I wrote a personal essay about my love for bittersweet endings and LOTR, via the awfulness of the year 2001. And uh I wasn't expecting history to be rhyming quite so hard this week but here we are 😓
www.uncannymagazine.com/article/bitt...
Stories I loved by @emelkrishnan.bsky.social, @katefrancia.bsky.social, @chrisblake.bsky.social, and @tiatashiro.bsky.social.
psychopomp.com/fantasy/issu...
www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/stories/holl...
www.tractorbeam.earth/story/in-eve...
clarkesworldmagazine.com/tashiro_07_25/
Go read them.
Ahh thank you Adriana!!
It really has it all!
This is me, restraining myself from telling every acquaintance I meet the full history of all the ice dance teams with accompanying drama that I have just now learned this week
Some trends I noticed in my reading this year: lots of Sapphic yearning, murder mystery, political intrigue, or revenge plots, cozy quiet lovely reads that restore faith in humanity, and stories that take place in a school
Favorite SFF novels I read last year! Many of these were published in 2025, so check them out if you're nominating for Nebulas/Hugos, or just looking for some great new reads!
medium.com/@katefrancia...
a brightly coloured collage of medieval figures cut out from various public domain illustrations, overlaid on a black and white background photo showing "Gallos", a statue at Tintagel, with an obscured face. the overlaid figures, clockwise from top left: a mysterious hooded figure holding a hand to its mouth, in yellow; a green knight astride a horse, with a head made of greenery; a sorceress in a leaf-patterned shawl with her face obscured, in red; a man with obscured face in a tunic and breeches (in green) astride a sun-themed horse (in pink). in the middle there is a woman brushing her long dark hair, in blue, above the words "Sir Gawain the Son of XXX, King of XXX", where the Xs represent inkblots.
The kingdom is drowning, reality is collapsing, and now this hot married couple, in ignorance of the time loop he's oathbound to maintain, is playing kissing games with Sir Gavin.
The yearly beheadings don't seem to be helping. Neither does being "good".
Time to try something different 🏳️🌈🌈✨
White text atop a blurry purple and blue background reads: Issue One, March 2026 Original Fiction Your First Days Back in the Court of Arthur - Abigail Eliza The Homeowner's Bride - Ayida Shonibar Vitrification - Ishmael Grey This Is Not Your Extinction Event - Elena Sichrovsky Situationship - Seoung Kim The Claywife - tanadrin Curriculum for Girls Who Will Survive - Nadia Radovich Reprint Fiction Mother Mansrot in the Glass Mountain - Sarah Pauling The Vetala of Crystal Vellam Inlet - Simo Srinivas
White text atop a blurry purple and blue background reads: Issue One, March 2026 Original Poetry blessing for molly grue. - Elisheva Fox Eat It Out - Cypher Ignore All Previous Instructions - Ann LeBlanc Vulture bees transfigure the man I tried to be - Rick Hollon Electrolysis - Nico Santana Nonfiction He Is Survived by His Wife - Jackie Hedeman
IT'S HERE! We are SO thrilled to officially reveal our Issue 1 table of contents! Every single piece in this issue is unbelievably good, and we cannot wait for you to read these stories and poems in March. These authors are amazing 🪐🗡️
More details in the thread! 🧵 (1/6)
A book cover: Disgraced Return of the Kap's Needle showing a skull inside a space helmet.
Myself, a white man in glasses with a beard wearing a t-shirt with a Stargate and a pyramid. I'm holding a book called Disgraced Return of the Kap's Needle showing a skull inside a space helmet. Behind me there's a bookshelf with several books.
Nebula Awards are now open for SFWA members! ☄️ This year, I'd be very humbled and delighted if members considered my novella, Disgraced Return of the Kap's Needle, in their ballots.
Drop me a DM if you want a copy for consideration!
I'm flattered to see "Five Books Unreturned When the Library Vanished" alongside some of my favorite stories from 2025!
👀 thank you!! This looks awesome
I love that about this story—it makes you sit with the ambiguity/multiple possible readings
"Ghosts of Summer" received a lovely shout-out from @katefrancia.bsky.social alongside some truly spectacular works of fiction. I am so delighted to see my story included amongst authors I greatly admire. Thank you!
Check out the list below, which includes links to read the stories as well!
Belated, but I'm so thrilled to find "Holly on the Mantel, Blood on the Hearth" from @bcsmagazine.bsky.social on the 2025 BSFA longlist, along with so many stories I've loved this year! ICYMI you can read the story here:
www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/stories/holl...
hello!
new story day!!
this one is a weird western murder mystery set on the back of a jackalope. did i say weird western? i meant WEIRD western.
it's hell living on the back of prey
A lovely little review of my @strangehorizons.bsky.social story THIRTEEN SWORDS THAT MADE A PRINCE: HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE ARMS AND ARMORY COLLECTION
(Plus some other excellent stories!)
Also, if you have recommendations for short stories with experimental or unusual forms that you've loved recently (including ones you wrote), let me know!
Ahh thank you! I just came across this list and am so touched you included "Holly on the Mantel, Blood on the Hearth"! "Most emotional" feels perfect for this story too <3
More SFF short story recommendations! Amazing stories by @ellisnyeland.bsky.social @nadiaradovich.bsky.social @thomasha.bsky.social @sharangbiswas.bsky.social @bethgoder.bsky.social @cjtavares.bsky.social
medium.com/@katefrancia...
There's a month to nominate for the Nebulas, so I'm going to shout about my novella again if you don't mind! 🌌
I'd be very humbled if anyone considered Kap's Needle in a ballot! Art is under attack and we haven't many reasons to celebrate in general as of late, so let's at least celebrate art.
A blue and green book cover is aligned on the left, a block of text on the other side reading: A House Between Sea and Sky By Beth Cato A cozy fantasy with over 1,900 five-star ratings on Goodreads! Fayette, a grieving scriptwriter, and up-and-coming actor Rex find shelter from a storm in a strange cliffside house. And as their friendship grows, they discover the local legend surrounding the home… “Perfect for those who loved Howl’s Moving Castle” (Library Journal). Because you're interested in Fantasy (Edit) $2.49 $4.99 Limited time only!
Whoa! A House Between Sea and Sky is featured on BookBub today! 🤯This came as a total shock to me.
Grab the book while it's on sale for $2.49!
amzn.to/4lb2R73
[promo link]
New story out now from @lightspeedmagazine.com! This one is all about how it feels to work in higher education these days. Spoiler: it feels extremely bad, like “what if your university signed a compact with the actual devil and now there’s an unbreakable curse” levels of bad 🫠
want to lol at a bunch of really bad optical illusion puns stitched together into the shape of a story? ENJOY: translunartravelerslounge.com/2023/08/15/m...
Ahh thank you!! So glad you liked it 😊
I loved it! It really stuck with me, still thinking about it long after reading!
I loved it; thank you for writing it!!
2025 speculative poetry recommendation list! If you need a quiet moment with some stunning words, take a deep breath with one of these poems by @ashvalewrites.bsky.social @nicowritesbooks.bsky.social @lynnesargent.bsky.social @joemario.bsky.social @angelaliu.bsky.social
medium.com/@katefrancia...
Ahh thank you so much! 💜
www.flashfictiononline.com/article/smal... Cannot recommend this perfect, bittersweet flash story by @katefrancia.bsky.social highly enough
