science fiction

Hugo Award Nominees for 2025!

Posted on August 1, 2025 by Bee Lehman

To my usual delight with speculative fiction, the Hugo awards have been announced! These controversial awards raise lots of questions about voice, audience, and the politics of publication. Nonetheless, they are usually worth a gander as awesome literature. I, for one, adore a couple of these authors.

Best Novel

Cover for The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley (Avid Reader Press, Sceptre) — The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley (Avid Reader Press, Sceptre)

Cover for Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Tordotcom) — Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Tordotcom)

Cover for Alien Clay by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Orbit US, Tor UK) — Alien Clay by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Orbit US, Tor UK)

Cover for Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell (DAW) — Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell (DAW)

Cover for A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher (Tor) — A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher (Tor)

Cover for The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett (Del Rey, Hodderscape UK) — The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett (Del Rey, Hodderscape UK)

Best Novella

Cover to The Practice, the Horizon, and the Chain by Sofia Samatar (Tordotcom) — The Practice, the Horizon, and the Chain by Sofia Samatar (Tordotcom)

Cover to The Tusks of Extinction by Ray Nayler (Tordotcom) — The Tusks of Extinction by Ray Nayler (Tordotcom)

Cover to What Feasts at Night, T. Kingfisher (Nightfire) — What Feasts at Night, T. Kingfisher (Nightfire)

Cover The Brides of High Hill by Nghi Vo (Tordotcom) — The Brides of High Hill by Nghi Vo (Tordotcom)

Cover to Navigational Entanglements by Aliette de Bodard (Tordotcom) — Navigational Entanglements by Aliette de Bodard (Tordotcom)

Cover to The Butcher of the Forest by Premee Mohamed (Tordotcom) — The Butcher of the Forest by Premee Mohamed (Tordotcom)

Best Novelette

“The Brotherhood of Montague St. Video” by Thomas Ha (Clarkesworld, May 2024)
“By Salt, By Sea, By Light of Stars” by Premee Mohamed (Strange Horizons, Fund Drive 2024)
“The Four Sisters Overlooking the Sea” by Naomi Kritzer (Asimov’s, September/October 2024)
“Lake of Souls” by Ann Leckie in Lake of Souls (Orbit)
“Loneliness Universe” by Eugenia Triantafyllou (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 58)
“Signs of Life” by Sarah Pinsker (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 59)

Best Short Story

“Five Views of the Planet Tartarus” by Rachael K. Jones (Lightspeed Magazine, Jan 2024 (Issue 164))
“Marginalia” by Mary Robinette Kowal (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 56)
“Stitched to Skin Like Family Is” by Nghi Vo (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 57)
“Three Faces of a Beheading” by Arkady Martine (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 58)
“We Will Teach You How to Read | We Will Teach You How to Read” by Caroline M. Yoachim (Lightspeed Magazine, May 2024 (Issue 168))
“Why Don’t We Just Kill the Kid in the Omelas Hole” by Isabel J. Kim (Clarkesworld, February 2024)

For More

For the rest of categories, take a look at the official page.

2024 Speculative Fiction Read and Enjoyed

Posted on January 14, 2025March 10, 2025 by Bee Lehman

Some of you know that I (Bee, the Lit Librarian) read heavily in speculative fiction. For our mutual enjoyed, I’ve compiled a list of some of my colleagues and my favorite 2024 reads in the genre. Please note that most of these books are from 2024, but a few were published earlier. Please note that this list is far from comprehensive.

Here they are!

Illustrated hands spread out with stems of thyme laid across them. — Thyme Travellers: An Anthology of Palestinian Speculative Fiction, edited by Sonia Sulaiman

Cover in oranges emphasizing a city amid the sands with a person positioned upside down. — The Lies of the Ajungo by Moses Ose Utomi

Cover of person with green skin standing in a bookshop. — Bookshops and Bonedust by Travis Baldree,

Cover with a window and silhouette of a person with a hand pressed to dingy gladd. — Ulit︠s︡kai︠a︡, Li︠u︡dmila. The Kukotsky Enigma : A Novel by Ludmila Ulitskaya ; Translated from the Russian by Diane Nemec Ignashev

Brightly colored image of a man facing away from the viewer, hand raised toward a mountainous skyline. — Wind and Truth by Brandon Sanderson

Cover with an image of an island with a ship next to it. — Island of Whispers by Frances Hardinge, UC Berkeley Library Search

White, decorative cover with red eye, centered, peering at viewer. — Navola by Paolo Bacigalupi

Famous detail of an ancient Chinese bridge with specific people x-ed out in red. — 清明上河圖密碼 : 隱藏在千古名畫中的陰謀與殺局 =The secret code of “Along the River During the Qingming Festival”: Conspiracy and murder hidden in famous paintings through the ages by Wenbiao Ye

Woman looks up, face hidden behind a half mask, clutching two stiletto daggers with arms crossed. — Dead Cat Tail Assassins by P. Djèlí Clar

Sepia toned image with parallel stripes running across the cover with three, brightly colored dots. — Lake of Souls by Ann Leckie

Cover emphasizing Roman classic style architecture in flames. — The City in Glass by Nghi Vo, in UC Berkeley Library Search

Blue cover with red, bleeding sun in the middle surrounded by blue-green toned fungus and other plants. — The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett

Picture of a fallen, lighted sign crashed into the dirt with a tentacle wrapping around it from the right. — Boys Weekend by Mattie Lubchansky

Cover with bird of fire leaping into the sky near a house on a cliff. — Somewhere Beyond the Sea by T. J. Klune, UC Berkeley Library Search

Sepia-toned cover with black shapes and red highlights. — Prophet Song by Paul Lynch

Anthropomorphized animals in a pink room. — 偵探冰室・疫=Detective ice room・Epidemic by Ho-kei Chan

Black cover with gold trees growing up the sides. — A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher

Book cover of The Familiar — The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo

Book cover with blue background, author name and title spread across the cover with a sword blade in the background. — The Bright Sword by Lev Grossmann

Speculative Fiction: Hugo Award Winners in 2024!

Posted on August 15, 2024 by Bee Lehman

To my delight, the Hugo winners have been announced. Check out the full list of categories, short lists, and winners on the Hugo Awards website. On my side, I’ve read the short stories (i.e., less than 7,500 words) and now am making my way through the novelettes (i.e., 7,500 to 17,500 words). I am enjoying myself immensely.

This year’s novel (i.e., 40,000 words or more) winner is Emily Tesh’s 2023 Some Desperate Glory (Tor Books pub., UC Library Book Search).

T. Kingfisher’s 2023 A Fairy Tale Transformed: Thornhedge (Tor, Titan UK pub., UC Library Search) won the prize for novella (i.e., 17,500-40,000 words).

In novelettes, we’ve got Naomi Kritzer’s “The Year Without Sunshine” (Uncanny Magazine, November-December 2023, fulltext).

In short stories, there is Naomi Kritzer’s “Better Living Through Algorithms” (Clarkesworld, May 2023, fulltext).

In graphic novels, we’ve got the 11th volume of SAGA by Brian K. Vaughan, art by Fiona Staples (Image, pub., UC Library Search).

Then, in games or interactive works, Baldur’s Gate 3 (Larian Studios, prod., website).

There is more, but this post is long enough. I encourage you to check out the full list linked at the top. And, If you have time, I hope you enjoy.

Signing off,
Bee (Lit/DH Librarian)