Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off #11: The Finalists

Welcome to Round Two of the 11th Annual Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off (SPFBO)!

For those who are here for the first time, welcome! You can learn more about the SPFBO here, or keep reading for a quick round up!

For those who have been here before, let me reintroduce you to our process.

How It Works

Before the contest begins, self-published authors submit their stories. Then 300 books are divided between ten different SFF review blogs.

In Round One, each blog reads through their slush pile of 30 books and picks their favorite to go onto the finals. Fantasy-Faction’s judges whittle down our group of 30 books by letting go of five at a time, until we get to our semi-finalists, who will get their own reviews. When we reviewed all the semi-finalists, we announce our finalist pick!

This year our semi-finalists were:

• The Artificer’s Knot by Eric Lewis
• City of Stone by K. T. Holder
• Of Mages and Makers by Rel Carroll
• Physical Magic by William C. Tracy

In Round Two, after all finalists 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! You can follow along on Mark Lawrence’s website here. The finalists this year are:

• Fantasy-Faction (us): Of Mages and Makers by Rel Carroll
• Abel Montero: The Honorable Con by Michele C. Shaw
• Before We Go Blog: Jester by Tim Carter
• FanFi Addict: No More Levels by Benjamin Barreth
• Fantasy Book Critic: Carrion Saints by Hiyodori
• The Fantasy Hive: The Hallows by H. L. Tinsley
• Noah’s Brisk Reviews: To Touch a Silent Fury by R. A. Sandpiper
• SFF Insiders: Violence & Vigilance by David T. List
• Talis Library: A Light from the Nether by Molly Dowd Sullivan
• The Weatherwax Report: Dogged by Michael R. Fletcher

You can see the original list of 300 books on Mark Lawrence’s website. And our original 30 books here.

Our Current Standings

• A Light from the Nether by Molly Dowd Sullivan
• Carrion Saints by Hiyodori
• Dogged by Michael R. Fletcher
• The Hallows by H. L. Tinsley
• The Honorable Con by Michele C. Shaw
• Jester by Tim Carter
• No More Levels by Benjamin Barreth
• Of Mages and Makers by Rel Carroll: 7.9
• To Touch a Silent Fury by R. A. Sandpiper
• Violence & Vigilance by David T. List

Fantasy-Faction will be posting a review about twice a month between now and December as we finish each book. The above order is just for reference. We are picking which book to read next by vibes only.

And Remember: All reading is subjective. Each book here is already a winner, beating out 29 other books each. We encourage everyone to read through the finalists (and the semi-finalists too!), and if you enjoy them, please review them on your favorite platforms!

If you’d like to follow along more closely, you can join the SPFBO Facebook group and follow the #SPFBO tag on social media! (You can also follow Fantasy-Faction on Facebook, Bluesky, Instagram, and Threads.) And again, you can keep up to date with all the finalists’ scores on Mark Lawrence’s website!

Congratulations to all the finalists, and thank you very much to all the authors who entered! We know it is tough to get judged like this, and we definitely appreciate the courage to put your work forward to a contest!

Our judges this year Adawia Asad, Eva Geraghty, Evelyn Grimald “E.G.” Stone, Julia Kitvaria Sarene, Karen Lucia, Kerry Smith, Kit Caelsto, Maureen Neuman, Robert Max Freeman, Sara Rosevear, Sherry Cammer, Stacey Markle, Tianna Twyman, and Yaniv Rosenfeld Cohen. If you’d like to learn more about us, including our likes and dislikes, you can read about them here. And again, you can learn more about the contest here.

Any queries should be directed to the editor, Jennie Ivins (me), via DM (Bluesky/Threads).

Logo image by Tithi Luadthong.

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