After two years of reviewing new science fiction and fantasy books for the New York Times Book Review’s Otherworldly column, N.K. Jemisin is stepping down to focus on various book projects, including her forthcoming contemporary fantasy novel and guest-editing The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2018.
But Otherworldly will live on! Amal El-Mohtar will take over the helm from Jemisin beginning next month.
El-Mohtar is a Hugo, Nebula, and Locus-winning writer (“Seasons of Glass and Iron”) and critic who has reviewed SFF works for NPR and elsewhere. Her flash fiction “Anabasis” was featured on Tor.com as part of the Nevertheless She Persisted collection on International Women’s Day 2017. Her novella This Is How You Lose the Time War, co-written with Max Gladstone, will be published by Saga Press in 2019.
“I’m especially fascinated by books that don’t want to save the world so much as break or dislocate it further, in order to build something better in its wake,” El-Mohtar said in the New York Times’ press release. “Fantasy and science fiction have long had at their heart the question of how to be good, and the 20th century’s shifting visions from monoliths of Good and Evil to the more complicated battle between individuals and systems has been a wild ride. I’m excited to see it develop further.”
She also excitedly shared the news on Twitter:
Following in the steps of giants, coming after @nkjemisin! ❤️
— Amal El-Mohtar (@tithenai) January 29, 2018
Look for El-Mohtar’s first Otherworldly column in late February. In the meantime, if you missed out on El-Mohtar, Maria Dahvana Headley, and Brooke Bolander in conversation about The Only Harmless Great Thing, our writeup will make you feel like you were there!
