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mondyboy74.bsky.social
Ian Mond
@mondyboy74.bsky.social
1.5K followers 460 following 810 posts
I write reviews for Locus Magazine. I had a podcast called Writer and the Critic which I co-hosted with Kirstyn McDermott. The episodes are out there. I love the Carlton Football club. What more do you need to know!?
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mondyboy74.bsky.social
Ian Mond @mondyboy74.bsky.social · Nov 8
I’m pinning this to encourage small presses to send their work to Locus for review (speculative work, of course). It’s the small presses that produce the most interesting and ground breaking work.

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mondyboy74.bsky.social
Ian Mond @mondyboy74.bsky.social · 2h
To be fair, my brother and I became obsessed with it.
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Ian Mond @mondyboy74.bsky.social · 2h
So many great moments and great lines.
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Ian Mond @mondyboy74.bsky.social · 2h
Your loss! Terrific film to watch with mates.
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Ian Mond @mondyboy74.bsky.social · 1d
It’s wonderfully bonkers.
mondyboy74.bsky.social
Ian Mond @mondyboy74.bsky.social · 1d
Just finished it and preparing my review for Locus. It’s terrific.
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Ian Mond @mondyboy74.bsky.social · 1d
And Mervyn Peake!
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mondyboy74.bsky.social
Ian Mond @mondyboy74.bsky.social · 2d
Gonna be close to one of my best books of the year. Lots of subversive, tawdry, knowing fun.
locusmag.bsky.social
Locus Magazine @locusmag.bsky.social · 4d
Check out @mondyboy74.bsky.social’s review of KALIVAS! OR ANOTHER TEMPEST by Nick Mamatas: “His work reminds us, however fleeting, that the world is still capable of creativity and magic.”
Kalivas! Or, Another Tempest by Nick Mamatas: Review by Ian Mond
Kalivas! Or, Another Tempest, Nick Mamatas (CLASH 978-1-96098-879-9, $17.95, 230pp, tp) September 2025. Any year – no matter how miserable – that sees the release of a novel by Nick Mamatas is wort…
locusmag.com
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Ian Mond @mondyboy74.bsky.social · 2d
Or is it Quatermass…
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Ian Mond @mondyboy74.bsky.social · 2d
Got a Yeti problem do you Mark?
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mondyboy74.bsky.social
Ian Mond @mondyboy74.bsky.social · 6d
My magnificent and brave colleague @niallharrison.bsky.social is reviewing it for Locus. For my sins (though self enforced as I asked to do it), I’m reviewing Tom’s Crossing which is also 1,200 pages. I might read Ice, but not this year. I’ve read some massive books in 2025.
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mondyboy74.bsky.social
Ian Mond @mondyboy74.bsky.social · 7d
I enjoyed this, but I don’t want my science fiction now to be like this.
Books Read: Second Foundation by Isaac Asimov
It’s fun. Silly. But fun.
open.substack.com
mondyboy74.bsky.social
Ian Mond @mondyboy74.bsky.social · 8d
It’s very very good and very very depressing.
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Ian Mond @mondyboy74.bsky.social · 8d
Ooooo. Loved The Coral Bones.
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Ian Mond @mondyboy74.bsky.social · 9d
Thanks!
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Ian Mond @mondyboy74.bsky.social · 11d
The final book of the Gormenghast trilogy has a bad rap. But it’s brilliant. a different sort of brilliant.
Books Read: Titus Alone by Mervyn Peake
Bye bye Titus. I’ll miss you.
open.substack.com
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mondyboy74.bsky.social
Ian Mond @mondyboy74.bsky.social · 15d
Fair enough. The review is on Goodreads as well under my name.
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Ian Mond @mondyboy74.bsky.social · 15d
There’s a world where this wins all the awards next year. I’d like to be in that world.
Books Read: A Granite Silence by Nina Allan
This is the best book of the year. Hopefully, it gets the love it deserves (but I’m not holding my breath).
open.substack.com
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mondyboy74.bsky.social
Ian Mond @mondyboy74.bsky.social · 15d
*It’s the second longest novel I’ll read this year. The longest was Miss Macintosh, My Darling which is close to 700,000 words and took me six months to read. I don’t have the luxury of six months with Tom’s Crossing.
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Ian Mond @mondyboy74.bsky.social · 15d
Mark Z. Danielewski’s Tom’s Crossing is 1234 pages long and clocks in at just over 550,000 words. I am reviewing it for Locus. (I said I would). I’m sure it will be a breeze.*
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Ian Mond @mondyboy74.bsky.social · 16d
I LOVED this book.
locusmag.bsky.social
Locus Magazine @locusmag.bsky.social · 16d
“DWELLING may not be the antidote to all the horror and violence we’re witnessing daily, but it made me happy and that’s not nothing.” @mondyboy74.bsky.social reviews new work from Emily Hunt Kivel
Dwelling by Emily Hunt Kivel: Review by Ian Mond
I can pinpoint the exact moment I fell in love with Emily Kivel Hunt’s debut novel, Dwelling. It was the scene with the boot. I was already falling hard for the book, but the boot? That was the cli…
locusmag.com
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Ian Mond @mondyboy74.bsky.social · 17d
I didn’t love this collection, but it hasn’t deterred me from reading Park’s novels (which I have on the shelves).
Books Read: An Oral History of Atlantis by Ed Park
Another book where I was more enthused with the cover than the contents.
open.substack.com
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mondyboy74.bsky.social
Ian Mond @mondyboy74.bsky.social · 20d
@file770.bsky.social—Audition is speculative.
Booker Prize 2025 Shortlist
The six novels on the Booker Prize 2025 shortlist were revealed September 23. It appears from the descriptions that none of this year’s selections are of genre interest.   The Booker Prize cel…
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Ian Mond @mondyboy74.bsky.social · 20d
Agree. The xenomorph was satisfyingly old school.
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Ian Mond @mondyboy74.bsky.social · 20d
Fungus and body horror: a delectably nauseating mixture. If you like that sort of thing (which I do).
locusmag.bsky.social
Locus Magazine @locusmag.bsky.social · 21d
“Strip away the gore, and THE GIRL IN THE CREEK is this nuanced… story about how little society cares about the environment or other people, particularly if their skin is a different colour.” @mondyboy74.bsky.social reviews @wnwagner.bsky.social
Girl in the Creek by Wendy N. Wagner: Review by Ian Mond
Girl in the Creek, Wendy N. Wagner (Tor Nightfire 978-1-25090-864-3, $27.99, 272pp, hc) July 2025. With her third novel, Girl in the Creek, Wendy N. Wagner wastes no time invoking the title. On the…
locusmag.com
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Reposted by Ian Mond
locusmag.bsky.social
Locus Magazine @locusmag.bsky.social · 21d
“Strip away the gore, and THE GIRL IN THE CREEK is this nuanced… story about how little society cares about the environment or other people, particularly if their skin is a different colour.” @mondyboy74.bsky.social reviews @wnwagner.bsky.social
Girl in the Creek by Wendy N. Wagner: Review by Ian Mond
Girl in the Creek, Wendy N. Wagner (Tor Nightfire 978-1-25090-864-3, $27.99, 272pp, hc) July 2025. With her third novel, Girl in the Creek, Wendy N. Wagner wastes no time invoking the title. On the…
locusmag.com
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