Courtney Schafer’s Underread Treasures review series has been as advertised, and it’s given me plenty of excellent TBR fodder. That includes Lorna Freeman’s Covenants, which I bought a couple years back and had spent that time languishing in the corner of my bookshelf. But the week before the new Bingo year (yes, this review is… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: Covenants by Lorna Freeman
I do love weird memory stories, so the title of Olivia Waite’s sci-fi debut caught my eye. But a glance at the blurb and some reviews suggested it might not be my style, so I decided to pass until its Hugo nomination sent it back up my list. After reading Murder by Memory, it’s pretty… Continue reading Sci-fi Novella Review: Murder by Memory by Olivia Waite
A lot happened in April! I had a lot of chunky posts, so we will be short on the short fiction miscellany this month. But there’s still some. And it’s disproportionately good. So let’s get to some sci-fi fantasy: Short Fiction I posted my usual magazine review, a five-zine mini, and a review of If We Cannot Go… Continue reading April 2026 Round-up and Short Fiction Miscellany
For the second month in a row, my Magazine Minis post will be a five-zine blitz. Well, I suppose not technically the second month in a row, since I didn’t get this one up before the calendar flipped to May, but they were read two months in a row. Point is, I found five magazines… Continue reading Tar Vol’s Magazine Minis: Five-Zine Blitz, Again (April 2026)
This review is based on an eARC (Advance Reading Copy) provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. If We Cannot Go at the Speed of Light will be released on April 28, 2026. For all that I adore sci-fi short fiction, I don’t read many collections cover-to-cover unless they’re coming from… Continue reading Sci-fi Short Fiction Review: If We Cannot Go at the Speed of Light by Kim Choyeop
There’s always a bit of lag in genre discussion—at least on the short fiction side—such that it feels like people don’t really start digging into the current year’s offerings until summer. But it’s spring, and new things are being released. As always, I’ve taken a look at this month’s Clarkesworld and GigaNotoSaurus. Clarkesworld Clarkesworld typically… Continue reading Tar Vol Reads a Magazine (or Two): Reviews of Clarkesworld and GigaNotoSaurus (April 2026)
Surreal, and yet true: I am a Hugo-nominated book blogger. I’m deeply honored to accept the nomination for the 2026 Hugo Award for Best Fan Writer, and I’m incredibly grateful to those who nominated me, as well as anyone who has read and shared my work over the years. The introduction back in the depths… Continue reading Some Exciting News and a Reintroduction
For the past few years, my habit has been to fill out two complete r/Fantasy Bingo cards. One has some theme or another (in 2025, it was Spot the Title), and the other doesn’t. Seeing as how the second is usually completed only near the end of the Bingo season, I’ve decided to postpone posting… Continue reading 2025 Bingo, 2026 Squares
Like many people, I was introduced to the work of Octavia E. Butler with Kindred, an entry-point that’s immensely difficult to top. I’d heard good things about the Xenogenesis series, but the description sounded a hair too squicky for my taste, and so it put it off. But after reading (and loving) both Clay’s Ark… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: Dawn by Octavia E. Butler
I’m not much of a romantasy reader, so when I saw that a romantasy imprint was releasing a new book with a pretty cover, I didn’t think much of it. But a couple glowing reviews prompted me to take a further look, and an author interview pushing back against the perception of the novel… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: The Poet Empress by Shen Tao
