There is no TBR & BEYOND this month. Partly because I am massively jetlagged after flying across the Atlantic yesterday, but also because this is the part of the year where release schedules wind down and I slow down to take stock of my reading options. Happily, there are people to help me in my decision-making.

For a reader like me, every month is sci-fi month. Except last month, but that’s a discussion for next week. The point is that I read almost exclusively science fiction, and I don’t care who knows it. Not everyone is as unhealthily single-minded as me, however, and thus we have #SciFiMonth, in which blogs around the world take up the noble cause of chatting about all things outer space. There are daily blogging prompts (which I have a tendency to either ignore or mangle) and a bunch of buddy reads too.

The first of the month is when we assemble our TBRs, but when I see those formidable stacks (46 books at the time of writing), I do feel a little overwhelmed. So I’m going to throw it out to the public. I’ve bundled like books together, but there’s a real diverse crowds out there. What should my focus be?

Short and Sweet. I read a lot of short stories last month, and could easily keep that going with authors like H.G. Wells and H. Beam Piper. There’s also novellas from Mack Reynolds, and some shorter vintage SF from David Lindsay, Jack Williamson, Hal Clement, and Norman Spinrad.

Go Hard or Go Home. Unsurprisingly, Hard SF dominates my shelves. There’s a whole bunch of Stephen Baxter. A terrific-looking trio from Jack McDevitt, my first ever Charles Stross, and some more adventures from the Grand Tour courtesy of Ben Bova.

Franchises and Followers. Star Trek is a regular feature of my TBR stacks, and this month is no exception. Almost every classic series has representation here, from TOS to Voyager, and a bonus appearance from New Frontier. Not to be outdone, my Warhammer TBR has steadily increased in size these past few months. And then there are those series that continue on after the death of the original author, as I’ve got more of Asimov’s Robots courtesy of of Mickey Zucker Reichert, and a pair of Little Fuzzy novels licensed by the estate of H. Beam Piper.

New and Shiny. I’ve been saving up on 2024 releases all year. There’s new stuff in my TBR from Jack Campbell, Adam Roberts, Christopher Ruocchio, and Adrian Tchaikovsky. Some real heavy hitters of the genre that I should probably read before the annual Boundy Awards in December.

Odds and Ends. As ever, there are some books that defy categorisation. Books like Michael Crichton’s Sphere, Ann leckie’s Ancillary Justice, Robert Charles Wilson’s Spin, and Charles L. Harmess’ The Paradox Men. Could one of these be my next obsession? there’s only one way to find out.

So there you have it. My TBR is (partly) in your hands. What should I be reading? let me know in the comments, or on social media.