We are fast approaching the end of the first inaugural Self Published SciFi Competition and folks, this one is going to be a photo finish!
After starting with 300+ books our ten teams of judges have narrowed the field down to seven finalists, and y’all, I have firsthand witnessed the incredible amount of care that the judges are putting into the SPSFC and it is awesome to behold. The willingness to set aside so much of your own free time for one specific and time consuming task is humbling to see and I am honored to be a part of it all.
I say that to say: This has not been an easy journey. The nature of competitions like this mean 1 shall rise and 299 shall fall, right? BUT this competition has worked hard to shine as bright a light on the fallen as I have ever seen in any such competition. From the beginning I watched reviewers working hard through the initial allotment of books to try and find the ones to move forward, and watched as many championed books they discovered in the initial draw that didn’t make it into the next round. Books that had next to no reviews/ratings on GoodReads suddenly started getting attention, and started being blogged about, and started landing on TBRs of folks who aren’t a part of the competition! And that was only the first round! For the record three books I dearly wanted to move past the initial round in my team’s allotment did not, but those three books will be read and reviewed once the dust settles from the SPSFC, along with other books I came across in this competition that weren’t in my team’s draw.
And THAT is the magic of the SPSFC! It doesn’t just spotlight one amazing book, it creates reads and reviews for many books! I know two members of my team have read through most if not all of our initial draw, and are working through all thirty semi finalists, not just the ones we picked up! It is awesome to see. While nothing is perfect and I am sure some books didn’t get reviews out of the initial parts of the competition, many did, and that is something I am so happy about.
Now we come down to just 7 books, and getting to that 7 was tough! There have been a lot of strong attachments developed between readers and the books they love! One that didn’t make it out of my team’s top ten won my favorite book of the year award for 2021! I am telling you, there are some incredible works in this competition, and paring it down to just 7 finalists was tough, as books you love and champion don’t make the cut. However if it wasn’t for the SPSFC I wouldn’t have known about most of the books I’ve read so far, or have left to read!
So a huge and hearty shout out to the teams of judges who have been reading these books and offering their ratings and reviews as I know that takes effort and helps spread awareness of the books! Another loud and heartfelt shoutout to the authors who stepped willingly into the ring and let their novels fly! And a thankful and meaningful shout out to Duncan Swan and Hugh Howey for bringing this competition to life!
We now bring to you the final round of the SPSFC for 2021 and invite each of you to read these works alongside us as we dive into them!
All The Stars Were Red 