Let’s not mince words here. My TBR is spiralling out of control. Before we take rereading plans into account, I’ve got a sturdy stack of some forty-nine books to read. Granted, there are only a few that I would think of as long, and some of them are downright slender, but forty-nine books is still a sizable stack. Definitely enough to see me through the summer if my current reading pace continues. In June I’ll be making a trip that will likely lead to another TBR expansion, so now is the time to get this unwieldy behemoth under control.

It is with this in mind that I declare May to be Mass Market Month. So many of the books in my TBR are in digestible, portable, mass market paperback format, so I’m committing to reading as many of those as possible. I’m starting the month with Stephen Baxter’s Time and will hopefully head into Space soon after. Jack McDevitt is sure to make an appearance now that I’ve got three of his books on my TBR, and my foray into S.L. Viehl’s StarDoc universe has been extended by the discovery of a spin-off series.

Other books that are calling to me include the remainder of the Star Trek: The Lost Era series, which will fill in several key gaps in my Trek library, Robert Charles Wilson’s Spin, which has been on my TBR for far too long, and the brilliantly titled The Battle at the Moons of Hell by Graham Paul Sharp. If I fancy tackling something a little longer, I’ve somehow ended up with the first and third book’s in Gary Gibson’s Shoal Sequence.

In fact there are a fair few books in my TBR that are continuations or conclusions of stories I haven’t yet started. This is always a risk when you buy second hand, but I’m hoping by the time I’ve read all the standalones and series openers in my TBR I’ll be in a better place to approach those later volumes. If not, I’ll probably dive right in anyway.

There’s always the chance that I’ll need a break from all these mass markets. if I do, I’ll probably tackle some of the newer books on my list. That means Hell’s Las by Justin D Hill, Princess of Dune by Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson, and The Mercy of Gods by James S. A. Corey are all in my peripheral vision.

Outside of a frenetic reading pace, my plan for May is to take things easy. I’ve spent a lot of 2025 either stressed to the point of breaking, or firing like crazy on all cylinders. Things seem like they might be settling down, so I’m making the most of a good opportunity, and kicking back and relaxing.

Dates for your Diary

May is looking to be a quiet month on the SF release front, which means we can all take a deep breath, loosen our hold on our wallets, and tuck into those books we’ve already bought. Star Wars: Andor‘s second (and final) season continues to release in three episode instalments, so I will be glued to my screen for a few weeks yet, but I am otherwise enjoying a fair bit of non-SF TV. Shocking, I know, but it’s true.

As always, if I’ve overlooked something, or there’s something you want to me to discuss on the blog, just drop me a line in the comments.