Now that my team has announced our two semi-finalists, I want to send personal shout-outs to a few books I read as part of the judging process.
Both of the team’s semi-finalists were also my top two choices (Guess I must have good taste!) But my next up after those two was Stargun Messenger by Darby Harn. Man, this book! It was all about the author’s unique voice. It had some things that kept it out of the top two, but this was the book that most made me think, “This. Is. A. Writer!”
Likewise, The Sequence by Lucien Telford did have some reasons why it didn’t move on in the contest, but the author’s skill in talking about genetic engineering just gripped me viscerally. In my own Exile War series, the characters all kind of take the attitude of “Oh yes, the genetic engineers were very horrible, but that was all centuries ago.” In The Sequence, it’s not centuries ago. It’s right now, it’s in your face. And the horrors of what it really takes to turn the human genome into your own personal art project will blow your mind. I wish the whole world could read this book before we go too far down this path, so we could be warned of what lies hidden underneath the promises of genetic engineering.
Red Sky at Morning by J. Daniel Layfield was the most “Greenwood-esque” book I’ve read so far in the contest. I confess that this is somewhat vain praise, but I felt likeI could have written this book. It’s not like my sci fi though, it’s like my thrillers. As I was reading it, every single plot point made me nod approvingly. Layfield has a knack for thrillers.
I believe there are some takeaways for all SPSFC writers and future potential entrants. Truly, genuinely, I mean this, it’s a subjective process. Your book may not advance, but that doesn’t mean you didn’t find someone who loved it. Never walk away thinking “I didn’t make the semis, I must not be that good a writer.” Somewhere in the team that had your book, there’s probably one judge who really did enjoy it. These books didn’t get through, but I loved them.
The contest is designed so that you have to win the approval of a whole team to move on, and that’s as it should be. Most writers want to appeal to a broad audience. But everyone who’s ever drilled down deep into the Amazon subgenres knows that there’s also such a thing as a niche. I read some books that were very well attuned to my niche, and I’m grateful to the authors for entering them.