SFINCS II SEMI FINALIST ANNOUNCEMENT!
Y'all ready for some good freaking books?
It is December, and that means it’s Christmas time! Or Happy Holidays depending on what you celebrate, if you celebrate anything at all, but I think you and I can get behind some good books.
This is the second SFINCS and Team Bookend Elves is thrilled to announce five books that will go on into the semi-finals of this grand, grueling contest of wits, words, and no small amount of trauma. Ants may or may not be involved. These semifinalists are announced in no particular order.
Congratulation to the authors of these fine books, and may they find themselves drowned in some poor reader’s tears. As for the rest, my commiserations are sent to you. There were decend books out there, and from what was allotted to my team, we deem these the best of what was offered to us.
W.R Gingell: The Gothel and the Maiden Prince
Magic in the Mudshow: Nick Wisseman
The Amber Isle: Ashley Capes
Curiouser and: Jillian Maria
Space Ants: Eric Kay
Honorable mention: Ghosts in the Heart of Tavern: Zach Parker[But that book cover though. . .]
Deep in the forest, far from the light, a sorceress with magic of the blackest kind keeps prisoner the princess she stole away years ago. From time to time, a prince will come to challenge her, but by and large, life is peaceful for Gothel. And that's just the way she likes it.
She's not prepared for the earnest young prince who seems more determined to talk her to death than challenge her to a duel of magic; nor, having tricked him into a battle of questions, is she expecting him to show more interest in her than the tower-bound princess.
And Gothel is certainly not prepared to give up any of her power to keep him around, though she might be prepared to answer just a few more questions...
A famous circus. A sick elephant. A dead artist encased in wax.
What does it all mean? Neva, a bone-bending dancer, isn't sure. But she needs to find out before she ends up in wax herself.
Magic in the Mud Show takes place in the Barnum & Bailey circus of 1892. The story was first published in the Winter 2020 issue of The Colored Lens and serves as a prequel to Witch in the White City.
After years of running down dead-end clues, the rogue Never has nearly given up his quest for answers; his blood is cursed and his true name a mystery, yet no library, no healer and none who claim to know dark magics have ever been able to help.
Until he steals a map to the mysterious Amber Isle, which might just hold the answers he needs.
But Never isn't the only one who wants the map - an old enemy, Commander Harstas, also seeks it and Harstas craves revenge for the deaths of his men.
Forced to flee through a war zone, Never soon stumbles across a group of treasure-hunters hoping to discover the wonders of the Amber Isle for themselves. But the deeper they venture into the Isle, the more deadly it grows.
Trapped between the greed of the treasure hunters, cunning traps in the Isle itself, the threat of Harstas' fury and his own desperation to finally uncover answers, Never must find a way to unlock the Isle's ancient secrets and escape - or perish without ever learning the truth.
For sixteen years, Ashlyn Jones has heeded her parents' warnings and followed their rules. But after taking a tumble in the forest, she awakens in a strange land where there are no rules-where signs lack direction, the sky hovers on the edge of night, and all paths lead to the glittering red palace of a wicked queen. Although she's told there's no way home, Ashlyn is determined to find one, enlisting the help of a dreamy girl found sleeping in a tree.
But everyone is a little mad here, from the smiling cat to the whimsical man in the top hat. And the more she interacts with this strange land and its stranger inhabitants, the more Ashlyn questions the life she's fighting so hard to get back to. Maybe she was just as trapped in her role as the dutiful daughter as she is here.
Unfortunately, she'll be even more trapped if the queen gets ahold of her...
Survival amidst the rings of a gas giant means that life must adapt or die.
Luckily, Space Ants never say die!
Space Ants: Never Say Die is a collection of serialized short stories following one colony. Each segment zooms in on a single ant from different castes—from tireless handmaidens and brave scouts to valiant soldiers and the indomitable queen mother—as they explore, extract, expand, and sometimes exterminate the deadly threats lurking in the gas giant's ring system.
Join the ants as they navigate the perils of deep space: impacts, dehydration, and the constant threat of rival colonies. Witness their rise from the brink of extinction to becoming a dominant force in their orbit.
Space Ants: Never Say Die is a sci-fi adventure like nothing you've read before.
HONORABLE MENTION AKA NOT A SEMI-FINALIST BUT A VERY GOOD BOOK
The Ghost in the Heart of Tarven is a science fiction / corporate espionage novella with more than a dash of office banter, love, and wondering whether the Gods still exist somewhere Out There...
Ludeng Corporation has done the improbable. They have developed a device inserted just below the heart that makes people live three times longer. But the Heart of Tarven is more a miracle than a scientific breakthrough. The source of its power and the mechanism by which it operates are a mystery. Not even the brightest minds in the Shilloan Empire have been able to reverse-engineer the technology.
What makes the Heart of Tarven beat?
That is the question that drives Dian Corporation to send Birik Lev, a failed scientist and disappointing son of privilege, to infiltrate Ludeng in a desperate attempt to rescue its falling stock price.
His only source inside is a fellow new employee, Adiri Roni, a failed entrepreneur falling back on a corporate career, who is fascinated by the Lost Gods, the once deities of the Shilloan Empire who left Their people millennia ago.
Birik finds the laboratory that birthed the Heart holds more than machinery and test tubes. He finds lies, love, consequences, and an Old Power all but forgotten.