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 did not grow up reading comic books, so perhaps it’s no surprise that as an adult, I haven’t gotten into graphic novels. I read Watchmen in college and that might be it…ever. But the English translation of Shubeik Lubeik by Deena Mohamed came with enough hype from people that don’t normally read graphic novels… Continue reading Fantasy Graphic Novel Review: Shubeik Lubeik by Deena Mohamed
Ann Leckie’s Imperial Radch series was a big hit within genre fiction at a time when I was mostly checked out. It sounded like the sort of thing I would like, so I’ve been meaning to circle back to it at some point. And while I still haven’t made it to the original trilogy, the… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: Translation State by Ann Leckie
I’d been hearing a lot about the work of John Scalzi for a long time, but I hadn’t actually read any until his pandemic novel, The Kaiju Preservation Society, made the 2023 Hugo shortlist. And with the appearance of Starter Villain on the 2024 Hugo shortlist for the Best Novel category, this is the second… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: Starter Villain by John Scalzi
I’ve read a little bit of Vajra Chandrasekera’s short fiction, and I’ve been consistently impressed with his prose and creativity, but just as consistently finding myself at the end wanting a little bit more. So I decided to skip his debut novel, The Saint of Bright Doors, only circling back around when it surprised me… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera
There were a pair of novels in 2023 with eerily similar—and discouraging—hype cycles. Both Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh and Witch King by Martha Wells were hailed as the next big thing, with as much pre-release buzz as anything I saw last year, and then completely fell off a cliff post-release, with a few… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh
I’ve been vaguely familiar with Malka Older as a sci-fi author with a pretty good reputation, but I hadn’t actually had an opportunity to read any of her work, and when The Mimicking of Known Successes was pitched as a sapphic Sherlock Holmes in space, my mystery-fatigue inclined me to skip this one as well.… Continue reading Sci-fi Novella Review: The Mimicking of Known Successes by Malka Older
I loved M V Melcer’s 2021 short story “The Falling,” so it didn’t take too many positive reviews to convince me to shell out the four dollars for her new space opera: Refractions. Refractions is a story of sabotage in space, with a pilot fleeing her past thrust into an unfamiliar leadership role with no… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: Refractions by M V Melcer
My judging team in the third annual Self-Published Science Fiction Competition (SPSFC3) has turned in our two semifinalists, and in return, we’ve received two semifinalists each from a pair of other teams. Our task over the months of February and March is to read these four new semifinalists, and together with the other two teams,… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: Kenai by Dave Dobson
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
