Blog Post by Zachary Forbes
February 2nd, 2025
The 2nd round of the Speculative Fiction Indie Novella Competition has come to a close, with team Swordsworn narrowing down our five assigned picks to only 2 finalists.
Joshua and I have read through all five books, and contended with our teammates about which ones were the best of the best, ready to carry on to the 3rd and final round of the competition.
Here I will be announcing which ones our team ultimately decided to pass on to the finals, and also giving my thoughts on those that didn't make the cut. Our first finalist is:
1) Oksy, Come Home by Phil Williams
Oksy, Come Home is the story of a young woman named Oksy who serves in the military for her fantastical world. The story has lots of brutal warfare aesthetics with SFF elements sprinkled in. There are mages, monsters, orcs, etc, all shown to us through a sincere personal journey set to the tune of a war story.
This was my second favorite read of the five. It juggled a trope that, in my opinion, is quite tired these days: a strong woman being held back by incompetent men. Though I feel Phil Williams has done this trope with an appropriate level of nuance. Oksy, by all accounts, is not perfect. She has a single real discernible talent--marksmanship--and her goal throughout the story is to reach a position where she can put this skill to good use. Her superiors throwing her to the trench warfare meatgrinder are too pompous to give this woman a chance, but the other men fighting and dying everyday quickly realize Oksy is their ticket to ending to conflict, and stand up for her at their own personal sacrifice.
Oksy herself grapples with a desire to prove herself. This is a potential character flaw, and is hammered in by two things: the taunting letters she receives from her narcissistic family (which garner her plenty of sympathy from the reader), and her juxtaposition to another character towards the end.
The prose in this story is also great, and the pacing is excellent. Its a short, snappy read that wastes no time with monotonous details. Overall, this story checks all the right boxes, and I think it's got a real shot in the finals.
2) Once We Flew by Nikky Lee
Once We Flew follows Marsa, a survivor from a crashed generation ship on the hostile desert world of Savene. Marsa is infected with something called the Chrysalis--which grants its hosts certain abilities, but also sets them as an outcast amongst the other survivors. A dying friend leaves Marsa with one last wish, and so begins our characters' journey.
For me, the strongest aspect of this story was its concept. It is a brilliantly thought-up setting, with the lights fading on a forgotten community, long since separated from their original home. This world carries on its back the weight of failure. Yet (some of) our characters still persist.
The prose was nice, and the editing was sharp. I took no real issues with its grammar or style. It is a long-winded story, however, with mostly cuts instead of definitive chapters. The story igniting from the loss of a friend packs a sufficient emotional punch towards the beginning, though at times it did seem a tad bit slow to get moving.
Still, this is a uniquely interesting SFF story, well-deserving of its place amongst the finalists.
The Others:
I will say with complete honesty--I did not consider any of the five semi-finalists to be bad. It's also worth noting that there was a big split amongst our team over one book in particular, that book being The Brightest Star. So here are my quick thoughts on our honorable mentions.
The Brightest Star by Andy Peloquin -- This was actually my favorite of our reads this round. Another of our teammates claimed it as their second favorite, only losing out to Oksy. However, the other half of our team felt it lower than the rest, so it landed in third once the dust settled.
I absolutely loved the slow-burn pacing of this novella. In almost every way this story could have been a grounded, working-man's tragedy, but Peloquin dressed it up in the garments of a fantasy setting, with elixirs and syndicates and the like. I will say I might understand some readers feeling it too slow of a climb to stay invested. Most of the story is the struggle of a family to stay afloat. It is structured as a very long-winded breath, much like Once We Flew, but the ending is an awesome payoff that really makes it feel worth your time to stick around. This is why, I think, it worked well for me, while for others it didn't quite get there.
Blackburn Station by Karen H. Lucia -- This was another story that put its best foot forward in the concept. There is a lot of worldbuilding done, with is breathed to the reader at a steady pace, rather than through immediate exposition. I found every chapter I was learning something new without feeling overpowered by it. And the hook works quite well--our main character facing a fresh start, having lost everything they once knew and loved.
This story struggles, for me, in the prose. There is some repetition going on. A character will speak, and then narration will take a sentence or two to clarify their tone. I felt like this betrayed some trust towards the reader to pick up on the contextual subtleties. More often than not, I already understood what was being implied before the clarification, so it sometimes felt like wasted time. Still, there is plenty in this world to take interest in, and I'm sure plenty of readers would enjoy it.
Magic In The Mudshow by Nick Wisseman -- A historical fantasy set in the American circus era, this is an incredibly unique novella written for a particular niche. The setting leaves plenty of room for interesting, experimental characters, and I can tell the author really knew his stuff. I've read stories similar to this, even within the previous round of this competition, and I've been delighted by the prose each time. The strongest point against it, in my opinion, is just that conceptually it isn't a story all that many readers might seek out. Those who enjoy this genre will certainly like it, though.
So that's the recap of round two for team Swordsworn. On top of picking our two finalists, I was also delighted to learn that three of our picks from round one have also made it to the finals! Those being To Catch a Witch, The Whisper That Replaced God, and The Shadow Dancers of Brixton Hill.
Not only does this mean less work for us (Hooray!) but it also means I get to see so many reads I know and love battle it out. Here's to an epic final round!
Be sure to tune in to our Twitter/X @ZachForbesBro for new blog posts about the novellas we read for the SFINCS competition! And click the tabs in the top corner to look around our website if you want to see books, art, or more reviews!
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