It’s been a big reading month! I finished my favorite 2024-published novel, I had a big push of current-year short fiction before posting the first edition of my 2024 Recommended Reading List, and once I got it posted, I spent a little while dipping into backlist recommendations that had been languishing on my TBR. Let’s… Continue reading December 2024 Round-up and Short Fiction Miscellany
It’s time for my favorite post of the year, where I share all the best sci-fi and fantasy I read from 2024. I write two versions of this post each year. The second comes out in late February, once I’ve had a chance to read works from everyone else’s Best of the Year lists. And… Continue reading Tar Vol’s 2024 Recommended Reading List (Holiday Edition)
Everybody may be posting Best of the Year lists–and don’t get me wrong, I’ll be doing the same later this week–but there are still new stories coming out this month. As always, I read a couple magazines and am here to talk about them. Clarkesworld The December 2024 issue of Clarkesworld had a wonderfully international… Continue reading Tar Vol Reads a Magazine (or Two): Reviews of Clarkesworld and GigaNotoSaurus (December 2024)
The more I read new releases, the more my “scramble to catch up on new releases” time moves from February to November. Which is not to say that it won’t continue into February, but it’s definitely started. Let’s take a look at what I read this month and what I have to recommend. Short Fiction… Continue reading November 2024 Round-up and Short Fiction Miscellany
In my first two months of Magazine Minis—where I review a few stories from a particular magazine, even if I haven’t read the entire issue—I’ve collected groups of stories that were at least published in the same issue. But some magazines don’t publish multi-story issues at all. And just because a venue publishes one story… Continue reading Tar Vol’s Magazine Minis: Podcastle and Strange Horizons
This is the same every month. I read some genre magazines, I talk about them. Let’s go. Clarkesworld My favorite genre magazine over the last several years has been Clarkesworld, which generally mixes experimental or boundary-pushing sci-fi with well-executed takes on classic premises. The former is unsurprisingly more boom-or-bust, but I regularly find favorites in… Continue reading Tar Vol Reads a Magazine (or Two): Reviews of Clarkesworld and GigaNotoSaurus (November 2024)
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
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 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 been trying to organize my short fiction a little bit better this month, so I have two magazine review posts and a little bit less for the miscellany. And yet, I still have some favorites to share, both in short-form and long. Let’s take a look! Short Fiction September Favorites I’ve already reviewed the September issue… Continue reading September 2024 Round-up and Short Fiction Miscellany
