As 2025 fades around us, Frumious Consortiumists Doreen, Doug and Emily are thinking about our reading plans for 2026! Whether we make official resolutions or not, we all have some definite goals. Emily: Okay, let’s chat new year! Do you make reading resolutions? Anything you’re planning or particularly looking forward to in 2026? Starting in …
Category: Science Fiction
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/12/29/reading-resolutions-roundtable-2026-edition/
Dec 27 2025
Orbital by Samantha Harvey
I’m glad someone told me that nothing much happens in Orbital, Samantha Harvey’s novella that won the 2024 Booker Prize. If I had been expecting action — anything from a mechanical crisis as six astronauts in the ISS orbit the earth to an alien encounter – I might have been disappointed. The book relates one …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/12/27/orbital-by-samantha-harvey/
Dec 21 2025
Two Short Reviews for December
I like seeing authors trying new things, and seeing Travis Baldree, who writes in a corner of fantasy that sometimes strikes me as authors and readers trying to connect over a menu of tags — “I’ll have a found-family, sapphic, friends-to-lovers tale with a side order of hidden magic, hold the prophecies and the Chosen One, …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/12/21/two-short-reviews-for-december/
Dec 13 2025
An Unrelated Pair of Books by Emily Tesh and Lois McMaster Bujold
The thing about The Incandescent by Emily Tesh as a novel about a magic boarding school in England is that it’s told from the adults’ point of view, adults who take their responsibilities seriously, and who have real lives that are separate from what is happening to the students. Boarding-school stories often assign the teachers …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/12/13/an-unrelated-pair-of-books-by-emily-tesh-and-lois-mcmaster-bujold/
Dec 10 2025
Sunset At Zero Point by Simon Stålenhag
Being a dyed-in-the-wool nerd, I first learned of Simon Stålenhag from the role-playing game adaptation of his first book, Tales From The Loop (still haven’t played it tho, as is tradition.) I also haven’t had a chance to watch the TV version despite having a crush on Rebecca Ferguson, and will likely never choose to …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/12/10/sunset-at-zero-point-by-simon-stalenhag/
Nov 28 2025
Black Friday: Short Stories From Africa by Cheryl S Ntumy
And now for a little counter-programming… (she says, having already bought a huge stack of gifts online.) Subtitled Fantasy and Science Fiction from a Powerful African Voice (and with a foreword by Eugen Bacon,) this collection definitely functions as both a critique of capitalism and other exploitative systems, as well as a celebration of Ghana …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/11/28/black-friday-short-stories-from-africa-by-cheryl-s-ntumy/
Nov 25 2025
Sunder, Tome One: Small Beginnings by Pierre-Alexandre Comtois, Mark Englert & Buddy Beaudoin
Small beginnings is right, as a humble young monk finds himself plunged into an epic quest over the course of this science fantasy adventure! Zeek has only ever known life at the monastery. For the most part, he enjoys his work of transcribing books, even if he’d much rather be having adventures than copying them …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/11/25/sunder-tome-one-small-beginnings-by-pierre-alexandre-comtois-mark-englert-buddy-beaudoin/
Nov 18 2025
Exo by Colin Brush (EXCERPT)
Hello, dear readers! Today, we have a thrilling excerpt for you from a debut novel that expertly melds a future Earth devastated by climate change with a compelling murder mystery, featuring an octogenarian sleuth. Our heroine Mae Jameson is no Miss Marple tho. Thirty years ago, she returned to a hostile Earth, determined to find …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/11/18/exo-by-colin-brush-excerpt/
Nov 09 2025
Hugo 2025 Chat
Doug Merrill: Hi everyone! Emily Lauer: Hello! Doug: Hi Emily! Doreen Sheridan: Hello, all! I can confidently say that I’m happy they started a poetry category (and that my favorite won, lol) Doug: I’m glad that there’s a poetry category, too, and glad that it seems to have gone over well this year. Now to …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/11/09/hugo-2025-chat/
Nov 08 2025
Interstellar Megachef by Lavanya Lakshminarayan
Interstellar Megachef was another 450-page book that I thought held a 250-page story. Often when I have that feeling about a book, I consider what I think should be cut but I usually draw a blank and offer the slightly lame explanation that if I knew where and how to trim novels, I would be …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/11/08/interstellar-megachef-by-lavanya-lakshminarayan/
Al Singh
Doug Merrill
Doreen Sheridan
Emily Lauer
John Pitzel
Lars N. Goldschlager
Laura Eilers
Professor X
Robert Maedgen
Sylvere Ap Leanan
The Shire