For more team updates, check out our team page here.

The process

The four of us on the team are continuing to work on our allotment of indie sci fi books. We cut our first ten books of our group of 25 entries a few weeks back, then seven more last week, and we’re back with two more cuts today. Because this is the scouting round of the competition, we did not read the full text of these books. Our goal was to have at least half of our team read the opening chapters of the book, usually reaching about 20-25% of the total length.

These are the final two scouting round cuts for our group. Each of these books was marked as a “Yes” by at least two judges, so they all found some significant love in the competition and were under consideration for our quarterfinalists. Our policy in reporting these cuts is to not list what we didn’t like about each book we cut, but instead to send them off with a plug for what we liked and for what kind of reader we think would enjoy the story. The short summaries below were written by various judges. If you are an author of one of these books and want more feedback on your book, including some of the reasons we didn’t advance it, I’m happy to correspond by email and share more information. I’m at dave@davedobsonbooks.com.

The SPSFC is unusual in indie book competitions in that it allows re-entry of the same book in subsequent years, and we encourage any entrant that we don’t pick, including these ten, to enter again in a future year, where you may encounter judges who are a better match for what you’re writing.

NEXT STEPS: Our next post will highlight the six quarterfinalists, which will all get full reads from at least two judges on the team as we narrow that group to our official two semifinalists.

The cuts

Note: There is no meaning to the order in which these books are listed.

Empyreax: The Rise of Cà Rá, by Scott Frost

All judges praised the writing and the intrigue of the story’s opening. One said, “Nice opener into a scene without heavy handed exposition, tight and economic prose. Lots of mystery and back story that makes me want to read on.”

Alternative Science, by Chad Eastwood

Judges enjoyed the writing style and humor, finding the alternative science of the title intriguing. They also cited the pacing, the explanations of scientific oddities, and the zaniness and creativity of the world as strengths.

Our condolences go out to these authors, along with our respect for your efforts and our sincere best wishes for your success.