ladybusiness | Recent Entries

After years of struggling to read new-to-me fiction, I’ve recently entered a phase of reading graphic novels and comics and I’ve been reading so much! (It helps that I accidentally got into a comics-based fandom via stress-reading fic late last year.) It’s only April yet I have already read more books this year than I have in any year since 2020, it's truly wild. I haven’t had this much fun reading in ages!

I wanted to share some of the things I’ve been enjoying, so I thought I’d write a rec list. I find graphic novels easier to focus on when I’m stressed than prose novels, and I also love getting to see so much art. I’ve been mostly reading MG and YA works – it feels like there is a lot going on in that space right now! Plus it’s a space where there tend to be many stories focused on friendship, which I really enjoy. I’ve also been choosing more lighthearted things to read. The world is stressful and I can’t deal with stressful reading at the moment.

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helloladies

Please welcome our anonymous reviewer!

The Poet Empress by Shen Tao is a debut Chinese-inspired fantasy centered on a poor village girl who rises from a concubine to the empress-in-waiting to an abusive prince heir. In a bid to save the kingdom from the tyranny of his reign, Wei decides to kill him in the only way she can, by writing a magic poem. Only deathly poems have to be love poetry, and only by knowing him well enough to love him can she kill him.

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renay

A collection of thoughts about Notes from a Regicide by Isaac Fellman: ( Read more... )

helloladies

Sidetracks is a collaborative project featuring various essays, videos, reviews, or other Internet content that we want to share. All past and current links for the Sidetracks project can be found in our Sidetracks tag. You can also support Sidetracks and our other work on Patreon.

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helloladies

Sidetracks is a collaborative project featuring various essays, videos, reviews, or other Internet content that we want to share. All past and current links for the Sidetracks project can be found in our Sidetracks tag. You can also support Sidetracks and our other work on Patreon.

( Read more... )

renay

This week I learned about the Golden Poppy Award! I'd never heard of it before.

The California Independent Booksellers Alliance (CALIBA) presents the 2025 Golden Poppy Awards in recognition of the most distinguished books written and illustrated by creators who have made California their home.

There's tons of categories, I made a direct dash to the Octavia E. Butler Award for science fiction, fantasy, and horror.

Winner: Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz
Kill the Beast by Serra Swift
The Knight and the Moth by Rachel Gillig
Notes from a Regicide by Isaac Fellman
Red City by Marie Lu

I dug into the Intergalactic Mixtape archives to see what reviewers were saying about these books, because this is one of my most favorite nerdy things to do. I had reviews for Automatic Noodle, The Night and the Moth, Notes from a Regicide, and Red City. Alas, I had none for Kill the Beast, which is interesting because it came out in October, after I had expanded my review sources. But! The mixtape is still a baby.

If you like reading multiple opinions of books, this may interest you! ( Read more... )

helloladies

Adventures Elsewhere collects our reviews, guest posts, articles, and other content we've spread across the Internet recently! See what we've been up in our other projects. :D

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renay

It's a new reading year!

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renay

2025 was the first year my reading started to feel less like a miracle and more like, "oh yeah, reading! I do that without struggling." I read 78 books, although a lot of them were rereads. I'm happy to reread The Murderbot Diaries and a bunch of my favorite romance novels a few times a year. The brain craves familiarity.

I have elevenish favorites this year (I combined books in series, because I make the rules). My top book, which is no big secret as I've been shouting about it for months, is the only one ranked; the rest are here in alphabetical order.

( Favorite Books )

( The numbers and musings )

That's a wrap on 2025! If you read any of my favorites and have readalikes, I'm always hyped for recs. If you wrote a favorites post for your SFF reading, I'd love to see it (and then link it in Intergalactic Mixtape, haha).

renay

It's almost nomination time for the Hugo Awards! As someone invested in recommendations as a type of critique/conversation, I'm thriving.

Worldcon in 2026 will be in LA. If you'd like to nominate for the 2026 Hugo Award, you can do so by being a member of the Seattle Worldcon or purchasing at least a WSFS membership from LAcon V. There's a medium-length guide here on the whole process. Nomination is step one: Seattle and LA WSFS members build the short lists as a collective.

However! Even if you don't plan to become a member (the membership fee is $50 and times are hard), everyone can share the things they would nominate if they could via the Hugo Spreadsheet of Doom, or make their own lists and post them on socials with the #HugoAward tag. Lots of people (it's me; I'm people) have gaps on their nomination forms and are looking for cool stuff to check out. Consider making a rec list/thread!

A disclaimer: the following are my personal nominations that I'll submit next year, not official Hugo finalists. I know the nominations/finalist language can be confusing. ( Read more... )

Lady Business

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Recent Entries

Graphic Novel Favorites From My Recent Reading

Guest Review: Empathizing with the Abuser: The Poet Empress by Shen Tao

Notes from a Regicide by Isaac Fellman

Sidetracks - March 9, 2026

Sidetracks - February 9, 2026

Golden Poppy Book Awards 2025: Octavia E. Butler Award

Adventures Elsewhere — December 2025

Let's Get Literate! 2026 Reading Goals & Challenges

Let's Get Literate! 2025 Reading Recap

Winds in the East...Mist Coming In... (Hugo Season Approaches)

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