The fourth annual Self-Published Science Fiction Competition (SPSFC4) has advanced to the semifinals, where my team’s two semifinalists will join four others in one of the competition’s two semifinal groups, each of which will be read by multiple judging teams in order to select a top three to advance to the finals. For my second read of the stage, I… Continue reading Sci-fi Book Review: Proliferation by Erik A. Otto
For my second short fiction review of the month, I usually take some time to dig into a couple of magazines outside the two that I read every month. But with the announcement of an Asimov’s Readers’ Award shortlist that included half stories I’d read last year, I decided to take that time and read… Continue reading Tar Vol Reads the 39th Asimov’s Readers’ Award Finalists
The fourth annual Self-Published Science Fiction Competition (SPSFC4) has advanced to the semifinals, where my team’s two semifinalists will join four others in one of the competition’s two semifinal groups, each of which will be read by multiple judging teams in order to select a top three to advance to the finals. And my first… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: On Impulse by Heather Texle
With WorldCon and NetGalley memberships pushing my reading more and more toward new releases, I knew that the Published in the 90s square of 2024 r/Fantasy Bingo would require me to reshuffle the TBR. Fortunately, I had plenty of options sitting on my bookcase unread, I just had to pick one. And that one was… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: Black Sun Rising by C.S. Friedman
Another month, another review of Clarkesworld and GigaNotoSaurus. April was a great month, with a lot to recommend and no real misses, so let’s get started. Clarkesworld The April 2025 issue of Clarkesworld follows their recent pattern of seven stories with slightly heftier average length than in past years. Both novelettes are around 10,000 words,… Continue reading Tar Vol Reads a Magazine (or Two): Reviews of Clarkesworld and GigaNotoSaurus (April 2025)
Ancillary Justice got a ton of hype upon its release in 2013, racking up a dizzying number of genre awards and garnering praise for its inventive handling of gender and nonhuman intelligence, in addition to being an excellent space opera. But I was on hiatus from genre reading in 2013, and so while I’d been… Continue reading Sci-fi Book Review: Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie
This review is based on an eARC (Advance Reading Copy) provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Saint Death’s Herald will be released on April 22, 2025. Saint Death’s Daughter was my favorite novel of 2022, so there was really no question about whether I’d read the sequel. The only question… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: Saint Death’s Herald by C.S.E. Cooney
This review is based on an eARC (Advance Reading Copy) provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Where the Axe is Buried was released on April 1, 2025. I started reading Ray Nayler a couple years ago, and I’ve been consistently impressed with his quiet explorations of how big political and… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: Where the Axe is Buried by Ray Nayler
This review is based on an eARC (Advance Reading Copy) provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Psychopomp was released on March 25, 2025. Maria Dong’s “Braid Me a Howling Tongue” was one of my favorite stories of 2023, so when I saw she had a new novel coming out, I… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: Psychopomp by Maria Dong
My favorite reading challenge is back! r/Fantasy Book Bingo started its eleventh year on April 1, celebrating with the annual release of a new Bingo card. For those who aren’t familiar, it’s an annual reading challenge with 25 different categories of books to read for the following year. Anything you were less than halfway through… Continue reading Planning 2025 Fantasy Bingo
