My judging team for the third annual Self-Published Science Fiction Competition (SPSFC3) has scouted our entire allotment and selected seven books to be passed around the team for full evaluations by our entire complement of judges. As I read two of the seven in the scouting phase, that will mean five new reads for me… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: Stargun Messenger by Darby Harn
M.L. Clark wrote one of my favorite novelettes of 2022, so when I saw that she was releasing a deeply philosophical indie space opera, I figured it was well worth checking out. Might’ve taken me a while to get to it—the TBR never sleeps—but I finally was able to make a hole in my schedule… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: Children of Doro by M.L. Clark
It’s that time of year again. People are buying holiday gifts, Nebula nominations are open, the New Year is just around the corner, and bookish spaces are being flooded with “best of the year” lists. It’s one of my favorite times of the year for finding new things to read, and it’s a wonderful time… Continue reading Tar Vol’s 2023 Recommended Reading List: Holiday Edition
As I have each year since the pandemic, I’ve not only completed a full card in the r/Fantasy Bingo Challenge, I’ve completed one with its own special theme. I love the way the challenge churns through my TBR and brings to my attention books I otherwise would never have noticed or would have let languish… Continue reading Time Warp Book Bingo: 25 Books for Two Cards (2015, 2023)
I’m wrapping up my first year of regular magazine reading with a short review of the December 2023 issues of Clarkesworld and GigaNotoSaurus. Both publications were well worth reading all year, and this month is no exception. Stay tuned for a deep dive into my favorite stories of the year—hopefully to be posted this week—and… Continue reading Tar Vol Reads a Magazine (or Two): Reviews of Clarkesworld and GigaNotoSaurus (December 2023)
It looks like the October book clubs conspired to push me into reading genre classics that I’d been meaning to circle back around to for ages. So right after finishing The Haunting of Hill House (which I still haven’t reviewed, I know it’s two months later, stay tuned), I jumped right into A Canticle for… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr.
The elevator pitch for Shannon Chakraborty’s The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi is almost perfectly tailored to make me skip it. It’s an action-adventure tale on the high seas, with all manner of demons and demigods causing chaos at every turn. As a reader who doesn’t much care for action-heavy fantasy, nautical settings, or demigods, it… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty
I say, as I dip my toe again and again into horror, that I’m not much of a horror guy. And there’s a lot of truth to it. But I’ve liked everything I’ve read from Victor LaValle, whose Lone Women was one of my favorite books of 2023. And so I’m going to keep reading… Continue reading Fantasy/Horror Novel Review: The Changeling by Victor LaValle
While my return to genre reading over the last few years has been dominated by new releases, it has also involved a fair bit of digging into obscure-but-well-reviewed fantasy from the 2000s—most of it written by women. Such dives have brought me several favorites, like The Lighthouse Duet, The Inda Quartet, and The Long Price… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: Flora Segunda by Ysabeau S. Wilce
My monthly sci-fi/fantasy magazine review was way busier than usual, with four different issues on the docket this month. But one of my heaviest reading months of the year ensured there was plenty of room for short fiction miscellany. In addition to my book clubs and a few impulse reads, I was able to swing by… Continue reading November 2023 Round-up and Short Fiction Miscellany
