It’s that time of year again Factioneers! In the north spring is coming to an end. In the south winter is on its way. And that means it is time for the 8th Annual Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off to begin!
We at Fantasy-Faction have been judging the contest since its inception way back in 2015. Along the way we have discovered some amazing self-published books and authors and had the privilege to share them with you!
How It Works
For those who are new to our site or new to the Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off (or SPFBO), let me explain how it works.
Before the contest begins, self-published authors submit their stories, until 300 entries are received. Then those 300 books are divided between ten different SFF review blogs. This year, those blogs are:
- Fantasy-Faction (us)
- Fantasy Book Critic
- Lynn’s Books + The Critiquing Chemist (joint team)
- Booknest
- The Weatherwax Report
- The Fantasy Inn
- Becky M (of InkyLeaves)
- Before We Go Blog
- Queen’s Book Asylum
- Bookborn
Each blog reads through their slush pile of thirty books and picks their favorite to go onto the finals. This works differently for each blog, but here we review five books at a time, saving our favorite five for last. Then each of our five semi-finalists gets its own review, then we announce our winner.
After all winners have been picked, each blog reads the other nine finalists, and rates them on a scale of 10. Whichever book scores the highest is the winner!
What Books Are We Reading?
Here is our list of 30 books for round one of this year’s contest. They are listed in alphabetical order by title. You can click on each book to see its Goodreads (or Amazon) page. If you like you can check out all the covers on our Pinterest board here.
You can see the entire list of 300 books on Mark Lawrence’s website.
- Afterworld (Next Life #1) by James G. Robertson
- An Altar on the Village Green (The Chained God, #1) by Nathan Hall
- A Song for The Void by Andrew C. Piazza
- Blood on the Canvas by David M. Samuels
- Born of Fire (Myths and Whispers #1) by R. R. Carter
- Breaker by Amy Campbell
- Burning Bright (The Extraordinaries #1) by Melissa McShane
- Darkhaven (The Lightless Prophecy, #1) by Kel E. Fox
- Dungeon Man Sam and the Orphaned Core by J. W. Benjamin
- Dust Bound by Clementine Fraser
- Gold Glamour’s Ghost (Carter Quinn’s Quirks and Curios #1) by Neil Adam Ray
- Imagine the Fire by S. G. Gowland
- In the Shadow of Ruin by Tony Debajo
- Manipulator’s War (Ruarnon Trilogy #1) by Elise Carlson
- Master of the Flying Broom (Unlikely Heroes #1) by Joseph J. Bailey
- Oathbound Healer (Beneath the Dragoneye Moons #1) by Selkie Myth
- Raven: Reawakening (The Demonic Designs #1) by Mitchell Hogan
- Rise of Tears (Tears of Hatsunae, #1) by Brand J. Alexander
- Sacaran Nights by Rachel Emma Shaw
- Tails by Jessica Grace Wright
- The Alchemyst’s Mirror by Liz Delton
- The Crypt Lord’s Call (Godguild #1) by Dawson George
- The Darkness Calling by Kaleigh McCann
- The Forest of Forgotten Vows by Grace Carlisle
- The Heart of the Bloodstone by Philinna Wood
- The Pirate’s Deal (Romancing Aranthium #2) by Daniela A. Mera and Elayna R. Gallea
- The Scorpion’s Lullaby (Luminous Lands, #1) by Juliet Vane
- The Soul Trade by Edward Rose
- The True and Accurate Log of the Sand Ship Uncertainty by Fowler Brown
- Troupe of Shadows by Jennings Zabrinsky
Who Will Be Judging?
Our judging team is more compact this year, but we are all excited to start reading our list! Our tastes rang across the board, and we can’t wait to see what the authors have for us this year! Let me introduce our team.
Julia Kitvaria Sarene
Julia has been a bookseller and purchaser in Germany since 2003. Her love of books only grew over the years, just as her love for fantasy and sci-fi did! She is especially interested in indie publishing and discovering new talents, she has been a judge for SPFBO since 2018. She reads every subgenre and style of fantasy, as long as it’s not overly romantic! If she’s not reading, she likes to stalk (foam!) animals with her bow and arrows. And we simply won’t mention her audiobook addiction here…
- Facebook: Julia Kitvaria Sarene
- Instagram: juliakitvariasarene
- Goodreads: Julia Sarene
- The StoryGraph: kitvaria_sarene
- Readerly: kitvaria_sarene
Kartik Narayanan
Kartik loves books and has been reading since he can remember. He generally reads all kinds of books but some genres like SFF and non-fiction involving science and maths are more equal than others. When growing up, he was influenced by Gerald Durrell and James Herriot. So naturally he ended up working in the IT industry. Somewhere along the line, he discovered Isaac Asimov and Terry Pratchett and that’s when his obsession with SFF started. He lives in India with his wife and his two daughters, all of whom spend most of their spare time reading.
- Twitter: @hajaarfunda
- Facebook: Kartik Narayanan
- Instagram: narayanankartik
- Goodreads: kartik narayanan
- YouTube: Kartik Narayanan
Kerry Smith
Kerry lives in Wellington, New Zealand and this is her 3rd year as a judge for Fantasy-Faction. She has been an avid reader from a very early age and fell in love with fantasy when she discovered different worlds at the top of a magic tree. She enjoys most sub-genres of fantasy though she tends to avoid reading books that are reverse harem and overly sex filled. When she’s not reading, Kerry volunteers at a charity shop/drop in centre for the local LGBTQI community. She can be found on Goodreads, Storygraph and Readerly under the name Kerry Smith.
- Goodreads: Kerry Smith
- The StoryGraph: demoniker
Max Freeman
Max is a Hufflepuff that no longer likes J. K. Rowling. A movie geek that hates sad endings. Works as a caregiver to the disabled, and lives at the beach. He is usually playing tabletop games, reading fantasy/sci-fi, and working on his bizarre novels.
- Twitter: @stillmellow
Jennie Ivins (Me)
Jennie is the editor of Fantasy-Faction. She is also stay-at-home mom from New Jersey with three autistic boys, a fantasy writer, computer addict, and lover of geeky things! She is also going to be the one posting the reviews, so if you have any questions, feel free to ask her (me).
- Twitter: @Autumn2May
- Facebook: Jennifer Ivins (Jennie)
- Instagram: jennie.ivins
- Pinterest: Jennie Ivins
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So that’s us and the contest. We will be posting an article about once a month as we let go five books at a time. The first will be in June. Stay tuned to see what gems we find this year in the 8th Annual Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off!
Good luck to everyone competing and may the best book win! Happy Reading!
If you’d like to follow along more closely, you can join the SPFBO Facebook group and follow the #SPFBO tag on Twitter! You can also keep up to date with all the books’ scores on Mark Lawrence’s website!
Geoff Matthews
Julia Kitvaria Sarene