Summer of SPFBO and SPSFC
So somehow it’s already the end of August, and 2/3 of the way through 2021. I’m still not entirely sure when that happened, but it definitely means I’m overdue to update this blog!
It’s been a busy summer for The Stars Within, which was an entry in both SPFBO 7 and the inaugural year of the SPSFC. If you’re not familiar:
The Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off (SPFBO) is a yearly competition hosted by author Mark Lawrence, in which 300 indie fantasy book entrants are divided between 10 book review blog teams. Each team goes through their selection of 30 books , and ultimately picks one finalist to be reviewed by all 10 blogs. It’s lots of fun, and also a great way to find new indie books! You can see all the entries at a glance here, and track which books have been reviewed (with handy links!) on the official contest page on Mark Lawrence’s blog.
(But Lena, you might be asking, is The Gift of the Stars actually fantasy? Or is it sci-fi? Dear reader, it is both: Kerelle may fly in a spaceship and be vulnerable to chemical weapons, but she is still, essentially, a space wizard.)
The Stars Within, alas, was eliminated in its bracket of six, but not before receiving a lovely review from Booktuber Bookborn. There could be only one, and congrats to Stephen Rice’s A Handful of Souls for taking our bracket earlier this month (good luck in the semifinals, Stephen. Win it for us!).
This brings us to the Self-Published Science Fiction Contest (SPSFC).
For the first time, Hugh Howey and Duncan Swan are hosting a sister competition for science fiction books, and I’m very excited to have The Stars Within as part of the very first class. It will be part of the Book Invasion review group - check out the announcement video here for a quick intro to team and a look at the other 30 books in the allotment. Once again it looks like a very strong group - I’ve already grabbed a few of the others to read, and I’m looking forward to the reviews!
OK but Lena, are you working on anything?
Short answer, yes! I’m working on a couple of somethings, actually, but they’re still early in development and I’m not quite ready to share details (since they’re still quite likely to change!).
That’s been taking up the majority of my time lately, but in between I’ve been dipping my toes in Bookstagram. Follow me for probably more than you wanted to know about my reading tastes (bonus: occasional pictures of coffee). More info on the new projects to come!