We’ve made it to the semifinals of the fourth annual Self-Published Science Fiction Competition (SPSFC4). Team Tar Vol On advanced two semifinalists, which were joined in our half of the bracket by semifinalists from Space Girls and Red Stars. In this round, the three teams are reading each other’s selections and combining scores to identify the top half of our allocation to advance to the finals. At this stage, every book we read has gotten a glowing review from at least one other team. As always, tastes are idiosyncratic, so there will be times where we disagree with other teams, but we’ve done our best to explain our thoughts; we hope that they will help other readers find books that will appeal to them.

Today, we’ll be looking at a sci-fi first contact featuring a species with two persons in one body, Bisection by Sheila Jenné.

Azrah’s Review and Rating

I was intrigued by the whole murder mystery side of things however, when we got to Earth the ease with which the characters were able to get out of the situations they were landing in and the outright clumsiness of the adversaries effected the credibility of the supposed high stakes for me.

What I was much more invested in throughout were Tria and Resa’s personal arcs. I loved how the dual perspective meant we got to experience both Tria’s logic based mentality and Resa’s emotional sentiments as they adjusted to life outside of the controlled societal norms they have always known. Jenné has done a great job at capturing their individual voices on page and I really enjoyed seeing how she explored the themes of autonomy, indirect discrimination and objective vs subjective thinking/reasoning through the relationship they had with one another as well as those around them. They’re protagonists that you really come to care for by the end.

Overall, if you’re willing to look past some of the less convincing plot details then this is a fun read and one I’d definitely recommend checking out for the character work and themes.

Azrah has rated Bisection 7/10. For more, check out her full review.

Champ’s Review and Rating

This is an interesting and unique story with some really creative concepts, but the opening threw me off real hard.

There’s a lot of good here: novel ideas, rich worldbuilding, and genuinely engaging characters. But that start nearly made me put it down, I honestly would have stopped reading if it wasn’t for being a judge in this contest.

Here’s what happens: The main character, a scientist, is on a research mission with a team of fellow scientists. They happen upon a new alien species. First Contact! Big deal, right? A whole new civilization. So what do these brilliant scientists do? They debate whether to say hello, and decide not to. Okay, sure, maybe that tracks. But then the main character suggests sneaking onto the alien ship instead. Not just that, she asks the rest of the team to give her snacks and water like she’s going on a day hike. And they all go along with it. It just doesn’t add up. You won’t approach the aliens directly, but you’ll sneak aboard their vessel instead? The logic in those early chapters didn’t sit right with me. And these aren’t the only examples. There are quite a few moments early on where character decisions feel off, inconsistent, or simply implausible. It breaks the immersion for me.

And honestly, if the goal was to get her onto that ship, then the whole scenario should have been rewritten to support that choice in a believable way. There are a dozen ways to set it up so it makes sense. As it stands, it feels forced.

But here’s the thing: the book gets better. A lot better. The writing is strong. The characters come alive. The world is full of rich, strange details. The Shatakazan aliens, in particular, are creative and compelling. And I’m burying the best part, I should have this up higher, the core idea – that the main character’s species houses two conscious personalities inside one body, its one of the most original concepts I’ve read in a while. That alone is worth the price of admission.

As I kept reading, the early choices started to make a bit more sense, or I got soft cause I see a lot of good work here, but the setup still could have been handled with more clarity. After the setup and intro the book becomes light, fast, and engaging. It feels like the work of someone with a real voice, a real perspective. And that counts for a lot.

Bottom line: if you can get past the rocky beginning, there’s a genuinely good book here.

Champ has rated Bisection 6/10.

Dave’s Review and Rating

Bisection presents a highly imaginative premise, centered around a protagonist split between two halves—one emotional, one rational. The dynamic between these dual selves is a unique and engaging aspect of the narrative. The book also delivers a nice twist with the emergence of an AI from the ruins of a long-dead civilization, tying together threads in a way that added depth and a surprising Earth-related connection. The main character’s journey to understand and cooperate with her other self was endearing and gave the story a strong emotional core.

However, my enjoyment was tempered by issues with suspension of disbelief, starting with the inciting incident. The protagonist’s impulsive decision to board an alien spacecraft—without any clear motivation, survival plan, or concern for colleagues—felt underdeveloped and made it harder to fully invest in the story. A more grounded or character-revealing reason could have made that leap more credible.

Additionally, the depiction of alien species felt overly anthropomorphic without much justification, resembling Star Trek-style humanoids with minimal worldbuilding to explain the similarities. While many aspects of the story dive deeply into speculative ideas, this lack of explanation made it harder to stay immersed.

Despite these concerns, Bisection had original ideas and emotional resonance. With a bit more attention to plausibility and setup, this could have been an outstanding read.

Dave has rated Bisection 6.4/10.

Erin’s Review and Rating

This book was weird in all the best ways. The main character, Resa/Tria, is from a race very similar to humans… except that the connections between both halves of her brain have been greatly reduced. She has two personalities but one body, one that’s much more emotional, and one that’s much more rational.

It’s a “first contact” story, as she steals aboard an alien ship, and also a murder mystery. There’s a romance subplot? We also get good sci-fi commentary on the shortfalls of almost every culture she comes into contact with, including her original culture.

Weird, makes you think, and a good story! The only reason I’m marking this lower than Time of the Cat is because things often seemed a bit too “convenient” in a book that was meant to be more serious (“Ah! Prisoners! We should let them do work detail in the kitchen that prepares our food on their first day in jail, despite the important things taking place in the next six hours.”). Also, the major alien species Resa/Tria dealt with didn’t have nearly the depth that she herselves did, and she was interesting enough that the contrast was noticeable.

Erin has rated Bisection 7.5/10.

Jay’s Review and Rating

Bisection offers a fascinating premise, endearing leads, and an entertaining plot. It may not be hard to see exactly which societal assumptions will be questioned, but it’s still a lot of fun watching the characters’ eyes begin to open. The danger doesn’t always feel quite as heightened as it probably should, and it’s not a book that’s interested in digging too deeply into truly alien psychology, but it’s a good read that’s clearly earned its place in the semifinals.

Jay has rated Bisection 7/10. For more, check out his full review.

Josh’s Review and Rating

What makes this book really stand out is that it takes a concept that could be utterly laughable or out of a cheesy episode of the original Star Trek and somehow treats it with respect and introspection and drama. The concept is of course that each person has two personalities, an emotional* and a logical* half, where both personalities are independent beings with some control over the body (although the logical has learned to usually be in full control where it matters) and can speak to each other in their respective heads. It’s a fascinating concept that the book shows us through occasionally altering the perspective of the story, with about 80% being told from the perspective of Tria and 20% from the perspective of Resa.

Overall, Bisection is a really well done sci fi novel with a fascinating hook and excellent characters and themes.

Josh has rated Bisection 8/10. For more, check out his full review.

Official Scores