Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Hana Carolina

Hana Carolina @hanacarolina.bsky.social · 10h

New review @strangehorizons.bsky.social!

An obscure folk band is thrust into fame in a horror novel about the perils of social media. How do you preserve creative joy in a world that commodifies art and feeds obsession?

Thanks to @danhartland.bsky.social for taming this monster of a review.

Dan Hartland @danhartland.bsky.social · 2d

One for the weekend at SH today: @hanacarolina.bsky.social doing some proper thinking about Joey Batey’s It’s Not A Cult (@bloomsburyraven.bsky.social).

She argues that the novel’s particular “aesthetic approach … challenges the romanticisation of artists … and sensationalisation of relationships.”

It’s Not a Cult by Joey Batey

It’s Not a Cult is obsessed with mediation.

strangehorizons.com

1 5 7

Hana Carolina @hanacarolina.bsky.social · 8h

You definitely should 😆😍

1

Hana Carolina @hanacarolina.bsky.social · 8h

Thank you 🥹❤️🥹 Although I'm not sure if there's an answer 😆

1 1

Reposted by Hana Carolina

Strange Horizons @strangehorizons.bsky.social · 10h

When There Are Wolves Again by E.J. Swift
reviewed by Paul March-Russell

The Witch Roads by Kate Elliott
reviewed by Electra Pritchett

It’s Not a Cult by Joey Batey
reviewed by Hana Carolina

Link to the latest issue in our bio!

#fantasy #sciencefiction #scifi #horror #sff #bookreviews

Left
cover of When There are Wolves Again by E.J. Swift featuring a wolf with young sparse trees growing in front of it.

Right
REVIEWS
Quote
"In the current context of ultra-right-wing politics masquerading as patriotism and social media-fuelled conspiracy theories parading as truth, Swift’s liberal, democratic, multicultural, and inclusive politics strike this reader as radical."
reviewer: Paul March-Russell

6 October 2025
Strange Horizons

Left
cover of The Witch Roads by Kate Elliott featuring two small figures walking down a road lined with large humanoid animal stature on each side leading to a large fortress with three huge spires.

Right
REVIEWS
Quote
"Dense but never overwhelming, compact but never too brief, richly detailed and imaginatively constructed, queer-inclusive and sensitive to the ways in which society masks and justifies injustices along other lines, this novel makes a thrilling read..."
reviewer: Electra Pritchett

6 October 2025
Strange Horizons

Left
cover of It’s Not a Cult by Joey Batey featuring a red double keyboard piano on fire with solid yellow smoke rising from it with strange symbols and markings at the edges.

Right
REVIEWS
Quote
"Readers expecting a traditional genre experience may be thrown off—but for those attuned to its wavelength, it’s a striking, generous, and at times exhilarating act of cultural resistance."
reviewer: Hana Carolina

6 October 2025
Strange Horizons

10 16

Hana Carolina @hanacarolina.bsky.social · 10h

New review @strangehorizons.bsky.social!

An obscure folk band is thrust into fame in a horror novel about the perils of social media. How do you preserve creative joy in a world that commodifies art and feeds obsession?

Thanks to @danhartland.bsky.social for taming this monster of a review.

Dan Hartland @danhartland.bsky.social · 2d

One for the weekend at SH today: @hanacarolina.bsky.social doing some proper thinking about Joey Batey’s It’s Not A Cult (@bloomsburyraven.bsky.social).

She argues that the novel’s particular “aesthetic approach … challenges the romanticisation of artists … and sensationalisation of relationships.”

It’s Not a Cult by Joey Batey

It’s Not a Cult is obsessed with mediation.

strangehorizons.com

1 5 7

Reposted by Hana Carolina

Luna Press Publishing @lunapress.bsky.social · 11h

We are delighted to announce that Orcadian author Barbara Stevenson will return to Academia Lunare with a new work on Scottish Gothic Fiction: The Kirk, the Deil and the Grue Atween. Luna Press has acquired EWR and we are looking forward to welcome it in the new year! @babette1-62.bsky.social 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Announcing Stevenson's Exploration of Scottish Gothic Fiction

We are delighted to announce that Orcadian author Barbara Stevenson, will return to Academia Lunare with a new work on Scottish Gothic Fiction: The Kirk, the Deiland the Grue Atween.

www.lunapresspublishing.com

1 12 23

Reposted by Hana Carolina

@gavreads @gavreads.co.uk · Jun 8

A list of UK LGBTQ+ bookshops:

4 19 33

Reposted by Hana Carolina

Dan Hartland @danhartland.bsky.social · 2d

One for the weekend at SH today: @hanacarolina.bsky.social doing some proper thinking about Joey Batey’s It’s Not A Cult (@bloomsburyraven.bsky.social).

She argues that the novel’s particular “aesthetic approach … challenges the romanticisation of artists … and sensationalisation of relationships.”

It’s Not a Cult by Joey Batey

It’s Not a Cult is obsessed with mediation.

strangehorizons.com

1 4 5

Reposted by Hana Carolina

Z.K.A. @pegasusunder.bsky.social · 3d

📚 🧡 MY BIGGEST DREAM COME TRUE 📚 🧡

My debut novel, MY DARLING CLEMENTINE, will be out in 2027!

Publishers Marketplace, Z. K. Abraham's My Darling Clementine, in which a Black queer woman, who, feeling lost in teh depths of an unhappy marriage, leaves it all behind, only to lose herself completely-and beyond human recognition-to a new love, to Makayla Tabron at Amistad, in a good deal, in a pre-empt, for publication in 2027, by Carleen Geisler at P.S. Literary Agency (world English). Translation: Taryn Fagerness Agency

29 18 130

Reposted by Hana Carolina

Emily C. Hughes @emilyhughes.bsky.social · 3d

periodic reminder that if you write stuff that's published on the web for a publication you yourself do not own, PDF that shit as soon as it goes live

4 250 870

Reposted by Hana Carolina

ReBOOcca E. Treasure 👻 👻 👻 @retreasure.bsky.social · 3d

We're so clooooose to halfway there! Watch for some new rewards today!

Lesley Conner @lesleyconner.bsky.social · 3d

The @apexmag.bsky.social 2026 Kickstarter is currently sitting at $6,717 of our $20K goal! That means we're a third of the way to funding four issues of Apex for next year! Can we hit 50% before the end of the week? www.kickstarter.com/projects/ape...

Apex Magazine 2026

An award-winning digital literary magazine of science fiction, dark fantasy, and horror.

www.kickstarter.com

1 4

Reposted by Hana Carolina

Dan Hartland @danhartland.bsky.social · 4d

Always happy to carry an Electra Pritchett review - you can rely on her for incisive genre analysis worn enviably lightly.

Case in point, here she is on The Witch Roads by Kate Elliott (@tordotcom.bsky.social): "If epic fantasy is about scale, then Elliott has written the best I’ve read in years."

The Witch Roads by Kate Elliott

The Witch Roads may be Elliott's most concise and economical book yet.

strangehorizons.com

1 4 7

Reposted by Hana Carolina

Strange Horizons @strangehorizons.bsky.social · 4d

Critical Friends Episode 16 is out now!

Have you ever felt that a novel was too long? Or perhaps too short?

Dan Hartland @danhartland.bsky.social discusses what drives those feelings with Redfern Jon Barrett @redfernjon.bsky.social and Nileena Sunil!

Link ⬇️
strangehorizons.com/wordpress/po...

Critical Friends Episode 16: Length and Breadth

Dan Hartland is joined by Redfern Jon Barrett and Nileena Sunil to discuss those novels that feel too short or not long enough: what's behind that feeling we have that a text is lacking something, …

strangehorizons.com

3 5

Reposted by Hana Carolina

Nefarious Bat Press @nefariousbatpress.bsky.social · 5d

It's Prime Day... so please consider buying your books direct from (ideally indie) bookstores and publishers today, instead of from the Big River that's gouging us all into penury

We'd love you to grab one of our books, from our estore or as a signed paperback

But really: any indie is good :)

Nefarious Bat Press

We're a female-owned independent publisher specialising in queer horror, crime and dark fiction

payhip.com

1 6 21

Reposted by Hana Carolina

Dan Hartland @danhartland.bsky.social · 6d

📣 NEW CRITICAL FRIENDS!

In a new ep of the @strangehorizons.bsky.social SFF criticism podcast, I talk with @redfernjon.bsky.social and Nileena Sunil about books that might be longer, and others that could be shorter.

How to read a text that offers too little, or too much, stuff? Some ideas.

Critical Friends Episode 16: Length and Breadth

Dan Hartland is joined by Redfern Jon Barrett and Nileena Sunil to discuss those novels that feel too sure or not long enough: what's behind that feeling we have that a text is lacking something, o…

strangehorizons.com

4 13 20

Reposted by Hana Carolina

Niall Harrison @niallharrison.bsky.social · 6d

"When We are Wolves Again is not only the novel we have been waiting for from E. J. Swift, one of the UK’s brightest younger talents in speculative fiction, but the novel we also have been waiting for as readers." Amen to that. strangehorizons.com/wordpress/no...

When There are Wolves Again by E.J. Swift

When There Are Wolves Again is, put simply, the most important, the most courageous, the most uplifting novel I have read in years.

strangehorizons.com

5 9

Reposted by Hana Carolina

Dan Hartland @danhartland.bsky.social · 6d

Paul March-Russell on EJ Swift: "in electing to write against the white noise of voices prophesying doom, Swift’s turn to the utopian is courageous ... [it's] a viable demonstration of how we can meet the greatest challenges that face us as a community."

A review, and a novel, which demands notice.

Niall Harrison @niallharrison.bsky.social · 6d

"When We are Wolves Again is not only the novel we have been waiting for from E. J. Swift, one of the UK’s brightest younger talents in speculative fiction, but the novel we also have been waiting for as readers." Amen to that. strangehorizons.com/wordpress/no...

When There are Wolves Again by E.J. Swift

When There Are Wolves Again is, put simply, the most important, the most courageous, the most uplifting novel I have read in years.

strangehorizons.com

8 14

Reposted by Hana Carolina

Strange Horizons @strangehorizons.bsky.social · 8d

The reviews are in!

Black Hole Heart and Other Stories by K. A. Teryna, translated by Alex Shvartsman
by Rachel Cordasco

Contra Amatores Mundi: A Gothic Fantasy by Graham Thomas Wilcox
by Matt Holder

The Entanglement of Rival Wizards by Sara Raasch
by Cameron Miguel

Link to latest issue in bio!

Left
cover of Black Hole Heart and Other Stories by K. A. Teryna, translated by Alex Shvartsman featuring a heart shaped hole with animals and clouds and a person fishing in it.

Right
REVIEWS
Quote
"The stories in Black Hole Heart refuse to be labeled. They burst from the confines of the page, swirling and switching genre gears, leaving the reader wondering what’s coming next."
reviewer: Rachel Cordasco

29 September 2025
Strange Horizons

Left
cover of Contra Amatores Mundi: A Gothic Fantasy by Graham Thomas Wilcox featuring two gothic relief panels one of a person in a suit of armor and the other in a nun's habit.

Right
REVIEWS
Quote
"The language is inseparable from both the human artist invested in strange and ornamental mode of storytelling and from the storytelling itself. It is the one element that above and beyond transports the reader to a truly alien, medieval world."
reviewer: Matt Holder

29 September 2025
Strange Horizons

Left
cover of The Entanglement of Rival Wizards by Sara Raasch featuring a blonde man leaning on a table looking up at the blushing tattooed half-elf.

Right
REVIEWS
Quote
"With that frequent foreshadowing, the respectful approach she takes to sensitive topics, and the way she melds healing and romance, I am beyond pleased that I read this novel; if I outlined every stellar moment we’d be here for hours."
reviewer: Cameron Miguel

29 September 2025
Strange Horizons

2 9

Reposted by Hana Carolina

Dan Hartland @danhartland.bsky.social · 9d

While we're on the question of @strangehorizons.bsky.social's 25th, I should say that the same week - oddly enough - sees my 20th anniversary with the magazine. (I began reviewing in the cradle, of course.)

On 26 Sep, 2005, SH published a little-noted Battlestar Galactica review.

Battlestar Galactica, season two: the opening quartet

Almost all television shows, from ER to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, reach a point at which they cease to revolve around their concepts and begin to focus with great import on the tortured souls of th…

strangehorizons.com

1 2 13

Reposted by Hana Carolina

Dan Hartland @danhartland.bsky.social · 9d

The last review of the 25th-anniversary issue is from Cameron Miguel, who I'm happy to say has also just become our staff's latest recruit, as one of our amazing band of copyeditors.

They write about Sara Raasch, who in this wizarding romance "demonstrates equal respect for consent and boundaries."

The Entanglement of Rival Wizards by Sara Raasch

The addition of the recent subgenre of sports romance into this fantasy world offers a new, refreshing spin on a recurring trope.

strangehorizons.com

3 3

Reposted by Hana Carolina

lor gislason @lormaggot.ca · 9d

Hello y'all!! I'm promoting my upcoming novella COSMIC DYKE PATROL which u can preorder here. ghoulish.rip/product/cosm... I even made a lil poster!

1 14 24

Reposted by Hana Carolina

Dan Hartland @danhartland.bsky.social · 11d

Oh, hi. Yes, there’s a Wednesday review: it’s @mattholder93.bsky.social on the medievalist gothic fantasy of Graham Thomas Wilcox:

“Readers of Clark Ashton Smith or Wolfe will find much to enjoy in Wilcox’s baroque presentation, each sentence buttressed with beautiful crenellations and frescoes.”

Contra Amatores Mundi: A Gothic Fantasy by Graham Thomas Wilcox

Contra Amatores Mundi is a love story soaked in martial theology and stylistic decadence.

www.strangehorizons.com

3 2

Reposted by Hana Carolina

Maria Haskins @mariahaskins.com · 12d

Strange Horizons turns 25 this year, which is pretty much an eternity in the world of spec fic zines, and I had the privilege of going through the archives for a special short fiction roundup: 2 x 25 Gems from Strange Horizons’ Archives

strangehorizons.com/wordpress/fi...

A Short Fiction Treasures Special: 2 x 25 Gems from Strange Horizons’ Archives

Going through the archives of Strange Horizons for this special column has been a bit like exploring a treasure chamber. I’ve picked fifty stories. I could have picked hundreds. Meaning: I left a l…

strangehorizons.com

5 130 240

Reposted by Hana Carolina

Raven Books @bloomsburyraven.bsky.social · 11d

We’re delighted that Richard Strachan's atmospheric debut, The Unrecovered, has been chosen as Waterstones Scottish Book of the Month!

1 5

Reposted by Hana Carolina

Dan Hartland @danhartland.bsky.social · 13d

It's SH's 25th birthday! Three reviews as ever this week, with the first from @rachelcordasco.bsky.social: a short fiction collection from KA Teryna, translated Alex Shvartsman for @patrickswenson.bsky.social's Fairwood Press.

"The stories in Black Hole Heart refuse to be labeled," Rachel writes.

Black Hole Heart and Other Stories by K. A. Teryna, translated by Alex Shvartsman

These stories are genre-bending explorations of how protagonists deal with unusual and unexpected situations.

strangehorizons.com

6 10