Editorial – July 2025

It is amazing how much difference having travel time makes to my reading. When I am on trains or aircraft I can often race through novels. When I am not going anywhere, or only going places by car, or going places but with a companion, no reading gets done. Thankfully this issue benefitted from a bunch of other things to talk about. But I do need to finish some of the books I am reading before next issue.

I did at least manage to get this one out on time. I am not actually going anywhere much in August, which is a bit of a relief. I haven’t even got Worldcon in my diary. Maybe the reading time will come.

I’m putting the finishing touches to this issue while (virtually) attending the Science Fiction Research Association’s annual conference. The title of the event is Trans People are (in) the Future. I have heard lots of great papers already. It is good to see how much scholarship there is on trans-themed SF&F these days, and how many trans scholars are doing it. Despite the massive social backlash against trans folks that is currently taking place, I like to think that we have made a big enough impact on society that it will be impossible for the likes of (t)Rump and Starmer to erase us entirely.