I don’t usually branch out into horror, but Alien has proved that I can enjoy a good haunted house in space, and when Dead Silence by S.A. Barnes got picked up as part of r/Fantasy’s New Voices Book Club, the description sounded interesting enough to make it worth a try. Dead Silence opens with the… Continue reading Sci-fi/Horror Novel Review: Dead Silence by S.A. Barnes
The first round of the second annual Self-Published Science Fiction Competition (SPSFC2) has ended, and my team has hand-picked three semifinalists to send to two other teams of fellow judges. In return, we have received six semifinalists from two other judging teams, which we will read before the end of April. One that I was… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: The Last Gifts of the Universe by Rory August
Courtney Schafer’s “Readers of the Lost Arc” series of blog posts has been a fascinating source for discovering underappreciated fantasy–mostly female-authored–from decades past. So when I saw a few recommendations for her own debut novel, The Whitefire Crossing, I decided to pick up a copy. The TBR being what it is, there was quite a… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: The Whitefire Crossing by Courtney Schafer
I’m not usually much of a horror fan, but M. Shaw caught my attention with their unsettling short story “Man vs Bomb”—one of the best I read in 2021—and the premise of their weird horror novella One Hand to Hold, One Hand to Carve was intriguing enough for me to close 2022 by taking a… Continue reading Horror Novella Review: One Hand to Hold, One Hand to Carve by M. Shaw
This review is based on a review copy provided by the author in exchange for an honest review. I’ve dipped my toe into Janny Wurts’ catalog on a few occasions, reading the opening novels of The Empire Trilogy and The Wars of Light and Shadow and the excellent standalone epic fantasy thriller To Ride Hell’s… Continue reading Fantasy Novella Review: The Gallant by Janny Wurts
This review is based on an eARC (Advance Reading Copy) provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. And Put Away Childish Things will be released on March 28, 2023. Adrian Tchaikovsky has become a bit of an auto-read for me, after I absolutely adored the first three books I read by… Continue reading Fantasy Novella Review: And Put Away Childish Things by Adrian Tchaikovsky
This review is based on an eARC (Advance Reading Copy) provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Rose/House will be released on March 31, 2023. It’s safe to say that Arkady Martine has exploded onto the scene, at least in the corners of genre fandom that saw her win Hugo Awards… Continue reading Sci-fi Novella Review: Rose/House by Arkady Martine
This review is based on an eARC (Advance Reading Copy) provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Infinity Gate will be released on March 28, 2023. I’ve read a fair few multiverse stories lately, but well…I have a soft spot for multiverses, and M.R. Carey is an author who has been… Continue reading Sci-fi Novel Review: Infinity Gate by M.R. Carey
Last month, I started a new series, which I hope to continue all year, in which I read and review sci-fi/fantasy magazines. I’ve settled on three publications to follow this year: my two favorites from 2022 and a third that has been a titan of the genre for decades. But The Magazine of Fantasy &… Continue reading Tar Vol Reads a Magazine (or Two): Reviews of Clarkesworld and GigaNotoSaurus (February 2023)
Tracy Deonn’s Legendborn was one of my biggest positive surprises of 2021. It was my vote for the Lodestar that year (though it’s hard to complain too much about a loss to the also-excellent A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking), and it saw Deonn in my top two for the 2022 Astounding Award. Point is,… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: Bloodmarked by Tracy Deonn
