My final read in the finals of the Self-Published Science Fiction Competition (SPSFC) had perhaps the best combination of consistent praise (90% of individual ratings coming in at 7.5/10 or higher) and high ceiling (20% of individual ratings coming in at 9/10) in the first two rounds. The blurb pitching an action-heavy space opera didn’t… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: Captain Wu by Patrice Fitzgerald and Jack Lyster
I’m closing the inaugural Self-Published Science Fiction Competition (SPSFC) with two finalists that had extremely high ratings floors in the first two rounds. Today, I’ll be looking at A Star Named Vega by Benjamin J. Roberts, a novel that received a score of at least 8/10 from nine of the ten judges that rated it… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: A Star Named Vega by Benjamin J. Roberts
After being read by its first three judging teams, Steel Guardian entered the Self-Published Science Fiction Competition (SPSFC) finals with the top score in the competition. Between one of my teammates raving about it and it fitting the friendly AI niche that I always have so much fun with, I was very excited for Cameron… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: Steel Guardian by Cameron Coral
I saw quite a bit of hype last year for Ryka Aoki’s debut novel Light From Uncommon Stars, but not enough to convince me it was up my alley—the flying donut shop and Douglas Adams namecheck made me expect a zany romp that would inevitably fall short of Douglas Adams. But its nomination for the… Continue reading Sci-fi/Fantasy Novel Review: Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki
Monster of the Dark consistently garnered some of the highest scores of the first two rounds of the Self-Published Science Fiction Competition (SPSFC), with ratings of at least 8.5/10 from more than half of the judges who read it. And given its billing as a deeply psychological character study of a powerful clairvoyant taken from… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: Monster of the Dark by K.T. Belt
I don’t tend to read much comic sci-fi—though I certainly loved Douglas Adams back when I first read him—and I’m not totally sure how well my tastes in the subgenre line up with other readers. But when a comedy made the finals of the Self-Published Science Fiction Competition (SPSFC), I was curious to see how… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review–Duckett & Dyer: Dicks for Hire by G.M. Nair
We have arrived at the finals of the first annual Self-Published Science Fiction Competition (SPSFC), with every book vetted by three separate judging teams in order to get to this point. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be reading the six finalists that did not go through my own judging team, starting with a truly… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: Iron Truth by S.A. Tholin
Carol Berg’s Lighthouse Duet is one of the best fantasy series I’ve ever read, and is in many ways responsible for my commitment to picking through the backlists of fantasy authors who never really captured the popular imagination. As it turns out, a lot of my favorite books fall into that category. And yet I… Continue reading Fantasy Series Review: The Sanctuary Duet by Carol Berg
Between illness and travel and more illness, it’s been a weird spring. I hardly read any short fiction in April, so I’m rolling two months of short fiction together into one post. Because nomination deadlines passed in mid-March, I pivoted from catching up on “Best of 2021” lists to reading whatever caught my fancy, and… Continue reading April/May 2022 Round-up and Short Fiction Focus
Catherynne M. Valente is not an author I’d read much before this year, but with Hugo nominations in three different fiction categories, this year is quickly changing that. The only one of those three that will warrant its own post—I usually roll up shorter work into my monthly round-ups—is the Best Novella Finalist The Past… Continue reading Sci-fi Novella Review: The Past is Red by Catherynne M. Valente
