Our Verdict on Red Mars: Mostly Great, with a Few Quibbles
The New Scientist Book Club challenged its 25,000‑strong community to read Kim Stanley Robinson’s 600‑page classic *Red Mars* in 30 days, sparking lively Discord discussions. Readers lauded the novel’s vivid Martian landscapes and ambitious world‑building, while many found the love‑triangle and some character arcs undercooked. Robinson explained his flash‑forward opening as a way to heighten tension, and he used the occasion to criticize contemporary Mars‑colonisation hype, notably Elon Musk’s rhetoric. Overall, the club’s mixed reactions reaffirmed the book’s status as a thought‑provoking sci‑fi benchmark despite lingering narrative flaws.
Ann Leckie Continues to Shine with New Sci-Fi Novel Radiant Star
Ann Leckie’s newest Radch‑universe novel, Radiant Star, arrives this month, set on the underground world of planet Aaa after its star vanished. The book continues her reputation for meticulous world‑building and complex alien cultures, building on the critical acclaim of the...
Book Review: ‘Prophecy,’ by Carissa Véliz
Carissa Véliz’s new book Prophecy argues that today’s AI‑driven prediction engines function more as fortune tellers than truth tellers, extending the power of Big Tech. She traces the lineage of prophecy from ancient oracles to modern algorithms that assess credit risk,...
The Tolkien Society Awards 2026
The Tolkien Society announced the 2026 award winners on April 27. Michael D.C. Drout’s The Tower and the Ruin captured Best Book, Tom Hillman’s article won Best Article, Miriam Ellis’s illustration earned Best Artwork, and the website Tea with Tolkien was named Best Online...
How (and Why) Not to Write to Market
The article argues that "write to market" is misguided advice for authors. While understanding market trends is essential, chasing fleeting fads leads to books that miss the publishing window and feel derivative. Instead, writers should align their genuine passions with...
Thrash Legend CHUCK BILLY To Release Memoir About His Life Pre- And Post-Cancer Diagnosis
Testament frontman Chuck Billy announced a two‑part memoir, *Holding My Breath: The Two Testaments of Chuck Billy*, slated for release on November 10 through Permuted Press. The book splits into an “Old Testament” chronicling the Bay Area thrash scene and...
Asian Mothers, Bad Feelings: Notes on An All-Conquering Stereotype
Rebecca Liu’s essay revisits Amy Chua’s 2011 “tiger mom” WSJ piece to trace the evolution of the “difficult Asian mother” trope across diaspora literature and film, from *The Joy Luck Club* to *Crazy Rich Asians*. She argues the character functions less as a...
Book Review: ‘Aside From My Heart, All Is Well,’ by Héctor Abad
Héctor Abad’s new novel *Aside From My Heart, All Is Well* follows the journal entries of aging priest Aurelio Sánchez as he remembers fellow priest Luis Córdoba, a 1996 Medellín figure awaiting a heart transplant. The narrative explores a “good...
Up In Smoke
Philip Connors, a journalist at The Wall Street Journal, quit his editorial duties to become a fire lookout for the U.S. Forest Service in New Mexico’s Aldo Leopold Wilderness. He framed the seasonal position as a paid writing retreat, offering...
A24 to Take a Page From BookTok for Boyfriend Material
A24’s UK division has optioned the TV rights to Alexis Hall’s 2020 novel Boyfriend Material, a BookTok‑favored enemies‑to‑lovers romance, signaling the studio’s push into TikTok‑driven IP. The novel’s popularity on BookTok helped secure the deal, though A24 has offered no production...
8 Quintessentially Québécois Novels Set in Montreal
Montreal’s bilingual, festival‑rich environment fuels a distinctive literary scene, showcased by eight recent Québécois titles set in the city. The list spans debut works and acclaimed classics, from Dany Laferrière’s 1985 immigrant comedy to Kim Thúy’s bestselling refugee memoir *Ru*....
Review – Justice League Intergalactic Special #1: Galaxy and Dreamer’s Space Escape
Justice League Intergalactic Special #1 brings trans‑hero duo Galaxy and Dreamer together in a double‑sized, almost‑annual‑length one‑shot. Written by Jadzia Axelrod and Nicole Maines and illustrated by Travis Moore, the issue earned a 9.5/10 rating from reviewer Ray. The story...
Con Lehane On Writing a Red Scare Noir Against a Backdrop of Rising Oppression
Con Lehane’s debut novel *The Red Scare Murders* places private‑eye Mick Mulligan in 1950s anti‑Communist hysteria, where he must prove the innocence of a Black union organizer on death row. The plot weaves Lehane’s own cab‑driver strike experience and a...
26 New Books to Read in May: Matt Haig, Carley Fortune, David Sedaris and More
May’s publishing calendar unveils 26 new titles, featuring novels from Matt Haig, Carley Fortune, and David Sedaris, alongside two high‑profile releases: Kathryn Stockett’s historical saga "The Calamity Club" and Douglas Stuart’s "John of John." Both books arrive on May 5, expanding...
Book Review: “Japanese Gothic,” By Kylie Lee Baker
“Japanese Gothic” by Kylie Lee Baker intertwines a modern American fugitive, Lee Turner, who flees to a centuries‑old Kagoshima house, with Sen, a samurai trainee trapped in 1877 after the Satsuma Rebellion. A mysterious closet door that opens only at...
The Productive Writing Routines of Haruki Murakami, Stephen King, and Virginia Woolf, Explained
Haruki Murakami’s sixteenth novel, *The Tale of KAHO*, will debut this summer, underscoring the 77‑year‑old author’s relentless output. Murakami’s regimen—four‑hour writing blocks beginning at 4 a.m. followed by a 10 km run—mirrors the disciplined habits of Stephen King and Virginia Woolf, who...
Your Sous Vide Wand. Your Car. Your Search Results. All Enshittified, All on Purpose, All at Once. Cory Doctorow Explains
Cory Doctorow’s new book *Enshittification* coins a blunt term for the rapid decay of digital products as platforms prioritize profit over user experience, while Stephen Monteiro’s *Needy Media* explores the emotional bonds users form with smart devices. The review highlights...
Seamus Heaney Took Dante, Not Yeats, as His Model — and Transformed Northern Ireland's Troubles Into Purgatory
The new anthology of Seamus Heaney’s poems highlights his rare reliance on Dante rather than the expected Yeats, casting the Northern Ireland Troubles as a modern purgatory. By weaving medieval cosmology with agrarian imagery, Heaney transforms personal and collective trauma...
Devotions by Lucy Caldwell Review – Short Stories that Are Frightening, Passionate and Comforting Too
Lucy Caldwell’s fourth short‑story collection, *Devotions*, arrives from Faber with a price of about $19. The ten stories weave music, family, memory and duty, moving from a Dublin‑based divorcee’s reluctant return home to a Scottish ghost‑house haunted by IVF trauma....
Lost Copy of Seventh-Century Poem in Old English Discovered at Rome Library
Scholars from Trinity College Dublin have uncovered a previously unknown ninth‑century manuscript of Caedmon’s Hymn in Rome’s National Central Library, marking the third‑oldest surviving copy of the earliest English poem. The manuscript, likely transcribed by an Italian monk between AD 800‑830,...
4 Pro Review Services to Get Your Book Noticed
IngramSpark has teamed up with four established professional review services—BookLife, IndieReader, BlueInk, and Kirkus—to give self‑published authors a streamlined path to credible third‑party reviews. The partnership offers exclusive discounts, lowering fees by $25‑$100 compared with standard rates. These reviews provide...
Clarion West Announces Partnership for Residency Program
Clarion West announced a partnership with Seattle‑based nonprofit Common AREA Maintenance (CAM) to transform the 30,000‑square‑foot El Rey Building into its new home for the six‑week workshop and year‑round artist residencies. CAM purchased the abandoned Belltown property for a symbolic...
A New BookTok Bestseller List
Media Control and TikTok have introduced the United Kingdom’s first official BookTok bestseller list, merging NielsenIQ BookData sales figures with TikTok engagement metrics. The inaugural March 2026 ranking is topped by Rachel Reid’s *Heated Rivalry*, while Irish romance writer Chloe...
An Exciting Tale in a Fascinating Setting: Trouble on Titan by Alan E. Nourse
Reactor’s Alan Brown reviews Alan E. Nourse’s 1954 juvenile novel *Trouble on Titan*, a sci‑fi adventure set on Saturn’s moon. The story follows Earth youth Tucker and Titan colonist David as they navigate a mining colony’s unrest and uncover a...
Murder Mindfully by Karsten Dusse
Murder Mindfully, a new German crime novel by lawyer‑author Karsten Dusse, follows Berlin defence attorney Björn Diemel as he navigates a volatile mob case while trying to be present for his daughter’s birthday. After his client Dragan Sergowicz is killed, Björn...
The Body that Floats by Jayne Chard
Jayne Chard’s latest cosy crime, *The Body that Floats*, continues the misadventures of sisters Julia Fortnam and Frankie Grant. Set against the breezy backdrop of Cornwall’s Portscatho, the duo uncovers the body of a disgruntled developer while navigating sibling rivalry...
Magazines Received – March
Locus’s March roundup catalogs 27 speculative‑fiction periodicals spanning print, digital and free‑online formats. The list includes established titles such as Asimov’s and Clarkesworld alongside niche newcomers like Reckoning X and Fiyah, a Black speculative‑fiction magazine. Pricing varies widely, from free web‑based...
Podcast: A Peek Into Canadians' Reading
BookNet Canada’s upcoming 2025 Leisure & Reading report shows 79% of Canadians read a book last year, a modest dip from 84% in 2015 but with a recent uptick over the past five years. Daily reading holds steady at roughly...
HaBO: Age Gap Romance But They’re Both Wealthy
A reader is seeking the title of a contemporary romance set in New York City featuring a wealthy 30‑something male lead and an 18‑19‑year‑old heroine who works as a cleaner despite being secretly affluent. The story opens with an immediate...
Utah Adds Two More Books to Banned List; 34 Now Outlawed in State Public Schools
Utah added two more titles—Jaycee Dugard’s *A Stolen Life* and George R.R. Martin’s *A Clash of Kings*—to its state‑wide banned‑books list, bringing the total to 34. The additions follow a lawsuit filed in February challenging the 2024 HB 29 “sensitive material”...
Online Philosophy Resources Weekly Update
Daily Nous released its latest Online Philosophy Resources Weekly Update, highlighting recent revisions to major encyclopedia entries and new content across several platforms. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy refreshed five entries—including Realism, Inheritance Systems, Plato, Spinoza’s epistemology, and Foucault—while the...
Poem of the Week
Duke University Press highlighted the final "Poem of the Week" featuring “Few Years Later,” a poem from the newly released collection *Ocean, as Much as Rain*. The anthology presents translated works by renowned Tibetan writer Tsering Woeser, edited and translated...
One Great Poem to Read Today: Sarah Jean Grimm’s “Zero Conditional”
Literary Hub is celebrating the 30th National Poetry Month by spotlighting a new poem each workday, and today’s pick is Sarah Jean Grimm’s “Zero Conditional,” first published in February 2026. The poem strings together concise images—a manicured lawn, startled birds, a silent...
A Debut Novel That Writes Magic Into a Difficult History
Jiyoung Han’s debut novel *Honey in the Wound* weaves magical realism into the harrowing history of Korean comfort women under Japanese colonial rule. The story follows Song Young‑Ja and her descendants, each endowed with supernatural powers that turn everyday acts—cooking,...
New Book Fat Swim Explores the Pain and Pleasure of Having a Body
Emma Copley Eisenberg’s 2026 short‑story collection Fat Swim, released by Playboy and Literary Hub, explores body neutrality through diverse characters—young, old, fat, thin, trans—who grapple with pain, pleasure, and societal beauty standards. The book intertwines everyday scenes, from a public‑pool “fat swim”...
Cities on a Plate: A New Series Tells the Story of Cities Through Food, History, and People
Indian entrepreneur Sri Bodanapu, a former tech marketer in San Francisco, launched the Heirloom Cities series to document urban culinary heritage. The first volume on Mumbai debuted in May 2025 priced at ₹5,100 (≈ $61), and the second on Kolkata, priced at...
Lit Hub Daily: April 28, 2026
Lit Hub Daily’s April 28, 2026 edition curates a wide‑range literary roundup, from the story of Scott Meredith inventing the modern book auction to a look at the 1850s American prose renaissance. It spotlights 20 new titles launching that day, a historical piece...
A Must-Read Book By One of Our Sharpest Contemporary Voices
Jia Tolentino’s debut essay collection, Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self‑Delusion, is highlighted as a prime gateway into nonfiction for readers accustomed to fiction. The 2019 bestseller, which made Barack Obama’s list of favorite books that year, blends sharp cultural analysis...
The Great Lost Gothic Novel of Italian Romanticism
Francesco Mastriani, a 19th‑century Neapolitan novelist, penned over a hundred serialized novels that captivated a cross‑class readership in the 1850s and 1860s. Though compared to Wilkie Collins and Eugène Sue in his lifetime, his work has never been translated into...
How Halley’s Comet and Celestial Visions Shaped Daisy Pearce’s New Novel
Australian author Daisy Pearce draws on personal comet sightings and centuries‑old celestial lore to craft her new dark fiction, "Dark Is When the Devil Comes." The narrative intertwines the 1997 Hale Bopp appearance, the 1997 Heaven’s Gate mass suicide, and historic...
Book Review: ‘Project Maven,’ by Katrina Manson
‘Project Maven’ by Katrina Manson examines the Pentagon’s AI program that automates target selection and weapon deployment. The book reveals how AI now controls every stage of drone strikes, with human operators often deferring to algorithmic recommendations. It highlights the...
Book Review: ‘The Hothouse’ and ‘Death in Rome,’ by Wolfgang Koeppen
Wolfgang Koeppen’s postwar "Trilogy of Failure"—"Pigeons on the Grass," "The Hothouse," and "Death in Rome"—was originally dismissed by a humiliated West German public in the early 1950s. Decades later New Directions reissued the three novels in fresh Michael Hofmann translations,...
The Medicalization of Madness: How Schizophrenia Was Treated Throughout the Ages
The article traces schizophrenia’s treatment from ancient Greek humoral theories through medieval religious rites, 19th‑century moral‑treatment reforms, and the brutal experiments of early‑20th‑century asylums to the breakthrough of chlorpromazine in the 1950s. It highlights how the disease’s name was coined...
Helen Benedict on Chronicling the Legacy of the Iraq War In Fiction
Helen Benedict explains why she turned to fiction after her nonfiction work, *The Lonely Soldier*, exposed sexual abuse of women serving in Iraq. She uses her Reparation trilogy—*Sand Queen*, *The Soldier’s House*, and *Wolf Season*—to give voice to the silences...
Interview | ‘The Loss of Palestine Defined My Father’s Life’: Author Hannah Lillith Assadi
American author Hannah Lillith Assadi’s debut novel Paradiso 17 has been long‑listed for the 2026 Women’s Prize for Fiction. The book is a fictionalized portrait of her father, a Palestinian who was displaced from Safad in 1948 and later lived in...
This Dark Night by Deborah Lutz Review – Emily Brontë’s World
Deborah Lutz’s new biography, *This Dark Night*, re‑imagines Emily Brontë as a grounded, tactile craftsman rather than the mythic “madwoman” of popular lore. Lutz anchors the narrative in everyday objects—a cramped bed, pocket‑full of pencils, and household chores—to illustrate how Brontë’s...
Upward Bound, a Novel by a Profoundly Autistic Author, Raises an Awful but Unavoidable Question: Who Actually Wrote It?
Woody Brown, a 28‑year‑old profoundly autistic writer, released his debut novel *Upward Bound* using a letter‑board communication system. The book quickly rose to the New York Times bestseller list and was spotlighted on NBC’s *Today* show. Brown’s mother assists him by reading his...
Ideas Podcast: The Light Between Apple Trees
The Ideas Podcast episode spotlights Priyanka Kumar’s new book, *The Light Between Apple Trees*, which explores the dwindling diversity of American apples and the ecological value of wild orchards. Kumar reveals that only about a fifth of the 16,000 historic...
Weekly Bestsellers, 27 April 2026
James S.A. Corey’s new science‑fiction novel *The Faith of Beasts* debuted on multiple bestseller lists, reaching as high as #7 on both the New York Times and Publishers Weekly. The book is the second installment in the Captive’s War series and entered the...
LA Times Book Prize Winners
The Los Angeles Times announced the winners of its 46th annual Book Prizes on April 17, 2026. In Science Fiction/Fantasy, Silvia Park’s Luminous (Simon & Schuster) won top honors; Bryan Washington’s Palaver captured Fiction; Megan Abbott’s El Dorado Drive earned the Mystery/Thriller award; and Ekow Eshun’s The Strangers...