Niall Harrison
@niallharrison.bsky.social
reader, critic, fan, he/him
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...
Reposted by Niall Harrison
I very much approved of how this discussion centred the weirdness of Big Bird, since that is I think a big part of what gives it a sense of scale and even - albeit in the context of decline - *wonder*.
Elsewhere, it also speaks to Jacqui’s thoughts on redemption (or lack thereof) in fiction here:
Elsewhere, it also speaks to Jacqui’s thoughts on redemption (or lack thereof) in fiction here:
November 6, 2025 at 3:08 PM
I very much approved of how this discussion centred the weirdness of Big Bird, since that is I think a big part of what gives it a sense of scale and even - albeit in the context of decline - *wonder*.
Elsewhere, it also speaks to Jacqui’s thoughts on redemption (or lack thereof) in fiction here:
Elsewhere, it also speaks to Jacqui’s thoughts on redemption (or lack thereof) in fiction here:
Reposted by Niall Harrison
I liked Rebecca Campbell's collection The Other Shore: locusmag.com/review/the-o...
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 5, 2025 at 10:17 PM
I liked Rebecca Campbell's collection The Other Shore: locusmag.com/review/the-o...
I liked Rebecca Campbell's collection The Other Shore: locusmag.com/review/the-o...
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 5, 2025 at 10:17 PM
I liked Rebecca Campbell's collection The Other Shore: locusmag.com/review/the-o...
Reposted by Niall Harrison
Dr. Yaszek and her students are currently working on a history of Black science fiction, which if it's anything like her THE FUTURE IS FEMALE and SISTERS OF TOMORROW will be outstanding.
As a sidenote, the ILLUSTRATED FEATURE SECTION was a syndicated tabloid insert aimed at Black readers.
As a sidenote, the ILLUSTRATED FEATURE SECTION was a syndicated tabloid insert aimed at Black readers.
November 5, 2025 at 5:11 PM
Dr. Yaszek and her students are currently working on a history of Black science fiction, which if it's anything like her THE FUTURE IS FEMALE and SISTERS OF TOMORROW will be outstanding.
As a sidenote, the ILLUSTRATED FEATURE SECTION was a syndicated tabloid insert aimed at Black readers.
As a sidenote, the ILLUSTRATED FEATURE SECTION was a syndicated tabloid insert aimed at Black readers.
Reposted by Niall Harrison
This may interest some of you:
The first space opera by a Black Author, John P. Moore's THE MARTIAN TRILOGY, is now available, thanks to the work of Dr. Lisa P. Yaszek and others. Originally published in THE ILLUSTRATED FEATURE SECTION in 1930.
www.amazon.com/Martian-Tril...
The first space opera by a Black Author, John P. Moore's THE MARTIAN TRILOGY, is now available, thanks to the work of Dr. Lisa P. Yaszek and others. Originally published in THE ILLUSTRATED FEATURE SECTION in 1930.
www.amazon.com/Martian-Tril...
November 5, 2025 at 5:09 PM
This may interest some of you:
The first space opera by a Black Author, John P. Moore's THE MARTIAN TRILOGY, is now available, thanks to the work of Dr. Lisa P. Yaszek and others. Originally published in THE ILLUSTRATED FEATURE SECTION in 1930.
www.amazon.com/Martian-Tril...
The first space opera by a Black Author, John P. Moore's THE MARTIAN TRILOGY, is now available, thanks to the work of Dr. Lisa P. Yaszek and others. Originally published in THE ILLUSTRATED FEATURE SECTION in 1930.
www.amazon.com/Martian-Tril...
Great discussion that reminds me how fascinating I found this novel about a world where the fall is all that's left. And timely to remind UK readers that we can think about it for awards, because for us it's a 2025 book.
New episode of A Meal of Thorns! Scholar, writer, and CRSF organizer E.F. McAdam is on the podcast to discuss Hiromi Kawakami's UNDER THE EYE OF THE BIG BIRD (tr. Asa Yoneda, @grantabooks.bsky.social/ @catapultbooks.bsky.social)
A Meal of Thorns 36 – UNDER THE EYE OF THE BIG BIRD with Eleanor McAdam
Podcasts, reviews, interviews, essays, and more at the Ancillary Review of Books.Please consider supporting ARB’s Patreon!Guest: Eleanor McAdamTitle: Under The Eye Of The Big Bird by Hiromi Kawakam…
ancillaryreviewofbooks.org
November 3, 2025 at 6:42 PM
Great discussion that reminds me how fascinating I found this novel about a world where the fall is all that's left. And timely to remind UK readers that we can think about it for awards, because for us it's a 2025 book.
Reposted by Niall Harrison
Among other things, what gets me about this book is free of genre convention it is, while also being recognisably of genre. We talk occasionally about SF that starts from the world as it is today rather than SF's conventional assumptions; this for me is one version of what that can look like.
Explore @niallharrison’s review of WHEN THERE ARE WOLVES AGAIN by E.J. Swift: “I say that what Swift has given us in this remarkable book is a benchmark. I imagine rereading it in 25 years’ time.”
When There Are Wolves Again by E.J. Swift: Review by Niall Harrison
When There Are Wolves Again, E.J. Swift (Arcadia 978-1-529-43644-0, £20.00, 304pp, hc) October 2025. I don’t want to put more weight on E.J. Swift’s wonderful sixth novel than a single book should…
locusmag.com
November 3, 2025 at 12:23 PM
Among other things, what gets me about this book is free of genre convention it is, while also being recognisably of genre. We talk occasionally about SF that starts from the world as it is today rather than SF's conventional assumptions; this for me is one version of what that can look like.
Among other things, what gets me about this book is free of genre convention it is, while also being recognisably of genre. We talk occasionally about SF that starts from the world as it is today rather than SF's conventional assumptions; this for me is one version of what that can look like.
Explore @niallharrison’s review of WHEN THERE ARE WOLVES AGAIN by E.J. Swift: “I say that what Swift has given us in this remarkable book is a benchmark. I imagine rereading it in 25 years’ time.”
When There Are Wolves Again by E.J. Swift: Review by Niall Harrison
When There Are Wolves Again, E.J. Swift (Arcadia 978-1-529-43644-0, £20.00, 304pp, hc) October 2025. I don’t want to put more weight on E.J. Swift’s wonderful sixth novel than a single book should…
locusmag.com
November 3, 2025 at 12:23 PM
Among other things, what gets me about this book is free of genre convention it is, while also being recognisably of genre. We talk occasionally about SF that starts from the world as it is today rather than SF's conventional assumptions; this for me is one version of what that can look like.
At first glance I can see only two other instances of a WFA/Hugo double: The City & The City and Strange & Norrell. www.sfadb.com/World_Fantas...
November 2, 2025 at 4:23 PM
At first glance I can see only two other instances of a WFA/Hugo double: The City & The City and Strange & Norrell. www.sfadb.com/World_Fantas...
Reposted by Niall Harrison
Issue 778 Table of Contents, November 2025
Issue 778 Table of Contents, November 2025
The November 2025 issue of Locus magazine has interviews with Joe Hill and Eden Royce. News includes the Ignyte Awards winners, Loyer’s Sturgeon Award win, the planned Baker & Taylor shut…
locusmag.com
November 2, 2025 at 3:49 PM
Issue 778 Table of Contents, November 2025
Reposted by Niall Harrison
Our latest link round-up is live! Reviews, essays, some events and CFPs from around the web for lovers of speculative fiction and criticism:
ancillaryreviewofbooks.org/2025/11/01/w...
ancillaryreviewofbooks.org/2025/11/01/w...
Wow! Signal: October 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 1, 2025 at 3:11 PM
Our latest link round-up is live! Reviews, essays, some events and CFPs from around the web for lovers of speculative fiction and criticism:
ancillaryreviewofbooks.org/2025/11/01/w...
ancillaryreviewofbooks.org/2025/11/01/w...
Reposted by Niall Harrison
As if by magic, this review (the Swift one, aka read this everyone) is now online. locusmag.com/review/when-...
October 31, 2025 at 6:06 PM
As if by magic, this review (the Swift one, aka read this everyone) is now online. locusmag.com/review/when-...
As if by magic, this review (the Swift one, aka read this everyone) is now online. locusmag.com/review/when-...
October 31, 2025 at 6:06 PM
As if by magic, this review (the Swift one, aka read this everyone) is now online. locusmag.com/review/when-...
Kinda wish it wasn't Substack, but glad that there is now somewhere for John Clute to put new writing
October 30, 2025 at 4:58 PM
Kinda wish it wasn't Substack, but glad that there is now somewhere for John Clute to put new writing
Reposted by Niall Harrison
Couple of reviews up on the Locus site this week, first up Saltcrop by Yume Kitasei: locusmag.com/review/saltc...
Saltcrop by Yume Kitasei: Review by Niall Harrison
Saltcrop, Yume Kitasei (Flatiron 978-1-250-38096-8, $30.99, 384pp, hc) September 2025. Cover by Jonathan Bush. It is a bit of an adjustment to go directly from Everything Will Swallow You, in which…
locusmag.com
October 29, 2025 at 7:56 PM
Couple of reviews up on the Locus site this week, first up Saltcrop by Yume Kitasei: locusmag.com/review/saltc...
Reposted by Niall Harrison
In the first entry in a new series that re-examines overlooked SFF in translation, @coimeas.bsky.social draws our attention to language, gender, and more in Elia Barceló’s NATURAL CONSEQUENCES, tr. Andrea Bell & Yolanda Molina-Gavilán (Vanderbilt University Press)
Misplaced In Translation: Review of Elia Barceló’s Natural Consequences
Nat Harrington Under Review:Natural Consequences. Elia Barceló, translated by Andrea Bell and Yolanda Molina-Gavilán. Vanderbilt University Press, 2021 [1994]. I begin this column with a simple but…
ancillaryreviewofbooks.org
October 29, 2025 at 9:00 PM
In the first entry in a new series that re-examines overlooked SFF in translation, @coimeas.bsky.social draws our attention to language, gender, and more in Elia Barceló’s NATURAL CONSEQUENCES, tr. Andrea Bell & Yolanda Molina-Gavilán (Vanderbilt University Press)
Couple of reviews up on the Locus site this week, first up Saltcrop by Yume Kitasei: locusmag.com/review/saltc...
Saltcrop by Yume Kitasei: Review by Niall Harrison
Saltcrop, Yume Kitasei (Flatiron 978-1-250-38096-8, $30.99, 384pp, hc) September 2025. Cover by Jonathan Bush. It is a bit of an adjustment to go directly from Everything Will Swallow You, in which…
locusmag.com
October 29, 2025 at 7:56 PM
Couple of reviews up on the Locus site this week, first up Saltcrop by Yume Kitasei: locusmag.com/review/saltc...
Reposted by Niall Harrison
New blog post: in which I discuss books 2, 3, and 3.5 in @aptshadow.bsky.social Tyrant Philosophers series, "the richest and most complete exploration of the theme of totalitarianism and its inherent contradictions in all of Tchaikovsky's recent work." wrongquestions.blogspot.com/2025/10/hous...
<i>House of Open Wounds</i>, <i>Days of Shattered Faith</i>, <i>Lives of Bitter Rain</i> by Adrian Tchaikovsky
After I published my effusive review of Adrian Tchaikovsky's City of Last Chances , I received a comment from Tchaikovsky on twitter notin...
wrongquestions.blogspot.com
October 29, 2025 at 4:23 PM
New blog post: in which I discuss books 2, 3, and 3.5 in @aptshadow.bsky.social Tyrant Philosophers series, "the richest and most complete exploration of the theme of totalitarianism and its inherent contradictions in all of Tchaikovsky's recent work." wrongquestions.blogspot.com/2025/10/hous...
Reposted by Niall Harrison
Announcing the longlist for the Warwick Prize for Women in Translation 2025! Featuring 10 languages, 12 publishers, 4 collections of poetry - and much more. The longlist travels from Argentina to South Korea, from Haiti to Romania, from Sweden to Slovenia.
tinyurl.com/4cu8sdv9
tinyurl.com/4cu8sdv9
October 24, 2025 at 2:19 PM
Announcing the longlist for the Warwick Prize for Women in Translation 2025! Featuring 10 languages, 12 publishers, 4 collections of poetry - and much more. The longlist travels from Argentina to South Korea, from Haiti to Romania, from Sweden to Slovenia.
tinyurl.com/4cu8sdv9
tinyurl.com/4cu8sdv9