Wishing everyone all the very best for a festive season filled with joy and wonder, and books. And for those looking for some inspiration, here’s a few of my favourite reads for the SFF Book Advent 2025, in no particular order…
Day 24 of Book Advent – Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor. Zelu’s mother was a Yoruba princess, her father is Igbo with a PhD. She is paraplegic, flawed, sassy, hard-working, and an author, writing robots into a complex world of death, circuits, energy and what it means to be human.
Day 23 of Book Advent – Hex by Thomas Olde Heuvelt. A 17th century woman accused of witchcraft in the days of puritanical colonies, changed, eyes and mouth sewn shut, haunts the town of Black Spring. The townsfolk’s responses are fascinating and chilling. Brilliant and horrifying read.
Day 22 of Book Advent – Nine Bar Blues by Sheree Renee Thomas. Golden mermaids, curse-bound sisterhoods, poisoned landscapes and an otherworldly earth. Evocative, inventive and contemporary tales that haunt, uplift and ascend, while moving with the rhythm of cultural change.
Day 21 of Book Advent – Binding the Cuckoo by Gabriela Houston. In high society London, Hare must keep her mythic status secret, in this historical romantasy where fae and human collide and Eastern European folklore is brought to life. A vivid and magical tale beautifully told.
Day 20 of Book Advent – Lord of Snow and Shadows by Sarah Ash. In the wintry kingdom of Azhkendir, Gavril must face his true identity, and uncover the truth of the shadow. With a vivid & fearless supporting cast, this fantasy is a masterclass. A wonderful winter read.
Day 19 of Book Advent – Learning Monkey and Crocodile by Nick Wood. Collection of shorts with immersive African landscapes, vivid imagery, and a rich tapestry of imagination, folklore, dread and desire. A clear and inventive lens, astute, innovative and unique.
Day 18 of Book Advent – Book of Fire by Michelle Kenney. Talia and her friends navigate the ultimate rescue mission in a cataclysmic world. Feral people, hidden forests and a holy war. Lifedome is a landmark, monsters can be heroes, and fantasy, science and mythology form a perfect blend.
Day 17 of Book Advent – The Four Profound Weaves by R.B. Lemberg. Weaves woven from wind to signify change, invisible threads woven into whispered weaves, a search for the weave of death, and a Nameless Man searching for his name amid his journey of transformation.
Day 16 of Book Advent – The Iron Brooch by Yvonne Hendrie. 1940s London, Brigid receives a mysterious heirloom as her something old on her wedding day. Strange callings bring visions of Scotland’s Doon Hill, time slips, the veil grows thin to mysterious fae, & Scotland awaits.
Day 15 of Book Advent – Children of Blood & Bone by Tomi Adeyemi. The soil of Orisha once hummed with magic, but the maji were killed. Now danger lurks, snow leoponaires prowl and vengeful spirits wait in the waters, as Zelie & her companions head a quest to see magic restored.
Day 14 of Book Advent – Threading the Labyrinth by Tiffani Angus. American Arts dealer, Toni, uncovers her inheritance in a haunted Manor House, where mysterious gardens change in twilight, revealing ghosts from the past. A rich, immersive & haunting read.
Day 13 of Book Advent – The Green Man’s Heir by Juliet McKenna. Contemporary fantasy rooted in ancient myth & British folklore. The son of a dryad seeks to understand his heritage while his sights are drawn to mysterious other realms. Meanwhile, there is a murder case to solve.
Day 12 of Book Advent – A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan. Lady Isabella Trent defies Victorian conventions with her love of books, natural history & dragons. From childhood obsession collecting sparklings, to a dragon-finding expedition to the mountains of Vystrana.
Day 11 of Book Advent – Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. 1950s Mexico: a remote mansion, an eccentric macabre family set a menacing scene of wealth, fading empire, & family secrets of violence and madness. Noemi fights to stand her ground, but the family’s indomitable will is strong.
Day 10 of Book Advent – At Night White Bracken by Gareth Wood. Realities collide, dread & merriment entwine, in a world of malevolent, sinister magic. Cosmic horror blending magic with pallid reality. A horrifying, brilliantly inventive, thought-provoking tale beautifully told.
Day 9 of Book Advent – An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon. An extraordinary MC, flawed, self-effacing, courageous, fierce and with a huge heart. On board a space ship organised like the Antebellum south, Aster works to sow the seeds of civil war. Deeply memorable.
Day 8 of Book Advent – Songspinners by Sarah Ash. Architects of an ancient Undercity lost to myth; a world of mystical reservoirs, musical telepathy, faeries & dragonfly, where music is forbidden, yet flows like water from Orial. Intricately woven, evocative and beautiful.
Day 7 of Book Advent – Octavia E. Butler, The Last Interview. I savoured every word. ‘Feminism is freedom. It’s the freedom to be who you are and not who someone else wants you to be. And science fiction? Science fiction is wide open. You can go anywhere your imagination can go.’
Day 6 of Book Advent – The Second Bell by Gabriela Houston, one of my all-time fave reads. Salka was born a striga, a girl with two hearts. In a world that believes her to be a monster, she is considered a demon, abandoned into exile. But Salka is drawn to her true nature.
Day 5 of Book Advent – Danged Black Thing by Eugen Bacon, a unique & inventive collection of shorts traversing the west & Africa, bringing tales of migration, gender & class, patriarchy & womanhood, pushing boundaries of creativity & science, revenge, aliens, ancestors & beasts.
Day 4 of Book Advent – A Master of Djinn by P.Djeli Clark, with a secret brotherhood, a Soudanese mystic, an assassin with powerful magic, sorcery conjured in hookah smoke, gold masks, ghouls & elemental djinn, this is a mystical tale of identity, exploitation, oppression & magic.
Day 3 of Book Advent – Fire Logic by Laurie Marks, epic war fantasy with guerrilla warfare among the farmsteads and iron workers, with a wonderfully diverse cast reflecting the equality they are fighting for, and elemental magic and touches of fantasy bringing colour to life.
Day 2 of Book Advent – The Subjugate by Amanda Bridgeman; in a watchful world humanity is complemented by AI, cities are ruled by security companies, murder is commonplace & violent criminals face extreme ‘treatments’. An intriguing future dystopia tackling big questions.
Day 1 of Book Advent – Dark Matter by Michelle Paver, deliciously creepy & atmospheric, with Jack Miller on an arctic mission where a malevolent spirit walks the icy wilderness. Lethal accidents, marauding bears, science, madness & terror. Lingering dread and fabulously haunting.
Happy Reading
&
Wishing you a wonderful and magical, book-filled Xmas.
💫
