Neon Hemlock's Fav Titles of 2025

Better late than never….just like last year, we asked Neon Hemlock authors and editors about their fav reads of 2025. We didn’t restrict them to books published this year, though.

S. M. Mack, author of Death Valley Blooms:

A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik

“I went feral over this one. Intricate worldbuilding and fantastic writing.”

Christopher Caldwell, author of Call and Response:

Psychopomp and Circumstance by Eden Royce

The Villla, Once Beloved by Victor Manibo.

“I've been on a gothic kick, and both of these scratched that itch in different ways.”

Ursula Whitcher, author of North Continent Ribbon

The Incandescent by Emily Tesh

“I don't think of myself as a disaster bisexual, but this book offers a genuine PhD-level disaster. Come for the gorgeous woman with a sword, stay for the pedagogy lecture delivered while battling a demonic bus.”

A.Z. Louise, author of Off-Time Jive

Nav's Foolproof Guide to Falling in Love by Jessica Lewis

In a year when joy has been hard to find, I've gravitated toward queer romantic comedies and middle grade fantasy. This book made me kick my feet and squeal the most . It’s an adorable sapphic YA romcom that touches on serious subjects with love and grace and will absolutely make you say "oh, honey, no" whenever Nav gets up to some classic teen shenanigans.

Thomas Bulen Jacobs, author of Cyberscion

Benjamin Labatut's "When We Cease to Understand the World."

Part history of quantum physics, part cautionary tale on the responsibility of mathematicians, part fiction, it's like getting into a speedboat and stopping only when you fly off the edge of the world.

Ken Liu's "The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories"

Some of the smartest Sci-Fi I've ever read, with brain-bending ideas, compelling characters and profound ruminations on our relationship to technology.

Eboni Dunbar, author of Stone and Steel

Monk & Robot Series by Becky Chambers

I finally read these and I just loved it. the perfect balm for the soul given the world in which we find ourselves living at the moment. 

Cinder House by Freya Marske

Such a unique retelling of the Cinderella story. The magic was lovely, the romance sweet and it was just so wonderful. 

Faebound by Saara El-Arifi

I loved the magic, the worldbuilding and the romances. Still working my way through the second installment but this book was really inspiring.

E. Catherine Tobler, author of The Necessity of Stars

Novels:

The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow, Katabasis by RF Kuang), Black Silk by Judith Ivory, Girl in the Creek by Wendy Wagner, Orbital by Samantha Harvey, The West Passage by Jared Pechaček, The Midnight Bargain by CL Polk. 

Nonfiction:

Stories Are Weapons by Analee Newitz, How to Write an Autobiographical Novel by Alexander Chee, Journals of Lewis and Clark, Spring Summer Asteroid Bird by Henry Lien, Good Things by Samin Nosrat.

Novellas:

No Such Thing as Duty by Lara Elena Donnelly, The Dead Withheld by LD Lewis. 

Novelette: “The Other Lives of Altagracia Sanchez“ by Felicia Martinez.

“As usual, my reading was all over the place. A true comfort, given the year 2025 turned into for me. Build a book fort with these. “