reader, critic, fan, he/him
"I think you’re right that in the main this shortlist feels like a missed opportunity: the Clarke has a grander history, and 2025 a better suite of books, than it manages to imply"
Nerds of a FeatherThe Arthur C. Clarke Award 2026: A Shortlist Discussion Dan Hartland ( @danhartland.bsky.social ), who is Reviews Editor at Strange Horizons, joins our @chloroformtea.bsky.social for a meaty discussion of the shortlist: www.nerds-feather.com/2026/08/the-... #blueskybooks #booksky
New month, new Locus. My reviews include a couple of interesting books that didn't quite hit for me, one that very much did, and one that was fun but felt like a bit of a throwback.
Locus MagazineIssue 787 Table of Contents, August 2026 locusmag.com/2026/08...
Now the Booker-longlisted End of Everything thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-l...
The Booker Prize 2026 | The Booker PrizesThe longlist for the Booker Prize 2026 has been announced, featuring two previous winners and three debut noveliststhebookerprizes.comNiall HarrisonOn The End of Everything: locusmag.com/review/the-e...
Considering I had about 72 hours to read, digest and review this to meet deadline, I think the review came out ok
Niall HarrisonOn The End of Everything: locusmag.com/review/the-e...
Really enjoyed the latest Coode Street, even if it did once again make me feel guilty about not reading enough short fiction these days jonathanstrahan.podbean.com/e/episode-72...
Episode 726: Jonathan's busiest year ever | The Coode Street PodcastIn this week’s episode, we sort of turn the tables on Jonathan to discuss the art of assembling anthologies, and in particular no fewer than four books he has coming out over the next few months: Revo...jonathanstrahan.podbean.comOn The End of Everything: locusmag.com/review/the-e...
The End of Everything by M. John Harrison: Review by Niall HarrisonThe End of Everything, M. John Harrison (Serpent’s Tail 978-1800812949, £16.99, 208pp, hc). June 2026. I’m not certain of the origin of the phrase “What is the exact nature of the catastrophe?”, a…locusmag.comLovely post about EJ Swift's When There Are Wolves Again: "I've never been so haunted by optimism" www.instagram.com/p/DbEct2bsBb...
tom.j.atherton on Instagram: "Clarke Award Book 6This was the best book I read last year. I'm ecstatic it's on the shortlist, and not just because its nomination…"Clarke Award Book 6This was the best book I read last year. I'm ecstatic it's on the shortlist, and not just because its nomination has given me an excuse to read it a second time. It's a masterpiece, deserving of all the love it's received.When There Are Wolves Again is a radical work of literary eco-fiction. E. J. Swift rejects both the miserabilist climate nihilism that's come to dominate the genre, *and* the hysterical tech optimism that promises us a green utopia delivered by corporatism and capital.Here hope comes from systemic and structural social changes: community and solidarity are offered as the way out of our climate predicaments. The novel spans nearly a century, and Swift utilises imagery of the occupy movement, of rainbow political alliances, and of social cohesion to offer an encouraging vision of our future.It follows the entire lives of Lucy, an environmental activist, and Hester, a film maker, from their childhood, to their intersecting old ages near the end of the 21st Century. It's profoundly moving, endlessly inventive, politically fearless, and beautifully written. Complimenting this, the book is a work of genius structural symmetry, which the nerdy formalist in me found very pleasing. Every character is distinct, with the two central women (whose chapters alternate between first and second person voices) experiencing deep emotional growth, while always feeling consistently the same people, changed through time, but with a psychological line connecting them to their childhood selves.I even liked the right-wing nationalist who antagonises Lucy throughout the novel. In my mind he doesn't know that his online handle - Britannia1412 - contains the year in which Joan of Arc was born, a foreign woman and symbol of emancipation over establishment tyranny. The irony being: he would hate the connection.It's just so vast, and so beautiful, chronicling everything from Chernobyl, to COVID, to an imagined human mission to Mars. I've never been so haunted by optimism.I don't write. I don't have the imagination, or the insight into what makes us human. Or any talent whatsoever, really. But I wish I'd written this.View all commentswww.instagram.comAnd another, which fascinatingly draws out the linguistic aspects, suggesting the novel argues that "understanding is in fact the obstacle to accepting" www.asymptotejournal.com/blog/2026/07...
www.asymptotejournal.comNiall HarrisonAnother piece, this one particularly strong on the openness of the text (which is one of the things that makes it thorny) ancillaryreviewofbooks.org/2026/07/20/s...
Another piece, this one particularly strong on the openness of the text (which is one of the things that makes it thorny) ancillaryreviewofbooks.org/2026/07/20/s...
Spirals of Meaning: Review of Munir Hachemi’s The MulaiRoseanna Pendlebury Under Review:The Mulai. Munir Hachemi, translated by Julia Sanches. Coach House, July 2026. Munir Hachemi’s The Mulai, translated by Julia Sanches, presents archaeologist Dr. Co…ancillaryreviewofbooks.orgNiall HarrisonGood piece on one of the thorniest books I've read this year strangehorizons.com/wordpress/no...