I’m a semi-finalist in the SPSFC!!

For many years now, indie publishing fantasy authors have had an amazing annual contest; the Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off., run by Mark Lawrence.  It’s hugely popular — the latest contest reached it’s maximum number of entries (300) in only 9 hours!

But straight SF isn’t allowed in the contest, so Hugh Howey, a couple of years ago, launched a science fiction version.; The Self-Published Science Fiction Contest.

300 SF books are judged by teams of reviewers and move through an initial screening, where many of the 300 get dropped, a quarter final round, then semi-finals, then finals.  A single winner emerges at the end.

The winning novel and author get nothing but bragging rights (but wow, they’re seriously impressive bragging rights!).

For readers, though, this is a great place to find vetted, excellent SF, plus read some super thoughtful and thorough reviews (or watch them), to help you figure out the good stuff.  I’ve already picked up a half dozen books that I wouldn’t have otherwise bought, just because the reviewers raved about them.

And even better:  Hammer and Crucible has made it thorugh to the semi-finals.  Reviewer Josefine of the “Dragons in Space” review team gave it a great review, which you can find here.  (She also just released a video announcing her favourite books for 2022 and Hammer and Crucible is one of only two SF books she listed.)

I honestly didn’t expect the book to get this far.  Space Opera is often looked down upon by the more literary end of the Science Fiction genre. And I certainly don’t expect to get into the finals, because I’ve read some of the books in the semis and fully expect them to go through, instead.

But we’ll see.  I got this far, so who knows?

You can find details and pick up a copy of Hammer and Crucible, which is book 1 of the Imperial Hammer series, here on Stories Rule Press, or at your favourite retail store (links to other stores are on SRP, too).  It’s currently discounted by well over 50% in ebook.

Cheers,

Cam