Strange Horizons

In this special episode of SH@25, editor Kat Kourbeti narrates 'Little Brother' by Bruce Holland Rogers, originally published on 30 October 2000. Hosted by producer Michael Ireland, with warm holiday wishes from the entire SH Editorial Collective. Read the story on the SH website . Want to leave us a happy birthday message? Click  ⁠here to record an audio message⁠ , and  ⁠here for video⁠ . Join ou...

In this episode of SH@25, Editor Kat Kourbeti sits down with Vivian (Xiao Wen) Li to discuss her foray into poetry, screenwriting, music composition and more, and also presents a reading of her two poems published in 2022, 'Ave Maria' and 'The Mezzanine'. Links and things: Want to leave us a happy birthday message? Click  here to record an audio message , and  here for video . Join our  Patreon  f...

In this episode of the Strange Horizons Fiction podcast, Michael Ireland presents E.M. Linden's 'A Cure for Solastalgia' read by Jenna Hanchey You can read the full text of the story, and more about E.M Linden, ⁠⁠⁠ here ⁠⁠⁠. Subscribe to the Strange Horizons podcast:  ⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠ Content Warnings: Disregard for personal autonomy Cancer Sexism/gender discrimination Spiders/insects Vomit

In the 5th episode of SH@25, editor Kat Kourbeti sits down with author E.M. Faulds to chat about her 2022 story, Broken Blue , combining Eldritch horrors with mundane moments, writing female characters, and bigging up your crew when you have the chance. Want to leave us a happy birthday message? Click  here to record an audio message , and  here for video . Join our  Patreon  for early episode acc...

In this episode of the Strange Horizons Fiction podcast, Michael Ireland presents Susannah Rand's' 'Little Lila' read by Claire McNerney. You can read the full text of the story, and more about Susannah, ⁠⁠ here⁠⁠ . Subscribe to the Strange Horizons podcast:  ⁠⁠Spotify Content Warnings Animal cruelty/death Body transformation Murder self_harm Shaming Violence/combat

In the 4th episode of SH@25, Editor Kat Kourbeti sits down with tabletop game designer and SFF critic Kyle Tam , whose young career has taken off in the last few years. Read on for an insightful interview about narrative storytelling from non-Western perspectives, the importance of schlock and trash in the development of taste, and the windows into creativity we find in moments of hardship. Want t...

In this episode of the Strange Horizons Fiction podcast, Michael Ireland presents Nelly Geraldine García-Rosas' 'Embroidery of a Bird's Heart' read by L.W. Salinas. You can read the full text of the story, and more about Nelly, ⁠here⁠ . Subscribe to the Strange Horizons podcast:  ⁠Spotify Content Warnings: Animal cruelty/death Blood Death/dying Scars/scarification

In the third episode of SH@25, editor Kat Kourbeti sits down with author Arkady Martine, for an in-depth interview on her multifaceted career, her review writing, and the history that inspired her two-time Hugo Award winning Teixcalaan Empire series. We also present a reading of Arkady's poem, Cloud Wall , which marked her Strange Horizons debut, and remains to this day one of three poems she ever...

In this episode of the Strange Horizons Fiction podcast, Michael Ireland presents KT Bryski's "Folk Hero Motifs in Tales Told by the Dead" read by Devin Martin You can read the full text of the story, and more about KT, here . Subscribe to the Strange Horizons podcast:  Spotify Content Warnings: Body transformation Child death Death/dying Drug use

In the first guest interview of this series, editor Kat Kourbeti sits down with author Kate Heartfield, whose 2015 story 'Limestone, Lye, and the Buzzing of Flies' marked a turning point in her publishing career. Follow Kate on social media @kateheartfield, or sign up for her newsletter on her website: https://kateheartfield.com For fuller show notes and to read the transcript of the interview: ht...

A Recipe for Life, A Tonic for Grief was originally published in the May 13th 2024 issue of Strange Horizons and is read by Emmie Christie. You can read the full story here. Content Warnings: Animal cruelty/death Blood Cancer Death/dying Drug use Chris is a palliative care physician by day and a writer by night. He is a dad (cat and human), by his back-of-the-napkin calculations, approximately 32...

Podcast Editor Kat Kourbeti and Producer Michael Ireland announce our brand new podcast project, SH@25 , a year-long interview and feature series that will delve into the Strange Horizons archives, celebrate the work of past contributors and staff, and highlight the contributions of Strange Horizons to SFF publishing and the wider community. A full transcript can be found ⁠on our website⁠ . Click...

In this episode of  Critical Friends , the  Strange Horizons SFF criticism podcast, Aisha and Dan discuss the knotty question of "the canon": what is it, how is it formed, who is it for? They do so in conversation with the critic Abigail Nussbaum, whose new reviews collection,  Track Changes , has just been published by Briardene Books.

In this episode of  Critical Friends , the  Strange Horizons SFF criticism podcast, Aisha and Dan discuss genre boundaries in texts and criticism: how they're used, where they fall ... and what, if anything, they're good for. Is science fiction is more of a technique than a genre? Might it help to think about all texts as sitting across modes and categories? In the course of the conversati...

In this episode of  Critical Friends , the  Strange Horizons SFF criticism podcast, Aisha and Dan discuss ⁠⁠a recent essay⁠⁠ by Jake Casella Brookins that appeared in the Ancillary Review of Books . "The vaunted prophylactic prophecy of science fiction—the ability to prevent an undesirable future by loudly predicting it—has consistently proven false," argues Brookins, and so Aisha and Da...

In this episode of  Critical Friends , the  Strange Horizons  SFF criticism podcast, Aisha and Dan talk to critic and poet Catherine Rockwood about her new chapbook, And We Are Far From Shore , a set of poems about the television show Our Flag Means Death . Catherine reviewed the show for Strange Horizons less than a year ago, and discusses how reviewing and criticism feed intocreative practice. T...

In this episode of Critical Friends , the Strange Horizons SFF criticism podcast, the critic and reviewer Paul Kincaid joins Aisha and Dan to discuss how and why critics persevere in their work, what changes about it as the platforms and delivery mechanisms that surround criticism shift, and the challenges that face those writers who seek to collect or look back on their previous work. He also dis...

In this episode of Critical Friends, the Strange Horizons SFF criticism podcast, Aisha and Dan discuss what happens when books make you work. How does a reader know whether to persevere with a book when at first they're not sure of it? How can we decide if a book really isn't working on its own terms—or whether we're missing something and need to pay closer attention? And how can a critical reader...

In this episode of Critical Friends, the Strange Horizons SFF criticism podcast, we air an interview with the reviewer, editor, and critic Niall Harrison which Dan conducted at Conversation, the 2023 UK Eastercon, at which Niall was a Guest of Honour. Through a series of books from various parts of his life, Niall talks about how he began reading SF, why he started reviewing it ... and where criti...

In this episode of Critical Friends, the Strange Horizons SFF criticism podcast, Reviews Editors Aisha Subramanian and Dan Hartland are joined by Abigail Nussbaum to tackle one of the thorniest issues in criticism: the negative review. What makes for a good bad review? Why do reviewers feel driven to write them? And are we now in an age where the hatchet job has had its day?

In this episode of Critical Friends, the Strange Horizons SFF criticism podcast, Reviews Editors Aisha Subramanian and Dan Hartland talk to novelist, reviewer, and Strange Horizons’ Co-ordinating Editor, Gautam Bhatia, about how reviewing and criticism of all kinds align—and do not—with fiction-writing and the genre more widely. You can read the episode transcript at our website.

In this special episode of Critical Friends, the Strange Horizons SFF criticism podcast, reviews editors Aisha Subramanian and Dan Hartland introduce audio from a 2018 recording for Jonah Sutton-Morse’s podcast Cabbages and Kings which included Maureen Kincaid Speller discussing with Aisha and Jonah three books: Everfair by Nisi Shawl, Temporary People by Deepak Unnikrishnan, and The Winged Histor...

In the second episode of Critical Friends, reviews editors Aisha Subramanian, Dan Hartland, and Maureen Kincaid Speller discuss the role of trust in criticism: how is it built and lost, and how can the reader decide whether a particular piece of criticism is worth paying attention to? Read the full transcript on our website.

In this episode of the Strange Horizons podcast, editor Ciro Faienza presents the poetry of the 30 January issue. “In memoriam Maureen K. Speller” by Catherine Rockwood, Read by Catherine Rockwood. You can read the full text of the poem and more about Catherine here. “In Review” by Romie Stott, Read by Romie Stott and Maureen Kincaid Speller. You can read the full text of the poem and more about R...

In this episode of the Strange Horizons podcast, editor Ciro Faienza presents the poetry of the 2 May issue. “i roll up to the club in a gundam” by Eric Wang. You can read the full text of the poem and more about Eric here. “your subcutaneous mermaid” by Sara S. Messenger, read by Sara S. Messenger. You can read the full text of the poem and more about Sara here.