Books Best of 2025 Some of Reactor’s Best Articles About Fiction, Reading, and Writing in 2025 We’re looking back at some of our favorite non-fiction articles from the past year, highlighting book-centric essays. By Reactor | Published on December 16, 2025 Comment 0 Share New Share Welcome back to our annual round-up of some of our favorite essays and articles from the past year! Today, we’ll be highlighting pieces focused on reading, writing, storytelling, and all things book-related—very soon, we’ll be publishing a separate list of articles discussing TV, movies, and other media, so keep an eye out for that… In addition to these standalone essays, we’re also incredibly proud of our lineup of regular columns, along with the amazing array of fiction recommendations and discussion provided by our many wonderful contributors. This year we reached the end of Sam Reader’s Dissecting The Dark Descent series, which explored a classic anthology of horror fiction, and launched two new columns: Horror Highlights, in which Emily Hughes shines a spotlight on exciting new horror fiction each month, and Romantasy Report, Natalie Zutter’s rundown of new and upcoming romantasy titles. We’ve also been excited to launch Ruthanna Emrys’ brilliant biweekly Seeds of Story column, in which she explores works of non-fiction and how they might inspire speculative ideas and potential stories—you can read some highlights from that column below! Also featured below are the first four installments of our new Hidden Gems Book Club, which sees guest authors advocating for speculative works that deserve to be discussed and appreciated by a wider audience. We hope that you enjoy the articles we’ve included below, but of course, we can’t possibly include all of our favorites in just one list, so please chime in and tell us about the articles, columns, and discussions that have stuck with you this year… Examining Trends in Contemporary SFF The Necessary Sex Scene: Intimacy as Craft in N.K. Jemisin’s The Fifth Season by Tiffany FritzJune 25, 2025 Tiffany Fritz on the “plot relevance” of sex scenes in contemporary SFF: “because the sordid details of the sex scenes in The Fifth Season do not directly impact its plot, Jemisin’s celebrated novel provides a master-class in how explicit sex scenes can benefit SFF stories.” The Problem With Trad Pub Fanfic by Jenny HamiltonSeptember 23, 2025 Jenny Hamilton looks closer at three recent fanfics-turned-novels: “It turns out that when you extract fanfic from the spaces and communities that made it special, it stops being special.” Everyone’s in Love, but Nobody’s Horny by C.L. ClarkSeptember 30, 2025 C.L. Clark discusses writing sex, desire, and queerness in Nicola Griffith’s Ammonite: “When you introduce desire, you introduce something that may be thwarted—or something that you will have to work for, strive for, maybe even change for.” Medieval Revival, Romance, and Resistance by Maddie MartinezOctober 20, 2025 Maddie Martinez discusses the growing trend of Lady Knights and Golems: “Knights and Golems are both painted as protectors, but feared as weapons. They are loyal to a cause—and to a fault—and have become mythologizations that we still share stories of today.” Tender Is the Flesh-Eating: The Literary Cannibal as Exploitation and Desire by Wen-yi LeeNovember 11, 2025 It’s chic, it’s tasteful, and it’s dominating the literary landscape. Readers are hungry, so let’s examine cannibalism’s relationship to revenge, exploitation, and desire… Author Insights How Chronic Pain Made Me a Better Writer by Nicole JarvisMay 6, 2025 “When each sentence was part of an hourglass that trickled away my endurance, I learned to work deliberately and thoroughly.” Seventeen Authors, Two Big Questions: What Is Your Favorite SFF Trope, and What Trope Needs To Be Reimagined? by Christina OrlandoAugust 12, 2025 Some of the biggest names in SFF weigh in on the genre tropes we love (and love to hate). Chuck Tingle Chats About Bi-Erasure, Andy Kaufman, and His New Novel by Leah Schnelbach August 14, 2025 A free-wheeling conversation with author Chuck Tingle, as he discusses his unique approach to writing horror: “In horror, you’re tapping into such brutal things. You’re proving love through some really dark stuff.” Asking Questions and Finding New Perspectives on SFF Exploring the Consequences of Magic in Modern Fantasy by Kristen PattersonFebruary 19, 2025 What happens when magic is misused, or has unintended repercussions? Kristen Patterson explores the different ways contemporary fantasy authors not only define their magic systems, but the consequences of its very existence. How Does Science Fiction Help Us Prepare for the Future? by Ruthanna EmrysApril 8, 2025 Let’s talk about preparing, not predicting — and grappling with uncertainty. Teatime in Space: Culture and Colonialism in SFF by Olivia WaiteApril 22, 2025 “Tea is a history, a context, an experience as well as a beverage. Tea means things. ” Olivia Waite examines two very different corners of the science fiction universe, linked by a love of tea… To New Beginnings: Growing Past Percy Jackson by AM Gelberg On aging past our childhood heroes, and leaving room for the next generation of fans. Revisting Classic Works What I Can Learn From Rand al’Thor’s Mental Health Journeyby Sylas K. BarrettJune 10, 2025 Accepting you cannot control every outcome of your choices is hard — for Rand, and for everyone… An Anti-Hero Predicts the Future in Graham Greene’s Classic Brighton Rock by Zack BudrykJune 17, 2025 Heaven was a word — Hell was something he could trust. The Ambiguous Realism of Ursula K. Le Guin’s Lost Trilogy by Peter Milne GreinerJuly 16, 2025 It’s time to reconsider one of Le Guin’s most vitally important works. Exploring Gender and Trans Identity in the Worlds of C.J. Cherryh by Gwen C. KatzSeptember 16, 2025 The Chanur series poses key questions about gender roles, expression, and identity. Stanislaw Lem’s Greatest Character: An Introduction to Ijon Tichy by Alex PrzybylaOctober 2, 2025 A lovable, honest bumbler, Tichy’s not your typical hero… Revisiting Patricia McKillip’s Timely, Timeless Fantasy by Alex DuebenNovember 5, 2025 A short tribute to the work of one of SFF’s greatest writers and storytellers. Selections from Ruthanna Emrys’ Seeds of Story Column Underground Brains and Talking Trees: Exploring the Mysteries of Fungi in Merlin Sheldrake’s Entangled LifeAugust 12, 2025 A fascinating, mind-altering journey into the world of mushrooms and mycology. The Perils of Learning Alien Languages: The Sapir-Whorf Linguistic Relativity HypothesisSeptember 9, 2025 Thinking about how language shapes the way we think, from Newspeak to texting and the Internet. Radioactive Wastelands and Also Legal Wrangling: Kelly and Zach Weinersmith’s A City on MarsOctober 7, 2025 Real talk about how we can settle space — and if it’s really a good idea. There Is No “Now”: Carlo Rovelli’s The Order of TimeNovember 18, 2025 Are you ready to rethink everything you know about time? Selections from Molly Templeton’s Mark as Read Column Trying and Failing to Figure Out “Escapism” in BooksJanuary 9, 2025 What is escapist lit? Every answer I’ve read is incomplete, because it’s not one thing. It’s not a kind of book, I think, but a kind of reading… Tell Me a Differently Shaped Story: SFF That Plays With FormMarch 13, 2025 I love a novel that plays with form. And I’ve come to think that maybe form is one of the keys that can unlock a reading slump… It’s Okay to Know Where the Story Is GoingMay 8, 2025 It’s a cliche and a truth to say that the journey matters more than the destination… (It’s Not) The Death of Criticism (Again)September 11, 2025 Every old argument is new again — but it is sometimes necessary to reconsider the hows and whys of criticism. Selections from the Hidden Gems Book Club The Merry Spinster and the Art of Falling Between Two Stools by Isaac FellmanJune 4, 2025 Revisiting Daniel M. Lavery’s surreal take on fairy tales: “These stories center on prosaic fears—being lied to about your own motivations, being the only one in the room who’s missing the obvious, failing as a partner, being surveilled—which blend with supernatural events. They wrong-foot the reader by simply being alarming in a realist way when you expect the fantastical, or vice versa.” Rediscovering a Radical Piece of Early Science Fiction by Ilana MasadSeptember 25, 2025 Ilana Masad explores a feminist, queer, trans, anti-colonial work of sci-fi from 1929: “Out of the Void is arguably one of the most radical pieces of early sci-fi in existence, including as it does a gender transition, a successful uprising of enslaved people, and a reclamation of colonized land.” Style as Storytelling in Jackie Ryan’s Burger Force by Kathleen JenningsSeptember 29, 2025 Kathleen Jennings on the gleeful aesthetic and storytelling style of Ryan’s comic series: “Bold style can get you 90% of the way through a story. Take a wild story voice, an overwhelming aesthetic, a visual composition reminiscent of an aria, or an incredible musical motif…” Mary Doria Russell’s Children of God Is a Perfect Sequel by Cadwell TurnbullNovember 12, 2025 Cadwell Turnbull on the triumph and tragedy of Mary Doria Russell’s first contact novel and its remarkable sequel: “If The Sparrow shows the tragedy, Children of God inspects it from every angle, showing how each character, and each world respond to this tragedy.” That’s all for now, but be sure to keep an eye out for the second half of our 2025 highlights, where we’ll be talking all about old and new movies, TV series, and various other aspects of pop culture and media. In the meantime, if you’re feeling nostalgic, you can always check out our “Some of the Best…” article round-ups from previous years. Happy reading![end-mark] The post Some of Reactor’s Best Articles About Fiction, Reading, and Writing in 2025 appeared first on Reactor.