The Nine by Tracy Townsend incorporates plenty of tropes that were popular in 2010s fantasy—the grimy secondary world setting, the thieving lead, the proliferation of factions—but passed wildly under the radar after its 2017 release. I’m not sure I’d have heard of it if not for one Redditor consistently singing its praises and actually buying… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: The Nine by Tracy Townsend
House of the Rain King by Will Greatwich is one of the few self-published novels that I’ve actually picked up in its publication year. A glowing review from someone who likes a lot of my favorites and a selection for an online book club was enough for me to take the plunge and see what… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: House of the Rain King by Will Greatwich
We’ve reached the finals of the fourth annual Self-Published Science Fiction Competition (SPSFC4), and the three finalists chosen on my team’s side of the bracket have been joined by three more from the other side. Over the course of the summer, we’ll be reading and scoring these three books that came with such glowing recommendations from Peripheral Prospectors and Ground Control to Major Tom. And… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: Saint Elspeth by Wick Welker
This review is based on an eARC (Advance Reading Copy) provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. A Rebel’s History of Mars will be released on June 10, 2025. I am known to be a sucker for a good suppressed history story, and I’ve enjoyed Nadia Afifi in shorter form, so… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: A Rebel’s History of Mars by Nadia Afifi
The fourth annual Self-Published Science Fiction Competition (SPSFC4) has advanced to the semifinals, where my team’s two semifinalists will join four others in one of the competition’s two semifinal groups, each of which will be read by multiple judging teams in order to select a top three to advance to the finals. I closed my personal reading for the round… Continue reading Sci-fi Book Review: Bisection by Sheila Jenné
The fourth annual Self-Published Science Fiction Competition (SPSFC4) has advanced to the semifinals, where my team’s two semifinalists will join four others in one of the competition’s two semifinal groups, each of which will be read by multiple judging teams in order to select a top three to advance to the finals. My third read of the round was Accidental… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: Accidental Intelligence by Bryan Chaffin
The fourth annual Self-Published Science Fiction Competition (SPSFC4) has advanced to the semifinals, where my team’s two semifinalists will join four others in one of the competition’s two semifinal groups, each of which will be read by multiple judging teams in order to select a top three to advance to the finals. For my second read of the stage, I… Continue reading Sci-fi Book Review: Proliferation by Erik A. Otto
The fourth annual Self-Published Science Fiction Competition (SPSFC4) has advanced to the semifinals, where my team’s two semifinalists will join four others in one of the competition’s two semifinal groups, each of which will be read by multiple judging teams in order to select a top three to advance to the finals. And my first… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: On Impulse by Heather Texle
This review is based on an eARC (Advance Reading Copy) provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Psychopomp was released on March 25, 2025. Maria Dong’s “Braid Me a Howling Tongue” was one of my favorite stories of 2023, so when I saw she had a new novel coming out, I… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: Psychopomp by Maria Dong
Because my judging team for the fourth annual Self-Published Science Fiction Competition (SPSFC4) had an unusually light group of quarterfinalists, I spent the end of the stage catching up on some quarterfinalists from other teams. And one that particularly caught my eye was the supernatural sci-fi Our Lady of the Artilects by Andrew Gillsmith. Our… Continue reading Supernatural Sci-fi Novel Review: Our Lady of the Artilects by Andrew Gillsmith
