Book #46 of 2026: Jewish Futures: Science Fiction from the World’s Oldest Diaspora edited by Michael A. Burstein [Note: The cover of this book gives the subtitle as “Stories from the World’s Oldest Diaspora,” while the title page and listings online have it as “Science Fiction from…” instead.] This 2023 Kickstarter-funded volume presents 16 new …
Tag Archives: #ownvoices
Book Review: The First Bright Thing by J. R. Dawson
Book #44 of 2026: The First Bright Thing by J. R. Dawson This novel has a lot of heart and a couple interesting ideas that unfortunately just don’t cohere together for me. The tone often feels like it was written with a middle-grade audience in mind, but it touches on some pretty heavy topics and …
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Movie Review: KPop Demon Hunters (2025)
Movie #13 of 2026: KPop Demon Hunters (2025) Even after it won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature last night, I sort of assumed that this musical fantasy cartoon was being overhyped on the basis of its ubiquitous breakout track “Golden” (which also won Best Original Song). As it turns out, however, the rest …
Book Review: The Water Outlaws by S. L. Huang
Book #24 of 2026: The Water Outlaws by S. L. Huang I’m not familiar with the 14th-century Chinese novel Water Margin / Outlaws of the Marsh / All Men Are Brothers, but I’ve still really enjoyed this modern genderbent retelling, in which the central bandits are now predominantly female and/or queer. Even approached as a …
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Book Review: A Mouthful of Dust by Nghi Vo
Book #200 of 2025: A Mouthful of Dust by Nghi Vo (The Singing Hills Cycle #6) Another short but immersive tale of Cleric Chih on their wanderings around this East Asian-inspired fantasy land, recording local stories and trying to sift fact from legend. As usual it’s a fairly standalone adventure that doesn’t rely on readers …
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Book Review: The Sapling Cage by Margaret Killjoy
Book #194 of 2025: The Sapling Cage by Margaret Killjoy (Daughters of the Empty Throne #1) I’m not blown away by the generic fantasy setting or the one-dimensional villainous motivations here, but as a personal story rooted in its protagonist’s gender identity, it’s certainly a more distinctive entry in the genre. Sixteen-year-old Lorel is someone …
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Book Review: Julie Chan Is Dead by Liann Zhang
Book #186 of 2025: Julie Chan Is Dead by Liann Zhang This title starts off well, as a sort of YA Yellowface meets Ripley, but it takes some decidedly odd turns and gets pretty unhinged by the end. The initial premise at least is fun — the protagonist stumbles across the body of her estranged …
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Book Review: Stag Dance by Torrey Peters
Book #122 of 2025: Stag Dance by Torrey Peters Author Torrey Peters had a smash hit with the bestselling 2021 novel Detransition, Baby, and I assume her publisher wanted to release something else with her name on it before that recognition had completely faded. Hence this new title collecting four unrelated novellas, two of which …
Book Review: The Devil Three Times by Rickey Fayne
Book #117 of 2025: The Devil Three Times by Rickey Fayne Author Rickey Fayne’s debut novel is an ambitious and challenging text that unfortunately loses me structurally as it goes along. It’s a multigenerational tale spanning almost two centuries, which is an approach I’ve enjoyed in other works. Here, however, the handoff isn’t a clean …
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Book Review: Kaddish.com by Nathan Englander
Book #115 of 2025: Kaddish.com by Nathan Englander Mixed feelings on this one, though I appreciate the #ownvoices Jewish elements. I think a condensed version of the plot could have been effective as a short story, but it’s too thin for a full-fledged novel, with the transition between the protagonist in the past and the …
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