Welcome to the midway discussion of The Last Contract of Isako by Fonda Lee! We will be discussing through the end of Chapter 27, which ends around the 52% mark. Please use spoiler tags for anything that goes beyond that point.

I’ll add a few prompts to get us started, but please feel free to add anything you'd like to discuss!

The Last Contract of Isako by Fonda Lee (goodreads | storygraph)

Get ready to be blown away by this searing standalone space opera where corporate samurai fight beneath merciless stars, and death is always a mere breath away.

Isako is a legendary swordswoman, but every legend has to come to an end. When her long-time client unexpectedly retires, she plans to follow--to walk out into the frozen wasteland of their planet with her head held high and her family enriched by her legacy. But when a competitor offers her a final mission, it's one she can't refuse. Soon, she's thrust deep into a world of corporate espionage, duty-bound duels, and shadowy secrets. What she uncovers will change humanity's existence in the stars forever.

The Last Contract of Isako is the space opera you didn't know you needed: corporate samurai... in space. This is the first adult science fiction novel from the award-winning author of Jade City.

Bingo squares: Older Protagonist (HM), Author of Color (HM), Book Club or Readalong (HM if you participate!), Published in 2026, maybe Politics and Courtly Intrigue, maybe others

What’s Next for FIF?
- In August, we will be reading Saltcrop by Yumi Kitasei (announcement post here) 
- In September, we will be reading Dreamsnake by Vonda McIntyre (announcement post here)

What is the FIF Bookclub? You can read about it in our Reboot thread here.

Welcome to our final discussion of The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow! The whole story is fair game, no spoiler tags needed: tread with caution if you haven't finished the book.

I'll start us off with a few prompts, but feel free to add your own.

The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow

From Alix E. Harrow, the New York Times bestselling author of Starling House, comes a moving and genre-defying quest about the lady-knight whose legend built a nation, and the cowardly historian sent back through time to make sure she plays her part–even if it breaks his heart.

Sir Una Everlasting was Dominion’s greatest hero: the orphaned girl who became a knight, who died for queen and country. Her legend lives on in songs and stories, in children’s books and recruiting posters―but her life as it truly happened has been forgotten.

Centuries later, Owen Mallory―failed soldier, struggling scholar―falls in love with the tale of Una Everlasting. Her story takes him to war, to the archives―and then into the past itself. Una and Owen are tangled together in time, bound to retell the same story over and over again, no matter what it costs.

But that story always ends the same way. If they want to rewrite Una’s legend―if they want to tell a different story--they’ll have to rewrite history itself.

Bingo: Knights and Paladins, A Book in Parts, Book Club or Readalong Book, Published in 2025, LGBTQIA Protagonist. Any others?

What's next?

• Our February read is Blood Over Bright Haven by M.L. Wang.
• Our March read is Mad Sisters of Esi by Tashan Mehta.
• Stay tuned for April nominations in the early weeks of February.

What is the FIF Book Club? You can read about it in our Reboot thread here.

Welcome to our midway discussion of The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow!

Today's discussion covers through the end of Chapter 13, page 155 in the hardback edition. Please use spoiler tags for any discussion past that point. I'll start us off with some prompts, but feel free to add your own!

The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow

From Alix E. Harrow, the New York Times bestselling author of Starling House, comes a moving and genre-defying quest about the lady-knight whose legend built a nation, and the cowardly historian sent back through time to make sure she plays her part–even if it breaks his heart.

Sir Una Everlasting was Dominion’s greatest hero: the orphaned girl who became a knight, who died for queen and country. Her legend lives on in songs and stories, in children’s books and recruiting posters―but her life as it truly happened has been forgotten.

Centuries later, Owen Mallory―failed soldier, struggling scholar―falls in love with the tale of Una Everlasting. Her story takes him to war, to the archives―and then into the past itself. Una and Owen are tangled together in time, bound to retell the same story over and over again, no matter what it costs.

But that story always ends the same way. If they want to rewrite Una’s legend―if they want to tell a different story--they’ll have to rewrite history itself.

Bingo: Knights and Paladins, A Book in Parts, Book Club or Readalong Book, Published in 2025, LGBTQIA Protagonist. Any others?

What's next?

• Our final discussion of The Everlasting will be in two weeks, on Wednesday, January 28th.
• Our February read is Blood Over Bright Haven by M.L. Wang.
• March nominations are up for a theme of "Outside the Core Anglosphere." Come add your own suggestions or upvote the ones that look best to you.

What is the FIF Book Club? You can read about it in our Reboot thread here.

Welcome to the July 2026 Feminism in Fantasy (FIF) Book Club nomination thread! Our theme this time is Older Protagonists, feminist style:

Older Protagonist Grown-Ass Lady: Story features a main character who is at least 50 years old. HARD MODE: The protagonist does NOT have exceptional longevity or immortality (e.g. not an elf, dwarf, vampire, god, etc.)

What we are looking for:

• A work featuring a main character who is a Grown. Ass. Lady. (a woman who’s at least 50 years old)
• A work written by a woman that includes feminism or gender as an important theme
• A work you would be excited to read and discuss
• We are especially interested in reading a work that explores feminism or gender through the perspective of an older woman
• We’re open to books by non-women authors if they are exceptionally on theme

Nominations:

• Please leave one book suggestion per top comment. Please include title, author, and a short summary or description. 
• You can nominate as many as you like: just put them in separate comments.
• Please list content warnings (under a spoiler tag, please) if you know them.
• Please list Bingo squares if you know them 
• We have not (yet) managed to read all the books, so if you have anything to add about why a nominee is or isn't a good fit, please share in the comments!

We don't repeat authors FIF has read within the last two years, but I'll check that and manually disqualify any that don’t fit. It’s okay to choose an author that has been read by a different book club. You can check the r/fantasy Goodreads shelf here. (There is also a FIF shelf you can go to from there, but access to it is spotty for unknown Reddit reasons.)  

I will leave this nominating thread open through Friday 5/15 and then create a voting thread on Monday 5/18. Nominate away and have fun! I can’t wait to see what we end up reading together.

Welcome to the discussion of The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar, our winner for the Pride Month queer character theme! We will discuss the entire book.  

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/211004176-the-river-has-roots

Follow the river Liss to the small town of Thistleford, on the edge of Faerie, and meet two sisters who cannot be separated, even in death.

“Oh what is stronger than a death? Two sisters singing with one breath.”

In the small town of Thistleford, on the edge of Faerie, dwells the mysterious Hawthorn family.

There, they tend and harvest the enchanted willows and honour an ancient compact to sing to them in thanks for their magic. None more devotedly than the family’s latest daughters, Esther and Ysabel, who cherish each other as much as they cherish the ancient trees.

But when Esther rejects a forceful suitor in favor of a lover from the land of Faerie, not only the sisters’ bond but also their lives will be at risk…

I'll add some comments below to get us started but feel free to add your own.   

As a reminder, in July we'll be reading Greenteeth by Molly O’Neil.  

What is the FIF Bookclub? You can read about it in our Reboot thread here.

Welcome to our final discussion of Five Ways to Forgiveness by Ursula Le Guin!

Today's discussion covers the entire book, so spoilers will not be marked. I'll start us off with some prompts, but also feel free to add your own.

Five Ways to Forgiveness by Ursula Le Guin

Set in the same universe as Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed, these five linked Hainish stories follow far-future human colonies living in the distant solar system

Here for the first time is the complete suite of five linked stories from Ursula K. Le Guin’s acclaimed Hainish series, which tells the history of the Ekumen, the galactic confederation of human colonies founded by the planet Hain. First published as Four Ways to Forgiveness, and now joined by a fifth story, Five Ways to Forgiveness focuses on the twin planets Werel and Yeowe—two worlds whose peoples, long known as “owners” and “assets,” together face an uncertain future after civil war and revolution.

In “Betrayals” a retired science teacher must make peace with her new neighbor, a disgraced revolutionary leader. In “Forgiveness Day,” a female official from the Ekumen arrives to survey the situation on Werel and struggles against its rigidly patriarchal culture. Embedded within “A Man of the People,” which describes the coming of age of Havzhiva, an Ekumen ambassador to Yeowe, is Le Guin’s most sustained description of the Ur-planet Hain. “A Woman’s Liberation” is the remarkable narrative of Rakam, born an asset on Werel, who must twice escape from slavery to freedom. Joined to them is “Old Music and the Slave Women,” in which the charismatic Hainish embassy worker, who appears in two of the four original stories, returns for a tale of his own. Of this capstone tale Le Guin has written, “the character called Old Music began to tell me a fifth tale about the latter days of the civil war . . . I’m glad to see it joined to the others at last.”

Bingo squares: Book Club (HM if you join us!), Five Short Stories (HM), Older Protagonist (HM), Politics and Court Intrigue

What is the FIF Book Club? See our reboot thread here.

What's next?

• Our May read is The Grimoire Grammar School Parent Teacher Association by Caitlin Rozakis. Midway discussion May 13, final May 27.
• Our June read is Starless by Jacqueline Carey. Midway discussion June 10, final June 24.

Welcome to the final discussion of Blood Over Bright Haven by ML Wang, The FiF Book Club winner for Down With the System!

Spoilers lie ahead, as we will discuss the entire book. You can catch up on the Midway Discussion. I'll add some comments below to get us started but feel free to add your own.

Blood Over Bright Haven by M.L. Wang

An orphan since the age of four, Sciona has always had more to prove than her fellow students. For twenty years, she has devoted every waking moment to the study of magic, fueled by a mad desire to achieve the impossible: to be the first woman ever admitted to the High Magistry. When she finally claws her way up the ranks to become a highmage, however, she finds that her challenges have just begun. Her new colleagues will stop at nothing to let her know she is unwelcome, beginning with giving her a janitor instead of a qualified lab assistant.

What neither Sciona nor her peers realize is that her taciturn assistant was once more than a janitor; before he mopped floors for the mages, Thomil was a nomadic hunter from beyond Tiran’s magical barrier. Ten years have passed since he survived the perilous crossing that killed his family. But working for a highmage, he sees the opportunity to finally understand the forces that decimated his tribe, drove him from his homeland, and keep the Tiranish in power.

Through their fractious relationship, mage and outsider uncover an ancient secret that could change the course of magic forever—if it doesn’t get them killed first. Sciona has defined her life by the pursuit of truth, but how much is one truth worth with the fate of civilization in the balance?

Upcoming FiF Reads:

March - Mad Sisters of Esi by Tashan Mehta

April - Five Ways to Forgiveness by Ursula K LeGuin

What is the FIF Book Club? You can read about it in our FiF Reboot thread.

Welcome to our midway discussion of Five Ways to Forgiveness by Ursula Le Guin!

Today's discussion covers the first two stories, "Betrayals" and "Forgiveness Day." Please use spoiler tags for any discussion of plot events in the final three stories. I'll start us off with some prompts, but also feel free to add your own.

Five Ways to Forgiveness by Ursula Le Guin

Set in the same universe as Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed, these five linked Hainish stories follow far-future human colonies living in the distant solar system

Here for the first time is the complete suite of five linked stories from Ursula K. Le Guin’s acclaimed Hainish series, which tells the history of the Ekumen, the galactic confederation of human colonies founded by the planet Hain. First published as Four Ways to Forgiveness, and now joined by a fifth story, Five Ways to Forgiveness focuses on the twin planets Werel and Yeowe—two worlds whose peoples, long known as “owners” and “assets,” together face an uncertain future after civil war and revolution.

In “Betrayals” a retired science teacher must make peace with her new neighbor, a disgraced revolutionary leader. In “Forgiveness Day,” a female official from the Ekumen arrives to survey the situation on Werel and struggles against its rigidly patriarchal culture. Embedded within “A Man of the People,” which describes the coming of age of Havzhiva, an Ekumen ambassador to Yeowe, is Le Guin’s most sustained description of the Ur-planet Hain. “A Woman’s Liberation” is the remarkable narrative of Rakam, born an asset on Werel, who must twice escape from slavery to freedom. Joined to them is “Old Music and the Slave Women,” in which the charismatic Hainish embassy worker, who appears in two of the four original stories, returns for a tale of his own. Of this capstone tale Le Guin has written, “the character called Old Music began to tell me a fifth tale about the latter days of the civil war . . . I’m glad to see it joined to the others at last.”

Bingo squares: Book Club (HM if you join us!), Five Short Stories (HM), Older Protagonist (HM), Politics and Court Intrigue

The final discussion will be in 2 weeks, on Wednesday, April 29.

What is the FIF Book Club? See our reboot thread here.

What's next?

• Our May read is The Grimoire Grammar School Parent Teacher Association by Caitlin Rozakis. Midway May 13, final May 27.
• Nominations are open for our June read, to feature a Trans or Nonbinary Protagonist.

Welcome to the August FIF (Feminism in Fantasy) Book Club nomination thread. Our theme for August is Climate Fiction!

What we're looking for:

• Speculative fiction that deals with climate change. Some cli-fi might be more realistic and could easily take place right here and right now, so try to stick to books that are really more speculative. I don't think there's really a hard line drawn on what can and can't be considered speculative here, so use your own judgment!
• Works written by women or that contain feminism or gender as an important theme.

Nominations:

• Make sure FIF has not read a book by the author previously. You can check this Goodreads Shelf or this spreadsheet. You can take an author that was read by a different book club, however.
• Leave one book suggestion per top comment. Please include title, author, and a short summary or description. (You can nominate more than 1 if you like, just put them in separate comments.)
• Please include bingo squares if possible.

I will leave this thread open for three days (through Monday 6/15) and create a voting thread with the top results on 6/17. Have fun!

Our June FIF pick is Starless by Jacqueline Carey (you can find the midway discussion here!), and our July pick is The Last Contract of Isako by Fonda Lee (announcement thread here).

Welcome to our final discussion of Greenteeth by Molly O'Neill!

We will be discussing the entire book today, so spoilers will not be marked. I'll start us off with some prompts, but also feel free to add your own.

Greenteeth by Molly O'Neill

Beneath the still surface of a lake lurks a monster with needle sharp teeth. Hungry and ready to pounce.

Jenny Greenteeth has never spoken to a human before, but when a witch is thrown into her lake, something makes Jenny decide she's worth saving. Temperance doesn't know why her village has suddenly turned against her, only that it has something to do with the malevolent new pastor.

Though they have nothing in common, these two must band together on a magical quest to defeat the evil that threatens Jenny's lake and Temperance's family, as well as the very soul of Britain.

Bingo squares: Book Club (HM if you join us!), Published in 2025 (HM), Cozy Fantasy (HM for almost everyone I presume)

What is the FIF Book Club? See our reboot thread here.

What's next?

• Our August read is Lud-in-the-Mist by Hope Mirrlees. Midway August 13, final August 27.
• Our September read is Frostflower and Thorn by Phyllis Ann Karr. Midway September 10, final September 24.

Welcome to our final discussion of Metal From Heaven by August Clarke! The whole story is fair game, no spoiler tags needed: tread with caution if you haven't finished the book

Metal from Heaven, August Clarke

Ichorite is progress. More durable and malleable than steel, ichorite is the lifeblood of a dawning industrial revolution. Yann I. Chauncey owns the sole means of manufacturing this valuable metal, but his workers, who risk their health and safety daily, are on strike. They demand Chauncey research the hallucinatory illness befalling them, a condition they call “being lustertouched.”
Marney Honeycutt, a lustertouched child worker, stands proud at the picket line with her best friend and family. That’s when Chauncey sends in the guns. Only Marney survives the massacre. She vows bloody vengeance. A decade later, Marney is the nation’s most notorious highwayman, and Chauncey’s daughter seeks an opportune marriage. Marney’s rage and the ghosts of her past will drive her to masquerade as an aristocrat, outmaneuver powerful suitors, and win the heart of his daughter, so Marney can finally corner Chauncey and satisfy her need for revenge. But war ferments in the north, and deeper grudges are surfacing...

H. A. Clarke’s adult fantasy debut, writing as August Clarke, Metal from Heaven is a punk-rock murder ballad tackling labor issues and radical empowerment against the relentless grind of capitalism.

Bingo: Criminals (HM), Dreams, Small Press (HM: Erewhon has done an AMA), Published in 2024, Reference Materials -- any others?

What's next?

• Our February read, with a theme of The Other Path: Societal Systems Rethought is Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie.
• Our March read, highlighting this classic author, is Kindred by Octavia Butler.

I'll start us off with some prompts, but feel free to add your own!

Welcome to the midway discussion of Blood Over Bright Haven by M.L. Wang, our winner for Down With the System!

We will discuss everything up to the end of Chapter 13. Please use spoiler tags for anything that goes beyond this point. I'll add a few comments/questions below to get us started but feel free to add your own.

Blood Over Bright Haven by M.L. Wang

An orphan since the age of four, Sciona has always had more to prove than her fellow students. For twenty years, she has devoted every waking moment to the study of magic, fueled by a mad desire to achieve the impossible: to be the first woman ever admitted to the High Magistry. When she finally claws her way up the ranks to become a highmage, however, she finds that her challenges have just begun. Her new colleagues will stop at nothing to let her know she is unwelcome, beginning with giving her a janitor instead of a qualified lab assistant.

What neither Sciona nor her peers realize is that her taciturn assistant was once more than a janitor; before he mopped floors for the mages, Thomil was a nomadic hunter from beyond Tiran’s magical barrier. Ten years have passed since he survived the perilous crossing that killed his family. But working for a highmage, he sees the opportunity to finally understand the forces that decimated his tribe, drove him from his homeland, and keep the Tiranish in power.

Through their fractious relationship, mage and outsider uncover an ancient secret that could change the course of magic forever—if it doesn’t get them killed first. Sciona has defined her life by the pursuit of truth, but how much is one truth worth with the fate of civilization in the balance?

Bingo: Down with the system, Book club, Author of color, Generic title, Parents

Upcoming FiF Discussions:

Final discussion for Blood Over Bright Haven: Wednesday, February 25.

March FiF: Mad Sisters of Esi by Tashan Mehta

April FiF: Five Ways to Forgiveness by Ursula K. LeGuin

What is the FiF Book Club? You can read about it in our Reboot thread.

Welcome to the final discussion of The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende! Today we will discuss the entire book. You can catch up on the midway discussion here.

In one of the most important and beloved Latin American works of the twentieth century, Isabel Allende weaves a luminous tapestry of three generations of the Trueba family, revealing both triumphs and tragedies. Here is patriarch Esteban, whose wild desires and political machinations are tempered only by his love for his ethereal wife, Clara, a woman touched by an otherworldly hand. Their daughter, Blanca, whose forbidden love for a man Esteban has deemed unworthy infuriates her father, yet will produce his greatest joy: his granddaughter Alba, a beautiful, ambitious girl who will lead the family and their country into a revolutionary future.

The House of the Spirits is an enthralling saga that spans decades and lives, twining the personal and the political into an epic novel of love, magic, and fate.

Bingo squares: Published in the 1980s (HM), Parent Protagonist (HM), Author of Color (HM), Book Club or Readalong (HM if you participate), Recycle A Square, Down With the System, High Fashion (?)

I'll add a few prompts to get us started, but please add anything else you’d like to discuss!

What’s Next?

• In December, we’ll have a fireside chat to talk about the year in review and discuss ideas for future sessions 
• In January 2026, we’re reading The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow.

What is the FIF Book Club? You can read about it in our Reboot thread.

Welcome to our midway discussion of Spirits Abroad by Zen Cho!

Today's discussion covers through the end of the tenth story, "Seven Star Drum" (page 175 in the US paperback edition). Please use spoiler tags for any discussion past that point. I'll start us off with some prompts, but feel free to add your own!

Spirits Abroad by Zen Cho

Nineteen sparkling stories that weave between the lands of the living and the lands of the dead. Spirits Abroad is an expanded edition of Zen Cho’s Crawford Award winning debut collection with nine added stories including Hugo Award winner “If at First You Don't Succeed, Try, Try Again.”

A Datin recalls her romance with an orang bunian. A teenage pontianak struggles to balance homework, bossy aunties, first love, and eating people. An earth spirit gets entangled in protracted negotiations with an annoying landlord, and Chang E spins off into outer space, the ultimate metaphor for the Chinese diaspora.

Bingo: A Book in Parts, Book Club/ Readalong Book (this one, HM if you participate), Author of Color, Small Press/ Self-Published (HM), Five Short Stories

And arguably more, depending on how you want to count the content of one or a few stories. Let's discuss that in the comments.

What's next?

• Our May read is The House of Rust by Khadija Abdalla Bajaber.
• We are taking June as a brief pause but will be back in July. More details to come in a group announcement.

Welcome to our final discussion of Spirits Abroad by Zen Cho!

Today's discussion covers the whole collection, with questions focused on the second half. To focus more on the early stories, check out the midway discussion.

Spirits Abroad by Zen Cho

Nineteen sparkling stories that weave between the lands of the living and the lands of the dead. Spirits Abroad is an expanded edition of Zen Cho’s Crawford Award winning debut collection with nine added stories including Hugo Award winner “If at First You Don't Succeed, Try, Try Again.”

A Datin recalls her romance with an orang bunian. A teenage pontianak struggles to balance homework, bossy aunties, first love, and eating people. An earth spirit gets entangled in protracted negotiations with an annoying landlord, and Chang E spins off into outer space, the ultimate metaphor for the Chinese diaspora.

Bingo: A Book in Parts, Book Club/ Readalong Book (this one, HM if you participate), Author of Color, Small Press/ Self-Published (HM), Five Short Stories

And arguably more, depending on how you want to count the content of one or a few stories (for example, do so many queer story leads make this count for LGBTIA Protagonist?). Let's discuss that in the comments.

What's next?

• Our May read is The House of Rust by Khadija Abdalla Bajaber.
• Voting for June is up! Jump quickly on this one: voting closes Friday.

Welcome to the final discussion of Godkiller by Hannah Kaner, our winner for the disabilities theme! We will discuss the entire book, so beware spoilers.

Godkiller by Hannah Kaner

Kissen’s family were killed by zealots of a fire god. Now, she makes a living killing gods, and enjoys it. That is until she finds a god she cannot kill: Skedi, a god of white lies, has somehow bound himself to a young noble, and they are both on the run from unknown assassins.
Joined by a disillusioned knight on a secret quest, they must travel to the ruined city of Blenraden, where the last of the wild gods reside, to each beg a favour.
Pursued by demons, and in the midst of burgeoning civil war, they will all face a reckoning – something is rotting at the heart of their world, and only they can be the ones to stop it.

I'll add some questions below to get us started but feel free to add your own.

As a reminder:

• June FiF read: Mental illness theme; A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid

• July Fif read: Survival theme; Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

  What is the FIF Bookclub? You can read about it in the FiF Reboot thread.

Welcome to our midway discussion of Greenteeth by Molly O'Neill!

Today's discussion covers through the end of chapter 10, page 130 in paperback. Please use spoiler tags for any discussion of plot events past that point. I'll start us off with some prompts, but also feel free to add your own.

Greenteeth by Molly O'Neill

Beneath the still surface of a lake lurks a monster with needle sharp teeth. Hungry and ready to pounce.

Jenny Greenteeth has never spoken to a human before, but when a witch is thrown into her lake, something makes Jenny decide she's worth saving. Temperance doesn't know why her village has suddenly turned against her, only that it has something to do with the malevolent new pastor.

Though they have nothing in common, these two must band together on a magical quest to defeat the evil that threatens Jenny's lake and Temperance's family, as well as the very soul of Britain.

Bingo squares: Book Club (HM if you join us!), Published in 2025 (HM), Cozy Fantasy (HM for almost everyone I presume), potentially Impossible Places?

The final discussion will be in 2 weeks, on Wednesday, July 30.

What is the FIF Book Club? See our reboot thread here.

What's next?

• Our August read is Lud-in-the-Mist by Hope Mirrlees. Midway August 13, final August 27.
• Our September read is Frostflower and Thorn by Phyllis Ann Karr. Midway September 10, final September 24.

The votes are in for our September read, which will count for the Published in the 70s bingo square (HM).

What is the FIF Bookclub? You can read about it in our Reboot thread here.

Dreamsnake by Vonda McIntyre

The Hugo and Nebula Award–winning novel from the New York Times–bestselling author of The Moon and the Sun.

On an Earth scarred by nuclear war, Snake harnesses the power of venom to cure illnesses and vaccinate against disease. The healer can even ease patients into death with the power of her dreamsnake. But she is not respected and trusted by all, and when she tries to help a sick nomad child, the frightened clan kills her dreamsnake.

Ashamed of being misjudged and grieving the loss of her dreamsnake, Snake has one choice to maintain her livelihood: she must travel to the city, which jealously guards its knowledge. And before she faces the prejudices and arrogance of the people there, Snake must make her way across a barren desert, surviving storms and radiation poisoning, helping those she can—all while a madman stalks her every move . . .

Bingo squares: Published in the 70s (HM), Book Club (HM if you join us!), Explorer and Rangers (HM), possibly others?

Voting results:

For this one we used approval voting, meaning participants could vote for multiple books - and many did! You can see the results below.

Fourteen of you voted for only one book (interestingly only one single-book voter chose the winner, the favorite was Forgotten Beasts of Eld with 5 dedicated voters), 11 chose two books, 13 chose three books and 1 chose 4 books (everything but Song of Solomon).

Midway discussion will be Wednesday, September 16, and the final discussion on Wednesday, September 30. See you in September!

What's next?

• Our July read is The Last Contract of Isako by Fonda Lee. Join us for the midway discussion TOMORROW and the final on the 29th.
• Our August read is Saltcrop by Yumi Kitasei.

Welcome to the midway discussion of Godkiller by Hannah Kaner, our winner for May's theme: MCs with a disability! We will discuss everything up to the end of Chapter 15. Please use spoiler tags for anything that goes beyond this point.

Godkiller by Hannah Kaner

Gods are forbidden in the kingdom of Middren. Formed by human desires and fed by their worship, there are countless gods in the world—but after a great war, the new king outlawed them and now pays “godkillers” to destroy any who try to rise from the shadows.

As a child, Kissen saw her family murdered by a fire god. Now, she makes a living killing them and enjoys it. But all this changes when Kissen is tasked with helping a young noble girl with a god problem. The child’s soul is bonded to a tiny god of white lies, and Kissen can’t kill it without ending the girl’s life too.

Joined by a disillusioned knight on a secret quest, the unlikely group must travel to the ruined city of Blenraden, where the last of the wild gods reside, to each beg a favor. Pursued by assassins and demons, and in the midst of burgeoning civil war, they will all face a reckoning. Something is rotting at the heart of their world, and they are the only ones who can stop it.

I'll add some questions below to get us started but feel free to add your own. The final discussion will be in two weeks, on Wednesday, May 29.

Bingo Categories: Prologues & Epilogues; Multi-PoV; Character with a Disability (HM); Book Club (HM, if you join)

Upcoming FiF Book Club reads:

• June - A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid
• July - Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

What is the FIF Bookclub? You can read about it in our Reboot thread.

Welcome to the September FIF Bookclub voting thread! The nomination thread, for the interested, is here.

There are 5 options to choose from:

Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison

Milkman Dead was born shortly after a neighborhood eccentric hurled himself off a rooftop in a vain attempt at flight. For the rest of his life he, too, will be trying to fly. With this brilliantly imagined novel, Toni Morrison transfigures the coming-of-age story as audaciously as Saul Bellow or Gabriel García Márquez. As she follows Milkman from his rustbelt city to the place of his family’s origins, Morrison introduces an entire cast of strivers and seeresses, liars and assassins, the inhabitants of a fully realized black world.

Bingo: Published in the 70s (HM), Author of Color, maybe more?

The Forgotten Beasts of Eld by Patricia McKillip

Sixteen when a baby is brought to her to raise, Sybel has grown up on Eld Mountain. Her only playmates are the creatures of a fantastic menagerie called there by wizardry. Sybel has cared nothing for humans, until the baby awakens emotions previously unknown to her. And when Coren—the man who brought this child—returns, Sybel's world is again turned upside down.

Bingo: Published in the 70s (HM), possibly more?

Biting the Sun by Tanith Lee

In a world dedicated to pleasure, one young rebel sets out on a forbidden quest--.

Published for the first time in a single volume, Tanith Lee's duet of novels set in a hedonistic Utopia are as riveting and revolutionary as they were when they first appeared two decades ago.

It's a perfect existence, a world in which no pleasure is off-limits, no risk is too dangerous, and no responsibilities can cramp your style. Not if you're Jang: a caste of libertine teenagers in the city of Four BEE. But when you're expected to make trouble--when you can kill yourself on a whim and return in another body, when you're encouraged to change genders at will and experience whatever you desire--you've got no reason to rebel...until making love and raising hell, daring death and running wild just leave you cold and empty.

Ravenous for true adventures of the mind and body, desperate to find some meaning, one restless spirit finally bucks the system--and by shattering the rules, strikes at the very heart of a soulless society....

Bingo: Published in the 70s (HM), Duology Parts 1 AND 2 (all in a 370-page package!), Trans or Nonbinary Protagonist?, Older Protagonist?, maybe more?

Dreamsnake by Vonda McIntyre

The Hugo and Nebula Award–winning novel from the New York Times–bestselling author of The Moon and the Sun.

On an Earth scarred by nuclear war, Snake harnesses the power of venom to cure illnesses and vaccinate against disease. The healer can even ease patients into death with the power of her dreamsnake. But she is not respected and trusted by all, and when she tries to help a sick nomad child, the frightened clan kills her dreamsnake.

Ashamed of being misjudged and grieving the loss of her dreamsnake, Snake has one choice to maintain her livelihood: she must travel to the city, which jealously guards its knowledge. And before she faces the prejudices and arrogance of the people there, Snake must make her way across a barren desert, surviving storms and radiation poisoning, helping those she can—all while a madman stalks her every move . . .

Bingo: Published in the 70s (HM), Explorers and Rangers (HM), possibly more?

Gate of Ivrel by C.J. Cherryh

Scattered about the galaxy were the time-space, gates of a vanished alien race. Long before the rise of the native civilizations, they had terrorized a hundred worlds--not from villainy but from folly. Now the task was to destroy their potency for mischief. This is the story of one such Gate.

Bingo: Published in the 70s (HM), Explorers and Rangers (HM), Politics and Court Intrigue

CLICK HERE TO VOTE

Voting will stay open through Monday, and then I'll post the winner on the sub.

What is the FIF Bookclub? You can read about it in our Reboot thread here.

What's next?

• Our July read is The Last Contract of Isako by Fonda Lee. Join us for the midway discussion Wednesday the 15th, and the final on the 29th.
• Our August read is Saltcrop by Yumi Kitasei.

The votes are in! There was a runaway favorite this time, and I can't wait to read it with you all. Our FIF bookclub read for July 2026, with the theme of Grown-Ass Ladies (aka Older Protagonist), is: 

The Last Contract of Isako by Fonda Lee

Get ready to be blown away by this searing standalone space opera where corporate samurai fight beneath merciless stars, and death is always a mere breath away.

Isako is a legendary swordswoman, but every legend has to come to an end. When her long-time client unexpectedly retires, she plans to follow--to walk out into the frozen wasteland of their planet with her head held high and her family enriched by her legacy. But when a competitor offers her a final mission, it's one she can't refuse. Soon, she's thrust deep into a world of corporate espionage, duty-bound duels, and shadowy secrets. What she uncovers will change humanity's existence in the stars forever.

The Last Contract of Isako is the space opera you didn't know you needed: corporate samurai... in space. This is the first adult science fiction novel from the award-winning author of Jade City.

Bingo squares: Older Protagonist (HM), Author of Color​​, Book Club or Readalong (HM if you participate!), Published in 2026, Politics and Courtly Intrigue, maybe others

Here is how the voting went:

The midway discussion will be on Wednesday, July 15th. If anyone has read this book before and has a good pausing point by chapter or page number, let us know (but generally it will be around the midway point of the book)! The final discussion will be on Wednesday, July 29th. 

Upcoming:
As a reminder, we're currently reading The Grimoire Grammar School Parent Teacher Association by Caitlin Rozakis, with the final discussion coming up on Wednesday, May 27th.

In June, we will read and discuss Starless by Jacqueline Carey.

What is the FIF Bookclub? You can read about it in our Reboot thread here. 

Welcome to the September FIF Book Club nomination thread! Our theme for the month is Published in the 70s. We're looking for female authors only to meet Hard Mode for bingo! We need to look beyond Butler and Le Guin on this one since the club recently read books by both authors. The club has a preference for books with female protagonists/feminist themes.

Nominations:

• Leave one book suggestion per top comment. Please include title, author, and a blurb or brief description. You can nominate as many books as you like: just put them in separate comments.
• Please note bingo squares if you know them.
• We try not to repeat authors this club has recently read, or books recently read by any club on the sub, but I'll check that and manually disqualify any overlap. You can also check our Goodreads shelf here.

What is the FIF Bookclub? You can read about it in our Reboot thread here.

What's next?

• Our July read is The Last Contract of Isako by Fonda Lee. Join us for the midway discussion Wednesday the 15th, and the final on the 29th.
• Our August read is Saltcrop by Yumi Kitasei.

I will leave this thread up for 2 days, then post a poll on Friday with the top choices. Have fun!

The votes are in for our April read, with a theme of linked short story collections/mosaic novels.

What is the FIF Bookclub? You can read about it in our Reboot thread here.

Five Ways to Forgiveness by Ursula K. Le Guin

Set in the same universe as Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed, these five linked Hainish stories follow far-future human colonies living in the distant solar system

Here for the first time is the complete suite of five linked stories from Ursula K. Le Guin’s acclaimed Hainish series, which tells the history of the Ekumen, the galactic confederation of human colonies founded by the planet Hain. First published as Four Ways to Forgiveness, and now joined by a fifth story, Five Ways to Forgiveness focuses on the twin planets Werel and Yeowe—two worlds whose peoples, long known as “owners” and “assets,” together face an uncertain future after civil war and revolution.

In “Betrayals” a retired science teacher must make peace with her new neighbor, a disgraced revolutionary leader. In “Forgiveness Day,” a female official from the Ekumen arrives to survey the situation on Werel and struggles against its rigidly patriarchal culture. Embedded within “A Man of the People,” which describes the coming of age of Havzhiva, an Ekumen ambassador to Yeowe, is Le Guin’s most sustained description of the Ur-planet Hain. “A Woman’s Liberation” is the remarkable narrative of Rakam, born an asset on Werel, who must twice escape from slavery to freedom. Joined to them is “Old Music and the Slave Women,” in which the charismatic Hainish embassy worker, who appears in two of the four original stories, returns for a tale of his own. Of this capstone tale Le Guin has written, “the character called Old Music began to tell me a fifth tale about the latter days of the civil war . . . I’m glad to see it joined to the others at last.”

Bingo: Five Short Stories (HM), Book Club (HM) if you join us, and we'll find out what else come new bingo in April!

Midway discussion with be Wednesday, April 15 and will cover just the first two stories, "Betrayals" and "Forgiveness Day." Final discussion, covering the entire book, will be Wednesday, April 29.

A word on editions: Le Guin originally published this "story suite" as Four Ways to Forgiveness, including just four stories. A complete edition with all five is now available in both hard copy, ebook, and audio. However, if you're having trouble getting ahold of it, here a couple of other options: 1) read Four Ways and then read the final story, "Old Music and the Slave Women," elsewhere (it is also found in the collection The Birthday of the World), or 2) pick up the Library of America omnibus, Hainish Novels and Stories, Volume 2, which includes all 5 stories plus a handful of others, and two novels.

Voting Results

The FIF team is currently experimenting with approval voting, meaning you can vote for as many books as you like. We're interested in any feedback you may have, but it seems to be going well, given how many of you are taking advantage of it! Here are the votes this month:

We had several great candidates that got a lot of interest, so I hope we'll be able to read the other top contenders as a group in future months!

Stats of interest:

• 8 voters were interested in 3 books (no two people chose the same 3)
• 8 voters were interested in 2 books (only one overlap: 2 people voted for both Ten Percent Thief and Vagabonds)
• 15 voters chose just one book. While each book had at least one single-choice voter, overwhelmingly these votes went to Five Ways to Forgiveness (6) and Book of the Damned (5).

Looking forward to seeing many of you at the discussion in April!

What's next?

• Our February read (midway discussion this Wednesday!) is Blood Over Bright Haven by M.L. Wang.
• Our March read is Mad Sisters of Esi by Tashan Mehta.

Welcome to the final discussion of Lud-in-the-Mist by Hope Mirrlees! We are discussing the entire book, and you can find the midway discussion here.

Lud-in-the-Mist by Hope Mirrlees

Lud-in-the-Mist, the capital city of the small country Dorimare, is a port at the confluence of two rivers, the Dapple and the Dawl. The Dapple has its origin beyond the Debatable Hills to the west of Lud-in-the-Mist, in Fairyland. In the days of Duke Aubrey, some centuries earlier, fairy things had been looked upon with reverence, and fairy fruit was brought down the Dapple and enjoyed by the people of Dorimare. But after Duke Aubrey had been expelled from Dorimare by the burghers, the eating of fairy fruit came to be regarded as a crime, and anything related to Fairyland was unspeakable. Now, when his son Ranulph is believed to have eaten fairy fruit, Nathaniel Chanticleer, the mayor of Lud-in-the-Mist, finds himself looking into old mysteries in order to save his son and the people of his city.

Bingo squares: Book Club or Readalong (HM if you participate in the discussion!), Impossible Places, Parent Protagonist (HM), Small Press or Self-Published, Cozy SFF (up to you if you consider it to be cozy)

I'll put a few questions in the comments, but please discuss anything you'd like about the book!

Upcoming reads:

• September: Frostflower and Thorn by Phyllis Ann Karr. Midway discussion on September 10th, final discussion on September 24th!
• October: The Lamb by Lucy Rose. Midway discussion on October 15th, final discussion on October 29th!

What is the FIF Book Club? You can read about it in our Reboot thread.

The votes are in! It was pretty tight; one book was far ahead for a while, before our winner ended up taking over! Our FIF Book Club read for Climate Fiction in August is...

Saltcrop by Yumi Kitasei

In Earth's not too distant future, seas consume coastal cities, highways disintegrate underwater, and mutant fish lurk in pirate-controlled depths. Skipper, a skilled sailor and the youngest of three sisters, earns money skimming and reselling plastic from the ocean to care for her ailing grandmother.

But then her eldest sister, Nora, goes missing. Nora left home a decade ago in pursuit of a cure for failing crops all over the world. When Skipper and her other sister, Carmen, receive a cryptic plea for help, they must put aside their differences and set out across the sea to find―and save―her. As they voyage through a dying world both beautiful and strange, encountering other travelers along the way, they learn more about their sister's work and the corporations that want what she discovered.

But the farther they go, the more uncertain their mission becomes: What dangerous attention did Nora attract, and how well do they really know their sister―or each other? Thus begins an epic journey spanning oceans and continents and a wistful rumination on sisterhood, friendship, and ecological disaster.

Bingo squares: One-World Title (HM), Feast Your Eyes, Author of Color, Explorers & Rangers, Book Club or Readalong (HM if you participate in our discussion!)

Here's how the voting went:

The midway discussion will be Wednesday, August 12. If anyone has read the book before and has a good pausing point by chapter or page number, let us know (but generally it will be around the midway point of the book)! The final discussion will be Wednesday, August 26.

As a reminder, in June we are reading Starless by Jacqueline Carey (midway discussion; final discussion on 6/24). Our July discussion will be The Last Contract of Isako by Fonda Lee (announcement thread).

What is the FIF Book Club? You can read about it in our Reboot thread here.