Heroic Breakups, Calendars in SFF, Isekai, and Preview Chapters!

Detail from the cover of Painted Devils by Margaret Owen

SHIPS IN THE NIGHT

How to Break a Heart: Subverting the Hero's Breakup Trope

JENNY HAMILTON

To third act breakup or not to third act breakup? Jenny Hamilton uses a Watsonian vs. Doylist framework to question why the lead couple must split for the greater good–and what it means when this trope is subverted.

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A collage of book covers, including The Mimicking of Known Successes, Goddess Machine, and An Unkindness of Ghosts

BACKLIST BONANZA

Backlist Bonanza: 5 Underrated Books About Escaping Earth

ALEX BROWN

Sometimes you just want to ditch it all and take to the stars. Alex Brown recommends 5 underrated books about escaping from our home planet!

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WORLDBUILDING

Counting the Days: Five SFF Approaches to Calendars

JAMES DAVIS NICOLL

The way a society tracks the passage of time can tell us so much about their culture and history. James Davis Nicoll looks at five very different calendars in works of science fiction and fantasy!

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A collage of book covers, including Ayesha at Last, The Republic of Salt, and Drop Dead

JO WALTON READS

Jo Walton's Reading List: April & May 2025

JO WALTON

She's back! Jo Walton read 24 books across April and May. From memoirs and romance to fantasy and Agatha Christie, how many have you read?

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GRAHAM GREENE

An Anti-Hero Predicts the Future in Graham Greene's Classic Brighton Rock

ZACK BUDRYK

"Heaven was a word–Hell was something he could trust."

Zack Budryk on the nihilism of Graham Greene's 1938 novel Brighton Rock–and how it speaks to the rise of an oppressive branch of Catholicism today.

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ANIME SPOTLIGHT

Anime Grab Bag: Trial by Isekai

LEAH THOMAS

By reader request, our anime experts are spinning the dreaded Wheel of Isekai! Join us as we discuss four random examples of a genre that can sometimes be interesting...but is, uh, usually pretty awful.

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Bruno Lawrence as Zac Hobson in The Quiet Earth, standing in the wreckage of a building

SCIENCE FICTION FILM CLUB

The Quiet Earth: Alone and Together at the End of the World

KALI WALLACE

What would you do if you were the last person on Earth? In the unsettling 1985 New Zealand film The Quiet Earth, the apocalypse was global, but the complications among the individual survivors remain intimate...

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Image reads "The Enchanted Greenhouse Sarah Beth Durst" over an image of a glowing greenhouse from the cover of the book

EXCERPTS

Read The Enchanted Greenhouse by Sarah Beth Durst: Chapters 1 and 2

SARAH BETH DURST

We're charmed to announce the extended preview of Sarah Beth Durst's The Enchanted Greenhouse! A cozy fantasy standalone set in the same world as The Spellshop, join us every Monday through July 7th for a new chapter (also available in audio!) 🌿🍵🍯

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