@billcap.bsky.social
110 followers 300 following 150 posts
writer of essays, stories, and plays; reviewer of fantasy/sci fi at fantasyliterature.com and (rarely) Tor.com, reader of just about anything, adjunct instructor, ultimate player, hiker, camper, devourer of worlds (or is that words . . . )
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review: Thematically, Wells explores the aforementioned impact of trauma ... the allure & danger of power, even if wielded for “good” intent, and — set against the idea of singular power —the benefits of community and coalition

fantasyliterature.com/reviews/quee...

@torbooks.bsky.social #booksky
Queen Demon: Often engrossing and nearly always enjoyable | Fantasy Literature: Fantasy and Science Fiction Book and Audiobook Reviews
fantasyliterature.com
Reposted
danhartland.bsky.social
There are three poems - count 'em! - in this week's 25th anniversary issue of @strangehorizons.bsky.social. Among them is a super fun collaboration across the SH staff, co-ordinated by the truly excellent @romiesays.bsky.social.

Ever wanted to go Behind The Scenes At Strange Horizons? Well.
Behind the Scenes at Strange Horizons
Call-and-response currents. Proseships drift on the tide.
strangehorizons.com
my very literal pleasure!
review: sharply focused on fossils offering direct evidence of behavior such as predation/reproduction ... Lomax employs a nicely conversational tone ... enhanced by Bob Nicholls' artist renditions that bring the text’s stories to life

fantasyliterature.com/reviews/the-...

@deanrlomax.bsky.social
The Secret Lives of Dinosaurs: Unearthing the Real Behaviors of Prehistoric Animals | Fantasy Literature: Fantasy and Science Fiction Book and Audiobook Reviews
fantasyliterature.com
Reposted
strangehorizons.bsky.social
Uncertain Sons and Other Stories by Thomas Ha
reviewed by William Shaw

Will This Be A Problem? The Anthology: Issue V edited by Olivia Kidula & Somto Ihezue
reviewed by Amritesh Mukherjee

Gifted & Talented by Olivie Blake
reviewed by Subham Rai

Link to latest issue in bio!

#bookreviews
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cover of Uncertain Sons and Other Stories by Thomas Ha featuring the profile of a being with a white face, protuding back of the head, and a neck and shoulders made of connected wires, roots, gothic buildings and bones. 

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REVIEWS
Quote
"...I am willing to bet that I will not forget “The Brotherhood of Montague St. Video” in a hurry, nor the extraordinary collection in which it appears. If you choose to read it, I doubt you will either. Ha has produced an engaging, kinetic, and profoundly well-crafted set of stories."
reviewer: William Shaw

15 September 2025
Strange Horizons Left 
cover of Will This Be A Problem? The Anthology: Issue V edited by Olivia Kidula & Somto Ihezue featuring a black person wearing an orange suit and gold chainlink necklaces with a face wearing a helmet in the clouds above. 

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REVIEWS
Quote
"Collecting such a chaotic, genre-defying constellation of stories, the anthology models a form of narrative rebellion. To witness these stories is to remember that other futures are possible, that inherited ideas about order, hierarchy, and belonging can be broken."
reviewer: Amritesh Mukherjee

15 September 2025
Strange Horizons Left
cover of Gifted & Talented by Olivie Blake featuring a picture of three people offset in equally distant sections of rippling. 

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REVIEWS 
Quote
"Olivie Blake’s Gifted & Talented is not just a story about such people; it is a scalpel-sharp dissection of the systems that commodify genius, the families that weaponize it, and the bodies and minds that crumble under its demands."
reviewer: Subham Rai

15 September 2025
Strange Horizons
review:
fantasyliterature.com/reviews/spec...

"a fascinating and definitely NSFW graphic novel that interrogates our glorification of and fascination with violence, particularly in contrast with our greater censorship of and concern over sexuality ... an excellent melding of story, art, and theme"
Spectators: Strong combination of art and story | Fantasy Literature: Fantasy and Science Fiction Book and Audiobook Reviews
fantasyliterature.com
review: These twin loci — the alien symbiotic life (the wonderfully weird mishmashes of creatures alone makes it worth the read) & the top-down, binary Mandate — are set in opposition but it was just a bit too on the nose for me ...

fantasyliterature.com/reviews/alie...
Alien Clay: A thought-provoking book that left me wanting | Fantasy Literature: Fantasy and Science Fiction Book and Audiobook Reviews
fantasyliterature.com
republicans said children must be sacrificed on the altar of gun rights, a heaping of tiny bodies to protect us from an evil govt that would put troops in our streets, end due process, & detain & disappear us. Turns out children died not to ward off the demon but summon it to ask for power & wealth
review: "a lyrical, often moving story that packs a hefty punch despite its slim length and is, appropriately for a story about the designer of the labyrinth, filled with twists and turns along with its fair share of monsters."

fantasyliterature.com/reviews/daed...

#bookreview #booksky
the bottom half is a maze/labyrinth with a shadow of a minotaur in the central corridor. The maze seems to end in a head that take up most of the middle of the cover. The head itself seems to be formed out of the maze, with a prominent mouth, partial nose, and one eye and ear and the rest of the face made up of similar corridors as the maze below the head. The head itself is cut off just above the eye. A sun shines just over the jagged line where the head is cut off and a winged figure stands before the sun, backlit by it. The title, Daedalus Is Dead, floats above the sun and a bit of cloud above the sun. The author's name, Seamus Sullivan, is at the very bottom of the cover.
review: "Politics comes more to the forefront (though it’s never too deeply buried in a Bennett work), not just with regard to the diplomacy but in a more basic exploration of authoritarian rule that comes with/ thoughtful complexity ... highly recommended"

fantasyliterature.com/reviews/a-dr...
A Drop of Corruption: A glorious magic act | Fantasy Literature: Fantasy and Science Fiction Book and Audiobook Reviews
fantasyliterature.com
well, the novel does have its fair share of novelty, so there's that . . .
review: "works at a high level both as a mystery and a fantasy, and that continues in book two. Which should come as no surprise to anyone who has read this author before, as he has been working for years now at an impressively, consistently high level."

fantasyliterature.com/reviews/the-...
The Tainted Cup: Two wonderful new detectives take the stage | Fantasy Literature: Fantasy and Science Fiction Book and Audiobook Reviews
fantasyliterature.com
Review: accessing/preserving memories is a fascinating concept, & different hostile paths — academic & religious — adds tension, while placing Key on both sides is a nice choice, deepened by the metaphor for Western museums plundering non-European cultures

fantasyliterature.com/reviews/the-...
The Memory Hunters: Ambitious themes, muddled execution | Fantasy Literature: Fantasy and Science Fiction Book and Audiobook Reviews
fantasyliterature.com
review: wonderfully entertaining mix of genres ... you’d think would come crashing down ... and to be honest, it does teeter somewhat towards the end but overall a witty, enjoyable ride that also has a number of serious things to say about serious things

fantasyliterature.com/reviews/the-...
The Ministry of Time: A (mostly) successful mix of genres | Fantasy Literature: Fantasy and Science Fiction Book and Audiobook Reviews
fantasyliterature.com
Reposted
strangehorizons.bsky.social
The reviews are in!

Jurassic World: Rebirth
by Tansy Gardam

The Incandescent by Emily Tesh
by Abigail Nussbaum

A Far Better Thing by H. G. Parry
by Anushree Nande

Link to the issue in our bio!

#fiction #speculativefiction #specfic #fantasy #sciencefiction #scifi #sff #bookreviews #moviereviews
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poster of Jurassic World: Rebirth featuring a large dinosaur with mouth open over three people wading in water with one in the middle holding a gun and the one on the left holding a burning red flare. 

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REVIEWS
"The dinosaurs are bigger, the interaction between them and the humans has increased thanks to technological advancements, but the film is still trying to chase the feeling from thirty years ago."
reviewer: Tansy Gardam

14 July 2025
Strange Horizons Left 
cover of The Incandescent by Emily Tesh featuring the golden outline of a Phoenix in flight.

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REVIEWS
Quote
"I would like more authors to pick up the gauntlet Tesh has thrown down, and think seriously about the magical school story as a story about education, and through it, class and power. For now, we have The Incandescent, a novel that is remarkable both in itself, and as a call to action."
reviewer: Abigail Nussbaum

14 July 2025
Strange Horizons Left
cover of A Far Better Thing by H. G. Parry featuring the title in gold framed by long curly stemmed flowers with an eye at the top. 

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REVIEWS 
Quote
"Parry doesn’t use Dickens as a crutch or even as a copy-paste structure; she has her own narrative agenda, a story to tell, her own clear but at times lyrical and emotive language that doesn’t try to copy her predecessor’s wordy and complicated prose."
reviewer: Anushree Nande

14 July 2025
Strange Horizons
review: Set against violence & subjugation are shining moments of kindness & gentleness ... whether they negate darker acts or willing complicity is a whole other question. One the characters wrestle with, as will the reader

fantasyliterature.com/reviews/the-...

@mosesoseutomi.bsky.social
The Memory of the Ogisi: A fitting, surprising, and thought-provoking close | Fantasy Literature: Fantasy and Science Fiction Book and Audiobook Reviews
fantasyliterature.com
review: hard to imagine anyone not picking up book 2 of this duology, The Witch Roads is that much fun, w/ vibrant characters, an intriguing world, & vivid detail, it’s one of my most enjoyable reads this year

fantasyliterature.com/reviews/the-...

@kateelliottsff.bsky.social @torbooks.bsky.social
background is a blue sky with pink crowds. Set against the sky is a structure with with three spire towers connected by bridges near their tops. Before the archway leading into the structure is a road lined by tall statues of animal-headed people clad in armor with some holding weapons. Two small human figures stand just before the arch
Review: Relationships are often toxic, tainted by possessiveness & selfishness. It’s a horror novel not just via graphic physical violence but emotional violence as well, while presenting society as a horror setting thru the violence done to women’s autonomy

fantasyliterature.com/reviews/bury...
Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil: Ambitious, atmospheric, and ultimately uneven | Fantasy Literature: Fantasy and Science Fiction Book and Audiobook Reviews
fantasyliterature.com
Reposted
strangehorizons.bsky.social
The reviews are in!

Major Arcana by John Pistelli
reviewed by Catherine Baker

Bird Ornaments by Angel T. Dionne
reviewed by Paul Chuks

Dengue Boy by Michel Nieva, translated by Rahul Bery
reviewed by David Hebblethwaite

Find your next favourite book at the link to the latest issue in our bio!
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cover of Major Arcana by John Pistelli featuring tarot cards in various colours, upside down on top and right side up on the bottom. 

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REVIEWS
"A reparative reading of Major Arcana would affirm there are somewhat generational differences between how queer and gender non-conforming people in North America think about fixed identities and labels."
reviewer: Catherine Baker

16 June 2025
Strange Horizons Left 
cover of Bird Ornaments by Angel T. Dionne  featuring a black, slightly smudged bird's head. 

Right 
REVIEWS
Quote
"It is stern, it is beautiful, it is formidable, this collection. Its loaded seventy-five-poem horror package endears itself even to readers who might not have been familiar with surrealism."
reviewer: Paul Chuks

16 June 2025
Strange Horizons Left
cover of Dengue Boy by Michel Nieva, translated by Rahul Bery featuring a red, green, and pink mosquito surrounded by planets, trees and fire. 

Right 
REVIEWS 
Quote
"When its supernatural elements come more to the fore towards the end, the book is torn free of conventional narrative plausibility, destroyed and remade anew. It’s exhilarating, but the echo of reality lingers."
reviewer: David Hebblethwaite

16 June 2025
Strange Horizons
review: "that sort of, “huh, I never thought of that . . . “ response, which occurred to me more than once, is one of the main pleasures in reading a book like this ... an engaging and thoughtful read"

fantasyliterature.com/reviews/late...

@adamkotsko.bsky.social
#booksky
Late Star Trek: The Final Frontier in the Franchise Era | Fantasy Literature: Fantasy and Science Fiction Book and Audiobook Reviews
fantasyliterature.com
review: A highly successful marriage of history & literary criticism that rewards those interested in ancient history, Classical literature, or modern retellings ... an impressive marshaling of cross-disciplinary research ... thoughtful & fascinating

fantasyliterature.com/reviews/pene...

#booksky
fantasyliterature.com
Reposted
danhartland.bsky.social
Amid the excitement of the @strangehorizons.bsky.social fund drive, we also have a standard issue this week (we are rockstars).

In Reviews so far: Eatough on Waterblack and Pheby’s Cities of the Weft (@galleybeggars.bsky.social); @marinaberlin.bsky.social on Wheel of Time’s third and final season.
9 June 2025
Visit the post for more.
www.strangehorizons.com
review: I had 2 differing reactions to The Afterlife Project's 2 strands, finding the far-future section mostly quite strong — beautiful, moving, thoughtful — while having a less favorable response to the near-future setting, though it had its moments
fantasyliterature.com/reviews/the-...

#booksky
The Afterlife Project: Recommended with a caveat | Fantasy Literature: Fantasy and Science Fiction Book and Audiobook Reviews
fantasyliterature.com
new review up: "Those issues, however, are more than eclipsed by the book’s shimmering prose, frequently moving moments, and thoughtful exploration of a number of themes, all circling around the question of what it means to be “human.”

#booksky #bookreviews

fantasyliterature.com/reviews/lumi...
Luminous: A beautiful debut | Fantasy Literature: Fantasy and Science Fiction Book and Audiobook Reviews
fantasyliterature.com
Tip to Nitrate Picture Show '25 & its gift of beloved classics & unfamiliar films on the big screen in beautiful nitrate. Favorites this year: La Ronde & My Man Godfrey
Thanks for a magical time to all at @eastmanmuseum.bsky.social, @drydentheatre.bsky.social @nitratepictureshow.bsky.social

Top image is a young woman sitting forlorn looking at a table with a drink on it. To the left is the movie information (La Ronde France 1950)

Bottom image is William Powell and Carole Lombard at a sink. He is washing dishes wearing an apron and she is drying. They are looking at each other and smiling/laughing. To the left is movie information (My Man Godfrey US 1936)