Ancillary Review of Books
@ancillaryreviewofbooks.org
culture, power, speculation
https://ancillaryreviewofbooks.org/
Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/AncillaryReview
https://ancillaryreviewofbooks.org/
Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/AncillaryReview
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ARB Needs Your Support!
Hello readers! We have a lot of big plans for next year. Some highlights you can expect: Dan Hartland’s Snap! Criticism column, where he takes a recent work of critical non-fiction and a speculativ…
ancillaryreviewofbooks.org
Hey readers! Another plug for our Patreon and Bookshop- we would really appreciate your support as we move towards becoming a paying venue. Plus, our Bookshop is a great way to fill out your TBR for the end of the year. Re-shares appreciated!
ancillaryreviewofbooks.org/2024/11/24/a...
ancillaryreviewofbooks.org/2024/11/24/a...
Reposted by Ancillary Review of Books
Academic & critical SFF folks: does anyone know if Fantastika Journal still exists? I went hunting for an article and found that their website is totally down; no movement on their socials for a while.
December 6, 2025 at 4:05 AM
Academic & critical SFF folks: does anyone know if Fantastika Journal still exists? I went hunting for an article and found that their website is totally down; no movement on their socials for a while.
Reposted by Ancillary Review of Books
We still have some talk spaces for next year's Romancing the Gothic online talk series.
A reminder that Romancing the Gothic is explicitly trans-inclusive and our programme next year will be celebrating that in numerous talks. Join us.
romancingthegothic.com/2025/09/02/r...
A reminder that Romancing the Gothic is explicitly trans-inclusive and our programme next year will be celebrating that in numerous talks. Join us.
romancingthegothic.com/2025/09/02/r...
Romancing the Gothic 2026 Talk Series – Call for Papers
In 2026, our annual conference will be celebrating the 200th anniversary of Ann Radcliffe’s final, posthumous, publications. An early Gothic writer, Radcliffe was known to some as the ‘…
romancingthegothic.com
December 6, 2025 at 12:20 PM
We still have some talk spaces for next year's Romancing the Gothic online talk series.
A reminder that Romancing the Gothic is explicitly trans-inclusive and our programme next year will be celebrating that in numerous talks. Join us.
romancingthegothic.com/2025/09/02/r...
A reminder that Romancing the Gothic is explicitly trans-inclusive and our programme next year will be celebrating that in numerous talks. Join us.
romancingthegothic.com/2025/09/02/r...
Reposted by Ancillary Review of Books
there should be about 5 to 6 times as many magazines as there currently are for criticism and they should all pay on average 2 to 3 times as much as they currently do, and it should be easier to write for them. without that i think american literary culture is gonna continue to feel weirdly stagnant
December 6, 2025 at 2:05 AM
there should be about 5 to 6 times as many magazines as there currently are for criticism and they should all pay on average 2 to 3 times as much as they currently do, and it should be easier to write for them. without that i think american literary culture is gonna continue to feel weirdly stagnant
Reposted by Ancillary Review of Books
Are there any fan artists who can do (Western) TV cartoon characters reasonably true-to-style who want to donate a little mischievous labor to some Canadian creative industry workers in a union fight against corporate greed? If so, send me a message and I can give you details!
December 5, 2025 at 11:28 PM
Are there any fan artists who can do (Western) TV cartoon characters reasonably true-to-style who want to donate a little mischievous labor to some Canadian creative industry workers in a union fight against corporate greed? If so, send me a message and I can give you details!
Reposted by Ancillary Review of Books
For fun I thought I'd post the art corner next to my desk. There's a lot of art throughout the apartment, but these are my particular selection that stay right next to me - and a rare feature of my own art (the embroidery)
December 5, 2025 at 5:00 PM
For fun I thought I'd post the art corner next to my desk. There's a lot of art throughout the apartment, but these are my particular selection that stay right next to me - and a rare feature of my own art (the embroidery)
Reposted by Ancillary Review of Books
The CFP for #CRSF2026 is now live on our blog crsfhome.home.blog!
The theme for this year's conference is Systems and Entanglement 🪢
We're so excited to see everyone's abstracts and proposals!
The theme for this year's conference is Systems and Entanglement 🪢
We're so excited to see everyone's abstracts and proposals!
December 5, 2025 at 3:31 PM
The CFP for #CRSF2026 is now live on our blog crsfhome.home.blog!
The theme for this year's conference is Systems and Entanglement 🪢
We're so excited to see everyone's abstracts and proposals!
The theme for this year's conference is Systems and Entanglement 🪢
We're so excited to see everyone's abstracts and proposals!
Reposted by Ancillary Review of Books
What's the best book *review* you wrote, read, edited, or published this year? I'm rounding them up again for Lit Hub.
(Must have a 2025 pub date, no exceptions.)
(Must have a 2025 pub date, no exceptions.)
December 4, 2025 at 9:39 PM
What's the best book *review* you wrote, read, edited, or published this year? I'm rounding them up again for Lit Hub.
(Must have a 2025 pub date, no exceptions.)
(Must have a 2025 pub date, no exceptions.)
Reposted by Ancillary Review of Books
A week from today, I'll be at Buffalo's @eveninghouse.bsky.social in conversation with @casella.bsky.social of @ancillaryreviewofbooks.org and @mealofthorns.bsky.social. Excited to talk Tell Me Yours, horror fiction, and all things Western New York.
Last event of the year. Come through! 🕯️❄️
Last event of the year. Come through! 🕯️❄️
December 4, 2025 at 3:25 PM
A week from today, I'll be at Buffalo's @eveninghouse.bsky.social in conversation with @casella.bsky.social of @ancillaryreviewofbooks.org and @mealofthorns.bsky.social. Excited to talk Tell Me Yours, horror fiction, and all things Western New York.
Last event of the year. Come through! 🕯️❄️
Last event of the year. Come through! 🕯️❄️
Hey ARB readers! A quick announcement: December is going to be a quieter publishing month for us, but only because we're working on some big changes for next year. More details here:
Upcoming Changes at ARB
Hello readers! I hope you’ve been enjoying the Ancillary Review of Books and A Meal of Thorns; 2025 has been a great year for us! We’ve published a lot of reviews and essays, welcomed cool new writ…
ancillaryreviewofbooks.org
December 4, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Hey ARB readers! A quick announcement: December is going to be a quieter publishing month for us, but only because we're working on some big changes for next year. More details here:
Reposted by Ancillary Review of Books
Zines in SF/F that are nonprofits AFAIK and thus worthy of your support on this Giving Tuesday. (Pls add others you know of!)
BCS
@strangehorizons.bsky.social
@reckoningmag.bsky.social
@escapepod.org @podcastle.org @pseudopod.org
BCS
@strangehorizons.bsky.social
@reckoningmag.bsky.social
@escapepod.org @podcastle.org @pseudopod.org
December 2, 2025 at 4:55 PM
Zines in SF/F that are nonprofits AFAIK and thus worthy of your support on this Giving Tuesday. (Pls add others you know of!)
BCS
@strangehorizons.bsky.social
@reckoningmag.bsky.social
@escapepod.org @podcastle.org @pseudopod.org
BCS
@strangehorizons.bsky.social
@reckoningmag.bsky.social
@escapepod.org @podcastle.org @pseudopod.org
Reposted by Ancillary Review of Books
Friends: if you or someone you know is interested in reviewing our edited collection Postpolitics and the Aesthetic Imagination (see 👇) for a journal, please let me know! An arrangement can possibly be made!
www.upress.umn.edu/978151791918...
www.upress.umn.edu/978151791918...
Postpolitics and the Aesthetic Imagination
Igniting political power through the lens of art and the imaginationPostpolitics and the Aesthetic Imagination investigates the erosion of meaningful politic...
www.upress.umn.edu
December 1, 2025 at 6:09 PM
Friends: if you or someone you know is interested in reviewing our edited collection Postpolitics and the Aesthetic Imagination (see 👇) for a journal, please let me know! An arrangement can possibly be made!
www.upress.umn.edu/978151791918...
www.upress.umn.edu/978151791918...
Listen along to our latest critical bookclub, wherein Cameron Kunzelman and Jake Casella Brookins discuss Ned Beauman's VENOMOUS LUMPSUCKER (@sohopress.bsky.social), a near-future climate novel packed with ideas!
Academic, critic, and prolific podcaster @ckunzelman.bsky.social joins for a far-ranging discussion about how cli-fi, sci-fi, and personal & political connections to the environment intersect in Ned Beauman's @clarkeaward.bsky.social-winning VENOMOUS LUMPSUCKER. Bonus hog sighting.
A Meal of Thorns 38- VENOMOUS LUMPSUCKER with Cameron Kunzelman
Academic, critic, and prolific podcaster Cameron Kunzelman joins for a far-ranging discussion about how climate fiction, science fiction, and personal and political connections to the environment i…
ancillaryreviewofbooks.org
December 1, 2025 at 9:11 PM
Listen along to our latest critical bookclub, wherein Cameron Kunzelman and Jake Casella Brookins discuss Ned Beauman's VENOMOUS LUMPSUCKER (@sohopress.bsky.social), a near-future climate novel packed with ideas!
Reposted by Ancillary Review of Books
Heads up: City Tech (CUNY) is having their free annual science fiction symposium tomorrow. I’m going to try to attend from 2 PM on. Hope to see some of you there! openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/scienceficti...
Science Fiction at City Tech | Teaching, Researching, and Archiving Sci-Fi at the New York City College of Technology, CUNY
openlab.citytech.cuny.edu
December 1, 2025 at 8:43 PM
Heads up: City Tech (CUNY) is having their free annual science fiction symposium tomorrow. I’m going to try to attend from 2 PM on. Hope to see some of you there! openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/scienceficti...
Congratulations to all the winners and finalists, and especially to @alexyquest.bsky.social!
Congratulations to the 2025 Small Spec Book Awards winners!
✨BETTER LIVING THROUGH ALCHEMY by @evanjpeterson.bsky.social (@slgable.bsky.social)
✨YOU WILL SPEAK FOR THE DEAD by @rabusby.bsky.social (@stelliform.press)
✨EMPRESS OF DUST by @alexyquest.bsky.social (@wctracy.bsky.social)
#SSBA #SSBA2025
✨BETTER LIVING THROUGH ALCHEMY by @evanjpeterson.bsky.social (@slgable.bsky.social)
✨YOU WILL SPEAK FOR THE DEAD by @rabusby.bsky.social (@stelliform.press)
✨EMPRESS OF DUST by @alexyquest.bsky.social (@wctracy.bsky.social)
#SSBA #SSBA2025
December 1, 2025 at 6:40 PM
Congratulations to all the winners and finalists, and especially to @alexyquest.bsky.social!
Reposted by Ancillary Review of Books
With the caveat that this is currently a matter of curiosity and not a declaration of intent:
I'm looking for recommendations of criticism that focuses on architecture and/or public spaces and/or urbanism in relation to SF&F.
Anybody aware of any interesting work on this topic?
I'm looking for recommendations of criticism that focuses on architecture and/or public spaces and/or urbanism in relation to SF&F.
Anybody aware of any interesting work on this topic?
November 30, 2025 at 9:06 PM
With the caveat that this is currently a matter of curiosity and not a declaration of intent:
I'm looking for recommendations of criticism that focuses on architecture and/or public spaces and/or urbanism in relation to SF&F.
Anybody aware of any interesting work on this topic?
I'm looking for recommendations of criticism that focuses on architecture and/or public spaces and/or urbanism in relation to SF&F.
Anybody aware of any interesting work on this topic?
Reposted by Ancillary Review of Books
Very excited for this. Sofia Samatar is one of my favourite living writers so I will be attending!
Call for Papers and Sessions
Fantasy’s Present Pasts
University of Glasgow
Tuesday 23rd – Thursday 25th June 2026
Keynote Speakers: Stefan Ekman, Sofia Samatar and Helen Young
More details on the conference in the post linked below - deadline for proposals is Friday 12th December.
Fantasy’s Present Pasts
University of Glasgow
Tuesday 23rd – Thursday 25th June 2026
Keynote Speakers: Stefan Ekman, Sofia Samatar and Helen Young
More details on the conference in the post linked below - deadline for proposals is Friday 12th December.
Fantasy’s Present Pasts – Call for Papers and Sessions – Centre for Fantasy and the Fantastic
fantasy.glasgow.ac.uk
November 11, 2025 at 8:47 AM
Very excited for this. Sofia Samatar is one of my favourite living writers so I will be attending!
Reposted by Ancillary Review of Books
Please boost!
@Jed Hartman, Melanie Fishbane, Emily Tesh and Farah Mendlesohn talk about the fantastic, weird, controversial and now 50 year old! The Female Man. Free online, December 30th. Tickets at www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1697987549... or at facebook: fb.me/e/3F0xoFwPh
@Jed Hartman, Melanie Fishbane, Emily Tesh and Farah Mendlesohn talk about the fantastic, weird, controversial and now 50 year old! The Female Man. Free online, December 30th. Tickets at www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1697987549... or at facebook: fb.me/e/3F0xoFwPh
Discussing the Female Man
The Female Man is Farah Mendlesohn's favourite science fiction novel. Melanie Fishbane has been thinking about its Jewishness. Jed Hartman h
www.eventbrite.co.uk
November 29, 2025 at 9:31 AM
Please boost!
@Jed Hartman, Melanie Fishbane, Emily Tesh and Farah Mendlesohn talk about the fantastic, weird, controversial and now 50 year old! The Female Man. Free online, December 30th. Tickets at www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1697987549... or at facebook: fb.me/e/3F0xoFwPh
@Jed Hartman, Melanie Fishbane, Emily Tesh and Farah Mendlesohn talk about the fantastic, weird, controversial and now 50 year old! The Female Man. Free online, December 30th. Tickets at www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1697987549... or at facebook: fb.me/e/3F0xoFwPh
Reposted by Ancillary Review of Books
Happy Friday, SF readers. Some fresh links to ponder over the weekend:
ancillaryreviewofbooks.org/2025/11/28/w...
ancillaryreviewofbooks.org/2025/11/28/w...
Wow! Signal: November 2025
Jake Casella Brookins The Ancillary Review of Books was founded to address the radical possibilities of criticism, particularly in the context of the radical possibilities of speculative fiction. N…
ancillaryreviewofbooks.org
November 28, 2025 at 2:13 PM
Happy Friday, SF readers. Some fresh links to ponder over the weekend:
ancillaryreviewofbooks.org/2025/11/28/w...
ancillaryreviewofbooks.org/2025/11/28/w...
If the mania (not great) for buying (questionable) books (laudable) has gripped you today, we should perhaps remind you that ARB is on Bookshop, and that shipping is free this weekend!
ARB's Coverage
Checkout out this list on Bookshop
bookshop.org
November 28, 2025 at 9:00 PM
If the mania (not great) for buying (questionable) books (laudable) has gripped you today, we should perhaps remind you that ARB is on Bookshop, and that shipping is free this weekend!
Reposted by Ancillary Review of Books
This trans poetry project is having difficulty funding, less than five days to go! You can give it a boost on Black Friday :)
Help me fund epic poem GULA: A Poem For The End Times on BackerKit! A modernist/post-modernist long-form poem, GULA explores Carrion City, a place where the lost and forsaken end up and rarely leave -- a mirror city to the world of the beloved and treasured.
www.backerkit.com/c/projects/e...
www.backerkit.com/c/projects/e...
November 28, 2025 at 3:59 PM
This trans poetry project is having difficulty funding, less than five days to go! You can give it a boost on Black Friday :)
Reposted by Ancillary Review of Books
Y'ALL. Tanvir Ahmed has a new essay out in @strangehorizons.bsky.social and it is a MUST READ.
"I think it’s something about the body. The same eyes that watch Daenerys and her dragons watch Israeli bombs double-tap journalists at a hospital."
"I think it’s something about the body. The same eyes that watch Daenerys and her dragons watch Israeli bombs double-tap journalists at a hospital."
Photon Torpedoes Break the Space Muqarnas: SFF Audiovisuals and Anti-Muslim Violence
Dragon fire on white bodies is sad. Dragon fire on not-Muslim bodies is cheered on the screen. We ache when the scimitar prows of not-Muslim ships cleave through a white human captain’s ship. But b…
strangehorizons.com
November 28, 2025 at 3:29 PM
Y'ALL. Tanvir Ahmed has a new essay out in @strangehorizons.bsky.social and it is a MUST READ.
"I think it’s something about the body. The same eyes that watch Daenerys and her dragons watch Israeli bombs double-tap journalists at a hospital."
"I think it’s something about the body. The same eyes that watch Daenerys and her dragons watch Israeli bombs double-tap journalists at a hospital."
Happy Friday, SF readers. Some fresh links to ponder over the weekend:
ancillaryreviewofbooks.org/2025/11/28/w...
ancillaryreviewofbooks.org/2025/11/28/w...
Wow! Signal: November 2025
Jake Casella Brookins The Ancillary Review of Books was founded to address the radical possibilities of criticism, particularly in the context of the radical possibilities of speculative fiction. N…
ancillaryreviewofbooks.org
November 28, 2025 at 2:13 PM
Happy Friday, SF readers. Some fresh links to ponder over the weekend:
ancillaryreviewofbooks.org/2025/11/28/w...
ancillaryreviewofbooks.org/2025/11/28/w...
Reposted by Ancillary Review of Books
An international Star Trek conference with the brilliant @smittermeier.bsky.social as keynote! If you're a Trek scholar, you should probably be there!
#CFP Red Alert!
We are organizing an international #symposium on #StarTrek in September 2026 in Paris, for the 60th anniversary of the franchise. 🖖
We are pleased to announce that Dr. @smittermeier.bsky.social will deliver the keynote address of the symposium!
We are organizing an international #symposium on #StarTrek in September 2026 in Paris, for the 60th anniversary of the franchise. 🖖
We are pleased to announce that Dr. @smittermeier.bsky.social will deliver the keynote address of the symposium!
November 26, 2025 at 7:18 PM
An international Star Trek conference with the brilliant @smittermeier.bsky.social as keynote! If you're a Trek scholar, you should probably be there!
Reposted by Ancillary Review of Books
It’s been two days since we opened and we have 80+ submissions! Thank you for sending us so much great work! Please don’t be discouraged by a fast response: with so many submissions and so few slots, we’ve already had to decline many wonderful stories.
P.S. We would LOVE to see more nonfiction! 💜
P.S. We would LOVE to see more nonfiction! 💜
Submission Guidelines - OTHERSIDE
Submission guidelines for fiction and poetry submissions to OTHERSIDE, including opening dates and how to submit.
othersidespec.com
November 26, 2025 at 4:00 PM
It’s been two days since we opened and we have 80+ submissions! Thank you for sending us so much great work! Please don’t be discouraged by a fast response: with so many submissions and so few slots, we’ve already had to decline many wonderful stories.
P.S. We would LOVE to see more nonfiction! 💜
P.S. We would LOVE to see more nonfiction! 💜