It’s rare that I get fully engrossed in a fictional political narrative anymore. Sure, the vast number of Tom Clancy novels and movies deliver compelling, high-octane thrill rides, and The Manchurian Candidate (both the 1959 novel as well as the 1962 and 2004 films) still stands as one of the best election stories out there. But, when it comes down to it, the real world of politics (in the United States and elsewhere) is already rife with enough drama, deceit and decadence. Sometimes it’s just so damn tiring—and all of this coming from me, a genuine political junky. (On top of it all, most political stories just aren’t that good.) So, it came as a wonderful surprise when I read Malka Older’s debut novel, Infomocracy, that I found myself invested in a story so distinctly political again.
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Review: Infomocracy (The Centenal Cycle #1) by Malka Older
Review: Anna by Sammy H.K. Smith
Review: Seven Deaths of an Empire by G. R. Matthews
This book has all the makings of a great fantasy. Big battles, political intrigue and magic systems. But somehow it doesn’t get bogged down in all this. Matthews writes battle scenes with ease and with a grace that is hard to find elsewhere. I usually get a bit confused in battle scenes and just hope that at the end an overview is given of who beat who and who is still alive. However Matthews uses one of our characters to describe battles in a way that is easy to follow. You know what is happening, you can follow the beats and it just worked so well for me.
Book Tour: The Coward (Quest for Heroes #1) by Stephen Aryan
Review: Activation Degradation by Marina J. Lostetter
Guest Review: Things They Buried (A Thung Toh Jig #1) by Amanda K. King and Michael R. Swanson
How ASD Became My Superpower — Neurodivergence in Fiction
Hello all, and welcome to this week’s article for FanFiAddict’s series on Neurodivergence in Fiction. I cannot understate how appreciative I am for the overwhelming amount of support and enthusiasm I have seen for this series of mine; thank you! For the next several months we will be bringing you a guest post every Wednesday from a neurodivergent author. This will hopefully highlight some of the challenges that come with writing for a largely neurotypical audience, while also giving valuable insight to the craft itself and providing a window into the neurodivergent experience — at least through the lens of fiction.
Review: Three Parts Dead (Craft Sequence #1) by Max Gladstone
Review: Old Norse for Modern Times by Ian Stuart Sharpe
Author Chat: Nicholas Eames (Part Two)
Join longtime friends Adrian M. Gibson and fantasy author Nicholas for Part Two of a chat about writing craft and creativity, the positive trends in SFF and where the genres are going, music, video games, and much more. This is Part Two of a two-part interview.





