Yet again I have lost my mind and let the lure of making another book bingo win (please select image to see it better, Tumblr ate my resolution). This one is classic Sci-fi/Fantasy themed! Any fiction originally published before 1999 in either the science fiction or fantasy genres count. Anything else will not. All posts on my blog about this challenge will be tagged #classic sci-fi/fantasy summer 2026. I encourage anyone who posts about their reading journey to do the same. Mostly so we can cheer each other on but also because I'm nosy and want to know what y'all pick. Absolutely no pressure to do so though. Nor is there any pressure to read every square or get a bingo. As long as you're having a good time you've won at Classic Sci-fi/Fantasy Summer.
The challenge will run from June first to August thirty-first. When I say any original fiction I do mean it. Graphic novels, poetry, kid lit, short stories, novels, audiobooks, etc., all count as long as they meet the guidelines. Eagle eyed readers will notice a lack of a FREE square here. This is because between Stop Asking About the War. It Was Fine, (To the Tune of "Hello Darkness My Old Friend) Hello Cold War My Old Friend, and You Can't Be Saying That White Baby a free square would just be redundant at that point.
I will also be posting an Arthuriana August reading bingo (where you read King Arthur retellings/adaptations during the month of August) and if you would like to do both challenges, you can absolutely use the same book for multiple reading challenges. As long as it fits the prompts and guidelines for both respective reading events you're golden! Each book only applies to one square per challenge. The bingo for Arthuriana August will be posted this June so people who wish to do both challenges can plan their reading accordingly.
You can re-read books for this bingo, but an emphasis on trying new things/authors is strongly encouraged. I won't lie to you all and say this challenge wasn't created in part because I was a little tired of seeing Tolkien be the only classic fantasy writer people were familiar with. That said, you can absolutely repeat authors. If you discover one you really like or a series that has works fitting multiple prompts go wild.
The prompt descriptions and explanations are below:
Written By a Person of Color Who ISN'T Octavia Butler - Look. We love Butler. She's a legend for a reason. But she was not the only non-white writer published before the glorious year 2000. This prompt is to encourage you to find one of those writers and engage with their work. This doesn't mean you can't read Butler for a different prompt! Just not this one.
Doomed By the Narrative All By Yourself Gorgeous? - Read something where the main character may be doomed, but much like Stacy's mom they have got it going on. Other characters in the story don't have to agree with you. As long as you are sufficiently charmed by the miserable wretch hurtling to their doom you can count it.
Special Guest Speaker Sigmund Freud - Probably the meanest prompt on this bingo. Read something where the author agrees with Freud and isn't shy about letting you, the reader, know about it.
Timeline What Timeline? - Read something where time travel is either the main plot or a large part of it.
You Can't Be Saying That White Baby - Ignoring the racism in classic fantasy/sci-fi doesn't get us anywhere, so let's try to unpack some of it. That's why for this prompt the point is to pick a work where the very white author has written some very racist things into their story and to confront it as a modern reader with nuance and understanding. They don't have to be completely malicious about it but it does have to make you go 😬
If You Can Believe in Dragons You Can Believe in Gay People - One popping up in your fantasy/sci-fi isn't unrealistic especially since, unlike dragons, we're real. Go figure. Read one where the main character is canonically confirmed as LGBTQ+ in the text. I 🩷 subtext but this is not the prompt to highlight that.
The Victorians Have Entered the Chat - Get ready for some dramatic fainting spells! Read a fantasy/sci-fi written in the Victorian Era. Not a nebulously 1800s time, specifically that period of history.
Stop Asking About the War. It Was Fine - Read a fantasy/sci-fi that was greatly influenced by a war. Ideally one the author lived through. They didn't have to fight in it, just be affected by it enough to make it bleed into their writing.
Genre Innovator Award - Read something with a "first" for fantasy or science fiction.
Not-So-Lost In Translation - Read a work of fantasy or science fiction that has been translated into your language. The translation can be a recent one, as long as it was originally published in its native language before 1999. This will be particularly easy for non-native English speakers should they choose the built-in cheat code.
HRT Could Fix Them -Maybe not save them though. It really depends on how much the narrative uses them as a chew toy. Read a fantasy/sci-fi with a main character who you believe would be much happier if they transitioned.
Surely You Were Myth-taken - Read a fantasy/sci-fi that is retelling or adaptation a myth, folktale, or fairy tale.
Men Used to Go to (Space) War - Read a fantasy/sci-fi where the main characters are actively fighting in a war.
Crystal Ball Says We're Fucked - Science fiction in particular is notorious for hypothetical futures where everything is terrible to the point where it is even a sub-genre. That doesn't mean fantasy can't join in on looking at the future and going "oh shit". Read something from either genre where the author is writing about a potential future that isn't looking so hot for humanity. Doesn't have to be without hope for a better one, just needs to take place in a shit one.
Practical Protagonist - Read a fantasy/sci-fi where the main character's practicality plays a major role in how they react/understand to the events of their story. Because sometimes you want a protagonist that just isn't having any of this nonsense.
Organic Orange Juice Levels of Pulp - Some could even say the whole orange, because for this prompt we are going directly back to fantasy and sci-fi's roots in pulp novels/short stories. Read something in either genre that was originally published in a pulp magazine.
Out of the Way Hero, I'm About to Get It - This is the sexy villain prompt. They don't have to be canonically hot, just to you. Never let it be said I don't know what the good people of Tumblr want (it's me I'm people).
Kinda Confused, But Got the Spirit - Read a fantasy/sci-fi where the author is surprisingly progressive for the time. It doesn't have to hold up to modern standards (very few things will). In other words Nuance Prompt: Part 2. But it's only fair to have a prompt for that if there's one where readers are encouraged to look at the things that haven't aged well.
(To the Tune of "Hello Darkness My Old Friend") Hello Cold War My Old Friend - Basically a free space if your tbr for this challenge leans more towards the sci-fi, but fantasy got in on the fun too. Read a sci-fi/fantasy that was clearly influenced by the cold war.
Women Have Been Writing Since Literally Forever, Die Mad About It - And don't you forget it! Any clown who tells you women don't belong in these genre spaces is an ignorant misogynist not worth your time. This prompt is meant to highlight at least one of the many women who have been publishing in the sci-fi and fantasy genres (as they have been since the beginning).
That Terf Didn't Invent Shit - Not only is JK Rowling a hateful person who spends pretty much all her free time making life worse for trans women she's a fucking hack. I promise you she didn't invent magic school, hidden magical societies, or the concept of young people learning magic, and I'm tired of people pretending like she did. This prompt is me begging on my hands and knees for you to read a fantasy novel that did a concept that Rowling popularized first.
Is That a Brick in Your Pocket Or Are You Just Happy-Holy Shit It's a Book - Fantasy/sci-fi novels have come a long away from being known as impenetrable tomes you could use as a doorstop. An overgeneralization to be sure, but not a baseless one. This prompt is to encourage you to read one of these bricks of yore. Must be over 500 pages to count. It also cannot be a compilation of smaller stories (even if they take place in the same universe). It needs to have been published as one long story. Doesn't have to be a standalone.
Dragons the Only Thing They Ride? Asking For a Friend - Dragonriders, get your dragonriders here! For this to count at least the main character needs to be a dragonrider. You can read something about them becoming one but as long as they park their protagonist butt on the back of a dragon with the intention to do it again during the course of the story it counts.
Told By a Jester - Read a fantasy/sci-fi where the author is trying to be funny. Whether or not they succeed is up to you.
Doom With a Side of Gloom - Read a fantasy/sci-fi where everything sucks. Does not have to be a potential future for humanity. Everyone just needs to be miserable.
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