Recs if you like Call and Response...

Books that have been shortlisted for the Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction. I compiled this list because the criteria (and Le Guin's works) resonate with me:

"The Prize will be given to a writer whose work reflects the concepts and ideas that were central to Ursula’s own work, including but not limited to: hope, equity, and freedom; non-violence and alternatives to conflict; and a holistic view of humanity’s place in the natural world."

Nominees for the Ursula K Le Guin Prize for for Fiction, awarded since 2022 for imaginative fiction. (Mostly I have made this because they're always really great picks and I want to work my way through all of them.)

Books published by the queer, indie, speculative fiction press Neon Hemlock

The shortlist for the Ursula K. Le Guin Prize in 2026

Pulled from Reactor Magazine's (Tor.com) announcement. See the article for a list of short stories as well.

Works not in database: We Begin Where Infinity Ends - Somto Ihezue The Tin Man's Ghost - Ray Nayler The Millay Illusion - Sarah Pinsker When He Calls Your Name - Catherynne M. Valente The Twenty-One Second God - Peter Watts Night & Day - ed. Ellen Datlow Starling House - Alix E. Harrow (ILLUSTRATED EDITION, ILLUS. BY ROVINA CAI) Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene Volumes 1-3 (graphic adaptation)

Note: The Revelation Space Collection by Alastair Reynolds is actually for volumes 1 & 2

In her words, this prize is for "realists of a larger reality, who can imagine real grounds for hope and see alternatives to how we live now." Usually these books are all amazing, so I wanted a place where I can see all of them. Hopefully this helps someone else too :)

I've challenged myself to read all the shortlisted books for this year's prize before October 21st when they announce the winner!

Titles not available on PageBound: Descent by Wole Talabi (Clarkesworld Magazine) Novella Novelettes Human Voices by Isabel J. Kim (Lightspeed Magazine) We Begin Where Infinity Ends by Somto Ihezue (Clarkesworld) Short Stories Autogas Ferryman by Champ Wongsatayanont (Nightmate Magazine) Because I Held His Name Like a Key - Aimee Ogden (Strange Horizons) Commensalism, Or the Labyrinth's Vessels - Albert Nkereuwem (Will This Be a Problem) Ichthyosis by M.L. Krishnan (Fantasy Magazine) The Octopus Dreams of Personhood by Hannah Yang (Diabolical Plots) Poetry After the Storm – Ishita Basu Mallik (The Deadlands) In an attempt to seduce Death my sister starts calling him Love – Karan Kapoor (Strange Horizons) Set It Off (1996) – Fans’ Cut – Nova Cypress Black (Strange Horizons) The Language of Fireflies – Angela Liu (The Deadlands) The oblique light at Kakushima (a memory of persimmons) – Ryu Ando | 安堵 龍 (Strange Horizons) Narrative Non-fiction A Conjuror’s Manifesto: Notes on the Afrosurreal – Shyheim Williams (Strange Horizons) Photon Torpedoes Break the Space Muqarnas: SFF Audiovisuals and Anti-Muslim Violence – Tanvir Ahmed (Strange Horizons) Positive Obsession: The Life and Times of Octavia E. Butler – Susana M. Morris (Amistad) The Outspoken and the Incendiary – Terry Bisson (PM Press) The Secret History of Indian Science Fiction – Gautam Bhatia (Alter Magazine) Other categories not listed include Community Award, Ember Award, Podcasts, Critics