The Best of 2016

Each year, the reviewers here at the New Podler Review of Books pick the book (or books) which we feel are the very best independently published (or small press) works. The only other requirement we have is that the book was reviewed here on the blog during the calendar year.

Here are the winners for 2016:

Bertha Thacule: "I chose Madam Tulip. Its eccentric characters and witty observations make this an immensely enjoyable contemporary mystery/thriller set among denizens of Dublin's theater, art, and entertainment worlds. Fans of the first novel will be pleased to hear that a second installment in the series, Madam Tulip and the Knave of Hearts, is now available."

Richard Abbott: "The Colony, by RM Gilmour, gets my vote for 2016. It is primarily a story about travel between parallel universes, but with enough plot twists and variations that you're not always sure which way events will turn. I found the central characters compelling, and also the basic premise of why The Colony was there in the first place. The closing words suggest that there will be a follow-up novel at some point—I certainly hope so as I'm keen to find out what happens after the events at the close of this book."

DED: It took me a while to decide which book to pick for best of 2016. There were a few contenders, so I had to go back and revisit them all. After weighing the strengths and flaws of each, I finally reached a conclusion. My pick for best of 2016 is The Silver Mask by Christian Ellingsen. Yes, I was critical of the cover (I hope that Mr. Ellingsen invests in a better one), but the story was great. Ellingsen made use of a well developed cast of characters and excellent world-building to blend murder mystery, political thriller, and flintlock fantasy together to create a superb tale.

Congratulations to the winners!

The Best of 2015

Each year, the reviewers here at the New Podler Review of Books pick the book (or books) which we feel are the very best independently published (or small press) works. The only other requirement we have is that the book was reviewed here on the blog during the calendar year.

First off, I'd like to give an honorable mention to Rob Steiner for Citizen Magus and Muses of the Republic and M. Terry Green for her Chronicles of White World series. I thoroughly enjoyed their books, but as I was proofreader for them, I was disqualified from reviewing them here. Definite bias there.

There were five books I reviewed here on the blog that were in the running for best of 2015. I could take the easy way out and nominate all five, but that would be a cop out. Unfortunately none of them stood far enough apart from the pack to make this an easy decision. So I had to decide if what I considered a flaw would be just a petty gripe to other readers. In the end, I decided that the book I chose would be one that I could unequivocally stand behind.

Without further ado, this year's winner is:

In my review of the first book in this series, Unwelcome Star, I complained about the length of the book, not relating to the protagonist, and a battle scene that went on for far too long. I decided that story length was my problem and not one with the books. I think that most readers consider 500+ page books to be a plus rather than a minus. And young adult characters are always in fashion, so ignore the middle aged grumpy guy.

My appreciation for the first novel grew after I read the second book in the series. The myriad new names and terms that Faccone dumped on us in the first book paved the way to enjoying Blue Star Setting. By then, I had a better appreciation of the effort that went into what I'd thought were tangential or out of place story fragments. Faccone had a long range plan for this series, and he needed to lay the groundwork from the outset. It's in this book that you can start to see it coming together.

One thing that I praised from the start was Faccone's world building. Each world and faction is fully rendered with a rich history. Technology has blossomed into a myriad of forms. There are several factions struggling against one another to achieve their objectives. And while there are many characters, both human and AI, each of them is a unique individual with quirks and personality. It can be a bit overwhelming at first getting up to speed with all of this, but it's worth it. For space opera fans, I'd say you owe it to yourself to check out both books and join in the adventure.

For more information on Unwelcome Star and other books in the Tethered Worlds universe, please visit the author's website.

The Best of 2014

Each year, the reviewers here at the New Podler Review of Books pick the book (or books) which we feel are the very best independently published (or small press) works. The only other requirement we have is that the book was reviewed here on the blog during the calendar year.

Here are the winners for 2014:

Rob: Jim Melvin's Chained by Fear gets my vote for "Best of 2014." It's book two of the Death Wizard Chronicles, which follows the adventures of Torg the Death-Knower in his quest to free the world of Triken from the mad sun sorcerer Invictus. It's adult fantasy on par with G.R.R. Martin, but with far more magic and monsters. Highly recommended.

DED: There were a few titles that I thought were very good this year. In order to narrow the list down I had to pick out the flaws in the choices, no matter how small. That got my list narrowed down to two. It was a tough decision, but ultimately, I chose Noise.

In my review, I wrote: "Noise is a revenge flick dressed up as art house mystery. Rose juxtaposes brutality with spirited, yet acerbic, prose. Meticulous attention to detail evokes noirish cinematic imagery."

Congratulations to the winners!

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We reviewed 19 stories last year and rejected over 194. Roughly speaking, that means everyone who submitted a story to us had a 9% chance of being reviewed. I wish that number could be higher, but it's just not possible with the number of reviewers we have.

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Unfortunately, Rob Steiner and S.B. Jung are deactivating themselves from our reviewer roster. Rob wants to devote more time to writing while S.B. will be starting nursing school soon. I want to thank them for their time and devotion to the blog over the years and wish them success. Come back when you can, guys!

The Best of 2013

Each year, the reviewers here at the New Podler Review of Books pick the book (or books) which we feel are the very best independently published (or small press) works. The only other requirement we have is that it was reviewed here on the blog. Here are the winners for 2013: The Bookworm: I'm going to go with Realmgolds by Mike Reeves McMillian. It's everything that a reader could want in a steampunk novel. It combines politics, innovation, social unrest and the fight for basic freedoms in a compelling story. And the books in the series are even better.

Rob: Black Book: Volume 1 by Dylan Jones, is my pick for the best of 2013. It had a cool blending of genres (Western, sci-fi, and fantasy) that you don't often see in traditionally published books. However, be aware that it's a serial novel made up of three "episodes." You'll need to buy future volumes to learn the characters' ultimate fates.

DED: It should come as no surprise that my selection for the best book of 2013 is Anne Charnock's A Calculated Life. It is an excellent character study of a young augmented woman named Jayna who works for a global trends analytical firm. Her journey of self-discovery is what makes this story. Charnock deftly bonds the reader to Jayna by granting us unfettered access to her mind, thus making us her mute confidant.

Since my review, the novel was picked up by 47 North, Amazon Publishing's speculative fiction division, and nominated for the 2013 Philip K. Dick Award.

We reviewed 24 stories last year and rejected over 170. Considering that we were closed for seven months, that's still a fair amount of submissions.

Win a Book in a Twitter Contest

We received an email from Midwestern Gothic, the publisher of independent novel award winner This Jealous Earth, that they're going to give copies of the book away in a Twitter contest. Here's the email we received:

Hello!

Just wanted to pass along a little nugget of This Jealous Earth news that we'd love to offer up to your followers - next week (Jan 28 - Feb 1), we're going to be putting on a Twitter contest. We'll be giving away a signed copy of the book as well as 5 eBooks. All folks need to do is RT the contest tweet from the @mwgothic Twitter account. We'd love it if you shared this with your Twitter followers next week or RT'd the contest tweet at some point. I've included a link to our contest announcement with more information.

http://midwestgothic.com/2013/01/this-jealous-earth-twitter-book-giveaway/

If you have any questions or need any more info, let us know!

Thanks!
Jeff

I don't know if we need to bother with a legal disclaimer, but here goes: None of the members of The Podler Staff have any involvement with Midwestern Gothic's Twitter Contest beyond rebroadcasting the announcement here. Nor have we received compensation for said announcement. We're just sharing the news.

As we don't have a Twitter account, we posted the information here in the blog. Good luck to all of our readers!

The Best of 2012

Each year, the reviewers here at the New Podler Review of Books pick the book (or books) which we feel are the very best independently published (or small press) works. The only other requirement is that we reviewed it here on the blog. Here are the winners for 2012.

Libby Cone had two picks: "My favorite books of 2012 were Fred Setterberg's Lunch Bucket Paradise and Scott Dominic Carpenter's This Jealous Earth. Both featured excellent writing and interesting characters. Both had something intelligent to say about modern life."

Rob Steiner had one pick:

"For the second year in a row, I'll have to go with Colin McComb. Oathbreaker Book Two: The Magus's Tale had the beautiful language and vivid world-building I liked from Book One, but with different characters that gave added depth McComb's Empire of Terona. I'm looking forward to Book Three."

It was difficult for me to pick the best story for 2012. There were five really good books among the twelve I reviewed so narrowing it down to one required me to nitpick, quibble, and split hairs. But I had to settle for two.

Jeremy Robert Johnson's second short story collection, We Live Inside You, revealed the inner monsters that compel us to do terrible things. These monsters can be anything from arrogant ideologies to emotional voids that desperately need filling. Oh yeah, there's the occasional parasite too. His writing is gritty and honest. His characters are very real; you've seen them around town, unaware of what churned inside them.

My other, very different choice is M. Terry Green's Shaman, Friend, Enemy. I thoroughly enjoyed how Green's characters evolved in their complexity and realism. No cardboard here, not even her antagonist. Green built up the conflict and resolved it with mastery. It's a pleasure to see a writer's improvement parallel that of her protagonist. Although this is the second book in the series, one need not have read the first to enjoy this one, but it wouldn't hurt.

We reviewed 24 stories and rejected over 250. Now that we have a new reviewer on board we hope to improve upon that. The submissions window will be opening soon.

The Best of 2011

Like last year, each reviewer here at the New Podler Review of Books picks the book (or books) which he/she feels are the very best independently published (or small press) work. Before, when it was just Podler, it was very easy to come up with one book to receive the Independent Novel Award. One reader, one judge. Getting four people with very different tastes, not to mention genre interests, to agree on one book out of thirty-three as being the very best would be impossible.

First up is S.B. Jung.

"My pick for 2011 is Flaming Dove by Daniel Arenson. This book is a great read that I highly recommend to anyone who loves a different kind of fantasy fiction."

Libby Cone had two picks.

"I nominate Helen Smith's Being Light—a tale well-told, with interesting characters of real depth—and Gunshot Stigmata by Scott C. Rogers. It takes a great deal of talent to employ a highly unreliable narrator, explore his delusions, and keep the narrative from flying apart altogether. A very sensitive treatment of the world of a very damaged soul."

Rob Steiner picked Oathbreaker Book 1: The Knight's Tale by Colin McComb.

"Vivid language, unique characters, and a compelling story combined to put it far above the other books I reviewed last year. It's the first of a planned series, so I hope to read more of McComb's work in 2012."


For me, the 2011 winner, hands down, was Mirror Shards. This anthology, about the impact of augmented reality upon society, featured a diverse array of authors. Indie author, Thomas Carpenter, assembled the stories from both traditionally published and indie writers and published it under his Black Moon Books imprint. The end result was a highly entertaining and thought provoking read.

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We reviewed 33 books last year. Over 150 submissions were rejected due to various reasons. Time is a big factor. We rejected some well-written stories because we didn't have the time to stick with a book that didn't grab us right away. When we were open to submissions, we received 20-30 submissions each month. It's just too much for us to handle. We need more reviewers to handle the flood. Until then, we'll finish up the remaining submissions from 2011 before we open the submissions window for a new batch.

Thanks for reading!

The Best of 2010

Yeah, I know. "Best of..." posts are supposed to come out either in December or January. Well, we've been a tad bit busy with stuff so we're just getting around to compiling our choices for best books that we've reviewed here on the blog.

Before, when it was just Podler, it was very easy to come up with one book to receive the Independent Novel Award. One reader, one judge. Getting three people with very different tastes, not to mention genre interests, to agree on one book out of twenty-three as being the very best would be impossible. Therefore, we agreed to each pick that book (or books) which we felt was the very best.

First up is S.B. Jung.

My pick for 2010 would have to be SkyGirl and the Superheroic Legacy by Joe Sergi. I read through that book in less than 48 hours!

Libby Cone's top two picks were: Arguing with Henry by Niall Hunter ZombieStop Parade by Richard Buzzell Both books were extremely refreshing in their authors' skill with prose style and nuance. Although one would not guess it of ZombieStop, both books were character-driven. What goes on inside someone's head can be just as riveting as fiery explosions and mass computer crashes; it just takes an author with talent to share it with us.

As for me, it was very difficult to select one book as I found examples of great stories over a few genres. Libby Cone's Flesh and Grass was not your run-of-the-mill historical fiction. To be able to tell the story of a blind Dutch boy, from his POV, deserves high praise. Libby's vivid descriptions of the scents and sounds of 17th Century Delaware were a treat.

Although I didn't review S.B. Jung's Lines of Neutrality, I read it and commented about how the reviewer missed the point of the story. Characterization, not action, was the star here. Alternating the narration from the two main characters, both assassins, was a superb way of presenting the story. Witnessing the evolution of their relationship from rivals to allies was thoroughly enjoyable.

And then there was Rob Steiner's The Last Key. I'd become a bit jaded with high fantasy after reading so many Tolkein clones. I couldn't tell you the last time I read anything in the genre. But when I read the sample chapters lying in the slush pile, I was hooked despite myself. Realistic action, characters with depth, a compelling story, Rob's story had it all. It was a pleasure to be able to read a high fantasy story and not feel like it was cardboard characters executing a formula.

These are three very different stories: historical fiction, contemporary thriller and medieval high fantasy. And all of them were written by my fellow reviewers. I wanted to praise them for their hard work, but to avoid cries of nepotism, I shall pick another story.

And it isn't a difficult choice. The Losing Role by Steve Anderson gets my vote as the best story I reviewed in 2010 here at this blog. This work of historical fiction, traces the story of Max Kaspar, an out-of-work German actor turned soldier, recruited to play a crucial role in Operation Greif during the Battle of the Bulge. Excellent dialogue, well-crafted characters, and enough dramatic tension to saw a Panzer in half, The Losing Role is an excellent blend of noir and espionage thriller.

Thank you for your patronage. We'll try to be a bit more timely with our "Best of 2011" post. :)

INA winner: Shooting an Albatross by Steven R. Lundin

It was a tough call. Both Threshold and Shooting an Albatross were strong books populated by good characters. Threshold is more artistic, literary and offbeat. But Steven’s book had a stronger story.

From the opening pages, Shooting an Albatross sets up a powerful question in the reader’s mind. As you may have surmised from the previous award winning book, Chion, here at the New Podler we like strong stories. Cinematic stories. Muscular stories with good, clear lines of action are what we think make great books. Shooting an Albatross is such a book. But it is more than just a story that crackles with tension. It is a story of the inability to forgive and let go, a story that leaves you with a chill down your spine. Lundin manages not only to create a strong plot but also a human story of love and loss and revenge in his book.

Chion by Darryl Sloan (A+)

Chion is a magical story that's a must have. Perfect as a gift for a YA reader. The book is available at http://www.darrylsloan.com/

First Impression: The cover is dramatic and arouses curiosity but it does not really evoke the content of the book in some thematic way.

Chion starts with a brief, one page, exchange that gives us a hit of some unimaginable disaster having struck the world. In cinematic fashion, we enter the action of chapter one as Jamie Metcalfe and other kids of Clounagh Junior High School hear screams coming from outside, where a few of their mates have been struck to the ground by what appears to be ordinary snow. When Alex Vennard touches a flake, however, he learns that whatever this stuff is, it is definitely not snow. In fact, it is something that grips his hand and won't let go. In desperate attempt, inspired by mounting panic, his teacher pours hot water on it, hoping to melt it, but the stuff will not. In a fit of panic, Alex frees himself by tearing off a bit of his skin. How can you NOT keep on reading?

Like all great stories, Chion opens in the middle of things, dispensing with the long, boring expository passages. We are plunged into action and carried along by the torrent of narrative. What is this deadly stuff? Who is responsible for it? How will the children and their teachers cope with being trapped inside the school? Such questions dangle over the action. Unlike some thrillers, here there is genuine interest created as to the resolution of the questions posed. I found myself really wanting to know the answers to the questions that have been posed by the story. I think the reason for this lays in the high concept: adhesive snow-this is the stuff of Hollywood blockbusters:

"The snow that fell this morning is ... well, it's not normal snow; it's adhesive. Foolish as that sounds, anything that comes in contact with the snow sticks to it. The effect is quick and strong. If you've ever had your fingers stuck together with Super Glue, let me tell you, this is much worse. If any part of your body makes contact with the snow, the only way to pull you off is to ... to leave a layer of your skin behind."

Many writers do not consider this crucial element—the high concept—before they begin to write their stories. But a concept is the heart of any good story, and without a storing, innovative concept a story, no matter how well written, will be ultimately unsatisfying. The question that a writer should always ask himself is-why should the reader read this book? And what's different, unique, and creative about it? I don't recall ever reading a story about this kind of a situation, and so my interest and curiosity is aroused.

Another thing that contributes to the quality of this novel is the quality of the editing. Unlike many print on demand offerings, the writer of this novel had taken the time to polish his stuff and this shows that he is serious about the reader's experience of his work.

But there is more to this novel than just a high concept. Inside the school, trapped by the weird snow, a genuine, beautifully evoked, human drama unfolds between Jamie and his love, Tara, and the other characters, forcing him to think of a daring plan for saving himself and Tara. But just when they think that they have found a way out they realize that they are in danger.

Thought the story appears to be just another science fiction fest, it pleasantly turns out to be a different kind of thriller. I really appreciate how the author masterfully pulls us along into a theme that we might not expect-the adhesive snow may be God's plague. Unlike much of Christian fiction, there is no heavy proselytizing here, no dogma being pushed on the reader. Instead the focus is on the timeless themes of love, sacrifice, and faith that any human being appreciates and believes in.

I think this is a book that exemplifies the very best of POD-something that would be overlooked by the mainstream but is, nevertheless, important and necessary to read.