Wombling Along
Helloooo!
Welcome to Wombling along where I like to share reviews and articles that caught my eye online. Think of this as the blog’s weekend supplement to remind you of books to read and also the vast amount of reviewers delving into genres and tempting you with books or ideas.
January has a reputation for being a bit of an endurance test and I was doing fine untiL last weekend when you may remember I had some work admin to catch up on - it’s took hours longer than expected. Work was fine this week as a result but I’ve read at a snail’s pace this week. I have a small pile of reviews to write up and the last thing I needed after work was another screen to type. Happily a lovely weekend of fun stuff should help balance that out and at least gentle reader you get a lot of reviews next week.
What was fascinating for me was the thing that got me through watching Agatha Christie’s Poirot’s first season (now on Netflix) just fun (and on May ways not so cosy) detective series and eventually I’ve twigged that was my subconscious saying rest the little grey cells. Brains are weird but should be listened to. I have a mysterious reputation for reading a lot and I do find every now and then stopping actually helps a potential reading funk. I also finally let a series go as I no longer enjoyed it and that’s given me an idea for a blog article! Sometimes a little rest does a lot more than we expect
Now onto the sharing of cool stuff and be aware there is a lot of good stuff here you may need to biscuits, cakes and even Jaffa Cakes with a cuppa to support you. But it’s cold, the world is chaos and sometimes a book helps
Reviews
Locus starts off with a look at The Daughter Who Remains by Nnedi Okorafor wrapping up a novella trilogy that is aligned to the excellent Who Fears Death
https://locusmag.com/review/the-daughter-who-remains-by-nnedi-okorafor-review-by-gary-k-wolfe/
JamReads review of The Ballad of The Bone Road by AC Wise made me buy it and after the first chapter I am here for it!
https://jamreads.com/reviews/ballad-of-the-bone-road-by-ac-wise
Reactor has thoughts on non-fiction Seeing Like A State by James C Scott for some social science reflections
Reactor also add to the acclaim for The Villa Once Beloved by Victor Manibo
https://reactormag.com/book-review-the-villa-once-beloved-by-victor-manibo/
They also had fun reading City of Others by Jared Poon
https://reactormag.com/book-review-city-of-others-by-jared-poon/
Strange Horizons as we will see below have been busy but they also have a good not really enthralled review of The Haunting of William Thorn by Ben Anderson
https://strangehorizons.com/wordpress/non-fiction/the-haunting-of-william-thorn-by-ben-alderson/
They also gather some thoughts on the power of the witch in That Very Witch Fear - Feminism and The American Witch Film by Payton McCarty Simas
They also add to the many enjoying The Works of Vermin by Hiron Ennes
https://strangehorizons.com/wordpress/non-fiction/the-works-of-vermin-by-hiron-ennes/
And leaving them alone for a few minutes after a look at No Life Forsaken by Steve Erikson
https://strangehorizons.com/wordpress/non-fiction/no-life-forsaken-by-steven-erikson/
Blue Book Balloon enjoyed The Regicide Report by Charles Stross
https://bluebookballoon.blogspot.com/2026/01/review-regicide-report-by-charles-stross.html?m=1
The fantasy hive enjoyed the science fiction trip MR Carey sent them on in Outlaw Planet
https://fantasy-hive.co.uk/2026/01/outlaw-planet-by-m-r-carey-book-review/
Every book a doorway also has a lovely look at Wiz Duos 3 a pair of novellas you need in your life
https://everybookadoorway.com/sunday-soupcons-46/
Ancillary Review of Books also has some thoughts on a new non-fiction book Genre-Bending - The Plasticity of Form in Contemporary Literary Fiction by Jeremy Rosen (spoilers this theme appears a few times below)
https://ancillaryreviewofbooks.org/2026/01/28/the-plastic-utility-of-genre/
Awards
The BSFA awards has a lot of good essays up for long list awards and here is Speculative Insight article by Nick Hubble doing a fascinating deep dive into who is Galadriel and where here origins come from
https://www.speculativeinsight.com/extras/galadriel
Also for consideration is this excellent Strange Horizons essay on time and looking at the future
The Bram Stoker awards shortlist for horror have been announced
I also see Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz won the Octavia E Butler award!
Strange Horizons Critiicism Week
I always enjoy sharing Strange Horizons’s output but this week is their annual criticism week a treat of deep dives and reviews - this section is why you may need the cake to match these delicious treats
What or who is Criticism for?
https://strangehorizons.com/wordpress/non-fiction/who-is-it-for/
How to read weird fiction
Speculative fiction and political agency
https://strangehorizons.com/wordpress/non-fiction/axiomatic-scaffolds-of-speculative-fiction/
a delve into Murderbot the TV series
https://strangehorizons.com/wordpress/non-fiction/murderbot-season-one/
Anthropological theories in fanatsy works
https://strangehorizons.com/wordpress/non-fiction/structural-functionalism-and-fantasy-fiction/
The problems of defining a genre
https://strangehorizons.com/wordpress/non-fiction/quacking-like-a-genre/
A roundtable discussion on who influences other works
A book club discussion in podcast form
https://strangehorizons.com/wordpress/podcasts/critical-friends-episode-20-on-book-clubs/
French SF&F and politics!
In Other News
Tying neatly into the discussions of genres and also provoking debate is this from Typebar. I am of the view something interesting is going on in SF at the moment in this weird borderland space and I’m wondering that attempts to categorise it or say it’s not SF means we are in one of these break points this article mentions. I don’t agree with all of this but this feels possibly like one of the interesting debates about genre percolating the Conversation quite a bit at the moment
https://www.typebarmagazine.com/science-fiction-is-dying-long-live-post-sci-fi/
The British Fantasy Society has an interview with the owner of a bookshop purely devoted to fantasy
https://britishfantasysociety.org/how-to-make-your-fantasies-a-reality-opening-a-fantasy-bookshop/
Charlie-Jane Anders timely at the time of a potential reboot being announced has some thoughts on a future Blake’s 7
https://buttondown.com/charliejane/archive/how-to-reboot-blakes-7/
Reading The End delivers another excellent exploration of how a sex scene works in a novel
https://readingtheend.com/2026/01/25/anatomy-of-a-sex-scene-moderation-elaine-castillo/
The Wrong Questions continued their Lord of The Rings re-read
https://wrongquestions.blogspot.com/2026/01/the-great-tolkien-reread-three-is.html?m=1
Speculative Insight share a discussion between Angela Slatter and GlenRose Nethercott on fairy tales
https://www.speculativeinsight.com/extras/slatter-and-nethercott
As always don’t forget to subscribe and enjoy The Full lid
https://mailchi.mp/c0833941cd11/the-full-lid-30th-january-2026
And for more excellent reviews and articles (Renay pointed out the Typebar article above) get your weekly Intergalactic Mixtape
https://buttondown.com/intergalacticmixtape/archive/intergalactic-mixtape-38/
And finally
In a fairly hard week when we turn to the news Witty and Sarcastic Bookclub finds some words of wisdom that may help
https://wittyandsarcasticbookclub.home.blog/2026/01/28/words-of-wisdom-from-fantasy-books/
Have a great weekend, enjoy your reading and stay safe. I’ll see you again soon
