I read A Court of Thorns and Roses earlier this year to see what all the hype was about. It really wasn’t good. But then I was told that I had actually not seen what all the hype was about, because really it’s the second book in the series–A Court of Mist and Fury–that set… Continue reading Fantasy Series Review: A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
I’ve been traveling, so my October roundup is extremely late! In part because of the travel, it’s bit a little bit of a light month with novels, but I’ve reviewed some books I’m extremely excited about, and I’ve read some short fiction that’s going pretty high on my annual favorites list. Plus SPSFC is in… Continue reading October 2024 Round-up and Short Fiction Miscellany
This review is based on an eARC (Advance Reading Copy) provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. We Are All Ghosts in the Forest will be released on November 7, 2024. I had never heard of Lorraine Wilson before seeing We Are All Ghosts in the Forest pop up on NetGalley,… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: We Are All Ghosts in the Forest by Lorraine Wilson
Welcome to the second month of the new feature in which I dip into various magazines for a couple stories in a given issue. I can’t really call them magazine reviews, since I’m only reading a small portion of the magazines in question, but I also want to give the venues a little bit more… Continue reading Tar Vol’s Magazine Minis: Reckoning 8, Uncanny #60, and Asimov’s (November/December 2024)
I’ve been hearing about Jo Walton for a while, but the place I chose to start was an odd one. Regular readers of the blog will be unsurprised to hear that it had a lot to do with Bingo. I’ve been working on a “Not So Hard” theme where I fill each square with a… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: Lifelode by Jo Walton
Every year, I read and review two or three horror novels, and every year, I start with a caveat about how I don’t usually read horror. That’s true, I don’t, but I do make exceptions, usually after a critical mass of word-of-mouth recommendations convince me that the book in question won’t lean too heavily on… Continue reading Horror Novel Review: The Reformatory by Tananarive Due
I’ve expanded from two monthly short fiction posts to three, but we’re still starting with my monthly reads of Clarkesworld and GigaNotoSaurus. Let’s get to it. Clarkesworld Clarkesworld often features eight stories in a month, but in the October 2024 issue, there are six short stories sandwiching a novella-length centerpiece. It opens with A Space… Continue reading Tar Vol Reads a Magazine (or Two): Reviews of Clarkesworld and GigaNotoSaurus (October 2024)
I’ve heard a lot about Christopher Buehlman over the last couple years from both fans of horror and epic fantasy, but I’m not a big horror fan, and The Blacktongue Thief featured a snarky rogue lead that I wasn’t quite in the mood for, so his work stayed mostly on the fringes of my awareness.… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: The Daughters’ War by Christopher Buehlman
Team Tar Vol On is back for the fourth annual Self-Published Science Fiction Competition (SPSFC4). For those who have followed the competition in the past, we don’t have many big changes, but fewer judging teams means our first rounds will be a little bit bigger and our second rounds will be a little bit smaller.… Continue reading Meet the Books: Tar Vol On’s SPSFC4 Allocation
We are back for the fourth annual Self-Published Science Fiction Competition (SPSFC4), and for the fourth consecutive year, Team Tar Vol On will be one of the judging teams. For those who have followed the competition in the past, we have a fewer judging teams this year, and the first round allocations are a bit… Continue reading Meet the Team: Tar Vol On and SPSFC4
