Next month you'll be able to get a copy in exchange for nothing more than money.
I've started mailing signed and dedicated copies to folks on tier 4 & 5 of my Patreon.
The 1000s signed editions from Waterstones are sold out.
There may be special edition/s in the pipeline but it is not my place to make such announcements.
This is the allocation of SPFBO 11 books to blogs.
There will be some swapping & replacement for a few days as conflicts with bloggers and with the rules are identified.
But first, some traditional stats/demographics:
The male/female ratio was essentially equal last year - strangely, this year it has swung significantly towards male!
There has been a very small increase in audiobook percentage (19.5%, up from 18.7%)
And here's the familar word cloud from the titles, with DRAGON, DARK, BLOOD and SHADOW continuing as perennial favourites!
The oldest book in the contest this year is Chameleon: The Awakening - published 13 years ago and collecting 63 ratings along the way.
Here are the 6 oldest.
I have books published that are older than all of them 😅 Stop making me feel old!
And finally, the chonkers. We have 7 books with 700+ pages this year!
Reviews as they come in.
They're also linked from the book title.
),5)Seven cuts from Noah Brisk.
Abel Montero's team reviews Heart of Dust.
Abel Montero's team reviews The Conqueror's Plague.
Abel Montero's team reviews Gateway to Hell.
The Fantasy Hive deliver a semi-finalist.
Flint in the Bones is reviewed on FanFiAddict.
Fantasy Book Critic find their second semi-finalist.
Shadow of the Sword reviewed by FanFiAddict.
Shadows of the Sundered Lands reviewed by FanFiAddict.
FanFiAddict reviews The Golden Princess.
A Fallen Hero is reviewed for team Weatherwax Report.
Abel Montero's team reviews Soul Cage
Abel Montero's team reviews Darkness and Blight
Abel Montero's team reviews Reborn Heroes
Abel Montero's team reviews Choice
Abel Montero's team reviews Original Sin
Abel Montero's team reviews Apocalypse Assassin
Abel Montero's team reviews Yellowstone Calling
The Darrian Shift is reviewed on The Weatherwax Report.
Butcher Boy is reviewed on FanFiAddict.
The Weatherwax Report reviews Stormvalor.
Budding Rhythm is reviewed on FanFiAddict.
FanFiAddict review The Forgotten Dawn.
The Way We Were Hunters is reviewed on FanFiAddict.
The Weatherwax Report reviews The Witch and the Woodcutter.
Children of Nemia is reviewed on FanFiAddict.
A review for Blackwater from the FanFiAddict team.
Fantasy Book Critic select a semi-finalist.
Beneath God's Tree is reviewed on Superstar Drifter (Team Weatherwax Report)
Noah Brisk reviews Lightbinder.
Our first review is for Tooth Sucker, from The Weatherwax Report.
Reviews linked from the book titles.
Author in RED = cut.
Dull GREEN &/or with + suffix = semi-finalist.
Bright GREEN = finalist.
273 of 300 books remain in the contest.
We have 3 semi-finalists.
We have 0 finalists.
| Matt Falcon | Tethered to Darkness |
| Alex Larkspur | Sweet & Wild |
| Brendan Noble | The Crimson Court |
| Jean K. Silver | Changebringer |
| Alexa Grave | Leave No Dragon Stone Unturned |
| Willamette Sutta | Adamant in Dust |
| Eric Lewis | The Artificer's Knot |
| K R Solberg | Remnant |
| R. T. Silveus | Shadow of the Pyre |
| Elizabeth Daly | Legacy Bound |
| Erebus Esprit | Project Tartarus: Arche |
| C.K. Kesterson | Heroes of Valhalla |
| Olena Nikitin | Oath of Betrayal |
| N.A. Betts | The Waking of Storm and Flame |
| T.C. Smith | Song of the Wolf |
| Rosaire Bushey | Sigil of Enderune |
| TJ Muir | Winter Mage |
| Megan Russ | Shattered Peace |
| John B. Cheek | The Fire Within |
| Simon Shugar | Hunter's Apprentice |
| Rel Carroll | Of Mages and Makers |
| HJ Tolson | Liches Get Scritches |
| Margaret Feuerman | Keeper of the Gate |
| Nathan Taylor | The Non-Magical Declan Moore |
| William C. Tracy | Physical Magic |
| Grace Zhu | Moon Witch |
| Ronit J | Island of the Dying Goddess |
| M. K. Casperson | Dragon's Son |
| SF Sowter | Criminal Cove: Home for Retired Supervillains |
| K.T. Holder | City of Stone |
| Tim Wilbur | Legacy of the Crown |
| H.S Kallinger | A Demon to Save Me |
| Sophia Xiang | Dawn |
| Robert W Ling | They Who Linger |
| Torbjørn Øverland Amundsen | Chalmach Chronicles - Book One |
| Spencer Russell Smith | Throne of Darkness |
| E.L Montague | The Lost Girl |
| Jordan Butler | The Sound of the Supernova |
| Brendan Arnold | Rise of the Phoenix |
| Natalie Kelda | Reflections of Lilje Damselfly |
| Sean Rowland | The Good Family Robinson |
| Jonah Evarts | Reaper's Bend |
| Mitchell Lüthi | Pilgrim + |
| Niranjan | Life Remains |
| Debra Koehler | Amoran |
| M.S Masood | The Unnamed |
| Hiyodori | Carrion Saints + |
| Matthew Thompson | Empire of Ash and Blood |
| Jeffery A Smith | Shroud of Whispers |
| Will Elm | Shadow of the Elders |
| L. Cyrus Whelchel | Oaths of Life and Death |
| C.D McKenna | The Dragon of Dread Deep |
| Steve Pannett | The Sins of Steel and Shadow |
| Alex Harvey-Rivas | A Sharper, More Lasting Pain |
| Ben Schenkman | Let Sleeping Gods Lie |
| Michael Grayford | The Golden Scarab of Balihar |
| A. Sherman Karlsson | The Butterfly Koi |
| Jacob L Montanez | Night of the Illumination |
| Jye Sorensen | The Inherited Blade |
| Glen Adams | Nevermore |
| K.J Wagner | The Raven’s Revenge |
| Robin Rakkeby | Those We See in the Dark |
| Joe Dawson | The Goodness Potion and its Side-Effects |
| Juan Patmos | One Hit Wonder |
| Susan Maxwell | Death at Hallowtide |
| L.M Douglas | Gharantia's Guardian |
| S. Kaeth | Beneath the Gods' Tree |
| Aengie Scevity | The Moonlight Lies |
| Scott Kay | Tale of the Four Winds |
| Starr Z Davies | Stormvalor |
| Rai Bowyn | SynWorld Chronicles |
| Kate Samuel | The Fifth Branch |
| Owain Oakwood | No Fae Back Now |
| Artemis Quinn | Lemon Balm |
| Michael R. Fletcher | Dogged |
| N.J Guay | Before the Sky Breaks |
| K Scriven | Taking Flight |
| L.A Barnitz | The Stonebound Heir |
| Slater Hamilton | Curse of the Claimed |
| A.S Colworth | Dreams of the Fallen |
| Sara A. Noë | A Fallen Hero |
| J.D Rivers | The Edge of a World |
| Kenneth Harrell | A Comedy of Monsters |
| Nicole Conway | Born of Shadow |
| Tobias Begley & Travis M Riddle | The Loss of the Star's Tranquility |
| Noah Flynnt | The Darrian Shift |
| Dax Murray | Stars and Soil |
| L.S. Walker | The Witch and the Woodcutter |
| Kaden Love | Toothsucker |
| Sherrie A Bakelar | In My Time of Dying |
| L. Lyons | The Black Bane |
| Jacob Penrod | The Seven Rangers - Volume 1: Harvest |
| Kevin Wright | Plague Maiden |
| Ayleen K. Kyrstin | In Ice We Steel |
| Benjamin Keck | The Pits of Itar |
| V Ananya | The Young Foreigner |
| L.N Holmes | The Floating Castle |
| Angelika Rust | Downtown Selkie |
| Darby Vernon | Madness of the Elder Vampire |
| N.E White | The Legend of Damndrake |
| T.L Bellia | Beneath the Ashen Sky |
| Emily Renk Hawthorne | Of Mountains And Seas |
| Sydney Faith | Revenge of the Druid Queen |
| Justin Greer | The Servant |
| Jennifer Taylor-Gray | The Old Crones Club |
| Y.R Liu | The Whisperer in White |
| M.T Kadisin | An Oath Sworn |
| Alexandra Kathleen Blade | Edenlost – The Borderless City |
| Ben Moxon | The Redstone Rescue |
| WE Singh | A Djinnfernal Conspiracy |
| Lilly Lockwood | Songs of Broken Bells |
| Joel Flanagan-Grannemann | Talia: Heir to the Fairy Realm |
| Edward Nile | Godless |
| Simon Steele | Wolfblight |
| Ashley Capes | Knee-Deep in Cinders |
| Lissy Porter | The Throne of Ash |
| Miriam Yvette | Excalibur's King |
| R.M Schultz | The Hunger of the Dragon |
| Tim Carter | Jester |
| Chanchito Massoni | Jane is the End |
| Rhys Price | Errant Gift |
| Emily Blakeney | Blackwater |
| Stephen Jarocki | A Mage's Mentor |
| Eva St. John | Flint in the Bones |
| Camilla Andrew | When the Stars Alight |
| Seth Hobbs | Black Powder, Black Heart |
| Aaron Daggit | Butcher Boy |
| Nicole Leland | Hearts of Bark and Scale |
| Amanda N. Newman | The Snatcher |
| Michael Goe | Children of Nemia |
| Sai Xande | An Oath to Eternity |
| J.K Divia | A Sea of Blood and Tears |
| CrimCat | Budding Rhythm |
| Kai Zeal | Riyati Rebirth |
| KD Lumsden | Secrets of Urthis |
| Megan Leigh | The Sorcerer's Valley |
| Laura A Blake | The Forgotten Dawn |
| Bart Carroll | Bolted to the Bone |
| Tobias Youngblood | Grave Covenant |
| M.E.Moirin | Threadbound |
| Thomas Perkins | The Ruined |
| Dust Kunkel | Fly Stone, Fly |
| Brien Feathers | The Way We Were Hunters |
| Patrick McNaughton | The Heart of the North |
| Benjamin Barreth | No More Levels |
| Chloe Cahenzli | The Dragoneers of Longbourn and Pemberley |
| Corbin Rook | Shadows of the Sundered Lands |
| Emmanuel Akeyo | A Night of the Burntmen |
| C.J.R Isely | Shadow of the Sword |
| Brian Braden | The Golden Princess |
| A.C Cross | The Boddicker Letters + |
| Cass Reid | Loyalties Divided |
| Rowan Silver | Dragons of Frost and Fang |
| T. Alan Horne | Secret Sky: The Young Universe |
| J.J.N Whitley | The Orichalcum Crown |
| H.C Harrington | Dark Moon Rising |
| Rachel L. Tilley | Upon the Darkest Mountain |
| Maggie Lynch | Chameleon: The Awakening |
| Clay Vagrant | The Empire's Bladesmen: Forbidden Relics |
| Danie Ware | Lugan Vision Quest |
| Michael Widebrook | Poisoned Past |
| Darian Smith | The Lost Pendant of Pania |
| Darby Harn | Dead Malls |
| Elizabeth Schechter | The Sea Prince |
| Jac-Ann Marie | Fall to Shadow |
| Jordan Smith | Mourn Not the Mortals |
| Andrea Marie Johnson | Shadows Dark and Deadly |
| Justin Rose | Ariel's Tear: A Tale of Rehavan |
| Matthew J Turner | A Reign of Emerald Fire |
| Richard Fierce | Threads of Memory |
| Megan Jones | Apex Division: A Drig Called Freedom |
| William Rafalko | The Demon Who Cried Murderer |
| Jack T.A Echlin | Regalian |
| H.L Tinsley | The Hallows |
| Molly Blake | Vampire Mall Cop: Damien vs. the Entrail Eater |
| Nick Newlin | The Swordmaster |
| M.J Pankey | Epic of Helinthia |
| T.E Janota | Born Today |
| Liz Delton | Flames of Gold |
| Kristina Kamaeva | The Usurper |
| Peter J Aldin | Last Among Equals |
| Cal Logan | ShadowBane |
| Morgan Shank | Die Young |
| Andrew Gillsmith | The Desolation |
| Amelia Maria Vergara | Firefax |
| B.A Pepper | Daughter of Stone |
| Tim Facciola | The Scales of Balance |
| CW Okey | Bellcaster |
| EBatzell | They Live Among Us |
| Matthew Siadak | The Backwards Knight |
| Cecilia Agetun | Forgotten Memories |
| Tabatha Shipley | A Spark of Magic |
| David T List | Violence & Vigilance |
| Samuel Chatman | Daughters of Darkness |
| Max Shepherd | The Blade Unchained |
| Lorain O'Neil | The Hilarious Dead Guy's Last Chance Undies |
| K.R House | The Call of Wind |
| Karim Soliman | A Ballad of Vengeance |
| Justin D Bello | The Gift of the Guardians |
| David Liberto | Reyuul's Redemption |
| Bill Adams | The Godsblood Tragedy |
| N.R Gravel | A Winnowed Truth |
| Alexia Muelle-Rushbrook | In the Name of the Flame |
| David Green | Magic, Maps, and Mischief: A Cozy Neurodivergent Adventure |
| Lyndsey Luther | Greencloak |
| Sebastien Menkes | The Purple Prince |
| Palmer Pickering | Dark Town |
| Kell Shaw | Reflections Upon the Anniversary of My Descent |
| R.E Sanders | Demon's Tear |
| M.J.G Pither | Slaying Dragons for Tail |
| L.R Schulz | Soul Cage |
| E.A Rayner | First There Was War |
| Grace Bridges | Yellowstone Calling |
| Chris Adams | Sword of Vengeance |
| Melinda Kucsera | Gateway to Hell |
| Shermon Kodi | Immortal Dark |
| Dap Dahlstrom | Darkness and Blight |
| Colin Fenwick | Dream Weaver |
| Ann Yihyang Kim | Eye in the Blue Box |
| Drew Montgomery | The Conqueror's Plague |
| Andrew Platten | Strands of Time and Magic |
| Thomas K. Carpenter | Half Pint Hex |
| Michele C. Shaw | The Honorable Con |
| Kate Grove | Sword and Mirror |
| Ellysa Marin | Of Secrets and Solace |
| J.J Thorn | Apocalypse Assassin |
| G.D Burkhead | Original Sin |
| A.J Ashton | Outcast Origins |
| Peter Killey | Reborn Heroes |
| Tom Lloyd | Devil Inside |
| Jalal C Hockett | The Fracturing |
| Benjamin Twigg | Dad Magic |
| Thomas Tarasios | Fire and Lightning |
| Andrea H Rome | The Standard Book of Anything |
| C.E Wright | The First Steps of the Path |
| Anita Primrose | Dream |
| H.L Moore | Heart of Dust |
| Dusti Nalley | Of Kings and Shadows |
| Matthew Phillips | Under an Ever-Setting Sun |
| Lucius Tarquinius | Choice |
| A.J Peterson | Oblivion's Hymn |
| Three Scribes | The Sapphire Heart |
| C Warner-Thompson | Moon Torn hearts |
| Blake Michael Nelson | Lillandra |
| E.L Reeves | Storm Captain |
| Kimberly Grymes | Shade of Light |
| Molly Dowd Sullivan | A Light From the Nether |
| Christian Warren Freed | Coward's Truth |
| S.A Moyer | A Prophecy Spoken |
| Maya Darjani | A Stellar Spy |
| Sage T Greene | Touched: Black Edition |
| C.E Page | The Devil's Tangle |
| Kristin L Hamblin | Sorcery and Stagecraft |
| Kia Leep | Friendly Fyre |
| Rose Garcia | A Storm Rises |
| Tycho Dwelis | Court of Snakes: This Desert Cage |
| Charlotte Saulter | Phoenix Rises Dragon Soars |
| Elinor Taylor | The Fisher Girl |
| David Trotter | Birthrights |
| Ben Logsdon | Memoirs of a Household Demon |
| Kaylea Prime | A Spark From Embers |
| Philip Wyatt | The Book of Mook |
| Marshall Cunningham | The Taste of Riverwater |
| Nicholas Ponticello | Satan's Diary |
| Ian Robert Ross | Crown of Caphedra |
| R. M. Krogman | Desert Rose |
| Dorian Rondo | Plaguewalker |
| Jill Chard | Child of the Goddess |
| Rick Waugh | Rogue God |
| E.K O'Connor | She-Wolf - A Beowulf Retelling |
| I.K Stokbaek | Moonward Chain |
| Brian Xavier Cole | Seekers of the Light |
| Mark Parker | Quin of Light |
| C.B Lansdell | Far Removed |
| Emily Devereux | Death's Emissary |
| A.J Calvin | Serpentus |
| John Nassari | Dark Rising |
| Emmylou Kotzé | Forest of the Morning |
| Alex Robins | The City of Mist and Tears |
| Vic Sinclair | Fablenoir |
| Steven Paul Watson | Feather in a Gaslamp |
| Tristen Kozinski | Stormflower |
| A.R Mendsen | Valyo Rising |
| Z.R McCormick | A Legacy of Ashes |
| Izaic Yorks | Aithos |
| Phil Parker | The Dark Elf Dynasty File |
| Alli Earnest | Cities of Smoke and Starlight |
| Michael Webb | Lightbinder |
| Cara N Delaney | Blade of the Crown |
| Nick Child | Realms Beyond |
| C.V Vobh | Somnus' Palace |
| R.A Sandpiper | To Touch A Silent Fury |
| Peter Roberts | The Last Man |
| Aies Jay | The boy from Beyond |
| Caren Hahn | Hatched: Dragon Farmer |
| Ren Blake | Gabriel's Voice |
| Vanessa Ricci-Thode | The Dragon Next Door |
| S.J Shank | The Knave of Graves |
| Kane Williams | Perils of the Past |
| Voshin Machin | The Executioner of Rowling |
Just to minimise the number of people taken by surprise:
As has long been advertised on the official SPFBO page, this year's SPFBO is opening its doors in January rather than May.
The Champions' League gave us the opportunity to align the SPFBO year with the calendar year.
You'll find the entry form linked on the home page on January 3rd.
Best of luck to everyone trying to enter.
Although I spent 23 years as a research scientist I never spent longer than 10 years at any one job, so I guess that makes “authoring” my longest employment.
Anyway, onto the traditional accounting:
Celyn went into hospital 4 or 5 times this year, which is about average, but the most recent visit was very scary and the doctors were talking about “hours left”. Earlier in the year my father had a similarly close brush in hospital. Recently an old friend of mine died unexpectedly. And Wobble suddenly took ill and died.
On a more positive note, because Celyn (now 21) gets much better care these days, I’ve been able to start travelling and have been to book events in Zwolle, Leeds, Edinburgh, Brighton, Belfast, and Bristol.
This post follows similar posts from 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012 and 2011 and earlier years where I record the ups and downs of the year.
I’ve now had my Patreon for more than four years. The Discord is very active, and I’ve done many critiques for top-tier patrons.
Tier 3+ patrons can download seven unpublished books, plus short stories and novellas.
The Book That Held Her Heart came out in 2024, concluding The Library Trilogy.
My novel-related short story collections are now all available in paper form — many in hardcover.
Book one of my next trilogy, The Academy of Kindness: Daughter of Crows .
If you were to pre-order it, I would stand in your debt!
Many thanks to all my readers for keeping me going. I hope you all have happy holidays — and that 2026 is good to us all!
I thought I'd close out 2025 with a helpful info-graphic.
As a side note ... 2025 sounds like the space-age future to me. I used to watch a TV show called Space 1999. And now we're putting the first half of the 2020s into the rear view mirror 😮
Anyway, follow these simple steps to fame and fortune!
I do this every year, so you can step back for more than a decade should you so choose. Here's the link to 2024.
Hooray! I have beaten my yearly record (since records began around 2011) with 18 books read - which is one more than my record set last year! It's true - I did read a bunch of short older SFF books.
The standout read, among many 5* books, was By Blood, By Salt, by J.L Odom (Book 2, A Haunt for Jackals, is similarly brilliant.
My non-fantasy reads were:
