For the first round of this year’s Self-Published Science Fiction Competition (SPSFC2), my team has been assigned 28 books to ultimately whittle down to three semifinalists. To that end, we have further divided our batch so that each judge will be assigned 11 or 12 books to scout for the rest of the team. Because… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: Exin Ex Machina by G.S. Jennsen
Over the last few years, I’ve been trying to diversify my reading, both for the good of myself (I don’t want to miss great books outside the set that the recommendation algorithms are throwing at me) and the genre (speculative fiction gets better as it includes more perspectives). But after a couple great reading years,… Continue reading Reading Habits and Diverse TBRs
This review is based on an eARC (Advance Reading Copy) provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The Mountain in the Sea will be released on October 4, 2022. A couple months back, when I saw Ray Nayler’s debut novel pop up on NetGalley, the “philosophical thriller about the nature of consciousness”… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler
Spend enough time in literary spaces, and you eventually hear about Emily St. John Mandel, an author who uses speculative elements to tell literary tales. She’s a sufficiently towering figure for fans for general fiction that those speculative elements lead to a few reads from genre fans, even though she writes for a different audience.… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel
This review is based on an eARC (Advance Reading Copy) provided by the author in exchange for an honest review. The Revenge of Bridget Cleary will be released on October 4, 2022. Mathilda Zeller’s debut novelette, “The Incident at Veniaminov,” was one of my absolute favorites of last year (if you’d like to take a half-hour and… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: The Revenge of Bridget Cleary by Mathilda Zeller
This review is based on an eARC (Advance Reading Copy) provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Lonely Castle in the Mirror will be released on October 18, 2022. Lonely Castle in the Mirror wasn’t at all on my radar coming into this year, but apparently it’s been popular enough… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: Lonely Castle in the Mirror by Mizuki Tsujimura
It was a slow month for novels, but my goodness was it an incredible month for short fiction. Thanks to a final push of reading from Hugo finalist publications, my monthly favorites list is the longest it’s been all year. And then I put down the 2021 publications and promptly found my two favorite stories… Continue reading August 2022 Round-up and Short Fiction Focus
We’ve introduced the second Self-Published Science Fiction Competition (SPSFC2) and the judging team I’ll be leading this year. Now it’s time to turn to round one. We’ve been given 28 books, and we have 5.5 months to evaluate them and choose three semifinalists to pass to other teams. Many teams will be using the same… Continue reading Team Tar Vol On’s First-Round Entries for SPSFC2
Team Tar Vol On is back for the second annual Self-Published Science Fiction Competition (SPSFC2). The competition takes up to 300 self-published science fiction novels and whittles them down to one ultimate winner. We’ll start with all 300 books being split between ten different judging teams, who will select their top three to be semifinalists.… Continue reading Team Tar Vol On and SPSFC2
This review is based on an eARC (Advance Reading Copy) provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The Spear Cuts Through Water will be released on August 30, 2022. I read Simon Jimenez’s debut novel, The Vanished Birds, last year, and while I didn’t necessarily think it all came together,… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez
