“The Speculative Fiction Indie Novella Championship (SFINCS, pronounced “sphinx”) is a yearly competition to recognize, honor, and celebrate the talent and creativity present in the indie community. We are a sister competition to both SPFBO and SPSFC, and we highlight greatness in the novella format in all areas of speculative fiction (fantasy, science fiction, horror, etc.).” – From the official SFINCS website.
About Team Bookend Elves and My Judging Style
Hi, All! I’m Steve Hugh Westenra, SFINCS 2 judge, academic, book reviewer, and SFFH author. This year I was lucky to be welcomed onto Team Bookend Elves, headed by Armanis Ar-feinial.
The way our team works is that each of us has been assigned eight books to read from our team’s twenty allotted novellas. Each novella will be read by a minimum of two readers to ensure all books get a fair review, although most of us intend to read past our “official” eight books. I’ll certainly be attempting to read as many as possible.
I initially planned to post reviews as I finished my books, but I’ve been speeding through my allotment quicker than anticipated, so will likely post my reviews in batches. Scores will be withheld until all books have been read and all team members have scored their allotted novellas.
A bit about my reviewing and judging style:
As a reviewer outside the competition, I’ve largely let numerical scoring fall by the wayside. My reasoning is that numerical scores give the illusion of objectivity but actually say very little of substance about the quality of a given book. Even if I (or any reviewer) intends a numerical score to reflect an objective criterion (e.g. assigning value to specific elements of a book such as “worldbuilding,” etc), what constitutes “good worldbuilding” varies spectacularly depending on the reader in question. That said, my team is using the CAWPILE system to at least guide our scoring. CAWPILE, for those unfamiliar, distributes its numerical score between seven categories (character, atmosphere/setting, writing style, plot, intrigue, logic/relationships, and enjoyment). For me personally, “intrigue” as originally pitched by CAWPILE’s creator is too similar to enjoyment, and “logic/relationships” (meaning internal consistency in terms of character, plot, setting, etc) is something I’d already consider to be baked into the other categories. Instead, I’m using a modified form I’ve called COWPATE (character, originality, writing, plot, atmosphere/setting, theme, and enjoyment). Although I’ll privately assign numbers to each of these, I’m only using this as a means to guide my scoring, rather than as something rigid.
All reviewers and ratings are subjective and it’s impossible for them to be anything else. That said, my goal as a judge is to set aside personal genre preferences as much as possible and evaluate each book on its own merits according to what it’s aiming to do within its own genre context. Ultimately, this contest isn’t about my personal taste.
Because the books are so short, I’ll also be reading each novella to completion. I take the responsibility of judging seriously and want to make sure that the “strongest” (admittedly, a subjective thing!) books move forward.
I’m naturally a very capacious reader–I like variety and I like to be surprised! I’m therefore very excited to see such genre diversity across our allotment and from my batch specifically.
Beyond finding some exciting new books and authors, I’m also honoured to be tasked with shining a light on each of our SFINCS authors! Although it’s nice to progress in a contest, one of the best things to come out of these endeavors is greater exposure for indie talent and a deeper sense of community. Along these lines, here’s a brief introduction to each of my SFINCS reads!
My Books!
1) The View from Here – Leon Stevens
Two adventurous people. A strange world. One goal. Unravel the mystery.
What would you do if you found a portal that brought you to another world? Do you have the skills and knowledge needed to survive or to make sense of what you see?
Thomas sets out on a hike he has done many times before. Taking only what he needs for the three or four hours he expects to be gone, he passes a vehicle in the parking lot. The handwritten note on the dashboard Not Abandoned. The view at the end of the trail was not what he expected—neither were the friendships.
Two people with adventurous spirits, heading off into the unknown with only their physical fitness and combined knowledge to get them through everything they may encounter.
The View from Here (Book One of the trilogy) is available on Kindle Unlimited.
2) The Art Collector – Katelyn Brehm
A quiet art historian. An irresistible demon. And an insatiable hunger neither can escape.
Madelyn Frye enjoys her simple, drama-free life, even if it means there’s an empty seat next to her on the couch at night. But when her firm lands a lucrative contract to appraise the paintings of an infamous mansion with a storied past, her comfortable routine is upended by the handsome and mysterious millionaire who owns it.
For over a century, Thomas von Dreiss has resigned himself to a solitary fate, refusing to let his hunger transform him into a monster. But he never expected the art appraiser who shows up at his door to test his unshakable restraint. Her brilliant mind and kind heart rekindle long forgotten hopes and set his carnal needs aflame.
Will Madelyn risk shattering her safe and predictable world to be with Thomas? And if she does, will Thomas’s dark secret destroy their chance at a happily ever after?
3) The Ghost in the Heart of Tarven
The Ghost in the Heart of Tarven is a sci-fi corporate espionage novella with a Midcentury Americana vibe and more than a dash of fantasy and office banter.
Ludeng Corporation has done the improbable. They have developed a device inserted just below the heart that makes people live three times longer. But the Heart of Tarven is more a miracle than a scientific breakthrough. The source of its power and the mechanism by which it operates are a mystery. Not even the brightest minds in the Shilloan Empire have been able to reverse-engineer the technology.
What makes the Heart of Tarven beat?
That is the question that drives Dian Corporation to send Birik Lev, a failed scientist and disappointing son of privilege, to infiltrate Ludeng in a desperate attempt to rescue its falling stock price.
His only source inside is a fellow new employee, Adiri Roni, a failed entrepreneur falling back on a corporate career, who is fascinated by the Lost Gods, the once deities of the Shilloan Empire who left Their people millennia ago.
Birik finds the laboratory that birthed the Heart holds more than machinery and test tubes. He finds lies, love, consequences, and an Old Power all but forgotten.
4) Ani, Or the Care and Feeding of Your Great Tree-Dwelling Venomous Tentacled Land-Devil
Watching the hatching of a great tree-dwelling venomous tentacled land-devil has been field-scientist Aran Romeu’s dream for as long as he can remember. And if land-devils are the most dangerous creatures known to humankind, and this whole thing might be a set-up from someone who wants to kill him, and there’s a very good chance neither he nor his research assistant and best friend Istvay will come out of this alive … well, he and Istvay have never let something like that stop them before.
5) Rebecca and the Grinning Worm – Gareth Barsby
Rebecca is a trans lesbian raven from the planet of Aviarn, working as a bounty hunter while dealing with PTSD from the death of her girlfriend and the transphobia she’s received. On one job for the goat-headed mad scientist Dr. Harriet Caprin, she encounters The Grinning Worm, a large worm-like being with mechanical limbs and bizarre powers. At first, Rebecca sees the Worm as the embodiment of all her pain, but soon learns they have more in common than she first thought, and something much worse is lurking in the shadows.
6) The Amber Isle – Ashley Capes
After years of running down dead-end clues, the rogue Never has nearly given up his quest for answers; his blood is cursed and his true name a mystery, yet no library, no healer and none who claim to know dark magics have ever been able to help.
Until he steals a map to the mysterious Amber Isle, which might just hold the answers he needs.
But Never isn’t the only one who wants the map – an old enemy, Commander Harstas, also seeks it and Harstas craves revenge for the deaths of his men.
Forced to flee through a war zone, Never soon stumbles across a group of treasure-hunters hoping to discover the wonders of the Amber Isle for themselves. But the deeper they venture into the Isle, the more deadly it grows.
Trapped between the greed of the treasure hunters, cunning traps in the Isle itself, the threat of Harstas’ fury and his own desperation to finally uncover answers, Never must find a way to unlock the Isle’s ancient secrets and escape – or perish without ever learning the truth.
7) Gothel and the Maiden Prince – W. R. Gingell
Deep in the forest, far from the light, a sorceress with magic of the blackest kind keeps prisoner the princess she stole away years ago. From time to time, a prince will come to challenge her, but by and large, life is peaceful for Gothel.
And that’s just the way she likes it.
She’s not prepared for the earnest young prince who seems more determined to talk her to death than challenge her to a duel of magic; nor, having tricked him into a battle of questions, is she expecting him to show more interest in her than the tower-bound princess.
And Gothel is certainly not prepared to give up any of her power to keep him around, though she might be prepared to answer just a few more questions…
8) Curiouser And . . . – Jillian Maria
For sixteen years, Ashlyn Jones has heeded her parents’ warnings and followed their rules. But after taking a tumble in the forest, she awakens in a strange land where there are no rules—where signs lack direction, the sky hovers on the edge of night, and all paths lead to the glittering red palace of a wicked queen. Although she’s told there’s no way home, Ashlyn is determined to find one, enlisting the help of a dreamy girl found sleeping in a tree.
But everyone is a little mad here, from the smiling cat to the whimsical man in the top hat. And the more she interacts with this strange land and its stranger inhabitants, the more Ashlyn questions the life she’s fighting so hard to get back to. Maybe she was just as trapped in her role as the dutiful daughter as she is here.
Unfortunately, she’ll be even more trapped if the queen gets ahold of her…
