Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse
L. A. Young
When an author has an impressive debut year—as in being nominated for and winning several literary awards: the Hugo, the Nebula, etc.—the question is can the author go further and…
Reviews
Age of Sigmar: Soulbound – Role-playing Game Review
Richard Marpole
Big, bold, bombastic, and brutal—Age of Sigmar: Soulbound has swaggered its way onto the RPG scene with well-earned confidence. Players take on the role of larger-than-life heroes (literally, in some…
Captain Moxley and the Embers of the Empire by Dan Hanks
Captain Moxley and the Embers of the Empire is a fantastical pulp novel set during the 1950s. Captain Samantha Moxley herself is a retired British pilot who fought against the…
Blade’s Edge and Traitor’s Hope by Virginia McClain – Cover Redesign Reveal
Virginia McClain
Covers. We like to pretend we don’t judge books by them, but on some level we do. And that’s really ok. Here’s why: It’s NOT okay to judge people by…
Songs of Insurrection by JC Kang
S. H. Paulus
Spoiler Warning: This review contains spoilers. Read with caution if you have yet to finish the book. A path to glory blazed with the dying heart of an imperial princess.…
The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo
JC Kang
Reviewer’s Note: Upon finishing this novella, which took six days the first time around, I immediately wrote an initial review where I rated it 6/10 stars. Then, I re-read it,…
The Kingdom of Liars by Nick Martell
2020 continues to present books by debut authors, which continues the expansion of speculative fiction canon. Several works by new authors remind readers the genre is influenced by more than…
Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off #6: The Second Five Fall
A. M. Justice
Each SPFBO, Mark Lawrence makes a Wordle of the titles entered that year. The biggest words represent those used most often, and Fantasy-Faction got our share of the books with…
The Year of the Witching by Alexis Henderson
Speculative fiction is a term used when the common themes found in fantasy, science fiction and horror overlap while incorporating at least one of the many subgenres into the narrative.…
Peasprout Chen, Future Legend of Skate and Sword by Henry Lien
Mean Girls meets Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon…on ice! (or I, Tonya meets Jin Yong) As an wuxia film aficionado, and the parent of two competitive ice skaters (word of caution…
Psycho Killers in Love by C. T. Phipps
I like books that make me think, including those with layered storytelling and deep metaphors you can peel back like an onion to find more and more thought-provoking material. But…
Black Void – Role-playing Game Review
Black Void describes itself as an esoteric RPG. That might set veteran roleplayers to thinking about Unknown Armies or Kult—games set in our world which explore occult symbolism and themes.…