SPFBO X Finalist Announcement: Here's our Champion

 

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 three semi-finalists. Here they are in alphabetical order:

MUSHROOM BLUES by Adrian M. Gibson impressed us with imaginative world-building and a strong blend of noir, murder mystery, and speculative elements. There's no magic here but the world is fantastical.

THE HOUSE OF STARLING by Ciara Hartford - clearly written with passion and a knack for fleshing out relationships between characters.

THE SERPENT'S QUEST by Toby Bennett and Nerine Dorman - We loved the world, the skillfull take on epic fantasy tropes, and the clash of cultures.

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

Each of these titles had its own strengths and a few drawbacks. With that said, we felt one of them tried something different, fresh and unique. 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 Mushroom Blues by the brilliant Adrian M. Gibson! 

Congratulations Adrian , and good luck in the finals! 

We're sending Mushroom Blues to the finals with a rating of 8.0/10.