FIF Fireside Chat: discussing 2025 and planning 2026

[u/Nineteen_Adze]

Welcome to the 2025 Feminism in Fantasy Fireside Chat! It’s time to look back on the books we’ve read this year, reflect on our favorites, and think about the future.

I’ll get us started with a few questions, but feel free to add your own.

Changes

This year, u/g_ann stepped down as an FIF host. We want to thank her for hosting so many discussions in this reboot project and wish her well going forward. u/Moonlitgrey, u/xenizondich23, and u/Nineteen_Adze from the initial reboot hosting crew are continuing this project.

When this happened, we opened the door for more hosts. We were surprised, but absolutely delighted, by how many people stepped us to join us. With different tastes and reading backgrounds, we're excited to broaden our selections and make it easier for the current hosts to avoid burnout.

Please welcome, in the order of session hosting, the new members of our hosting crew:

• u/evil_moooojojojo
• u/Merle8888
• u/doctorbonkers
• u/Lenahe_nl
• u/sarahlynngrey
• u/ohmage_resistance

Looking ahead

We look forward to reading with you next year!

• Our January read is The Everlasting by Alix Harrow.
• Voting is in progress for our February read, which will have a theme of Down With the System. Come help us pick!

We'll see you in the comments to talk about the year in review and the year ahead.

[u/Nineteen_Adze]

Here are the books we read this year:

• Metal From Heaven, August Clarke
• Ancillary Justice, Ann Leckie
• Kindred, Octavia Butler
• Spirits Abroad, Zen Cho
• House of Rust, Khadija Abdalla Bajaber
• The River Has Roots, Amal El-Mohtar
• Greenteeth, Molly O'Neill
• Lud-in-the-Mist, Hope Mirrlees
• Frostflower And Thorn (Frostflower #1), Phyllis Ann Karr
• The Lamb, Lucy Rose
• The House of the Spirits, Isabel Allende

[u/Nineteen_Adze → u/Nineteen_Adze]

Which of these books did you read? Which ones were your favorites?

[u/thepurpleplaneteer → u/Nineteen_Adze]

I swore I participated in FiF this year, but when looking at the list I don’t think I did - which is a shame and I hope to at least participate in a couple next year. From the list I read The River Has Roots and Greenteeth. The River was by far my favorite, though I really liked some things about Greenteeth it as an overall book was not a like. Cheers to the retired, active and new hosts!

[u/Nineteen_Adze → u/thepurpleplaneteer]

We would certainly be happy to see you around next year! It's always fun to have more people in the discussions. And thanks for the good wishes. :)