Booklist: This collaboration between two prominent sf authors blends historical research, anecdotal narratives, and even a few poems. Sf fans might already be familiar with authors Walton (Or What You Will, 2020) and Palmer (Perhaps the Stars, 2021), but this collection of both authors’ nonfiction is an extensive plunge into sf’s deep end. While not having an overarching theme, these articles cover a broad range of topics, including the contract between author and reader, the histories of various genres and mediums that evolved alongside sf, and the writers’ own experiences with writing and living as disabled authors and instructors, with each piece showcasing a massive amount of depth. These articles, many of them co-written, show off their individual writing strengths, including historian Palmer’s ability to synthesize an encyclopedia’s worth of information and Walton’s skill in deconstructing tropes based on the stories she’s read and watched. While this book is a dense read, it’s also a comprehensive academic tome about what sf is and, perhaps most importantly, what it can be.
Feb 182026