Niall Harrison
@niallharrison.bsky.social
reader, critic, fan, he/him
Reposted by Niall Harrison
Good news: First review of the week!
Even better news: It’s @thehubble101.bsky.social on Alix E. Harrow!
“The dismissal of fantasy is compounded by the strategy of rhetorical containment in which novels in the genre by women are singled out.”
Even better news: It’s @thehubble101.bsky.social on Alix E. Harrow!
“The dismissal of fantasy is compounded by the strategy of rhetorical containment in which novels in the genre by women are singled out.”
The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow
A critical discomfort with fantasy still remains a feature of public life.
strangehorizons.com
November 25, 2025 at 12:52 PM
Good news: First review of the week!
Even better news: It’s @thehubble101.bsky.social on Alix E. Harrow!
“The dismissal of fantasy is compounded by the strategy of rhetorical containment in which novels in the genre by women are singled out.”
Even better news: It’s @thehubble101.bsky.social on Alix E. Harrow!
“The dismissal of fantasy is compounded by the strategy of rhetorical containment in which novels in the genre by women are singled out.”
Reposted by Niall Harrison
“SEA NOW is not a novel without hope, but it is a novel in which hope is tempered.” @niallharrison reviews new work from Eva Meijer
Sea Now by Eva Meijer: Review by Niall Harrison
Sea Now, Eva Meijer (Two Lines 978-1-94964-185-1, $18.00, 180pp, tp) October 2025. One of the few Northern European countries not visited in Yoko Tawada’s trilogy is the Netherlands, so it was brie…
locusmag.com
November 25, 2025 at 2:00 AM
“SEA NOW is not a novel without hope, but it is a novel in which hope is tempered.” @niallharrison reviews new work from Eva Meijer
"Death of the SF category but not SF content" latest: I count, I think, six science fiction novels in the NYT notable books list; none of them are categorised in the list as SF and none of them were published as SF. One was even marketed as Romantasy, it seems! www.nytimes.com/2025/11/24/b...
November 25, 2025 at 1:19 PM
"Death of the SF category but not SF content" latest: I count, I think, six science fiction novels in the NYT notable books list; none of them are categorised in the list as SF and none of them were published as SF. One was even marketed as Romantasy, it seems! www.nytimes.com/2025/11/24/b...
Reposted by Niall Harrison
Explore as @niallharrison reviews ARCHIPELAGO OF THE SUN by Yoko Tawada, saying the book “finds both a yearning for a state beyond language, and a joy in the necessity of it.”
Archipelago of the Sun by Yoko Tawada: Review by Niall Harrison
Archipelago of the Sun, Yoko Tawada (New Directions 978-0-811-23979-0, $16.95, 214pp, tp) September 2025. In similar vein, sometimes a novel can be about a place via its absence. Yoko Tawada’s Arch…
locusmag.com
November 23, 2025 at 8:00 PM
Explore as @niallharrison reviews ARCHIPELAGO OF THE SUN by Yoko Tawada, saying the book “finds both a yearning for a state beyond language, and a joy in the necessity of it.”
Reposted by Niall Harrison
Spotlight: 2025 Nommo Award winners
The ASFS announced this year’s winners at the Aké Arts & Book Festival in Lagos. The awards celebrate exceptional talent in African speculative fiction across four categories.
#AfricanSFF 🪐📚💙
The ASFS announced this year’s winners at the Aké Arts & Book Festival in Lagos. The awards celebrate exceptional talent in African speculative fiction across four categories.
#AfricanSFF 🪐📚💙
November 22, 2025 at 1:25 PM
Spotlight: 2025 Nommo Award winners
The ASFS announced this year’s winners at the Aké Arts & Book Festival in Lagos. The awards celebrate exceptional talent in African speculative fiction across four categories.
#AfricanSFF 🪐📚💙
The ASFS announced this year’s winners at the Aké Arts & Book Festival in Lagos. The awards celebrate exceptional talent in African speculative fiction across four categories.
#AfricanSFF 🪐📚💙
Reposted by Niall Harrison
Aha, my review of Sea Now is online! Fabulist disaster novel, witty and cutting: locusmag.com/review/sea-n...
Sea Now by Eva Meijer: Review by Niall Harrison
Sea Now, Eva Meijer (Two Lines 978-1-94964-185-1, $18.00, 180pp, tp) October 2025. One of the few Northern European countries not visited in Yoko Tawada’s trilogy is the Netherlands, so it was brie…
locusmag.com
November 21, 2025 at 7:44 PM
Aha, my review of Sea Now is online! Fabulist disaster novel, witty and cutting: locusmag.com/review/sea-n...
Aha, my review of Sea Now is online! Fabulist disaster novel, witty and cutting: locusmag.com/review/sea-n...
Sea Now by Eva Meijer: Review by Niall Harrison
Sea Now, Eva Meijer (Two Lines 978-1-94964-185-1, $18.00, 180pp, tp) October 2025. One of the few Northern European countries not visited in Yoko Tawada’s trilogy is the Netherlands, so it was brie…
locusmag.com
November 21, 2025 at 7:44 PM
Aha, my review of Sea Now is online! Fabulist disaster novel, witty and cutting: locusmag.com/review/sea-n...
Reposted by Niall Harrison
Just (belatedly) listened to this and having read it twice now and discussed it at my book group, want to say that When There Are Wolves Again is not so central liberalist as portrayed. The central political action is a protest camp and the dominant values are countercultural rather than liberal 1/2
Paul March-Russell on When There Are Wolves Again, in the latest episode of Critical Friends: “From a kind of Marxist revolutionary position, this book will really annoy you. But actually it is reaffirming a faith in legal, constitutional, democratic institutions.”
Radical reformism? Discuss.
Radical reformism? Discuss.
Critical Friends Episode 17: On Imagining Hopefully
Dan Hartland is joined by Paul March-Russell and Jacqueline Nyathi to discuss speculative fiction’s approach to hope and optimism. Where has it gone? How do writers express it? And what are its pit…
www.strangehorizons.com
November 20, 2025 at 11:42 AM
Just (belatedly) listened to this and having read it twice now and discussed it at my book group, want to say that When There Are Wolves Again is not so central liberalist as portrayed. The central political action is a protest camp and the dominant values are countercultural rather than liberal 1/2
A conference! In Newcastle! With am excellent keynote speaker! This is exciting.
November 20, 2025 at 6:07 PM
A conference! In Newcastle! With am excellent keynote speaker! This is exciting.
Reposted by Niall Harrison
Slippery novel, this: locusmag.com/review/archi...
Archipelago of the Sun by Yoko Tawada: Review by Niall Harrison
Archipelago of the Sun, Yoko Tawada (New Directions 978-0-811-23979-0, $16.95, 214pp, tp) September 2025. In similar vein, sometimes a novel can be about a place via its absence. Yoko Tawada’s Arch…
locusmag.com
November 20, 2025 at 9:43 AM
Slippery novel, this: locusmag.com/review/archi...
Slippery novel, this: locusmag.com/review/archi...
Archipelago of the Sun by Yoko Tawada: Review by Niall Harrison
Archipelago of the Sun, Yoko Tawada (New Directions 978-0-811-23979-0, $16.95, 214pp, tp) September 2025. In similar vein, sometimes a novel can be about a place via its absence. Yoko Tawada’s Arch…
locusmag.com
November 20, 2025 at 9:43 AM
Slippery novel, this: locusmag.com/review/archi...
"This analysis has, so far, neglected the Science Fiction category as it is now by far SFF’s junior partner with just two titles in the 2025 Top 50." www.thebookseller.com/bestsellers/...
November 17, 2025 at 10:13 AM
"This analysis has, so far, neglected the Science Fiction category as it is now by far SFF’s junior partner with just two titles in the 2025 Top 50." www.thebookseller.com/bestsellers/...
Reposted by Niall Harrison
✨ Please join SFWA in celebrating the announcement of our latest Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award: N. K. Jemisin. ✨
Learn more here about @nkjemisin.bsky.social, the Grand Master Award, and how the work goes on after the accolades for all we've already done:
www.sfwa.org/2025/11/16/p...
Learn more here about @nkjemisin.bsky.social, the Grand Master Award, and how the work goes on after the accolades for all we've already done:
www.sfwa.org/2025/11/16/p...
November 16, 2025 at 9:47 PM
✨ Please join SFWA in celebrating the announcement of our latest Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award: N. K. Jemisin. ✨
Learn more here about @nkjemisin.bsky.social, the Grand Master Award, and how the work goes on after the accolades for all we've already done:
www.sfwa.org/2025/11/16/p...
Learn more here about @nkjemisin.bsky.social, the Grand Master Award, and how the work goes on after the accolades for all we've already done:
www.sfwa.org/2025/11/16/p...
Reposted by Niall Harrison
The reviews are in!
Colourfields by Paul Kincaid
reviewed by Shinjini Dey
Making History by K. J. Parker
reviewed by Cameron Miguel
Esperance by Adam Oyebanji
reviewed by Eric Hendel
Link to the latest issue in our bio!
#speculativefiction #specfic #horror #sff #bookreviews
Colourfields by Paul Kincaid
reviewed by Shinjini Dey
Making History by K. J. Parker
reviewed by Cameron Miguel
Esperance by Adam Oyebanji
reviewed by Eric Hendel
Link to the latest issue in our bio!
#speculativefiction #specfic #horror #sff #bookreviews
November 16, 2025 at 8:58 PM
The reviews are in!
Colourfields by Paul Kincaid
reviewed by Shinjini Dey
Making History by K. J. Parker
reviewed by Cameron Miguel
Esperance by Adam Oyebanji
reviewed by Eric Hendel
Link to the latest issue in our bio!
#speculativefiction #specfic #horror #sff #bookreviews
Colourfields by Paul Kincaid
reviewed by Shinjini Dey
Making History by K. J. Parker
reviewed by Cameron Miguel
Esperance by Adam Oyebanji
reviewed by Eric Hendel
Link to the latest issue in our bio!
#speculativefiction #specfic #horror #sff #bookreviews
Follow-up on this: Notwithstanding that Waterstones is selling them, am I correct that two of the chosen SF books (Automatic Noodle and Monsters & Mainframes) aren't actually published by UK publishers? (Tordotcom and Girl Friday, respectively, both US based I believe).
State of the genres in the UK: 25 fantasy books (and an entire separate romantasy list), 18 horror books, and 5 science fiction books, one of which is a Brandon Sanderson collection that isn't out yet www.waterstones.com/blog/the-bes...
The Best Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror of 2025 | Waterstones.com Blog | Waterstones
From R.F. Kuang to Brandon Sanderson, here is the science fiction, fantasy and horror we've loved this year.
www.waterstones.com
November 14, 2025 at 8:30 AM
Follow-up on this: Notwithstanding that Waterstones is selling them, am I correct that two of the chosen SF books (Automatic Noodle and Monsters & Mainframes) aren't actually published by UK publishers? (Tordotcom and Girl Friday, respectively, both US based I believe).
Reposted by Niall Harrison
Stephen Baxter sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/baxter... was born on this day, so here are some of his magazine and book covers (Artist: John Picacio, Manchu, Jim Burns and Bob Eggleton):
November 13, 2025 at 10:10 PM
Stephen Baxter sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/baxter... was born on this day, so here are some of his magazine and book covers (Artist: John Picacio, Manchu, Jim Burns and Bob Eggleton):
State of the genres in the UK: 25 fantasy books (and an entire separate romantasy list), 18 horror books, and 5 science fiction books, one of which is a Brandon Sanderson collection that isn't out yet www.waterstones.com/blog/the-bes...
The Best Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror of 2025 | Waterstones.com Blog | Waterstones
From R.F. Kuang to Brandon Sanderson, here is the science fiction, fantasy and horror we've loved this year.
www.waterstones.com
November 13, 2025 at 1:04 PM
State of the genres in the UK: 25 fantasy books (and an entire separate romantasy list), 18 horror books, and 5 science fiction books, one of which is a Brandon Sanderson collection that isn't out yet www.waterstones.com/blog/the-bes...
Reposted by Niall Harrison
🫰SNAP!🫰
My latest column for the excellent @ancillaryreviewofbooks.org, on Tochy Onyebuchi, Joy Sanchez-Taylor, and what to read to understand what you’re reading.
How might we fill the “imagination gap” in our fictions?
My latest column for the excellent @ancillaryreviewofbooks.org, on Tochy Onyebuchi, Joy Sanchez-Taylor, and what to read to understand what you’re reading.
How might we fill the “imagination gap” in our fictions?
Snap! Criticism: Sanchez-Taylor and Onyebuchi
Dan Hartland What should you read if you want to understand what you’re reading? Gang, this column would of course advise that you read criticism. But there are other, and less eccentric, answers. …
ancillaryreviewofbooks.org
November 12, 2025 at 7:02 PM
🫰SNAP!🫰
My latest column for the excellent @ancillaryreviewofbooks.org, on Tochy Onyebuchi, Joy Sanchez-Taylor, and what to read to understand what you’re reading.
How might we fill the “imagination gap” in our fictions?
My latest column for the excellent @ancillaryreviewofbooks.org, on Tochy Onyebuchi, Joy Sanchez-Taylor, and what to read to understand what you’re reading.
How might we fill the “imagination gap” in our fictions?
Reposted by Niall Harrison
The website of Alter Magazine - a space for “new literary writing on science, technology, and progress from South Asia,” has just gone live: www.altermag.com
The first long-form piece - my essay on the secret history of Indian science fiction - will be published on 22 Nov.
Watch this space!
The first long-form piece - my essay on the secret history of Indian science fiction - will be published on 22 Nov.
Watch this space!
New Literary Writing on Science, Technology & Progress
Alter Magazine is a monthly journal of ideas documenting the dreams & dilemmas shaping the Subcontinent's aspirations for collective human progress.
www.altermag.com
November 12, 2025 at 10:09 AM
The website of Alter Magazine - a space for “new literary writing on science, technology, and progress from South Asia,” has just gone live: www.altermag.com
The first long-form piece - my essay on the secret history of Indian science fiction - will be published on 22 Nov.
Watch this space!
The first long-form piece - my essay on the secret history of Indian science fiction - will be published on 22 Nov.
Watch this space!
Reposted by Niall Harrison
Here's a repost of my sort of TOC for anthologies of the best short science fiction between 1989 and 2018. richhorton314252.substack.com/p/great-shor...
Great Short Science Fiction since 1989
A Personal SF Hall of Fame 1989-2018
richhorton314252.substack.com
November 11, 2025 at 2:52 AM
Here's a repost of my sort of TOC for anthologies of the best short science fiction between 1989 and 2018. richhorton314252.substack.com/p/great-shor...
Some most anticipated in H1:
Glyph, Ali Smith (Jan)
Loss Protocol, Paul McAuley (Feb)
If We Cannot Go at the Speed of Light, Kim Choyeop (Mar)
Nonesuch, Frances Spufford (Mar)
What We Are Seeking, Cameron Reed (Apr)
The End of Everything, M John Harrison (Jun)
Isabel J. Kim, Sublimation (Jun)
Glyph, Ali Smith (Jan)
Loss Protocol, Paul McAuley (Feb)
If We Cannot Go at the Speed of Light, Kim Choyeop (Mar)
Nonesuch, Frances Spufford (Mar)
What We Are Seeking, Cameron Reed (Apr)
The End of Everything, M John Harrison (Jun)
Isabel J. Kim, Sublimation (Jun)
Spent the evening looking through publisher catalogues and oh god why am I thinking about June 2026 books already.
November 9, 2025 at 10:19 PM
Some most anticipated in H1:
Glyph, Ali Smith (Jan)
Loss Protocol, Paul McAuley (Feb)
If We Cannot Go at the Speed of Light, Kim Choyeop (Mar)
Nonesuch, Frances Spufford (Mar)
What We Are Seeking, Cameron Reed (Apr)
The End of Everything, M John Harrison (Jun)
Isabel J. Kim, Sublimation (Jun)
Glyph, Ali Smith (Jan)
Loss Protocol, Paul McAuley (Feb)
If We Cannot Go at the Speed of Light, Kim Choyeop (Mar)
Nonesuch, Frances Spufford (Mar)
What We Are Seeking, Cameron Reed (Apr)
The End of Everything, M John Harrison (Jun)
Isabel J. Kim, Sublimation (Jun)
Spent the evening looking through publisher catalogues and oh god why am I thinking about June 2026 books already.
November 9, 2025 at 9:44 PM
Spent the evening looking through publisher catalogues and oh god why am I thinking about June 2026 books already.
Reposted by Niall Harrison
“THE OTHER SHORE is a poised and powerful collection about what binds us to the world, and to each other.” @niallharrison reviews new work from @rebeccacampbell.bsky.social
The Other Shore by Rebecca Campbell: Review by Niall Harrison
The Other Shore, Rebecca Campbell (Stelliform 978-1-99846-601-6, $21.99, 220pp, tp) October 2025. Cover by Kerry Pagdin. One thread between some of the books I have particularly enjoyed this year i…
locusmag.com
November 8, 2025 at 8:00 PM
“THE OTHER SHORE is a poised and powerful collection about what binds us to the world, and to each other.” @niallharrison reviews new work from @rebeccacampbell.bsky.social
Reposted by Niall Harrison
I read the Booker Prize shortlist (again). Rum do, this year - but not uninterestingly.
On the bourgeois novel:
On the bourgeois novel:
The Booker Prize 2025
Many awards shortlists make a statement. Whether by accident or design, the clutch of books from which a given work is granted a particular gong are to one extent clear about – or at least re…
thestoryandthetruth.wordpress.com
November 8, 2025 at 1:31 PM
I read the Booker Prize shortlist (again). Rum do, this year - but not uninterestingly.
On the bourgeois novel:
On the bourgeois novel:
Reposted by Niall Harrison
Reminder:
Please submit recommendations by Nov. 14th for the Otherwise Award jury to consider! Nominate works of speculative fiction - #sciencefiction, #fantasy, and more - that expand or explore our notions of gender:
otherwiseaward.org/award/2025-o...
Please submit recommendations by Nov. 14th for the Otherwise Award jury to consider! Nominate works of speculative fiction - #sciencefiction, #fantasy, and more - that expand or explore our notions of gender:
otherwiseaward.org/award/2025-o...
2025 Otherwise Award Recommendations « Otherwise Award
Recommend works here for the Otherwise Award jurors to consider!
otherwiseaward.org
November 7, 2025 at 9:19 PM
Reminder:
Please submit recommendations by Nov. 14th for the Otherwise Award jury to consider! Nominate works of speculative fiction - #sciencefiction, #fantasy, and more - that expand or explore our notions of gender:
otherwiseaward.org/award/2025-o...
Please submit recommendations by Nov. 14th for the Otherwise Award jury to consider! Nominate works of speculative fiction - #sciencefiction, #fantasy, and more - that expand or explore our notions of gender:
otherwiseaward.org/award/2025-o...