I first read Sarah Pinsker when “Two Truths and a Lie” was a Hugo Award finalist for Best Novelette in 2021 (it won). Three or four stories later, she’d become one of my absolute favorite short story authors, and picking up a copy of her second collection, Lost Places, was an easy decision. Lost Places… Continue reading Sci-fi/Fantasy Collection Review: Lost Places by Sarah Pinsker
February is always a great month for catching up on stories—especially relatively short ones—from other people’s favorites lists, and while I had heard almost no buzz about Nothing But the Rain by Naomi Salman, a book club friend had it atop their 2023 novella list, so I thought I’d give it a try. Guess what?… Continue reading Sci-fi Novella Review: Nothing But the Rain by Naomi Salman
February is a ridiculous month of a reading. Best of the Year lists are dropping seemingly every week, and with award nominations due soon, I spend a lot of time bingeing eligible works to try to sort out my own favorites. I read more than 60 pieices of short fiction last month alone! For some… Continue reading February 2024 Round-up and Short Fiction Miscellany
I tend to be a bit squeamish about horror, but I’ve dipped my toe into the genre a couple times and have found things to like there. Because of said squeamishness, I don’t know much about the genre classics apart from whatever has filtered down through the general culture, but when one of r/Fantasy’s many… Continue reading Horror Novel Review: The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
In December, I posted my 2023 Recommended Reading List, consisting of all my favorite things that were published in 2023. But who’s to say I can’t do it again in February? I’m not Locus, there’s no rule against two recommendation lists. I publish one list in December because that’s when people start swapping favorites. And… Continue reading Tar Vol’s 2023 Recommended Reading List and Short Fiction Top Ten: Awards Season Edition
I said I was going to scale back my cover-to-cover magazine reading in 2024 so that I could leave more time open to dip in to various publications here and there, and February is the first month where I’ve actually scaled back. Which is perfect timing, because I’ve used the extra time to catch up… Continue reading Tar Vol Reads a Magazine (or Two): Reviews of Clarkesworld and GigaNotoSaurus (February 2024)
This review is based on an eARC (Advance Reading Copy) provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Moon of the Turning Leaves has been released in paperback and will be released as an ebook on February 27, 2024. I’ve had Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice on the vague… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: Moon of the Turning Leaves by Waubgeshig Rice
While Chain-Gang All-Stars doesn’t seem to be generating much buzz in genre-centric circles, it seems that one can hardly read a “Best of 2023” list in more literary-leaning outlets without seeing it listed as an absolute must-read. Throw in a couple recommendations on social media and my own penchant for survival games, and Nana Kwame… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
This review is based on an eARC (Advance Reading Copy) provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The Book of Love will be released on February 13, 2024. Kelly Link is one of those authors that seems to be regularly lauded as one of the greats in contemporary speculative fiction, but… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: The Book of Love by Kelly Link
This review is based on an eARC (Advance Reading Copy) provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The Tainted Cup will be released on February 6, 2024. Robert Jackson Bennett’s acclaimed Divine Cities trilogy came out shortly before I returned from a school-induced genre hiatus, and ever since, he’s been one… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett
