Carol Berg’s Lighthouse Duet is one of the best fantasy series I’ve ever read, and is in many ways responsible for my commitment to picking through the backlists of fantasy authors who never really captured the popular imagination. As it turns out, a lot of my favorite books fall into that category. And yet I… Continue reading Fantasy Series Review: The Sanctuary Duet by Carol Berg
Catherynne M. Valente is not an author I’d read much before this year, but with Hugo nominations in three different fiction categories, this year is quickly changing that. The only one of those three that will warrant its own post—I usually roll up shorter work into my monthly round-ups—is the Best Novella Finalist The Past… Continue reading Sci-fi Novella Review: The Past is Red by Catherynne M. Valente
I generally don’t consider myself a “pick up a book because it uses cool tropes” sort of reader, but I do have a few weaknesses, and one of them is forgotten history. So picking up the post-apocalyptic Zeroth Law by Guerric Haché was an easy decision. Fitting it into my crowded reading schedule was a… Continue reading Sci-fi/Fantasy Novel Review: Zeroth Law by Guerric Haché
Not being especially enamored with either steampunk or fantasy detectives, A Master of Djinn is a book that I wouldn’t have cracked without a pretty significant push. But enough people were excited about P. Djèlí Clark’s debut novel in his existing steampunk Cairo setting that it made the short list for the Hugo Award for… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark
At long last, I’ve come to my last book of the Self-Published Science Fiction Competition (SPSFC) Semifinals. In front of me is Age of Order by Julian North, a young adult dystopian novel that sliced through any hint of subgenre fatigue to garner one of the top positions from its first round judges. Age of… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: Age of Order by Julian North
Six Semifinalists from the Self-Published Science Fiction Competition (SPSFC) were passed to me from first round judges who had rated them among the top three of initial 30-book allotments. My fifth book of those six was Simon Kewin’s Dead Star, which promised an interstellar journey to track down the mysterious history that led to the… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: Dead Star by Simon Kewin
Judging for the Self-Published Science Fiction Competition (SPSFC) has matched me with a few books outside my wheelhouse, but T. A. Bruno’s debut In the Orbit of Sirens promised to be an exception. A novel featuring high-stakes exploration with a first contact storyline that didn’t just devolve into reflexive war is exactly the sort of… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: In the Orbit of Sirens by T.A. Bruno
Dog Country came into the Semifinals of the Self-Published Science Fiction Competition (SPSFC) with the highest first-round score of any book in the competition. Though it promised quite a bit more war than I usually prefer in my fiction, the focus on psychological trauma and the glowing first round reviews had me especially excited to… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: Dog Country by Malcolm F. Cross
My Self-Published Science Fiction Competition (SPSFC) team has advanced three books to the semifinals, and in exchange, we’ve received six semifinalists from two other judging teams. Among those six—and rated extremely highly by its first round judges—was Of Cinder and Bone by Kyoko M. Of Cinder and Bone follows Jack and Kamala, a pair of… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: Of Cinder and Bone by Kyoko M.
In the first round of the Self-Published Science Fiction Competition (SPSFC), my team sampled 30 works of self-published sci-fi before settling on three favorites to advance to the Semifinal round. Now, we receive the three favorites of two of the ten other judging teams, as we continue whittling down the 300 entries to a group… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: Zero Day Threat by R.M. Olson
