but Niall Harrison pointed out a quote from Christine Smallwood that really interests me:

    Criticism is an act of autobiography. The work of making an argu­ment, coming to a judgment, or simply choosing which books or objects to give time and attention to is inevitably, helplessly, an expression of values

    And borrowing an item from Womble:

    A Bluesky post by Zach that says: I've been working on embracing the critic's version of this, which is "life is too short to tackle a book about which you don't have something interesting to say, good or bad" Zach is quoting Sonora Taylor: For anyone who needs to hear this: life is too short to finish a book you're not enjoying. Prose is annoying you? Don't finish it. It feels like a chore to pick up and read? Don't finish it. Just not feeling it? Don't finish it. We're not in class. There won't be a test. Read for *your* enjoyment.

    I need to ponder this some more. If you’re a media outlet (like Locus) or a specialist blog, you’ll likely be commenting on ‘significant’ or potentially ‘significant’ books in your area of interest. But more generally, I think we’re in the age of influencers — and influencers should be more willing to step back from the flow and share what’s important to them. Claire and Womble are both great examples of that philosophy.

    As an aside, I’m enjoying reading anthologies for my BFA challenge. However, I’ve given myself permission to skip those that don’t resonate from the start or that I fizzle out with. I’m unlikely to have anything interesting to say about them—unless the number of skips ends up reflecting something about the anthology as a whole.

    Don’t tell anyone, but I’m struggling to find time to listen to audiobooks — which is why I’ve been reading The Devils by Joe Abercrombie since the 7th of May and I’m only 46% through. It’s frustrating because I’m really enjoying Steven Pacey’s performance, and I want to listen to Let the Bad Times Roll by Alice Slatter.

    I’m going to have to just read the ebook versions of both, which will be great — but not quite the experience I was hoping for.

    Lastly, what are my plans for the rest of September? Well, I need to crack on with World Fantasy Award novellas:

    • Crypt of the Moon Spider by Nathan Ballingrud (Tor Nightfire / Titan Books)
    • In the Shadow of Their Dying by Michael F. Fletcher and Anna Smith Spark (Grimdark Magazine)
    • Yoke of Stars by R. B. Lemberg (Tachyon Publications)
    • The Woods All Black by Lee Mandelo (Tordotcom)
    • The Butcher of the Forest by Premee Mohamed (Tordotcom / Titan Books UK)

    And finsih the remaining British Fantasy Awards Best Anthology nominees:

    • Heartwood: A Mythago Wood Anthology, edited by Dan Coxon – PS Publishing
    • The Year’s Best African Speculative Fiction (2023), edited by Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki and Chinaza Eziaghighala – Caezik SF & Fantasy
    • Bury Your Gays – An Anthology of Tragic Queer Horror, edited by Sofia Ajram – Ghoulish Books

    I can guarantee you that I’m not looking forward to Bury Your Gays—it’s exactly the type of tales I tend to avoid—but I’ve committed myself now, so wish me luck when I get there.

    Apart from those, I’m planning to finish The Devils and The Last Hour Between Worlds by Melissa Caruso, as I keep pushing them aside for the anthologies. My last experience with The Last Hour Between Worlds had me sitting there gasping at something she had cleverly woven in. Like The Devils, The Last Hour Between Worlds is proving to be very entertaining.

    Until next week—happy reading!

  • BFA25 Review: Fight Like A Girl 2 edited by Roz Clarke and Joanne Hall

    This is the third review from my challenge to read the 2025 British Fantasy Award Best Anthology category.

    In the introduction, Charlotte Bond writes:

    Whatever your taste, whatever you’re looking for, in these pages, you will learn one thing: how to fight like a girl.

    And I did — though I also found a few stories that weren’t to my taste, which is a shame. With fewer stories than the other anthologies I’ve read so far, the weaker ones stand out a little more — but never mind, there are still some standout tales here.

    K T Davies’s The Seamstress, the Hound, the Cook, and her Brother surprised me the most using a triptych to follow a crime through different eyes. Having seen the situation build from competing viewpoints, the shifting perspectives give the reader deeper insight into the final scene.

    Shifts in perspective are definitely a theme.

    One perspective I enjoyed — though I felt a little cheated by — was in A Human Response by Dolly Garland. Here a women’s body is replaced, and she finds herself trapped. Slowly, she pieces together what happens to her. The character is supposed to be without emotion, yet she has emotional reactions, which feels jarring. It also fades to black at a key moment in the ending, which I think robbed the character of the agency Garland had built up.

    In In More Trouble Than She’s Worth? by Cheryl Morgan, the narrator lacks agency, but her perspective offers some great observations. For example:

    I like the chrome in the sick bay, but am not convinced by the white. My crew have odd taste at times. I, by the way, am Sagaris, an Artemis Class cruiser of the Queen’s Amazon Navy, General Thomys commanding.

    And

    I got him though, didn’t I?, I thought proudly to myself. You can’t scrag a target without wobbling a few crew stomachs. A little non-fatal discomfort does the little ones good.

    In this tale, the crew picks up some very precious cargo. Morgan uses the situation to explore how women can be both mothers and fighters — and how that differs from their enemies. This one made me cry.

    The arrogance of men was explored by directly and successfully by both Gaie Sebold and Juliet E. McKenna.

    In Ambition’s Engine, Sebold takes us to high society, where a newly appointed Chief Defender of the Dominion’s Transport hatches a plan to get more from a train ride than he was commissioned for. Sebold packs in commentary about war, colonialism, and the arrogance of powerful men.

    With Civil War, McKenna examines the impact of a change in monarch when the King has no male heir. She explores the options available to the court and the guilds. This was a like watching a royal game of chess and I didn’t see final the move until it was too late. Very cleverly done.

    In the introduction Roz Clarke and Joanne Hall suggest:

    ‘…perhaps now we can look beyond a direct kick back against the idea that women can’t fight, and start to reintegrate more traditionally acceptable forms of feminine power with that warrior archetype.’

    And they’ve proved with this collection that fighting and feminine power take many forms — from the bloody, to the subtle, to the fearless — with motivations that defy the ‘warrior archetype’.

    If you don’t need convincing that women can fight, this collection is for you. There are some excellent stories here.

    And if you do need some persuasion, this collection is also for you — though you might end up a little more paranoid than before, as not all fights are direct confrontations or fairly fought.

    Anthology Details

    Title: Fight Like a Girl – Volume 2
    Editors: Roz Clarke, Joanne Hall
    Publisher: Wizard’s Tower Press
    Publication Date: Autumn 2024
    ISBN (Paperback): 9781913892845
    ISBN (EPUB): 9781913892852
    ISBN (MOBI): 9781913892869
    Format: Paperback, EPUB, MOBI