I’ve been pretty concerned for a few weeks that I was going to have a freak-out as I got closer to my 35th birthday on October 7, but so far I’m feeling okay about it. All things considered (and there are a lot of things to consider these days), it feels like it might not be a completely horrible year. Feeling optimistic-ish about the future, I’ve even updated my Amazon wishlist just in case anyone is interested in feeding my endless hunger for literary criticism and beautiful cookbooks.

Here at the blog, I’ve been somewhat busy this week–and certainly more productive than I have been for a while. I covered the first two episodes of Star Trek: Discovery and reviewed Kat Howard’s An Unkindness of Magicians. The really important things, though, are my Fall Reading List and the Summer Wrap-Up post I just put up today.

In happy news this week, the Book Smugglers’ Level Up Kickstarter hit its first goal and is well on its way to some great stretch goals, including a new serialized story by JY Yang if they make it to $20,000.

For more about the Book Smugglers, check out Nine Questions with them at Reading the End and this interview with Book Smugglers editor Ana Grilo at Lady Business. And at the Book Smugglers blog, Ana and co-editor Thea James so some self-reflection.

The first teaser trailer for Annihilation, based on Jeff VanderMeer’s novel of the same name, is finally out, and I am HYPED:

At Engadget, Swapna Krishna explains what should be obvious: Star Trek: Discovery shouldn’t be streaming-only.

If you’re enjoying Star Trek: Discovery but are sad about the lack of more Burnham and Georgiou material, there’s a book for that: Desperate Hours tells more of their story.

Salik Shah explains why Mithila Review has closed submissions. Spoiler: the problem is lack of funding. It’s a great publication, and I highly recommend checking it out and supporting it via Patreon. $2.50/issue gets you a digital copy of each new one as its published, and Shah has said submissions will reopen when they hit their first funding goal of $250 per issue.

This Lani Sarem/Handbook for Mortals story is a gift that just keeps on giving. Lani Sarem sounds like an absolute nightmare, and the boldness with which she lies is just incredible.

There’s going to be a Karen Memory novella! Stone Mad by Elizabeth Bear will be out March 20, 2018.

Taste of Wrath, the final volume of Matt Wallace’s fantastic Sin du Jour series, has a cover and a release date: April 10, 2018. It is both too soon and too far away.

At nerds of a feather, flock together, Chloe N. Clarke kicked off a new series on horror fiction with an introduction on what makes horror work.

At Slate, erstwhile io9 cofounder and Autonomous author Annalee Newitz wrote about how to write a novel set 125 years in the future.

Tananarive Due was interviewed at Bitch Media.

Jeannette Ng wrote about the origin of her upcoming novel, Under the Pendulum Sun, at The Illustrated Page.

Fran Wilde shared her thoughts on her favorite book of her Bone Universe trilogy.

Ann Leckie was interviewed at the Book Smugglers AND in the most recent Feminist Frequency newsletter.

K. Arsenault Rivera, author of the upcoming fantasy novel The Tiger’s Daughter, was interviewed at the Tor/Forge blog.

JY Yang was interviewed at The Illustrated Page. Meanwhile, Tor.com has an introductory guide to the Tensorate series.

An Unkindness of Magicians author Kat Howard was interviewed at Unbound Worlds, then popped in at Uncanny to write about “The Dearth of Fairy Godmothers” in her new book.

The next installment of Sarah Gailey’s The Fisher of Bones, “Fear,” is up at Fireside Fiction.

Starting in 2018, Apex Magazine will also be available in print!