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
This review is based on an eARC (Advance Reading Copy) provided by the author in exchange for an honest review. The Mountain Crown will be released on October 8, 2024. Karin Lowachee had been hanging around the middle of the TBR for what seemed like forever before I finally pulled Warchild off the stack this… Continue reading Fantasy Novella Review: The Mountain Crown by Karin Lowachee
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
My short fiction reviews over the last couple years have been almost entirely limited to two monthly posts: a review of the magazines I read cover-to-cover and a catch-all roundup with an assortment of everything else. But in 2024, I’ve been trying to be a little more consistent in my reading of magazines that aren’t… Continue reading Tar Vol’s Magazine Minis: Asimov’s (September/October 2024) and Lightspeed (August and September 2024)
