Mastodawn

Happy book birthday to The Wildcraft Drones by T. K. Rex! A wildly imaginative solarpunk collection full to the brim with strange ecosystems, humor, grief, and radical hope for the future. Adored by Kim Stanley Robinson, Annalee Newitz and many more. Out now from Stelliform Press.

#TheWildcraftDrones #TKRex #Solarpunk #ClimateFiction #Ecofiction #SpecFic #ScienceFiction #IndiePublishing #SmallPress #BookBirthday #NewBook #Hopepunk #Comics #Illustration #SFFCommunity #BookToot #Books #Bookstodon

Nicola Griffith May 15

The Curve of the World: Out Today!

The Curve of the World by Vonda McIntyre (Aqueduct: Seattle, 2026)

Buy the Book

From the Publisher | Bookshop.org | Amazon | Barnes and Noble

About the Book, and Vonda

The Curve of the World is Vonda McIntyre’s last gift to us, and it is magnificent. In this alternate history of the ancient world, where Minoans build a globe-spanning trading community, Vonda has taken up the challenge of her good friend Ursula K. Le Guin and become a dreamer of a wider reality, creating a glorious vision of a working world. The Curve of the World is the sum and summit of all Vonda McIntyre was as a writer and as a human being, a marvellous vision of how the world might have been, perhaps once was, and might, still, one day be. The world needs this novel.

But don’t read this book because it’s Good For You. Read it because it’s a real story about a genuine alternative to our world featuring true grownups—and all the delights and, well, ‘learning opportunities’ attendant on that. Seriously, reading this book feels like sitting by a driftwood fire at dusk, while the waves slish and salt-scented breeze dries the tears of joy on your cheeks—the kind of joy that comes from feeling peace and rightness and rootedness in a world just waiting for you to walk it.

Don’t take my word for it. Go read this review on Salon Futura, or this Starred Review in Publisher’s Weekly. Or see below for other writers’ praise.

I loved Vonda. In 2019 she fought to stay alive to do her final rewrite—of a novel she began in the early aughts but then abandoned when she felt dispirited by her career. (I have a lot to say about this, but not here.) Kelley and I were delighted when sometime after she was Guest of Honour at the 2015 Worldcon (2016? I don’t remember) she told us she was working on it again. Not so very long after that, she gave us the first complete draft to read. We did, and as always between long-time writer friends, we had many long conversations about what worked and what could be better.

She went back to work on it again. But then she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and suddenly the clock was ticking—ticking very, very fast.

Vonda fought to stay alive to finished this book. It was just days after she saved the file that she entered the final days of round-the-clock hospice care at home. Sadly, my father died during that time so we couldn’t be here for her final days—we had to fly to the UK to deal with family stuff, Dad’s estate etc—but we’d said our goodbyes. I only wish she could be here to see this day. Please buy the book.

Praise

”A gentle elegiac tone pervades this stunning posthumous historical fantasy from multi–Hugo and Nebula award winner McIntyre (Dreamsnake), who died in 2019. In ancient Crete, Iakinthu, a former bull dancer, is at the apex of her second profession as chief diplomat-trader of her seafaring nation. To fulfill Minoan tradition, she must take her adopted son, Rhenthizu, to meet his birth mother in a faraway land no Minoan has ever visited, after which he will choose which woman to live with. Their epic journey plays out as a feminist odyssey through six distinctive and mostly matriarchal cultures, superbly constructed around permutations of myth and legend. McIntyre’s scene-setting is lush and immersive, and her finely drawn, women-led cast leaps off the page as they confront obstacles with wit and wisdom. This sensitive and captivating voyage of discovery is a fitting capstone to a remarkable career.”
—Publishers Weekly, May 2026

“The Curve of the World is magnificent, a glorious vision of a wider reality: a world in which global commerce and fairness are not a contradiction in terms. It is the sum and summit of all Vonda McIntyre was as a writer and human being, her last, best gift to a world in sore need of hope.”
—Nicola Griffith, author of Ammonite and Hild

“I loved this book! It’s a glorious adventure with a heart as big as the world! Iakinthu Gephyra is a diplomat, trader, explorer, and the ‘bridge between people’ who strives to understand and accept cultures that are not her own. To find the family of her adopted child, she sets forth on the most difficult voyage her people have ever undertaken, sailing beyond the Sunset Sea and across the Nameless Ocean. A fascinating exploration of culture, family, and identity, about finding your way and discovering where you belong.”
—Pat Murphy, author The Adventures of Mary Darling and The Wild Girls

“A vivid, luminous novel. As Minoan traders travel the ancient world, McIntyre brings to richly imagined life six distinctive cultures of antiquity, all touched with magic. The characters are so real that I could see, feel, even smell them, and I passionately wanted each to succeed at their various quests. The Curve Of The World is a wonderful capstone to a storied career.”
—Nancy Kress, author of Observer

“Vonda takes us from the known world, a world with known dangers and known comforts, into the unknown, the wild but civilized West. As she herself looked ahead to the journey from life into death, she opens to us a world filled with unrealized possibilities. This is a marvelous book of the civilizations that could have been.”
—Eileen Gunn, author of Stable Strategies for Middle Management and Questionable Practices

“The Curve of the World is full of daring, and rich and rare invention, but feeling true, as far as can be known, to the mysterious, apparently/ probably women-centered, ancient Minoan culture. I loved the giving of beautiful gifts, between chance voyagers meeting on the ocean. So much better than mere trade. A wonderful book.”
—Gwyneth Jones, author of Life and Bold as Love

#bookBirthday #books #novel #publication #THECURVEOFTHEWORLD #VONDANMCINTYRE

Stephen L. Thompson May 6

On this date in 2010, I self-published my first collection, A Man of Few Words. It contains fifty stories of various genres, all under 1,000 words.
https://books2read.com/b/mKknKL
#BookBirthday

Available now at your favorite digital store!

A Man of Few Words by Stephen L. Thompson

Charlene Chua, illustrator Apr 21

Happy #BookBirthday to ONCE UPON A TAIL by Audrey Perrott, illus. by me!

Am very happy with this book as it is the first, published, (junior) graphic novel I've worked on. Which means I (finally) get to call myself a published comic book artist!

#kidlit #comics

Stephen L. Thompson Apr 15

On this date in 2013, I self-published Lonely Phoenix, a story about an unusual surprise onboard a starship on a centuries long journey to another star system.
https://books2read.com/b/4Xkyd6
#BookBirthday

Available now at your favorite digital store!

Lonely Phoenix by Stephen L. Thompson

Stephen L. Thompson Apr 13

On this date in 2012, I self-published The All-You-Can-Read Buffet, a collection of forty of my stories to give a buffet of my writing.
https://books2read.com/b/mdRBWd
#BookBirthday

Available now at your favorite digital store!

The All-You-Can-Read Buffet by Stephen L. Thompson

Stephen L. Thompson Mar 10

On this date in 2013, I self-published The Most Powerful Man in the World and other stories. It contains five of my #SciFi #ShortStories to give a sampling of my writing.
https://books2read.com/b/bp2vXz
#BookBirthday