2023 marks my third year voting in the Hugo Awards for the year’s best science fiction and fantasy, and while a compressed schedule that happened to coincide with a very busy season of real life meant I wasn’t able to dive as deep into certain categories as I would’ve liked, I was able to make… Continue reading 2023 Hugo Awards Ballot: Best Novel
This review is based on an eARC (Advance Reading Copy) provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The Hexologists will be released on September 26, 2023. Josiah Bancroft was perhaps the first breakout star of the Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off (SPFBO, elder sister to SPSFC), parlaying Senlin Ascends into a four-book deal… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: The Hexologists by Josiah Bancroft
This is my third year nominating and voting for the Hugo Awards for the year’s best science fiction and fantasy, and it’s taken about that long to feel comfortable with some of the logistics. Earlier this year, I took a look at the E Pluribus Hugo nomination system, explaining what was going on under the… Continue reading Demystifying the Hugo Award Voting Process
After merely enjoying Mexican Gothic while so many of my bookish friends were totally enamored, I figured it’d take a bigger push for me to pick up Silvia Moreno-Garcia again. That push came in the form of The Daughter of Doctor Moreau appearing on the shortlist for the Hugo Award for Best Novel, and I’m… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
I got into T. Kingfisher a little over two years ago with the delightful middle grade novel A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking, and I thought there was an author binge incoming. As it happens, T. Kingfisher writes a lot, and I haven’t been able to keep up. But she’s a double Hugo finalist this… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher
This review is based on an eARC (Advance Reading Copy) provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Mammoths at the Gates will be released on September 12, 2023. Nghi Vo hooked me on The Singing Hills Cycle with the the wonderful, Hugo-winning, found object epic The Empress of Salt and Fortune.… Continue reading Fantasy Novella Review: Mammoths at the Gates by Nghi Vo
Team Tar Vol On is back for the third annual Self-Published Science Fiction Competition (SPSFC3), and over the next 4-5 months, we’ll be narrowing our selection of 24 books down to two semifinalists, which we will then pass to other SPSFC judging teams. There are many ways to do this, starting with the most obvious:… Continue reading Meet the Slush: Team Tar Vol On’s SPSFC3 Allocation
I’d heard enough good about Even Though I Knew the End by C.L. Polk that I had it penciled in to read even before the Hugo finalists were released, though my uneasy relationship with noir had me somewhat apprehensive. But with its spare word count and excellent narrative voice, it promised to be well worth… Continue reading Fantasy Novella Review: Even Though I Knew the End by C.L. Polk
The Self-Published Science Fiction Competition is back for its third year (SPSFC3), and we are running it back at Tar Vol On with a lot of new faces in the team. To try to make for a more sustainable competition, we’ve scaled things back a little bit in the third year, with around 225 self-published… Continue reading Team Tar Vol On and SPSFC3
It has been a big month outside of reading. Multiple birthdays, the start of school for the kids, and. . . oh yes, moving. I probably haven’t been reading quite as much as usual. But what I have read have included a few absolutely tremendous pieces of sci-fi and fantasy. So let’s get to it,… Continue reading August 2023 Round-up and Short Fiction Miscellany
