January delivered plenty of “Best of 2021” recommended reading lists, and so February was my heaviest month of short-fiction reading since I jumped back into the form in 2020. I made plenty of additions to my Hugo Nomination Draft, and I had such a good time reading that, even after going back at the end… Continue reading February 2022 Round-up and Short Fiction Focus
It’s done. Team Tar Vol On has finished our first pass through our first-round allotment of books for the Self-Published Science Fiction Competition. We’ve read 10-20% of each book and made a decision on ten quarterfinalists to read through to completion. In the first, second, third, and fourth batches of cuts and quarterfinalists, I advised… Continue reading SPSFC First-Round Cuts and Quarterfinalists, Batch Five
After a month of silence and a lot of reading, Team Tar Vol On has begun to make decisions about our first-round entries in the Self-Published Science Fiction Competition. To refresh your memory, our team of six judges began with 30 self-published science fiction novels, and we’ve spent the last month reading extended previews (10-20%)… Continue reading SPSFC First-Round Cuts and Quarterfinalists, Batch One
Last week, I told you about the team of judges I’m leading for the Self-Published Science Fiction Competition. This week, it’s time to meet our first round entries. Each judging team has been given 30 books. It is our job to whittle that down to three semifinalists–a task that we… Continue reading Introducing Team Tar Vol On’s SPSFC Round One Entries
I haven’t done many of these, so I’ll start with a word about my series reviews. They are not reviews of the last book. They are meant to be helpful for people who have not read the series at all, or perhaps who have started and are unsure about whether to continue. As such, I… Continue reading Fantasy Series Review: The Long Price Quartet by Daniel Abraham
R.A. Lafferty, who died at 87 on March 18 [2002], was undoubtedly the finest writer of whatever it was that he did that ever there was. He was a genius, an oddball, a madman. His stories. . . are without precedent. -Neil Gaiman Remember those old books for science fiction beginners, the ones that said… Continue reading Science Fiction/Fantasy Author Spotlight: R.A. Lafferty
