I approached the last book of my SPSFC judging team’s ten quarterfinalists with some trepidation. Our extended preview had shown a smooth and engaging prose from author J.D. Robinson, but The Last Shadow opened with a grizzled detective, still struggling to move past the trauma of his wife’s disappearance a decade prior, take on one… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: The Last Shadow by J. D. Robinson
Sequela wasn’t necessarily the book that excited me most after making the first pass through my team’s first round assignment of SPSFC books, but it’s safe to say that the audacious premise and polished prose of Cleland Smith’s debut caught my curiosity like nothing else in our round of extended previews. Sequela takes place in… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: Sequela by Cleland Smith
After I made my first pass through my team’s initial 30-book allotment for SPSFC, Harvest was probably the book that I was most excited to get back to. Olga Werby’s entry promised a well thought-out first contact plot with an academic lead, both of which fit firmly within my wheelhouse. So how did it go? … Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: Harvest by Olga Werby
When I was making my first pass through my SPSFC team’s first-round allotment, Jeannette Bedard’s Day 115 on an Alien World immediately stood out. With this book being a competition entry, I had no background and didn’t even realize it was a sci-fi mystery novel. So when bodies dropped in the first chapter, it got… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: Day 115 on an Alien World by Jeannette Bedard
Drained is another entry in the first annual Self-Published Science Fiction Competition. It produced some division in the extended preview that we used as a first cut, but I found the writing to be smooth and the early tension to be well-built, and I was intrigued to see whether Marc Daniel Acriche’s debut would build… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: Drained by Marc Daniel Acriche
After my SPSFC judging team made our first pass through the 30 books in our first-round allotment, there were a few books that hadn’t really grabbed me but that I was willing to read further to give them more opportunity. And there were a few books that I was excited to get back to. Deston… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: Dusk Mountain Blues by Deston J. Munden
The Solid-State Shuffle is another entry in my team’s first round batch of Self-Published Science Fiction Competition (SPSFC) novels. After reading extended previews of each book, we picked ten quarterfinalists to read to completion in search of the three semifinalists that we would pass to the other teams. I had mixed feelings about my introduction,… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: The Solid-State Shuffle by Jeffrey A. Ballard
Peter Hartog’s Bloodlines is the second novel I read in full as part of the Self-Published Science Fiction Competition, where my team sampled 10-20% of the 30 books assigned to us and then voted on ten to read to completion. But, unlike in my previous SPSFC review, I was a no vote on Bloodlines, putting… Continue reading Sci-fi/Fantasy Novel Review: Bloodlines by Peter Hartog
Kate Sheeran Swed’s Bypass the Stars holds the distinction as the first book I read in full in my capacity as SPSFC judge. It was one of 30 books randomly assigned to my team, and we collectively voted it as one of ten to continue past the first 20%, so reading this book was decided… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: Bypass the Stars by Kate Sheeran Swed
Lobizona, Romina Garber’s Spanglish love letter to Harry Potter, was one of my biggest (pleasant) surprises of the year. I likely would have never read it if not for Fantasy Bingo, and I liked it well enough to rate it ahead of two-thirds of the Lodestar Award finalists. Needless to say, I was very excited… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: Cazadora by Romina Garber
