Month: December 2023

All photos courtesy of e-Kitabu. In 1993, I was a teenager, volunteering to work with street children in Kibera, the largest “slum” on the continent of Africa. I held babies, played hokey-pokey and Swahili versions of patty cake with grade-school kids, fielded requests for money by street children as we rode the matatus to downtown

When finishing a novel, there is an introspective sweet spot before publication and after the final edits get turned in, when, in a quiet anxious period, I’m forced to look at my creation, to try and understand what I have done, to remember how this thing was formed. An important question for any journey: what

Finally, we can say that if male aggressiveness and sporadic violent competition do seem to be general aspects of human nature, group violence, along with social inequality and subordination, are generally not—­at least not when we live in the social conditions under which we evolved as a species. Those conditions changed as the domestication of

‘Tis the season—of year end lists. Also, year-end gifts, year-end busyness, all while the rush of late-year books keep tumbling out, reminding us that 2023 definitely isn’t over yet. From these rich stacks I am grateful to gather work by Tacey M. Atsitty, Shane Book, Nick Laird, Tomasz Różycki, Alice Notley, Marlon Hacla, and translators

Igbo goddesses! Trans Jesus! Queer political marriages! December doesn’t always have a wealth of SFF offerings, but the books being released before the end of 2023 seem to have the perfect hooks to make them irresistible additions to your TBR and/or gifting piles. This month’s list ranges from Chịkọdịlị Emelụmadụ’s debut to Geoff Ryman’s latest,

In the summer darkness of the Massachusetts Berkshires, my friends and I build a fire. These are not just any friends—they’re dear friends from high school, friends I rarely see anymore because of distance and moving and money and all else that comes with growing up. It’s been two years since all six of us