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Book links: Amazon, Goodreads

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Publisher: St. Elmo (July 14, 2024) Length: 385 pages Formats: ebook

Raymond St. Elmo’s Colleen the Wanderer is the second book set in the same world as Barnaby the Wanderer. It’s a tighter story with fewer pages, fewer characters, and a much more personal focus. For me, that shift worked well. We spend most of the time following Colleen as she moves through a strange world full of saints, monsters, and the occasional odd conversation.

I liked it. That’s not exactly a surprise. I generally like St. Elmo’s writing, and this book delivers many of the things that make his work distinctive.

Colleen herself is a good lead. She’s practical to a fault. She doesn’t want adventure, destiny, or glory. She wants people to leave her alone so she can make pots. Alas, the world has other plans. Saints interfere, monsters appear, dreams intrude, and somehow she ends up wandering whether she wants to or not.

The wandering really is the point. The plot exists, but it’s loose and often takes a back seat to encounters along the road. Colleen meets a steady parade of odd creatures, hermits, and supernatural oddities ("miscreates," as the book calls them) Some are funny, some unsettling, some just strange.

The tone sits somewhere between classic fantasy adventure and something more whimsical. St. Elmo has said he was aiming for a style similar to Andre Norton’s Witch World books, but he admits he can’t quite write without humor creeping in. That’s obvious here. The world may be full of saints and fate and mysterious forces, but the dialogue often undercuts any attempt at solemnity. Characters talk like people who are aware that the situation is absurd. It keeps the book lively.

As always with St. Elmo, the prose is one of the main draws. It’s sharp, playful, and occasionally very funny without trying too hard. The dialogue in particular works well.

That said, the structure is a little uneven.

The opening takes a while to settle in. The first stretch is slightly confusing and slow, partly because the world operates on its own strange logic and the book doesn’t rush to explain it. Things improve once Colleen properly hits the road and the story finds its rhythm.

The ending goes the other way. After spending so much time wandering and meeting odd characters, the conclusion arrives fairly quickly. It ties the threads together, but it felt a bit abrupt. I wouldn’t have minded another chapter or two.

Still, the experience of reading the book is enjoyable. The story has a dreamlike quality where events make just enough sense to keep you moving forward. You don’t always know where things are going, but you trust the author to get you somewhere interesting.

If you’ve read Barnaby the Wanderer, you’ll notice a few familiar faces showing up briefly. They’re more like cameos than major roles, though, and the book mostly stands on its own. The focus stays firmly on Colleen.

In the end, Colleen the Wanderer is imaginative, occasionally funny, and full of peculiar creatures and conversations. The pacing wobbles a bit at the beginning and end, but the middle stretch - the actual wandering - is consistently engaging.

Book links: Amazon, Goodreads
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Luke Dumas is the USA Today bestselling author of Nothing Tastes as Good, The Paleontologist, and A History of Fear.
He is the winner of a 2024 ITW Thriller Award for Best Paperback Original, was nominated for the Silver Falchion Award for Best Supernatural, and his work has been optioned for film and TV.
He received his master’s degree in creative writing from the University of Edinburgh, and has worked in nonprofit philanthropy for more than a decade with organizations including San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance and the American Red Cross.
Luke was born and raised in San Diego, California, where he lives with his husband and dogs and works for a biomedical research institute.
Publisher: Atria Books (March 31, 2026)  Page count: 352 Formats: audiobook, ebook, paperback Genre: Horror (ish)

I ended up liking Nothing Tastes as Good quite a bit. It’s easy to fly through it. I listened to the audiobook and kept telling myself "just one more chapter" most of the time. 

This leans much more toward thriller than straight horror for me, even with the body horror and cannibalism stuff lurking in the background. The story follows Emmett and how badly the world treats him because of his weight. That part felt believable. The book does a really good job showing how exhausting it is to constantly feel judged, dismissed, or turned into a "before" picture by society.

Emmett worked well as a protagonist too. He’s funny, insecure, and desperate to finally feel comfortable in his own life and body. When he joins the clinical trial for the weight loss drug Obexity, you immediately know this cannot possibly end well. And yet I completely understood why he kept going even after things started getting very weird and very bloody.

The horror elements are there, but they’re sparse. This is more about paranoia, obsession, body image, social media, and the realization that people suddenly treat you better once you look different. Actually, some of the most uncomfortable moments weren’t the gore. It was seeing how differently people reacted to Emmett after he lost weight.

I also liked the mixed format with blog posts, interviews, and reports scattered throughout the story. It kept things moving and made the audiobook especially fun to listen to.

The final act gets pretty over-the-top, and I can't say I was a fan. The villains and their motivations turned paper-thin and shallow and the rushed ending disappointed. I'm ok with Emmett's fate, but not of the road that led to it. 

Anyway, it's a good book, and very engaging most of the time. Luke Dumas clearly had a lot to say about diet culture and self-worth, but never forgot to make it entertaining too. Maybe not especially scary, but definitely engaging, gross in places, and very hard to stop listening to.

Book links: Amazon, Goodreads

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War, as it turns out, is a terrible place to discover you don’t want to be in a war.

Three brothers (Ethan, Mason, and Archie) have this revelation during the Battle of Shiloh and do the only sensible thing available to them: they run in the opposite direction of cannon fire. Sadly, the desertion results in navigating through mud, starvation, regret and the creeping realization that survival and morality don't always gel.

When they think, all's lost, they find the house. Now, in stories, a house in the woods is rarely just a house. It is, at minimum, a decision. This one comes with a beautiful woman named Sarafina, her son (or not), huge and dangerous dogs and a general atmosphere of wrongness. 

At first, it’s all very convenient, especially that the hist is welcoming, has food and is willing to share.  On top of that, no one is actively trying to shoot them. WooHoo.

Ethan, who narrates like someone trying very hard to believe his own version of events, starts to notice small things. Then larger, more theological things. Meanwhile, his brothers adjust and let their inner selves (angry, violent, corrupt) act openly. Not the best choice.

I liked how Fracassi lures you in with something familiar (war is awful, men are flawed, there is a strange woman in a strange house) and then plays with it and rearranges pieces while you’re not looking. By the time you notice, you’re no longer in a war story. Or a haunted house story, for that matter. You’re somewhere worse. 

The brothers aren’t likable, which is rather the point. They are what happens when you mix violence, fear, and a lifetime of bad influences and then give it all time to ferment. Ethan tries to be better, but the book suggests that trying and succeeding are not the same thing.

There’s a middle stretch where you might think you’ve figured it out. You haven’t. 

In conclusion, if someone offers you food in a perfect little house in the middle of nowhere, you should at least consider the possibility that you are not the guest. Other than that, it's a great slow-burn horror story.

Book links: Amazon, Goodreads
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Marcus Kliewer is a writer and stop-motion animator. His debut novel We Used to Live Here began life as a serialized short story on Reddit, where it won the Scariest Story of 2021 Award on the NoSleep forum (eighteen million members). Film rights were snapped up by Netflix, and it was acquired for publication even before it had been extended into a full-length novel. His second novel, The Caretaker, is coming in Spring 2026. Marcus Kliewer lives in Vancouver, Canada.
Genre: Horror
Publisher: Atria/Emily Bestler Books/12:01 Books (April 21, 2026) Page count: 320 Formats: audiobook, ebook, paperback 

I checked out The Caretaker because horror subreddit kept hyping it up as one of the best horror releases of the year. That usually goes one of two ways for me: either I find a new favorite, or I spend 300 - 400 pages wondering if we all read the same book. Thankfully, this one absolutely delivered. It’s pretty awesome and unnerving.

Macy takes a weird caretaker job in the middle of nowhere because she’s broke, exhausted, and trying to keep herself and her younger sister afloat. Naturally, this turns into the worst employment experience imaginable. Forget toxic management. This house may literally doom humanity.

Kliewer knows how to build the suffocating sense of dread so that even ordinary things start to feel wrong. Lights. Doors. Phone calls. Written instructions. A rabbit. Especially the rabbit. 

Macy makes the horror effective. At first, her narration almost tricks you into lowering your guard. She’s self-deprecating, awkward, traumatized, and kind of funny in a very tired way. Like, her life is already a disaster anyway. There’s humor in the narration, and she has enough distance from her own misery that the book initially feels lighter than I expected. Then the paranoia starts creeping in. Slowly, carefully, the story pushes her closer and closer to the edge of a complete breakdown, and I loved how convincingly Kliewer handled that spiral.

A lot of horror protagonists make dumb decisions because the plot needs them to. Macy makes bad decisions because she’s mentally and emotionally wrecked. That difference matters. She’s grieving, desperate, isolated, sleep deprived, and clinging to the hope that following the rites might somehow keep everything together. The horror here is less about shocking reveals and more about endurance and trying to hold onto reality while reality keeps slipping sideways.

The middle and final sections especially hit hard for me. The paranoia becomes relentless. Every interaction feels poisoned with doubt. You never fully know what’s real, who can be trusted, or whether Macy herself can still trust her own mind. Kliewer does an excellent job making the reader feel trapped inside that unraveling headspace.

I also appreciated how the book plays with rules. The rites feel absurd right up until they don’t. There’s almost an OCD-like rhythm to them, this terrifying idea that if you fail one tiny ritual, catastrophe follows. It creates this constant tension where even flipping a light switch feels loaded with existential dread.

And that ending. Brutal. I'll definitely remember it even if I'm not sure if I actually liked what just happened to me. 

I’ve seen some readers get frustrated with Macy or with how chaotic the second half becomes, and I get it. This book absolutely wants you to feel anxious, helpless, and stuck in a downward spiral. For me, that’s exactly why it worked so well. Marcus Kliewer knows how to weaponize uncertainty better than most horror writers I’ve read recently.

By the end, I felt like I’d experienced something and I’ll take that over cheap shocks any day.

 

Buy The Last Contract of Isako
FORMAT/INFO: The Last Contract of Isako was published on May 5th, 2026. It is available in hardcover, ebook, and audiobook formats.

OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: When Isako's boss unexpectedly retires, she knows she's at the end of her career. Afterall, what is a longkniveswoman without a contract? But an expected offer comes in from a rival executive for one last job - one that will allow her to retire on her own terms. The contract: successfully find dirt on one of the most powerful executives at the Company and stop him from joining the Board of Directors. But as soon as Isako starts poking around, she starts finding a bigger conspiracy than she anticipated - and all roads lead back to Martim, the last person Isako ever took on as an apprentice.

The Last Contract of Isako is an atmospheric mystery set in a bleak, harsh world that offers little comfort to the reader or those who live in it. By far the highlight of this story is the world-building. The author has created a pressure cooker of a city, where everyone's value is determined by whether or not they're deemed useful to society. Every element of this world boils down to the fact that it is a resource scarce colony. If you aren't contributing to the colony's survival, then you're a drain on resources. But of course, the people who determine what is useful are the elite who will almost never have to face the consequences of the society they've created. And like the frog in the slowly boiling water, the rest of society doesn't realize it's already cooked.

I've found myself calling this a cybernoir book. There's elements of cyberpunk, with one giant corporation controlling everyone's lives, technology integrated into bodies, and a big disparity between the haves and the have nots. That melds nicely with the noir aspects, where the world is hugely weighted against you unless you have stacked the deck yourself and solving a mystery doesn't necessarily mean justice is achieved.

Enter Isako, a woman in her fifties who has been working in corporate life for decades. Her job is something of a cross between a consigliere and a bodyguard; she helps plan her boss's corporate strategy and she also defends his life. Isako understands she's a cog in a system; she has a role to play and she does it well, even if it means sometimes doing terrible things. Her life is dedicated to serving her Principal, and that means following their orders. But now, faced with the end of her career, Isako is also facing that big existential question: in the grand scheme of things, what did her work and her life mean? What legacy will she leave behind?

I understand some of the misgivings of people looking for the next GREEN BONE SAGA. I've seen a few comments that people missed having a sprawling cast of complex characters. But bear in mind this isn't a grand sweeping trilogy with 1500 pages at its disposal. This is a standalone (if still a hefty one) that is getting through a complex story. There's only time to build out a few characters with true depth. You'll get to know a few people really well, and some you'll only see the surface of, but that doesn't detract from the overall story.

I will admit, there were times when I wasn't sure how I was going to ultimately feel about this book. It is broken into three parts, and after spending the first half of the book getting to know and root for Isako, it's jarring to switch to following a different character. But after Isako uncovers the what of the mystery, this new character perspective offers the WHY of the mystery, and that's the thread that ties everything together. It's what makes the finale really land when the last chunk of the book switches to resolving the conspiracy that's been exposed.

As a result, the ending is a quiet gut punch. Jade Legacy may have left me a bawling mess, but The Last Contract of Isako had me just staring into middle distance, unpacking everything that happened in the last 50 pages and what that meant for the characters. It's an ending that somehow manages to be both tragic and hopeful and not at all where I thought things would end when I started the journey.

The Last Contract of Isako is not here to fill you with sunshine and it's not quite here to stomp on your heart. Instead it leads you through a world that is completely unbalanced, slowly filling you with existential dread. Surely society can't be this uneven, surely there's a way out. Surely a life will have meaning when all is said and done. But if you're looking for those reassurances, The Last Contract of Isako is not here to offer them.

 

Book links: Amazon, Goodreads

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Cameron Johnston is a Scottish writer of fantasy and lives in the city of Glasgow in Scotland. He is a member of the Glasgow Science Fiction Writers' Circle, loves archaeology and mythology, enjoys exploring ancient sites and camping out under the stars.

Publisher: Angry Robot (April 14, 2026) Page count: 328 pages Formats: audiobook, ebook, paperback

There are many ways to start a fantasy novel. A prophecy. A battle. A mysterious stranger in a tavern.

First Mage on the Moon starts with a hanging. 

From there, the book rewinds to show readers how did a bunch of overworked, underpaid mages end up committing what is apparently the greatest heresy imaginable - touching the moon?
The answer, as it turns out, involves paperwork, bad management decisions, and one very unfortunate lightning strike.
Ella Pickering is tired and stuck in a system that chews people up. She's basically trying to get through the day without losing more than she already has. Her sections revolve around the repetitive work, the debt, the physical strain. And perhaps the author is trying too much to make the point. There’s a stretch in the middle where you’ve fully grasped how miserable and repetitive her job is and then you keep watching it happen anyway. It felt overextended to me.
Whitlaw Goddard is another highlight. He has spent years doing things properly and has finally decided to do something wildly improper instead. Which, in this world, means trying to advance knowledge without asking permission. His arc is excellent. You know where it’s going, but it still lands.
The setting is industrial, and often unpleasant. Things are built, tested, broken, and occasionally launched into the sky by accident. The "moon project" itself is handled like engineering. There are calculations, adjustments, and a lot of trial and error. It’s refreshing, even if it sometimes slows the story down.
There are downsides, too. The antagonists (priests, hierarchs, powerful figures in general) are clear enough, but they don’t evolve much. They exist to block progress, and they do that job efficiently. You just don’t get much beyond that.
And while the ideas are strong, the pacing isn’t always helping them. Some sections feel tight and engaging; others move way too slowly. 
The ending is exactly what the book promises from the start. No last-minute twists. No clever escapes.The characters pay the price for what they chose to do. Of course, there's more to it, but you'll have to learn it on your own.
In the end, First Mage on the Moon is a good idea told well,  just not always tightly. There’s a lot here to like: the grounded approach to magic, the working-class perspective, the central concept itself. But it doesn’t quite hit as hard as it could have with sharper pacing and a bit more depth on the opposing side.

Book links: Amazon, Goodreads
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Michael R. Fletcher lives in the endless suburban sprawl north of Toronto. He dreams of trees and seeing the stars at night and being a ninja. He is an unrepentant whiskey-swilling reprobate of the tallest order and thinks grilled cheese sandwiches are a food group.
Publisher: Michael R. Fletcher (April 13, 2026) Page count: 353 pages Formats: ebook, paperback

“Once we were the Death of Suns, the dark before the dawn. Now, we are a mirror smashed, the sharp slivers put back together wrong, the reflection splintered and distorted. We stare at ourselves, recognizing the face and yet knowing something is missing.”

That line pretty much sums up what The Lord of the Empty Mirror is doing, and what Khraen is at this point. Not a man so much as a collection of pieces arguing with each other.

I loved the original Obsidian Path trilogy, so I went in with high expectations and this didn’t disappoint. Khraen is hunting the shards of his heart but also he's against one that represents the worst (or maybe most honest) version of himself. The part that understands power, control, conquest. Which means you get two Khraens. Sort of.

One is trying to fix things and unite the world, stop a god, and maybe do a bit less mass murder along the way. The other version is much more focused on conquering everything, trusts no one, and absolutely don’t let feelings get in the way. 

Bringing in another POV, especially one tied so closely to Khraen himself, works surprisingly well. It allows to dive into one of the series’ core ideas of how memory shapes identity. Who you are, what you remember, and what you choose to become aren’t cleanly separated here. Fletcher really digs into that, and it pays off.  If you take a man, break him into pieces, and then put him back together… which version is real? The one trying to be better, or the one who remembers how effective being worse used to be?

Plot-wise, there’s always something happening and it never drags. I liked the twists, but I won't spoil them for you. 

Also, it’s properly grim. Every solution costs something awful. There’s a moment where Khraen casually weighs how many souls something is worth, and it doesn’t feel out of place. That’s the level we’re operating on.

Khraen himself is, well, still Khraen. Powerful, determined, and capable of making deeply questionable decisions with full confidence. There were a few “why would you do that” moments, but they always track. He’s not stupid, he’s just very committed to his own logic, which is sometimes worse.

The ending is going to split people. If you didn’t like how the original trilogy wrapped up, this won’t fix that. It follows the same idea and you get no neat closure or the sense that everything is finally “done.”

For me, it was perfect since it fits the series. But if you’re looking for clear answers and everything tied up nicely, you won’t get that here.

TL;DR: I loved it.

TODAY IS THE DAY!

We have chosen our champion, and we’re excited to announce the winner and runners-up.

First, we want to thank all SPFBO participants. We sincerely appreciate your involvement in the process. 

After getting through the batch of thirty books, we’ve picked five semi-finalists. Here they are in alphabetical order:

CARRION SAINTS by Hiyodori - In its authors words "Carrion Saints is a sapphic enemies-to-lovers romance between an immortal saint and a severed head." And that's it, in a nutshell. We highly appreciated Hiyodori's unique take on the trope, bitter-sweet ending and excellent writing. If you like character-driven conflict, this one sticks.

PILGRIM by Mitchell Lüthi - Dust, faith, politics, and people making difficult choices for reasons that make sense to them. It’s immersive without feeling like a lecture, and the amount of research into various cultures, religions and traditions must've been insane. Not fast, but worth checking out.

THE INHERITED BLADE by Jye Sorensen - it connects two storylines: one with lots of running for survival, one about inheriting unwanted responsibilities. It takes a bit to balance, but when it does, it clicks nicely. Good if you like character contrast and gradual build.

THE SINS OF STEEL AND SHADOW by Steve Pannett - Fast, scrappy, and very aware that most problems can (unfortunately) escalate into violence. Bail is a great guide through a cruel city, and the book rarely slows down long enough for you to get bored. Not deep, but reliably entertaining. Most of us will read the sequel as soon as it hits the shelves.

THE UNNAMED by M.S. Masood - It has a rich world, and skillfully pictures a slow unraveling of belief. The tension comes from watching someone realize their entire worldview might be wrong and not liking that realization one bit. Heavy at times, but well-written and engaging.

CHOICES CHOICES

At this stage, we had to decide how to evaluate one good book against another and whether it was at all possible to come to some sort of fair and objective decision. We tried to base our choice on the following criteria (listed in alphabetical order):

• Characterization
• Editing
• Personal Enjoyment
• Plotting
• World-building
• Writing Style

You can almost hear the drumroll, can't you? Or is that just the sound of SPFBO followers holding their breath?

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Without further ado (because we know you're just dying to know), the story that has danced its way into the finals is 

 

Congratulations to Hiyodori , and good luck in the finals! 

We're sending Carrion Saints to the finals with a rating of 8.0/10.

 Buy The Republic of Memory

FORMAT/INFO: The Republic of Memory will be published by Saga Press on May 5th, 2026. It is 480 pages long and available in paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats.

OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: Two hundred years ago, the Sarafina set out on a journey to a new planet. While thousands of people sleep in cryogenic pods, generations of living crew members work to keep the ship running smoothly and ensure the safe delivery of the sleepers to their new home. But when a crisis faces the ship, a growing number of people begin to ask a critical question: Do they still want to dedicate every aspect of their lives to serving and protecting people they've never met?

The Republic of Memory is an engrossing tale of a ship in crisis that also digs into some juicy existential questions. What do you do when your ship's values and identity no longer align with the civilization that gave the ship its mission in the first place? Why are the lives of those in cryostasis more honored than the lives of the people who keep the ship running today?

I really enjoyed how the disaster that hits the ship really forces its everyday inhabitants to question things that they've taken for granted and to see the contradictions in their lives. They revere those in cryo as "ancestors," and consider the journey to their new planet as a sacred mission, but the culture of the ship has fundamentally changed since it began its voyage. If the crew were to wake the ancestors today, would they even get along with those who woke up?

To explore all these facets of a culture in upheaval, the story skips around to several different viewpoints over the course of the book, from a mid-level administrator to a teen street artist to the head of a rebel faction. While a few POVs get more of the lion's share of the tale, it's almost hard to point to the "main" characters of this book as there are so many POVs. And yet it is done in a way that is never confusing, as many characters show up in other POV chapters; you are now simply getting a different angle of the same story. It gives a pretty broad look at the different ways people are handling the crisis and grappling with the choices put before them and really enjoyed seeing the different cultures and parts of the ship.

Where I'm a little more mixed is in how well the author engaged with one of the unique aspects of the ship. On this generation ship residential areas are divided not by nation or by job description, but by the language a person speaks. Dividing on those lines is supposed to allow residents more flexibility in migration, as anyone can learn a language but they can't change their religion or heritage. And I did enjoy some of the ways the author plays with language. For instance, when listening to the voice of an ancestor, the current ship inhabitants hear it as "ye olden days" style language, but in flashbacks, the dialogue is perfectly normal.

But language is also supposed to be a huge barrier between the different berths. In fact, there's a whole occupation dedicated to translation, as only Admin people speak English as a primary language, and common folk need a Translator to process paperwork. Aside from some initial encounters with Translators, however, language didn't seem to cause too much friction. I myself grapple if this was the intent, that language evolves to its needs and people will find a common language. But as this is being sold as a linguistic sci-fi, it didn't feel like the author did enough with it.

The Republic of Memory is exactly what I was hoping for: a deep dive into a fully realized culture that has uniquely evolved in support of its mission. I really enjoyed the many different POVs it used, and how well fleshed out this microcosm of civilization felt. I am eagerly awaiting the next installment in this journey and can't wait to see how the crew evolves in the aftermath of this first crisis.

 

Book links: Amazon, Goodreads

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Over a writing career that spanned three decades, Philip K. Dick (1928-1982) published 36 science fiction novels and 121 short stories in which he explored the essence of what makes man human and the dangers of centralized power. Toward the end of his life, his work turned toward deeply personal, metaphysical questions concerning the nature of God. Eleven novels and short stories have been adapted to film; notably: Blade Runner (based on Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?), Total Recall, Minority Report, and A Scanner Darkly. The recipient of critical acclaim and numerous awards throughout his career, Dick was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2005, and in 2007 the Library of America published a selection of his novels in three volumes. His work has been translated into more than twenty-five languages.

First published February 1, 1974 Page count: 204 pages Formats: all Literary awards: Hugo Award Nominee (1975), Nebula Award Nominee (1974), Locus Award Nominee for Best Novel (1975), John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel (1975)

There are, broadly speaking, two kinds of bad mornings.

The first is when you wake up late, miss your alarm, and step on something on the way to the bathroom.

The second is when you wake up and discover that you do not legally, socially, or bureaucratically exist, which is considerably worse.

Jason Taverner experiences the second kind. And it’s a strong start. In fact, it’s such a strong start that the rest of the book spends a fair amount of time trying to catch up with it. 

In the world Jason wakes up to, authority is everywhere, and it makes a routine of invigilating people. Taverner himself was a celebrity, and he spends most of the book trying to get his life back. Understandable, but it makes him less interested in big questions about identity and reality than in the more practical issue of not being arrested.

Anyway, he’s not awful to read about, but he’s also not that interesting. The book hints that losing everything might change him, but it mostly doesn’t. He stays focused on getting his life, status, comfort, and place at the top back. There are a few chances for him to actually connect with people, but he tends to fumble them or just move past them. That might be the point, but it doesn’t make him more engaging. That said, scenes describing his confusion and panic impressed me. And his attempts at explaining what love is are quite good.

Still, people around him are much more interesting. Buckman, in particular, is a fascinating character who knows a lot about life and certain life altering substances. 

The structure is loose. Taverner moves through a series of encounters, each of which feels like it is going somewhere, but often isn’t. Characters appear, say something interesting, and then vanish. The explanation of the mystery didn't shock me since I read most books by Philip K. Dick and also his biography. But I won't spoil it.

So, did I like it? Mostly. There is something here, a sense that people are stuck being themselves, even when the world shifts under their feet. In the end, it’s an interesting book that never quite becomes a great one. It's full of good parts, just loosely assembled. You can see why people remember it. You can also see why they argue about it.

It makes it worth a read, I guess.

 

Buy The Fake Divination Offense

FORMAT/INFO: The Fake Divination Offense will release on May 19th, 2026 from Bramble Romance. It is 336 pages and available in paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats.

OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: It's time for a new chapter in Orok's life. He's starting the rawball season on a new team, and ready to make a clean break with the Church of Uzroth (patron god of aggression). But when Orok protects cheerleader Alexo at a bar, the Church of Uzorth approaches Orok and Alexo with a proposal: be part of a fake relationship for the season to give the Church a needed PR boost, and they'll sponsor Alexo off the bench and onto the main cheerleading squad. Orok's already attracted to Alexo and he can see how much the sponsorship would mean to the man, so he agrees to the deal. But while genuine sparks fly between Orok and Alexo, Alexo has dangerous secrets in his past - ones that threaten much more than a simple sponsorship.

The Fake Divination Offense is an adventure-filled fantasy sports romance that's about all kinds of love: self-love, platonic love, and yes, romantic love. Main character Orok is a half-giant, raised in a church that believes its followers should resolve all conflict through physical violence and posturing, and should always be the alpha in the room. (Quick Note: Although Orok struggles with his church in this book, this is a queernorm world, and none of his struggles have the slightest thing to do with homophobia.) While Orok doesn't follow his church's tenets, he also wrestles with his own belief that relying on his friends just drags them down. He shouldn't bother them with his problems, he should be strong enough to deal with them on his own. Learning to accept his friends' help is just one journey this quiet giant goes on.

What's nice about this romance is that although it's a fake-dating story, from the jump Orok makes it clear to Alexo that he's interested in a real relationship. There's no dancing around what's pretend and what's real; the two have frank conversations about their feelings and what their boundaries are. That doesn't mean there aren't secrets or that their relationship is perfect. But as someone who hates when miscommunication is used, it was nice to not have to deal with "is any of this real?" type story-lines.

Speaking of not-perfect, Orok is a possessive person by nature. While he is constantly checking in on Alexo and his wants and boundaries, Orok is also the kind of person who sees the person he loves and thinks "this person is MINE, I will protect them at all costs." Naturally, Alexo has been written as the kind of love interest who is fine with this dynamic, but if possessiveness isn't your cup of tea, you might bounce a little on this. But as Alex is in a certain amount of danger throughout the story from nefarious individuals, it's a dynamic that does make sense, as Orok will do whatever it takes to keep his love safe, whether it's sucking up to people he doesn't like or physically defending Alexo from a villain.

I did also enjoy the fantasy sports aspect of the storyline. Orok plays a fantasy sport called rawball (the name is a play on a D&D term) that vaguely resembles football if magic was allowed. The rules of the sport aren't important; what IS important is Orok's journey to integrating with his new team. After a bad experience with his previous team, Orok is constantly looking for his teammates to undercut him, ignore him, or outright attack him. Learning to let go of past social traumas and to open up to his teammates is part of Orok's own growth, and a story I really enjoyed watching.

The Fake Divination Offense is another lovely story of love, healing, and acceptance from Sara Raasch. I've really enjoyed this romance duology and look forward to checking out more of her work in the future!

 

Book links: Amazon, Goodreads
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Cameron Sullivan was born in Perth, Western Australia. He grew up with the dark fantasy and horror icons of the ’80s and went on to study classics and creative writing at the University of Western Australia.
After several years working and studying in Italy and the UK, he returned to Australia and settled in Melbourne. He will easily lose a weekend to a good book, a new recipe or games of any kind.
Publisher: Tor Books (February 24, 2026) Page count: 544 (Hardback) Formats: all

Sebastian Grave is a centuries-old occult practitioner, who makes a living off the dead. He shares his body with a demon, Sarmodel, who is extremely effective, provided you don’t forget what it is.
The story opens with a dead girl, a curse, and a misunderstanding involving a witch’s bone. It works because it’s fun, well-written but also shows that in this world the supernatural is not mysterious so much as procedural. Things happen for reasons and Sebastian’s job is to find them.
Soon, things get complicated. A young nobleman, Jacques d’Ocerne, arrives with a summons tied to an old, unfinished contract concerning a Beast of Gévaudan. Against his better judgement, Sebastian agrees to return there.
And so a journey starts, and it's not a cheerful one. It involves mud, infection, poor financial planning, and mayhem. From there we follow a few timelines, learn about demons, church politics, and follow a thread of doomed romance. The shifting timelines are handled well enough that you don’t feel lost, and there’s a steady drip of reveals that keeps things moving.
I enjoyed the business of the supernatural most. The scenes involving it are grim, and often carry a dry edge of humor that lands well with me. I also loved Sarmodel’s presence. I mean, he is Sebastian’s inner voice that has opinions about how edible his clients are. The conversations between them are some of the strongest parts of the book.
Jacques, on the other hand, functions as an obstacle with legs. His secrecy, pride, and general refusal to communicate make sense once explained, but the explanation arrives late. Until then, much of the interaction follows a familiar pattern where Sebastian asks a reasonable question, Jacques refuses to answer it, and both suffer for it. Repeatedly.
There’s also Livia - Sebastian's secretary (well, not really but I won’t spoil everything for you) and a succubus. She feeds on desire and leaves very little behind when she is done. Her chapters and scenes are some of the most entertaining in the story. She says what she wants, goes after it, and resents every rule that stops her halfway. On the page, she’s lively. In the audiobook, she’s something else entirely. Imogen Church narration is brilliant, rich, theatrical and over the top in the best way.
Structurally, the book is uneven. After an excellent opening, the middle section sags. Things happen, but they don’t always feel like they’re building toward something larger. The central threat (the Beast, the old contract) waits too long while the story circles smaller conflicts and Sebastien's history.
That said, the atmosphere is consistently good, the writing remains entertaining and both POV characters have strong and memorable voices. So yes, The Red Winter is carried by its characters.

Official Rachel Aaron WebsiteOfficial Travis Bach WebsitePre-order Death Has Joined The PartyRead the first two sample chapters over hereListen to an audio sample narrated by Nicholas Cain
Rachel Aaron and Travis Bach have announced a new series which is a whole new genre for both of them. Behold the fantasbulous cover of the MANA RUNNERS Book 1 titled Death Has Joined The Party which releases tomorrow (April 7th 2025)



OFFICIAL BOOK BLURB: Welcome, sentient races one and all, to the centennial season of the greatest collaboration between mortals and gods! The most thrilling, most deadly, most watched spectacle ever put on in any realm…Mana Runners!

The infinite dungeon below Whitepeak, the famous City of Wizards, has reset itself once again, bringing new traps, new monsters, and new, never-before-seen challenges to this historic event. All of your favorite champions from Season Ninety-Nine are back and ready to face what is sure to be the most difficult season of Mana Runners ever attempted. From the lowest Copper Tier to the Platinums who shine at the top, every Runner is ready to lay down their lives defending you from the monsters that lurk beneath the mountain.

All of their sacrifices shall be recorded in the pages of history, but only those blessed with unique powers from the gods can reach the deepest floors. It’s the event that brings sentient races from all over the world together! The spectacle no one can afford to miss! And you can watch it all live thanks to Whitepeak College of Wizardry’s revolutionary sendernet: the only Sending spell network that broadcasts the can’t-be-missed action of Mana Runners straight into your home!

(The Mana Runners Centennial Season is produced by the Whitepeak Dungeon Committee and the Coalition of Rightfully Aligned Gods. Remember, the gods are always listening, so be sure to pray for your favorite Mana Runner to earn them blessings as they battle the unthinkable dangers of the Endless Dungeon!)

Buy Platform Decay
FORMAT/INFO: Platform Decay will be published on May 5th, 2026 by Tor Books. It is 256 pages long and available in ebook, audiobook, and hardcover.

OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: The mission: secretly extract friendly humans from enemy territory. The location: a planet-sized space port controlled by multiple corporate sectors, with a mix of tourists, workers, and security making life difficult. The target: multiple humans, including...children. Ugh. Murderbot may be up to the task, but that doesn't mean it has to like it. Looks like watching Sanctuary Moon will have to wait...

Platform Decay is that wonderful blend of action and character that reminds me why I love Murderbot. The plot itself is pitch perfect. It's a classic extraction mission: Murderbot must sneak into a planet-sized space port, find its protectees, and escort them to safety. That means we get some stealth and espionage, as well as full-tilt firefights as Murderbot goes about its job. The story might be considered bland were it not for both the constant shifting of environments as Murderbot goes from zone to zone across the station and the trademark deadpan exasperation it has for almost anything humans do.

I would have thoroughly enjoyed my time with this novella if that was all there was, but there are some great character beats scattered throughout that are the cherry on top. Murderbot, you see, is trying some new approaches to processing its feelings after the events of book seven, System Collapse. The result is some small quiet scenes that nevertheless show some growth for Murderbot as it continues its journey to get a handle on this while emotions thing.

At the end of the day, all you really need to know is that Murderbot is back and is operating at peak form. If you're a fan of the series, you'll be well rewarded and if you haven't started yet...why are you reading this review, go start the series!

Book links: Amazon, Goodreads
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Publisher: Page count: Formats:

Jonathan Maberry’s Red Empire is the fifteenth Joe Ledger novel and the fifth Rogue Team International book. At this point, the series is long enough that picking up a single entry without context is a bit like walking into season twelve of a TV show and hoping for the best. Maberry does try to make the story understandable on its own, but the emotional weight, the grudges, and half the revelations only really land if you’ve been here for the long haul.
I have. And that probably means I liked this book more than it objectively deserves.
We finally got the long-promised look into Mr. Church. For years he’s been the most mysterious person in the series - Ledger’s boss, puppet master, and occasional badass. Red Empire finally digs into who he is and where he came from. The answers are satisfying. Maberry reveals a lot, but leaves room for questions. The infamous cookie code, for example, remains unsolved. 
Also, the Red Order is back and that means things will spiral fast. These genetically altered vampire-like warriors take center stage again. Their return ties together a lot of old plot lines. It also allows Maberry to reach deep into history, jumping back to the Crusades and the Black Death. I loved the  historical sections that made a lot of things clearer. 
On the modern-day side, a weaponized version of the bubonic plague may wipe away humanity. Between that and the usual Joe Ledger combat scenes, this book gets very violent. Anyone squeamish should probably look elsewhere. Longtime readers already know the deal and enjoy brutal fights, ugly deaths, and the constant sense that no character is entirely safe.
And yes, some familiar faces die.
Maberry has been thinning the cast regularly for years. Fans are used to it, even if it still stings when it happens. The series has always balanced its action with the sense that these people matter to each other, and when one of them goes down it hurts.
The action itself is fast, loud, and relentless. The last third of the book in particular barely slows down. There’s a long siege inside a sealed London skyscraper where plague, terrorists, and Joe Ledger collide. It’s chaotic, tense, and a lot of fun to read.
After fifteen books, the characters feel like old teammates. Ledger’s grim humor still works. Havoc Team still operates like the world’s most dangerous family. And when Maberry throws them into chaos, it’s easy to get pulled along.
In the end, Red Empire isn't the tightest book in the series but it is one of the most revealing. It finally opens the door on Mr. Church’s past, pushes the Red Order storyline forward in a big way, and reminds readers why this series has lasted so long.

 

Read FBC's SPFBO11 First Update (Lukasz's batch)
Read FBC's SPFBO11 Second Update (Jack's batch)Read FBC's SPFBO11 Third Update (Mihir's batch)Watch FBC's SPFBO11 Fourth Update (Lisa's batch)

And here's our last update before we pick a finalist amongst five semi-finalists. Check Chels's thoughts on her batch and see who's her semi-finalist!

Book Review: The Caretaker by Marcus Kliewer

Buy a copy here - U.S | U.K.

Book links: Goodreads

BLURB: Follow the Rites...
Nothing less than the survival of humanity is at stake.

From Marcus Kliewer, a new “titan of the macabre and unsettling” (Erin A. Craig, #1 New York Times bestselling author), comes a supernatural horror about a young woman who accepts a caretaking job from Craigslist, only to discover the position has consequences far greater—and more dangerous—than she ever could have imagined.

EXCITING OPPORTUNITY:
Caretaker urgently needed. Three days of work. Competitive pay. Serious applicants ONLY.

Macy Mullins can’t say why the job posting grabbed her attention—it had the pull of a fisherman’s lure, barbed hook and all—vaguely ominous. But after an endless string of failed job interviews, she's not exactly in the position to be picky. She has rent to pay, groceries to buy, and a younger sister to provide for.

Besides, it’s only three days’ work…

Three days, cooped up in a stranger’s house, surrounded by Oregon Coast wilderness.

What starts as a peculiar side gig soon becomes a waking nightmare. An incomprehensible evil may dwell on this property—and Macy Mullins might just be the only thing standing between it, and the rest of humanity.

Follow the Rites...

Follow the Rites...

Follow the Rites...
AUTHOR: Marcus Kliewer is a writer and stop-motion animator. His debut novel We Used to Live Here began life as a serialized short story on Reddit, where it won the Scariest Story of 2021 award on the NoSleep forum. Film rights were snapped up by Netflix, and it was acquired by Simon & Schuster for publication even before it had been extended into a full-length novel. He lives in Vancouver, Canada.
Follow him on Instagram @marcus_kliewer for exclusive book updates / writing things / stop motion animation & a lot of pet videos.
Publisher: Atria Books  (April 21, 2026), Bantam (April 23, 2026)Page Count: 320 pagesFormats: hardcover, ebook, audio
REVIEW: I thought this was really clever.
It's one of those that does the jump scares well, and provides a compulsive story that gets more and more intense and heads to a bang of a finale. Before anything else though, be warned, it contains a protagonist who suffers from depression and has tendencies of suicidal ideation.
Macy has had a bad life so far, and there seems to be nothing bright lined up. She is unemployed, responsible for her younger sister after the unexpected death of their father, and everything she does only takes a turn for the worse. Until she finds a three day gig to take care of a huge mansion and follow strange rites to the T. The pay and bonus are unbelievable, so despite her sister's insistence to stay away, she accepts it.
The more I think about it, the more I think I like it. I want to say so much about this, but that will spoil it. It delivers well on the combination of horror with mental health. The main character can be annoying and seems to get more and more incompetent as the book progresses, which kind of is the point. It's a horrifyingly good metaphor for how downward spirals can be, when every action seems pointless and the only consistent feeling is that of being a failure.

After all, what is the more terrifying than your own mind working against you?

Book links:

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Publisher: Length: Formats:

Carrion Saints opens after the end of the world. The great cities are gone, only small towns, quiet hills, and monsters remain.

Crow is an immortal saint who looks like a monster and sometimes acts like one. She has wings, red eyes, and the weary patience of someone who has watched empires rise, fall, and rebrand. She arrives in a small village with a local monster problem. The monster, known as the Woman in the Hills, lives under a large magnolia tree and eats hunters. This arrangement has been going on for some time. The villagers are not thrilled, exactly, but they’ve adjusted. Crow has already fought so called Great Adversaries and so she accepts to slay the monster. The confrontation doesn’t go as planned.

Magnolia is a chatty severed head attached to a tree. She finds the one crack in Crow and pries it open. The dynamic between them works incredibly well. Magnolia chatters, taunts, philosophizes while Crow mostly endures. Sometimes she pushes back, but sometimes she can’t. She also wants to do the least harm possible, but the story keeps forcing her into situations where harm is unavoidable. 

I like Hiyodori’s writing, but sometimes I wish she condensed things more. There are long stretches of conversation between Crow and Magnolia that are conceptually interesting but start to circle the same ideas of power, choice, mortality, and what it means to be a saint. The philosophical back-and-forth feels overextended. 

The worldbuilding is intriguing but not fully explored. We hear about the other Great Adversaries, the long decline of the world, the strange ecology of monsters and saints. It’s compelling in outline, but much of it stays offstage. This keeps the story focused, which is good. It also makes the setting feel a touch abstract.

That said, the book makes two near-omnipotent beings arguing on a hill feel tense. Their conflict is about who understands the other’s weaknesses first. I’ll add that Magnolia is a great antagonist because she’s not frothing with rage. She’s amused. Curious. Almost affectionate in a warped way. Crow’s quiet fury and Magnolia’s gleeful prodding create a steady, uncomfortable tension. 

Emotionally, the book feels heavy. It’s about grief that never quite fades. About living so long that loss becomes sediment. If the book has a weakness, it’s that its pace can feel flat in the middle. The stakes are clear, but the story sometimes pauses to explain things rather than letting events reveal them. 

Overall, Carrion Saints is a strong Dark Fantasy that keeps things personal and intriguing throughout. It’s also my second book by Hiyodori and I’m becoming a fan.

 Buy The Fox and the Devil

FORMAT/INFO: The Fox and the Devil was published on March 10th, 2026. It is 368 pages long and available in hardcover, ebook, and audiobook formats.

OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: Five years ago, Anneke's father Dr. Van Helsing was murdered by a mysterious woman. Anneke has been on the hunt ever since, using her skills as a detective to consult on unusual cases across Europe. And after five years, Anneke finally has a lead on her father's killer. Along with a crew of other unusual detectives, Anneke will need to figure out the method to the killer's madness so they can stop her once and for all. But when the killer makes the unusual move of leaving behind a letter for Anneke, the two find themselves drawn into a relationship that is far more than cat and mouse.

The Fox and the Devil is an engrossing supernatural murder mystery across Europe. I really liked watching the early 20th century methods of detective work, and watching our crew start to put together a profile of the killer. I like watching smart people do their thing, and in this, The Fox and the Devil succeeds. The growing shift towards treating the case as supernatural also happens well. Our characters are coming from a point of view of vampires and other such creatures are purely myth; but after a few incidents, they take the evidence that they have and realize that their killer may be something other than human.

Unfortunately, The Fox and the Devil also tries to be a dark love story and in that aspect, it fails. We are told from nearly page one that Anneke has an intense obsession with the killer that goes beyond a desire for revenge. It's very hard for me to get into relationships where I'm just told "these two people have a history and chemistry, go with it." As a result, the dark romance between Anneke and the killer Diavola just didn't land for me. I like watching the build up of a relationship, and short of that, I want to actually see some tension and chemistry. I didn't get that in this story.

On the whole, The Fox and the Devil works well as a supernatural tale, as a group of detectives slowly piece together that their killer is something inhuman. I enjoyed the globetrotting adventure and the mystery tale itself, even if I didn't love the central relationship.

 

Official Author Website
Buy Mushroom Blues over HERE
Mushroom Blues was Adrian M. Gibson's debut and FBC's SPFBOX Finalist, it was also the joint highest scorer of SPFBO 10. But that's not what we are here to reveal.
Thanks to Adrian, we are super thrilled to reveal the cover for the next Fungalverse story in the Hofmann Report series titled A MURDER MOST FUNGAL (releasing on 16th June 2026)
The brilliant & bloody art is by Katerina Belikova & cover design is done by Adrian himself:

Pre-order A Murder Most Fungal on Amazon
Add A Murder Most Fungal on Goodreads 
OFFICIAL BLURB: The knives are out in this fast-paced, standalone Fungalverse novel. Set several months after the events of Mushroom Blues, this side story combines the culinary wonder of Jiro Dreams of Sushi, the kitchen chaos of The Bear, and the explosive tension of Hong Kong crime thrillers.
In the aftermath of the “Fuyu Massacre,” riots and whispers of revolution continue to plague the Hōpponese capital of Neo Kinoko. As a result, the iron grip of a foreign military occupation tightens day by day. Amidst this, Pocho Jiro, a once-renowned makizushi chef, has chosen to cook for Duncan MacArthur—the Coprinian Military Governor in Hōppon—as his personal chef... and indentured servant.
A run-in with dangerous fungal gangsters sets off a chain of events that Pocho cannot escape from. He’s left with two choices: Assassinate MacArthur, or watch his beloved sister die in front of his eyes. Will Pocho take up his knife and prepare MacArthur’s final meal?
You can also view Katerina Belikova's spectacular art of the book in its full glory below: