Niall Harrison

One month to go! (Minus a day.) Join us on 26 November at Newcastle City Library for a day of bookish SF events. Day tickets and individual event tickets available. booksontyne.co.uk/calendar-view/

Announcing the shortlist of the Warwick Prize for Women in Translation 2026. Congratulations to the authors, translators, and publishers! tinyurl.com/bdhfm9nx @tenement-press.bsky.social @pushkinpress.com @sevenstoriesuk.bsky.social @fitzcarraldoeds.bsky.social @penguinrandomhouse.bsky.social

Lead times being what they are, I wrote this in late July, and the word I wish I could go back and add is "frictionless" -- for good and ill locusmag.com/review/exit-...

Congratulations to Pip Adam, recipient of the 2026 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction for Audition!

The perfect time to pick up a copy of not just the novel of The Prestige, but The Recollections, which includes Priest's long essay about the film: briardenebooks.uk/product/the-...

Ply by Hernan Diaz: Review by Niall Harrison locusmag.com/review/...

While reading Ply my experience was a bit uneven, but after finishing it and sitting with it, my review came out pretty positive. Sometimes that happens. It's definitely a big swing. locusmag.com/review/ply-b...

While reading Ply my experience was a bit uneven, but after finishing it and sitting with it, my review came out pretty positive. Sometimes that happens. It's definitely a big swing. locusmag.com/review/ply-b...

The Recollections by Christopher Priest  reviewed by Aran Ward Sell Link ⬇️ strangehorizons.com/wordpress/no...

📣 CALL FOR @strangehorizons.bsky.social 2027 CRITICISM SPECIAL It is already the time when thoughts turn to the end of January and the annual SH criticism special. Do you have an essay? A long review? A roundtable? A *critical thing*? Please email us about it! 📧 reviews at strangehorizons dot com

In the latest Snap! Criticism, @danhartland.bsky.social reads Hachemi's THE MULAI (@coachhousebooks.bsky.social, tr. Sanches) alongside Palmer & Walton's TRACE ELEMENTS (@torbooks.bsky.social) to think about the difference between conversations & contracts, & the trouble of defining "fun" in genre.

“Although THE FORMOSA EXCHANGE is indeed the ambitious and rewarding work of political SF that this description foregrounds, it is also something stranger and harder to pin down” @niallharrison reviews new work from Huang Chong-Kai, trans by Jeremy Tiang

Includes announcement of this year's judges!

My review of The Formosa Exchange by Huang Chong-Kai tr. Jeremy Tiang is up at Locus. Really rich, thoughtfully tricky book, enjoyed it a lot: locusmag.com/review/the-f...

Fascinating account of "Rave and Let Die" here: by no means altogether positive. But some interesting observations on the function of criticism in the present time.

'Part of the reason the writing took so long, she says, is that she was “waiting to find out the resolution to certain real world events”. Some outcomes felt predictable, others not at all' www.theguardian.com/books/2026/o...

Thanks to a combination of pre-orders, slow orders, review copies and straight-up impulse buys, this week has not been kind to my shelves. At least I've already read the Hall...

“THE BREAKUP is a novel deeply rooted in the contemporary malaise, thoroughly and fascinatingly and often entertainingly detailed in its extrapolations…” @niallharrison reviews new work from @kurtandersen.bsky.social

This was written, as the first sentence indicates, as the third in a trio of reviews, the other two of which are not online yet. A big and not a little bit confounding novel that in some ways I'm still digesting. locusmag.com/review/the-b...

This was written, as the first sentence indicates, as the third in a trio of reviews, the other two of which are not online yet. A big and not a little bit confounding novel that in some ways I'm still digesting. locusmag.com/review/the-b...

Definitely go and have a poke around and see if anything takes your fancy here. All the Bora Chungs are great; from this year, The Formosa Exchange is my pick so far.

"Life Out of Order is a much stranger, more sprawling book than I remember The Time Traveler's Wife being" Indeed. Really curious to see more reviews of this one. buttondown.com/charliejane/...

I didn't know Edwards, and I don't even know as much about his career as I should. But there was a period where my perception was that he was the heart of Gollancz, and Gollancz was the heart of SF in Britain. sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/edward...

Had a really great time chatting (and chatting, and chatting some more) with Casella about the Le Guin Prize shortlist. Honestly I could easily have gone on longer; it’s a list with a lot to discuss, in a great way.

The Strangers is a fantastic novel (memoir? something else?) and reviewing it was both a challenge and a pleasure.

When There Are Wolves Again is on the UK Kindle Daily Deal today (5 October) for 99p. Bargainous! 😊🐺 amzn.eu/d/0en8hTOd

💚💚💚 So delighted, and a warm congratulations to all other winners and nominees. Thank you also to Alter Mag for commissioning a long-form essay on the history of Indian SF as the debut piece in their magazine. It’s available to read for free here: altermag.com/articles/the...

I have been remiss in noting that a new issue of Locus is our! My reviews this month: good novels by Karen Lord, Adam Roberts, and Caskey Russell, and a mixed but interesting collection of Nordic Nightmares locusmag.com/2026/10/issu...

I have helped to programme a thing! Who fancies a day trip to Newcastle in November?

Bogs, Books, and Magic Boxes: @suchmayer.northsky.social reviews Anne Charnock's ALSTON MOOR (@goldsmithspress.bsky.social) & Noelle Catharine Allan's WOMAN, WOLF, CARBON CAPTURE (@blacklawrence.bsky.social)

What a very interesting shortlist