Winter Newsletter 2023 Science Fiction & Fantasy

I’ve been a fan of Naomi Alderman since her Zombies, Run! days and have enjoyed watching her literary career explode with acclaim and success. Her newest book reminds me of Snowcrash in how fun, thrilling, intelligent, and fantastically bonkers it is. It is a genre-defying work that blends social critique, survivalist mania, futuristic tech, and philosophical treaties. I just couldn’t put it down. Two women whose meeting is unlikely and whose relationship is even more so, live in a world that teeters on the brink of disaster. I laughed, I cried, I stared at the ceiling thinking long into the night about my place in the world. Truly, this is one that will be talked about for many years to come.  

—Jax

This collection opens with a beautiful invitation from Stephan Graham Jones: “Why don’t you come over here into the dark with us?” These short stories don’t feel exactly like legends retold or tales of ancestral horror; they feel like hands reaching out from a dark room, ready to guide you through what your imagination makes of the darkness. These authors, these tour guides, provide truly incomparable stories that force you to sit with them, uncomfortably. This anthology challenged me, and I am honestly thankful for that.  

—Nikole

The Jinn-Bot of Shantiport, at its core, is a dialogue about the harm–benefit ratios inherent in every revolution. This conversation is held through well-developed characters, hilarious dialogue, and a three-wish-granting genie in a lamp (it’s advanced technology, not magic). It will take you around multiple turns, and you will come to love the daughter of revolutionaries, her monkey robot brother, and the tiny story-telling robot that follows them around.  

—Zoe

This sapphic horror story is absolutely dripping with tantalizing atmosphere. Rosemary meets Ash at a local farmer's market and quickly becomes obsessed. The prose ropes you in with the beauty of a new love and new beginnings, only to sink its teeth in and refuse to let go when things get bloody. Perfect for fans of Hannibal looking for their next meal.  

—Mo

It’s a tale as old as time. A rich but absent uncle leaves his obscene wealth to his floundering journalist nephew, thrusting him into a world of cutthroat supervillains complete with a secret volcano lair, not to mention the typing cats, unionized dolphins, and a cabal of evil billionaires. Scalzi, once again, is a master of off-the-wall humor with a touch of heart.

—Ivy

This new fantasy romance is a page-turning enemies-to-lovers tale set against a magical war, impending apocalypse, and dragons! The Hurricane Wars is the next read for anyone who loved Fourth Wing. Inspired by the cultures of the Philippines, the incredible and unique world building brings a freshness to all the favorite romantic fantasy tropes Thea Guanzon spins so well.

 —Zoe

Starling House crosses many genres—think an odd blend of Stranger Things meeting a modern-day Wuthering Heights. When Opal’s mother dies in a car accident, Opal is left to raise her much-younger brother in their small Kentucky town and takes odd jobs doing anything she can in order to get her brother into a good school and out of the town. She is offered a job with ample pay, cleaning the “haunted house” on the edge of town—a house long rumored to be at the center of the town’s mysterious history of disappearances and misfortune—and she can’t say no.  

—S.M.C.

A Haunting on the Hill is a disturbing and tingling horror story that brilliantly combines terror and curiosity. Elizabeth Hand populates her version of Hill House with big egos that battle under the house’s deep gloom. She takes great care to create an unusual blend of fear and attraction. Everything is present, from gothic secrets to dubious housekeepers. As the storm approaches, emotions run wild, drawing you along with the characters toward insanity.  

—Kristina