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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Craig Schaefer writes about witches, outlaws, and outsiders. Whether they’re weaving tales of an occult-shrouded New York in Ghosts of Gotham, the dimension-hopping adventures of Castaways, or the gritty streets of a noir future in the Neon Meridian series, their protagonists are damaged survivors searching for answers, redemption, or maybe just that one big score.
Publisher: Aethon Books (May 19, 2026) Page count: 358 pages Formats: audiobook, ebook, paperback Genre: Urban Science Fantasy
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Publisher: St. Elmo (July 14, 2024) Length: 385 pages Formats: ebook
Book links: Amazon, Goodreads
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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.
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
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.
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)
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.
COVER REVEAL: Death Has Joined the Party: A LitRPG Dungeon Crawl (Mana Runners Book #1) by Rachel Aaron & Travis Bach
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Book links: Goodreads
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.
Book links: Amazon, Goodreads
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Hiyodori is not a bird. But she is dearly fond of her namesake, a plain-looking brown-gray bird that likes to perch near her Tokyo apartment and unleash the most incredible primal screams. Hiyodori (the human author) loves stories with fantastical settings and complicated, difficult-to-define relationships. All of her books—including Amity in the House of Her Enemy, her latest standalone novel—take place in the same shared fantasy universe.
Publisher: Hiyodori (January 4, 2025) Length: 587 pages Formats: ebook, hardback, paperback
COVER REVEAL: A Murder Most Fungal: A Fungalverse Novel by Adrian M. Gibson
Buy Mushroom Blues over HERE
Book links: Amazon, Goodreads
ABOUT THE AUTHORS: Douglas Preston is the author of forty books, both fiction and nonfiction, thirty-two of which have been New York Times bestsellers, with several reaching the number 1 position. He is the recipient of numerous writing awards in the US and Europe, including a shared Edgar Award and an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from Pomona College. From 2019 to 2023 he served as president of the Authors Guild, the nation's oldest and largest association of authors and journalists.
Lincoln Child is the co-author, with Douglas Preston, of such highly-acclaimed thrillers as CROOKED RIVER, OLD BONES, VERSES FOR THE DEAD, CABINET OF CURIOSITIES, and RELIC, the latter two of which were chosen by an NPR poll as among the 100 greatest thrillers ever written. He has also published seven thrillers of his own, most recently the Jeremy Logan books FULL WOLF MOON and THE FORGOTTEN ROOM. 26 of his joint and solo books have become bestsellers, 3 of which debuted at #1 on the New York Times list. He lives in Sarasota, Florida.
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (January 27, 2026) Length: 384 p Formats: audiobook, ebook, paperback
Buy This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me
Read Mihir's Review!
OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: While waiting long years for the third and final book to come out in her favorite dark fantasy series, Maggie has had plenty of time to obsessively read the first two books in the trilogy. Which is why when she wakes up in an unfamiliar city, it doesn't take her long to realize she's in the world of Kair Toren - and the events of book one are just beginning to happen. With no clues as to how to return to her own world, Maggie decides she might as well try to help Kair Toren out and prevent a deadly civil war that will destroy the city and many of her favorite characters. Of course, Maggie's knowledge only helps her figure out things written in the books...and as she quickly remembers, this is a series with an unwritten ending....
This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me is a smart and engaging portal fantasy that grounds the story by taking the stakes of its fantasy world seriously. When we meet Maggie, she's been in Kair Toren for a few days, and has already come to terms with the fact that somehow, some way, she's in a fantasy setting, one that is every bit as brutal as it is portrayed in the book. Maggie doesn't try to carelessly pull shenanigans or run off to romance a tall dark handsome hero. Instead, she decides that if she accepts that this world and these people are real, then she has to do everything in her power to stop the deadly future that will destroy countless lives.
One thing I really liked about the approach to this story is that Maggie doesn't set herself up in the castle in the middle of the limelight. She decides to work from the shadows, hoping to nudge events while staying unnoticed. She rallies a crew, establishes some connections, and tries to become a credible source of information without drawing too much interest. In this game of intrigue, Maggie knows all the story threads; it's just a matter of figuring out which ones to pull.
There were a few times I felt like Maggie's "trick" of knowing things about people or events was a little overdone, occasionally making her feel like a one-trick pony as she rattles off another monologue detailing intimate knowledge of a character's backstory. But there's enough other things going on that those were minor bumps in the road. There's still so much skullduggery, blackmail, and tense negotiations that I frequently found myself forgetting that Maggie was from our world, until an occasional throwaway line would reference Netflix. It does genuinely feel like another gripping dark fantasy novel, which is key to making this story work.
The other slight hiccup was the romance subplot. While there were many parts of the romance in this book that I liked, it also started to veer into a trope that isn't my favorite. Time will tell how things play out in the long run, but I definitely preferred some sections over others.
(For those curious, this is a no spice story, and the romance subplot IS a subplot. This is not a fantasy romance.)
For a story featuring a protagonist who should know how everything is supposed to go, This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me had plenty of twists and turns. The more Maggie meddles, the more unexpected things become as events unfold differently. I have a feeling we'll be fairly off the rails when the second book comes around, and I am absolutely dying to see where things go.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Mark Lawrence was born in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, to British parents but moved to the UK at the age of one. After earning a PhD in mathematics at Imperial College London, he went back to the US to work on a variety of research projects, including the “Star Wars” missile-defense program. Since returning to the UK, he has worked mainly on image processing and decision/reasoning theory. He never had any ambition to be a writer, so he was very surprised when a half-hearted attempt to find an agent turned into a global publishing deal overnight. His first trilogy, The Broken Empire, has been universally acclaimed as a groundbreaking work of fantasy, and both Emperor of Thorns and The Liar’s Key have won the David Gemmell Legend Award for best fantasy novel. Mark is married, with four children, and lives in Bristol.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Jim Butcher is the author of the Dresden Files, the Codex Alera, and a new steampunk series, the Cinder Spires. His resume includes a laundry list of skills which were useful a couple of centuries ago, and he plays guitar quite badly. An avid gamer, he plays tabletop games in varying systems, a variety of video games on PC and console, and LARPs whenever he can make time for it. Jim currently resides mostly inside his own head, but his head can generally be found in his home town of Independence, Missouri.
Jim goes by the moniker Longshot in a number of online locales. He came by this name in the early 1990′s when he decided he would become a published author. Usually only 3 in 1000 who make such an attempt actually manage to become published; of those, only 1 in 10 make enough money to call it a living. The sale of a second series was the breakthrough that let him beat the long odds against attaining a career as a novelist.
All the same, he refuses to change his nickname.
Publisher: Ace (January 20, 2026) Page count: 463 p Formats: audiobook, ebook, hardcover
The competition continues! This is my first year as a judge and I’m thrilled to be a part of it.
A few notes on my review process: for a semifinalist, I wanted to find a book that I'd personally rate 3.5/5 or better. To me, that rating signifies a book which has some notable flaws, but whose flaws (for whatever reason) didn't stop me from enjoying the novel. In general, a novel isn't a 3.5/5 for me unless I'm actively interested in reading a sequel. If and when I bounced off a book in the opening pages, I typically put it down for a few days before giving it another try. I didn’t set any hard rules for myself about when or if I could drop a book, except that I wanted to give every book a fair shot on its merits.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Raymond St. Elmo is a programmer of artificial intelligences and virtual realities, who has no time for literary fabrications of fictitious characters and world-building. And yes, that was meant to be ironic.
A degree in Spanish Literature gave him a love of Magic Realism. Programming gave him a job. The job introduced him to artifical intelligence and virtual realities; as close to magic as reality is likely to get outside the covers of a book. And yes, that was meant to be cynical.
The author of several first-person comic-accounts of strange quests for mysterious manuscripts, mysterious girls in cloaks whose face appears SUDDENLY IN THE FLASH OF LIGHTNING. And yes, that was meant to be dramatic.
Publisher: Raymond St. Elmo (January 18, 2026) Page count: 181 pages Formats: ebook, paperback
Book review: The Autumn Springs Retirement Home Massacre by Philip Fracassi
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Philip Fracassi is the Bram Stoker and British Fantasy Award-nominated author of the novels Don’t Let Them Get You Down, A Child Alone with Strangers, Gothic, and Boys in the Valley. His upcoming books include the novels The Third Rule of Time Travel, The Autumn Springs Retirement Home Massacre, and Sarafina.
Publisher: Tor Nightfire (September 30, 2025) Page count: 416 Formats: audiobook, ebook, paperback
OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: With a storm threatening to wipe out her people, Queen Coralys strikes a desperate bargain: she will marry the first person to step foot on her island's pier, in return for an end to the disaster. Unfortunately, the first person to arrive is not the hoped for prince from a neighboring kingdom, but a lowly, smelly fisherman. But Queen Coralys honors her word, marries the fisherman, and sails off to her new home. What she doesn't know is that her new husband is actually the god of the sea - and he believes Queen Coralys is the key to stopping a dark threat facing mortals everywhere. Unfortunately for the sea god, Queen Coralys may have obeyed her bargain, but she secretly harbors revenge in her heart against the gods themselves.
Despite a strong start and lovely prose, The Trident and the Pearl completely flounders in creating romantic tension. That's quite a big thing to stumble over, given that this book is being marketed as a romantasy. While I could believe the sea god Okeanos had fallen for Coralys, I didn't for a second believe the reverse was true at any point in the story. Any tender moments towards the end of the story struck me as false.
I will give the book credit for having some high points that made me wish I liked it more. I was really pulled into the beginning of the story, with the initial introduction of Coralys's island nation, their culture, and the bargain she strikes with the gods. I enjoyed the turn the plot took at the midpoint, and thought it was taking the story into a genuinely interesting direction. The overall atmosphere is well done, and I loved the style of writing that felt appropriate for a story about a woman caught in the machinations of gods.
But overall, the plot just felt a bit of a mess. Characters refuse to divulge information to a frustrating degree, stalling out story momentum. Other characters seem deliberately obtuse. Even allowing for the emotions at play, the sheer refusal to consider evidence that they are being lied to or manipulated made me want to scream. The last third of the book felt scattered and meandering, and I ultimately lost interest in the plot.
I really wanted to like The Trident and the Pearl, and for the first several chapters it seemed like it would hit all the right boxes. Unfortunately, the plot completely stalled and characters behaved in a way that was frustrating to watch. I sadly cannot give this book a recommend.
The Red Winter is a fantastic reimagining of the story of the Beast of Gevaudan, one sure to appeal to fans of European-style monster-slaying adventures. It is fantastically atmospheric and does a great job of envisioning a supernatural layer to the world, creating a version of Europe closer to The Witcher in feel than standard history. There are ghosts and small monsters alongside powerful forest spirits who can grant boons - or curses. There are immortal beings who play power games from the shadows, using humans as pawns. And at the center of it all is Sebastian Grave, a man caught up in these power games by a quirk of fate.
And it is Sebastian Grave that I wrestle with the most as I wrap my head around how I feel about this book as a whole. On the one hand, Sebastian is your classic grizzled monster hunter character, one who is exceedingly good at his job and does it all with the wry weariness of someone who has seen humans be idiots far too many times in his life. But he is also morally gray, someone who proves that just because you hunt monsters, you aren't automatically a good person.
Sebastian is driven by a quest for power and by complicated feelings for a man he, despite everything, still loves. But as the book came to a close, I struggled with whether this was enough to make me interested in the character's fate. Sebastian wants power...and then what? Does anything else drive this man? There are moments in the book that raise this very question and suggest the purposelessness is part of the struggle of the character...but towards the end I found myself not quite caring.
I will also admit that I occasionally found it easy to get muddled over what events happened in which timeline. Large parts of the book take place in the same area with some of the same characters, just twenty years apart. Unlike a visual medium like film, I didn't have a constant reminder that a character has visibly aged and therefore we're in 1785, not 1765, or vice versa. It's a small note, one that is admittedly more of a personal problem, but it happened often enough I wanted to mention it.
The Red Winter is a well-crafted dark fantasy tale. Although I'm not sure how I feel about lead character Sebastian Grave, the fact that I'm still thinking about him weeks after finishing the book is a testament to how much this story got inside my head.
