Tag Archives: SF

On the Calculation of Volume III – Solvej Balle (tr. Sophia Hersi Smith and Jennifer Russell)

Posted on 10/03/2026 by Roseanna

Recently, Ada Palmer had an essay published in Strange Horizons, talking about how writers within SF are also historians. I disagreed with several things in the essay, but have to admit it has been a great conversation starter. Especially as … Continue reading →

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On the Calculation of Volume II – Solvej Balle (tr. Barbara J. Haveland)

Posted on 16/02/2026 by Roseanna

I didn’t review the first book of On the Calculation of Volume, and that was a mistake. It was exceptionally good, following an antiquarian bookseller called Tara Selter as she finds herself trapped in a timeloop, reliving one November day … Continue reading →

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Hav – Jan Morris

Posted on 14/02/2026 by Roseanna

Did I write a whole ass essay on genre for Strange Horizons? Perhaps. But that hasn’t stopped me thinking about it. And only more so since I read Hav by Jan Morris, for which any decisions I make about genre … Continue reading →

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What I Read On My Holiday – 2026

Posted on 11/02/2026 by Roseanna

Reading holiday has once again been and gone in triumph. This year, we booked a cottage in the middle of nowhere in Wales and it was more precipitously in the middle of nowhere than we necessarily bargained for. However, after … Continue reading →

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Things to read if you loved Notes from a Regicide by Isaac Fellman

Posted on 26/10/2025 by Roseanna

First up, congrats on your amazing taste in books! High five. But alas, assuming you have already burned through Fellman’s back catalogue (if you haven’t, why not, fix that, and then come flail at me about The Breath of the … Continue reading →

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When There Are Wolves Again – E. J. Swift

Posted on 08/10/2025 by Roseanna

The new novel from the author of The Coral Bones, When There Are Wolves Again follows two women in Britain from the present, stretching out across the years into the future of the late 21st century. One of the women … Continue reading →

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Six from Six – First Half of 2025

Posted on 29/06/2025 by Roseanna

The halfway point of 2025 approaches! Of the forty-nine books I’ve read in 2025 so far, there have been seven 5 star reads – this is, for me, unusual (though it does make it easier to cut down for a … Continue reading →

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Hugo Novella Roundup

Posted on 16/06/2025 by Roseanna

I’m not going to split out my Hugo Novella ballot discussion this year into separate posts, but handle it all as one. Part of that is because I’ve already reviewed several of them, another part because I cannot read one … Continue reading →

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Alien Clay – Adrian Tchaikovsky

Posted on 07/06/2025 by Roseanna

The sixth and final Hugo nominee for Best Novel, and I’ve saved… if not the best, then certainly one of the contenders for last. It’s a thoughtful, dark, critical and sometimes genuinely funny take on biology, politics and the futility … Continue reading →

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Γνῶθι σεαυτόματον, or rather, don’t – Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Posted on 16/05/2025 by Roseanna

What is the appeal of a character who does not know themself? There’s clearly something in it, in seeing emotions in someone resolutely determined they don’t have them – it’s a character arc I’ve seen plenty of in a variety … Continue reading →

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