Reviews

Sci-fi Novel Review: Exin Ex Machina by G.S. Jennsen

For the first round of this year’s Self-Published Science Fiction Competition (SPSFC2), my team has been assigned 28 books to ultimately whittle down to three semifinalists. To that end, we have further divided our batch so that each judge will be assigned 11 or 12 books to scout for the rest of the team. Because… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: Exin Ex Machina by G.S. Jennsen

Reviews

Fantasy Novella Review: A Spindle Splintered by Alix E. Harrow

Alix E. Harrow has become one of the more notable names in fantasy over the last several years, riding a tendency to tug at heartstrings and a prose style that’s simultaneously beautiful and easy-to-read to five Hugo nominations (one win) across three separate categories since 2019. Best Novella finalist A Spindle Splintered was my second… Continue reading Fantasy Novella Review: A Spindle Splintered by Alix E. Harrow

Reviews

Fantasy Novel Review: She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan

Sometimes there’s a book that comes out to such acclaim that I feel like I don’t have to rush to read it, because it’s bound to appear on my Hugo reading list. In 2021, no book fit that mold better than Shelley Parker-Chan’s historical fantasy debut She Who Became the Sun. I didn’t read it… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan

Reviews

Sci-fi Novella Review: A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers

This summer is quickly taking me from not having read any Becky Chambers to reading three of her books, given a late-series Hugo nomination for Best Novel and a series-opener nominated for Best Novella. But A Psalm for the Wild-Built may be the novella that I had heard most about in 2021, so I was… Continue reading Sci-fi Novella Review: A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers

Reviews

Sci-fi Novel Review: A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine

A Memory Called Empire won the Hugo Award for Best Novel shortly after I had gotten back into speculative fiction but before I started following genre awards. But with its sequel nominated for Best Novel this year, I figured it was high time to circle back and read Arkady Martine’s debut.  A Memory Called Empire… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine

Reviews

Sci-fi Novel Review: The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers

For the last couple years, the list of recent speculative fiction that everyone else seems to have read but that I hadn’t started with Becky Chambers’ The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet. But when the most recent book in her Wayfarers series was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novel, I finally… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers

SPSFC

SPSFC Finalist Review–Duckett & Dyer: Dicks for Hire by G.M. Nair

We’ve made it to the finals of the Self-Published Science Fiction Competition (SPSFC), and six of the seven finalists are new reads for my judging team. The farther we get into the competition, the more highly recommended each book comes–each of the seven has been hand-picked out of a 30-book slush pile by one of… Continue reading SPSFC Finalist Review–Duckett & Dyer: Dicks for Hire by G.M. Nair

SPSFC

SPSFC Finalist Review: Captain Wu by Patrice Fitzgerald and Jack Lyster

We’ve made it to the finals of the Self-Published Science Fiction Competition (SPSFC), and six of the seven finalists are new reads for my judging team. The farther we get into the competition, the more highly recommended each book comes–each of the seven has been hand-picked out of a 30-book slush pile by one of… Continue reading SPSFC Finalist Review: Captain Wu by Patrice Fitzgerald and Jack Lyster