Every once in a while, I read so much fantastic work in a short period of time that I begin to wonder whether I’m losing my standards. October was such a month. Five stars in my novels, five stars in my magazines, five stars in anthologies and in miscellaneous short fiction. It was a great… Continue reading October 2023 Round-up and Short Fiction Miscellany
A welcome quieter month—with only two of my regular magazines releasing new issues—allowed me to get to an ARC of an exciting new short fiction anthology, leading yet again to a magazine round-up coming at the very end of the month. But I thought it was a very good reading month, and I have a… Continue reading Tar Vol Reads a Magazine (or Two): Reviews of Clarkesworld and GigaNotoSaurus (October 2023)
This review is based on an eARC (Advance Reading Copy) provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The Digital Aesthete will be released on November 14, 2023. I haven’t read much of Alex Shvartsman’s work as an editor, but I’ve enjoyed a bit of his translated short fiction, and I’ve been… Continue reading Sci-fi Anthology Review: The Digital Aesthete, edited by Alex Shvartsman
A real scramble this month, with the end of Hugo reading and the beginning of SPSFC3 reading. I’m wildly behind on reviews, but I’m not forgetting my short fiction crew. I’ve got some great stuff to talk about this month, like every month. Short Fiction September Favorites Did my September magazine review come out in… Continue reading September 2023 Round-up and Short Fiction Miscellany
The second whirlwind month in a row has seen me settling into a new house, finishing up a year of Hugo reading, and opening my third year of SPSFC. So it’s been a bit of a quiet month for short fiction, but it was also a three-magazine month with the release of the bimonthly Magazine… Continue reading Tar Vol Reads a Magazine (or Three): Reviews of Clarkesworld, GigaNotoSaurus, and F&SF (September 2023)
In the past, I’ve done full ballot spotlight posts for my four favorite categories in the Hugo Awards for the year’s best in sci-fi and fantasy: Best Novel, Best Novella, Best Novelette, and Best Short Story. This year, I’ve managed Best Novel and Best Novella, but I’ve flat run out of time before the voting… Continue reading 2023 Hugo Awards Ballot: Short Fiction
It’s been a busy month outside of reading, so it’s good that this was a short month for my magazines, with new issues of only two of my three regular reads. While my highlights list isn’t quite as long as usual this month, I still found one story that truly stood out. So let’s get… Continue reading Tar Vol Reads a Magazine (or Two): Reviews of Clarkesworld and Giganotosaurus (August 2023)
As I open the second half of my year as a regular with Clarkesworld, GigaNotoSaurus, and The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, I can say pretty confidently that this won’t be my last year with Clarkesworld. Which isn’t to say there hasn’t been a fair bit of good from the other two, including some… Continue reading Tar Vol Reads a Magazine (or Three): Reviews of Clarkesworld, GigaNotoSaurus, and F&SF (July 2023)
I’m halfway through my year of being a regular with three sci-fi/fantasy magazines, and I have to say, I’ve been having a good time. As an even month, there was no new issue of F&SF in June, and this review is slightly shorter as a consequence, but I had no shortage of things to talk… Continue reading Tar Vol Reads a Magazine (or Two): Reviews of Clarkesworld and GigaNotoSaurus (June 2023)
In January, 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. And after a solid-but-unexceptional April, May… Continue reading Tar Vol Reads a Magazine (or Three): Reviews of Clarkesworld, GigaNotoSaurus, and F&SF (May 2023)
