Dan Hartland @danhartland.bsky.social · 4hIs “literary SFF” non-SFnal? For me, no, but it has certainly been used that way. (I cut a digression in the latest pod episode about Margaret Atwood’s changing views on this, frex.) For *me*, literary SFF is still SFF; the modifier is additive rather than exculpatory. (SF is, after all, still F.) 180
Reposted by Dan HartlandWm Henry Morris @wmhenrymorris.com · 7hThis is an excellent discussion. One thing I’ve always found notable is how literary SF&F that comes from the literary side tends not to publish/promote (and also ignores) secondary world fantasy. it seems to privilege alt/secret history, portal (but usually intrusion), near future SF, cyberpunk. 4277
Reposted by Dan HartlandRoseanna Pendlebury @chloroformtea.bsky.social · 9hAnother conversation I could have spent even longer having; it was great fun to talk about May We Feed the King by Rebecca Perry but honestly even more fun to listen to Ryan being absolutely fascinating about The End of Everything and M. John Harrison, and Dan linking all sorts of things together. 0126
Dan Hartland @danhartland.bsky.social · 8hAnd while we’re on the literary tip, here’s the great Paul Kincaid on the Goldsmiths-nominated Dooneen by Keith Ridgway: “This is a novel that undermines expectations. But what are those expectations that are being demolished and reconstructed as we go along?” Splendid piece from Paul, as ever.strangehorizons.comDooneen by Keith RidgwayYou can never go home again. 153
Dan Hartland @danhartland.bsky.social · 10h📚 NEW PODCAST EP 📚 In the wake of the @thebookerprizes.com shortlisting both M John Harrison and Rebecca Perry, is it time to ask (again) what relationship exists between the literary and the speculative? Yes. Yes, it is time. @chloroformtea.bsky.social and Ryan Elliott join me to do that (again).strangehorizons.comCritical Friends Episode 28: On Literary SFFIn this episode of Critical Friends, the Strange Horizons criticism podcast, Dan Hartland is joined by Ryan Elliot and Rosanna Pendlebury, to ask questions about literary SFF. What is it? How do we… 1199
Reposted by Dan HartlandSoraya Nadia McDonald @soraya.press · 04/10/2026The thing about doing criticism at-large is that there is a tradeoff to not sticking to one medium or genre: you will not, you cannot, immediately respond to or even experience every new hotness the moment it comes out. Well, not in a way that is thoughtful or memorable. Stuff has to steep. 2797
Reposted by Dan HartlandLongden Calling @longdencalling.bsky.social · 04/10/2026Wasn't it Mark Fisher who said, "Only prisoners have time to read, and if you want to engage in a twenty-year long research project funded by the state - or read a new China Miéville novel it's taken him twenty years to write - you will have to kill someone."? 151
Dan Hartland @danhartland.bsky.social · 03/10/2026This award in particular means a lot to everyone at SH - it’s so specifically directed towards the goal that underpins everything the magazine does. By which I mean: shucks. 💜 34917
Dan Hartland @danhartland.bsky.social · 02/10/2026Always glad to carry a review from @marmercurio.bsky.social - here she is on M. Jane Worma's Of Beasts, a book which "strives to examine an entanglement of religious hypocrisy, duty, and queer desire". The review is a great study in how to write carefully about fiction that doesn't quite hold up.strangehorizons.comOf Beasts by M. Jane WormaWorma is obviously interested in complex ideas. Of Beasts?, however, cannot contain them. 021
Dan Hartland @danhartland.bsky.social · 02/10/2026“MH is quite clear in a focused disgust for transhumanism. Pope Leo compares this with the biblical story of the Tower of Babel, in which self-regarding people attempt to build themselves a ladder to heaven.” Duncan Lawie writes usefully for us on Leo XIV’s view of TESCREAL’s sub-SFnal schtick.strangehorizons.comMagnifica Humanitas by Pope Leo XIVMagnifica Humanitas states that technology is not inherently good or evil—a thoroughly familiar statement, perhaps especially to science fiction readers—but goes on to say that the intent of the ma… 010
Reposted by Dan HartlandStephen Case @stephenrcase.bsky.social · 01/10/2026My review of @justinfeinstein.bsky.social's YOUR BEHAVIOR WILL BE MONITORED up at @strangehorizons.bsky.social: strangehorizons.com/wordpress/no... @tachyonpub.bsky.social "[I]f you want a depiction of the near future told in a smart, believable, multi-modal fashion, YOUR BEHAVIOR delivers."strangehorizons.comYour Behavior Will Be Monitored by Justin FeinsteinIf you want a depiction of the near future told in a smart, believable, multi-modal fashion, Your Behavior delivers. 024
Dan Hartland @danhartland.bsky.social · 01/10/2026Here's @stephenrcase.bsky.social on Justin Feinstein's latest: "a quick, compelling read [which] remind[s] us of the panopticon we live within." On AI and on writing about/as/through AI:strangehorizons.comYour Behavior Will Be Monitored by Justin FeinsteinIf you want a depiction of the near future told in a smart, believable, multi-modal fashion, Your Behavior delivers. 064
Dan Hartland @danhartland.bsky.social · 30/09/2026I'm not saying that SH is influential, but of the six books shortlisted for the Goldsmiths Prize today, we've reviewed The Vivisectors already, have Dooneen coming on Monday, and pieces on both The Rouse and Said The Dead are on their way. Specfic is living high on the hog this year and no mistake.strangehorizons.comThe Vivisectors by Missouri WilliamsThis novel cues us to distrust metaphor. 1145
Dan Hartland @danhartland.bsky.social · 29/09/2026Rebecca Goh reviews Asian Pirate Musical, a production directed by Zhui Ning Chang: "Asian Pirate Musical is fundamentally an invitation to honour ancestral knowledge, redefine cultural legacy, and decentralise contemporaneous hierarchies of visibility in live media." On 2049 ... and 2249, too:strangehorizons.comAsian Pirate MusicalIt is imperative to consider this project’s positionality within the wider theatre landscape in modern Britain. 041
Reposted by Dan HartlandJoachim Boaz @joachimboaz.bsky.social · 27/09/2026New column, rumination, and update: "What pre-1985 science fiction are you reading?" sciencefictionruminations.com/2026/09/27/w... #scifi #sciencefiction 2416
Reposted by Dan HartlandKip Manley @kiplet.myatproto.social · 26/09/2026The tragedy of our commons: I want to read discussions about a thing, and all I can find are places to buy the thing. 1287
Dan Hartland @danhartland.bsky.social · 25/09/2026Here’s @hramsaroop.bsky.social on the concluding volume of Cadwell Turnbull’s Convergence Saga: “Over the course of the series, Turnbull paints a vast picture of an interconnected multiverse and the humans, monsters, and gods that live within it, highlighting the power of people coming together.”strangehorizons.comA Ruin, Great and Free by Cadwell TurnbullThe Convergence Saga as a whole grapples with existential questions for which even the gods don’t have answers. 0102
Dan Hartland @danhartland.bsky.social · 24/09/2026That feeling when you’re working on a piece and so you went on an abebooks tear to supply the piece and now the doorbell keeps going and you have a pile of parcels and your partner didn’t know anything about the piece and may even be worried about you now. I’m working on a piece. 1150
Dan Hartland @danhartland.bsky.social · 24/09/2026I should note Amritesh has excellent taste. When he appeared on a recent Critical Friends episode, he spoke admiringly of Rahul Bhattacharya’s Railsong. Gang, I read it and he’s right - beautifully written, fully empathetic, frequently funny, always surprising. A real novel. Listen to Amritesh! 162
Dan Hartland @danhartland.bsky.social · 23/09/2026New review at SH of Smita Singh's horror series Khauf. @amritesh.bsky.social sees in it a kind of testament of the possessive gaze: "Amid demands for revenge justice, everyday rape culture goes unexamined. After all, examining the culture would mean examining ourselves."strangehorizons.comKhaufWhat is a gaze but a form of possession? 043
Reposted by Dan HartlandRoseanna Pendlebury @chloroformtea.bsky.social · 23/09/2026The goodreads reviews of The End of Everything are just phenomenal. 85420
Dan Hartland @danhartland.bsky.social · 22/09/2026I’m not saying that SH is influential, but of the three longlisted books we covered last week, two have just made it to the Booker shortlist. M John Harrison and Rebecca Perry both in the running for the gong. Big moment for spec fic, I’d say, perhaps especially that The End of Everything is there. 2328
Reposted by Dan HartlandIvor W. Hartmann @ivorhartmann.bsky.social · 22/09/2026Fantastic, hope to see Xicanxfuturism taking its place in the ever-growing spirited reclaiming of future visions for all peoples. 001
Dan Hartland @danhartland.bsky.social · 21/09/2026Very happy that @hararereview.com returns to SH today to write about an anthology of xicanxfuturism. “What all of these futurisms and the work produced in them have in common is resistance: pushing back against hegemony, and against erasure.”strangehorizons.comXicanxfuturism: Codex 1 edited by Scott Russell DuncanWhat all of these futurisms and the work produced in them have in common is resistance. 11811
Dan Hartland @danhartland.bsky.social · 18/09/2026Booker longlist week at SH closes with @chloroformtea.bsky.social on the stranged fantasia of Rebecca Perry's May We Feed The King. This is a story in which immersion and its absence are constantly in play, and in fact become the major tools the author uses to just play."strangehorizons.comMay We Feed the King by Rebecca PerryMay We Feed The King may be misread; but in the open spaces where that opportunity lives there is more space for joy and wonder. 0137
Reposted by Dan HartlandPseudoPod 🎙️ @pseudopod.org · 17/09/2026Featuring our audio producer, the fabulous @chelsead.bsky.social! 0105
Dan Hartland @danhartland.bsky.social · 16/09/2026Booker longlist week continues with @chelsead.bsky.social on Missouri Williams’ The Vivisectors. Love how this review focuses on that traditional “literary” effect of characterisation, while siting it in the book’s interesting approach to that supposedly “speculative” technique of “worldbuilding.”strangehorizons.comThe Vivisectors by Missouri WilliamsThis novel cues us to distrust metaphor. 1105
Reposted by Dan HartlandGareth @garethavonb.bsky.social · 16/09/2026A lovely, sensitive, thought-provoking review of an enigmatic and exhilarating book #booksky 062
Dan Hartland @danhartland.bsky.social · 14/09/2026We're having a Booker longlist-themed week at SH with three reviews of books in the running that have a speculative element. First up is a piece on M John Harrison's The End of Everything. Ryan Elliott has delivered for us one of the fullest explorations of this confounding text I've yet seen.strangehorizons.comThe End of Everything by M. John HarrisonWhen asked in a 2012 interview how he feels about being called a “writer’s writer,” M. John Harrison “describes the ‘practice crag’ found in almost every Peak District town or village”: “It may no… 13314
Dan Hartland @danhartland.bsky.social · 13/09/2026A great time listening to this - in part because, y’know, the turtles are awesome. But also, so many interesting glances at the context of 1980s comics, the nature of franchises *and* … well, what makes popular fiction popular. Schlock and camp: a lot of overlap with the recent Critical Friends. 152
Reposted by Dan HartlandStrange Horizons @strangehorizons.bsky.social · 12/09/2026Critical Friends Episode 27: Pop Fiction with AJ Odasso @ajodasso.bsky.social Electra Pritchett and Dan Hartland @danhartland.bsky.social SFF has a long and complex relationship with questions of popular culture. Where does this stand today? Link ⬇️ strangehorizons.com/wordpress/po...strangehorizons.comCritical Friends Episode 27: Pop FictionIn this episode of Critical Friends, the Strange Horizons SFF criticism podcast, AJ Odasso and Electra Pritchett join Dan Hartland to talk about popular fiction. 01613
Dan Hartland @danhartland.bsky.social · 11/09/2026Eric Primm returns to us to discuss a novella with a lot of buzz right now, SL Huang's The Language of Liars. He finds a book that "tells its story in its title."strangehorizons.comThe Language of Liars by S. L. HuangThe Language of Liars tells its story in its title. 0138
Reposted by Dan HartlandRachel Cordasco @rachelcordasco.bsky.social · 11/09/2026IT'S ALIIIIIIIIIIIVE! #SFinTranslation🌎📚👽 42014
Reposted by Dan HartlandSpeculative Insight journal @speculativeinsight.bsky.social · 10/09/2026Just over two years ago, we published Joyce Chng's fascinating examination of how medieval and Renaissance poets constructed both fictional and IRL lady knights. And now you can read it for free! www.speculativeinsight.com/from-the-vault 088
Reposted by Dan Hartlandlawiedc.bsky.social @lawiedc.bsky.social · 10/09/2026I found great joy in reading, thinking about, and writing on a Papal Encyclical, both from the SF and from the technological perspective - and will be talking about it further at the end of the month: codeharbour.co.uk#meetupscodeharbour.co.ukcodeHabourTech meetup in South East England 012
Reposted by Dan HartlandZachary Gillan @megapolisomancy.bsky.social · 10/09/2026Why, one might argue that the very meat of the series is suffused with anxiety and paranoia about where these lines are drawn… 152
Dan Hartland @danhartland.bsky.social · 10/09/2026Reaction here to @electrapritchett.bsky.social’s suggestion that the Southern Reach trilogy is “popular fiction” - a contention that made me think, too, in the context of a discussion that largely dealt with the rather less idiosyncratic fictions of the corporate franchise. Worth a think …strangehorizons.comCritical Friends Episode 27: Pop FictionIn this episode of Critical Friends, the Strange Horizons SFF criticism podcast, AJ Odasso and Electra Pritchett join Dan Hartland to talk about popular fiction. 152
Dan Hartland @danhartland.bsky.social · 09/09/2026I don’t say this to minimise the excellent work Casella does elsewhere in these con report episodes, but does anyone else listen to his travelogues primarily for the coffee talk? Because if you do, this one’s an all-timer. Come for the scepticism of fandom, but stay for the pink bourbon. 0104
Reposted by Dan HartlandElectra Pritchett @electrapritchett.bsky.social · 09/09/2026I was not actually wearing my Heir to the Empire shirt when we recorded this podcast, but obviously I should have been. 142
Dan Hartland @danhartland.bsky.social · 09/09/2026New SH review from a new SH reviewer! Here's @janpriddy.bsky.social on Wendy Waring's attenuated dystopia, The Hunger of Those Who Built It (@stelliform.press). The novel "forces readers to confront the current drift of history into disaster," says Jan.strangehorizons.comThe Hunger of Those Who Built It by Wendy WaringThe Hunger of Those Who Built It is a mystery about developing an egalitarian Eden. 0109
Reposted by Dan HartlandIvor W. Hartmann @ivorhartmann.bsky.social · 08/09/2026At a time when reviews are either getting cut down and lessened/shortened (ahem, The Guardian (SF)) or worse given over to aieee, SH stands as bastion going in the opposite direction. 1113
Dan Hartland @danhartland.bsky.social · 08/09/2026🍿 On pop fiction: Me: Why should we be covering this stuff? Why should we be reviewing this stuff? AJ Odasso: Because there is often genre content in it, because it often straddles the boundaries and borderlines of several different genres at once. 0125
Reposted by Dan HartlandCatherine Rockwood @martin65.bsky.social · 08/09/2026very much wanting to send big appreciation and respect to @actuallyaisha.bsky.social, whose elegant insights as a reader and editor hit my review-work (and I know I am in good company here) at a time when it really needed them. 181
Dan Hartland @danhartland.bsky.social · 08/09/2026📝 We have new editors at SH Reviews! @kateem.bsky.social will be curating a monthly strand of reviews focusing on SFF at least 50 years old. Novelty bias begone! And @ajodasso.bsky.social is moonlighting from Poetry as our new Media Reviews Editor, ensuring films, TV, games get their regular due.strangehorizons.comA Note From ReviewsWe’re especially happy to announce some new appointments at the Reviews Department. 44814
Reposted by Dan HartlandDan Hartland @danhartland.bsky.social · 07/09/2026🎙️CRITICAL FRIENDS RETURNS🎙️ In the latest @strangehorizons.bsky.social criticism podcast, @electrapritchett.bsky.social & @ajodasso.bsky.social talk to me about popular fiction: what is it, what does it do, why - and how - should we read it? Books, films, TV, more: what makes popular lit … popular?strangehorizons.comCritical Friends Episode 27: Pop FictionIn this episode of Critical Friends, the Strange Horizons SFF criticism podcast, A. J Odasso and Electra Pritchett join Dan Hartland to talk about popular fiction. 12515
Dan Hartland @danhartland.bsky.social · 07/09/2026🎙️CRITICAL FRIENDS RETURNS🎙️ In the latest @strangehorizons.bsky.social criticism podcast, @electrapritchett.bsky.social & @ajodasso.bsky.social talk to me about popular fiction: what is it, what does it do, why - and how - should we read it? Books, films, TV, more: what makes popular lit … popular?strangehorizons.comCritical Friends Episode 27: Pop FictionIn this episode of Critical Friends, the Strange Horizons SFF criticism podcast, A. J Odasso and Electra Pritchett join Dan Hartland to talk about popular fiction. 12515
Dan Hartland @danhartland.bsky.social · 07/09/2026“Besides being a feminist text, a utopian text, and a trans text, Beatrice the Sixteenth is also an Orientalist one.” Nick is as so often correct: a *lot* in this one.strangehorizons.comBeatrice the Sixteenth by Irene ClydeReading Beatrice the Sixteenth is an experience in deep strangeness. 063
Dan Hartland @danhartland.bsky.social · 07/09/2026Excellent piece today from Elizabeth A. Allen on the latest Radium Age book from @mitpress.bsky.social - less a review and more an essential window on not just the text but the culture that gave rise to it. “Reading Beatrice the Sixteenth is an experience in deep strangeness.”strangehorizons.comBeatrice the Sixteenth by Irene ClydeReading Beatrice the Sixteenth is an experience in deep strangeness. 12210
Reposted by Dan HartlandL. D. Lewis, Sea Witch Apologist 🧜🏾♀️ @ldlewiswrites.blacksky.app · 06/09/2026Hello and hi! That magazine I've been teasing for funsies for like a year and a half is now mostly a real thing! soundandcolormag.comsoundandcolormag.comSound & ColorA digital interdisciplinary magazine of speculative fiction 19207109
Reposted by Dan HartlandElectra Pritchett @electrapritchett.bsky.social · 05/09/2026Here's my latest review @strangehorizons.bsky.social! I'm still sort of surprised I was the only Zahn fan to volunteer, I know a lot of people like his Star Wars books. 021