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Death and Dying: A Sociological Introduction by Glennys Howarth - Does what it says on the tin, & does it well. Particularly interesting for how it talks about the role of expertise, the life/death binary vs a continuum, & the living's relationships with the dead. I made a ton of notes for my next two big projects, & it might have changed what I write after that. Read if you're interested in how societies deal with death, & who isn't fascinated by that?
The Plague by Albert Camus - Plague hits a colonial town. People struggle through it. The absurdity of existence is exposed, I guess. The range of responses from characters is interesting, but while I enjoyed this, I expected something more intense. Maybe that's the point - life goes on, c'est la vie. It doesn't help that it largely fails to engage with the colonial part of its setting. Read if you want to see people grapple with a crisis, in a low-key mood.
Thrill Me: Essays on Fiction by Benjamin Percy - A collection of essays exploring approaches to fiction. Percy advocates for bridging the gap between literary & genre fiction, in a compelling & well-reasoned way. There's also decent craft advice, which goes beyond the basics into bigger questions of structure & how stories work. Read if you want to write fiction that's both thoughtful & exciting, or to understand how books achieve that balance.
Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle - This book's strength lies in its protagonist, & it's great at showing her distinct perspective. It's a story of two halves, the first creepy & atmospheric, the second delivering satisfying but more familiar payoffs. Very readable with a powerful message. Read if you want horror where a gay, neurodivergent PoV grapples with family & faith, or to support one of the internet's most joyfully weird inhabitants.
Follow Me: Religion in Fantasy & Science Fiction, ed. Francesca T Barbini - An interesting & varied collection of essays, running the gamut from queer gods to UFO cults to monotheism in Middle Earth. The annual essay collection from @LunaPressPublishing is always a highlight of my reading year, & it doesn't disappoint, digging deep on topics I'd never considered. Read if you like to think deeply about SFF.
Aurealis 163 - Australia's premier scifi & fantasy magazine, featuring a story by me, so I'm probably biased. I particularly enjoyed the story from the POV of an AI-guided missile, which made good use of a distinctive viewpoint, as well as articles on Mad Max as lone warrior archetype & on religion in the Foundation books. Read if you enjoy distinctive sf+f paired with thoughtful analysis.
The Spider's War by Daniel Abraham - Suitably epic end to The Dagger & the Coin, a fantasy series where economics, faith, & politics play out to shape the fate of a kingdom. The main characters got off lightly for my tastes, one choice taking away difficult decisions that would have made a more interesting but less happy ending. Still satisfying though, & a series with weighty themes. Read if you like GoT but wouldn't mind a slightly faster pace.
"You can't change a man's mind when he's lost the capacity to see he's wrong."
- Daniel Abraham, The Spider's War
That quote's going to be living in my mind for a long time.
Vector 297 - An issue of the British Science Fiction Association's critical journal, this time focused on "futures", & especially the use of scifi in predicting or preparing for what will come. Lots of interesting reflections on different projects. Good to see some facing the climate crisis, & the variety of approaches taken to engaging with people. Read if you like the idea of scifi shaping how we deal with the real world.
On Spec 124 - The latest issue of a Canadian genre fiction magazine that always provides something interesting. Highlights included a haircut at the end of the world & a story exploring the moral responsibilities arising from keeping dead people alive in automata. Read if you're after thought-provoking short fiction.
Under the Moon by E. M. Faulds - A great collection of short sf+f, full of unusual ideas & perspectives. There's a reality-bending solar-powered train, a sentient shop trying to put its past behind it, the devil at dinner, & a host of excellent female protagonists. Read if you want imaginative genre fiction, stories that get past the bias toward male POV, or to dip into the great work coming out of the Scottish genre scene.
Invisible: Essays and Poems About Representation in Science Fiction and Fantasy, edited by Jim C. Hines and Mary Ann Mohanraj - Anything that helps me to understand other people's perspectives and the struggles they go through is good, & this book did exactly that. Many identities and issues I hadn't properly thought about are covered in here. Read if you want to write more representative fiction, or simply increase your understanding of other people's lives.
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller - The classic anti-war novel, Heller artfully uses structure & viewpoint to create a sense of how unsettled his characters are. It's a stark deconstruction of the heroic war narrative, with swipes at capitalism & bureaucracy. The chapter focused on Milo's mad business feels darkly prescient of how capitalism has evolved in the decades since. Read if you haven't already.