Ancillary Review of Books
@ancillaryreviewofbooks.org
culture, power, speculation
https://ancillaryreviewofbooks.org/
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https://ancillaryreviewofbooks.org/
Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/AncillaryReview
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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...
We Choose Every Day: Hebe Stanton reviews Claire North's SLOW GODS (@orbitbooks.bsky.social)
We Choose Every Day: Review of Slow Gods by Claire North
Hebe Stanton Under Review:Slow Gods. Claire North. Orbit, November 2025. What does it mean? This oldest of questions is the one Claire North sets out to answer in their newest novel Slow Gods. Our …
ancillaryreviewofbooks.org
November 24, 2025 at 2:15 PM
We Choose Every Day: Hebe Stanton reviews Claire North's SLOW GODS (@orbitbooks.bsky.social)
Rivers of Time: @mishagw.bsky.social reviews Whitney French's SYNCOPATION (@wolsakandwynn.bsky.social)
Rivers of Time: Review of Whitney French’s Syncopation
Misha Grifka Wander Under Review:Syncopation. Whitney French. Wolsak & Wynn, November 2025. Novels in verse have a tricky line to walk. Lean too hard on the poetry, and you risk the reader bein…
ancillaryreviewofbooks.org
November 21, 2025 at 9:40 PM
Rivers of Time: @mishagw.bsky.social reviews Whitney French's SYNCOPATION (@wolsakandwynn.bsky.social)
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🚨 ATTENTION PUBLIC SCHOLARS 🚨
As an end of year special #ScholarSunday thread, @americanstudier.bsky.social and I would like to share your favorite pieces from the year, especially if they're yours!
Did an essay or podcast episode blow you away with pride or brilliance? Please email us!
As an end of year special #ScholarSunday thread, @americanstudier.bsky.social and I would like to share your favorite pieces from the year, especially if they're yours!
Did an essay or podcast episode blow you away with pride or brilliance? Please email us!
Announcements
If you have a talk coming up, a book on its way, a podcast trailer to drop, or an accomplishment to celebrate, we want to help you share it!
blackwhiteandread.com
November 20, 2025 at 11:48 PM
🚨 ATTENTION PUBLIC SCHOLARS 🚨
As an end of year special #ScholarSunday thread, @americanstudier.bsky.social and I would like to share your favorite pieces from the year, especially if they're yours!
Did an essay or podcast episode blow you away with pride or brilliance? Please email us!
As an end of year special #ScholarSunday thread, @americanstudier.bsky.social and I would like to share your favorite pieces from the year, especially if they're yours!
Did an essay or podcast episode blow you away with pride or brilliance? Please email us!
Reposted by Ancillary Review of Books
this is a great opportunity to pick up a great collection
if the concept and stacked author list hasn't yet been enough to move you, you can read more with my review in may for @ancillaryreviewofbooks.org
if the concept and stacked author list hasn't yet been enough to move you, you can read more with my review in may for @ancillaryreviewofbooks.org
November 20, 2025 at 7:26 PM
this is a great opportunity to pick up a great collection
if the concept and stacked author list hasn't yet been enough to move you, you can read more with my review in may for @ancillaryreviewofbooks.org
if the concept and stacked author list hasn't yet been enough to move you, you can read more with my review in may for @ancillaryreviewofbooks.org
Identity Crisis? What Identity Crisis? @robertwelbourn.bsky.social reviews Victor Manibo's THE VILLA ONCE BELOVED, out next week from @erewhonbooks.bsky.social!
Identity Crisis? What Identity Crisis? Review of Victor Manibo’s The Villa Once Beloved
Robert Welbourn Under Review:The Villa Once Beloved. Victor Manibo. Erewhon, November 2025. America is in the grip of a major identity crisis. Since the return of a president many hoped to see the …
ancillaryreviewofbooks.org
November 19, 2025 at 9:02 PM
Identity Crisis? What Identity Crisis? @robertwelbourn.bsky.social reviews Victor Manibo's THE VILLA ONCE BELOVED, out next week from @erewhonbooks.bsky.social!
New episode of A Meal of Thorns is live! ARB co-founder Sean Guynes is on the show to talk about Elizabeth Kostova's THE HISTORIAN, with many critiques and thoughts about style, portrayals of historical violence, larger publishing realities, and vampires!
A Meal of Thorns 37 – THE HISTORIAN with Sean Guynes
Vampire scholar, science fiction studies editor, and ARB co-founder Sean Guynes joins to discuss Kostova’s 2005 historical vampire thriller. We both have fairly negative opinions of the book, but i…
ancillaryreviewofbooks.org
November 18, 2025 at 5:59 PM
New episode of A Meal of Thorns is live! ARB co-founder Sean Guynes is on the show to talk about Elizabeth Kostova's THE HISTORIAN, with many critiques and thoughts about style, portrayals of historical violence, larger publishing realities, and vampires!
Reposted by Ancillary Review of Books
An ongoing thread of short story collections coming in 2026, of work weird/surreal/dark/uncanny/unsettling/ghostly/ghastly, across genres, so that they're all in one place that I can refer back to when I inevitably forget what books I was meaning to request review copies of:
October 10, 2025 at 3:52 PM
An ongoing thread of short story collections coming in 2026, of work weird/surreal/dark/uncanny/unsettling/ghostly/ghastly, across genres, so that they're all in one place that I can refer back to when I inevitably forget what books I was meaning to request review copies of:
Reposted by Ancillary Review of Books
Awful news for book, film, and TV criticism.
Today, Paste Magazine shuttered all its non-music verticals, a choice I am both professionally and personally heartbroken about. Sadly, I am once again looking for a place that wants to let me write about Books and TV on the regular, so hit me up if that’s you or anyone you know.
November 17, 2025 at 6:30 PM
Awful news for book, film, and TV criticism.
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CFP closes in three days! SFRA 2026: Into the Slipstream: Watering Futures
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI, USA
June 17 – 21, 2026
sfra.org/conferences/...
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI, USA
June 17 – 21, 2026
sfra.org/conferences/...
SFRA 2026 Conference | Science Fiction Research Association
sfra.org
November 17, 2025 at 3:40 PM
CFP closes in three days! SFRA 2026: Into the Slipstream: Watering Futures
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI, USA
June 17 – 21, 2026
sfra.org/conferences/...
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI, USA
June 17 – 21, 2026
sfra.org/conferences/...
Reposted by Ancillary Review of Books
For #transawarenessweek, a bump for Amplitudes: Stories of Queer and Trans Futurity!
Featuring contributors from across the globe, including both familiar and fresh voices, it gathers 22 speculative stories about queer and trans futures—and I hope at least one of them will hit for you 🖤
Featuring contributors from across the globe, including both familiar and fresh voices, it gathers 22 speculative stories about queer and trans futures—and I hope at least one of them will hit for you 🖤
November 15, 2025 at 7:15 PM
For #transawarenessweek, a bump for Amplitudes: Stories of Queer and Trans Futurity!
Featuring contributors from across the globe, including both familiar and fresh voices, it gathers 22 speculative stories about queer and trans futures—and I hope at least one of them will hit for you 🖤
Featuring contributors from across the globe, including both familiar and fresh voices, it gathers 22 speculative stories about queer and trans futures—and I hope at least one of them will hit for you 🖤
Reposted by Ancillary Review of Books
OK -- this is a long shot -- but does *anyone* have a copy of either of these two books about Lin Carter? (in the thread) They are hellishly difficult to find; I can't even find them from used sellers or on auction sites at any price!
November 15, 2025 at 7:05 PM
OK -- this is a long shot -- but does *anyone* have a copy of either of these two books about Lin Carter? (in the thread) They are hellishly difficult to find; I can't even find them from used sellers or on auction sites at any price!
Reposted by Ancillary Review of Books
I don’t want to formulate words yet, but my friend Alice Wong, @sfdirewolf.bsky.social of the Disability Visibility Project, has passed.
Here are the words she left behind:
www.instagram.com/p/DREMDNBjnq...
Here are the words she left behind:
www.instagram.com/p/DREMDNBjnq...
Alice Wong on Instagram: "ID: Yellow background with black text "This is Alice's friend Sandy Ho, posting. Per Alice's wishes, this message is being shared at the time of her passing. Hi everyone, it ...
423 likes, 73 comments - alicatsamurai on November 14, 2025: "ID: Yellow background with black text "This is Alice's friend Sandy Ho, posting. Per Alice's wishes, this message is being shared at the t...
www.instagram.com
November 15, 2025 at 5:57 AM
I don’t want to formulate words yet, but my friend Alice Wong, @sfdirewolf.bsky.social of the Disability Visibility Project, has passed.
Here are the words she left behind:
www.instagram.com/p/DREMDNBjnq...
Here are the words she left behind:
www.instagram.com/p/DREMDNBjnq...
Reposted by Ancillary Review of Books
Reminder: A lot of great books published this year during absolutely bonkers news & world event times. That squashes people talking about them. Keep buying books please, keep borrowing them from libraries, and for the love of all that's good, talk about them. Post about them. 📚
November 13, 2025 at 2:15 PM
Reminder: A lot of great books published this year during absolutely bonkers news & world event times. That squashes people talking about them. Keep buying books please, keep borrowing them from libraries, and for the love of all that's good, talk about them. Post about them. 📚
Reposted by Ancillary Review of Books
Last thing I’ll say about this for now:
What is the _actually existing publication_ that you evangelize for? That you consistently hype when they do good things, urge people to support, and are a sustaining donor or subscriber to?
This isn’t a prompt; it’s a reminder to hold yourself accountable.
What is the _actually existing publication_ that you evangelize for? That you consistently hype when they do good things, urge people to support, and are a sustaining donor or subscriber to?
This isn’t a prompt; it’s a reminder to hold yourself accountable.
November 12, 2025 at 3:56 PM
Last thing I’ll say about this for now:
What is the _actually existing publication_ that you evangelize for? That you consistently hype when they do good things, urge people to support, and are a sustaining donor or subscriber to?
This isn’t a prompt; it’s a reminder to hold yourself accountable.
What is the _actually existing publication_ that you evangelize for? That you consistently hype when they do good things, urge people to support, and are a sustaining donor or subscriber to?
This isn’t a prompt; it’s a reminder to hold yourself accountable.
Reposted by Ancillary Review of Books
New column! This time on a gorgeously eclectic novella, full of the pieces of people's lives and fragments of fairytales, as well as some genuinely thoughtful and interesting themes around community.
The Thing You Do When Crying Isn’t Enough: for the latest Small Press Dispatch, @chloroformtea.bsky.social looks at Syr Hayati Beker's WHAT A FISH LOOKS LIKE (@stelliform.press)
Small Press Dispatch: The Thing You Do When Crying Isn’t Enough
Roseanna Pendlebury In Syr Hayati Beker’s What A Fish Looks Like, a book of fairytales is transformed by annotation into a collection of new fables, more suited to the climate-change-ravaged future…
ancillaryreviewofbooks.org
November 6, 2025 at 5:20 PM
New column! This time on a gorgeously eclectic novella, full of the pieces of people's lives and fragments of fairytales, as well as some genuinely thoughtful and interesting themes around community.
Snap! Criticism time: @danhartland.bsky.social is back, this time reading Tochi Onyebuchi's HARMATTAN SEASON (@torbooks.bsky.social) with Joy Sanchez-Taylor's DISPELLING FANTASIES (@ohiostatepress.bsky.social)
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 3:15 PM
Snap! Criticism time: @danhartland.bsky.social is back, this time reading Tochi Onyebuchi's HARMATTAN SEASON (@torbooks.bsky.social) with Joy Sanchez-Taylor's DISPELLING FANTASIES (@ohiostatepress.bsky.social)
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Fashions in Stupidity: @mishagw.bsky.social interviews K. J. Parker about his latest novella, MAKING HISTORY (@tordotcom.bsky.social
Fashions in Stupidity: K. J. Parker on Making History
Misha Grifka Wander K. J. Parker is a pseudonym of British novelist Tom Holt. He was born in London, the son of novelist Hazel Holt, and was educated at Westminster School, Wadham College, Oxford, …
ancillaryreviewofbooks.org
November 5, 2025 at 9:30 PM
Fashions in Stupidity: @mishagw.bsky.social interviews K. J. Parker about his latest novella, MAKING HISTORY (@tordotcom.bsky.social
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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...
Time as a Rubik’s Cube: @rachelcordasco.bsky.social reviews the third volume of Solvej Balle's ON THE CALCULATION OF VOLUME (tr. Sophia Hersi Smith & Jennifer Russell), out soon from @ndbooks.bsky.social!
Time as a Rubik’s Cube: Review of Solvej Balle’s On the Calculation of Volume (Book III)
Rachel Cordasco Under Review:On the Calculation of Volume, Book III. Solvej Balle, translated by Sophia Hersi Smith & Jennifer Russell. New Directions, November 2025. Anglophone readers might b…
ancillaryreviewofbooks.org
November 10, 2025 at 10:30 PM
Time as a Rubik’s Cube: @rachelcordasco.bsky.social reviews the third volume of Solvej Balle's ON THE CALCULATION OF VOLUME (tr. Sophia Hersi Smith & Jennifer Russell), out soon from @ndbooks.bsky.social!
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A reminder that we have two current calls for papers - the Peter Nicholls Essay Prize (deadline: 11 January 2026) and a special issue on pulp sf (deadline: 5 April 2026). Details in the newsfeed. www.sf-foundation.org/fresh-about
SF Foundation UK News Science Fiction Journal
Foundation: The International Review of Science Fiction is a critical peer-reviewed literary magazine established in 1972 that publishes articles and reviews ab
www.sf-foundation.org
November 10, 2025 at 12:09 PM
A reminder that we have two current calls for papers - the Peter Nicholls Essay Prize (deadline: 11 January 2026) and a special issue on pulp sf (deadline: 5 April 2026). Details in the newsfeed. www.sf-foundation.org/fresh-about
Reposted by Ancillary Review of Books
People are doing year wrap-ups already (give December a chance, people!) buuuut I'm curious -- What's the thing that's most dear to you that you've published this year and why?
November 7, 2025 at 3:33 PM
People are doing year wrap-ups already (give December a chance, people!) buuuut I'm curious -- What's the thing that's most dear to you that you've published this year and why?
Reposted by Ancillary Review of Books
"An unsettling and sometimes gruesome thriller, The Unveiling combines horror and polar exploration vibes with insights into racial identity in a post-Black Lives Matter world"
A great review of THE UNVEILING in @ancillaryreviewofbooks.org!
A great review of THE UNVEILING in @ancillaryreviewofbooks.org!
Discomfort and Unreliability In Antarctica: Review of Quan Barry's The Unveiling
Christine D. Baker Under Review:Under Review: The Unveiling. Quan Barry. Grove, October 2025. Quan Barry's The Unveiling is not a book with easy answers. Not even to basic questions like “Wait, wha...
bit.ly
November 6, 2025 at 6:08 PM
"An unsettling and sometimes gruesome thriller, The Unveiling combines horror and polar exploration vibes with insights into racial identity in a post-Black Lives Matter world"
A great review of THE UNVEILING in @ancillaryreviewofbooks.org!
A great review of THE UNVEILING in @ancillaryreviewofbooks.org!
"Imagination and actuality stand in opposition to each other and yet feed each other throughout Hoban’s work..." Paul Kincaid reviews Graeme Wend-Walker's RUSSELL HOBAN: FAITHFUL TO THE STRANGE (@mcfarland.bsky.social)
Fruitful Confusion: Review of Graeme Wend-Walker’s Russell Hoban
Paul Kincaid Under Review:Russell Hoban: Faithful to the Strange. Graeme Wend-Walker. McFarland, September 2025. I have, throughout my career, throughout my life, found myself drawn to those writer…
ancillaryreviewofbooks.org
November 7, 2025 at 4:22 PM
"Imagination and actuality stand in opposition to each other and yet feed each other throughout Hoban’s work..." Paul Kincaid reviews Graeme Wend-Walker's RUSSELL HOBAN: FAITHFUL TO THE STRANGE (@mcfarland.bsky.social)
Reposted by Ancillary Review of Books
Calls for reviews & essays: February 2026
Calls for Reviews & Essays: February 2026
The Ancillary Review of Books publishes reviews and essays with an emphasis on utopian impulses and systemic injustices. ARB seeks to build a community of radical thinkers writing about amazing, sp…
ancillaryreviewofbooks.org
November 3, 2025 at 11:29 PM
Calls for reviews & essays: February 2026
The Thing You Do When Crying Isn’t Enough: for the latest Small Press Dispatch, @chloroformtea.bsky.social looks at Syr Hayati Beker's WHAT A FISH LOOKS LIKE (@stelliform.press)
Small Press Dispatch: The Thing You Do When Crying Isn’t Enough
Roseanna Pendlebury In Syr Hayati Beker’s What A Fish Looks Like, a book of fairytales is transformed by annotation into a collection of new fables, more suited to the climate-change-ravaged future…
ancillaryreviewofbooks.org
November 6, 2025 at 5:07 PM
The Thing You Do When Crying Isn’t Enough: for the latest Small Press Dispatch, @chloroformtea.bsky.social looks at Syr Hayati Beker's WHAT A FISH LOOKS LIKE (@stelliform.press)