Monthly Round-Up

June 2025 Round-up and Short Fiction Miscellany

June was a little bit of a chaotic reading month–I read a big variety of different lengths, intended audiences, and a couple things that weren’t exactly books, per se. Guess what? I have lots of recommendations, including new favorites of the year in several categories. Let’s dive in!

Short Fiction

I’ve already reviewed Clarkesworld and GigaNotoSaurus, where I strongly recommended “The Starter Family,” and Asimov’s, Uncanny, and Beneath Ceaseless Skies, where “Barbershops of the Floating City” was the standout and “The Chronolithographer’s Assistant” became my favorite 2025-published novella to-date. Also keep an eye out in July for my review of Uncertain Sons and Other Stories, whose title story is very good, as are many other stories that I’ve previously recommended. But for now, let’s focus on the miscellany:

June Favorites

  • The Name Ziya (2025 novelette) by Wen-yi Lee. This might be my story of the year so far. It’s a tale about colonialism and academia, with naming magic and a sobering depiction of the plunder of conquered societies. But for me, the standout element here is the bittersweetness of the lead’s assimilation into the dominant culture–there’s joy inextricably woven together with the loss, and it makes the tale all the more real.
  • Lake of Souls (2024 novelette) by Ann Leckie. It’s a first contact story split between a human and non-human perspective–exactly the sort of thing I so often love–and while I have mixed feelings about an ending that intentionally leaves many questions open, the alienness of the primary POV makes this an excellent read regardless.
  • Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell (2015 novella) by Brandon Sanderson. I know Sanderson is much beloved in some corners of fantasy fandom, but this is the first thing I’ve read of his that really came together start-to-finish. It’s a compact, horror-tinged fantasy adventure with cruel villains, a dangerous setting, and enough fraught family dynamics to add an interpersonal touch that makes it more than just an adventure.

Strong Contenders

  • The Cephalophore (2025 short story) by Thomas Ha. A revolution of the dead, told out-of-order in that disconcerting style that Ha uses so effectively, with some truly exceptional lines.
  • Bind the Herbs to Bring the Shift (2025 short story) by R.Z. Held. The story of a woman who can’t shift in a society of shapeshifters, estranged from her own offspring and hoping to do good for the children of others as they learn to shift for the first time, but here finding herself in the middle of a mother/daughter rivalry that seems strangely familiar.
  • Everyone Keeps Saying Probably (2025 short story) by Premee Mohamed. A very short piece written from father to toddler, at times feeling like more of a motivational speech than a proper narrative, but one that’s exceptional for the way it nails the feeling of parenting at the end of the world.

Others I Enjoyed in June

  • Seven Ribbons (2025 short story) by Beth Goder. The story of sisters growing up in an oppressive city with impassable walls and constantly shifting boundaries within them, such that one is never sure whether or not they are within its jurisdiction. One sister yearns for escape, but such wishes are deadly dangerous.
  • Not a Fish (2025 short story) by Andrew Dykstal. A voicey tale of conquest and its aftermath in a city whose god takes prayers extremely literally–call it a programming analogy or a twist on the genie story.
  • View Window (2025 novelette) by A.T. Greenblatt. Someone whose sister has abandoned her corporeal family to run off with ghosts explores the stories of those who intentionally interact with them, with all the dangers that entails.
  • MALO MALO MALO MALO (2025 short story) by Louis Inglis Hall. A rich and powerful man returns to his ancestral lands. It goes in the direction one would expect from a horror tale, but the voice stands out regardless.
  • One for Sorrow (2025 short story) by R J Araund. A magical realistic grief story that really nails a lot of the interpersonal notes, but–as magical realism often does–leaves me too distracted trying to grasp the symbolic details.
  • Now We Paint Worlds (2021 novelette) by Matthew Kressel. An investigation into the disappearance of whole planets that turns into a referendum on humanity writ large by godlike, celestial beings.

Novels and Novellas

Reviews Posted

  • A Rebel’s History of Mars (2025 novel) by Nadia Afifi. A two-timeline dystopian sci-fi with a suppressed history element.
  • Shroud (2025 novel) by Adrian Tchaikovsky. My novel of the year so far, with Adrian Tchaikovsky returning to his roots in a survival sci-fi tale on a hostile world full of deeply strange aliens. The fight for survival can be gripping and even horror-tinged, but it’s the first contact element that makes this so great for me.
  • Someone You Can Build a Nest In (2024 novel) by John Wiswell. Wiswell developing a couple themes at novel length that he’s written exceptionally well in short fiction, but the voice didn’t work for me, and the misunderstood monster romance never quite meshes with the trauma recovery storyline.
  • Navigational Entanglements (2024 novel) by Aliette de Bodard. A short, xianxia-inspired science fantasy tale that’s rushed in the buildup but ultimately delivers an intriguing fraught mentorship relationship with good autistic rep.
  • The Bewitching (2025 novel) by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. An atmospheric, three-timeline Gothic tale with every major character beset by witches, hoping to find a way for themselves and their loved ones to survive.
  • Inner Space (2025 novel) by Jakub Szamalek, translated by Kasia Beresford. A classic, hard sci-fi “find the saboteur” story set on the International Space Station with plenty of political and interpersonal cause for suspicion.
  • A Sorceress Comes to Call (2024 novel) by T. Kingfisher. A cross between a dark fairy tale and a regency-style romance, with a compelling main character opening in horrifying circumstances, but with a tone that gets lighter as the story progresses.

Other June Reads

  • The River Has Roots (2025 novella) by Amal El-Mohtar. A short, light cross between a Fae story and a murder ballad. Full review to come.
  • 17776 (2017 novella?) by Jon Bois. A surreal, hypertextual, multimedia web story in which sentient space probes watch as humanity tries to grapple with life with neither birth nor death. It’s ostensibly an American football story, but at heart, it’s a compelling tale of dealing with immortality, with a whole lot of interesting historical anecdotes and a strange (but wonderful) sense of humor. Reminds me a bit of the final season of The Good Place (although 17776 predated it). This was sufficiently novella-like to make the Hugo longlist a few years back, and I wish it’d won. Full review to come.
  • What Feasts at Night (2024 novella) by T. Kingfisher. The sequel to What Moves the Dead moves away from the retelling elements to tell a supernatural horror story. It’s plotted competently enough but never develops enough tension to really grab. Full review to come.
  • 20020 (20020 novella?) by Jon Bois. The sequel to 17776 spends a little bit less time on existential questions and more on the detailed mechanics of a bizarre, staggeringly large-scale game that feels like a cross between football and capture the flag. The humor is still there, and it’s fun for fans of weird game mechanics, but it’s not the must-read that the first one is. Full review to come.
  • Ella Enchanted (1997 novel) by Gail Carson Levine. Exceptional middle grade fiction that I’d missed when it came out due to extremely gendered marketing. Not that I can blame the marketing, but it’s a whimsical and compulsively readable tale that should work for anyone who doesn’t mind princess tales for younger audiences. I can’t wait to give this one to my daughter. Full review to come.

SPSFC

I haven’t posted any reviews this month, but I’ve been reading the finalists and expect to be posting personal reviews and team scores later in July.

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