Author: tarvolon

Magazine Review

Tar Vol Reads a Magazine (or Two): Reviews of Clarkesworld and GigaNotoSaurus (June 2025)

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I’m halfway through another year of reading through each issue of Clarkesworld and GigaNotoSaurus, and I might’ve found a new favorite of 2025 from the latter. Let’s take a look! Clarkesworld After several seven-story issues, this month’s Clarkesworld returns to what had been a fairly standard eight, with six short stories and two novelettes. Four… Continue reading Tar Vol Reads a Magazine (or Two): Reviews of Clarkesworld and GigaNotoSaurus (June 2025)

Reviews

Sci-fi Novel Review: A Rebel’s History of Mars by Nadia Afifi

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This review is based on an eARC (Advance Reading Copy) provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. A Rebel’s History of Mars will be released on June 10, 2025. I am known to be a sucker for a good suppressed history story, and I’ve enjoyed Nadia Afifi in shorter form, so… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: A Rebel’s History of Mars by Nadia Afifi

SPSFC

SPSFC Finalist Review: Accidental Intelligence by Bryan Chaffin

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June 5 update: Accidental Intelligence has been named a finalist! 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… Continue reading SPSFC Finalist Review: Accidental Intelligence by Bryan Chaffin

SPSFC

SPSFC Finalist Review: Bisection by Sheila Jenné

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June 5 update: Bisection has been named a finalist! 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… Continue reading SPSFC Finalist Review: Bisection by Sheila Jenné

SPSFC

SPSFC Finalist Review: On Impulse by Heather Texle

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June 5 update:  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… Continue reading SPSFC Finalist Review: On Impulse by Heather Texle

SPSFC

SPSFC Semifinalist Review: Proliferation by Erik A. Otto

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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… Continue reading SPSFC Semifinalist Review: Proliferation by Erik A. Otto

Reviews

Sci-fi Book Review: Bisection by Sheila Jenné

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The fourth annual Self-Published Science Fiction Competition (SPSFC4) has advanced to the semifinals, where my team’s two semifinalists will join four others in one of the competition’s two semifinal groups, each of which will be read by multiple judging teams in order to select a top three to advance to the finals. I closed my personal reading for the round… Continue reading Sci-fi Book Review: Bisection by Sheila Jenné