My reading has been a little weird this month — weird westerns, weird SF, weird horror and so on. But hey, it’s a weird time!

Fiction

Blood Rush by Ben Galley

A young Merion Hark is sent to the wild west to live with a mysterious aunt after his father, Prime Lord Hark, is found murdered. Used to a life of luxury and power, Merion is out of his element in the rugged town of Fell Falls, where the railway is being expanded into the territory of those who don’t want it there and strange railwraiths terrorize everyone.

But Merion is not alone. A faerie warrior named Rhin has accompanied him to this new land and watches over him. But Rhin has secrets of his own that follow him to the new world and threaten to unleash chaos upon everyone.

In fact, everyone has secrets in Fell Falls, including Merion’s aunt, who collects the blood of different creatures, and her companion Lurker, who drinks blood to give him mystical powers.

But perhaps no one’s secret is greater than Merion’s, for it turns out he, too, has the ability to gain power from blood, but he is so much more powerful than Lurker or any others. So powerful, in fact, he draws the wrong sort of attenion.

A great start to a very weird west series!

Link: https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/23956571-bloodrush

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Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie

Breq, the ancillary that is all that is left of the ship Justice of Toren, is given command of a new ship by the emperor (or one of the emperors anyway, as it’s more or less a bunch of clones) and travels to the distant Athoek Station. The mission puts her in the middle of intrigue, as the station is near a strange Ghost Gate that periodically spits out strange artifacts and is watched over by a military ship that is clearly hiding something, while there’s also an ambassador of the alien Presger aboard the station.

The mission also puts Breq in contact with the family of a soldier she once knew — a soldier that Breq herself killed. Somehow, all of these stories become intertwined, along with a storyline about the a plantation planet and the exploitation of its workers. This isn’t a blasters and battle stations space opera — it’s a political mystery steeped in class struggle. It’s more Jane Austen and Downtown Abbey than Star Wars or the Expanse. It’s an interesting flavour but it’s not everyone’s cup of tea.

Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20706284-ancillary-sword

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10 Visions of the Future; or, Self-Care for the End of Days by Samantha Mills

“There is a future where a hellgate opens off the coast of California.”

Things get weird and worse after that. An unfortunately timely tale.

Link: https://www.uncannymagazine.com/article/10-visions-of-the-future-or-self-care-for-the-end-of-days/

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The Vermillion Guestbook by Andrew Zhou

A front desk clerk at an apocalyptic hotel where time makes little sense records notes about ever stranger guests and reveals secrets about his own past. It’s equal parts black comedy, weird SF and tragic romance.

Link: https://www.bourbonpenn.com/issue/35/the-vermillion-guestbook-aug-13-1998-by-andrew-zhou

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Non-fiction

Transcendence in Horror by Simon Strantzas

“Horror is, of course, about how all love will end, how all lovers will die, how all plans will fail, how nothing will survive; but it can also be about how we deal with adversity and our fears and pains and not just persevere but how we can rise above them and be changed by them.”

Can horror be positive?

Link: https://www.weirdhorrormagazine.com/on-horror-10

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Twenty-one Ifs by Thomas Wharton

If your inner voice could have a celebrity cameo for a day, who would you choose to narrate your thoughts? Werner Herzog? Margot Kidder? James Earl Jones? How might this guest voice change your behaviour and decisions?

If your anxieties had a customer service phone line, what would be their “please hold” music?

If every ordinary object had a hidden purpose completely unrelated to its usual function, what would be the most mind-boggling hidden purpose you could imagine for your toothbrush? Your favourite hat? That cracked slab of sidewalk down the street from your place?

If you could live inside a painting or work of art for a day, which painting or artwork would it be?

And so on.

Link: https://substack.com/home/post/p-158612818

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A Weak and Misshapen Industry by Kenneth Whyte

Do Canadian publishers need to be more like U.S. and U.K. publishers? I think the emphasis on every cultural field turning more commercial is deeply misguided, but there are some interesting points here nevertheless — especially about how publishers embracing niches.

Link: https://shush.substack.com/p/a-weak-and-misshapen-industry

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The Science of Fantasy: Respecting the Ecosystem by Kristi Charish

A great new column by Kristi Charish, author and science PhD, on what fantasy creatures would really be like in real life. First up, the charming fairy — which would likely be much less charming in reality!

Link: https://www.kristicharish.com/news/2025/3/8/the-science-of-fantasy-respecting-the-ecosystem