Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off #6: The Fourth Five Fall
A. M. Justice
The last month of Phase I of the SPFBO is always a nail-biter for authors who remain in the competition, and it is with great sympathy that we say goodbye…
Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off (SPFBO)
Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off #6: The Third Five Fall
The third group to be eliminated in this year’s SPFBO includes some really creative and ambitious explorations of intriguing themes, from gender roles to capitalism, to the nature of power…
Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off #6: The Second Five Fall
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…
Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off #6: The First Five Fall
* Disclaimer * As my friend and colleague GR Matthews has written in these introductions many times, reading is a subjective exercise. Some readers will see classical character and narrative…
6th Annual Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off: Cover Contest
“I may not know much about art, but I know what I like.” That is the punchline of a Monty Python sketch in which the Pope and Michelangelo argue over…
6th Annual Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off: An Introduction to the SPFBO
Fantasy-Faction has been part of the Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off (SPFBO)—a fantasy fiction competition sponsored by Mark Lawrence—from the beginning, and as the sixth round of the competition kicks off, we’re…
Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off: A Look Back at SPFBO #5
The 5th Annual Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off (SPFBO5) closed with a bang this year. The winner, M. L. Wang’s Sword of Kaigen, tied for the highest ever score and was the…
The Sword of Kaigen by M. L. Wang – SPFBO #5 Finalist Review
Geoff Matthews
This book slayed me, in a good way. First, the writing was beautiful and subtle, the sort of prose that sinks into your bones without being flashy or purple. I…
Fortune’s Fool by Angela Boord – SPFBO #5 Finals Review
Two reviews… on the same day? Yes indeed. These are the final two reviews for this year’s SPFBO. The fifth—that’s five years of SPFBO goodness and some truly awesome books.…
Beggar’s Rebellion by Levi Jacobs – SPFBO #5 Finals Review
Tai Kulga lost the rebellion and his best friend on the same day, stripping him of his will to live even as a strange power flooded his bones. When the…
Kalanon’s Rising by Darian Smith – SPFBO #5 Finals Review
Solve the murder. Stop the war. Save the world. Sir Brannon Kesh spent years building a new life as a physician, leaving the name Bloodhawk and the war that spawned…
Spark City by Robert J. Power – SPFBO #5 Finals Review
SPFBO review of Spark City by Robert J Power