TABLE OF CONTENTS

October 2025 • Issue 777 • Vol. 95 • No. 4
58th Year of Publication • 30-Time Hugo Winner
Cover and interview art and design by Francesca Myman.

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INTERVIEWS

Ken Liu: In Touch With the Impossible  /  10
Daniel H. Wilson: Through the Unknown  /  28

MAIN STORIES / 5  &  6

Chelsea Quinn Yarbro (1942-2025)  •  Appreciations by Astrid Anderson Bear and Tom Whitmore  •  Dragon Awards Winners  •  Kowal Wins Eugie Award  •  Saunders to Receive DCAL Medal  •  AI Class-Action Lawsuit News

THE DATA FILE / 7

Hopkinson Wins Sunburst • LAcon V Issues Apology • Baen Fantasy Adventure Award Winners  •  Resnick Memorial Award Winner  •  Simon & Schuster Changes  •  NEA Axes Grants  •  New Tolkien Representation  •  Straub Celebration  •  HWA News  •  SFRA Awards  •  National Book Awards Longlists  •  New British Audio Awards  •  Book News  •  Awards News  •  Financial News

PEOPLE & PUBLISHING / 8

Notes on milestones, awards, books sold, etc., with news this issue about Jeffrey A. Carver, Sarah
Pinsker, Andrzej Sapkowski, Robert J. Sawyer, Ai Jiang, Gwendolyn Kiste, and many others.

SEATTLE WORLDCON 2025

Seattle Worldcon 2025, 30  •  2025 WSFS Business Meeting, 40  •  Complete 2024 Hugo Voting, 42

SPECIAL FEATURES

Photo Story: Brooklyn Books & Booze Readings, 69  •  Spotlight on Cristina Bencina, 71

CONVENTIONS

ConCurrent, 41 • Dragon Con, 74 

LISTINGS

Magazines Received: August, 47  •  New & Notable Books: August, 48  •  Books Received: August, 49  •  Bestsellers, 62  •  Audiofile Monthly Recommendations: Fantastic New Fantasy, 63

OTHER OBITUARIES / 73

Ru Emerson  •  Appreciation by Lea Day  •  Guy Lillian

EDITORIAL MATTERS / 75

Short Fiction Reviews by CHARLES PAYSEUR / 12

Cast of Wonders 6/28/25; Escape Pod 5/22/25, 7/10/25; Strange Horizons Special Fund Drive Issue 2025, 7/14/25; Samovar 7/28/25; Baffling 7/25; Flash Fiction Online 7/29/25; Diabolical Plots 7/25; Small Wonders 7/25; Beneath Ceaseless Skies 8/7/25, 8/21/25; Lightspeed 8/25.

Short Fiction Reviews by A.C. WISE / 15

khōréō 5.2; Clarkesworld 8/25; Analog 7-8/25.

Reviews by GARY K. WOLFE / 16

The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2025, Nnedi Okorafor & John Joseph Adams, eds.; All That We See or Seem, Ken Liu; The Essential Patricia A. McKillip, Patricia A. McKillip; Not What I Intended, Nancy Kress; Wreckage / What Happens in Hello Jack, Peter Straub.

Reviews by LIZ BOURKE / 18

The Adventure of the Demonic Ox, Lois McMaster Bujold; The Mercy Makers, Tessa Gratton; House of Dusk, Deva Fagan; The Last Soul Among Wolves, Melissa Caruso.

Reviews by IAN MOND / 20

King Sorrow, Joe Hill; A Rebel’s History of Mars, Nadia Afifi; Spread Me, Sarah Gailey.

Reviews by MAYA C. JAMES / 21

Madame Sosostris and the Festival for the Brokenhearted, Ben Okri; Better Dreams, Fallen Seeds, and Other Handfuls of Hope, Ken Scholes.

Reviews by ALEXANDRA PIERCE / 22

Hole in the Sky, Daniel H. Wilson; The Formidable Miss Cassidy, Meihan Boey; The Year’s Top Tales of Space and Time 5, Allan Kaster, ed.

Reviews by COLLEEN MONDOR / 23

The Forest of a Thousand Eyes, Frances Hardinge; Wake the Wild Creatures, Nova Ren Suma; The Listeners, Maggie Stiefvater; The Yomigaeri Tunnel, Kelly Murashige.

Reviews by NIALL HARRISON / 24

The Other Shore, Rebecca Campbell; Archipelago of the Sun, Yoko Tawada; Sea Now, Eva Meijer; It’s Not a Cult, Joey Batey; The Wolf of Whindale, Jacob Kerr.

Reviews by DIVERS HANDS: ALEX BROWN, ALVAR ZINOS-AMARO / 27

Psychopomp & Circumstance, Eden Royce; Amazing Worlds of Science Fiction and Science Fact, Keith Cooper.

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Books reviews in this issue (indicating reviewer) —

Afifi, Nadia • A Rebel's History of Mars (Ian Mond)
Batey, Joey • It's Not a Cult (Niall Harrison)
Boey, Meihan • The Formidable Miss Cassidy (Alexandra Pierce)
Bujold, Lois McMaster • The Adventure of the Demonic Ox (Liz Bourke)
Campbell, Rebecca • The Other Shore (Niall Harrison)
Caruso, Melissa • The Last Soul Among Wolves (Liz Bourke)
Cooper, Keith • Amazing Worlds of Science Fiction and Science Fact (Alvaro Zinos-Amaro)
Fagan, Deva • House of Dusk (Liz Bourke)
Gailey, Sarah • Spread Me (Ian Mond)
Gratton, Tessa • The Mercy Makers (Liz Bourke)
Hardinge, Frances • The Forest of a Thousand Eyes (Colleen Mondor)
Hill, Joe • King Sorrow (Ian Mond)
Kaster, Allan, ed. •  The Year's Top Tales of Space and Time 5 (Alexandra Pierce)
Kerr, Jacob • The Wolf of Whindale (Niall Harrison)
Kress, Nancy • Not What I Intended (Gary K. Wolfe)
Liu, Ken • All That We See or Seem (Gary K. Wolfe)
McKillip, Patricia A. • The Essential Patricia A. McKillip (Gary K. Wolfe)
Meijer, Eva • Sea Now (Niall Harrison)
Murashige, Kelly • The Yomigaeri Tunnel (Colleen Mondor)
Okorafor, Nnedi,  & John Joseph Adams, eds. • The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2025 (Gary K. Wolfe)
Okri, Ben • Madame Sosostris and the Festival for the Brokenhearted (Maya C. James)
Royce, Eden • Psychopomp & Circumstance (Alex Brown)
Scholes, Ken • Better Dreams, Fallen Seeds, and Other Handfuls of Hope (Maya C. James)
Stiefvater, Maggie • The Listeners (Colleen Mondor)
Straub, Peter • What Happens in Hello Jack (Gary K. Wolfe)
Straub, Peter • Wreckage (Gary K. Wolfe)
Suma, Nova Ren • Wake the Wild Creatures (Colleen Mondor)
Tawada, Yoko • Archipelago of the Sun (Niall Harrison)
Wilson, Daniel H. • Hole in the Sky (Alexandra Pierce)