The Best Sci-Fi Universes—and More SFF Links

Hello, my little organelles! In today’s round-up of recent sci-fi and fantasy links, I have stuff to share with you about the best sci-fi universes, the next book from Dungeon Crawler Carl author Matt Dinniman, a super-massive (fragilisticexpialidocious) black hole, and more!

Operation Bounce House, Commence!

More details are emerging about Operation Bounce House, the upcoming release from Dungeon Crawler Carl author Matt Dinniman. This is my most anticipated book of 2026! The Dungeon Crawler Carl series has become one of my favorite series of the last few years, and while I am sad that we aren’t getting another new book about Carl and Princess Donut (just yet), I am still excited for Operation Bounce House. After all, it will also involve games, aliens, and the fight to stop human extinction.

From the publisher description: “Even though the settlers were promised they’d be left in peace, Earth’s government now has other plans. The colossal Apex Corporation is hired to commence an ‘eviction action.’ But maximizing profits will always be Apex’s number one priority. Why spend money printing and deploying their own AI soldiers when they can turn it into a game? Why not charge bored Earthers for the opportunity to design their own war machines and remotely pilot them from the comfort of their own homes? The game is called Operation Bounce House.”

The new novel was announced a few months ago, and recently, People shared the first peek at the cover and an exclusive excerpt. I could not be more excited if I swallowed a cat and broke out in kittens!

Operation Bounce House will be available Feb. 10, 2026 from Ace Books.

One Singular Security Unit, Every Little Step It Takes

Surprise, surprise, I am going to talk about Murderbot again. The Apple TV+ series recently completed its first season, just after a second season was announced, and people have a lot of thoughts about it. Me, I loved it. It was nice not to be disappointed by an adaptation for a change! It hit the right balance of silly and serious. And I thought the acting was fantastic.

Here are a few things to read if you watched the show (or if you haven’t watched it, go ahead, but here be spoilers):

• The ‘Murderbot’ Finale Was Note-Perfect
• Murderbot Is Faced With a Choice in Season Finale “The Perimeter”
• Alexander Skarsgård Ruined Multiple ‘Murderbot’ Finale Scenes by Crying (Awwwww.)
• Murderbot Merch to Show Your Love for the Show and Books
• Was Murderbot Smiling in the Finale? Only the Creators Know for Sure.

We were also given a special treat: a new Murderbot short story, “Rapport: Friendship, Solidarity, Communion, Empathy,” went up on Reactor for free after the finale aired. I know that either they will make so many seasons of this show that it will lose its sparkle, or it will get canceled too soon, but for now, I am just going to enjoy the ride.

Black Hole Fusion, Won’t You Come

In science-science news, in case you didn’t have enough to freak out about already, astronomers have discovered a black hole merger that is so big, it shouldn’t exist. (Well, that doesn’t sound ominous, now, does it?) If you are wondering, a black hole merger is exactly what it sounds like. It’s when two singular black holes are pulled toward one another and collide to combine and make one larger black hole. I know this because I was an astronomy major. (JK, I googled it.)

But according to Mark Hannam, LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory) member and physicist at Cardiff University, “This is the most massive black hole binary we’ve observed through gravitational waves, and it presents a real challenge to our understanding of black hole formation.” Apparently, this is a remarkable feat because black holes are notoriously chaotic and unstable. (Same, girl.)

“The black holes appear to be spinning very rapidly—near the limit allowed by Einstein’s theory of general relativity,” explained Charlie Hoy, LIGO member and physicist at the University of Portsmouth in England, in the same release. “That makes the signal difficult to model and interpret. It’s an excellent case study for pushing forward the development of our theoretical tools.”

The article doesn’t say anything about the black hole pulling Earth into its boundless void or anything like that, but I am still going to add, “Possibility of the world collapsing in on itself, like the danger in every other episode of Warehouse 13” to my list of irrational fears.

The 15 Best Sci-Fi Universes Of All Time, Ranked

Annnnd SlashFilm recently posted its list of the 15 Best Sci-Fi Universes Of All Time, Ranked. Some of the universes included would not surprise anyone—Star Wars, Star Trek, Doctor Who—but there was one that I didn’t expect. When was the last time you thought about the 1988 sci-fi police film Alien Nation? It’s about a Los Angeles police officer who gets a new partner, an alien from space. I remembered James Caan was in it, but I completely forgot that Mandy Patinkin followed up his 1987 role in The Princess Bride by playing Caan’s partner! What a strange cast. It also has Terence Stamp, who is awesome in everything, always. (His other film that year was Young Guns.)

Which one of these universes is your favorite? Mine is Firefly. (I am wearing a ‘Captain Tightpants’ T-shirt as I write this.) What universe do you think should have been included?

And To Close, an Upcoming Sci-Fi Book I Am Excited About!

A sci-fi book about language? That’s two great tastes that taste great together! Tordotcom recently shared the cover for The Language of Liars, the upcoming novel from S.L. Huang, author of The Water Outlaws. It’s about a spy who learns the language of an alien race, the Star Eaters, only to find that his deep connection and understanding of them could lead to destruction.

From the publisher’s description: “In his training as a spy, Ro was warned: you will always be living a lie. Jumping into a Star Eater’s mind in the first place requires a moment of perfect psychic connection, and he has studied all his life to comprehend their species. Admires them, respects them, is reverent at the idea of being one of them―the only species physiologically capable of mining the element needed for lightyear-spanning space travel. The species all others crave to know more of, but who have notoriously shared so very little. The species Ro’s own small civilization, with its dwindling resources and withering reach, needs to know more about.”

The Language of Liars by S. L. Huang will be out April 21, 2026 from Tordotcom.

Okay, star bits, now take the knowledge you have learned here today and use it for good, not evil. If you want to know more about books, I talk about books pretty much nonstop (when I’m not reading them), and you can hear me say lots of adjectives about them on the BR podcast All the Books! and on Bluesky and Instagram.

If an SFF fan forwarded this newsletter to you or you read it on bookriot.com and you’d like to get it right in your inbox, you can sign up here.