Tashan Mehta
@tashanmehta.bsky.social
Author. MAD SISTERS OF ESI (DAW Books, 2025 | HarperCollins India, 2023),THE LIAR'S WEAVE (Juggernaut, 2017) Mostly offline, to be honest, but marginally more active on Instagram. Website: https://www.tashanmehta.com/
The other moral of the story is that you should read MAD SISTERS OF ESI
Tashan Mehta@tashanmehta.bsky.social · 20h agoToday marks the one year anniversary of this book coming out in the US/Canada, almost the three year anniversary of it being out in India, and nearly the nine year anniversary of when I started it in 2017. The moral of this story is I’m old.
A marvellous and singular book, that brings to mind PIRANESI as a galactic fantasy, a Calvino-esque epic adventure, but is very much its own thing.
Tashan Mehta@tashanmehta.bsky.social · 20h agoToday marks the one year anniversary of this book coming out in the US/Canada, almost the three year anniversary of it being out in India, and nearly the nine year anniversary of when I started it in 2017. The moral of this story is I’m old.
Today marks the one year anniversary of this book coming out in the US/Canada, almost the three year anniversary of it being out in India, and nearly the nine year anniversary of when I started it in 2017. The moral of this story is I’m old.
🎛️ Crank up the volume, it's Critical Friends! 🏆 Uh-oh, it's some more awards chat. @abigailnussbaum.bsky.social and @amritesh.bsky.social talk to me about the Clarke, the Hugo, the Booker, the Le Guin ... ⁉️ What relationship between critic and award, award and reader? 🤔 Also: marketing. Again.
Critical Friends Episode 26: On Awards
In this episode of Critical Friends, the Strange Horizons SFF criticism podcast, Amritesh Mukherjee and Abigail Nussbaum join Dan Hartland to talk about literary awards.
strangehorizons.com
this post is so good and necessary and everyone should read it
My Favorite Thing: The Cat That Hates Me + That One SFF Author Who Hates Everyone (Thoughts on Exile) | Micaiah Johnson
The first time I fed Sasha she sliced open my hand and bit my leg so hard it bruised. The second time I fed Sasha she hissed and swiped, but
patreon.com
Micaiah Johnson@micaiahjohnson.bsky.social · 3d agoVery nervous about tomorrow’s blog on Patreon so have some out of context quotes from it as a treat 💜
I can vouch for Archita, who recently lost her father to cancer & is the sole caregiver for her mother who's also suffering from cancer & needs extensive and very costly treatment. She's all alone and struggling to bear the costs. Please share widely & donate if you can:
Archita Mittra@architamittra.bsky.social · last wk.Neither my physical nor mental health is great, but I'm NOT giving up. I urgently need funds for our healthcare, so please circulate/donate if you can, and if you're able to help out in any other way, pls DM. You can donate via Gpay/UPI QR code (if you're in India) or ko-fi: Ko-fi.com/architamittra
It's hard to keep up with awards news, but we are still awfully happy for all the Ursula K. Le Guin Prize finalists! Congratulations to all, including Story Hour guests @premeemohamed.com and @tashanmehta.bsky.social! locusmag.com/2026/06/2026...
2026 Le Guin Prize for Fiction Shortlist
The Ursula K. Le Guin Literary Trust has announced the shortlist for the Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction, awarding a $25,000 cash prize “to the author of a book that reflects the concepts…
locusmag.com
these pics. i'm crying. www.theguardian.com/world/galler...
Cockroach movement supporters stage protests in cities across India – in pictures
Tens of thousands of protesters defy police orders and descend on Delhi as demonstrators gather in other cities to demand the resignation of India’s education minister
theguardian.com
Every cent above our base goal will go directly towards this. So if we make $25K, we’ll raise pay rates to 9c/word. At $30K, we’ll be able to pay writers 10c/word. To help us get there: www.backerkit.com/c/projects/s...
Strange Horizons 2027 Fundraiser
The annual Strange Horizons fundraiser! Support this free, online, award-winning, weekly magazine of SFFH, which runs entirely on reader - YOUR - donations!
backerkit.com
Only took fourteen years of dreaming & heeeeerrreee it is! Friends, I'm thrilled to share the cover of my debut novel with you all. The most desi haunted haveli ever! Haunted places. Haunted people. And some very haunting stories Preorder link in the thread
comrades, am extremely happy to report that i will now be represented by Michael Curry at DMLA @mkcurry.bsky.social
Hot on the heels of its shortlisting for the @ursulakleguin.com Prize, here's Amritesh Mukherjee with a great, heartfelt piece on Mad Sisters of Esi. "Unlike traditional fantasy and sci-fi storytelling, with its tidy laws and ironclad rules, Mad Sisters thrives on chaos."
Mad Sisters of Esi by Tashan Mehta
How do you separate the one from many, the I from the we?
strangehorizons.com
I am once again begging a UK publisher to give Indrapramit Das money for books *already written* that we *already know* are brilliant, but aren't in the UK! Please!
Indrapramit Das@indrapramitdas.bsky.social · last mo.There should be no 'when' after tfw, of course.
Congratulations @tashanmehta.bsky.social for Mad Sisters of Esi getting shortlisted for the Ursula K. Guin Award 2026—Best Fiction. Good luck!
So happy to see Mad Sisters of Esi by @tashanmehta.bsky.social on this list. It's such a fascinating ambitious book!
Ursula K. Le Guin@ursulakleguin.com · last mo.We're thrilled to present the shortlist for the 2026 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction:
Mad Sisters of Esi by Tashan Mehta has been shortlisted for Best Fiction for the Ursula K. Guin Award 🥳 This masterful work of fantasy is a book you do not want to miss. buff.ly/NcGPtef Get a copy now: buff.ly/cuH3Tmd
If any publisher in the UK wants to pick this up, rights are still available. It’s a weird one, but a sweet one.
Tashan Mehta@tashanmehta.bsky.social · last mo.MAD SISTERS OF ESI has been shortlisted for the 2026 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize!! I adore this prize; their nominations have been incredible year on year. It’s so cool to be on one of these lists.* Congratulations to all the nominees! (LOOK AT THAT LIST)
Congratulations to everyone on the shortlist & a shout-out to fellow Indian @tashanmehta.bsky.social, whose MAD SISTERS OF ESI is the only one I've read so far (it's beautiful, a Calvino-esque uncategorisable meta galactic fantasy). Very eager to get to the rest!
Ursula K. Le Guin@ursulakleguin.com · last mo.We're thrilled to present the shortlist for the 2026 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction:
MAD SISTERS OF ESI has been shortlisted for the 2026 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize!! I adore this prize; their nominations have been incredible year on year. It’s so cool to be on one of these lists.* Congratulations to all the nominees! (LOOK AT THAT LIST)
Ursula K. Le Guin@ursulakleguin.com · last mo.We're thrilled to present the shortlist for the 2026 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction:
Men didn't blow mixtures of mineral pigments, including iron compounds like iron oxide, hematite and goethite, as well as pigments containing manganese, clay and water, into tubes on the walls of Lascaux caves between 17,000 and 22,000 years ago so you could tell me that AI is "inevitable."
Olivia Hill@machineiv.bsky.social · last mo.Sam Raimi didn't strap a Super 8 camera to a 2x4 so you could tell me that AI is "inevitable."
hard magic systems....soft magic systems....secret third thing called "there are logical rules to the way everything works but the POV character simply isnt thinking about them so you, the reader, never get to learn them"
So delighted to see Helen Marshall on this list: THE LADY, THE TIGER, AND THE GIRL WHO LOVED DEATH is a beguiling piece of literature. And Hiron Ennes’s WORKS OF VERMIN is fantastic. Can’t wait to read the rest.
A.C. Wise@acwise.bsky.social · 2mo agoHuge congratulations to the authors on the Sunburst Awards Longlist! It's an honour to serve as a juror this year. Y'all didn't make it easy. We received so many excellent books to consider and narrowing it down was incredibly hard. www.sunburstaward.org/node/147
😳 SOUR CHERRY won the Locus Award for First Novel!! 😳 Thank you so much @locusmag.bsky.social and congratulations to all finalists and winners! I wish I could have been there with you all. 🚀💫🌗🍒
if I used AI to write, how would I learn what it's like to spend a whole fucking day writing a sentence and then deciding it's terrible and throwing it away, as God intended?????
I’m filled with white-hot rage at Olga Tolarczuk. I’ve spent every day of three decades struggling with my art. The art lives in the struggle; the product is only the last traces of the art. If you’re not in the struggle, you’re not making art. All respect I’ve had for her has instantly vanished.
🐍 Cover Reveal 🐍 THE POISON PALACE retells the story of Alexander the Great's invasion of India from the point of view of a courtesan sent to assassinate him. Out with Dutton Books in Jan 2027, will link to pre-orders below. #booksky #amwriting #debutnovel #books
I’ve found “Startpage” to be a really good alternative, especially for research questions. No AI, it’s private, and it gives useful results.
TechCrunch@techcrunch.com · 3mo agoGoogle is transforming Search from a list of links into an AI-powered experience filled with conversational answers, autonomous agents, and interactive interfaces — a shift that could further reduce traffic to publishers across the web.
