Tales from the Circle

Judging the SPSFC3 has been an interesting experience for me. Previously, I had only participated in contests like SPFBO and SFINCs as an entrant - throwing my books in there and hoping to get at least a little visibility for my books out of my participation in these competitions. Hoping that the books would end up with a judge that liked them and would give them a good review and get the word out a little bit. This year, I had the opportunity to see the other side of the process as a judge for the science fiction competition SPSFC in it's third run. I was part of Team Peripheral Prospectors, which was a team composed of 6 judges. You can c heck out our team hub , where links to all our reviews and other SPSFC3 posts can be found, but I also thought I would look back at my year of being a judge and post a few thoughts here.  SPSFC3 - The Process and some of the Books  While I mostly read and write fantasy, I do love to read some science fiction from time to time and so I joine...

Time to Play (Apocalypse Parenting Book 1) is a LitRPG book about a mother thrust into an apocalyptic game-like situation with her three kids. One minute she's worrying about driving them to their sports lessons and the next minute the electricity stops working and an announcement informs her - and everyone else - that earth has just become the site of some alien game-show and they're now the unwilling contestants in this game. It's such an excellent premise with some great characterization that grounds it and makes it very, very real. I flew through this book in about two days because it was such a page-turner. One of the main draws that kept me turning the pages is the main character Meghan's realistic struggles and reactions as a mother of three. In a way, it's a book where monsters suddenly spawn and the characters can collect points and have to figure out how to survive, but it's also really just a book about the struggles of parenting, because it's not...

  Any Minor World by Craig Schaefer follows Roy - a sort of private detective/"hired muscle" who is approached by a bit of a suspicious client. Despite his misgivings, he takes the job and goes after a dead writer's unfinished manuscript and begins to unravel a mystery surrounding this author's books. The mystery brings him up against a legendary criminal network and introduces him to Lucy Langenkamp, an art restorer who once wrote a cancelled comic. As they struggle to survive the crazy adventure that springs up around them, Roy and Lucy slowly grapple with their own pasts as well. It's a well-written book with a very distinctive noir/pulp vibe to it.  Before I go on, I have to comment on the descriptions. I'm usually someone who doesn't enjoy/gets bored by descriptions, but I found the ones in this book to be well-written. They're interesting and paint some very vivid pictures that enabled me to imagine exactly what some of these characters and place...

Pallas Lost by Jake Morrison is a space-heist sci-fi story with excellent world-building. The first few chapters introduce several characters that eventually come together around the mystery of a mythical lost spaceship - Pallas. The way their stories came together was excellent and made for some great, entertaining reading. The author also did a wonderful job at slowly revealing the history, myths, and current politics of the human colonies on the various planets. Everything was revealed smoothly at the right time and it made the world (galaxy, I guess!) seem very real while maintaining the fast pace of the storytelling.  I want to know more about Pallas and the AI that started it all and the politics of the corporations that rule these planets so the book definitely did the job of the first in series quite well, while still telling a complete enough story of this part of the adventure.  I only had a couple of very minor issues with the book. First of all, Eliot's intro scene...

Replacement follows the story of Jane, a forgotten clone in a factory-like facility where most of the others are part of larger "batches" who have been cloned/designed to take on specific roles in society. Jane is yearning and searching for "batchmates" and for answers. She wants to know who "sponsored" her to be cloned in the first place and why. To connect with her identity.  She thinks she might get answers when she is sent to replace/pretend to be Janie, one of these batchmates she has been yearning to find, but she find a whole bunch more questions!  This was a great, well-written read that had mystery and explored the ethical issues that arise from cloning in an entertaining way. Since Jane is a teenager there was a bit of school life/teen relationship stuff that was written in a realistic way that didn't overpower other aspects of the story. It all served to move the story along and help explore Jane's struggles, because on the one hand she ...

As you know, I mostly read and write epic fantasy, but I have a bit of a soft spot for science fiction as well. And I'm always on the lookout for good indie hidden gems . So when the amazing Athena @ OneReadingNurse gave me a chance to join her SPSFC3 judging team, I decided to give it a try!  As a part of Team 4: Peripheral Prospectors , I've already sampled many amazing Sci-Fi books. We had a lot of great books assigned to our team and deciding which ones to put forward in the competition was no easy task! So before I dive into reading some of the Quarterfinalists in full, I wanted to introduce you to some of these great books I sampled so you can check them out too.  Some of these books I enjoyed and will continue reading, whether they made it to the Quarterfinalists list or not, and others weren't my style, but they might be yours! The Books I've Sampled So Far:    After Moses by Michael F. Kane  This book starts off like a space-Western that takes place b...