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Our home page colour this season is green now that we have the northern hemisphere summer.
The fields and gardens are blooming....
June-July 2026 news
ONE FOR THE DIARY! The 2026 Royal Society Summer Exhibition will be 30th June 5th July at the Royal Society, 6 9 Carlton House Terrace, London, SW1Y 5AG. This free annual event is a must for anyone into science. There are over a dozen exhibit stands on research topics staffed by students with a lead researcher also present (should you work in the field and want a deeper discussion). As usual, the event is free and there is a tea-coffee area. Among this year's treats, there are SFnally-adjacent topics such as: simulating the Universe, more environmentally sustainable supercomputers, Simons Observatory astronomy, robotic assembly, and exploring the dark universe with Euclid. SF² Concatenation's top tip is to avoid the weekends which are invariably jam-packed and rammed with children.
17th 24th May 2026 news
MISSED THE SCI-FI LONDON FILM FEST?! SF film buffs can still see the Sci-Fi London short films, all 7.5 hours worth for just £15 (That's about US$20 in Mega-City One terms.) The films will be available online from 17th 24th May 2026 and presented in five batches as were the shorts session at the live film fest itself. You are going to need to buy an online shorts pass, having created an account with an name and password of your choice, your e-mail then pay by PayPal. Couldn't be easier. The 2025 fest is reviewed here. Make the most of this event while we still have it; its leading lights are getting on.
Sci-Fi London's 48 Hour Challenge top ten available for free!
For those who do not want to pay for the shorts, or register an account, you can still get a taste of what the Sci-Fi London fest was like by seeing the top ten finalists for the 48-Hour Challenge. This is where film makers are given a line of dialogue to include and a prop before making a short SF film over a weekend. All the Sci-Fi London top ten finalists can be seen here.
Sci-Fi London -- Where 'What If' meets 'WTF'!
Late April 2026 news
The Hugo Awards short-lists. These have been announced. Voting by members of the 2026 Worldcons to determine the winners begins in May. The principal two categories' short-lists are:
Best Novel
A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett
Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor
Shroud by Adrian Tchaikovsky
The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow
The Incandescent by Emily Tesh
The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson
Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form
Andor (Season 2)
Frankenstein
KPop Demon Hunters
Mickey 17
Sinners
Superman
At the beginning of January, right at the start of the year, the SF² Concatenation team had its usual annual, informal poll as to the best SF books and films of the year. It is interesting to note that the novels Death of the Author, Shroud and The Incandescent made the cut. On the films front, we rated Frankenstein and Sinners.
March 2026 news
60th anniversary Star Trek news. London's world-famous Science Museum in Kensington, has partnered with Star Trek on a programme of activity to celebrate 60 years of the science fiction classic. This includes special IMAX screenings digitised specifically. The Star Trek Trail will be part of the celebration and runs to September (2026). This free trail will feature iconic objects from the franchise's archives and include screen-used props. And there is Star Trek merch too. This is exclusive anniversary merchandise developed by the Science Museum and is available to purchase on-site in the Star Trek takeover of the mezzanine level of the museum shop from Thursday 26 March (2026). Search 'Star Trek at 60' on the Science Museum website sciencemuseum.ac.uk
New up...
Our 'summer'* season edition is now up with its own seasonal news page, other articles and a tranche of standalone book reviews, mid-April.
* 'Summer' season here being the northern hemisphere, academic year summer.
(Summer edition Facebook alert for sharing/commenting etc)
A Best of Nature 'Futures' short story went up mid-March (2026). This is the first of four short, short stories that will be posted beteween our three seasonal, news, article and reviews editions of the year.
There should be something for every SF enthusiast and/or science bod.
☺
For details of / links to the new content, scroll down to beneath 'Most recently added' below.
Forthcoming
A Best of Nature 'Futures' short story will go up mid-July (2026). This will be the second of our four short, short stories that will be posted beteween our three seasonal, news, article and reviews editions of the year. The science journal Nature posts these short, short stories roughly weekly, but they are behind a pay-wall. However, to enable a broader appreciation by the science community (not all of whom will have a Nature subscription) we have a long-standing arrangement with the journal to re-post four stories that we think are the best of the 60 or so stories from the previous year. (Subject, of course, to the permission of the stories authors' permission.)
What's not to like?
Most recently added
v36(3) 2026.4.15 -- New Columns & Articles for the Summer 2026
v36(3) 2026.4.15 -- Science Fiction & Fantasy Book Reviews
v36(3) 2026.4.15 -- Non-Fiction SF & Science Fact Book Reviews
v36(2) 2026.3.15 -- A new story from the Nature Futures series
v36(1) 2026.1.15 -- New Columns & Articles for the Spring 2026
- Newscast for the Spring 2026. This includes within it many key sections. See also the master newscast link index that connects to all its SF/F genre and science news sub-sections. In the mix are its Film News; Television News; Publishing News; General Science News and Forthcoming SF Books from major British Isles SF imprints for the season subsections, among much else.
(If you are on Facebook and wish to comment/like/emoji any of the following articles then you can do so here.)
- Best Science Fiction of 2025: books and films SF² Concatenation team
Each Christmas, the team puts forward their suggestions as to the best SF of the year and we list the most suggested. It is just a bit of fun but scroll down and you'll see, with past years' performance, that it has form.
(Facebook Alert specifically for this post here)
- 2025 SF Film Top Ten Chart and Other Worthies
(All past annual film charts are archive indexed here)
- Sinners Jonathan Cowie
Sinners, part historical US racial emancipation story, part blues musical and part traditional vampire offering, is set to take the 2026 cinematic awards scene by storm. It could even possibly get short-listed for some SF/F awards?
- Glasgow The 2024 SF Worldcon Peter Tyers
Our previous reviews of the physical convention as well as the online virtual convention (and also here) were covered by newcomers to the Worldcon. Conversely, this review is by a seasoned veteran of several Worldcons over the decades.
- Glasgow 2024: Publications Policy Part 2 - What actually happened Peter Tyers
Following on from the 2024 Glasgow Worldcon, and a report on how they were planning to deliver their publications, what actually happened: what worked as they promised, and what did not!
- Has the Science Fiction Worldcon shot itself in the foot? Jonathan Cowie
The past half-decade the Worldcon has seen multiple failures of adherence to its own constitution. This breakdown in good governance is undermining credibility in the Worldcon brand. The recent history of governance collapse is recounted step-by-step. It reveals that enough is enough and that many fans may now be withdrawing tens of thousands of pounds worth of financial support!
- To Mask or Not to Mask, That is the Muffled Question Peter Tyers
Following vaccine roll out four years ago, the worst of the CoVID-19 years are very much over. So what of masking policies at SF conventions?
- SF Convention Listing & Film Diary with links to con sites and film trailers
The list of the major, fan run, national and international level, SF cons and British Isles general release film diary.
- Ten Years Ago Exactly. One from the archives.
British Fantasycon 2015 Ian Hunter
- Twenty Years Ago Exactly. One from the archives.
Accelerando by Charles Stross (book review)
v36(1) 2026.1.15 -- Science Fiction & Fantasy Book Reviews
v36(1) 2026.1.15 -- Non-Fiction SF & Science Fact Book Reviews
v35(7) 2025.12.15 -- A new story from the Nature Futures series
v35(6) 2025.11.15 -- A new story from the Nature Futures series
- Carousel (1-page PDF short story) - Liam Hogan
Suspended animation enables those who can afford it a somewhat different perspective. Have a good day.
(And don't forget to scroll down below the end of the tale to get 'the story behind the story'.)
v35(5) 2025.9.15 -- New Columns & Articles for the Autumn 2025
Full 'What's New' list
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